Prologue

927.M41

"Connor Lunarius, step forward!" An average sized boy barely into his sixteenth year with short brown hair and dark green eyes stepped forward, he had been training ruthlessly for the past six months all for this moment which would decide the rest of his life, (and unbeknownst to him at the time many others as well) he hid his nervousness well, trying not to play with his hands or trousers and looked at the Sergeant in front of him "you are hereby accepted into the Planetary Defence Force training cadre, head through the door to your right and you will be given a muster date and location" Snapping rigidly to attention and barely suppressing the urge to punch the air Connor simply said "Yes Sir! Thank you Sir!" turning and letting a grin creep onto his face he opened the door into another small room where the clerk asked his details and gave him a small slip of paper signifying his acceptance to the PDF of Albion and his muster orders, which were one week from now and in one of the academies in the heavily forested northern hemisphere of Albion.

Walking out into the bright sunlight Connor rounded the corner of the recruitment office and started laughing almost hysterically, he'd done it! Entrance into the PDF wasn't the hardest thing in the universe (though it was more so than most such organisations in the Imperium of Man) but Connor had been dreaming of this since before he could remember.

He looked again at the crisp piece of paper clutched in his hands hoping to the Holy Throne of Terra that it wasn't a dream, it looked practically identical to his father's although without the stains and creases, he soon pocketed it in his trousers and headed down the side street reaching his home fairly quickly.

The house wasn't a mansion but it came close, with a gilded front door and sandstone walls, opening the door he raced upstairs to his room and started packing all the gear on the list given to him along with a few personal effects, the last being a picture of his parents, putting down his stuffed bag he decided he would at least wait for his guardian/maid who had looked after him since his parents died in the previous Tyranid invasion a year before.

He didn't have to wait long, the large front door opening to expose a deceptively young and beautiful long haired brunette woman in a maids uniform, Connor launched himself at her making her drop the keys still in her hands "woah there! Haha, i'm assuming it went well?" nodding enthusiastically he produced the slip of paper and handed it to her with a smile plastered on his face "well, your father would have been proud and your mother too" noticing the bag placed near the door she continued "your not leaving yet are you? You still have a week before you have to be there" Connor explained that he wanted to get settled in before the training started, "well at least wait a few days and we can celebrate" a note of sorrow finding its way into her usually sweet voice "we won't see each other for at least a year, maybe never if you're picked for the Imperial guard"

Connor reluctantly agreed and in the days to follow they spent as much time together as possible, going to watch a few holodramas (mainly of Commisar Ciaphas Cains recent exploits on Perlia) and eating out at the most expensive restaurants they could find in the capital of Albion, Camelot.

Soon enough though this came to an end and with promises to keep in touch as much as possible Connor stepped onto the shuttle which would carry him to his new billet at the Royal Military Academy York.

928.M41

One year passed since Connors training began, he flew through everything with flying colours excelling in marksmanship and small team tactics, he was in the top five percent of that years recruits and thus he was eligible for drafting into the Astra Militarum or the Imperial Guards, the primary military organisation of the Imperium of Man, and everyone fully expected him to gain that privilege.

As such it came to his graduation day, the whole class lined up in front of their superiors with the creme of the crop in the front row, all dressed in their dress uniform and with shiny boots, they were all surprised when General Arthurius stepped up to the podium and began giving his speech, the general was the Commander of the northern planetary forces on Albion and a veritable Hero of the Britannia system since his victory over the Tyranid swarms almost two years ago.

As the general was going down the line inspecting each fresh recruit a commotion was heard near the front gate, this was promptly ignored until what was a few raised voices turned into shouts of alarm, the general stopped at Connor but was looking over at the commotion when Connor notice a flicker of movement out the corner of his eye, relying on instincts that had been pounded into him for the last twelve months of training he dove towards the general knocking him down onto the gravel, he then spun round with Arthurias' ornate laspistol in his hands and fired three shots at the roof of the surrounding academy and before the multitude of guards could react a gut clenching screech ripped out from the same direction followed by a sickening crunch, a writhing black mass now lay on the gravel, it had long serrated claws on its back and a shiny black chitinous hide, this time the guards reacted instantly firing a withering barrage of lasgun beams into the ichor covered mass, a few of the guards then turned their weapons on Connor shouting at him to drop the weapon which he did but before the closest bodyguard could detain him the general ordered everyone to stand down and turned to Connor asking in a hard and somewhat amused voice "what's your name son?" Connor saluted in the traditional Britannian fashion and answered adding his rank and regiment for good measure "well, Connor, it looks like I owe you my life and i don't like being indebted to people" attempting to sound modest Connor simply said he was only doing his duty and that he doesn't require an award "nonsense, you are to be rewarded, but if you are insistent on being modest..." sweeping his custom laspistol off the floor he spun it around and offered the ornately carved handle to Connor who with a look of utter astonishment carefully grabbed it "look after it Private and it will serve you as well as it has served me" and with that the general turned on his heels and began shouting orders to his guards and the officers around him, directing them to go and search for any remaining Tyranids still lurking in the area.

Lunarius soon found himself on the shuttle back home with orders to report for duty with the officers training cadre in Camelot, after dropping off his gear and securing a few days leave he rushed home into the waiting arms of his maid, Cerilia, who after a long and tearful hug pulled away and looked him up and down "well you certainly look the part" she jested "but why are you back here? i heard you finished with high marks, definitely enough to secure a position in the Imperial Guard" Connor explained what happened with general Arthurias and with no shortage of gasps and exclamations of joy he managed to tell her that he had been requisitioned to go through officers training with the PDF and thus exempt from the Astra Militarum draft "and it looks like you got a shiny new toy to go along with it" Connor swiftly and proudly drew the laspistol and struck a heroic pose raising a laugh from Cerilia before letting her get a closer look at it, she wondered at it for a while finally exclaiming that the thing looked like an ancient revolver and would probably cost a small fortune before Connor returned it snugly into its equally ornate holster at his hip.

Even with the presence of the gorgeous and charismatic Cecilia, Connor still found himself getting bored at home, he longed to get back to his training and to finally be assigned a unit, but for now he had to consign himself to reading reports of Commissar cains adventures with the valhallan 597th, a few days passed before there came a knock on the door, Cicilia being the devout maid that she was answered it in a flash, soon bringing a familiar face to Connor who was in the main living room at the time, as Cecilia opened the door and announced the arrival of one Lucius Foy, Connor jumped to his feet and rushed over to meet him "Foy! What are you doing here?" Foy, still gawping at the maid turned to Lunarius with a wide grin, "I couldn't let you have all the glory now could I?" Lucius Foy was one of Connor friends at the academy, they had grown close after a particularly harrowing evening in the field.

After accepting a seat he explained that he had also been accepted into the officer cadre though he went through the ordinary method of applying and getting tested.

After a long period of speculating on what it was going to be like Connor offered him a room in his house stating that there were certainly enough spare rooms, Foy looked like he was going to accept but turned it down saying that he wanted to get himself set up at the academy (no doubt being somewhat of a ladies man he wanted to check out the fresh faces) and with that they wished each other goodnight and with Connor feeling even more the urge to get started.