Aukyon

## Aukyon Du

***Magos Biologis Subdomina* Aukyon Du 12/5 Lambda** is a Lucian Tech Priest of the Genetor Holy Order serving in Inquisitor Syleen's retinue as part of Regicide Squad. Formerly the overseer of the Vitae Womb machine *Hauptmann* S-11-K3 was grown in, Aukyon is a Medicae savant, her skill in healing her fellow Acolytes unparalleled. Some past dealings with the Inquisition however seem to have soured and embittered the *Magos*, a constantly looming frustration she seems to vent by extracting information from uncooperative prisoners with argueably excessive methods...

## Appearance

For being in the first decade of her second century, Subdomina Du doesn't look any older than 50, aided without a doubt by her mastery over genetics. Her pale blonde, shoulderblades-long hair is always kept tied in a braid unless she is washing it, her usually hard expression made more unnerving by the faint light of the implants shining behind her green eyes. On Aukyon's pale, almsot cyanotic complexion -caused by decades spent working with chemicals in the bunker-complexes below Krieg's surface- an extremely faint surgical scar runs across her face, passing over her nose, below the cheekbones, behind the jaws, down the inner curvature of the sternocleidomastoid muscles, to finally joing just below the thyroid.

## Remembrancing: a short story.

++Remembrancing - initiating. Please hold...++

"Sub-domina. The batch-is: Ready for release. Scans have revealed: Zero. Critical intolerances. Zero. Major intolerances. Zero. Minor intolerance. One. Incon-sequential intolerance. Source: Pod. Three. Awaiting instructions."

Aukyon's lips would have stretched into a sassy grin, hadn't they not been removed decades earlier. She turned her head to glance behind her shoulder, at the three figures perched on the walkway further back.

'Poor Omeswus. You thought you were going to discredit me. Calling upon Archmagos Losk to send one of his lab-warmers and an officer of the training commission to check my work. I look forward to reading the communicate reprimanding you for wasting our superiors' time.'

She turned back to the assisting servitor, pulling the gloves tight on her enhanced hands.

"Initiate procedure. Omicron-25-05. Staggered release, delta=60. Confirm."

"Con-firmed. Releasing: batch, K, gene-matrix, S-11."

As the sacred chorus of humming and buzzing started to rise from the blessed machine, Aukyon descended the three steps from the control platform overseeing the Vitae Womb, walking with a bit more pride than usual to pod number one. She plucked one of the towels from the awaiting Servitor just as the glassteel cylinder finished emptying itself of the sustenance solution, and she was ready to receive its gift.

The front panel slid open, running around the back, and a coughing fit bounced in the hall's droning air from the small thing shivering within. Her grey eyes opened, snapping left and right, lost, scared, until they found the green of Aukyon's, and were locked.

"S-11-K1. Velcome." the Genetor cooed, taking a step closer to the pale little girl and reassuringly extending her arms.

The child hesitated, of course. It lasted barely a moment however, as her own hands reached out towards the Magos, stumbling forward and out of her personal little prison, right into the awaiting embrace with a startled grunt.
Aukyon gently wrapped her in the towel, giving the blonde hair a quick dry before leading K1's head to her chest, reassuringly closing her arms around the kid. Just a minute. A minute to hold her, as she had been doing with all of those that had come before her. A minute to give her warmth. A minute only, against a brief, merciless ten years, perhaps. A minute to give her something a blessed few in the Imperium experienced. A minute to make them better.

Then, pod two began to drain its liquid. The filters in Aukyon's cybernetic face took a deep breath, and she slowly separated from the newborn Korpsman, Bartisolus already behind her. The child whimpered, so she gave her cheek a caress, and led her hand to the assistant's. One last look as the girl was lead out, and she turned to her emerging sister. Almost as soon as the pod opened, the contents started almost croaking, weakly crying out.

"S-11-K2... Here, here..."

The second of batch K was much more vocal than her older sibling, the shining grey eyes full of fear even as Aukyon climbed into the tube to ease her out. After pulling the towel around her shoulders however, she began to calm down, quickly melting in the Magos' arms and growing more silent. Again, just one minute. It was all Aukyon could spare, all she could give them. Painful as it was, as it would have later been, they needed it.

They always passed so quickly. The Subdomina carefully pushed K2 towards Bartisolus, who took her hand and escorted her out. Two more quiet squeaks she let out. Those always made it all more difficult. More painful to remember later, and more distracting in the immediate... Too distracting.

The third pod's inhabitant in fact, stumbled out while Aukyon's head was still turned, the child falling on her knees and hands on the metallic floor. The Genetor snapped to her, rushing to pick her up. And yet despite seeing in the girl's eyes she was as scared as her sisters, she didn't make a noise.

"... Hi, S-11-K3."

++Loading... Please stand by...++

Perhaps it was a good thing that Aukyon didn't have a jaw, didn't have teeth any longer. If she still did, she probably would have been grinding them to dust against each others. Standing in front of the assembly, alone, her thoughts only turned to fury. Not ideal, when she was expected to defend herself. Not that she believed anything she could have said would have changed their minds. Curse Omeswus and his envy.

"... Subdomina. How do you respond to these allegations?"

"... That Magos Benorust should be the last person attributing value to the time I invest into caring for my children when his parents weren't even present at the opening of his Nutrix Womb, Arch-Chymist."

The background droning saturating the Noosphere and the tribunal's air both suddenly dropped to an almost-silence, marred only by the report being compiled by the scribe Servitor.

Magos Benorust, on his part, didn't outwardly react. Not too surprisingly, considering all the metal that was in his skull. His vox-module crackled to life soon enough, however.

"This just further proves to me that your logic patterns have been corrupted, Subdomina Du. The unneeded attachments you have been developing will eventually thoroughly compromise your thoughts, and lead to an unacceptable drop in performance."

"They have held the highest average survival time in the entirety of the Death Korps for the last five decades! And I even subtract the time I spend on welcoming them from my allotted rest cycles! Whatever your personal feelings about my operations, the data is undeniable and sacred. My children...!"

"They aren't your children, Subdomina Du." Arch-Chymist Zabien interrupted her, and took a deep breath.
"I know you are aware of that fact. It will not change. Magos Benorust is rising a valid concern, even if he doesn't see it from the right angle, not being a Biologis. These actions could very well lead your career to ruin."
Aukyon was about to explode. Whether in profanities or tears, she couldn't tell. Her restless gaze wandered on the crowd, finding another pair of green eyes much like hers looking back. Pained.

'... Father... Please... Tell them... Help me... I'm right, am I not? You understand, don't you...?'

Magos Biologis Daluul Gwo's eyelids squeezed shut, and his head slowly dropped. Soon enough, so did Aukyon's.

The Binary buzzing began anew, the members of the assembly bouncing opinions and possible punishments among each others for a good minute. Just one minute. Then, they all dried up in unison, and Arch-Chymist Zabien's heavy form rose from its seat, the array of servo-arms and mechadendrites framing a semicircle around his head.

"... Magos Biologis Subdomina Aukyon Du 12/5 Lambda. The registered council of the present Magi finds you wanting under the accuse of misuse of allotted work time, and offense to a higher-ranking Magos. The most voted sanctioning is demotion to Biologis Adept and a partial memory-scrubbing."

"... However, in light of your commendable results and decades-long service, with the authority to me granted by Fabricator-General Yand-Li, and to him by the Omnissiah, I hereby commute your sentence to repurposing and transfer to the Explorator Fleets, under the rank of Magos Explorator Subdomina. With the Machine Spirits as my witness, I declare this assembly solved."

Among the surprised and partially indignant rumbling, Aukyon stood alone. To be torn from her passion... She would perhaps have preferred that demotion.

++ Loading... Please stand by...+++

It had been a quiet day. Boring, some would have said. Other than Sister Titania's way-too-energetic greetings in the morning, and Izehya leaving yet another menial for her to take care of on one of the clinic's beds - in exchange for yet another stack of Aukyon's medicae dataslates and books, of course - essentially nothing else had transpired that cycle.

While she still was grateful to Lord Pollox for giving her the chance to once again practice her true vocation, she had to admit that almost no day passed with so little work when she still was in the Explorator Fleet. Without a true lab for her to work in, she was little more than an extremely specialized chirurgeon.

Suddenly, the terminal in the clinic's office lit up with the blue light of an incoming call. Curiously, from the Righteous Ironborn's Astropaths Spire. She pushed the acceptance rune next to the display.

"... Doctor Du?" the somewhat ghastly voice of one of the psykers spoke up, oddly shaken in his tone; "Lord Pollox directed us to route this communication to you. The connection is... very clear, and almost instantaneous. Please speak quickly, it is putting a strain on the Primaris and our brothers... W-we won't listen in on it, we have sworn."

Someone willing to invest so rare a resource to speak with her? ... Fascinating.

"... Very vell. Put it through."

The machine's vox crackled with white noise for a couple of seconds, then a young, feminine voice quietly spoke up.

"... Greetings. I am Inquisitor Syleen. Magos Aukyon Du?"

Another Inquisitor? Hopefully she didn't have too intrusive questions for her...

"Yes, this is Magos Biologis Subdomina Aukyon Du speaking... How may I serve, milady?"

Something like a sigh of relief came form the other side.

"Indeed you are... I shall go straight to the point: I would like to ask two things of you, Magos. I know you worked on the S-11 series of guardsmen for the Death Korps. What can you tell me about them?"
S-11s... it had been some years since she had cultivated the last of their batches. Dear girls... did that mean that one or some of them had ended up attracting the Inquisition's attention? Hopefully in a positive sense.

"Very vell, I should inform you that all information I vas able to read about them vas their gene-matrix' original medical report. Said document reported the matrix' status as she vere when she vas 40 years old, and by the current date she would be 120. I do not get to examine more recent reports, unfortunately. Regardless the only things of note are a congenital propensity for development of eye cataracts, vhich I of course fixed, and an intolerance to a particular fruit... 'dragon-something'. I did not spend time addressing that, since it vould most certainly never come up in regular deployment scenarios. Other than that, I vas able to access their survival reports, and I am pleased to inform you that they are all devoted servants of the Emperor, with a survival rate higher than the average by 2.04 Solar years."

"Hm. That is... interesting."

Aukyon caught the noise of something getting noted down, somewhere else in the galaxy.

"Good, on with the next question then... How would you like coming to work for me, in a personal laboratory outfitted for a Genetor? Fret not, I spoke to Lord Pollox about it, and it sounds like he can spare one of his entourage's chirurgeons... in exchange for a few crates of his rejuvenants."

The Magos blinked. Leave? Again? But for an equipped lab... Still, she was being essentially sold, wasn't she?

"... It sounds like I don't really have a choice in the matter, do I?"

A surprisingly genuine and somewhat regretful chuckle answered her.

"On this specific matter... I'm afraid not, Subdomina. But I promise, you won't regret it."

++Loading... Please stand by...++

Inquisitor Otto von Myr. Proposing to increase the amount of xeno genome in the subjects.

Hezita, the Shadowseer. Gifting Aukyon that lock of hair, a genome so unusual, and yet so close to what had been asked of her.

Farseer Telith. Bringing the research notes of a Haemunculus of the Dark City... and Izehya.

Izehya... Her teasing, her distractions, her insight.

So many forces had a hand in it, so much had happened, in such a short span of time.

First it had been a simple modification of some muscle tissue, then bone, then brain...

Psychic activity, way too much psychic activity. The... things that had threatened to tear out of the pods, screaming, turning into ash... She could still feel her stomach churning...

The first time she accepted the blue vial. The pain, so intense, so pure. The pleasure...

And then, after so much work, not one, but three had emerged from the vats. Two halves, and one whole. And they had made her so happy...

... So easy had been her "fall". Starting so innocuously. Accepting more and more compromises, until she ended up fair and square as one she'd have condemned as a heretek only a year earlier.

... Had it been pride? Pettiness, to show those fools back on Lucius what she was capable of? Despair, to have a taste of what had been denied to her for so long?

... But in the end... was it so wrong? What fault could the girls really have? What had she herself done, that was so despicable? She hadn't hurt anyone. They hadn't hurt anyone. Why would someone wish them ill, when they had done nothing wrong?

And yet, a Deathwatch Strike Cruiser was coming right for them. It was still minutes away, and yet her heart was beating so fast she was seriously afraid of getting a stroke.

Almost there. Almost done... The data purge completed. With a quick prayer of thanks to the machines that had assisted her in this mission, she lit the incense stick, and dashed out of the lab.
Even those few metres separating it from their room felt like a hundred. The person-sized Webway Gate that had been hidden there by the Farseer sat idle, but Niaufe had planted all the charges. Beside her Aliya had her eyes shut in concentration while Herut was hugging Izehya's waist tightly.

"I'm starting to think I've taught you too much, dear..."

She shot them all a somewhat forced smile, then knelt down by the alien device to check the explosives. She didn't get much time, as all the runes were glowing within the minute, and the centre turned into a blue, shimmering circle.

"Very well... two minutes should be more than enough for us to get clear..."

Niaufe suddenly hissed as she stepped away from the portal, much to Aliya's confusion. Herut snuggled closer to Izehya. There was the sound of a footfall from the gate, as a figure stepped out. Easily six feet tall with broad shoulders, the figure wore a rather impressive outfit, if of little protective value. His face was grizzled, but not quite old.

... Of course. Telith had brought the gate to them. Of course. How stupid of herself...

The Magos didn't move from her kneeling position, only raising her eyes.

"Good evening Magos Xenologis Aukyon, I do seem to have chosen a rather unfortunate time to show up." the man grimaced slightly.

"That is a matter of perspectives..."

The security backdoor. That was an option. She began setting the foundations in place, while switching the charges' detonation to direct command.

"... and identification, of course. I'm afraid I am not aware of your identity, sir...?"

"Ah apologies, I am Inquisitor Ricanne. We corresponded earlier I believe?"

"Oh, yes my lord. I certainly didn't expect you to show up through such a device."

Access sensor array output... edit output... 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 pings... apply id tag... Ork craft...

"I've been through a fair share of Webway gates throughout my career." He chuckled. "You do seem to be in a spot of bother though."
The Noosphere crackled with confused responses, as the skitarii scrambled to understand the sudden new signatures.

... direction... star system meridian... hold...

"Indeed. This device was almost as unexpected as your presence. As I have been unable to contact Lady Syleen about it, or anything else... I set my mind to dispose of it just last cycle."

The vessel's warp drives began spooling up, the gellar fields flickering online.

"Eh. Syleen." the Inquisitor sighed; "She can be quite so reckless at times. Bold, but reckless. As you can see, she makes quite a few enemies. Now I would like to stay and chat for a little longer, but I need to convince some overzealous crusaders not to blow up my ship."

So, Syleen lived. Overzealous crusaders... could it be?

"I imagine making enemies would be part of the job's description."

Oh, how she hated gambling. Uncertainty. Her atrophied stomach was folding on itself at the idea. But she had to play.

On the bridge's monitors, the Ork blips halved, but continued to move towards the system's zenith...

"If you'd indulge my assumption, my Lord, would it be a fair assessment to say that it would be within your interest not to leave the artificer of this project in the hands of such... less flexible individuals?"

"Yes that is a concern. I would also very much not like to need to commission another vessel from the Adeptus Mechanicus." he huffed; "Their going rates are downright criminal. Now if you don't mind, I need to head to the bridge. So could we postpone talks for a more suitable time?"

"... I have a feeling you have more time than you realize, my Lord."

The Ork blips began to converge on the Explorator vessel at breakneck speed. There was a sudden lurch as the Warp Drives spun up, warnings blaring throughout the Noosphere as the vessel entered the Immaterium within the system's gravitational influence, and a loud screeching noise of strained metal as the vessel was tumbled sideways through the Warp.
Niaufe looked deathly pale as her eyes were wide with panic, and she tightly gripped onto Aukyon's arm, face buried against her ribs. Izehya too paled, but her experience with warp travel meant she hid her own panic well, despite the tug her soul must have been receiving from She Who Thirsts. Herut had snuggled tighter against the wych, although Aliya had pulled out her laspistol and was looking around wildly.

Aukyon on her part took a deep, pained breath. Not physically pained, of course, but very much pained. Wrapping one arm around the young Asuryani's head, she slowly raised the other to Aliya, gently leading the weapon down, but keeping it trained towards herself - if a shot had to go off, the Magos being the target was far preferable than anyone else in the room.

"Well... that is one way to shake our tail." Ricanne huffed.

"Yes, well... I had made some preparations, in the event something like that occurred..."

The vessel continued to shake, as alerts blared out across the Noosphere. The Gellar Field held strong throughout, although the vessel was being carried along in the currents.

"Indeed. Hopefully we did not get too lost with this foray. Where were we before we were interrupted?"

With the pistol's safety back on, Aukyon proceeded to hug the free-standing twin to herself.

"... If I may speak freely, my Lord, I have been processing too many things lately to keep this masquerade up too long, and half of my cogitator is busy assisting with the damage control on the ship's subsystem. With your permission, I'll be blunt: the situation did not sit too well with me from the start, and it now doesn't sit well with me for completely different reasons."

She glanced at the girls, at Izehya... at her family. She took a deep breath, her embrace getting firmly protective.

"... Wherever you are going, whatever you may have wanted them for... I won't let you do so without me."

++Loading... Please stand by...++

It had been a long year. Full of worries, of happiness, of long days and even longer nights. Of teaching, of learning, of living, of freedom.

Nothing had been as terrifying as the travel through the Webway to get there, of course. Sometimes, she still woke up with nightmares of those claws reaching out through the tears of that "tunnel", trying to grab the girls. The fact that they found themselves 30 years in the past once they came out on the other side certainly hadn't helped.

But what a stunning place they had emerged to. An entire planet, full of life, of green, of air that tingled the lungs with how pure it was. Nature, all around, so vast and breath-taking. Sometimes, she forgot it had been planned that way. Planned by... individuals that never managed to see the fruits of their labour. The Subdomina always felt a pang of sadness and guilt whenever her mind made her aware that the five of them were the only sentients on the world. That the Aeldari who had hoped to find refuge there hadn't been able to save themselves.

Every time she looked at the weapons they had found, the twins' Witchblades, at that marvel of technology they had taken as their home, her resolve for no other Imperial to find that place had strengthened. No man should have desecrated that place, even if nobody would have ever come to enjoy its beauty after them.

But they got to enjoy it for just one year.

Even so isolated, both in the location, and in the displacement of time, Inquisitor Ricanne had hailed her through her unused commlink earlier that morning. Of course. He had been the one who gave them the Webway map to that lost paradise. Of course he'd know they were there.

The man did look younger, however, as he descended from the Arvus that had landed on the "square" of interwoven tree branches. Rejuvenants?
Just one year. Over 500,000 times longer than the time she'd ever gotten to spend with any of her children. And to be separated now... it hurt so much more.

The Inquisitor at least had the tact to wait for her to calm down, for the embraces to be shared. His surprisingly light entourage - not too surprising, since they had come in an Arvus - also seemed quite gracious as they escorted Aliya and Herut on the shuttle. Reverent, almost.

And so, Aukyon, Izehya, Niaufe and Ricanne were left alone in the clearing, the others waiting on board.

"... I hope you will remember your promise, my Lord." Aukyon mumbled.

The man offered her a somewhat feline smile.

"... I have a feeling you'll get to speak with them more often than you realise, Magos. Anyway... I understand the temptation of spending more time on this planet, but you are a woman of great talent. I don't speak just for the Inquisition when I say you would do much good if you returned to the Imperium."

Aukyon's bright green eyes moved over her lover and the daughter she had been left with. She breathed in deep, and weakly nodded.

"... I think it would be in our interests to return as well. If-"

"Forgive my interruption. There is the unfortunate issue that the other members of your group would cause animosity where we are taking the twins. So I am unable to take you on board myself, and I will be quite busy for the next twenty-five years. However, if you know of anyone that would give you passage, I would gladly contact them on your behalf. Otherwise, I suppose you could use the Webway again..."

The Subdomina quickly ran a list of candidates through her Cerebral Implant. Her family was out of the question... the Adeptus Mechanicus would have carved the planet up. Izehya's Wych Cult... she was still with them at this point in time, so that would have been problematic. Lord Pollox... didn't ask them any weird questions when he took them on board, so he mustn't have been the one they chose.
"... Forgive me my Lord, what about Lady Syleen?"

Lord Inquisitor Ricanne took a deep, long breath, as if Aukyon had just told him she needed to remove one of his teeth to avoid medical complications.

"Syleen would not be able to come for you just as I won't, I'm afraid."

"Is she going to be busy for the next twenty-five years as well?" Aukyon scoffed.

"Quite so." he answered, completely serious; "Training someone to become an Inquisitor is something that tends to leave both teacher and pupil with very little precious free time, on top of the already scarce amount our line of work gets."

So Syleen was just getting started on the path, it seemed. It sounded like Ricanne was quite confident in his ability to tutor two or three teens at the same time, for such an intense profession.

"... Fascinating. She must have become much attached to my children in the time they spent together under you, for her to so subtly ask me to create them. Will become, I suppose."

Once more, Ricanne smiled, and quietly shook his head.

"I'd say... Syleen's interest in your project doesn't stop at friendship and familial love with Helena."

... Helena? Who was that? Someone related to Syleen, apparently. But the object of the topic were Aliya and Herut...

Aukyon's jaw locked, and her heart sunk in her chest. A burning pain crawled from her frontal lobes across her brain, and down her spine. She could only let a strangled gasp out, as her eyes turned to the lander's boarding ramp...

++Loading... Please stand by...++

It had been two long, painful weeks.

Once again, they were alone. This time however, not on an idyllic Maiden World. The sky had been covered in khaki-grey clouds since the moment they had arrived, 25 years later, running the time-shift that was the Webway in the opposite direction. No trees, a few enormous dark rocks jutting from the ground, and a sea of yellowish grass as far as the eyes could see, and as far as Izehya's Venom had brought them. And there were only three of them.

The new map Ricanne had given them didn't have a planned destination awaiting for them like the first one, and worse still, seemed not to be entirely up to date. Izehya had been spending the time she wasn't out hunting studying it, but to little success so far. She'd figured out where they'd ended up, but all other destinations she had tracked down would have been troublesome places. Fortunately at least, she had been able to sustain her emotional hunger on Aukyon's anguish... not that it made her any less worried about the Magos.

Niaufe too had been surprisingly... on her best behaviour. It was evident she was frustrated at the situation as well, unable to find much of a vent to her energetic and mischievous youth other than accompanying the Wych on her excursion. Sometimes she managed to get Aukyon to explain something, but it was getting more and more difficult.

And Aukyon hated herself for that.

She was her mother. She should never have allowed herself to be seen by Niaufe, by any of her children like that.

She had promised herself she'd be the one providing for Izehya. That she'd have been at her side, helping her find a solution for that endless hunger.

And yet... she felt powerless. Unmade. She shouldn't have, it was not... it was not...!

She had just been dragging herself through the days, waiting by the tent they had erected, doing little besides helping out with simple tasks. Every day, the guilt only increased, and made it worse.
Laying supine on the endless field, her gaze went aimlessy across the covered sky, a warning she had received many years back slowly bubbling up through the depression.

"The attachments you have been developing will eventually thoroughly compromise your thoughts, and lead to an unacceptable drop in performance."

Her fingers clenched shut around the blades of grass, and she started crying again. Then as if called by her tears, something tore through the apathetic clouds, in the distance above the horizon.

The roar of the engines quickly reached the modest camp, pulling her Aeldari companions out of the shelter, and prompting her to sit up. An Aquila Lander. Approaching quickly, and too straight for it to be a coincidence.

"... I-Izehya?!" Aukyon called out, not needing to speak the rest of the rest of the question.

The Drukhari clenched her teeth, and shook her head.

"Too fast. It would catch up to the Venom quickly..."

The Subdomina scrambled too her feet.

"Niaufe, where's the heavy bolter?!"

The girl didn't reply. Her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed.

Aukyon tried to move past her, but the Asuryani's hand closed around her wrist.

Then, Niaufe gasped, and a huge, surprised smile broke on her face.

"That's our ride~." she giggled, pulling Aukyon back to face the arriving craft.

The Human watched on as it came closer, her heart struggling in her chest. Twenty kilometers. Five. One. One-hundred metres. Twenty... The Aquila had landed.

The ramp lowered with a slow puff, and a single young woman stepped down. Much like her vehicle, her dress was a lavish, customized, but practical well-worn Imperial Navy officer uniform, her brunette hair arranged into rich curls around her neck. As she climbed the low incline up to the trio awaiting her, the new arrival couldn't hide her joyous expression.

"... Helena Mesbryn, Rogue Trader captain of the Black Star... And so very glad to see you again, mum."

++Remembrancing - ended.++