The air was biting cold before the Arvus Lighter ramped down. The ridge was one good growth spurt from being snow-peaked like the mountain cousins around it. Ophanim Superior Allegra Valerio might be able to take it in stride, but Yoon was shivering her way out of the craft onto the landing pad. After them, the auxilia unloaded crates from the lighter, both to resupply this forward operating base and to deliver the reinforcement’s own equipment.

  The base consisted of the landing pad, barracks, guard tower, and armorium, contained within a chainlink fence. The dirt trail led out of the fence to the cliffside road that overlooked the forest valley: a comforter of green quilt sewn together by a glittering river and warmed over by the rising sun. Birds chirping over such a pristine view, an outsider would hardly be able to tell that this hinterland was the scene of the most persistent and brutal skirmishes on Incheo.

  For now, they took the wooden walkway to the armorium.

  There, the auxilia were preparing to head out. Their ATVs and UTVs had been assembled, and now they were strapping on their carapace armor. Carapace armor was the midway between the flak armor of the defence force and the power armor of the sororitas. It lacked the neural ports that granted the strength enhancement of servo muscle and thought connection to fibrebundles, replacing it with a padded gambeson, while still providing substantial protection and a sealed helmet. They had their pick of carbines, shotguns, sniper rifles, flamers, and shields, as well as grenade launchers and meltaguns should the need arise. Purely speaking infantry, the Valerio Auxilia were the second-best-equipped military among Incheo’s armed forces, and their mobility-focused ground vehicles fit the task of securing the wide plains of Wirye and the long border with Sinui.

  Around the hololith of the command centre, the auxilia officers reported to Valerio-noona. Sisters usually followed the lead of the local or requesting authority, but the Valerio nobles were the masters of their auxilia. As daughter of the reigning matriarch, Allegra had authority second only to her parents.

  The short of it was that beastmen movements have been stirring in the area, and it has culminated in the loss of an outpost. They are to investigate the extent of this activity, starting with the lost outpost. Yoon suited up as the plans were being discussed. Allegra had her attendants dress her, bodysuit and all, without skipping a beat in her contralto as she traced out the plan on the hololith map. She raised her hand to receive her multi-melta, which they attached by tubing to the fuel canister on her jumppack. Her bolt pistol was maglocked to her hip.

  Bolter, Flamer, Melta; before the fall, that was the battle sisters’ holy trinity of tools with which they vanquish the foe. The flamer was of simple enough design to be produced anywhere, of varying quality. The bolter and its bolts were assembled by the factorums of Ulsa and anointed by engineseers. The melta, however, was forged by artisans of house Valerio; the schematics a jealously guarded secret, meltaguns are distributed to the auxilia as well as anyone else that swears fealty. That was just another reason why Valerio had such wide feet.

  Allegra’s multi-melta was a family relic from before the cataclysm, supposedly of such miraclecraft that its gold plating has never lost luster, its fuel canister always remains full, and the original purity seal still proudly emblazoned. The canoness’ inferno pistol was a similarly prized relic, though both matriarchs of the house and convent insist that it was a gift of the office.

  Whatever, that was before Yoon’s time and has nothing to do with her.

  Allegra referred to the auxilia in some kind of code speak. This FOB was a subset of Camp Orion, so the commander of the base was Orion-Beta-Primus-0. A squad leader would be Orion-Beta-Primus-1 or 2, and a squad member would be Orion-Beta-Primus-1-1 or 2-2. So OBP 4-55 would be the fifty-fifth soldier in the fourth squad under the commander of base Beta under Camp Orion. A secundus would be a sub-commander under a primus with their own squads. A primus of a Beta or Zeta base would have to answer to the primus of the Alpha camp, but not the camp’s secundus or so on. “Squad” sizes can go into the double or triple digits if need be.

  That’s what Yoon got from the rundown she was given in the lighter on the way here. This setup seemed to be an obnoxious excuse for the nobles not to learn their soldiers’ names, if they still had one, as any auxilia member could be slotted into the numbered role. Not even the Ulsan cog-girlies would do this. They are well-reputed as a supplementary force for the army; no one brings up how absurd it is.

  Sure enough, Allegra was giving orders to numbers, not even mentioning the ‘OBP’ part, and those numbers moved by her directing like numerals in an unseen algorithm.

  First out was the squad of ATVs, who would be ranging ahead and about. Their small frames let them go off beaten paths to weave around trees and over outcroppings. The UTVs would carry the full squads, with Yoon and Allegra attached to separate squads and seated in separate vehicles, and provide support with mounted stubbers.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  This would be the first time Yoon engaged with Sinui forces. Witchbeasts, heathens, dusty tomes, gangsters, debtors, vagabonds, mutants, enforcers, dirty floors, boredom, xenos, ‘sisters’, a literal-actual throne-damned daemon from ANOTHER dark god, these were the enemies she had known in her life, and she was only now getting to the nemesis of His Imperium on Incheo. The Great Enemy, the enemy within and beyond. When the Emperor sent his legions of angels to clear the galaxy of xenos, the alien was swept away, no matter how terrible they may have been, but it was the perfidious machinations of chaos that laid the legions low by turning humanity against their saviors. The Emperor took His place at the golden throne to shine light in the dark realm as the legions beat back the heretics and sinners. For our sins, humanity must forever atone with unyielding faith and unending labor.

  The beastmen they will be facing are said to be the most degenerate breed of mutants that still pollute Incheo. They are the unholy fusion of man and livestock, molded by the dark gods in parody of civilization’s birth from agriculture and husbandry. They are imbued with a malevolent will to seek the destruction of society, and otherwise follow their base, animalistic urges to rage, ruin, and rut. Their pledge to the Fly Lord was an inevitable conclusion of their rotten stock, as they share their lord’s desire to see all things crumbled and corrupted.

  The predecessors of His Righteous Symphony attempted to cleanse them from this world before the dark gods intervened; now, they not only nest in these mountains, but their tainted genes can lie dormant in the unwashed masses until a seemingly pure mother gives birth to a gave. Such occurrences are common enough that most maternity wards have a furnace at the ready to smelt the little monster; failing that, blunt force trauma, improvised or tool-assisted would suffice. Genetic testing should be done to scrutinize the involved bloodlines so that the source can be expunged, but that extra effort is uncommon where it would be needed most.

  Back to the war front, the beasts are at home in these forests, and so a wary gaze must be cast for what lurks among the pine and bushes. Mounted stubbers swiveled to aim if so much as a rustle of movement was detected. Only a worthy adversary would necessitate a well-equipped force dedicated to countering them; these beasts could emerge in ambush at any moment, bring their brute strength to bear, and slink away long before reinforcements are alerted, let alone arrived.

  Yoon was assigned to assist Allegra against these mutants by the witch triumvirate as a test. Allegra would testify to the results should they return. Biologis examination found no genetic tampering, but should Yoon show spiritual faltering, she will be executed without delay. So her life is at the mercy of what Allegra says, her high-eyed testimony as trusted as any zephyrim. The very name ‘Valerio’ was accompanied by tail wagging as if the Emperor himself was watching. This is a marginal improvement over the trust-building exercises with Go-noona.

  The vox link scratched to life. Yoon’s blood quickened.

  “Not going to network when you have a captive Valerio on the line?” Allegra inquired. Yoon relaxed.

  “I was only thinking of the task at hand.”

  “It is no exceptional occurrence. The roaming beasts have tripped a wire, and now a response has sprung; it is no more than that.”

  “No duty is beneath diligence; laxity is the insidious killer.”

  “A quaint homily, as expected of Nyeo’s protege. Have you followed her to a vow of poverty and chastity as well?”

  “I don’t know about all that. I just do my job and hope it gets people off my case. So far, it’s not working.”

  “The reward of a job well done is more work. She would call that a virtue as well. After all, duty is its own reward.”

  “Whatever. I get food and scrip for killing the enemy. That’s my life.”

  “There are finer things to enjoy in life.”

  “For a battle sister?”

  “For a lady.”

  “I ain’t no ‘lady’ by house or by holdings. This is the only path for me.”

  “What if there was another path?” Here it is, the concession coerced by one with control over your life. “I suppose you are thinking ‘she must be exploiting my predicament to her advantage’.”

  “...the implication is there.”

  “ ‘Tis only an offer, acceptance of which comes from your informed, enthusiastic consent. The mission is not the beasts, but to rehabilitate your image among our peers, and an opportunity for me to witness your capabilities for myself,” said Allegra.

  “What are you hoping for from my ‘capabilities’?” Yoon would normally be flattered, but she wasn’t in the mood recently.

  “Some say you are cursed.”

  “So I’ve heard.”

  “I think few others would recover from your… predicaments. A daemon as a novitiate, and xenos as a debutante? Unprecedented. Nyeo sees the potential in you that others would prefer to smother. As respected as she is, her effective reach is limited.”

  “I’ve realised.”

  “With the Wirye Preceptory, you will have the protection and nurturing not just to fulfill that potential, but to thrive and exceed beyond the pen you see yourself in now.” The UTVs shuddered to a stop in front of a trail into the forest. The auxilia began to climb out. “Consider it.”