Elaine

*“Freedom is slavery, except you don’t know who your master is.”*

 Origin

Raiding the holds of the Governors Palace, the Reapers discovered
a small treasure trove of valuable assets; unbound psykers ready to be sold to
the highest bidder or converted into vile sorcerers for the Chapters use. While
the psykers were being removed from the palace they were evaluated for
stability by the former Librarians and Apothecaries, however those that posed
immediate threats were already executed by the local witch hunters, so most
were simply forced onto transports and taken to the waiting fleet above. But
one of these psykers caught the eye of the Apothecary in charge of the
examinations; Czegor Dvorak singled out Elaine as different from the gibbering,
twitching mass of mutants and witches. He recognised the intelligence behind
her eyes, and the unusual charisma she exuded.
Taking her as his own, and ignoring the protestations of the others, he
further studied her nature and concluded that she could prove inordinately
valuable, if properly educated. And so Elaine became the personal
slave-attendant to the Chief Apothecary of the Renegade Night Reapers.

Over the next nine years in the service of the Reapers, she
was taught how to control her Psychic abilities, as well as given a full
education in as many subjects that Dvorak could cram into her head. She
appeared to have an unusual ability to simply absorb information, as well a
natural knack for languages and medicine. The latter proved very useful in the
service to an Apothecary, and she was trained in the full range of human and
Astartes medical treatments, becoming an accomplished Chirurgeon in her own
right. Finally she was taught the intricate rites and rituals for maintaining
Astartes power armour, a skill desperately lacking in the Night Reapers since
they lost access to the forges of their Fortress-Monastery or any Forge Worlds
they may have had deals or pacts with. For a while at least, Elaine was
resistant to the idea of serving as a slave, even a highly educated one.
However days and weeks in torture chambers and the insidious words of her
master eventually wore down her resolve until she finally gave in and accepted
her fate.

It was unusual then, when the Night Reapers were particularly
brutalised by Imperial forces, she was asked to accompany her master to show an
ally of his the prisoner. The Witching Hour, the vessel she had lived on for
over half a decade, had sustained heavy damage and Dvorak had negotiated
repairs with this black clad Astartes in return for the use of the prisoner
in his pits, along with other services and items in trade. Perhaps her master
wanted to show off to the Astartes his pretty little pet psyker; she was not
really clear on the reason for her presence. As the Black Legionnaire inspected
the captive in his cell, the brute expressed contentedness at the state of his
merchandise and moved to leave with her master. Dvorak turned, preparing
to say something to her;

“Make sure to –”

He never finished that thought, as the cage, promised to be indestructible, was broken open in a flash of motion and the
prisoner rammed a blade captured from the Legionnaire into the Black Ones neck. He
drew the bolt pistol from his power armoured shield and trained it on her
master. Elaine watched as the blood spurted forth from the dead marine, then heard
the first thing the prisoner ever said.

“I’m sorry.”

And in a flash and a crack her master was dead on the floor. For a moment, she had no words for what she felt.

The prisoner approached and demanded she help him into the
armour of the Black One; but even as he spoke a flash of panic gripped her, the
look on his face was one of both murder and pain, however surprise followed.
He approached the window, and in an act of utter heartbreak to Elaine, placed
his hand on the glass after finally seeing himself after all these years. The sorrow
she felt, that radiated from this man in front of her, overwhelmed her for a
moment and all she could do was what she had been conditioned to do the
entirety of her slavery: she did what she was told. She began to strip the dead marine and clad her new master, or her new friend, in the
armour of his fallen brother. With a last glance at the oozing corpse of Czegor
Dvorak, she left the ship to begin a new life with Octavius Faust.