[hr][hr][center][color=tan][h2][i][b]Aboard the Ark Imperialis[/b][/i][/h2][/color][/center]
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[indent][indent]A jolt ran through the entirety of the ship, even the massive spacehulk still suffered from the effects of tearing a hole into realspace and being pushed through it. It groaned as various internals shifted and moved in unsettling directions as it bore the brunt of the forces. Any normal person would no doubt become worried about the structural integrity of the vessel with all the unsettling noises, but those who lived aboard the Ark Imperialis for generations went about their business normally, apathetic in the sounds they had long been accustom too. They knew how much the ship could take and a normal warp jump would equate to some shaking ground and nothing else.

That said, it was a pretty effective wakeup alarm as Ahral Judaca quickly found out. He was always a light sleeper (for a space marine) and these forays into the warp/real space almost always woke him up. Good thing that he didn't exactly need to sleep for a very long time. The Knight Eternal rolled onto his side as he blinked his eyes into clarity and smiled as he saw his wife doing some prayers to a small shine they had in their luxurious abode wearing some causal robes. "Luxurious" might be stretching it but their dorm was twice the size that of a normal dorm that many people slept in, a generous four meter by four meter for an Astartes and a War Maiden to live in.

"... And so with the true Emperor as my witness with his words of fatherly guidance I do swear upon his most glorious Imperium of hold to up hold his ideals so it may live on unto generations beyond when he may lead mankind once more, amen." the War Maiden's pretty, feminine voice ended the prayer and opened her eyes to see Ahral in a nearby mirror, "Awake now I see? Slept for quite a while, almost six hours."

The man shrugged as he climbed out of the mattress on the ground and cracked his shoulders, "Even the most loyal servants must rest their heads and refresh their minds sometimes, Seilya."

"Than you must be quite refreshed." she replied as she brushed her dyed-white hair out of her eyes and checked on a stewing pot on a cooker. All War Maidens of age had their hair dyed that shade of white; a symbol of spiritual purity back in the old Imperium where it seemed all Sisters of Battle had that style.

"Quite." Ahral grunted as he stripped of his sleeping fatigues before opening the door into the well lit halls. His power armor and gear was located outside, locked and sealed in plasteel container that opened only to him or his wife. It also served as his mailbox and address indicator. With the assisting arms of a servitor, Ahral's power armor was quickly fitted onto his massive body and the space marine stepped back inside for a second with a thud, now holding another suit of smaller, more flexible power armor in his hand.

"Careful not to get dirt onto the bed dear." Seilya handed Ahral his meal canisters with a several meals's worth of food, exchanging it for her own power armor that Ahral brought in.

Ahral just rolled his great blue eyes and carefully kissed Seilya on the fleur-de-lis tattoo on her cheek as she stripped before walking out, chortling a "I love you" before locking the door. Another visit to his personal armory had him come out with a power sword and bolt pistol; it was mandated that a Knight should never be far from his weapons. Lacking a helmet, the space marine gingerly inserted a comm bead into one ear and left for the nearest lift.

The hall was relatively crips and clean, servitors and janitors made regular rounds in these higher-end living quarters that held major personas. Light decorations such as purity seals, line draped along the walls and sparse mix of propaganda and advertisement posters. With thundering footslogging, Ahral made it to the lift and called it down. The clattering and screeching of gears and a shower of sparks soon brought down a platform with a pair of citizens who immediately bowed at the sigh of the astartes in unison, "Greetings milord, honor to thou."

"Blessings to thy." Ahral nodded his head as he walked in, completing the greeting. The two citizens who literally stood in his shadow resumed their conversation, the massive superhuman next to them clearly a regular appearance that didn't warrant any stammering and awkwardness from them. From what Ahral picked up, they were just engaging in normal gossip and discussing the newest deals in one of several market areas on the Ark. Floors flashed past them as the lift descended, the space marine stood at perfect, unflinching attention and watched lights fly past, the daily running exercise of a Nova Militarum squad, shouting of an incoherent argument and the rumbling of a Rhino transport on one of the more open levels. The lift suddenly jerked to a halt, the pair of gossipers walked off discussing rumors of some husband cheating on his wife with some strumpet but their spot was soon filled with another figure.

"Greetings Knight Eternal Ahral Judaca." A red robed figure spoke with a noticeable metallic twang in his voice that emphasized the start of every word, a small contraption replacing most his voice box after he lost it in a freak accident. The architek was hoisting a tool box at his side along with a [i]Libre Logos[/i], a half manual half holy script carried by nearly all architeks, "On Your Way To The Training Grounds?"

"No, not today Tarch my friend, the Chapter Master has assigned me to provide assistance one of the hanger bays for an upcoming mining survey." Ahral shook his head at his friend. Trach was an "architek", descendant of the hereteks who originally found their way in the fleet of House Karthis or techpreists who accompanied the Knights Eternal when they were still the Wardens Aegis. They were the closest things to techpriests the Ark Fleet had but many aboard say that they're far more effective at what they're supposed to be doing no doubt to the culminations of their various minor tech-heresies. Tarch himself was one who dedicated himself to the School of Generation and found himself working in the various Generatorums that powered the Ark.

"I Seeeee...." Tarch's voice box trailed off as several more floors flew by the pair, "How Is Seilya Doing?"

"She is preforming exceptionally." the space marine engaged the architek in small talk as they waited, "I was told that she demonstrated great finness in a recent combat simulation and was awarded accordingly."

"That Is Nice. Has Her Cooking Improved?"

"It is suitable for nutritional requirements."

"I Take That Answer As A 'No'. Funny How Someone Who Can Make Such Good Pickled Root Stew Can Literally Only Make Pickled Root Stew."

"To be fair, she did not burn the meat [i]too[/i] badly the last time we got Eating Squig rations." the couple burst into light chuckling, "In her defense, she was a warrior first and a wife second. I still adore her regardless even if I only see for a short duration during breaks when I'm on duty."

Tarch moved to reply but sighed once he heard the buzzing of a servo-skull whizzing down the elevator shaft from above. Both of the men knew what it meant: someone higher up decided that it was an opportune time to mess up Tarch's work day. Cursing in the mysterious language of the architeks, the red robed man shot out his arm and shook the skull, yelling at it in a hilarious monotone voice to tell him the message it carried. After a brutal shakedown, the servo-skull's eye lit up and flashed a message to Tarch.

"Pardons Architek Tarch VI... You Are Being Moved Blah Blah Blah... Please Do Make Haste... Blah Blah Blah Bureaucratic Bullshit... Generatorum XVII? Those Reactors Again?" the robes visibly sighed as his increasingly depressed voice only got increasingly monotone, "Why Do They Always Put Me There? The Machine Spirits There Hate Me... They Should Have Gotten Arado Instead Dammit."  

"We all must preform our duties, even if we do not favor them." recited the space marine as the rumbling lift came to a stop and its chain-linked fence door opened to let him out, "Farewell Tarch, good tidings at work. Don't let the Praetorians catch you doing Daedalus again!"

"You Bastard! You Know That I Stopped Taking That Ages Agoooo....." the voice of the architek faded as the lift dissapeared into the darkness, clearly unamused by an inside joke between two friends.

Streching his back as much as his armor allowed him to, Ahral looked at the sign opposite to the now empty shaft that stated the letters of "Welcome to [i]the Gospel[/i]" with the various wards and facilities listed under it that now occupied the former Ministorum ship. Having long since remembered his route, the space marine turned and made way for one of the hanger bays he was assigned too. As he peered out of reinforced window, he saw a dozen or so Augur Probes being shot out into the void and wondered what was this place going to hold for the fleet.[/indent][/indent]
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[indent][indent]With her husband out, Seilya confined in herself that she wouldn't be seeing him for the next few days besides during extended breaks and such as the ability of an astartes to stay awake and function for multiple days on end also meant some pretty bizarre work schedules for them on the Ark by normal standard. But alas, such was life when you decide to marry a space marine.

With her power armored donned and hair combed neatly in a small, old mirror, the War Maiden grabbed her pack and slung it over the shoulder. Locking the door and obtaining her rifle from the container outside, Seilya dashed to the nearest shuttle terminal. Now that the Ark was finally out of the Immaterium, it meant that the shuttle craft were operational again and no more having to sit in internal transport trams or walk all the way across the ship.

One trip down a staircase and up a lift later, the maiden got to the terminal. It was an open area with a wide bay window to look out into the void from and it seemed that there was already plenty of void traffic with other shutters and cargo transports zipping about along with routine strike craft patrols and exercises. Seilya's heels clacked loudly against the grimy, cracked marble floor of what was previously part of a corvette. The entire terminal was was like an internal space port, a massive electronic billboard update periodically with incoming arrivals and departures as a PA system blared the same times only much louder. Passing through a crowd of people, Seilya flashed her Ordo Sororitas icon at the ticket master who nodded as she past through the gate.

Skipping through the security check, Seilya stopped before a child psyker with a coat loaded with seals and runes and trinkets, flanked by a pair of Nova Militarum guardsmen; clearly assigned to both protect the psyker and escort anyone she deemed dangerous out and to also kill her if she proved to be unable to control her power. "She's all clear." the little girl looked up from a text made to educate young psykers like her, and warmly waved with a big cute smile "Hello sister!~"

Seilya waved back and continued on wards with renewed haste; her shuttle was already at the gate and set to leave. Pushing through the looser gaggle of people, holding her Sororitas icon high to signify who she was and why people should let her through, the maiden got on to her shuttle. It was an odd little thing, the bastard child Valkyrie transport and a Taurox Prime that was sealed and safe for space travel after it got a visit by some architeks. With most of the seats taken, Seilya took a standing spot and held on to dangling cord to let an elderly old man take the last seat.

A gently dinging tone played in the hold before an image of a strapping young pilot flashed up on an archic screen attached to the back wall before a voice crackled over the intercom: 

[quote]"This is your pilot speaking. My name is Atams Wodend and this is Shuttle Flight DT-6-4 to Cathedral Ward 9 aboard the [i]Yonder Light[/i]. Our flight should take around about ten minutes and we've been blessed with clear space with no debris of any sort but it is recommended that you hold on to something at all times just in case. We will be lifting off in less than a minute once the hanger bay has cleared, thank you for flying with us today and we'll be landing shortly. Imperium Aeternum."[/quote] 
Sure enough, within a few seconds Seilya could hear the engines charging before a sudden surge forward signaled that they were moving and now in the void. Looking out of a sealed view port, the sister had a chance to meditate and look out into all the lights that danced between the behemoths. One thing she was taught is that even in the darkest times such as these, people must be able to see the light and beauty of things less they fall to despair which in turn leads to heresy. It was oddly calming these shuttle flights, they always managed to calm Seilya down even after a long, busy day. Some days could be quite busy surprisingly enough, just like the busy teens who where chattering away in the peanut gallery.

"Hey hey, did you hear? Apparently a daemon appeared in block A6!"
"Oh my Emperor, what happened?!"
"Hehe... well, apparently -I heard this all from my friend by the way- someone spotted a red daemon on catwalk with this big ol' sword-"
"Musta been one of them Corny daemons!"
"Shut it and let me finish. But anyways, they screamed and ran with the thing right behind them. Thought he was going to be killed but then one of the Knights appeared in his underwear and beat the shit out of it with his hands! Apparently he was coming back from washing."
"Really? I don't believe it."
"Oh yeah? Than how do you explain the blood on the wall in A6?"
"Whose this other 'friend' of your's who told you about this mate?"

Seilya chuckled as the story teller went silent only to insist that it actually happened. A small tap of her heels brought the young ones to rapt attention that they were telling such a story in the presence of a Sororitas. In unison, they clapped their hands together and begged for forgiveness to which Seilya brought out her icon and held it in one hand as she granted forgiveness to them with her other. She wasn't fully qualified to deliver forgivenesses, but she reckoned that her actions would be enough of a pardon for them to get to a proper Priest to confess. They were going to a Cathedral Ward after all.

After some profuse thanking, the rest of the trip was uneventful and relatively silent minus some humming from another passenger. As advertisements and PSA flashed regularly on the screen behind her, Seilya thought it appropriate to close her eyes in silent prayer. She could feel it, the vibrations of the machine that flew her, the hissing of the air refreshers but more importantly, the gentle, loving touch of the Emperor of Mankind. Not the false proxy which had torn holy Terra apart, but the one who would come back one day.

Another tone brought her out of her trance and the pilot spoke again:

[quote]Alright folks, we are a minute out from landing in the [i]Yonder Light[/i]. Please remain seated or stationary until the craft has come to a complete stop and I've turned on the 'okay' light. I hope you have enjoyed your shuttle flight and me and my fellow pilots will be waiting to take you on your next flight, thanks for flying with us. Imperium Aeternum.[/quote]
In short time, the Valkyrie/Taurox hybrid came into an airlock, hissing winds blew into the void as the doors closed and pressure was stabilized. Once the green light flooded the compartment, everyone began to filter out into the terminal.

This one was a fair bit grander than the one which Seilya had come from, no doubt due to it being a former holy ship of the Emperor and the home to a Cathedral Ward. Golden leaf was artfully plastered on select decorations as dedicated servitors helped to mop up the floors and shine the innumerable skulls and busts giving the place an aurora of cleanliness found in few other places in the fleet.

"Ahh, there you are Sister Seilya!" a jovial priest with a bionic eye and cane appeared in front of the wife of Ahral, a pregnant hospitaler right behind hime waved at Seilyra from behind the man.

"Father Lutz, Sister Frei, greetings to the both of you." Seilya gave the priest a firm handshake and hugged the medical sister, "How's the baby?"

"She's coming along just fine, I checked it myself earlier." Frei chirrped, "My husband is also overjoyed, says he's glad that we had the procedure done."

"Glad to hear it, will he be joining us today?"

"Sadly not, Villiam is currently training some guardsmen. He's probably giving them hell right now."

The trio laughed as a servo-skull whizzed over the crowd, dodging several others before dropping straight down and resting on Father Lutz's shoulder. It bore a small golden crest on its forehead, one that detailed the fluer-de-lis of the Ordo Sororitas and held in its metallic jaw a scroll of parchment that the priest reviewed, bionic eye zooming in an out, "Well, we shouldn't keep the Canoness waiting it seems; the Emperor demands his will be carried out with great haste. Shall we depart sisters?"

Seilya nodded and smiled, looking forward with a face full of pride, "Let us carry on to the abby. May the Emperor guide us, Imperium Aeternum."
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