Moira Valorn walked silently along the corridors of the Space Wolves vessel lost in thought. The Strike Cruiser had arrived in orbit above the first moon of Crion, and the ship was a madhouse as both Knight and Wolf raced to make their final preparations for the Crusade, and several times Moira had to flatten herself against the wall to make room for Space Wolves who were rushing to the transport bay in preparation for their drop. The Space Wolves would be the first ones to land on the planet, and it would be their job to secure the landing zone so that the Moira and her Siblings would be able to unload their Knights safely, and for that Moira was appreciative. It would be a delicate process to get their Knight suits from the ship down to the planet, and they needed as much time as they could get to ensure the process went smoothly, but that was not the source of her consternation. She had recently received the news that her House would not be the only one fighting in this Crusade. There was another house from their homeworld who was making an appearance, House Cyrene, who had long been the greatest rivals of her House, although the reasons for this had been lost with her parents. Moira prayed with all her might that He would not make an appearance, that they had sent someone else. It had been several years since they had last spoken, and she didn’t think her heart would survive if they had sent Him. She sighed and shook herself out of her grim thoughts. There would be an honor duel between their Houses as soon as both Houses were able to unload their suits, as that was what honor demanded anytime the two Houses encountered each other. As far as she was concerned it was a stupid rule, but as High Queen she knew that she needed to observe the traditions of her House, one of which was the honor duel with House Cyrene whenever the two deployed on the same battlefield. After some more wandering she found herself back on the bridge, where she saw Ulfric in full armor having a discussion with another Space Marine. She could not see his armor all that well underneath his long black hair, and his thick beard, but from what she could see the armor was quite ornate, and seemed to be quite old. Ulfric turned towards her and said “Ah, High Queen Moira, I was just about to request your presence on the bridge. I would like you to meet Alpha Faolan Gall of the Emperor’s Hounds Space Marines. He and his company will be fighting in this Crusade as well.” Ulfric then turned to speak to Faolan. “This is High Queen Moira of House Valorn, she and her fellow Knights will be fighting alongside us in this Crusade.” Over Faolan’s shoulder Moira could see what looked like the hilt of a relic blade, and he seemed to study her with intense, but kind, eyes. After a moment of eye contact he finally spoke in a formal tone “I greet you High Queen Moira in the name of the Emperor’s Hounds. I am looking forward to fighting alongside you and your kin in this war.” Moira responded in turn “And I greet you Faolan Gall, the blades of me and my siblings are ready if you have need of them.” This comment seemed to please the other Marine, and he gave off a booming belly laugh before responding “I am looking forward to the opportunity my Queen.” Moira then gave him a formal bow before excusing herself and walking briskly towards the quarters that she and her siblings had been given. There was still much that needed to be done.

The Kikkari desert could only be described as sweltering, Moira thought as the stood on a hill overlooking the duel preparations. Standing behind her at a respectful distance was Falkon, the leader of House Valorn’s armsmen, and one of Moira’s best friends in the entire household, besides her siblings. The Space Wolves had launched onto the planet in their Drop Pods and Thunderhawks and had secured a landing zone, purging a small group of feral Orks who had the misfortune to launch an assault on their landing zone. Their attack had been repulsed easily, with no Imperial losses, but it had served to reinforce the point for Moira that they could not be complacent here, that this world was still infested with enemies of Man. She was jolted out of her thoughts by the approach of three armored figures. As the first one approached Moira noted with interest that he was clad in an older pattern void armor, one that had been common back during the Great Crusade, but had grown steadily scarcer as the long years and ravages of war had taken its’ toll on Imperial technology. The man also had a plasma pistol holstered at his hip, and was clenching and unclenching a deactivated power fist. The second figure wore the distinct armor of the Tempestus Scions, with a greatcoat thrown over it. Slung at his back was a hellgun with an underbarrel grenade launcher. At his hip he bore a hellpistol and a combat knife. Moira noted with interest that the third figure was a woman, who was also clad in Stormtrooper plate. She was armed with a flamer and a bolt pistol, and she had a power sword in a sheath attached to her hip. All three of the Scions had on their helmets, and each of them had a variety of grenades and ammo stored away in various pouches on strung on their webbing. Moira glanced towards Falkon, who was looking at the trio with familiarity in his eyes, she would have to question him about how he knew them later, but the fact that he was not reacting to their presence otherwise spoke volumes to her. The first Scion strode a bit further up the hill, gave Moira a shallow bow and said “High Queen Moira I presume?” Moira nodded “I am Tempestor Prime Gallus, and these are my comrades Riley and Castella.” As Gallus gestured to each of them they nodded and offered Moira a shallow bow before resuming their polite silence. Moira returned their bows before turning to regard Gallus. After a moment she responded “You are correct Tempestor, I am High Queen Moira of House Valorn. Thank you for taking time away from your deployment to accept my invitation. I thought it prudent to get to know the men and women that I might be fighting alongside over the coming weeks.” The Tempestor Prime accepted this statement with a nod before replying “It was no problem High Queen, my Scions were nearly done already with their deployment when I received your invitation, so it was little trouble for me to accept your invitation, and I must admit, I was curious to see a duel between Imperial Knights. I have had precious little contact with Knights in the past, so I wanted to observe the coming duel.” Moira allowed herself a small grin before replying “A Knight duel isn’t all that special admittedly, it’s simply a matter of tradition between my House and House Cyrene that whenever we encounter each other on the field of battle an honor duel occurs between our Houses. Neither House can recall the true reason behind the duel, so it has become a matter of pride.” After that the two settled into a slightly more relaxed conversation and they talked for a few more minutes before Moira excused herself and began to trudge back towards the impromptou arena. The other Imperial commanders were beginning to arrive, and she would need to talk to all of them before the duel began. She sighed softly to herself, there were times that she hated being High Queen.

As Moira trudged down the hill towards the arena she noticed a figure clad in red robes approaching her from the bottom of the hill. As the figure got closer Moira was able to deduce that the figure was a Tech-Priest, and was most likely Liza, the leader of the Adeptus Mechanicus in this Crusade. The first thing that Moira noticed about her was her eyes. While they were partially hidden from view by polarized glass lenses, Moira’s keen eyes saw that they were actually organic, and that they were the color of emeralds. The next thing she noticed was Liza’s “hair”, which seemed to consist of braided metal and cable. On most beings such a thing would look disturbing but, somehow, on Liza it seemed strangely beautiful and functional, as if it was meant to be there. Moira noted that most of her other augmetics seemed to share that characteristic. From the beautifully crafted rebreather that covered the lower half of her face, to the elegant metal limbs that had replaced her arms, Liza and her augmentations seemed to be perfectly natural. She seemed to lack the incompleteness that the Tech-Priests of Gaia’s forges seemed to have. She was complete. Moira was jerked out of her reverie when Liza walked straight up to her and offered Moira her hand and said “Greetings High Queen Moira, I am Magos Explorator Liza.” Moira was again taken aback by just how human Liza seemed to act. Other Tech-Priests shunned many of the old human customs that they had left behind with their flesh, deeming them unnecessary and idiotic. She swiftly recovered though, and took Liza’s metal hand in her own and shook it in return, this time noting the fine craftsmanship of the limb, and how smoothly it operated, as if it was still flesh and bone. She then replied “And I greet you Liza, in the name of House Valorn and the Imperial Knights. I am looking forward to working alongside you in this Crusade.” The Magos seemed almost pleased at this last comment, and she turned to look at something and what little of her face that Moira could see seemed to light up in awe, and Moira turned to see her staring at the armored figure of her brother Cassius as he stomped by on his patrol route in his Knight Acheron Vengeance. Moira could easily understand her awe. House Valorn had long had an ironclad contract with the Tech-Priests of Gaia’s Moon, they would provide her House with Knight suits in return for protection for the Moon. The Tech-Priests were able to create a limited number of suits for them each year, but each one created was from patterns that had been first used in the dark days before the Great Crusade. Very few forge worlds had the capability of creating such suits, and House Valorn was fortunate enough to have a contract with one such forge world. Liza turned back to Moira and the two of them talked for a few more minutes, and arrangements were made for the Mechanicus to repair any damages that the House’s Sacristans were unable to repair. In return House Valorn would provide protection for the Mechanicus should they require it. After that Moira continued to walk down the hill, there was still a few more people that she needed to talk to.

So here's the AdMech paragraph. Up next is The Angel's paragraph, or maybe Vanden's paragraph..