155. Shamed and Raised

The giant Tyranid was not about to give up. It fired at them wildly and when Tiberius started to fly manoeuvres to evade the worst of the salves, Titus lost his grip on Arrick. Firing two controlled bursts from his jump pack catapulted them high and then far enough to slam into the approximate location of the tailboard opening. They spun as they hit the edge of the door and disappeared inside with a crash. Having dislodged the others with this, Vox and Arrick were left to dangle under the drag.
Loyally Arrick folded his bare body around his lady for the little protection it could grant until gauntleted hands finally reached for them.
High over the burning forest, far from Tyranids and danger, the others pulled the two naked warriors into the ship. The two of them lay around in a huddle for a moment and bled on the floor.
Dankwart bent down to them but Vox gave him a gentle signal to wait and rose to her feet. Only in this position did she allow his attendance. Titus came to her side and Gerneya drew close to tend to Arrick as she looked around. With a deep breath, the lady commander sorted through the requirements of the situation.
“Give me a line to my first tier commanders”, demanded she in a loud clear voice.
“Open”, Luriel’s reply came some moments later.
“Sisters”, Vox spoke. “I have to inform you that Mistress Celeste of Jericho Keep has met her end in battle today. Alongside her we mourn seven more brothers and sisters whose gene seed was irrevocably lost in the fire. With the arrival of the Tyranids, Teliph has fallen alongside her. All forces: Draw back to orbit and conduct an exterminatus. We will rain our wrath on this forsaken place to give testimony of our grief. Vox Sanguinius out.”
A grim hush had fallen over the group.
Vox looked around. She felt sore in a place she was unable to describe and as she looked into the sad, familiar faces all around a wish sparked in her hearts. It was a longing for closeness. A yearning for a cluster of lights in the night to orient herself towards.
“Aegis”, she said and her voice trembled with emotion. “For your accomplishments today, for your dauntless action and unblinking courage in the face of the enemy, I hereby raise you to my honour guard.”
There was a moment of stunned silence.
“Did she just say that?”, Xavor asked while his comrades around him already sank to their knees in quiet gratitude of the trust put in them.
Tiberius and Luriel exchanged glances.
“Us too?”, the female techmarine asked with round-eyed wonderment.
“Yes, you too”, Vox nodded. “But you just fly on”, she added generously and turned to the white wolf. He had been on his knees to begin with and ducked his head shamefully when he sensed her movement.
“Arrick Grimfang”, Vox said. “Yesterday you found me upset about the lives destined to be lost. Today you stood in the right spot at the right time and prevented most of the disaster I had foreseen. You held out long enough and stand breathing where I had seen no one left alive.” She stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his head. “For your accomplishments in past, present and without doubt future, I name you captain of my honour guard.”
Only Titus had remained standing and when Vox lifted her eyes to him, the gentle, loving smile in his face sprang over to her like a spark igniting what had lain dark and still.
“Rise”, she bade their friends, holding eye contact to her lover.
While the others came to their feet around them, Arrick remained kneeling.
He had some remote trouble coping with a promotion after what had happened. Had Vox misjudged the situation so desperately and really believed what she had just said? Or was she straight out lying on a grander scale than he would have been able to think of?
These considerations were only a sideshow to his very acute predicament, however. He knew very well that he was left breathing where others should have stood. The pain of his errors and misconduct ate away at him yet never had he felt as alive as now. His muscles shivered in excitement and his skin was on fire where Vox had been pressed to him a few moments ago. Her fingers in his hair sent bright sparks of excitement through him.
The grief over the loss of his comrades, the terror of what had happened, the pain of his wounds while Gerneya dug around in them. Nothing had managed to drive this giddy, light-headed feeling away or quell his physical arousal.
Usually, he felt secure and content in his body. Usually, nakedness was nothing that could worry him. But the sensation of Vox so close… He had slept with Celeste only yesterday, had been fooled and betrayed, mortally wounded and saved and now, in this most solemn of moments, when his saint, the one who had come for him in the darkness of his errors once again, had lifted him to her side, his body let him down. He was bewildered and ashamed and unable to work out what to say or do apart from pressing his thighs together more firmly. Which was quite counterproductive considering his problem.
“Um”, he started and dared to raise his gaze to Vox. “Do you mind, if I remain down here for a moment longer? And could you step away?”, he added after a moment’s hesitation. “Far away?”
Vox retracted her hand and frowned in puzzlement. There was a moment of silence, in which she took a look around and noticed that the other two Space Wolves had started to grin quite dirtily. Titus and Dankwart also were smirking impishly while the women looked at each other in bewilderment.
“Should we hold you out in the rain to cool you off?”, Xavor asked nonchalantly while he sidled up to his new captain and handed Arrick the wolf pelt from his shoulders.
Arrick stared at the floor, his ears and cheeks glowing while he came to his feet and wrapped himself in the pelt.
“Might be a good idea…”, he grumbled.
“What’s the matter?”, Vox asked uncertainly.
“Seriously?”, the white wolf bit off. Something inside him snapped. Everything had simply been too much. “You really don’t know?”, he demanded when Vox only looked more bewildered.
“No”, Vox said meekly and actually shied back a little.
“Alright”, Arrick said and took a deep breath. He did his best to stop his muscles from trembling with suppressed tension. “It starts with ‘I can smell you from here’ and continues complicated as… well, as fuck to tell you the truth because Titus is standing right there and I don’t want to die of enraged Ultramarine after everything! Now, put some wings on, please!”
Vox blinked very slowly and her blush told all of them that she had finally caught on to what was going on. The rising grin, however, was something they had not seen on her in a long time.
She cocked her head and stretched her wings nonchalantly.
“You better get used to this, my friend”, she informed her new captain while utterly ignoring his request. This time, it was the turn of the women to grin along with their superior.
Arrick took a hunted look around.
“Alright, what did I miss?”, he asked.
“Our squads bathe together”, Gerneya supplied in a friendly fashion.
Xavor started to draw a breath.
“Fuck off, Xavor!”, Arrick growled on cue, pointing a finger at the black wolf without turning his head.
“I’m not sure I can take this burden from you, captain”, Xavor laughed and got out of reach as fast as possible.
“Titus?”, Tiberius could be heard. “Could you hand out some parachutes before I die of embarrassment?”
“Oh, I don’t know”, Titus said easily as his benevolent gaze wandered over his beloved angel. “I like the way things are going right now.”
Corven froze in the middle of trying to wrap Vox in his cloak.
The chuckle of the angel as she snatched the garment from him danced through the ship like the dawn breaking in an endless night. Titus’ hearts leapt to it and not even reality catching up with them could diminish his joy.
“My lady?”, Luriel addressed her saint. “There are several people trying to reach you.”
“Who?”, Vox wanted to know and listened attentively to the list.
“First Chaplain Saphane, all the captains except for captain Maulbeer, Commander Starling, Nostromo…”
“Nostromo?”, Vox exclaimed. “Put him through!”
“This is Casimiré Nostromo aboard the ‘Sabre of Destiny’”, they heard the navigator’s voice.
“Nostromo!”, Vox exclaimed. “How can this be?”
They heard a very quiet, mechanical laugh.
“Imagine, my lady. I found a beacon to navigate by. There were white flames shining through the darkness.”
Vox and Titus exchanged a glance and another joyful smile. The white fire had been able to save more than one life.
“Welcome back!”, Vox said wholeheartedly.
“Thank you, my lady”, the navigator answered. “With your permission, I will transfer back to the ‘Primarch’s Bride’.”
“Granted! We will meet you there.”
It took a moment to explain to everyone in the cabin what Nostromo had achieved and while Titus and Vox spoke, Arrick pulled Corven into a corner. The two Space Wolves whispered to each other for a moment and when silence fell again, they both came to the middle of the small holding area of the ship.
“Aegis”, Arrick called them solemnly. He was holding the pelt in place with one hand and actually managed to look quite dignified. The bulging muscles under his wet skin did him no disservice in the picture of strength and determination he posed. “As your new captain, I ask an Oath of Secrets for the past few hours from you. I cannot demand it but I ask. Let anyone else only know what our lady chooses to tell.”
He held out his hand, palm up and looked at each of them.
When he met Vox’s round-eyed stare, he averted his gaze. None of them spoke. They all thought for a moment and decided for themselves that they would concede to this request. Corven was the first to reach out his hand and Tiberius the last because he had to let the machine spirit of the ‘Cornix’ take over their flight.
Corven gave a short briefing about the replies and then spoke the calls:
“Comrades, hear my call!”
“We hear your call!”
“Comrades, see the truth!”
“We see the truth!”
“Comrades, know the forbidden!”
“We know the forbidden!”
“What emerged from darkness, shall stay in darkness!”
“It shall stay in darkness!”
“What became apparent, shall be forgotten!”
“It shall be forgotten!”
“What came to the light, it shall be hidden!”
“It shall be hidden!”
“In darkness we stand, shoulder to shoulder!”
“In darkness we stand, side by side!”
“For the Emperor!”
The last line, they all called together.
Vox watched all this in astonishment. The oath’s affirmation alone was a bittersweet sting in her hearts. It connected her with the sisters she had half forgotten. How long had it been since she had heard these words peculiar to the Wings of War?
Arrick’s gesture weighed even stronger. For the first time in forever Vox paid attention to a face and the bitterness and defiance she read in his features moved her deeply. He was unhappy about her concealing how Celeste had died and yet he bowed to her choice. Whether it was blind trust in her or his understanding that she could not reveal Celeste’s corruption without dangerously weakening her own position was immaterial. He demonstrated his unwavering trust against his own judgement.
Corven addressing his new captain derailed this line of thought.
“Do you want me to prepare a scroll, so I can seal it to your shoulder?”, the rune priest inquired nonchalantly.
“If that’s what it takes”, Arrick grumbled moodily.
“Nah, the oath is valid. Just thought you could make a start on a new armour”, Corven supplied, with a provocative grin.
“Eh, martians?”, Xavor cut in cheerfully. “If a new armour is built from scratch, shouldn’t it cover the most vital areas first?”
“I hope you know that your machine spirit will turn on you if you keep talking blasphemy like that?”, Tiberius admonished him gravely and returned to the cockpit in the most dignified manner he could manage.
“What? I thought you tended to it!”, the black wolf called after him.
“That’s what he means”, Luriel explained with a pat on his shoulder. Afterwards, she went back to business by requesting clothes for saint and captain to be brought to the hangar on their return.