Hi. Ive been part of a forum
RP since last summer, and I decided to post my last narrative piece here to get any opinions on my writing style or if they find it interesting or not. This is my last post that makes sense on its own anyway.
Feel free to ask any questions or leave some feedback. It's all appreciated, whether positive or not.
Also, Link: (
http://www.miniwargaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=114869&start=1500. ) it's pretty extensive, but contains a lot of great material from all players.
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Anna held Frederic tightly as the Storm Eagle descended to the surface of the planet. At first it had been relatively smooth but once they'd entered the atmosphere it hard started to shake aggresivly. The baby was crying non-stop, and the Sorcerer's prescence wasn't helping.
"What do they want with us." The young girl asked, her voice trembling.
"I wouldn't worry about your personal safety small one." Qaralek chuckled. "The good Brigaider would never harm a child directly."
'so he harms them indirectly?' Anna thought. "You didn't answer the question."
The Sorcerer cocked his head. "He's at war with their planet and they are the Governors children, surely that answers itself."
"Hmm..." she muttered.
"I hate them..." Sophia complained.
They began to hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions outside. "What's that sound!?!" Anna panicked.
"Tallious artillery, firing on the void shields. Nothing to worry about, we're quite safe." As he said that they could hear what sounded like energy crackling and the explosions became muffled. "We are inside the shield."
"We're there?"
"Any second."
The transport began to stop shaking as it went into a hovering state and she could feel it turning. "Children, you need to stay close to me."
"As I said, there's no need to worry. They're too valuable an asset for him to harm and you're under my protection. Of course, someone as... lovely as you should have no problem getting on his good side."
She felt a strong feeling of repulsion. "I'm not letting some old man touch me!"
"Old man?"
"He is a Brigadier isn't he?"
Under his helmet Qaralek grinned as the Stormeagle touched down and shook everyone but the Rubrics. "If you say so. Oh."
Qaralek lead the way out onto the landing deck. Anna took a deep breath and looked at the children. Sophia took her brothers hands in hers, but he stayed hidden behind her. She smiled at them. "I promised to protect you, and I will, there's nothing I can't handle."
The girl remained silent but nodded. Anna the turned and lead the way out, the two Rubrics ushering them from behind.
Outside of the vehicle they got a full view of the city. The sky was covered by a great void shield that rippled as it was hit by enemy artillery. The buildings were mostly collapsed and smoke flooded every single street below the 10th floor. Every so often an explosions and gunfire could be heard in the far distance, followed by flashes of red light. Messages and propaganda spew forth from loud hailers and the shouting of soldiers could be heard from all directions.
They had landed on what seemed to have been some sort of converted large hospital. The rooftop was covered in Gun and anti-air emplacements, as well as a few landed Valkyries.
And the Guardsmen. Lots of them. Most of them wore thick brown and reddish uniforms under cadian style armor plating, however as they stepped froth from the StormEagle a squad of them in heavier carapace emerged from a doorway.
They approached and stood before them in a threatening manor, several of them even carrying plasma guns with their fingers on the triggers. All around Guardsmen turned their attention towards the visitors and readied their weapons hesitantly.
Anna and the children came to a stop at a gesture from Qaralek, who stood resolute. "I can only hope for your own well-being that you're mistaking me for somebody else."
The Sargent made the sign of the aquilla over his chest. "We thank you for your co-operation and will take the prisoners from here."
"that is why they brought them down here." Qaralek sighed and made to move past them.
They flicked the safety off of the plasma guns. "The prisoners, not you." The Sargent said louder.
"Is that an order?" Qaralek asked the man in a threatening tone.
"Yes. Colonel Owens instructed us to bring the prisoner. We will contact you when they're ready to be returned." the Sargent said without backing down. "In addition, the Brigadier ordered that no Marine is to enter the command centre without his direct permission again. Ergo, you're not getting in!"
Qaralek thought about this. As much as he felt like tearing this insolent fools brain apart from the inside out, it wouldn't look good if he started attacking Wolcotts men, and given how his mere prescence made the witch sick, he couldn't risk using his abilities around her.
Anna could feel Qaraleks anger, so she was quite surprised to see him give in so quickly. "If the Brigaier insists..." he said slyly. "you are lucky that I'm in the prescene of women and children, otherwise your insides would be decorating very roof you stand upon."
He turned and made his way back towards the StormEagle. Underneath his helmet Anna had no way of knowing if he gave them a second glance but she felt like he did.
As the vehicles doors closed the veteran Guardsmen relaxed slightly and approached her and the children. "
Th-thank you." She smiled at him, her stomach feeling better by the second.
The Sargent didn't have quite as nice a reply though. "The Governor has 2 children." His voice was harsh, sounding almost like he was choking on his c's. "So who are you?"
"I'm their..." she decided it was best not to say Witch. "...Guardian."
"What do we do with her then?" Another Guardsman asked, looking her up and down.
"We can't leave her." A Guardswoman added.
"Why not, she'll be fine here?"
"What about the baby? We can't leave them-"
"You're not leaving me anywhere! I'm staying with the children!!!" She practically shouted at them.
The Sargent shuffled about and sighed loudly as the StormEagle took off and began its journey back to the fleet. "The Colonel says he wanted 'prisoners' right?"
"Those were his exact words, yes." the Guardswoman nodded.
"Then she counts." he grinned at her. "Lucky you, you get to come to the party after all, miss..."
"Anna." she smiled. She was reluctant to reveal her last name to them. "And this is Frederic."
He smiled half-heartedly at the baby, who only gave him a confused stare back. He then looked at the two children. "And you two?"
"Sophia." the girl said firmly. "And Titus."
"Right, well, you're coming with us to meet Saint Brigadier Ashton Wolcott of the Kestral 73rd Battalion. Rachel..." he turned towards the veteran Guardswoman.
"Huh, Sargent?" The Guardswoman who Anna figured must be called Rachel asked curiously. He nodded towards Anna. "Huh?" she repeated.
"Search them." He sighed.
"Oh, right, yes..." she nodded and began to pat them down.
The squad lead them through the hospital building, which was now filled with military equipment and soldiers. Anna held Frederic tightly as everytime they passed the guardsmen they seemed to stop what they were doing and look over. At least until the Sargent glared at them and they returned to their duties.
The Guardswoman known as Rachel was leading them, although unlike the Spireguard women she seemed a lot more reluctant to be dealing with them. "Where are we going?" Anna asked.
"Somewhere..." Was all she muttered in response.
Anna gave up and decided she wasn't worth trying to speak with. She couldn't help but notice that there was a lot more women soldiers here than in the spireguards by a significant degree, but they were also a lot more aggressive and gave her aggressive looks whenever she made eye contact with them.
They turned down more corridors until the Sargent raised a hand, telling them all to stop. "Wait a second..."
Several medics suddenly passed by, dragging a couple of hospital beds with injured Guardsmen on them. Blood was practically pouring from them and one was screaming. One of the medics tripped over his own feet and the bed they were carrying shook violently as it came to a stop.
The soldier on this bed was covered by a sheet, but what could only be described as a large amount of intestines spilled out onto the floor.
Sophia and Titus let out a gasp and Anna pushed them behind her.
"You f*cking d*ckhead!" The Sargent growled at the medic.
"Yes Sargent, sorry Sargent!" The medic blurted out as he haphazardly scooped the bits up and put them back shoved them back under the sheet, the other medics shaking their heads dissaprovingly.
"Get out of here!" Rachel snapped and the medic apologised again. They wheeled it away and the Sargent gestured for them to keep going.
"
Wh-
wh-what was that!" Sophia asked, her words catching in her throat.
"That's what happens when a bolter round hits you in the stomach!" The Sargent laughed.
"That's not funny!" Anna snapped. "That man's dead!"
"Nah, we got a good doctor." he grinned. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure he'll be fine. He'll learn not to let it happen again next time."
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?" she snorted derisively.
The Sargent flexed his powerfist. "What doesn't kill me dies."
They quickly exited the building and took a Taurox to the building that used to be the Talliousian parliament.
****
"Are you sure sir..." Owens asked, his voice nervous.
"Yes, I'm sure!" Wolcott insisted. "Now shut up and let me... damn... okay..." he took a deep breath. "3... 2... 1..."
He slit the razor blade across his wrists, cutting deep
"AAAARGH!!! FETHING FETH! FETH!!!"
He screamed before biting down on his tongue. He sprayed blood out into the sink until Owens quickly applied the first aid kit and bandaged him up. "It should be okay now sir."
"Good, my eyes?"
Owens looked at his eyes. "They're... back to normal sir, just like you said."
Wolcott smirked. "Good, good. I feel a bit... uh."
"Are you sure this was a good idea?"
"...no, but we know its the right idea. When I'm mortally wounded it focus on fixing my injury above taking over my mind."
"So you're free?"
he shrugged. "No, but it's distracted."
Owens vox-coms suddenly beeped. He held it up to his ear while Wolcott checked his eyes in the mirror. They were back to normal, for now. His wrist stung like crazy, he wondered if in his panic he'd cut to deep. The daemon was still there, and no doubt still influencing him, but at least he didn't have to wear the sunglasses again for a while.
Owens put away his vox-coms. "The Governors children are being taken down to the command centre."
Wolcott nodded and stepped away from the mirror. For a moment he swayed, but eventually regained his balance. "Woah... All right, fine. Let's go."
***
Upon the Taurox arriving there they exited and approached a large gate being guarded by a security checkpoint and some heavy bolter emplacements. "State your business." The officer there grumbled in a tone evident that he'd said the same thing to 100 people already that day.
"Prisoners for interrogation."
"Who's orders?"
"Colonel Owens orders."
The officer checked a clipboard. "Right you are, we'll take them in from here. To your duties."
The Sargent looked back at Anna. "In you go."
She nodded politely. "Thank you, Sargent..."
He hesitated to respond. "...Redwood." Then pointed at the Guardsmen opening the checkpoint gate. "Good luck."
They were lead into the building and down towards a meeting room. inside it was a large round table with several guardsmen standing around chatting. They glanced over them when they entered and gestured towards the seats before resuming their conversation.
Sophia and Titus were cautious to sit down, Titus trembling slightly but his sister laid a hand on his shoulder and helped to calm him slightly. Anna took a seat close by and smiled warmly at them. Despite the girl trying to stay brave for her brother, it didn't take a genius to figure out she was scared too.
Anna looked down at Frederic to see that he'd fallen asleep. "can I see him?" Sophia asked timidly.
"Offcourse." Anna said and tilted her body sideways so that she could see.
"Cute..."
"yeah."
The door opened and two people entered. The Guardsmen all stood to attention and saluted the aquilla over their chest. "Get out." one of the new entrees ordered them rudely and they nodded before heading on out of the room.
Anna looked to see the two new figures. The first was a photogenic, darker skinned man that looked as if he was going near thirty. He wore practical carapace armor and a black and red rimmed patrol cap. He pulled up a seat across from them and waved nervously with his hand. "Hi." she said back.
The other officer was much younger looking and as white as a ghost, in fact she had to do a double take when she saw him. His uniform looked far more ceremonial and he looked like some sort of fashion model almost. He reminded her more of the sort of boyband singers she went to concerts to see when she was younger than any sort of officer.
She smiled flirtily. "hi."
He didn't return it though. "Who are you?"
"she's our nanny." Sophia lied.
"Right, whatever." he sighed and took a seat next to the other officer.
Anna looked towards the door. "Qaralek said we're meeting the Brigadier."
"You're looking at him."
She stared at him quizzicaly. "Y-you?" that wasn't right. She wasn't a soldier but even she knew that Brigadier was a senior position, one that took years of experience to achieve. This boy looked barely her age and he was leading an army?
He nodded, an irritable look on his face. "Yes that's me." and he turned his attention towards the children. "And you must be Sophia and Titus, yes?"
Sophia nodded. "Yes."
He clapped his hands. "Right, excellent, let's get started. Firstly, I'd like to start off by extending you my sincerest apoligies."
"W-what?"
"What has happened here... this... war, was not what I wanted. I tried to seek an alternative solution, I truly did, but my hand was forced and I had no choice."
Sophia swallowed cautiously. "B-but dadd-Father says that you-"
"Your father?" he asked and leant back in his chair. "Sadly wasn't to blame. I mean, yes, he's to blame for bringing your world to the level of degeneracy it has achieved but it was actually the High Lord General that started the war so-"
"Degeneracy..." Anna repeated, not quite sure if she'd actually just heard what he said. "What do you mean?"
He stopped talking and raised an eyebrow at her. "Did you say something?"
"What do you mean 'degeneracy'?"
"It means that they're racially impure." he smiled at her sweetly and then turned back to the kids. "So, anyway, as I was saying, this war was not my choice, and I'd have done anything to try and avoid it."
"
Wh- but...We're not impure!" Sophia argued.
Wolcott let out a small giggle. "ah, don't worry, it's nothing to be ashamed off. Different people are just born at different stations in life. It's why its up to us to work together and overcome those stations, in order to ensure humanities continued existence."
She was confused by his reasoning and so was anna. "But..." Sophia continued "Why did you invade us?"
he grinned. "I've already explained it to you, I'm not doing it again. Besides, that's neither here nor their, it's in the past."
"So why are we here?" Anna demanded.
"because I want to make up for it."
Sophia and Titan stared at him. "What?" she asked.
Wolcott made sad, puppy dog eyes at her. "I... feel just... awful about what's happened to your planet. It's people, having to die because of decisions that your father and High Lord General Xavier made in their name. That's why I will do anything to fix it, and that's a promise."
Sophia shook her head. "I don't believe you."
He looked offended. "Why not?"
"Because you're a bad man."
He laughed. "That's not very nice, is it?"
"Do you expect them to believe you?" Anna asked.
he glared at her. "I dunno, do you want to keep interrupting?"
"maybe I do."
"And why is that? Hmm? Is it because it-"
Owens tapped him on the arm. "Sir, we're uh... getting off track slightly."
"...right, yes." he growled and calmed down. "Anyway, basically I want to make you two planetary governors instead."
"What?" Sophia blurted out. "But then... is father-"
"-he's not dead." Wolcott explained. "He's just no longer in office. As his children you two have the legal rite to inherit this world and I will ensure that you do, provided you follow certain conditions."
"Which are?"
"Firstly, you order the immediate surrender of this worlds military. Secondly, you order the immediate surrender of the Knight houses of... whatever the other planets called. Thirdly, you will accompany me back to Kestrel, where you will remain prisoner until you come of age and can be married into our family name."
the kids didn't have an answer, so Anna spoke for them. "You want them to surrender this world?"
He nodded. "And the entire system as well. It will join the Kestral Sector and rightfully become ours by Imperial law."
Her jaw was open. "That's.... that's not right."
"On the contrary, this world already belongs to me. Should I wish it I could have the atmosphere destroyed and every single life extinguished in an instant. HOWEVER, I am giving them the chance to save it."
"You want me to marry you?" Sophia asked.
"
EW!!! Emperor, no, not me! ...But one of my brothers, yes."
She shook her head. "No."
He raised an eyebrow. "Would you prefer one of my sisters then?"
"NO!"
He shrugged. "Well I mean, it's not like either of you have a choice in the matter. If you agree to it willingly then you'll get to choose whichever one you want."
The girl went quiet, not uite able to take in what she was being told. Ashton leaned to the side and looked at Titus. "What about you? You havn't said anything this whole time, what do you think?"
The boy took a good long while to consider his question, then eventually came out with it. "Are you really inbred?"
Owens let out a snigger into a closed fist but then restrained himself. Anna noticed the Brigadiers eye twitch. "...Am. I. Inbred?"
Titus nodded. "Yes, are y-"
Sophia slammed her palm over his mouth, shutting him up. "he didn't mean that, he didn't-"
"no, no it's fine." he smiled. "It's only a question."
"So are you?" Anna asked, curious herself. She'd heard rumors about Kestral blood lineage, usually from drunken racists back on her home planet, but she wanted to make sure...
"No." he said firmly. "I am not inbred. I and the rest of my family are born by a method of artificial insemination. The um..." he hesitated to find an appropriate word to use in front of the children. "The stuff is taken and grown in a private facility elsewhere. I'm more like... a clone, if you will."
Anna raised an eyebrow. "Who's the DNA from then?"
"My mother and Father, obviously."
"And are they related?"
He breathed in heavily. "They're both clones of each other as well."
She nodded. "So... your mother and father are brother and sister then? That's still pretty incestuous..."
He stared at her angrily. "No, it's not. There was nothing actually going on between them, it was purely professional and for the purpose of ensuring that our bloodline remains in-"
"That's weird." Sophia interrupted. "I don't want to marry into that."
"It's not weird!" he spat.
"It is a little weird..." Owens added.
Wolcott span and glared at him. "WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON!?!"
"I don't want to be inbred..." Titus began to cry.
Wolcott banged his fist down on the table. "I have made my offer to you both. Either you accept the role of governance over these worlds and hand it over to Kestral, or the war will continue and people will die. And it'll all be our fault."
"That's not fair, you can't put that on them!" Anna protested.
"I didn't. Their father did. This world is mine and I will take It by blood and fire if I must."
Sophia and Titus looked at each other sadly.
In a weak voice Sophia looked at Wolcott and gave him her answer. "We have no choice."
He smiled sweetly. "No one does."
He clapped his hands together. "Right. Well then. It seems that we're done here."
"Are we going back on the ship?" Anna asked.
"No, I said we're done here but I'm not done with them."
"Right, but what about me?"
He shrugged. "What about you?"
"Aren't I going back up?"
He looked at her oddly. "...No... why would I send you back up? I thought you were the nanny?"
Her mind was torn in two places. On one hand he was offering her a chance for something she'd wanted for ages. A chance for freedom. Yet, at the same time she feared what might happen if the marines discovered that she'd escaped.
"You'll be fine here." Wolcott sighed.
Owens leaned over towards him. "Brigadier, we should probably put them under senior supervision. That way no one can supersede your order to sneak them out."
Wolcott nodded. "Suppose, but who? You can't do it 'cus I need you and Johnsons not available... oh, I know." He pressed a few buttons on his vox-coms. "This is Wolcott, do you read?"
"yes Brigadier." came the reply from captain Mary.
"Is McKinley there?"
"Not at the moment Brigadier, but I can go and get-"
"Don't bother, I haven't got time for her whining. I'm sending some VIPs down, I want her to keep them safe from harm, understood?"
"Um, yes Brigadier I-"
"Good, you are not to tell anyone that they're being sent to you, this is strictly confidential, understood?"
"Yes Brigadier, but-"
"If they're harmed, I'm holding you all personally responsible, so make sure that doesn't happen."
"Yes Brigadier. But-"
"Out." he snarled and cut the transmission. he looked back at Anna and the children. "As I said, you'll be fine."
