Third Story

I hid in my room and barely felt the walls tremble. The ship did not blow up, we took out the heretic ships above the planet, and successfully made landfall.

So, Kiava Gamma. Forge world. Minor (comparatively) heretic infestation, and pretty fun level as there's a lot of machinery you can activate during battles. In the game, you fight across a factory floor, fight a Heretek Fabricator-Censor, a couple of Daemon Engines, a Chaos Space Marine, a daemon in a side quest, and a boatload of borg'd up cultists. Again, very fun level.

There's a few differences between game and my new reality.

1. No party limit. Celeste is taking everyone all the time with one exception.

2. No Cassia. Cassia in the game is fantastic, and wipes whole encounters on her own sometimes. In actuality, taking your Navigator, one of the most crucial members of your ship, onto an active battleground, unless you absolutely have to, is a supremely stupid thing to do.

3. All the cultists, and the bad stuff I mentioned earlier are not grouped on one map, in one factory floor. They are spread out all over the planet.

4. Respawn rates are higher. If we leave so much as a single cultist active, resanctifying the planet will do nothing, and we'll be back to do this all over again.

5. Celeste is intent on saving this planet, rescuing everyone she can, and not just purge everyone and start over. In the game, this was a simple choice to get you alignment points. Here, that means an entire campaign.

So, as a result:

A. We were going to be here for a while.

B. I wasn't going to be seeing much of everyone else.

C. Cassia had me coming to her room about every other day to tell her a story because she was bored out of her mind, and had read all her books.

The last one I didn't mind so much because Cassia is a lovely audience, and always rewards me with a piece of fruit. I had recently finished the O. Henry stories, and she cried a little at the end of 'The Last Leaf.' I'm not going to spoil why, read the story it's short, but remember that Cassia is a painter.

I offered to give her my data slates so she could read more, but Cassia doesn't like reading off of slates. I need to get my stuff into actual books…and Cassia needs her library.

The good news was that, according to what I was hearing from the crew. The campaign was going very well. The cultists were going down, and Celeste and the Retinue were tearing through the big threats. The machine making the Daemon Engines had been dismantled. The CSM and the Fabricator-Censor had holed up in separate factories with the majority of cultists, so it was a siege situation, but Celeste was not above using Calamity's Fortune's cannons to orbital blast her way past the walls. It just took time.

I took the time to explore the upper decks when I was editing some of the more complex stories. I walked around with my data slate in hand, dressed in my formal uniform in case Cassia sent for me, and remarked on the beautiful things in my new world. Cause despite being all ARRG GOTHIC ARRG INDUSTRIAL ARRG SKULLS, there still is beauty.

I found this tiny little shrine in a small alcove. Someone took random shards of collected colored glass and plasteel and made this mosaic stained glass that reminded me of what you might see in a mosque. They have a nearly dead candle lit before it, and a scroll next to the candle. I unrolled it.

"His name was Luke Ryman. I miss him."

I put the scroll back in Luke's Memorial, and I get a fresh candle and put it in.

40k is the ultimate condemnation of religion, blind faith, and adherence to dogma. But I could never stand the type of Atheist who stepped forward and called all who worshipped God fools and stupid. It is hard to stand on your own, sometimes you need something else to lean on a little. No, I wasn't very religious back on Non-Nightmare Earth, but I think I believed…a little.

Maybe it's because who I'm working on that's making me ponder faith. C.S. Lewis. One of the few people who I felt that I would be okay with, if it turned out he was right.

Right now, I'm staring at the words to Narnia, 'The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe' specifically. Screwtape Letters I've already got edited and ready to go. Good feelings for that one…but I will need to explain the premise before the recital.

But Narnia…has a complication. Now, 40k kids? Going to love this stuff. Talking animals. Huge cinematic battles. Kids slaying mutants, heretics, and pirates. Fantastic stuff. A few iffy bits that I think I can squeak through, and some stuff that had to be changed (Santa's cameo got changed into an Astartes) but really, this stuff is going to be very very popular.

Save one tiny matter.

Can the God-Emperor be a Lion?

Now, I can't have Aslan be replaced by the actual Big E. Doesn't work for a couple of reasons. There's nothing really in the Imperial Truth that says the Emperor couldn't take the form of a Lion. I might say that it's a normal Lion either possessed or imbued with the spirit or consciousness of the God Emperor, but I'm not super fond of the idea. When Aslan revives from being sacrificed on the stone table, you don't question it because it's Aslan. If it's just a lion being a puppet…well…get a new lion.

I really want to make this work, and I'm hoping that walking around will help.

"Echo!" That beautiful voice said. I turn and see Argenta standing in a doorway. "What are you doing here?"

"Working." I said. "I'm trying to fix a problem with an old story, and I'm not sure how. What are you doing here? I thought you were down on the planet?"

Argenta is wearing…well, a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. She also has her most of her left arm in a cast. "I got hit by a power axe. Broke the femur and nearly took my arm off. Chirurgeons put this on to heal it, because I didn't want to saw the rest off and take an augment. Magos Pascal was very offended. I offered to aid in other ways, but Celeste felt I would heal faster on the ship."

"Is she right?" I said.

Argenta sighed, sounding annoyed. "Yes. If I am not ready in time to face the Heretic Astartes, I will be there to slay the Fabricator-Censor. It just requires rest, which irks me."

"Oh, these are your quarters?" I said.

"Yes." She said with a smile. "I'm being rude. Would you like to come in for some tea?"

"That would be lovely, thank you Sister." I said. "Wait…it's not tanna, is it?"

Argenta laughed. "No. No. Just standard issue tea, but my own blend. I take it you've had that other…beverage?"

"Once." I said. As a fan of the Ciaphas Cain series, I felt I had to try, so I asked for it at the cafeteria. It was a mistake.

Argenta laughed again and motioned me to follow her into her room.

Argenta's quarters were much bigger than mine. She had her own bedroom, what looked like a prayer room, big bathroom, weapon room, and a small kitchen with an equally small table. She had to pull out another chair from her bedroom to give me a place to seat.

"Apologies." She said. "I do not have many guests." She put the kettle on, and we sat at the table.

"It's fine." I said.

"So," Argenta said. "Your first shipment has been quickly received by the ship, and quite well too. I hear that on lower decks people trade data slates of your words like precious goods."

"The Seneschal blinked twice when he saw the size of the crate filled entirely with completed slates I had ready for him." I said. "I'm very glad to hear that the Lord Captain allowed my work to be copied."

"I did love those short tales of victory over xenos, and how humanity is resplendent by ourselves alone. Although, I wish the name for the collection was a bit less crude. Humanity, Frak Yeah. It's not something I am entirely pleased hearing the children shout." She said with a smile. "Strange though…I have never heard of some of these xenos species."

"That's because they're made up." I said.

"What?" Argenta said.

"Most people have never, and will never, meet a Xenos in their lives." I said. "Still they know that they are inferior to the glory of humanity…so they go into their minds and create strange and curious beings. The stories would be the same if I used Orks, Tau, or Aledari. However, really they are all the same. There are the brutes, there are the arrogant, and there are the mindless."

"Very true." Argenta laughed. "My favorite is still the walking sacks of plasma that are defeated by a knife taped to a cleaning drone."

"Stabby the Roomba!" I smiled. "Classic."

The kettle whistled, and Argenta got up and served the tea. She got a box of sucrose cubes and dropped four into hers, then offered me some. I took two.

"You like it sweet." I said.

She nodded. "It is how they served it on the ship I grew up on with my parents. Hot, sweet, and strong enough to wake anyone from sleep to do a twelve hour shift."

I sipped the tea. Wow. No kidding. Argenta's tea was very similar to most breakfast blends, but much much stronger. I felt sleepy parts of my mind wake up just by smelling it. "This is wonderful."

"Thank you." She looked at the data slate I was working on. I had laid it on the table. "Is that your latest work?"

"Yes." I said. I decided that I should try it. If I could get the concept of Aslan past Argenta, of all people, then I was home free. "I'm actually having trouble with it. The writer is excellent, and I think this would be a wonderful children's story, collection of stories really. However, the author did this one thing that…well…"

And I explained the situation, and most of the plot of the book, and the entire Narnia series.

Argenta did not instantly call it heresy and demand I leave. The first thing she asked was:

"What's a Lion?"

I explained it, and sketched a detailed drawing of the creature, when provided a pencil and paper. Yes, Echo of Shaharah lets me draw and paint too, but only to recreate things that have already been made. Also, I'd think Cassia would kill me if I tried to encroach on her territory.

"It resembles beasts I've killed." She said. "But…this creature lived on Earth?"

"Long ago." I said.

"It has a regal bearing, and certainly appears noble. You called this the King of the Beasts, yes? I can certainly believe that such a fine animal appeared on Holy Terra at one time." She frowned. "But in this other universe…the God-Emperor appears as that?"

"That's what the author wrote." I said.

"Why?" Argenta asked.

"I have a theory. However, it's…" I frowned. "Well, some people get upset when people talk about how people worship the Emperor. That there is only one right way to pray. Do you wish to hear it?"

Argenta frowned, sipped her tea, and then nodded. "Your stories have great perspectives. There IS a right way to pray to the Emperor, but…there is also more than one right way. Go ahead."

"Faith is both easy and very hard. Letting His Magnificence into your heart is simple, but understanding His Truth? Understanding his words? Some struggle their whole lives. Children are brought before shrines, or temples, or statues and told that this is Him. This is what you should believe in. He will save you. But, all children see is a statue. The rest follows, of course, the teachings and education, the prayers, and eventually a faith is made and they join the Emperor's Choir…but I fear in their hearts…all they know is the statue. Maybe with luck they can image the idea of the Emperor speaking to them, but it still only looks like the statue. Some hard image, cold and distant, they only believe because that is what they were told.

"But…a Lion? They can see the Lion, in the story they touch him, fight with him, defeat great evil with him. He speaks and teaches, he is knowable, the statue is replaced with a living being, and when the Lion says 'Now you must return to your world and know me by another name' they know who he is. Then they see the statues, shrines, and temples and know Him! He is inside their hearts, and they embrace the teachings, and prayers. The statue becomes the face of the being that they know will protect and guide them to glory. It is no longer distant and cold. It is the warmth of humanity, and when all hold it, we are triumphant."

Argenta just stared at me for a while. Her face calm and neutral. I drank my tea. She still hadn't said anything. I thought she must have been mad at me and calculating how quickly she could get a bolter shell into my heretic brain.

"Or perhaps it is heresy after all." I said quietly. "I'll go erase it all. I apologize for wasting your time." I stood up and reached for the data slate.

"No!" Argenta said, and put her hand over mine. She instantly withdrew it, looking away. "It's…it is not heresy." I sat down. She looked thoughtful. "It must be done…very carefully. We cannot have children running around pretending to be lions and the Emperor at once. Emperor forbid a cult arises, we could have people finding xenos beasts that resemble lions and worshipping them. No. There are many ways things could go wrong. So we must be very very watchful when you present this to the children of the ship."

"You…support the idea?" I asked.

"Yes! Your vision is beautiful! To have the Emperor present and there inside the hearts of all children. To know they say the prayers not because they feel obligated or ordered to do so by their parents, but because they believe! That is the faith we need!" Argenta said. "When will you be ready?"

"The dictations are done." I say holding out the data slate. "All the stories are ready, I was just trying to decide if I should or not."

"Then I will gather them all in one of the great chapels. All decks. I believe the secondary chapel should be sufficient. Beverages and snacks can be provided as well." Argenta said.

"Wait, you're not just talking about your orphan wards, are you? You said 'all,' as in everyone 'all?'You want me to recite the Chronicles of Narnia to every child on Calamity's Fortune. At once?" I said.

"How else can we be sure your words are heard correctly? That the children understand that the Lion is the Emperor, and not merely just a beast that can talk?" She nodded. "Yes…if I talk to Vigdis this can be arranged in two days."

"What about the campaign?" I asked.

"My arm needs that long to heal. It will be fine. The children will need something to comfort them anyway, their parents are fighting and there have sadly been casualties. Something to reaffirm their faith in the Emperor is well needed." Argenta said. "Your words kill fear and gave Celeste her fire again. Together we can do it for the whole ship, a whole generation!"

I paused and looked at Argenta in her seat. "Sister Argenta? Why was the Lord Captain afraid to come to Kiava Gamma?"

Argenta sighed, and took a long drink of her tea. "You joined us when we arrived at Footfall. Are you aware of what happened before we arrived? The tale of the Rykad System?"

"A little. You rescued the Lady Navigator on a Nobilis station from a betrayer." I said.

"True." Argenta said.

"There was a prison where the warden and guards had turned heretic, and were torturing a scion of the Winterscale family. You cleaned them all and saved the noble." I said.

"Barely, but also true." Argenta said.

"Then you landed on Rykad Minoris. You fought through a city of heretics to secure the governor. Went into an ancient power station to save some tech priests and killed a cultist named Aurora." I said. "You returned to the city, began a triumphant celebration, which was interrupted when the Drukhari stole Rykad's sun, and the heretics on the planet used the chaos to try and turn the planet into a Daemon World. You all rushed to the spaceport, fighting hordes of heretics, in order to escape where you faced Aurora's true form, a Traitor Astartes. You engaged him in combat and were triumphant."

"That is…almost what happened." Argenta sighed. "We were in the parade when the sun was stolen, and heretics did attack. We slew them, and then the Rogue Trader gathered behind her all the guard, and the civilians, and anyone else she could find on our fight through the city.

"Heinrix kept saying there was no time, and that the shuttles could only carry so many, but Celeste was…ablaze. 'Just one more.' She kept yelling, as she's setting a Chaos Spawn monster ablaze. 'Just one more.' When we reached the spaceport, we had easily a hundred, hundred and fifty, people following the Rogue Trader."

"Then Aurora emerged." The sister chuckled grimly. "I've heard the tales told of that fight. They have me piercing it's armor after the seneschal cracked it with a blow from his chain sword. In truth, we were but bothersome flies to it. The only one who hurt it a little was the Rogue Trader, and then it looked at her and it laughed, and began the slaughter.

"Cultists emerged from every corner, and Aurora just moved past us, not caring what we were doing to it at all. They deliberately ignored us, just so they could butcher all of the people Celeste was trying to save. People ran, people fought, we did everything we could…but in the end, every last soul that had followed Celeste was dead. It wanted us, it wanted her, to see her failure.

Then the Heretic and his minions turned to us, now intending to destroy us and Celeste…had enough. She's monstrously more powerful than she shows, and has great control. When she lost that control…every cultist just died…no fanfare or gore. They just dropped dead. Then she made one motion with her hand and Aurora was ripped in half like a piece of tissue paper. The invulnerable armor that had been our bane, crumpled like a discarded food tin. She was so calm, but tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Then we get back on the ship, assess the situation. She and I are of the same mind, we have intact ships, there are still more people on the planet. We can save others, just as my namesake did and Celeste can get 'Just one more!' Then Heinrix tells us we have ran out of time. The world is turning into a Daemon World and we can perhaps rescue a few, but all the rest would be doomed to a fate worse than death, and the ship will be tainted by the warp. There is only one way to save anyone. That is when I saw the fear enter the Rogue Trader's heart.

"Celeste orders an Exterminatus, and the planet burns. We arrive at Footfall, to find ourselves legendary heroes who defeated a Traitor Space Marine, and Celeste has all those dead haunting her."

"Oh." I said.

"She was not afraid of facing the Archenemy." Argenta said. "She was afraid of failing again. Losing control. She was desperate to stop that war on Footfall. On Janus she was so terrified of getting innocent people killed she made an actual alliance with…never mind. It was why she took to you so quickly when you met. She saw in your eyes the same hurt she had when you had to kill your friend.

"We were doing nothing. Easy things. Explore this hulk. Establish a manufactorium. Plot warp routes. Safe things, with little risk to others. Kiava Gamma was something where people might die because of her decisions. People on that planet, people on this ship. She couldn't face it.

"Then she had her evening with you. Maybe it was one story, maybe it was all of them, maybe it was just because you let her relax and let go of that fear for a moment. Either way, she is here now, and yes, some people have died…but now she has the Emperor's fire within her again."

"You think I can give that fire to the children?" I say. "As you said…there are ways that can go very wrong."

"Yes." Argenta said. She frowned. "I am of two minds, really. One says that this will help save the children's souls and guard them for what is to come in their lives. The other says that I am being foolish, and I should instead be down on the planet killing the Emperor's enemies."

"We must try." Echo of Shaharah said, speaking for me. "How many heretics can we kill by making them never exist in the first place?" I hold up the slate. "How many of the children can we forever keep in the embrace of the Emperor? This is where it starts. With words. With ideas. That's all the Archenemy is…a bad idea. This is a good one."

Argenta stared at me for a moment. She flexed her fingers. "Echo of Shaharah…would you like to…pray with me?"

I blinked. "Of course, the closest chapel is only a fe-"

"No." She said quietly. "In my sanctum…just us…together." She jerked her head to the door that led to her personal sanctuary.

"Oh…umm…" I said, not sure what exactly I should say. "For the success of the Narnia project, yes. Of course. I would be happy to, Sister."

"Good. Yes. The project." She said. "Come."

Argenta's shrine room was more like a temple. Countless candles everywhere, it felt like you were stepping inside an oven. Big marble and gold altar, with skulls and fleur de lis carved on it. Very intricate. On top of the altar was a triptych, gold enameled, mural of the Big Guy, confronting Horus with Sanguinius' body before them. You know the scene. Scattered around it, and hanging from the top are a Disney souveiner shop's worth of ikons. The walls had prayers hand painted on them, by Argenta's own hand. There was the equivalent of half a bible's worth of prayers on each wall, and there's four walls. The floor is actual wood, and had small sister-of-battle themed cushions for people to kneel on. So they were, black, red, and more fleur de lis embroidered into them. Along the right side, was Argenta's fangirl collection of Saint Argenta merch. On the wall, was a beautiful picture of her that was similar to the mural above my closet. Below that was a display case with a data slate of the One Star, her ship. Along with that, are a spent casing from her personal bolter, a pressed flower from a planet she blessed, and a heavily burn scroll of parchment, with Saint Argenta's writing on it. That was our Sister's own personal warrant of trade, apparently.

"Do you have a particular way you like to do this?" She asked, sounding weirdly shy. Oh I was so stupid at that moment. I didn't get ANY of her signals. I just thought she was still thinking about the Lion thing and was afraid she was being unfaithful.

"No." I said, looking around, and not at her. "Normally, I just pause before whatever it is before me and…try to reach Him."

"He is already here." She said. "Come. I will show you." And she had me kneel beside her.

Praying with a Sister of Battle is an experience. It happens in stages. First she recites the prayers and mantras in a calm voice. You sit next to her and the words wash over you. I felt like I was entering a trance. Pushing past the heat of the room, and into somewhere cool and dark. My eyes were closed and my hands clasped, but Argenta's words echoed. I was in a massive dark room, and I was standing before a huge staircase. I could see nothing, but I knew it was there, and at the top there was…something. Someone. I could climb these massive stairs for 40,000 years and never reach the top. But I knew the One who was at the top saw me.

I felt very small.

The next stage is the personal prayers. I'm back in Argenta's room, and she's speaking in a more conversational tone. She is asking for blessings for the special people in her life. She starts with the souls of her mother and father and wishes them peace in their place in paradise with the Emperor. She wishes blessing for all the orphans she's looking after, naming a particular few who are going through trouble, or causing trouble. She gifts them strength and guidance. She then goes to Celeste and the Retinue. She does include Idira, and Cassia, with a little backhanded compliments regarding witches and mutants. She doesn't name Yirlet. She then names me, which takes me by surprise.

"Please bless Echo of Shaharah, give him the strength to achieve his goals of bringing your wisdom and love to a whole generation. He is a faithful man, and his words reach the fire inside us all."

After that, she nudged my shoulder with hers, giving me a hint that it was my turn. Footfall had a few suggestions, and I had a few as well.

"Please bless my mother and father, now at your side, may they be at peace, warm, safe, and happy. Please bless Kyrx Nebb, also now at your side, for his kindness and bravery may he rest in everlasting glory, he is of your chosen and who you conquered the galaxy for. Please bless the Nebb/Halcott families…(Here I named all the Crew, Joy, Wage, and the rest). They are pious and diligent, they shall serve in your name and openly receive your gifts of strength and determination. May they continue to prosper. Please bless my friend Batis. He is down on the planet, fighting in your name. May you make his shots true and his enemies falter. Please bless Sister Argenta. She…she is a fire. Like all your Daughters, she burns your enemies to cinders and brings the world your name…but she is also a light. Orphans look to her, and see a way past the despair and darkness that has surrounded their lives. On the battlefield, people see her and know they are saved. She is worthy of the saint that shares her name, and I know we can triumph in a universe that is so dark. For only where it is so dark, can light shine the brightest."

Most of that was Echo of Shaharah, but I didn't disagree. Then they kept going.

"Also, please bless all the other Echoes of Shaharah out there in the galaxy. We hold to your truth, and yearn for the day Your Word is spoken again from your own Voice, so we may echo it throughout the stars. We pray for Shaharah, lost and stolen, but given to the dream so never forgotten. May one day, the dream become real once more."

I was done, but I felt something. Back on the other side of reality, I tended to talk out loud to myself. It helps me edit, and it's kind of a writer's version of the programmer's Rubber Duck. There's a feeling I get, after I've been doing that for a bit, and then realize there was someone in the room listening to me the whole time.

I felt like that. But not embarrassed, just…glad to know there was someone listening. Also, this was really the first time I'd prayed to the Emperor and was not asking to go home, or for them to be aware of Echo of Shaharah and maybe take action before they did something bad.

After that, Argenta has you sit in silence with your own thoughts for about ten minutes. I had experienced this before when I sorta-prayed at my own altar. The three of us sharing a head, get a little personal space. Our thoughts aren't rubbing elbows. Just the peace and quiet of your own mind and ideas. It was nice.

That's when it hit me. Ideas. There was no way Echo of Shaharah was a human mind, nothing could memorize all that information, even if you left out the fact that it hadn't existed for at least 40,000 years. However, it wasn't an artificial mind either, they had emotions, opinions, and a weird kind of morality. It was a living record, a living idea. Better known to some of you familiar with the SCP Universe, as a Memetic Entity.

Great! Now what?

It didn't really change much. I thought for a moment that maybe I could get one of the psykers on board the ship to extract it, but then where would I be? So far, I was stuck with the Nerdy Meme. They didn't seem like they were hiding this fact from me. Just that they didn't mention it. Well, it did mean that there was a panic button option to get them out of my head if things went sour. Keep on the current course, I supposed.

It's amazing how well your mind kicks into gear when it has a moment to itself.

Argenta cleared her throat, and shifted. Indicating that the moment was over. We both opened our eyes, clapped our hands, and recited some benedictions to the Emperor, and it was over. We got up from kneeling on the pillows.

Argenta shook her head and shoulders like she had just finished a workout at the gym. "Ah! That was wonderful! Thank you for doing that with me. I appreciate you went through the whole thing, some people find me…extensive in my moments with His Divinity."

"Of course." I said. Echo of Shaharah was nagging me about something. Pointing towards the St. Argenta display. "May I look at those? I know so little about your namesake!"

"Of course!" Argenta said. "Saint Argenta was amazing!" She then launched into a monologue about the Saint. She was incredible in combat. She was deeply compassionate. She inspired believers whenever she went. When her ship, the One Star, appeared in the skies people would cheer and drop to their knees for they knew that salvation had arrived in both combat and humanitarian aide.

Echo of Shaharah wasn't listening. It knew that story…what was important was…

"There!" I said pointing at the scroll.

"What?" Argenta said.

"Shaharah! Right there! That's where you saw it before!" I said.

Argenta looked and started to read. "'And yea, in the most humble of places, I met Shaharah, Speaker of Stories, together we would return to her'…the rest is burned, until…'and she stayed to maintain our victory.'"

"Those burns are weird." I said, looking at the scroll. "How'd you find this scroll anyway?"

"It was a trophy my mother found on the planet when she had the campaign she met my father on." Argenta said. "It's how they knew what my name would be. Those burns, they aren't…"

"What? What's wrong?" I said.

"The scroll was burned when my parent's ship was attacked." Argenta said. "I rescued it and their aquila but…that's not the same damage. The part that talks about Shaharah…it looks like something burned off the ink itself and…that's warp residue!" She stepped back. "I can feel it. Faint, long spent, and long long ago, but sorceries burned those words away."

"They had to make her disappear…" I said, speaking Echo of Shaharah's words. "The burning of nearly every tome that so much as had the name. Secret heretics in the Administratum tearing out pages from record books. Random assassinations, but really killing people who had been to the planet. Causing warp storms to destroy beacons to hide it from the Astronomicon. It was too much, we had reached too far…but we had done it…and when Chaos feels fear, they stop their games and wipe it out."

"Echo?" Argenta asked.

"I REMEMBER!" I laughed, giddy with joy that was not my own. "I remember the Echo before me, and the story of Argenta and Shaharah! Oh…ohhhh…I must not say it now."

"Why not?" Argenta said. "Please! Anything about Saint Argenta, must be known to me! What victory did they achieve that brought them such wrath?"

"It must be said to the Rogue Trader." Echo of Shaharah said. "You should be there too, for you have the right…but…this is a blade that I cannot wield. But I promise…you will know of the triumph of your namesake, and why the Archenemy hunted her ship so fervently to take it down. I will tell you this…Argenta fought until the end, drew their fire, without her there would be not a single Echo of Shaharah in existence."

It's also very funny, in a sad way. Echo of Shaharah told me, which was weird cause they didn't often use their own words. Just feelings. The night on the snow where Argenta nearly fell. She saved Mort's soul that night. They showed me the rest of the details.

Mort? Theodora's Arch-Militant? But…he died during the mutiny…in fact he was killed by…ohhh…huh, that is kind of funny. However, if I tell her now, she'll think I'm a psyker who invaded her mind, and kill me. Which would suck because it's been very nice so far. Better kill any possibility of that.

"I'm sorry for shouting it's just…I don't have many complete stories of Shaharah. Just the Straw Girl, the 999 Nights, and then just…fragments, parts of a story." I said. "But I know now that Saint Argenta's story is part of Shaharah's story and everything…fits together. Like I was given a jigsaw puzzle's corner piece and the rest fall into place."

"What's a jigsaw puzzle?" Argenta asked.

"It is an old novelty people did to challenge their mind and relax their spirits. I'll make one for you." I said, not skipping a beat.

"Well…" Argenta gestured for me to leave her sacred prayer room. I did, and we continued, out of her suite and into the ship's corridors. I got my Narnia data slate back. She nodded. "This was…pleasant."

"Yes…I hope we can do this again." I said awkwardly. "Sister Argenta?"

"Yes?" She said.

"I would not be here, if you did not recommend me to the Rogue Trader. So, I am deeply in debt to you. Also, I found great comfort and insight in our prayers. I meant what I said when I called you a flame and a light. You have very much made my life brighter." I said.

Argenta looked away for a moment, then she looked back at me, trying not to show her whole face. For a second I thought she was disgusted and couldn't look at me. "You…I see the flames you inspire, but I see you differently. You are like a spring. Overflowing with stories, music, and so many lost things. You nourish people's souls. That is a good thing."

"Thank you." I said, a little dumfounded.

"Yeswellgoodnight!" She said quickly and went back into her apartments and closed the door firmly, not looking at me at all.

I went back to my closet, and went to bed.

The next day, Argenta ran around getting everything ready for the Narnia event. I went to Abel Haneumann. He was on the Upper Decks, doing ritual prayers for a cogitator that was still recovering from the Scrap Code Event. For those who haven't played the game: The short version is the Hereteks on Kiava Gamma uploaded a Chaos-Powered computer virus onto the ship to kill it. Celeste, Pascal, and the Tech-Priests managed to stop it.

"Hello Magos Abel Haneumann." I said, very calmly. "Are you okay with speaking to me?"

Abel stopped swinging the censer and looked at me and spoke in binharic.

"You're not? But the Rogue Trader introduced you as Magos."

Abel responded.

"Well, she is kind like that. I'm sure Magos Pascal Haneumann will not argue the point."

Abel responded.

"True, wrong designations are bad. How would you like me to address you?"

More binharic.

"Logis Haneumann it is then. I had a request for you." I said. "I was wondering if there was known to be a device that could repeat a sound it recorded? Over and over again. Specifically tonal sounds."

Abel paused for a moment, and then walked by me. I was worried he was upset, but he turned and motioned for me to follow. He led me to a Tech-Priest workshop, where a rather short tech-priest, that was nearly completely augmented, save for her mouth which was puffing on a loo stick. She was working on dismantling the cogitator in front of them. Abel communicated something to the priest, nodded, and walked away.

"So…you are the origin of Pinocchio." The apparently female tech priest said. "Magos Pascal has all but forbidden us of speaking that name. Abel has been clogging our runtimes with endless stories about that little machine spirit boy."

Abel writes fan fiction? "Is it any good?" I asked.

"This is his best one," she launched into a surge of binharic.

One day Pinocchio found a cogitator.

Its Machine Spirit was Efficient but Lonely.

Pinocchio said it would be its friend.

The Machine Spirit was no longer lonely.

They achieved many tasks together.

The Omnissiah was pleased.

The End.

"I hear his poetry is better." I said. Weirdly, Echo of Shaharah got a HUGE surge of power at that.

"He's made 12 solid runtime hours of that stuff! Pascal blames YOU." The Tech Priest says. "Anyway, you want something that replays…music?"

"Yes, but first…I am Echo of Shaharah, I think you know that. What's your designation?" I asked.

"Adalace-9. I usually am assigned the call signal: Ada." She walked over to me, and with a whine of pistons, her torso shifted upwards to be equal with mine, and she extended an augmented hand with several dendrites. "Follower of the words of Armanat. May the cycle be discontinued."

"Really? I thought he was considered…radical." I said, shaking her hand. I knew EXACTLY who and what Armanat was, but those were big spoilers.

"The best ideas are." She lowered her torso and started to walk into her workshop. "And Armanat's best idea was that we should have new ones! But…most units don't like that, so I'm not allowed to go to the Communions any more. Thankfully, Pascal thinks like I do, and he got the Rogue Trader to allow me to work here on the Upper Decks, instead of consigning me to some hole to rust. Good thing too. That Scrap Code would have killed everyone on this deck if I didn't circumvent the machine spirits into redundant cogitators! THAT took a Class C Tech Miracle, believe you me!"

"Well, as a life you saved. Thank you." I said. "Oh." I looked down. A roving machine had bumped into my foot. It kind of looked like a mouse droid from Star Wars who's parents were two compacted cybertrucks from a Silicon Valley junk yard. Then I saw that there were more of the things all over the workshop.

"Those are my CATs." Ada said. "They monitor things. Want one?" She pulled out a huge crate and started to rummage around in it.

"I don't know…" I said. "My room isn't very big."

"They don't need much, and I make them all the time. Take one!" Ada said. "NY-4N likes you. Take it. Anyway…here you are." She held out a machine that looked like a metal starfish had an accident with a vox recorder. "Red turns it on and off, Blue starts and stops recording, Green replays what's recorded."

"Just like that?" I said.

"Well, this is just dumb luck." Ada said. "I made this back in the day when I was in Communion with Armanat. They had the most magnificent sermons, pure data that would change whole runtimes into perfect efficiency. One sent me into a fugue state for three whole cycles without pause. I HAD to get that again. So I made this."

"You've seen Armanat?" I asked. Did Theodora wipe her memory too?

"No." Ada looked down, and stubbed out her smoke. "I was not allowed to be in his presence, as I am considered too…ugh…passionate. It's not 'passion,' it's FOCUS! I was allowed to commune with him by remote. Then the schism happened and I was sent to the von Valancius dynasty to…recompile my objectives. I survived the mutiny by killing the bastard who entered my mid-ship workshop. Then, upon taking his role as Magos, I contacted Pascal and he assigned me here. He has been quite satisfied with my work. Especially after the Scrap Code event."

"Wonderful." I said. A thought suddenly came to me. It was a little inspired by Echo of Shaharah, but really I had been looking around Ada's workshop and seeing all the little pieces and bits scattered around reminded me of something from the other reality. "Actually, we're not too far from each other. Do you mind if I come by and ask for other things? I have some ideas for…amusements."

"What kind of amusements? The Omnissiah looks down on frivolous use of run time, and pointless pursuits. It's why Pascal's so cross with you. Abel's got everyone writing Pinocchio stories." Ada said.

I told Ada my ideas. She nodded.

"Well, the other's easy. I can make that using scrap and my own two phalanges." She said. "The other one's…interesting…give me a cycle or two."

"Sure. Thanks for this." I said, waving the recorder, and left Ada's workshop, the CAT following me.

Later, after another Cassia summons, Abelard found me in a side room, working on several instruments and my new playback starfish. I had the 40k equivalent of a violin, cello, and assorted forms of percussion that absolutely did not equate a drum kit. I got up from my chair and saluted. "Sir!"

"You are learning other instruments?" He said.

"I'm a quick study, sir." I said.

I got the 'Good boy' nod again. "The Lord Commander has triumphed. She wishes you to come to the bridge to herald her victory."

"The Traitor Astartes AND the Fabricator-Censor have been dispatched?" I said.

"Yes. You are well informed." Abelard said. "She wishes to memorialize the fallen, and rally the triumphant."

"Sister Argenta will be disappointed. She was looking forward to purging the Emperor's enemies." I said.

"Sister Argenta will still have much to do. There are still pockets of heresy that need to be culled. Cultists and heretics that have gone into hiding." Abelard said.

"So we'll be here for a bit more." I said.

"It is simple work, and will be done swiftly." Abelard said. "But, yes. Anyway, the Lord Captain awaits, come."

The game really does not do justice to the bridge. Which I understand, because it is MASSIVE, if you had to run around this place in a game, just getting from the Map to the Apartments Elevator would have taken five minutes. That's why I'm not surprised to see nearly every solider Calamity's Fortune has is present on the deck. Really, Celeste has enough people here to conquer a medium-sized nation…which is pretty much what she just did.

The rest of the Retinue was there, all of them looking different.. Argenta, who, just as I predicted, looked miffed at having missed the big fight. Cassia, looked happy which meant she was seeing all the positive colors surrounding her. Heinrix, looked pensive, which means his character quest must have happened and Celeste has made a member of the Inquisition slightly doubt his dogma. Pascal, who, when he saw me, glared at me with a disconcerting intensity. Jae, who looked like she was already a few bottles into celebrating. Finally there was Idira, who looked drained, she probably got a headache from the psychic assault from Uralon the Cruel. (He's a few spoilers, but really he's just a Dark Apostle from the Word Bearers, and not nearly as threatening as Aurora was. He's going to try to be imposing throughout this whole series of events, but I predicted that when Celeste catches up to him, she was going to rip him apart without a thought.) I didn't see Yirlet at first, but then I got that feeling of being watched again, and looked over the banister I was standing near. Yep, there was our pet xenos, sitting on the floor of the bridge, watching both me and Celeste. That would never not be creepy.

Celeste was sitting on her throne. Oh, you didn't get more 40k than that. She's wan her full naval uniform, royal blue and pure white (Gotta rep the colors), with so much braid, and medals galore. She was wearing the von Valancius cloak, and in one hand she held the skull of the Fabricator-Censor. The throne had skulls and gold, and gold skulls. She looked to me arriving with Abelard. She flashed me a brief smile, and then nodded her head in the direction of behind the throne. I went to look. She set up an organ, and the Vox Master Vigdis Surri Otta Toliman was next to it, rigging up a speaker-vox, and probably had the entire ship wired to it. Vigdis looks kinda like the Borg Queen, but if the game was accurate, she's actually really really nice. I hoped I get a chance to talk to her after this.

Anyway, Celeste wanted a big rousing number. I thought about it for a brief moment, and then I knew what would work. I nodded, and winked at Celeste. She grinned, and went back to looking stoic and all powerful. Abelard nodded at me, and I went behind the throne, up to the organ and took position.

"ATTEND! ROGUE TRADER CELESTE BENEDICTUS TRIUMPHANT VON VALANCIUS, SAVIOR OF JANUS, PEACEMAKER OF FOOTFALL, CHAMPION OF KIAVA GAMMA, MINDBRAKER, DAEMON SLAYER, GIVER OF JUST MERCY, NOW ADDRESSES YOU ALL!" He shouted. By the Emperor I never got tired of Abelard doing his thing. I remember thinking that I could die a happy man, if he introduced me just once.

Celeste stood up from her throne and held the Heretek's head high. "BEHOLD THE FATE OF HERETICS AND TRAITORS!"

The bridge roared and the noise was deafening. 'HAIL!' 'GLORY!' 'VON VALANCIUS!' It went on for at least five minutes before Abelard raised his arms and commanded silence. It was so creepy at how quickly the crowd obeyed. Like Celeste was a puppet master and all her soldiers were nothing more than marionettes.

"This was a great victory." Celeste said. Vigdis had her rigged for sound, and everyone was hearing every word she said. "However, it did not come without cost. People gave their lives today. For Kiava Gamma, for the Emperor, for…for me." She took a breath. "And they have not been wasted! Already the forges burn once more! Already Kiava Gamma makes the munitions and weapons that arm our soldiers! ONCE MORE THE TITAN WALKS!"

Titan?! I boggled. When in the warp did Kiava Gamma have a TITAN?! THAT was NOT in the game. It also may have been the answer to the question as to how Celeste destroyed two giant enemy strongholds in a single day. Damn. I wondered who got to pilot it and figured it was probably Pascal. I winced, fearing how absolutely impossible Argenta was going to be about the fact that she missed seeing a Titan walk.

"I do however, wish to recognize those that gave all." Celeste said. "Seneschal."

Abelard stepped forward, unrolled a scroll, and started to speak names. The people who died to free Kiava Gamma. All of them. From the tech-priests who died in the Scrap Code assault, to every Guardsman that went down. From my hiding spot, I had a good look at the crowd and their reactions.

Mostly it was…confusion. This was not how it's done. Sure, they've heard the big hype up speeches, the 'onward to glory' speeches, and the 'we are victorious' speeches but this was…new. Frak, it was kind of new to Echo of Shaharah too. One of the most famous hype up speeches is the St. Crispin's day speech from Shakespeare's 'Henry V.' 'We happy few, we band of brothers, etc.' King Henry says all will be remembered who fight. After the battle, when he gets the death toll, he names about six or seven noble nights, and then says 'None others of note.' So even St. Crispin was just hype to get the little guy to die for the nobility,

But now…now there are names! There's a good deal of them, after a bit Abelard needed to take a break, and Argenta took over reading them. That's when it started to sink in that Celeste really Wasn't Kidding. I started to spot it in the crowd. Blinking hard when the name of someone's squad mate comes up. Guardsmen making signs of the aquila. More and more bowed heads and murmured prayers. These people were moved. It was just a name, but to these people, for so long consigned themselves to just being the fodder for the Imperium's endless wars, to have someone from the top say, in just a tiny tiny way, 'You mattered.' They looked at Celeste with wet eyes and a kind of zeal that inspired and then frightened. They wanted to die for her now. They wanted her to have someone say their name. Death and Actual Glory. Worshipping death.

This Universe was Nightmarish.

Argenta hands off the scroll and it goes back to Abelard, and he finishes. No one claps or cheers. Celeste is sitting back on her throne, looking dark and pensive. That is my cue.

Freddy…don't fail me now.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY

Show me a man who will not sing along to Queen and I'll show you a dead heretic. By the end, everyone was mostly still in formation, but there were some people with arms around each other's shoulders, and a few were sitting on the ground in circles, singing and crying. The Retinue was mostly nodding along to the music. Cassia had out her sketchpad, and her servant Uve was behind her, holding her chalks.

I finished the song, and I saw Celeste up on her throne, turn around and look at me and nod. "Good Job!" She mouthed.

Frak it. Go for broke, I decided. No one will push your luck but you and you'll never be a lucky one if you don't go for it.

"I have a story." I said.

"About what?" She asks.

"Sacrifice and victory." I said. "From Earth so long ago there were still oceans!"

Her eyes went big. She called to Abelard, and the group was brought to order. I come out from behind the throne, Vigdis hooks me up for sounds. I look at Celeste, she nods at me and…

"BEHOLD! I TELL THE TALE OF SPARTA AND THE 300!"

You think Miller went hard? You think Snyder was 'a bit much?' Perhaps Butler hammed it up a bit too much here and there? My fellow Guardsmen, I went even bigger than that.

I actually surprised myself a little, when I did 'This. Is. Sparta!' I planned to just fake kick the Guardsman that was standing right in front of me. He actually fell down! I'm not sure if I even made contact. He seemed fine, and not upset, so I kept going.

At the end, everyone is mourning the sacrifice of the 300, and they remember the names briefly. So then I hit them with the ending, and I change it up a little.

"Just there, the heretics gather. Sheer terror gripping tight. The enemy outnumber us a paltry three-to-one, good odds for ANY Imperial! Their hearts, with icy fingers, knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and spears of three hundred. Yet they stare now, across the plain, at Celeste von Valancius, commanding her army of THE TRIUMPHANT! ARROOH!!" I shouted, and got back every single voice in that hall.

"ARROOH!! ARROOH!!" The entire bridge erupted into roars and cheers.

Celeste stood again and raised her hands. "WE ARE VON VALANCIUS! NEVER SHALL WE YEILD TO THE ENEMY!"

By the Emperor, the noise from before was nothing like now. I exited the stage, and shuffled behind Abelard, as was my position. I saw the faces. The zealotry, the desire for a glorious death, the pride, oh the unholy pride of all of it. It had been so bad before when it was just the idea that someone might know your name after you died.

Oh, I had made it so much worse.

We were dismissed after that, and it took a long while for the bridge to empty. I made small talk with Vigdis, asking about best ways to use vox technology, and she was really nice and sweet. She told me she's very excited about the Children's Event tomorrow. Argenta loaned her a copy of Narnia and she read it all in one sitting. She said she'd actually found an old recording of a roaring Lion. How? I still have no idea. She just smiled and said it was a trade secret. I thanked her, and promised that tomorrow, she'll be integral to the show. She was very thankful. I was hopeful with the idea that I had made a new friend.

Finally, it was my turn to leave the bridge, and Argenta was with our group. She was dressed in her nun's habit, sans the hood, and her cast. As I predicted, most of the walk back she was complaining about missing the battle, missing seeing Pascal pilot a Titan, and how the day after tomorrow all the remaining cultists will probably be mopped up and she'll barely have so much as a blue horror to shoot.

I just smiled and nodded. I was trying to get the visions of utterly devoted zealotry out of my mind.

"Oh, that story was fantastic!" Argenta said. "It was almost perfect!"

"Almost?" I asked.

"The mutant, Ephialtes, survived." Argenta said. "I know, I know 'May you live forever' is a suitable curse, but if the Emperor had been present that day, the betrayer would have met his end. Mark it."

I wondered, do I try? It was crazy, I'm going to try it on a Sister of Battle for Emperor's sake! But I had to do something, or I was not going be able to live with myself after seeing that crowd.

"I think Ephialtes shows the real tragedy of mutantkind." I said.

"Tragedy?" Argenta asked confused.

I only had one shot at this, so I did it all at once.

"He wanted to be a Spartan so badly, but he wasn't. He could have helped the Spartans. He could have become a great hero by defending the hidden trail. But he wanted to be something he wasn't, and that made him unhappy, and that turned him to heresy. I think mutants try too hard to be humans. There are glorious tales about heroic mutants, Bob the Ogryn, Jezzail the Ratkin, and there's even this long forgotten scoundrel called Remy LeBeau. They don't try to be human, they're mutants, they accept that, and they find glory in the Emperor by being themselves. Mutants can be glorious servants of the Emperor…they just can't do it like humans do. Also, I think this is a two way street, when Humans expect Mutants to be more like Humans and punish them when they aren't, that's what can drive mutants to despair and the Archenemy. We all have our place in the universe, and finding it brings us closer to the Emperor." I said

Argenta was silent for a long long time. We kept walking, and I was absolutely sure she was going to make me call off Narnia tomorrow. Then execute me for heresy. She finally nodded.

"We should be wary of the mutant…but they do have a way to the Emperor." She said.

I remember my heart stopping from the shock. 'Holy…no,' I thought, I figured that she was just humoring me and my weird ways. Obviously she must have thought that Celeste was rubbing off on me.

We split off and I went to my closet. I didn't feel like sleep, so I recorded some stuff for a bit. I was doing Stephen King now. I had told Cassia one quick one before I had gone off to practice music, and she instantly had demanded the rest. The girl loves scary stories.

I smiled as my mouth starts to recite 'Graveyard Shift.' I have told our Lady Navigator nearly every classic American Urban Legend to date. She still hasn't shown me any of her artwork either. The only thing I've ever seen was that Raven. Cassia paints to help her navigate the warp. Also, its what she enjoys and is good at. Her paintings aren't for other people to look at and critique. She sees colors from people's emotions and tries to work it into reality. I understand that feeling. You get an idea that's so pure in your head, that to have someone say anything about that translation of that idea…even if it's good…no. I came to the conclusion that I would probably never see Cassia's paintings, unless I was in her Navigator Station, and that is NOT a place I ever wanted to be.

NY-4N bonked into my feet, and I shoved it away. It went to get caught in the corner for a while. I gave up the ghost and went to sleep. Tomorrow I was trying to bring actual healthy faith to 40k children. Emperor help me.

I didn't know this, but elsewhere on the ship, multiple people were making things with me explicitly in mind. One was Ada, and her creations would make me closer to the Inquisition than I ever wanted to be, AND have Pascal nearly cleave me in two with his power axe. Yirlet is figuring out how to get what's written on a wraithbone onto a data slate. It's a pain in the ass for the xenos, but the elantach has good reasons for her to do it. Also, she never admitted it, but, according to Celeste, she thought if anyone could pull off what was to come next, it was this Mon-keigh Creidann. The Nebb/Halcotts were making me a lovely thank you gift which I would absolutely destroy. Then there was the Other person…at that moment, he twisted wire and glass around each other, warp energies surging from both. On the walls around him were the glowing words: 'KILL THE ECHO' 'DESTROY THE ECHO' and "SILENCE THE ECHO.' For I now knew the words of what happened at Shaharah, and the Chaos Gods would not allow them to be spoken.