A New Beginning

It had all happened so quickly.

You try to recall what exactly happened but all you get are bits and flashes : short intense and blurry and yet they are enough to give your muddled mind a vague outline.

One moment you were surveying the new ark mechanicus and welcoming the ancient intelligence within it to the dominion and overseeing its clean up and recovery of any useful salvage from within its colossal hulls. Then you remember the corpses of thousands of slain skittari , magi and slaves becoming engulfed in a signature golden light you have come to associate with the so called Star Father . It happened so fast , what had been once a pile of corpses was now an impossibly saintly majestic yet twisted mechanical abomination was slaughtering its way through the claws and managed to get to you.

Of your duel (if it can be called that) with the daemon you remember little : cuts, slashes, the pain of having your mechadendrites ripped out . You might have been modified to a superhuman degree but this creature was beyond humanity . And yet you were not entirely helpless ; the scythe you claimed off the Orcia lord proved able to wound the abomination, your limbs moved as if by its own independent will you managed to wound it or at least delay it long enough that the remaining claws managed to rally and pry it of you.

Octavia’s death roll : 1d100=49. Near fatal , Octavia lives but is mortally injured.

Cause of near fatality : 1d12=5 . Star father angyl is summoner

Octavia 3d100=156 vs Angyl 3d100=125. Phyrric victory for Octavia , Angyl is weakened

Teslan Claws 3d100=234 vs Arch-Angyl 3d100=198-10=188 . success. Octavia is successfully extracted.

You have little recollection of anything else as your mind collapses and reforms chaotically in a soap of jumbled memories , but through the chaos certain truths emerge , one in particular becomes clear to you as you at last see the true cause of your nightmares and you are almost bitterly amused at how mundane it is.

Your childhood is not what you have long thought it was , where you thought you were an orphan you know remember the adoring tender faces of your parents , disheveled and sickly as they were from a life in the underhive they still shone with paternal love and adoration for you.

You can’t recall much of that life you were in so long ago , but one part you remember with perfect clarity is how it all shattered. Hordes of malevolent iron clad ghouls (that you now understand to be arbites ) that swooped in and butchered everyone you have ever known and loved ; you recall your father’s mangled corpse ruined by savage beatings and countless shots and your mother…..just thinking about what happened to her makes you feel nauseous especially since she resembled Selica so much.

You would have died that day had it not been for a Magos deciding for whatever reason to grab you and induct you into the Mechanicum ranks as some sort of pet project. The memories of that night and the subsequent years of “training” must have caused you to suppress these memories in order to be functional and yet they remained in your subconscious fueling your hatred of the Mechanicum dogma and by extension that of the wider imperium.

It’s ironic really you have always thought that your rebellious streak simply came from your desire for advancement, efficiency and reason but in truth it came from an all too emotional root , yet another way you differ from normal tech priests.

\*\*\*\*\*\*

“What is her status ?” Asked Selica Tesla who looked to have just dug herself out of her own grave

“Well my lady to put it bluntly it would be easier for me to state which parts of her body aren’t in critical condition, which amounts to her brain basically : her skeletal system is shattered, her respiratory system is failing and the less said about the damage to her circulation systems the better. I don’t think even a cybernetic reconstruction would be possible seeing as she lost many irreplaceable organs“ The golden age medical expert or “doctor” replied as Octavia’s mangled body floated in a life preserving tank.

“Is there anything else that can be done to fix her” Selica asked gravely

The doctor looked despondent

“With the current facilities ? No , her body is simply too fragile to handle any surgeries or bionic implants even in a septic tank and that’s not going into how impossible it would be to attempt such a delicate reconstruction without at least dozens of VIs assisting me among other things we currently lack”

Selica ruefully nodded , she felt angry and wanted to lash out at him but her rational side and own experience as a medic told her what the man said was true . They had come very far but not far enough it seems.

“There is one thing that might work “ he reluctantly added , snapping Selica out of her melancholy

“A brain transplantation into another healthy cloned body, it’s a procedure we performed in the old days but it’s a highly risky one and not without a chance of failure. And even then patients that survived often came out “changed” and rarely for the better “ he emphasized the last part

“That’s because the procedure only moves the physical and not the metaphysical “ Said the voice of Amara as she entered the room .

“When you remove someone’s brain they technically “die” which leaves their souls adrift in the warp , incapable of returning to their original now dead bodies and with the mind transplanted in another body , this causes an “imbalance “ of sorts that combined with the general hazards faced by a lone soul in the immaterium, results in a conflict of the neural and spiritual sides of the person”

“Like a patient’s body rejecting an incompatible organ” Selica continued

“Correct”

“I assume you have a plan for that? “

“The necromancers know of rituals that can safely directly transport a person’s soul to a new body and now of ways to eliminate the incompatibility issue. It’s not guaranteed a 100% but it’s better than nothing “

Selica looked at her sister’s body floating in the nutrition tank, her face looked peaceful all things considered and for a second Selica thought wether she should just let her sister rest after all she has been through . But too much was riding on stake for that , if Octavia dies their work and the dominion will no doubt soon follow and Selica knew she was not fit to rule .

“Do it”

\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*

Pain!

Piercing torturous waves of it pushed through your chest as your eyes began to flutter and see light again

“She is awake!”

“What’s wrong with her ?”

She heard voices speak even though she couldn’t recognize them as pain consumed her entire being

“She doesn’t have an automatic breathing apparatus anymore” a voice shouted one that you recognized but couldn’t specify

“Breath sister you need to let air through your mouth. Breath.” The voice said soothingly and you follow its instructions , the pain subsidizing little by little with each breath until you find your body automatically doing it, your lungs taking over to ensure it never happens again.

Wait? Lungs! But you replaced those decades ago .

Your vision finally clears and you see that you are in a room you don’t recognize and look at your hands and see them clear of augments . You try to move your mechanidrites and feel nothing.

What has happened to you?

“It’s alright sister , you have been hurt badly and we had to make some changes for you to survive . “ she heard the voice again and looked to see Selica by her side . Her sister , never before had she… felt that word before as a hurricane of unfamiliar emotions hit her all once as if every impulse or inkling of emotion she should have had in the last century were coming back in full intensity . But one impulse was stronger than all.

For the first time ever , Octavia gave her sister a hug .

Brain transfer 3d100=276. Success

Soul transfer 3d100=254. Success

Octavia lives but is now a fully biological if enhanced human.