17: Hint of a Promising Plan

"Please take care of me, Octus Humblestock."

Octus' mind stuttered. He gaped at the Sister of Battle below him who had just declared her heart was his. Her declaration was just so simple, so direct, and so sincere. Octus wasn't very smart about these kinda things but he was sure most relationships didn't start like this. But on the other hand… It was just so… so Sabine that Octus couldn't help but like this method more than the other ways he'd heard about.

Still, he owed the woman he'd come to call a good friend over the past few days an answer. It was amazing how close two people could get when they were constantly in life-and-death situations while also fighting for a common cause.

"I'll do my best," Octus said firmly. Then his tone grew hesitant. "… Ya sure about this? What… What if I fuck somethin' up?"

Sabine nodded, "Then we will work through it together. I did not lie when I said my heart belongs to you, Octus. It has since I first laid eyes on you, though I did not realize until I thought you had been torn away from me… I very much doubt our relationship will ever be typical but I do not mind that idea. I have my own… proclivities that I believe you will be surprised to discover… This will be a learning experience for us both but I shall enjoy every second I spend learning with you."

Octus blushed a fiery crimson that Sabine couldn't help but find adorable. He was so flustered by her wholesome words that he could barely stutter out a response, "Y-y-ya t-too… I mean, M-Me too! I-I'm looking forward to spending time with ya. Please take care of me as well…"

Sabine smiled at him softly and fondly, "I shall. Never again will we be alone, Octus, now that we have each other."

While they were having their heart-to-heart, the battlefield around them had unpaused. Their kiss had made everything freeze or be immolated — the Humans and Daemons respectively. Now that they weren't locking lips, the golden glow that radiated off of them had faded back into obscurity. The blessing of the Emperor still lay within them but it wasn't having a noticeable effect on the material world.

The portal had resumed spewing out Daemons. The infernal horde ignored the newly-formed couple but still threw themselves at the Zionites and the recently-arrived Guard regiment. The defenders found themselves being pushed back steadily. Seeing the golden shield that surrounded the couple, Commissar Lady had taken charge and commanded the Zionites into a fighting retreat until Sabine and Octus seemed to be the only two Humans still in the cathedral proper.

The entire front half of the cathedral was gone, thanks mostly to Lady's timely reinforcement. The Zionites fled back to the line of defense established by the Guard regiment, still fighting the entire way. There, Guardsman and Underhivers fought the Daemonic incursion side by side.

The air smelled of burnt ozone and purified corruption. Las guns and autoguns laid down volleys of fire thick enough to be called waves. Punctuated by the immense booms of the Leman Russes' main turrets, these waves slammed into the Daemonic horde. Swathes of death were carved through the charging corruption. And still, the tide of Daemons never slowed.

By now, everyone on the battlefield had realized the worrying situation they were in, even the recently-arrived Guard. They could keep firing into the horde and hold their ground but it would be futile if they did not close the portal. Lady wracked her brain for a solution as she shouted orders and encouragement to keep her regiment's morale up. None presented themselves.

Whenever she ordered her tanks to fire upon the rift in reality, the portal only flickered slightly and spewed forth more Daemons. It wasn't possible to completely route the Daemons either. They didn't seem to have a sense of morale. They just charged headfirst at their mortal enemies, uncaring of their deaths. The situation began to appear more and more dire.

The only silver lining was that none of the Human defenders would give up. Especially not the Zionites who fought for their planet, homes, friends, and families. They were all ready and willing to die to stem the tide of Daemons from spilling out into the rest of the Hive and the world. But, of course, that meant that they needed to actually see the portal closed or all of their sacrifices would be all for naught.

As the defenders fought and slowly began to crumble under the weight of the Daemonic assault, Sabine and Octus were in their own little world. They were protected by the ravaging horde of Daemons coming out of the portal by the Emperor's blessing. They were coming back to their senses, though, as Sabine realized that she wasn't dead and the fight wasn't over.

She sat up, taking Octus with her, and looked at the shield of golden energy in awe. Octus' face was more grim and stony as he looked out past the shield at the portal and the defenders fighting for their lives and the lives of the whole planet.

"The Emperor protects…" she said under her breath.

"We have to do something," Octus' tone was just as serious as the expression on his face.

Sabine shook off her awe, "Yes, you're right. But what?…"

There was a ripple in the golden shield and the outline of a person passed through it. Both Octus and Sabine were startled because no one was visibly there. Before they could react, Sona dropped her 'normality' powers and threw herself at Octus. She clung to him, on the verge of crying happy tears. It truly was amazing how this man seemed to be able to effortlessly pull Sona's emotions past her outer facade.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Sabine spat, hissing as she recognized the woman who had infiltrated her moment with Octus.

Sona ignored her, sniffling into Octus' chest. Sabine moved to take hold of the former cultist's hair and bodily pull her off of Octus.

"Stop!" Octus boomed with a surprising authority in his voice that made both Sona and Sabine freeze and sent thrills of loin-melting heat to their cores.

"Sabine," Octus said firmly, addressing the Sister of Battle before she could recover and explode at Sona. "She's on our side here. I managed to show her the error of her ways and convince her to try and redeem herself in the Emperor's light. I-… well, maybe 'trust' is a little too much… I'm giving her a chance at redemption at least though."

"Sona," Octus pulled the sniffling woman off his chest to address her as well. "I'm… I'm proud of ya. I thought ya'd flee at the first chance ya got. I'm glad ya stuck around."

"Of course, I stuck around!" Sona choked out. "You died, idiot! Just up and left me and got yourself decapitated! I couldn't leave after that… I didn't want to even before that. You can't give a girl hope and then go die like that… *sniffle* It isn't fair…"

"Hey, now, I'm alright, ain't I? Don't know how but I am. Turns out death is only an inconvenience," Octus joked reassuringly.

Sona didn't reply, just burying her head back into Octus' chest. He patted her head lightly, looking kind of lost but still willing to comfort the woman. Sabine watched the two of them interact with a mix of feelings in her heart.

On one hand, Sabine's trust in Octus was nearly at the same level as her trust in the Emperor. Even during her lowest lows of depression, she had never doubted the Emperor. She may have become numb to the actions she took in his name but her faith never wavered. And that trust and faith in both Octus and the Emperor had only intensified when Octus came back to life. So she trusted Octus and if he vouched for Sona's change of heart, she would trust him in that too.

But on the other hand… Sona's desire to redeem herself now did not erase her past actions. She'd played a key role in making this ritual possible and she should bear the consequences that came with such folly. Plus, Sona had kidnapped her Octus and Sabine was still more than a little salty about that…

Still, Sabine wasn't dumb or petty enough to make her feelings known now. Sona's punishment would wait until after the portal was closed and they had time for such things. For now, she'd trust Octus' judgment and temporarily stay her hand against Sona.

Sabine cleared her throat, drawing attention to her, "This is… lovely… But we still need a plan of action. How are we going to close that portal? And don't think this means I've forgiven you, Maestro."

Octus looked at Sona and Sabine sheepishly, "She's right, ya know, Sona. I've kinda let it go 'cause I got to know ya a bit more but ya've still wronged Sabine. And she ain't one to let a grudge drop like me… Are ya willing to accept punishment when it comes?"

Sona nodded seriously, "I am. Just one more step on the road to redemption, right?"

Octus patted her head to show he was proud of her once again. Sona looked like she was in bliss. Sabine definitely wasn't seething inside. Definitely not… It didn't matter that Octus should have been patting her head! Of course not! There were more important things to worry about right now than head pats…

Sabine barely kept the whine she wanted to let out inside. Instead, she cleared her throat again to prevent Octus and Sona from getting distracted again.

"Ahem… A plan? Or should we just be praying for another miracle?"

Sona perked up, "Oh, yeah! That's why I came here in the first place! I just got distracted by this big idiot."

"That is completely understandable," Sabine said, nodding sympathetically. "He does have a way of grabbing your attention and holding onto it. I would like to hear your plan to stop the forces of the Great Enemy, Mae-… Sona."

Both women ignored the way Octus blushed at the way they talked about him like he wasn't there and Sona got down to business, "Alright, so I've been busy since the big dummy went and got himself 'killed'. I figured he wouldn't want his death to be in vain and I noticed the portal problem sooner than anyone else did. We already had a plan in place to blow up the ritual and stop it before it kicked off. That's shot now thanks to you, Sabine."

Sabine's cheeks became dusted with red at the light chastisement of her over-eager slaughter of the ritual's sacrifices but she nodded, accepting responsibility gracefully and motioning for Sona to continue.

"But see, that also meant the explosives we were gonna use were still in place. So I used my… special abilities… and relocated all of the charges to right beside the portal, encircling. Hopefully, now that everyone that matters is out of the way, we can detonate them and close the portal."

Sabine thought for a moment before nodding slowly, "It… could work. Overwhelming force is a tool that rarely fails in my experience. And even if the resulting explosion does not close the portal completely, it should collapse the room around it. The Daemons will not be able to climb out of the portal through all of the rumble and we will have time to call specialized reinforcements.

"And while my heart will ache for this sacred place, it was already too far gone from His light when we arrived… Though I will ask that we coordinate with Commissar Lady. Additional firepower is never unappreciated, especially in the form of a Leman Russ' main turret…"

"Lady's here?" Octus asked, blinking in surprise.

"She is. I believe you were a bit too preoccupied with being dead to notice her arrival. And then my lips seemed to claim most of your attention…" Sabine said it so matter-of-factly that she was clearly just offering an explanation and not teasing Octus.

Her sincere intentions didn't stop Octus from blushing though, "Oh… uh, yeah… I can see how I missed her…"

"You were suitably distracted," Sabine nodded.

Octus groaned but chose to mostly ignore his embarrassment, "Right… Well, let's get moving. Each second wasted means another Daemon coming into the Materium. We've already wasted more than enough time."

Sabine squared her shoulders, picking up her chainsword and bolt pistol from where they lay beside her, "Stay behind me. I shall carve a path for us."

"Uh…" Sona interrupted. "I have a better idea."

She stepped up to stand in between Sabine and Octus. She had to reach up to put her hands on both of their shoulders. A strange sensation followed the contact. It was like the universe itself turned its gaze onto them and decided that they weren't worthy of its attention. That they were boring and uninteresting and too mundane to bother noticing.

They both shivered at the uncomfortable phenomenon and Octus asked Sona, "Is this what ya feel like all the time? It's where yer fixation with everything interesting comes from, isn't it?"

Sona stared at him sadly but the sympathy she saw in his eyes made her lifelong sense of mundanity flutter away like the butterflies in her stomach, "It was… But not anymore… Not since I met you…"

Strangely, Sabine didn't feel the bite of jealousy that she expected as she watched Sona start to smile at Octus. If anything, there was a familiar warmth in her chest that someone else understood Octus' appeal. The feeling of being ignored by the universe gave her a new perspective on the unique woman. And she could certainly relate to the fact that meeting Octus was life-changing. Despite their obvious differences and the seemingly one-sided tension Sabine felt for Sona, maybe the two women were more similar than they appeared.

But as much as Sabine felt that exploring that idea would be beneficial to all three of them, there was still work to be done, "This warrants further visitation but we do not have the time at the moment. Let us be off."

Octus and Sona nodded at Sabine's reminder. And though Sona kept sneaking happy glances at Octus, the three of them finally left the safety of the golden shield. Their first steps did not attract any attention. Neither did the ones after that.

Sabine and Octus both marveled at Sona's feat of unusual power. They were able to walk directly next to Daemons and even kill them without being noticed. Sabine obviously took advantage of this chance to slaughter as many Warpspawn as she could reach. A visible path began to appear through the horde, closing in behind the group to form a sort of bubble with nothing in it.

The defenders who noticed the strange happening were puzzled but ultimately dismissed it as unimportant. The bubble large enough for three people approached the defensive line, climbing over the corrupted, disintegrating bodies of Daemons as they went. Sona didn't let their cloak drop until they had climbed the tank that Lady was perched atop.

As they flickered back into the attention of the universe, Lady greeted Sabine and Octus with faux cheer considering the rest of the situation, "Sabine! Octus! How lovely of you two to join us! Also, congratulations! I hope you two have a long and happy future together!"

"Where's Lacey?" Octus asked, blushing lightly but not losing his focus.

"In here!" Lady said, repeatedly slapping the turret of the tank with her palm. "You know how much that girl likes her big guns~"

"Lady!" came a muffled exclamation from inside the turret before Lacey poked her head out of the hatch. "Stop hitting the damned-… Oh, Octus… Hey, when did you get here?"

"Just now," Octus replied with a fond smile, happy to see his friend again.

"Oh… Well, it's good to have you back. And I'm glad you're safe… dummy…"

"And I'm sure he brings good news!… We sure need some right about now," Lady joked.

"We do," Sabine nodded. "We think we have a way to close the portal before it overwhelms us all. But we need your cooperation…"

"Anything," Lady declared seriously for once. "I don't want any more of my men to die. And if we don't stop that portal, this whole planet will be doomed to Exterminatus. There are already rumors amongst the command staff of an Inquisitor in orbit… I don't think I need to elaborate further."

Octus winced and Sabine's expression was grim. Sona looked confused and leaned in to whisper a question to Sabine, "Inquisitor? Extermi-what-us?"

"Planetary annihilation," Sabine explained curtly. "It means we're on an even tighter time limit."

"What's an Inquisitor even doin' here?" Octus asked.

Lady sent him a deadpan look and then looked to where the portal was still spewing out Daemons.

"Ah… yeah, that's a good enough reason…"

"So anyway!" Lady put her faux cheer back on. "What's the plan?"

Octus took charge and explained, "Well, me and Sona — this is Sona by the way. Say hi, Sona — we were trying to stop the ritual before it kicked off. Sabine's arrival kinda threw all of that for a loop. But we still got the explosive charges we were gonna use. And while I was… dead… Sona relocated the charges and we're now gonna set 'em all off and hope it closes the portal."

Sabine solemnly accepted the blame she was due, "Yes, I was unaware that the ritual was fed by sacrifices. My slaughter of the heretical cultists is the reason for this unholy portal and… Octus' death, however brief it was…"

Lady and Lacey both blinked and Lacey basically shrieked at Octus, "You were dead?!?!"

Lady addressed him more calmly, "We saw you lying there but thought you were just unconscious or something… I think we'll have to come back to that later… As for the plan… It sounds promising. Did you come up with it, Sona?"

Sona nodded, glad that neither Sabine nor Octus mentioned her previously heretical leanings or the part she played in making the ritual possible in the first place, "Yeah, it was a backup plan that I already had in place for stopping the ritual from being completed. Then Octus came along and helped me put it into action."

Sabine looked at Octus with a question in her eyes. Octus nodded. Everything Sona said was true. She'd just left out some key information that wouldn't be received very well at the moment. She had been planning on stopping the ritual, though her reasons weren't the best at the time… Octus had just fixed her motivation by convincing her to turncoat and give redemption a chance.

Once again, Sabine's perspective of the formerly heretical woman shifted and Lady began to muse out loud, "At the very least, it's a start… Will you accept our assistance?"

Octus and Sabine nodded vigorously and Sona seemed to collapse in relief, saying, "Yes, please! I've been worrying that the charges won't be enough. They're just things I've managed to scavenge from the Underhive and other less-than-reputable places after all…"

Lady cracked a smile at that, "Then I'll order my tanks to fire upon the portal itself on your signal, Sona. Also… Where'd that little Psyker chick get off to?"

Octus winced. He knew what was coming next. Sabine cocked her head to the side curiously. She wasn't aware of any Psykers within the Hive or on this planet at all in fact. Lacey pointed a little way down the defensive line. Everyone's eyes followed her finger.

Their gazes came to rest upon a scene of awesome power and the unrestrained fury of a tiny gothic shortstack. Violet floated above the rest of the Guardsmen and Zionites. Her hands and eyes glowed with a fiery golden aura. Golden crystals of ice sparkled in the air around her, giving her an ethereal and almost fairylike look. Daemons were torn to shreds by tremendous telekinetic force with her every movement.

Sabine spun to Octus, "Was this what you talked about her with at the heatsink?!"

Octus scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Uh… yeah. We were talkin' and it just kinda came out. Then she got… sanctified… like, through me or somethin'. It was all sorts of confusing, to be honest."

Sabine gaped at him in a stunned stupor before sighing and rubbing her brow with two fingers, "Haaa… Truly, Octus, you make the impossible possible."

Lady giggled at the Sister of Battle. She and Lacey had accepted that impossible things tended to happen around Octus long ago. She smiled as memories of Octus' antics resurfaced in her mind.

"But she's sanctified?" Lady asked, shaking off her nostalgia. "Got His seal of approval? And yours?"

Octus nodded and Lady readily accepted him at his word for Octus would never lie to her, "Good enough for me then. Let's see if we can get her in on these last-minute heroics…"