# Under the Red Sky Part II



## CaptainBailean (Feb 20, 2008)

Two

Sisterhood of Fire
Pennance Due
Zealotry Unleashed

Cannoness Preceptor Alena Aris of the 2nd Preceptory of the Order of the Argent Shroud walked in silence down the long, wide hallway towards the Chamber of Order, where her fellow Canoness’ were gathering for a war council. Alena was wearing a white, hooded robe made of lace. Around her waist was wrapped a golden rope, tied in a loose knot in the front of her robe, she had long, black, hair that fell loosely around her shoulders. She had big brown eyes and a slender build. She had thin eyebrows and thick lashes, accented by her attractive facial structure. Back home she was told she had been beautiful, but in her line of work, her personal appearance had no meaning. Alena had joined the Order of the Argent Shroud as a fifteen year old girl. Her parents had been killed by a band of pirates and they had left her to die after forcing themselves upon her. After months of sowing away aboard cargo ships, she found herself in the Hive City of Trolthsis. There she heard a preist give a sermon on the holy knowledge of the Emperor and how he knew what each of his subjects was doing every moment of their lives. She had been moved by the speech the man had given and decided to giver her self utterly to the Emperor. Now nealt thirty-five years old, Alena had fought in many great battles and crusades and she had the scars to prove it.
The pristine white hall was tall, with detailed arches every fifteen meters and from each arch hung an ornate and beautiful banner showing the iconography of each of the Orders of Sisters in service of the Imperium. The news had just reached them that the Chaos Lord Durak’ Chal and transmitted in system in the Kranos sector with a massive war fleet and millions of warriors, traitor Astartes, mutants, daemons, cultists and a variety of other foul emissaries of the Dark Gods. The Kranos PDF had managed to fend off an initial attack and the capital world had remained in Imperial hands, but several of the other worlds in the system had fallen, Mersol, Grthin and Thasis had all been captured by the forces of Chaos. The rest of the planets had fallen into disarray and rebellion and the local governors were having trouble maintaining even a semblance of control over their charges.
As Alena neared the door to the chamber at the head of the hall, one of her Sister Superiors, Sister Ellen Mathis, came out of a heavy, wooden door,
“Canonness!” called Ellen. Alena came to a stop as the young Sororitas ran over to her.
“Yes sister Mathis?” asked Alena as Ellen stepped up to her. Ellen Mathis was beautiful, with shoulder length blonde hair, a gray robe, a symbol of her station, and a form slightly slimmer than Alena’s. Her deep blues eyes still held the innocence of youth and had the untested look of a young girl. And there was no reason why she shouldn’t look the way she did, she was barely twenty years old and had not a week ago been promoted to Sister Superior. She had been in several major engagements, but none had involved anything but planetary guard forces.
“You’re off to the council are you not?”
“Yes I am sister, but what are after now, you should be at prayer.”
“I couldn’t go, not now anyway. Theres too much excitement to go to prayer.”
“Ah, but those are the times when we must pray the most, to calm our souls and to free our minds from the daily worries.” Ellen looked ashamed and said,
“I’m sorry Canonness, I should go back then.”
“Yes you should, but not before you tell me what this is all about.”
“Well, I was just eager to know if we were going off to fight Durak’ Chal and his Chaos hordes?” 
“I suspect we will. Why so interested? You’ve never been this excited about an engagement before.”
“Well” said Ellen, “I’ve never been in a full fledged Crusade before and I’ve never seen an Astartes warrior.” Alena immediately knew where Ellen’s excitement was coming from.
“Well, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see them within the next few months.”
“Are they as big as people say they are?”
“Yes, sometimes bigger, I barely come up to one of their chests.”
“Emperor, that’s big.”
“Yes, their also ruthless fighters and are often times intimidating to even us Canonnoess, now off you go.”
“Yes Canonness.” The young sister ran off and left through the doorway she had entered from. Alena walked the rest of the way to the large, iron doors and pushed them open. 
She stepped into the room and saw before her a long wooden table surrounded by ten chairs, nine if which had a person sitting in them. Alena moved over to the remaining seat, and sat down. The room was small and modest, with a few tapestries hanging along each wall and a fire burning in a fireplace behind the head of the table. Six torches hung from each wall, small yellow flames burning in their holders.
At the head of the table sat High Inquisitor Malograd Hefth, a ruthless enforcer of the Emperor’s will. He was a giant among men, with broad shoulders, big hands and dark skin like obsidian. His head was shaved and he had several scars on his face. His left eye was milky white and a scar ran from his forehead to his neck. His remaining eye was dark green and had the knowing look of one who has seen more than most. After a long moment, the Inquisitor spoke in a low rumble of a voice,
“We have not the time for pleasantries so I will not pester you with them. As I have al ready informed you, Durak’ Chal has attacked the Kranos system and the local defense forces are proving inadequate to stop him. We will be deploying a full Sisters of Battle Preceptory, under the command of Sister Alena Aris” said Hefth, motioning towards Alena. “Such is the threat from these heretical forces that we have enlisted the help of Grey Knight Grand Master Caesar Gunther and a force of his Grey Knights along with members of our own Ordo Hereticus including members of the Assassinorium and Storm Troopers. Also to help us fight this war, we have gained the aid of the Blood Angels, Commander Dante has informed me that his 4th Company Captain Markus Bailean will be more than willing to help us in our endeavor along with members of the Blood Angels Veteran Company, Scout Company and their Support Company. Plus several hundred thousand Imperial Guardsmen under the command of Lord General Alexian Havik of the Cadian 35th in addition to the planetary defense forces in the system. Our forces will leave for the Kranos system in twenty four hours. Prepare your troops and be ready to leave, we cannot waste any time in reaching our objective. We will meet our allies in the system above the planet Kranos and we will make the planet our base of operations, from there we can plan our next best move. Good day to you all.” the members of the war council all stood up from their seats and began to make their way towards the doors. Alena pushed open the solid wood doors and walked out of the room. 
As she stepped out into the hall she paused and let the cool air of the monastery wash over her and she took a deep breath. She started walking again and soon found herself in the chapel. It was the biggest room in the whole building and was dimly lit by a few yellow candles. Above Alena was a two hundred foot ceiling that hung with gold and white chandeliers and had many stone arches across the top. The room was at least three hundred feet long and about two hundred across with massive stone pillars every fifty feet. At the head of the chapel was a long platform of stone with a wooden alter in the center. On either side of the alter were racks of candles, fifty of the wax lights burning in each rack. Behind the alter was a great golden twin-headed eagle with a silver ‘I’ emblazoned down the center of the eagle, the symbol of the Imperial Inquisition. A bright, golden light emanated from the eagle giving it an angelic feel. On either side of the eagle stood two statues, one of Sebastian Thor, a hero of the imperium who led the rebellion against the tyrant Goge Vandire during the Age of Apostasy, the other of Saint Euprhati Keeler, the first Saint of the Cult of the Emperor.
Alena walked across the room towards the alter on the red, silk carpet that lay across the floor. She reached the alter of the Emperor and kneeled before it, head bowed. For five long minutes she knelt there in silence and prayed to the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind and asked him for his help in the coming campaign. Eventually she stood up and left the temple, her white cloak trailing behind her. She walked the rest of the way to her dormitory on the opposite side of the compound and opened her door. The room was not bare but it was not extravagant either, its walls made of the same grey stone that the rest of the compound was built out of. On the far left side of the room lay Alena’s bed, its white sheets folded neatly. Next to the bed was a small book shelf, mostly laden with Religious texts but a few of the books were tales from old Terra and more current works on the nature of the warp and the various armies of the Imperium. On top of the book shelf sat a small, glass vase with six red roses in it, the water was almost gone, I’ll need to water those later, thought Alena. On the opposite side of the wall was a small writing desk with a wooden chair pushed in under the desk. On the desk was an ink well with a feathered quill laying on a round, grey stone next to it. There was a golden candle stick covered in melted wax and in the stick sat a half melted candle, there were two stacks of paper on the desk, one was official documents and reports that she still had to read through and the other was of clean, yellowish scroll paper for her to use for her personal works. Next to the desk was a small waste bin filled with crumpled up paper, broken quills and old ink bottles. 
Alena went over to the desk and pulled the worn wooden chair out and sat down. She grabbed a sheet of paper and the quill. She dipped the quill into the ink well and began to write. She wrote for the sheer joy it brought her and let the words flow out of her hand and mind as the quill raced across the yellowing paper. She wrote for hours on end, writing what ever came to mind until she had used up a third of the stack. Finally, she wiped the quill of ink and set it back down on the stone, she took the papers she had just used and stacked them neatly. She opened up the drawer in the desk and pulled out two thin pieces of leather and tied the pages into the leather. She put the book under her bed and checked the time, it was nearly time for the evening meal. She blew out the candle and threw what was left of it into the waste bin. She opened up the desk drawer again and pulled out a fresh candle and set it in the candle stick. She turned to leave and faced the door; she muttered a quick prayer and left the room, locking the door behind her.
Alena walked the distance to the mess hall in silence, her thoughts wandering in and around the prospect of the extensive campaign that was to come. It was going to be bloody, this she knew, such was the nature of battle. But she wasn’t sure if she could bring herself to face the prospect of the vast amount of casualties, both soldier and civilian alike. She had been in the order for a long time, but she had never participated in any campaign of such a scale, she had avoided battling in the Despoiler’s 13th Black Crusade in the Cadian sector because she had been putting down an insurrection on the planet Ferthal led by a rouge psyker. She had lost some of her closest sisters during that war, but it had all been in the name of the Emperor and to preserve a territory of the Imperium of Man, but now. She cast aside her doubtful thoughts and told herself that everything would work out in the end, after all she was a sister of the Order of the Argent Shroud and she would be fighting alongside the armies of the Imperial Guard, the Fearless Astartes and the incorruptible Grey Knights, their victory was assured. 
She eventually found her self at the Mess Hall and walked inside. The Sisters were sitting at the long wooden tables, chatting quietly as they waited for the stragglers, Alena being one of them, to arrive. Alena found her place at the head of a table with thirty of her sisters seated at it. She tucked her robe under her and sat down. She sat in silence as the remaining sisters filed into the hall and took their seats at the long tables. As the last of the stragglers sat down, an old woman limped up to the alter, her ornate and decorative silver robe shimmering as she walked. This was Cononness Gilda Hersof, one of the most senior members of the Order of the Argent Shroud. She had shrunk with age, but Alean knew she had once been one of the finest warriors the Order had to offer. Her hair was pure white and she had a few scars on her face, her left hand was robotic, it had been chopped off by a Chaos champion on Veris. Despite her age, she could sill imbue a fierce loyalty to duty into even the most doubtful sister. She took her place at the alter and spoke in her soft, but authoritative voice.
“Sisters, tonight is your last night here in the monastery for a while for tomorrow you go to battle the Emperor’s foes. All of you have fought such wars before on many planets across the Imperium and you have been victorious. Many of the battles you have fought were simply routine missions to destroy the leader of a cult or to slay a renegade psyker, not terribly difficult in terms of an engagement. But this war will be like no war you have fought, for it will span system wide, on many planets against foes that seem to outnumber the stars. You will stand amongst our most bitter foes, the forces of Chaos, and you will feel their malevolence and their contempt for the Emperor and all things human and you will be made to be afraid, so that our foes might defeat you more easily. But you will not be afraid and you will not surrender, for you are the daughters of the Emperor, his Sisters of Battle. Your faith will hold its ground against even the most terrible foe and you will conquer its evil. On your quest you face the heretic, the sorcerer, the outcast, the mutant and the Daemon, all of these have the power to drive a person into insanity and despair, but you will hold your ground because in your heart, you know that to give ground against these foes is to surrender your free will and to surrender a thousand innocent lives that could be saved by your actions. So go to war, knowing that even if you should fall in combat, your sacrifice is necessary to our success and to the survival of the Imperium. All these ten millennia that the Emperor has ruled us, our existence has been made possible by the warriors that come to our defense and die willingly to save us from the terrible wrath of the xeno, the heretic, the mutant, the sorcerer and the daemon. Now you will join their ranks and protect the innocent from the foul creatures that inhabit the galaxy. Your faith is your armor; your righteousness is your blade and your courage is your strength. So when the foul abomination that is the corrupted stands before you, stand firm and remember the sacrifice of those before you and that your faith can never be beaten. That the Emperor protects and even should you fall in battle, your actions will change the course of war. The Emperor protects, you may eat.” The ancient Battle Sister left the podium and sat down at a table at the head of the hall where the inquisitors and many senior sisters ate. 
Dinner dragged on and after an hour, the sisters filed out of the hall in single file and went to their respective dormitories. Alena walked to her room and lay down on the bed; she gazed up at the ceiling and blinked. Tomorrow she was leaving to participate in the biggest fight of her life, to fight the hordes of the traitor Astartes over an entire system. The scales of the battles to come boggled her mind, the biggest battle she had taken part in had been a siege with 10,000 men, but that had been a siege. She knew from accounts that in wars of this size many of the battles would be much larger than even a siege; she had read that often time’s battles raged across worlds with more than a million participants. One Million people on the same field, she also knew that the Imperium’s population numbered into the trillions, most likely more, but that many soldiers in one place struggling and killing each other was insane. She closed her eyes and thought to her self, there’s a first time for everything, and in seconds, she was asleep.


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## Kronus (Mar 1, 2008)

As promised I have read both parts. I prefer 1 to 2 but that’s because its more action packed. The prose and the details were all of a high standard. My only 2 reservations both with regard to second part because to my mind they don’t seem very fluffy. First off I think Alena and Ellen are both too young for the responsibilities or their ranks. 35 is to my mind far too young to be a canoness (as in 40k world they live much longer) let alone be given command of a 1000 sisters or their abouts likewise 20 is too young for a sister superior. When you consider equivalent marines, Captain and Sergeant, have probably severed innumerable decades and that most company masters are centuries old. While I don't think SoB are so long living, their position below marines but above stormtroopers I would have made both a fair bit older. Secondly I am not sure SoB have free time as it were to write (I know marines never get time off, according to fluff if their not killing, sleeping or eating they are training) nor would someone appointed to lead a large contingent have time to relax when preparations needed to be made. Still the two points were minor and was overall a nice piece keep up the good work


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## CaptainBailean (Feb 20, 2008)

ok, i wasnt sure how to judge the age factor for sisters but thanks for the advice.


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