Legends of Angels 2016 Liber Edition: Capt. Lenoch's entry

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

I have decided to record my master’s history in the Scout company, with knowledge he has agreed to share with me through his psychic powers, limited though they may be in this regard, which may slightly distort how I view and subsequently record them. However, this should have no bearing on the historical accuracy of this piece, as they will be his thoughts and words, his experiences. However, he has also explained to me that he will have to share them with me in chunks to not overwhelm my mortal mind. I have accepted this and we shall begin shortly.

 

Tirus sat in fear in the dark corner. He was being chased. A pack of boys twice his tender age of five were after him. They were bullies. Their leader was the spoiled son of the captain of the Thrice-Forged Blade. One would think that the son of one of the commanders of a Space Marine vessel would be kinder, but you never know.

 

His pursuers found him, and Tirus braced himself for the inevitable physical abuse.

 

It never came. Tirus heard ceramite hit a nearby bulkhead and the hiss of servos. His tormentors ran away in fear and shakily, Tirus raised his head. Captain Octaris himself stood there resplendent in full armor.

 

The Space Marine offered a hand. Tirus took it.

 

Octaris hauled the young boy up.

 

“Thank you, lord.”

 

“It was nothing. Bullies like them shouldn’t even be allowed to have free reign of the ship. They will stay in the upper decks and each will have a provost to follow them,” Octaris replied politely.

 

“Why…did you help me, mister?” Tirus asked.

 

“Because helping people is what Space Marines do, child. What’s your name?”

 

“Tirus, sir.”

 

“I’ll keep an eye out for you, Tirus.” The captain walked off.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

11-year-old Tirus stumbled onto the bridge. He was covered in bruises and blood. Octaris took one look at him and yelled, “Fetch Apothecary Catheus!” An ensign quickly darted off.

 

The Space Marine Captain walked over to his surrogate son. With the boy having no parents and a champion of humanity as a friend, he was quickly adopted by the bridge crew and Octaris’s Command Squad.

 

When the battlefield surgeon ran onto the bridge, he had a blood slick on his armored fist.

 

“Catheus, what is that?”

 

“Eh, it might be a bit of blood from one of Tirus’s tormentors. Nothing much.”

 

Octaris facepalmed. “Catheus, Astartes don’t go after petty bullies, we send provosts. What happened to their provost guards?”

 

“They gave ‘em the slip.” Catheus shrugged. He went and began to tend to Tirus’s wounds.

 

Tirus looked up and whimpered. “It hurts, Uncle Cath.”

 

“Shh, shh, kid, you’ll be fine. Maybe we should start teaching you more, eh? Maybe even choose you as an aspirant.”

 

“You mean it, Uncle Cath? Really mean it?” The boy was visibly excited about the prospect.

 

“Why not. I’ll talk to your father about it, lad,” Catheus smiled, and applied gauze to the boy’s face.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

It was Selection Month.

 

This was a month-long tournament where each ship of the Dawn Blades would travel to a world and find potential recruits, as well as any of those who choose to participate from the ship.

 

Tirus was participating this year. He was extremely scared. Octaris was helping him with some advice and extra training but Tirus was scared it wouldn’t be enough.

 

The first competition was forging. Each competitor was expected to forge their own combat blade, in standard Dawn Blade tradition. If chosen to continue, they would use that blade in any further tasks.

 

Tirus hammered the metal into the desired shape; a short sword with several oaths of loyalty to mankind carved into it.

 

Next was combat. They had to compete in brackets of 16 and win their bracket to continue.

 

Further trials included races, feats of strength, and challenges of intelligence and marksmanship.

 

A serf began to read off the names of the people who would be ferried to the 10^th company flagship, the Dojo.

 

“The following competitors will be departing for the Dojo in one hour. Gideon, Tirus, Damison….” The names droned on.

 

He’d been selected! Octaris was going to be so proud.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Captain Sukauto was not a kind man. He yelled and screamed, and he turned a blind eye to the beating and bullying of the aspirants. Tirus called and asked Octaris about it during the little time the aspirants had to themselves, but he received a non-answer from a self-righteous prick who thought a trainee had no business calling a captain.

 

Tirus had sighed and hung up.

 

Months later, Tirus found himself fighting for his life against an alien boarding force. A xeno swung a blade at him and Tirus parried with the combat blade he’d forged a while back. Tirus countered, blocked a backswing from another xeno and then with one powerful swing lopped the alien’s head off. A cadet next to him lost an arm and Tirus plunged his blade into the heart of the attacker and the xeno fell.

 

“Are you okay, friend?” Tirus asked as he pulled his fellow trainee up by his lone arm.

 

“I’ll live,” the other boy grunted.

 

In the rising light of the corridor, Tirus could see the mauled bodies of combat servitors.

 

“You’ve done well. You’ve earned carapace armor,” the Scout Captain said over the ship-wide vox, with approval in his voice.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Tirus hefted his sniper rifle, which he’d named Longbow. He was being deployed to a Chaos shrine world and the Gladius Strike Force he was attached to was tasked with destroying the taint and obliterating any cults. The task force included a 10^th Company Task Force, a Battle Demi-Company from second company and their Chaplain, and a Centurion Siegebreaker Cohort. Captain Octaris was going to fight from saddleback as well, with his Command Squad for additional support.

 

He boarded his shuttle and the Warp-capable craft containing thirty-five scouts, ten bikes, and their respective equipment they needed took off into the Great Ocean.

 

When he arrived, Tirus sought out his surrogate family and greeted them warmly. Octaris embraced the boy and then told him that he couldn’t show Tirus favoritism. Tirus nodded in understanding, gave his father one last hug and went to target practice.

 

Tirus lined up his sights and pretended that the inanimate target was a moving cultist. Actually, I can make it move, he thought.

 

The teen hit a button and the target began to move erratically, and Tirus carefully lined up his shot from a kilometer away. His bullet left the barrel and the target’s head exploded.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

When they were first deployed, Tirus’s Sergeant, a man named Suzak, began to order the members of his squad about. The scout Tirus had become friends with, Tomohiro, was cleaning his missile launcher when they were attacked.

 

 

 

A pack of seventeen marines and about thirty cultists were advancing on the camp. A Land Raider advanced alongside them, lascannons tracking slowly across the battlefield before settling on the 2^nd company chaplain.

 

Tirus and Tomohiro, with the rest of their squad, lined up their sights and opened fire.

 

The missile went wide, but the driver recognizing the danger and swerved sharply at the last second. A marine from Tirus’s squad took a heavy bolter shell to the chest and fell with his torso a bloody hole. Apothecary Catheus, who had secretly been keeping an eye on the scouts, ran over, but the scout was too far gone to be saved.

 

The snipers increased their firing tempo, and eventually their shots found their marks as doors opened to reveal a squad of chaos terminators. Some fell to sniper fire, and others returned fire, though their shots fell short.

 

Eventually shots reached the laser generators, and the Chaos Land Raider went up in flames.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Catheus looked at Tirus. “You need to come with me right now, son,” he said.

 

“I’m old enough to know what you’re going to do, Uncle Cath,” Tirus said. “And I don’t like it.” He crossed his arms petulantly, as if he was ten years younger than his 15-year-old body would suggest.

 

“Tirus. Boy. You need to follow me to the Apothecarion. I’ll be gentle if you come quietly. Otherwise I have to drug you and drag you there. You’re close enough in body makeup to have no ill effects from Astartes-grade drugs. Either way you’re going.”

 

 

“You know that the Preomnor has only about a 15% success rate! You just are using me as a test bed to see what works!” Tirus shouted.

 

“And I will admit to that, but-“ as soon as Catheus said ‘admit’, Tirus had slung his rifle and jumped into a vent, his carapace armor slotting easily into the HVAC duct, while the apothecary’s full power armor was too bulky to fit, allowing the scout a perfect escape route.

 

“Catheus to bridge, we have a runaway Scout in HVAC ducts on deck thirteen. He’s got his cloak on him, auspexes will be required,” Catheus reported.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Tirus sat inside the cold metal room of a Librarius testing hold. Ever since he had been sixteen and a half, and pict-captures of his last battlefield deployment had shown him able to divert bullets with his mind, he had been kept in this Astartes-grade containment ward, and would be until his threat and power levels were assessed.

 

He didn’t know, really, what he had. He had always chalked up his unerring accuracy to natural talent, a good eye, and training. He hadn’t realized he was a witch, and now he hated himself for it. All the times he had bragged about being the best shot in the company, after the captain himself, were all lies. How many people had he put down, gotten washed out because he had been enhancing his own shots, and making them miss with his subconscious? How many?

 

He had been told that he had been blessed, given a gift in the eyes of the emperor with which to smite his foes, but he hadn’t seen any friends for months, and his father hadn’t stopped by either, but Tirus knew why. He was a witch now, and didn’t deserve anything.

 

He laid down and wept.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Tirus walked out of the Librarium, clad in his carapace armor, a psychic hood, and armed with a force maul and his sniper rifle Longbow, modified with a combi-plasma attachment in the year and a half of training he had received from the best telepath in the chapter. In that time, he had refined his power, or what little of it there was, to something suited to battlefield conditions. After about six months, according to Epistolary Envion, his literacy skills were through the floor and thus Tirus had no business recording data, but when it came specifically to guiding bullets, he was one of the better ones Envion had seen.

 

Tirus had nodded and then attempted to pull the trigger of his bolt pistol without touching it, which resulted in a splintered desk and a dressing-down from Envion.

 

Later that year he had been awarded his force stave, in recognition of his advancement in skill level. That also resulted in an accident.

 

When he finally graduated from Librarius training, he was a fully qualified Level Theta Battlefield psyker. He was able to focus on a single bullet and guide it to the most lethal spot, and strengthen his brothers’ spirits.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

One warzone later, it was time. Tirus allowed Catheus to drug him and drag him to the apothecarion aboard the Thrice-Forged Blade. He felt his weapons slip from his fingers, his hood from his head, and his consciousness from his mind. Then the sus-an membrane activated, and Tirus slept deeply.

 

When he awoke, he felt…different. His neck and chest hurt, and across his body there were several black growths. His mouth felt parched, and a check of the chronometer confirmed he had been asleep for several months. He rose, and there standing in front of him was a Librarian’s suit of mark VII power armor, his weapons and psychic hood on a stand next to it. Attending it were two serfs, who introduced themselves as his personal armorers and scribes, to assist him in his Librarius duties.

 

He motioned, and they began to attach his armor. Soon, Tirus stood resplendent in full battle-plate. In his left gauntlet, there was a note stating he was welcome to repaint part of his armor after his first campaign. In his right, there were orders telling him to report to the shuttle bay for deployment to Ocrod Secundus. He smiled. This would be… interesting.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

And so it was that Tirus, Librarian of the Dawn Blades, became a full Astartes. He deployed to Ocrod Secundus, to put down a rebellion backed with Nurglite Death Guard marines. He was able to subtly manipulate bullets and his comrade’s morale to provide victory for his brethren. His powers saved Captain Sukuato’s life, who grudgingly admitted that Tirus wasn’t the failure he had thought he was. Since, Tirus has risen through the ranks to become third in command of the Scout company, and is trusted as a full Force Commander when needs arise.

 

Lenoch Auctoris, Personal Scribe of Tirus.

 

Lenoch Auctoris

[Claws and Effect]

Nice!

 

First time I can recall a story of a Librarian attached to a Scout Company.

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

Thank you, thank you.

 

As to explaining his role, his psychic powers are best suited for sniping and other long range skills. Thusly, he tends to be attached to strike forces that are heavy on devastators and sniper scouts, which can be straight scout company . Otherwise, he's attempting to improve his still-horrible catalouging and scribing skills, as  after a whole century and a half they are still miserable (combat and no official schooling tends to do that to a person). His other main role is assassination, as when a foe isn't worth sending a task force after, the chapter master dispatches Tirus to eliminate it.

 

He's very much a skilled sniper, and a decent telekinetic (even though in-game it's divination, b/c that's the only power set that allows to hit rerolls). Beyond that, he learned what a space marine needed to in the school of war, and has little other schooling. It's a space marine's life.