Astemyr Nekhu

Astemyr Nekhu "the Barber" was a guardsman of the Adyghan Guard 54th Strike Regiment, who was born on Imperial World of Adyghan Prime and was sent to the Imperial Frozen World of Blessing to suppress a heretical uprising. He is currently stationed in 23rd Garrison. He is the dæmonhost of Minsitheac.
== Curriculum Vitae ==
=== Early Life ===
Born in 493083.M42, Astemyr was a member of an ancient princely house of Adyghan Prime, the House of Nekhu. Being a member of a renowned and a rather large house and a quite populated nuclear family, Astemyr's chances of stepping out of his lot was not high, yet much was expected of him due to simply being the member of such a house. Yet whatever he did, it did not seem enough nor significant in the eyes of the elders of the house. This pushed Astemyr to become more and more reckless each after his every failure, instead of making him give up.
As soon as he grew old enough to ride on a horse, swing a blade and shoot a solid-projectile gun, he took to the wilds every single day, chasing his elder brother's and their friends' hunting parties - tagging alone from a distance to keep up with them in the eyes of his elders but keeping a distance so that he does not get noticed by them and get sent back. This often got him into trouble as they would indeed run into bands of Gretchins, groups of a few Feral Orks or troupes of Beastmen. He managed to pick off quite a few of the smaller and more cowardly of those foes who managed to circle around or succeeded to flee from the hunting party. But he got a few scars from them as well.
As he grew older, he began picking on larger foes, a larger grot, a small Ork, a 'boy', a few boyz and so on. Yet nothing seemed to satisfy his elders. And he kept growing ever more reckless. Trying to take whole roaming bands, acquiring nigh-deadly scars each time he went out. With each time, his body became more scarred and harder to look at; however, his wounds healed and his musculature kept its form, leaving the damage only on the visible skin. And yet, it was not enough for the elders. Where everyone is aspiring to be a hero, no one can become one.
Then came his age of mandatory military service in the Adyghan Prime PDF, as all young men who reach the age of 20 must serve. He saw this as an opportunity to impress his elders and was eager to find the conscription office before they came to him.
=== Conscription ===
Being a mere conscript in the PDF was nothing like he expected, he felt like a fish taken out of the water. His social class did not matter, the watchful eyes of his relatives were no longer there and thusly he realised how lucky he was even with all the 'hardships' he used to have. He was made very clear of it when he got his first flogging after he attempted to make note of his status to his instructors. It did not matter whether if he was of prince, knight, pirate or peasant origin. The only thing that mattered was the rank and since he was a conscript, his place was under the boot of his superiors. He decided that he would be better off utilising the skills that he had acquired during his hunts to climb the ladder in the ranks of PDF. However, he quickly came to realise that his skills did not matter if they were not in coordination with his comrades' and he was flogged for many times due to his incoordination - he always hunted on his own in the past, he was hardly a team player. But in a few months, his instructors and superiors managed to beat it into him and made him into a proper soldier. Coming from a princely house, he had an inborn ability to lead, thusly he became the squad leader.
Unbeknownst to him, a few more months, he entered the list of next haul of Adyghan Guard conscripts - his intent to join the PDF took him far more away than he had anticipated. By the time he'd learned his fate, he had mixed feelings about it and could not help but feel partly sad and surprised - he only wanted to impress the elders of his house. But maybe this would be the way that they will be pleased with him - getting enlisted by the Imperial Guard is considered a great honour to both the individual and his community.
He met the Adyghan Guard and he thought that the standards of the Adyghan Prime PDF were punishing. Day after day they carved a glimpse of the horrors of the universe. They did not sugarcoat it, they did ridicule the enemy. The method was to soak the guardsmen with the painful, ugly truth to wear them down until they prove to be unworthy - most of those who proved to be unworthy with the cost of their lives. But there was one primary flog that outclassed all - a flog that kept them going, a flog that is far scarier than the assigned commissars behind them. It was the flog that their mothers and elders used to keep them motivated with since the moment of their birth: The fear of being called a coward.
To the end of their training, each guardsman was assigned to a sub-regiment, some of which offensive while some of which were defensive and stationed on Adyghan Prime. He was assigned to a strike regiment. The Adyghan Guard 54th Strike Regiment which was due being sent off-world, to an Ice World named Blessing. The Privates were allowed to say one last goodbye to their relatives and loved ones under the supervision of the Guard. His mother, his brothers and sisters and even his father came to see him one last time. His mother and sisters hugged and caressed him in tears. His brothers manhandled him with love and bade farewell. His father said a dry goodbye, as it was expected - it was enough affection from him for Astemyr. With that, he departed the station in a shuttle and embarked the ship that took the 54th to Blessing. 
=== Faring to Blessing ===
Interstellar travel was something completely different than he anticipated to him and the rest of his comrades. The constant humming of the engine, various mechanical noises that wake them up mid-slumber, chaotically and inconceivably shifting artificial gravity and so on. They were not allowed to leave the part of the ship that was designated for them where they executed most of their drills and raining, nor they were allowed to fraternise with the crew members. But out of all the oddities he had encountered onboard, the crew were the most interesting and weird. It was here that first time he had seen violet eyes, skin colour as pale as snow and limbs thin as sticks. Their speech was far more different and obscurer than the standard Terran Low Gothic that he was taught. However, despite his curiosity, he followed orders and kept to himself and so did they.
During the seventh week of their Warp travel from Adyghan Prime to Blessing, they heard that the Gellar field generators failed in various parts of the ship and thusly they were dispatched to deal with a security breach. There were daemons which they were told and perceived as some kind of Xenos or mutants that managed to board the ship with a purplish-reddish-pinkish glow to them. They managed to hold off the threat until the protective barrier was recovered. From what he understood from the crew's chatter, that was something they called Warp phenomena, something more serious than just any Xeno invasion or mutant infestation. For the rest of the journey, those filths that they had slain were gone but left unusual phenomena behind them, such as perpetually lit candles and never-drying inkwells with nothing attached to their bottom, never-cleaning filth which gets filthy back again as quickly as it is being swept from the floor. The rest of their journey which lasted another few weeks were uneventful.
=== Civil War ===
By the time that they had arrived, the small uprising had already been devolved into a planet-wide civil war. Astemyr was 21 years old when the regiment had arrived; there, he fought on countless fronts against the insurgents in the name of the Emperor for five years with his under-equipped brothers-in-arms, each front leaving less and less familiar faces in his company, until the point when there were not enough men from the 54th to merge them with another platoon or unit from their regiment. The details of events he had been through are largely unknown but it is certain that they took the toll from his nerves, leaving him damaged with a form of post-trauma stress disorder.
=== Post Trauma ===
After the civil war ended with the aid of a regiment which came to reinforce the Blessing from Tallarn, Astemyr was amalgamed to the Blessing-born and was assigned to 23rd Garrison. Due to mostly getting assigned to a different squad each mission, he had to develop a charismatic side. He also found solace in thinking about how the universe works, why things are the way they are. It was even more solacing when he found out that the local guardsmen enjoyed his speeches and explanations to the universe. A few years into his service after the last civil war, his duty as a barber in his previous unit was recognised by his superiors and he was allowed to continue that duty as it was a service that was valued and respected in most Imperial Guard regiments. After a few years as a barber, he got the alias "The Barber", it did not take him too long to stick with it due to unusuality of his name to the locals.
He continued to serve for 19 years, reaching the rank of corporal. Although he is old and under-promoted compared to his old age by the Imperial Guard standards, he does not look it and even is as potent as he was ten years ago, if we discount his moments of PTSD, which he now somewhat has gained control over. He enters a state which his fellow guardsmen call "his meditation", in which he does not hear nor see anything but his own thoughts, sometimes caressing the hilt and pommel of his dagger and sword, stares into the abyss - a rather calm and silent paroxysm of PTSD. It has not caught him in an inopportune time yet, maybe he can control when and where as well, going in while he can in order to let it out. At other times, he is the voice of reason in the platoon, an example of discipline and a proper soldier.
=== Agent Minoris ===
==== ARGUS Incident ====
In 530127.M42, Astemyr was sent to a mission to the ruins of a city within 12 hours of travel to recover a new floating cameolined Vox/Auspex Servitor of the Adeptus Mechanicus codenamed ARGUS which went silent, with a platoon of guardsmen in the command of Commissar Osteokor, divided into two squads, - Fire Team A and B, with Astemyr in the command of the Fire Team B - each squad transported with a Chimera armoured personnel carrier.
Upon arriving at the war-torn city ruins, Fire Team A continued directly towards the destination while Fire Team B was ordered to inspect and neutralise a potentially hostile target. The target revealed to be a scavenger snow-crawler with its crew killed, torn apart by the snowgulls, laying on the snow in the vicinity. Fire Team B successfully fought off the snowgulls; however, the tech-trooper of the squad, Azrael Grimm was abducted by a large, mutant bird - later to be recovered by the squad where he was offered a plasma cartridge in exchange of opening a box for a group of heretics clad in Cadian flak armour. Astemyr deemed the tech-trooper to be naive and foolish, instead of heretical.
Upon recovering the tech-trooper, the squad found about Commissar Osteokor's distress call which Azrael Grimm picked up but Fire Team B did not. Fire Team A was cornered in a voltaic power station blockhouse with their Chimera armoured personnel carrier immobilised by mortar fire, using krak rounds. Hearing this, Astemyr declared his suspicions to Commissar Osteokor through a secure vox channel, that the heretics were being supplied by various individuals in the ranks of the Astra Militarum. The Commissar reported that he'd inspect the ARGUS and return to him with directions.
Fire Team B moved in and parked their APC in a safe distance and set forth Caesar Tarygon for reconnaissance. During his reconnaissance, Commissar Osteokor privately contacted Astemyr, giving him directions to inspect his squad, making notes of their inventory before and after the mission, notes on their hygiene and any tattoos on their body. Upon a subtle inspection, nothing was too alarming to Astemyr except for three things: Goat Kai-Ron's sideburns that reach the base of his neck, a bruise with the shape of a woman's lips on the tech-trooper Azrael Grimm's cheek and an Adeptus Astarte plastic figurine of the Emperor's Children Traitor Space Marine Chapter.
Discovering the position of the mortar, a Strike Lightning airstrike was called onto it and the rest of the Fire Team B was dispatched to secure Commissar Osteokor's position. However, their path was obstructed by hordes of plague zombies, with hundreds more before their position, slowly advancing towards the voltaic power station blockhouse. They moved the Chimera in as soon as the airstrike impacted and destroyed the enemy mortar - Goat Kai-Ron on the wheel and tech-trooper Azrael Grimm manning the mounted turret- in order to evacuate the Commissar; however, Commissar Osteokor was irresponsive.
Thus, Fire Team B moved in on foot, boarded the Chimera and covered the entrance of the voltaic power station blockhouse with the rear of the Chimera. Astemyr sent in three Privates - Isaac, Silas and Nadu - in order to recover the ARGUS and the remainder of Fire Team A. Alas, the only remaining sign of Commissar Osteokor was his hat which was found on the floor by Private Isaac. There was no trace from the rest of the Fire Team A as well, except for Private Whitson, who was turned into a plague zombie and bit Private Silas in contact. Astemyr had to execute Private Silas with his Tlepsh-Pattern Adyghan Dagger, invoking painful memories.
Upon failure to recover the Fire Team A, Astemyr ordered the destruction of ARGUS, deeming it hazardous to bring to 23rd Garrison for the safety of his squad and the presence of Astra Militarum on Blessing at large - fulfilling the last objective of Commissar Osteokor. The squad then doubled back to the 23rd Garrison in the remaining Chimera APC.
==== Quarantine ====
Arriving at the 23rd Garrison, Astemyr requested the detention and quarantining of the entirety of the Fire Team B members including himself. His request was fulfilled by Commissar Ingall Hexx, the interior of the Chimera APC was torched by Kriegers under Hexx's command, almost along with the tech-trooper Azrael Grimm; however, Magos Logistus IV intervened and saved the tech-trooper from extermination. Magos Logistus also requested the requisition Astemyr, to question him about what transpired that resulted in the destruction of ARGUS.
After being relieved by the Magos, Astemyr was assigned to the service of Commissar Ingall Hexx as an Inquisitorial Agent Minoris of the Ordo Hereticus, who he wrote the ARGUS Incident Report for in Adygh Language - due to security reasons. He provided a few remaining Adygh connections of his on Blessing for the translation of the report into Low Gothic.
He also was transported into a quarantine bunkhouse separate from the rest of the 23rd Garrison, with the rest of the remaining Fire Team B members. They were also required to wear plastic filter masks and gloves that extended to their biceps. During the rest of his time, he observed his men for any signs of heresy.
==== Minesweeping ====
Several days later, the Fire Team B was sent out to a minesweeping mission with Azrael Grimm's snow-crawler vehicle "Bastardis in Caritate" or "Bastard's Love", accompanied by a Blessing-born Rough Rider snow-bike squadron - who originally were Necromundans, under the command of Sergeant Valcana, whom they called "the Desert Rat".
During their successfully proceeding minesweeping mission, Sergeant Valcana - the commanding officer of the Rough Rider squadron accompanying the snow crawler - took initiative and went on to investigate which seemed to be a site of a potential threat. She went way too far ahead of us before the Fire Team B could catch onto them. And from what they managed to gather, what she found was a den of filth utilised by heretical cultists - a tunnel system that is possibly dug out by them. She and her squadron - and the tech-trooper Azrael Grimm, who she kidnapped from our care to use him as their own surveyor - managed to cleanse the den.
When they caught up to them, she reported that she did not request any assistance, thus Astemyr did not enter the tunnels. But in their second attempt to contact the Rough Rider squadron after less than a minute on the insisting of Caesar Tarygon, the tech-trooper reported that he and Sergeant Valcana were in the middle of a melee fight with the rest of the Rough Rider squadron, that they turned on her. Astemyr and Caesar rushed in haste and managed to evacuate Valcana and the tech-trooper.
However, the Sergeant was heavily wounded during the assault and lost a significant amount of blood. Astemyr and Caesar managed to stabilise her condition with blood transfusions provided with the tools we had at their disposal. According to the tech-trooper Azrael Grimm's report, a code corrupted their minds, thusly her men turned on her. However, he was unable to provide the information why he and Valcana were untouched by the corrupting code; he claimed that he has proof of what happened inside his eye augmentations' cogitator. Thusly, Astemyr reported the occurrences and sent the coordinates of the site to Commissar Ingall Hexx, then requested to abort the mission and return to the 23rd Garrison, only to be denied and ordered to stay in overwatch until the Death Korps flamer squad arrived airborne aboard a Valkyrie Troop Transport.
Before their arrival, Astemyr attempted to collect the snow-bikes which were still inside the tunnel system. He managed to pull out several vehicles before the Krieger squad arrived and loaded them on the Bastardis. His intention was to win the favour of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Blessing, shall the need arose. Commissar Hexx ordered Astemyr to load Sergeant Valcana and tech-trooper Azrael Grimm aboard the Valkyrie and so he did, the Kriegers torched the heretical nest and the rest of the Fire Team B was allowed to return to 23rd Garrison aboard Bastardis.
==== Motor Pool Incident ====
After the minesweeping mission, Astemyr continued observing his men. One day, the odd behaviour of Caesar Tarygon caught his eye. After successfully tailing him without him noticing, he found out that he had dealings with the Staff Sergeant Barbeque, who resided in the motor pool of the 23rd Garrison, in a trailer. Seeing them moving into the trailer, Astemyr made his way under the trailer to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Motor pool was constantly being broken into by a power thief, who has been using the power station to recharge plasma power cells. Barbeque wanted the thief dead - with more rewards if caught alive. Caesar accepted the job. Astemyr recognised the pattern, this power thief belonged to the lot who handed a plasma power cell to the tech-trooper Azrael Grimm when he was abducted. He needed the thief absolutely alive and he knew that there would be no certainty if Caesar Tarygon was involved. And he knew that he would not be able to persuade him to do his bidding while there is nothing to motivate him.
A plan flashed in his mind. The following day was the usual day of the week when Barbeque would get a haircut at Astemyr's saloon in the 23rd Garrison. When she came over, he asked her what would she be willing to do to avoid summary execution by Commissar halfway through her haircut. He told her that he had informants among her men and knew about her petty little trade and the deal that she had made with Caesar. He told her to make a new deal with him. He to her to make Caesar let the thief steal the power and tail him, instead of terminating or capturing him, offering even more rewards than she previously had offered. And to avoid the info that Caesar would gather spill onto Barbeque's hands, he told her to tell him to write down his findings and place the report into a hollow pipe in the garrison designated by Astemyr in an envelope given to Barbeque so that she would not know its location too. To sweeten the deal, Astemyr told her that he would allow her to expand her business over to where the power thief is present when it is all done. Barbeque had no chance but to agree, she was within Astemyr's grasp.
In the following night, Errand - the courier of Barbeque - came to the quarantine bunkhouse to fetch Astemyr for Barbeque. When he arrived at the motor pool, it became clear to Astemyr that Caesar failed to carry out the task that Barbeque was supposed to give to him. One of the power stations was in flames and several small craters were scattered about. The three convened in Barbeque's trailer. Caesar told what transpired in the motor pool prior to Astemyr's arrival: There were two thieves; one of them would extend his fingers through the fencing while holding hands with the other thief and teleport him to the other side of the fencing, touching fingertips. Then he would go collect the power from one of the stations. But Caesar did not let the thieves steal the power not tail them. He outright attempted to kill the thieves when they had arrived at the motor pool. Astemyr took it as Barbeque failing to convey even the simplest part of the plan. However, this was not the case, Caesar simply did not take the word of his employer.
Caesar entered a melee fight with the thief that got in and initially injured him and killed the one outside the fence. However, before his death, the thief outside reached out to the fence and allowed the other thief to pass through the fence once again before dying. Caesar managed to shoot him through the kneecap before he managed to get away. But the power pack that the thief left behind -and that Caesar ignored the alarming sound coming from it- overheated and exploded, lighting the power station on fire and knocking him out - frying his night vision helmet and cameoline cloak. When he came back to his senses, he observed that the thief who got to the other side of the fence was missing his torso above his thighs and elbows, in a very clean, spherical cut. He claimed that then he began feeling numb, disconnected from his body and that he began hearing a buzzing sound "which resembled the sound of a thousand snowgulls". At which point he reported the second Warp phenomena. He found himself atop a vantage point a moment later. And from what Astemyr observed in the occurrence scene, he was teleported there. There was another spherical crater where he would be standing, similar to the one which got to the thief on the other side of the fence. Then he found his way back to the motor pool.
Astemyr sent Caesar off after having Barbeque give his reward to him, staying in the trailer alone with her. He questioned why she had failed so miserably and the only thing she could do was to stammer. He wanted to kill her, punish her for her failure - he got as far as to lay her hands on her shoulders, standing behind her to grasp her neck but ultimately restrained himself and got back to his space. He then told her to order her men to bring the bodies of the thieves.
Once her men had left the trailer, he closed the shutters and inspected the corpses, clinically compiled a report of the physiology of the bodies. He catalogued and copied each and every notable scar, birthmark and tattoo on a parchment. While inspecting what was left of the other corpse, he observed an obvious similarity between the two, almost as if they were twins, despite the difficulty of identification due to the lack of a torso and a head. Both had avian-styled tattoos on the same places - talons and feathers.
He also ascertained that Barbeque knew about whoever smuggled the plastic Emperor's Children figurine into 23rd Garrison. Meanwhile, she was compiling a false report about a fire that occurred in the motor pool for Adepta Munitorum.
At which point, he noticed a bluish tint of discolouration on the fingertips of his gloves. He held up his blueish gloves. The bluish tint appeared to be coming from a tinted light source that is behind and above him that did not appear to be visible in any way except for the way in which it discoloured my fingers. He'd become aware of no less than three presences in the room with him. Barbeque, her solid weight and warmth nearby, was obvious. Those other two echoes, though, were not visible to naked eye. One seemed to amplify the malevolence of the other, but neither were remotely "friendly". And that was the third Warp phenomena in one night.
Thusly, he realised that the situation was direr than it seemed to be in the first place that he required assistance. He incapacitated the Staff Sergeant Barbeque and called for Commissar Ingall Hexx's help. However, as he was effectively incapacitating her, she managed to fire a .50 calibre straight square at his chest. My flak chest plate stopped the solid projectile but he was knocked back on his back to the floor. Her crew outside the trailer heard the loud bang and rushed onto the trailer. They saw the Staff Sergeant on the floor but he managed to stall and keep them outside the trailer -save for one, Jobs- until the help from Commissar Hexx had arrived to apprehend them. Then Astemyr yet again requested for another quarantine.
The trailer was pulled off and quarantined by Kriegers. Then Astemyr debriefed to Commissar Hexx through his commbead. The Commissar asked him whether if he was presently suffering, or has he suffered from, any "entity" related phenomena his gear, body, or his personality within the scope of his awareness and training. He reported the discolouration on his gloves. Regarding his personality, he told him that he felt broken and dishonoured for he had to break the Adygh honour code of Khabze in his service to the God-Emperor under the orders of Commissar Hexx.
He was told to stand by, then after a minute, two Kriegers opened the trailer's door and entered with a needler in one of their hands and he was asked to inject it to himself. Astemyr obeyed, knowing that they were acting under Commissar Hexx's orders. It was a drug, a drug that invoked nightmares and painful memories.
He then was moved back to the quarantine bunkhouse on a wheelchair, paralysed, by the same two Kriegers, one of whose name was Zero-Eight. Private Thomas quickly nursed him back to consciousness as the effects of the drug faded away and left his system. But his legs were still paralysed.
Then, a Sister Repentia of the Order of the Ebon Valkyrie entered the quarantine bunkhouse, Olivian Olassion - who was called by Commissar Hexx to seek heresy in the heart of Astemyr. She asked for the specifics of the mission during which he was exposed to ruinous powers and ultimately deemed him to be pure. However, during their connection, Olivian exposed a sin of hers to him, a memory in which she temporarily violated her oath of chastity during her time of the start of her novitiate. In which she had committed adultery with one of her Eccisarchy teachers. Astemyr loathed her.
==== Convent Thor ====
Following the convention in the bunkhouse, Commissar Ingall Hexx breached into the bunkhouse with an Aquila flier, ordering everyone to get ready and board the Aquila in thirty seconds. Everyone complied. They were briefed by the Commissar during their body-flattening ascension to the high atmosphere with the Aquila with the Sister Repentia Olivian Olassion, Valcana - now named CCA-1058, after being turned into a living weapon post-minesweeping mission upon the orders of Commissar Hexx by the Adeptus Mechanicus - and the new addition to the Fire Team B, tech-trooper Delta-Rho 24 in tow.
They were being deployed to Convent Thor, an ancient Hospitaller complex of the Ecclesiarchy. Commissar Hexx had been in contact with a Hospitaller intern who was translating the ARGUS Incident Report to Imperial Gothic for him and keeping him appraised of the zombie plague outbreaks - Zaliyne Astovyr, an Inquisitorial Agent Minoris of the Ordo Hereticus, the niece of Colonel Marto Astovyr of Adyghan Guard 54th Strike Regiment.
From what Commissar Hexx had briefed them of, Convent Thor had been taking in scavenger refugees who were fleeing the active warzone in the vicinity of the Convent complex for the last 36 hours. Two hours ago, Commissar Hexx's nootic conference with her was interrupted by an unexpected power cut. And only thirty minutes ago, he had received reports of active signal jamming in Convent Thor's vicinity from Inquisitorial Command.
They were told to destroy or confiscate any heretical pieces of equipment that they had encountered. The objectives were to evacuate the Hospitaller command staff, themselves, the jammer module, Commissar Hexx's intelligence asset - Zaliyne Astovyr - and any other Convent staff or Imperial patients - in that exact priority order. Commissar Hexx privately tapped into Astemyr's commbead to tell him to be his eyes and ears on the field once they were deployed.
During their descent, minor explosions within the troop carrier cabin occurred to happen - someone had sabotaged the Aquila. Therefore, Commissar Hexx separated the cabin from the flier mid-air, which was threatening the main structure of the Aquila. As the pilot, Astra Winterscale arched the trajectory of the Aquila and flown away, the troop carrier cabin dove straight into the second floor of the Convent Thor's main building from the side - slowed down by the landing thrusters which prevented lethal damage to the cabin's occupants.Upon their crash-landing, CCA-1058 - who was on the Aquila with them but likely not supposed to land with them - darted out of the cage which she had been held in and tried to go through a brittle wall using her new, arch lasso augmentation attached to her right arm. The effort revealed a laboratory on the other side of the wall - and a foe that was though to fell. After slaying the rogue flesh-servitor with the help of Penitent Olivian, Astemyr inspected the lab and downloaded all the relevant data into Delta-Rho 24's dataslate. With the access codes that they had obtained from Olivian Olassion, they managed to find the layout of the Convent Thor, which they utilised as a map further into their mission. Astemyr ordered Private Thomas to tap into the distress channel and listen to it just in case and he ordered Delta-Rho 24 to locate the position of the jammer using his nootic augmentations - he prioritised the disabling of the jammer in order to be able to contact and report to Commissar Hexx. Delta-Rho 24 concluded that the source of the jamming was below their position, while Private Thomas finally picked up a distress call, from individuals who were stuck inside the freight elevator, between the basement and ground floors. Further questioning revealed that one of the individuals was an Imperial Guard staff - Lieutenant Darius Maximus "The Hammer" in the service of Colonel Argo Karrus of Caidan 501st Armoured Regiment, Scout Team Commander and 7th Tank Commander in the 1st Company.
While making their way to the basement through the stairwell, - unbeknownst how to Astemyr - Caesar Tarygon managed to attract the attention of the plague zombie horde which was amassed on the entire ground level and the Convent Thor's courtyard. They quickly rushed into the basement and sealed off the entrance while plague zombies piled up on the other side of the door. They made their way to the freight elevator; Delta-Rho 24 overrode the elevator controls and descended it to the basement level, revealing the other individual in the cabin to be Timra Lovdahl - another Hospitaller intern.
Luckily enough, she happened to know the location of one of the objectives; Commissar Hexx's informant: Zaliyne Astovyr. She led them to the location of her quarters and office - both of which were adjacent and on the basement level. When they reached the destination, they found the door to her quarters to be crowded with plague zombies who were desperately and instinctually trying to get in, scratching the door. Making quick work of them, Astemyr went ahead and knocked on the door, calling out to inside in Adygh Language. Due to the lack of response, he broke open the door with a kick, only to find Zaliyne Astovyr in a meditative state - deprived of water and proper nutrition, with all the entrances including the air vents into the room completely covered. While approaching her, Astemyr felt the presence of otherworldly beings all around throughout the ventilation system, whispering to each other, calling Astemyr "marked". Astemyr replied to them, telling that he is their doom. In a few mere moments, he noticed that he was not the only one who was being contacted by the malicious powers - behind him, Olivian Olassion was trembling uncontrollably, the surface of her bare skin being displaced by invisible serpentine forms. Astemyr walked up to her and slapped her across the face to snap her out of it, which proved to be effective. After a few more attempts to wake her up, Zaliyne regained unconsciousness and was fed powdered sugar and water by Astemyr. While Timra Lovdahl was performing a general medicine check on her by the request of Astemyr, Sister Olivian left the immediate vicinity with CCA-1058, while Astemyr was occupied with Zaliyne's condition. Astemyr did not immediately notice their absence. At which point, a single Nurgling jumped down onto the squad from a ventilation hole - before it could do permanent damage, it was purged by the squad.
Zaliyne Astovyr was piggybacked by Private Isaac, the information of the whereabouts of the Hospitaller command staff was extracted from her and Delta-Rho 24 located the position of the jammer and the squad began moving into its position. On their way through the corridors, Caesar Tarygon was ambushed by a couple of scavengers and was held hostage by them against the Fire Team B. Upon stalling them long enough, Astemyr managed to get the rest of the squad in vantage points to efficiently wipe them out. With a rather lucky run, Caesar managed to break free and get out of the line of fire before the squad moved them down with lasgun fire and a frag grenade.
In the meantime, tech-trooper Delta-Rho 24 was able to do a reconnaissance ahead and get the visual of the jammer unit. It was a servo-skull, made out of the skull of an Orgyn, with heretical marking on it. He successfully shot an EMP through his augmentations and temporarily disabled it, unbeknownst to the scavengers around it, who were waiting right in front of Armoury-3, set up barricades against its airtight gate. Delta-Rho 24 quickly returned to Astemyr and reported back. At that moment, Astemyr understood that some of the scavengers that Convent Thor was taking in were responsible for both the zombie plague outbreak and the jammer. A few moments later, Sister Olivian returned to the squad - beaten and bloodied - without CCA-1058 beside her. He fainted as soon as she arrived at them - Hospitaller intern Timra Lovdahl ran to her aid and checked her condition. Upon a quick check-up, Timra deduced that most of the wounds of Olivian were either superficial or bruises. But there was another problem: Sister Olivian was two months pregnant. Astemyr was immediately reminded of the plague zombies that he and his squad had felled - they all had a cavity torn open in their abdomen area. Looking at the wounded Sister Repentia, he had no reason to believe that she was not suffering from the same condition.
With the vox-caster now working, Astemyr separated himself from the rest of the squad and contacted Commissar Hexx and began reporting that they had acquired one of the objectives but that there had been a few complications. At which point, Caesar Tarygon interrupted his report by entering his immediate vicinity. Astemyr did not wish him to hear his report, which was not meant for the ears other than Commissar Hexx's. Astemyr told Caesar to leave, who objected and finally revealed his true rank - he was a Major of the Astra Militarum, who was masquerading as the equal of Astemyr, a Corporal. Astemyr did not believe him and reported that Caesar was claiming to be of the rank of Major, that he was compromising his ability to command the Fire Team B by creating a conflict of orders. In response, Commissar Hexx brutally scolded the two and reminded them of their duty. The two backed down. When he was notified that the Sister Repentia was touched by ruinous powers, he told them to keep Olivian restrained and do not take any violent actions unless they deem it absolutely necessary and that they would directly answer to the Ecclesiarchy and to the Order of the Ebon Valkyrie if anything happened to her by their hand. Astemyr was quite ready to terminate the Sister Repentia, he did not trust her, he loathed her and now he suspected her of Chaos corruption.
Moving on, the squad observed the scavengers who were standing behind the barricade against the Armoury-3's door flee. While the squad stood overwatch, Delta-Rho 24 was commanded to go and retrieve the jammer unit. The tech-trooper reported that the servo-skull was linked to the Armoury-3's gate with a cable. Adding that to the equation, Astemyr ordered the entire squad to run for the closer elevator, then he told Delta-Rho 24 to run as fast as he can to the rest of the squad immediately after unplugging the cable from the servo-skull, taking it with him. As he did so, the airtight gate of the Armoury-3 lifted, with smokes pouring out from the inside. Astemyr took but a glimpse of what emerged from the inside - a large, mutated and mended mass of flesh of many individuals; whatever happened inside, it costed the purity of the Armoury-3's occupants.
While the rest of the squad rushed into the elevator, Astemyr and Caesar provided covering fire to slow the abomination down. After overseeing everyone go in, Astemyr heard the abomination call out his name, taunting him. Looking back at the abomination, Astemyr saw the God-Emperor behind it, opening his arms to Astemyr, with his ancestors lined up beside the Emperor to greet him. After years of misery, the door of salvation finally beckoned to him. Shoving everyone into the elevator cabin, he grabbed one of the frag grenades from Private Isaac and attached it to his chest, with his left hand ready to pull the pin. He told the rest of the squad to lead on and lunged at the abomination, cutting its limbs off that came too close to him while laughing with joy - which was a peal horrifying laughter for the rest of the squad. Right before he was going to walk into the abomination's belly and pull the grenade's pin, Caesar severed his left arm from his bicep and the grenade attached to his chest with Ingrinus, Olivian Olassion's power sword. While the wound was partially cauterised by Ingrinus, the wound was too close to his heart and he began bleeding profusely. Caesar dragged him into the elevator, Delta-Rho 24 got the elevator ascending - with Caesar expecting Astemyr to thank him. He instead spat on his face, drew his Tlepsh Pattern Adyghan Dagger and stabbed him once in the face before he was restrained by the rest of the squad in the elevator. The dagger pierced through the tactical mask that Caesar was wearing and wounded him across the face.
At which point, Astemyr's rage and disappointment were exploited by the ruinous powers - by one particular Khornate daemon - Minsitheac. His heart rate hit 300, his body temperature peaked, the entirety of his muscles tensed - the ones within the cabin could hear the fibres of muscles snapping individually beneath his skin. Boiling blood began pouring out of his ears, nose and mouth - meanwhile, Astemyr's soul was fighting against the daemon to not get utterly consumed by it. Olivian Olassion became somewhat conscious of his struggle and began attempting to aid him.
Upon the elevator's arrival on the third floor, the Orgyn servo-skull which Delta-Rho 24 was carrying came back online and he had to shoot an EMP again, damaging every single electronic piece of equipment inside the cabin - including their lasguns and Ingrinus. However, this time it was not enough to subdue the heretical servo-skull, it fled its captor. While the squad made its way to the terrace for evacuation, both Delta-Rho 24 and Olivian took a turn and rushed into the grand chapel of Convent Thor - the tech-trooper was chasing the servo-skull and the Sister Repentia believed that it was best that he aids Astemyr on holy ground, carrying him in.
However, before the rest of the squad could catch up to them, the doors shut closed and barred themselves, separating them. Major Caesar - who now was the squad leader - led the Fire Team B to the terrace, when he deemed getting in to be harder than it seemed.
Inside, she laid him on the floor. Then reality began shifting around Astemyr and a projection of himself emerged, slowly turning into a hulky but athletic shape of a flesh-hound-human hybrid Khornate daemon. Minsitheac's projection fought Olivian Olassion and Delta-Rho 24 - Olivian ultimately threw him off through a window and got rid of it for the time being. Then the rest of the squad entered through the glass opening above the chapel and descended with ropes, evacuating the three - one of which, Astemyr, being unconscious. They were taken by two separate Valkyrie troop carriers and brought back to 23rd Garrison, while Astemyr was placed in an Inquisitorial quarantine room.
=== Heresy ===
==== Deep Quarantine ====
During the possession of Minsitheac, his muscles tensed so hard that it caused thousands of fibres to snap under his skin - and they caused many of the bones to crack due to the sheer stress. The high heart rate caused some of the blood vessels to burst throughout the body His hearing was partially impaired due to this - he heard the throbbing sound of his heartbeat so clearly but everything else muffled. The peaking body temperature damaged some of the nerves and delicate muscle groups in his body, such as his vocal cords. He was severely dehydrated. Then there was the psychic damage to his brain. Also, his left arm below was missing below the bicep.
However, he was far worse for wear beyond his physically maimed form. He felt cheated, betrayed. denied redemption. He remembered the taunting abomination. He remembered the image of his God-Emperor opening his arms to him. Then he remembered who the arm which struck the Ingrinus against his left arm belonged to. He remembered who it was that came in between him and his salvation, after all those years of misery and agony he had endured. He had enough of it, enough of all of it. He did not see any other path for him, so he chose the path of vengeance.
When he awakened, he was unable to effectively move nor speak. He felt like that his very being was nought but pain. He was being held in a chamber, laying on a stone chamber in the middle, where medical equipment was hanging above it. The floor was flooded with knees-deep holy promethium - a precaution taken by the paranoid Commissar Hexx against his trusted agent. He had entrusted the Hospitaller intern who they had rescued from Convent Thor - Timra Lovdahl - to tend to his needs. He did not trust her skills, thus he demanded a full-fledged Hospitaller should tend to him - his demand stood unmet. Her attempts to provide him with emotional support as well medical care was indifferently denied by Astemyr, who had set certain boundaries that he did not wish her cross. He ridiculed her thankfulness for him for rescuing her from Convent Thor by telling her that the only reason she was because it was his orders to do so.
Three weeks into his recovery, the microfractures on his bones were mostly mended over and became stronger than before. The healing of the tears on his musculature was accelerated with the help of the salves applied by Timra. They had begun the physical exercise phase of the recovery at that point. A projection cogitator was installed to the chamber should he wishes to contact the people he knows from the 23rd Garrison. He utilised it not for once. However, he did receive three messages, two from Olivian Olassion, one from Caesar Tarygon - he deleted them without even caring to see Olivian's messages; however, he did so to Caesar's to make him come to him in person.
He had planned his demise long before he came. The Inquisitorial staff had skipped the fact that electrical devices produce sparks should they suffer a short circuit - a spark which he would utilise to ignite and immolate the room at his own will, for vengeance. And so he came, completely unaware of the danger and unaware of what he had done to Astemyr. When he deduced that Caesar was far enough into the room, he walked up to the cogitator and spoke the words that he chose as his last:
"We have a code of honour on Adyghan Prime. And by that very code that I follow: When justice can no longer be served, vengeance is legitimate. And vengeance not taken is nought but dishonour for felony unforgivable."
With that, he crushed the cogitator with his elbow, making sparks fly. Caesar, however, had seen where Astemyr was leading to before it was too late for him and managed to throw himself out of the ignition chamber before the flames completely engulfed it. The door was shut behind him, where Astemyr would turn to ash in a matter of mere moments.
==== Cave ====
Instead of some sort of afterlife, Astemyr found himself standing on an altar, a barrier around him, surrounded by Khornite warriors. He recognised this place as the desecrated chapel of the now-ruined Convent Thor. They addressed him with Minsitheac's name and demanded that he should lead them to victory. Despite denying the Khornite warriors' claims, they kept insisting and soon Astemyr realised that he was, in fact, a dæmonhost. He cursed at them, called upon Saint Tlepsh's name for him to smite them. However, due to the density of ruinous powers in the vicinity, his tongue which called for help from the Saint mutated into a long, disgusting, forked serpentine tongue. In anger due to the loss of the purity of his flesh, he tore out his tongue from its base and threw it on the Khornites. Khornites recognised this act as a complication and got themselves prepared for any intrusions - their worries were not unfounded; a spectral wolf appeared before them, glowing red and snarling at them. Astemyr took this opportunity to break free and run away. He threw a hefty punch and broke through the barrier; however, he did not end up in the room that he was just within.
He was transported into the middle of an underground lake, where he immediately tried to swim to the surface to get air and pull himself out of the cold. When he reached the surface, he found that he was within some sort of a well, the only visible place where the water surface seemed to exist. Alas, the walls were too far apart for him to effectively climb up, so he called for help with a bellow, he was now mute. His call for help was answered by a pale-skinned, white-haired shrine maiden - Cave.
Cave, who pulled Astemyr out of the water and nursed him back to relatively good health in her subterranean cottage which was located in the Grotto of the Waters, was a psyker - one who knew nothing about the world above since her childhood. The two communicated through text - she apparently was taught to nurse whoever found their way into the Grotto of the Waters back to health, with the cost of bearing the guest's ailments until the next guest's visit.
When Cave asked Astemyr his name, Astemyr pondered the things that he had been through - he went through fire and got tempered in ice-cold water. He felt like that it was a rebirth for him - one that was very similar to the birth of Nart Sawserykoe, son of Lady Setenay from the Nart Saga. Thusly, he renamed himself as Sawserykoe - Sawser for short.
Shortly after, Sawser's recuperation was abruptly interrupted by surveyor servitors of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which breached through the cavern roof with an emptied bunker-buster shell. They marked Cave's cottage with an impurity seal and promptly left - while Cave and Sawser hid underwater during their survey.
After the servitors left and the two were preparing to abandon the Grotto of the Waters, the red spectral wolf appeared before them and demanded that Sawser should help Valcana to find redemption. Sawser denied Ruby Wolf help and left with Cave.
 Upon reaching the surface through the opening which the bunker-buster shell went through, they sighted--
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