Arkhans Story Part 7

 

Arkhan had a restless nights sleep. Dreams of Captain Vanden falling and Orks swarming over walls and defences. Plus nerves about the next chapter on his life. At least Dax was with him  Arkhan thought, the ward was quiet as it was super early in the morning. A few orderlies were moving around quietly. Arkhan looked around and saw a pile of clothes on the table next to his bed. He didn't recognise them and assumed his clothes had been destroyed beyond repair. He climbed out of bed and got dressed. Green combat trousers, a black t shirt and  boots. Arkhan suddenly stopped and looked at his cybernetic arm. He hadn't thought about it at all, how quick had his body got used to the arm? He was amazed, his body still felt a bit weak but he stood up. No dizziness which made Arkhan happy. An orderly noticed he was up and brought over some hot caffeine drink. He thanked the man, sipped it and it felt glorious. He hoped Dax would be early so they could head off. Arkhan sat back down on the bed, drank from his mug and watched the ward start to wake up. Some soldiers woke up and happily chatted to the other soldiers with a cool  relaxed demeanour of a familiar comradery. Other soldiers lay there silent staring off into space obviously reliving some unseen  horror. Arkhan knew he had no real idea what lay ahead of him but anything was better than the under hive. Now he had seen Xenos and the humans who stood against the tide. He felt a rippling in his soul, an urge to serve and do his duty. Dax walked into the room and saw Arkhan dressed and alert. "Excellent lad. Glad you are up and about. I have something to show you before we report in. Let's get you signed out of here and away we go to New adventures and a nice safe space ship for me!" he laughed as he went over to the orderly desk. Arkhan looked around and realised he had nothing. He grabbed a jacket that was with the pile of clothes and walked over to Dax." A.... R..... K. LOOK there he is on the list. Let's go we got the emperors enemies to slay" Dax said frustrated. The orderly sighed and pointed to Arkhans name. "Sign here" Arkhan instinctively took the pen and signed a scrawl for his name. Then a fraction of a second later he realised once again he had used his  cybernetic arm and not noticed. These implants were really good! Dax led Arkhan out of the building. The sun light made Arkhan shield his eyes, it had been a while since he remembered a clear blue sky. The street was a main street, buildings both sides. Very little battle damage, Arkhan guessed the Orks had not been here. People went about their business it seemed, soldiers marched up and down the road. The occasional vehicle moved down the road. Dax tapped Arkhan on the shoulder. "Come on this way." they walked for around 10 minutes, Dax pointed out various buildings and statues. Turns out he had been stationed in this town while in the PDF. As they turned the corner Arkhan saw What Dax wanted to show him. A building with a giant Aquila on the front, a steeple went high into the air.  Arkhan felt a shudder ripple through his body.the air felt electric. They entered the sanctum. Inside cybernetic cherubs floated around waving insence, a priest was reading from a large old looking book to a group of soldiers. Dax led Arkhan to an altar. A golden image of the emperor was laid out across the  altar. Dax knelt and Arkhan followed suit. Arkhan whispered "What do I do?" Dax raised his hand. "Close your eyes Arkhan and pray to the emperor just like you did on the battle ment" Arkhan closed his eyes, breathed deeply and concentrated on the emperor. The underhive had taught him nothing about religion and he hoped the emperor would understand his immaturity. He prayed that the emperor would watch over him and Dax and let him do his duty.
"The emperor hears your prayers soldier" a voice said. Arkhan felt a hand on his shoulder, he opened his eyes and saw a priest standing to his side. The priest was tall in a red robe. Bits of parchment hung from him each seemingly containing holy verses.  His hair was grey, thinning and unkempt. "I feel you have been far from the emperors light son" Dax went to speak but the priest raised his other hand.  "You may not have known the emperor but he has known you and seen your potential. He bade me in a dream to give this to a young soldier I would meet. Take it" the priest pulled out a small gold aquila necklace. Arkhan took it and lowered it around his neck. "The emperor has plans for you Arkhan. Don't let him down." with that the priest walked away. Arkhan was confused he hadn't told the priest his name? Dax looked dumb struck also. They both stood up and walked out of the building. Dax spoke first "That was odd. That priest knew your name?" Arkhan was still in shock  "Yeah how did he know my name Dax?" Dax shrugged his soldiers, "I have no idea. The emperor works in mysterious ways"
"The emperor protects" Arkhan said,
"That he does Arkhan! Right let's get going." the 2 moved off through the streets.
A large warehouse type building  rose up over the buildings around it and 2 soldiers stood by the main entrance . "Right this is the address Arkhan. What ever happens from now on its been a pleasure knowing you and fighting along side you." Dax reached out his hand. Arkhan shook it "You to Dax. Been a crazy few days and I don't think I would have survived without you" Dax smiled  "You would have done fine. Come on let's go" the  2 approached the doors, the very bored looking  soldiers eyed the approaching figures. "Orders?" Dax held out the paper Razor had given Arkhan. The soldier studied it "Hmmm in here off to the left up the stairs." the guards went back to looking bored. They followed the instructions, as they walked along they noticed a large room filled with people in line. Seemingly  they were being enlisted  into the guard as well. Some looked excited some looked nervous. Priests chanted at the waiting enlistees. While ministorum officials entered the new soldiers details into machines. "Here we go Arkhan" Dax said, an open door led into a room. No where near as big as the other room and only a few people in this one. Only one desk with an offcial , 5 soldiers behind the desk were leaning against walls and boxes making idle chat. They stopped and stared at Arkhan and Dax. Arkhan looked at the soldiers, they stood with the confidence of warriors. A nonchalant look of people who had seen many dangerous things and done many dangerous things. The offcial at the desk looked bored and snapped his fingers "Come on I haven't got all day"
Dax passed over the paper. The offcial snatched it and started tapping away at his cogitator. He looked up, his face drawn from long hours sat at his desk. "Arkhan Blaide?  Hmmm ah yes here you are. Selected for the rangers are you? Right I've got you noted down. You're the last one for the rangers so you need to go with these gentleman. What about you?" the official said. "Ah you must be the last name on my List Dax. You can go with these gentleman also they will direct you to logistics. Right that's me done. Blessed be the emperor and may he watch over you in your service. The emperor protects! “ the soldiers and Dax repeated the phrase. Arkhan did half a beat later. "yes well off you go" the offcial waved Arkhan and Dax  away and started typing into his cogitator.  Arkhan and Dax walked towards the soldiers. Whin were stood up now and regarding the 2 with the eyes of people that had been in the military a long time. A tall brown haired soldier spoke "Come on let's go. I'm Corporal Deacon. You can call me Corp or Corporal for now. You got anythings?" Arkhan shook his head "No Corporal. Lost it all in the fight with the Orks" Deacon nodded his head slightly "Hmm you must be Captains new prodigy. Well you have your life still Arkhan so not all bad. Right let's go" the other soldiers walked out of the door and Arkhan and Dax followed. 

They walked through what seemed like a maze of corridors. The whole building was a hive of activity. They walked across a gantry and below were tech priests working on giant hulking tanks. Arkhan stared like a kid as he watch the tech priests work. They were more robot than human it looked like. The tanks looked massive, their turrets helped a variety of large weapons and Arkhan recognised heavy bolter and flamers sticking out if the sides of the vehicles.  Corporal Deacon saw Arkhan staring "Leman Russ tanks. They are the emperors work. You never seen one before?" Arkhan shook his head "No I'm from the underhive so not seen much at all really. They are huge." Deacon laughed "You haven't seen anything yet then".

They carried on walking. Soon they exited the building. They had arrived at a space port. Massive space ships were slumped on their landing gear. There were all manner of shapes and sizes. The space port was filled with soldiers and vehicles. Arkhan was amazed at the organisation. Everyone seemingly had a plan of where they were headed  like ants moving to and from their hive. As they got closer to the sea of activity Arkhan realised it wasn't that organised as he good hear officers yelling at people and cursing the occasional person. The soldiers in front moved with a purpose and wound their way through the crowds. "Now you see the scale of the Imperium hey Arkhan? Bit more to it than just our little world. Woah look at that!" Dax said excitely 

Arkhan turned to see where Dax was pointing, thankfully it was roughly in the direction they were heading. A smaller ship, boxy in shape with short stubby wings. The front was open like a gaping maw and stood in front of it were 2 huge  figures. Arkhan couldn't believe it, these must be Astartes! 8ft tall clad in thick green armour. One was holding a massive gun well massive to Arkhan it looked like a normal rifle to the space marine. The other marine had a huge chainsword and a pistol in a holster. They were talking to some imperial guard soldiers who looked like children next to the space marines. Arkhans group headed towards the  2 marines and guard. Arkhan recognised Razor.... No Captain Jaman... Gotta remember to that. He was talking to the marine with the chain sword. The captain noticed the incoming group and turned to face them. "Corporal you have the last of our inductees?"  Deacon saluted, "Yes sir. Dax for logistics and Arkhan Blaide for the unit." with the name mentioned Arkhan noticed the marines eyes turned to him.  Arkhan felt nervous having the attention of an 8ft super human. The marines armour was thick, dark green and grey on the pauldrons. Purity seals were attached to his armour at various points.  The marines face had 3 studs on his forward head, his hair short and cropped. Scars across his cheek showed a life of combat and danger. "Arkhan Blaide? His voice sounded gruff and ancient" Arkhan saluted, it seemed the appropriate to do so, "Yes... Sir"

"I am Sgt Jatar of the Salamanders chapter. I recognise that name, you were the defender that  fought the ork boss single handedly." Arkhan noticed that the soldiers leading him and Dax had heard and were paying close attention. The Sgt continued " your bravery was noted by my squad as we made land fall. How could we not be inspired seeing an Imperium citizen taking up arms to defeat the Xenos without regard for themselves. I personally killed that Xenos filth and we burnt their stain from this world. I am gladdened to hear  you have entered the Astra Militarium service. Doing the emperors work is a glorious thing. Take this as a token of my respect  and go fight for the emperor " Sgt Jatar pulled a puirty seal off his armour and handed it to Arkhan.

Arkhan shakily reached out and took the purity seal. It felt old, dry and the wax felt hard as stone but still holding a shine. Arkhan held the seal close, immense pride rising up inside him. "Watch over him Captain Jaman he is doing the emperor work. Remember.... The emperor protects!" everyone within ear shot repeated the phrase. A loud whine of engines suddenly howled. The 2 space marines entered the flyer and the doors closed. The Salamanders craft lifted off and flew out of the space port. Captain Jaman smiled at Arkhan who stood staring at the purity seal.  "OK Rangers that's our lander there " he pointed to a large craft squat in nature. It did not look very aerodynamic but Arkhan guessed it was designed to hold troops and supplies not look nice. "Let's load up and get on the troop ship. Arkhan and Dax follow Deacon., he'll get you sorted. Dax when we are up on the troop ship I will put you to work with our quarter master. Arkhan, Deacon has your squad assignment and you will begin training. I know you can fight but now I want you to learn how we fight. " Dax saluted so so did Arkhan. Deacon looked around" Alright let go you gakkers! ", he walked towards the ships open ramp. Arkhan followed, the sun disappeared as he walked up the ships ramp. The smell of oil and metal hit him, it reminded him a bit of the underhive to be honest. Yellow flashing lights  lined the  hold. The crew were moving around the hold directing troops where to go, their pale skins showing a lifetime spent away from sunlight inside the corridors and holds of the landing ships. Corporal Deacon led them through the ship to a medium sized room. With chairs in rows, a lot of the chairs were already full of soldiers. Deacon pointed a chair out each for Arkhan and Dax. Arkhan sat on the hard chair, he tucked the purity seal onto his jacket and pulled the restraints down from over his head. The came down and pushed down on his shoulders. He saw that the mechanism clicked together with the seat so pulled the restraints all the way down until they clicked and locked. Arkhan felt the pressure and pushed against the restraint and it felt secure. "You ready Arkhan?" Dax asked. "Not at all Dax, not at all". Arkhan chuckled,  he was going off world... This was really happening.

A klaxon sounded and various doors hissed shut. Everyone was in chair now. A large rumbling started and the ship started to vibrate. A voice sounded over a speaker somewhere, it sounded like a prayer. The ship started to vibrate more and the rumble turned to a roar. Then Arkhans stomach did a flip, his face  must have gave something away as Dax noticed.  "If you thought leaving the underhive was a big step..... You are now leaving the planet! “ The underhive comment had raised the soldiers eyebrows  around Arkhan . He hoped that wouldn't be a problem in the future. He looked around to see if he was the only one new to this whole thing. Most soldiers didn't look bothered, he was pretty sure some were asleep! He noticed another soldier staring around looking nervous. They met eyes and Arkhan managed a weak smile. The other soldier nodded in return.

After 20 minutes of random noises, hisses, alarms and clangs Arkhan noticed they seemed to have stopped moving. The restraints released suddenly and the soldiers started murmuring and stretching out. Corporal Deacon stood up "OK people!!! If your new follow me, every else you know what to do go get your weapons stowed  first. We all know how the navy feels about us being armed" someone Boo'ed "Anyway get on with it. Arkhan, Dax and Luvell with me! “

The doors opened and the soldiers headed out of the lander. Arkhan looked for Deacon and followed him. Dax was right next to him and the soldier he had seen looking around came up to them. A small sandy haired thin lad, "Hey guys names Luvell. This is all a bit new to me, never been in the military before and now I'm in the rangers. Its all a bit crazy." Arkhan nodded "I know how you feel, I've gone from the under hive to working in the fields and now this" Dax laughed "look at you fresh faced pups" Corporal Deacon was busy making sure everyone had left and then turned to the 3. "Right stick close as its dead easy to get lost and the navy don't like us grunts wondering around their precious ship. Let's go" He headed out of the lander. Arkhan looked around at the large hanger bay. It reminded him of some of the halls he had seen back in the underhive. Except this one wasn't wrecked and was filled with various vehicles. Some huge landers like the one Arkhan had just got off, some smaller craft with twin tails and two engines on top. Weapons bristled under the wings and figures walked around and over the vehicles.  Deacon noticed Arkhan staring at the flyers. "Those are Valkyries Arkhan. They'll be your taxi to the battlefield. Good fun, pilots are a bit odd though" Deacon walked on. This was all different from the under hive and even just the planet surface.  Arkhan felt like he was out of his depth but he trusted Captain Jamanns instincts in him. They headed over to a door, it opened and Deacon headed through. Dax, Arkhan and Luvell headed through.  Arkhan was amazed That Deacon knew his way, he always seemed to take the right corridor but Arkhan guessed the Rangers spent a lot of time in this ship. Deacon stopped at a door marked stores, waited for the others to close up. They then proceeded through the door. Inside looked like store front. An open space and at one end a counter. Behind which sat a balding bearded man in a well kept uniform. He looked up as the 4 people walked in . Deacon smiled "Quartermaster Julianus. Got some new fish. Here is your new assistant Dax. Grizzled old PDF soldier lost his arm fighting the Orks but still wants to serve." the quartermaster nodded. He ticked something in a data slate. In a high gothic accent that reminded Arkhan of the rich upper hivers who used to come down to the underhive for adventure" Good I need a new assistant after the tryanids ate my last one" Arkhan internally gasped...... What..... eaten?? "Right do you have any personnel effects?", Dax shook his head "No sir lost it all in the war" Julianus nodded. "Not a problem we can find you all that you will need to do the emperors will. Right come behind the desk and I'll show you the world of guard logistics" Julianus had a wry smile across his face. "Yes sir, see you later Dax" Dax shook Arkhans hand and hurried behind the desk and gave his friend one last look before he disappeared through a door with Julianus Arkhan knew it was going to happen but still felt deflated. He had fought alongside Dax and now he wouldn't be fighting with him anymore. He knew it was for the best though Dax was to old to be  fighting really. Julianus returned, "So I'm guessing you 2 need everything from scratch also?" he seemed irritated by this inconvenience. Arkhan and Luvell nodded, Julianus handed each a data slate. "You'll need this to get your equipment from stores in the barracks . Don't lose it or the commissar will have you flogged. Right be on your way" Deacon snapped off a salute  "move out guys" Arkhan followed Deacon out of a door, down the corridor where the sound of voices started to echo up. Lots of voices. Arkhan guessed this was the main barracks. They stopped just before the main area of noise and entered a room marked Stores.  Quite a few shelves lined the room, all packed with stuff. A female in a crisply kept uniform put out a hand "slates?" Arkhan and Luvell handed them over. The desk attendant looked at the slates and then walked off. She returned about ten minutes later with a trolley loaded with stuff. She seperated various packages into 2 piles and finally dumped a large duffel bag on top of each pile. 'Right Rangers. Here is all your basic gear, it's a lot but you're slates said you are new to guard so you get the whole bundle. Uniform, rucksack, bandoliers, mess tins....... Urgh the list is in this" she handed them both a book titled the Infantrymans Primer. Get your names on the duffel bags and get your self loaded up. Your weapons will be in armoury assigned to your names" she dropped 2 markers on the desk as well. Arkhan moved over and wrote his name on the bag. He then started putting all the packets in side the duffel bag. They didn't all fit so he ended up holding the duffel bag, his ranger back packand his boots.  Luvell also couldn't fit those in as well. Deacon stood up from where he had been leaning against the wall. Let's get you to your squad. The Sgt is waiting for you.  They left the room and carried on down the corridor. The room they entered was bustling with soldiers milling around and relaxing. A tall soldier with a large cigar clamped between his lips Arkhan recognised him as the soldier that accompanied Captain Jaman when he was in hospital. "Ah finally they have arrived! Welcome to the Rangers. I'm Sgt Helius and this is Marauder platoon You have earned your spot here now you need to earn our respect. I understand you are both civilians and earned spots here in the war. Now you need to learn to fight like us. That's what I will teach you. Learn fast we are already off towards our next mission and once we are there you are in the fire with the rest of us. Let's get your kit stowed and crack on"

The next few weeks were a blur of training and more training. He learnt fire and maneuver, proper weapon maintenance (Not underhive weapon maintenance), how to use coms (the com bead in his ear still felt odd) and a million other things that Arkhan struggled to remember. His squad seemed to have accepted him at least that made it a bit easier, it had got around about his fight with the ork war boss and that seemed to have helped. His arm was like a part of him now and he barely noticed it. It was stronger than before so that did take some getting used to. He hadn't seen the captain very much at all but he guessed that's the way it is now with troopers and officers. Him and Luvell had bonded being the new guys but Corporal Deacon had kept an eye on them and made sure they fitted in with the squad. His Las gun was much nicer than the shotgun he had scrounged. He hadn't fired it on full power as the navy didn't allow that. His armour was a new thing for him, he was sure after seeing ork fire power it wouldn't be of to much use but certainly better than no armour. Corporal Deacon had made it clear not to rely on armour as "we are not astartes!" and cover is always better.

Travelling in space hadn't really bothered Arkhan the ship was so huge he forgot he was in fact travelling through space most of the time. Which was handy as he had heard  soldiers talk of demons whispering to you in your sleep when they travelled through the warp. He managed to lose himself in training and didn't think about the fact he was in a metal box flying through space and the warp! Arkhan was sat in his bunk one evening when an alert tone sounded and out of a crackling speaker a voice said to assemble in squads for a briefing in the hanger bay. He got up and joined his squad as they headed out of their barracks. Sgt  Helius was ahead telling them all to move quicker. Arkhan liked the Sarge, he was tough but fair and always looked out for his squad all though when you heard him shouting and cajoling rangers you wouldn't have thought so but when Arkhan had hit some low points in training the sarge had been there with a quiet positive word. He was glad for this as he had heard rumours of Commissars, tough no nonsense disciplinarians. The unit had lost their last commissar back fighting Orks but no soldier would say what happened only that he should have learned to keep his head down. Arkhan just assumed an ork sniper had got him, runours were a replacement was joining them at their next mission. Luvall and Arkhan walked side by side making small talk as was every other soldier walking along. They entered the hangar bay and Arkhan saw the whole company was assembling with Captain Jaman patiently waiting for them all. Once the rangers were all assembled. The captain started to speak "Evening Rangers! I know you've all been bored of the space travel and want to get into action" a ripple of assent went through the company "Well here's what we are going to do"