Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Two (section)

===Dear Old Friends===

[[Image:Arrival_on_Nocturne_WHH.jpg|thumb|right|Welcome to Nocturne]]

One of the three helmetless Marines stepped forth.  White heat scars crisscrossed his face, forming the shape of animal wings.  He closed his eyes and slowly inclined his head in reverence.  “My Princess Venus, Forgedaughter.  Welcome home.”

“Thank you, Brother-Captain,” Venus said solemnly.  She mirrored his gesture.  Behind her, Jake started to dismount the ship as well, but Haarlan caught his wrist, staying him.  Jake shot him a questioning look, and Haarlan shook his head, eyes wide.

“Be silent, please.  He’s greeting his Princess.  This is not our place,” he whispered.

Venus raised her head, and held out one hand, palm up.  The two Librarians drew their Power Glaives and ignited them, tapping their pommels against the ground.  The two remaining, helmetless Marines knelt, eyes raised to meet hers.  She nodded to each in turn, letting them stand or lower their weapons.  Silently, all five did.  The one in the middle, with the complex tattoos, hefted a tiny green key, and passed it to her.  She accepted it, and deftly strung it on the cord that held today’s necklace together.  It clanked against the little metal eye she had sculpted.

Suddenly, the scarred Marine beamed.  “Venus, my dear girl, it’s been entirely too long!” he proclaimed, holding his arms wide.

“Ir’Sem!  I’m so happy to see you!” she squealed, throwing herself into his arms.  He lifted her clean off the ground, hugging her with force that would have paralyzed a Kasrkin.  “How did you know which lander I would be on?” she asked, eagerly returning the hug.

“Why do you even need to ask?” he said rhetorically, jerking his thumb at the Librarians behind him.  “We just had them look for the ship with the little inferno aboard.”

“Oh hush,” she said, playfully smacking his armor as he set her down.  “Wow.  Well I’m very glad to see you.  Oh, you know these guys,” she said, as Haarlan released Jake, and the group climbed down.  “You’ve met everyone at parties and such, I think.  Jake Seager, Alex Carlin, Freya Russ, Remilia Dorn.  Then, the Iron Tide’s representatives, Political Officer Wilhelm Haarlan and Cargomaster Davis Jeorne,” she said, gesturing to them all in turn.  “Guys, this is Fourth Company Captain Ir’Sem, one of my father’s oldest friends.”

“An honor, Lord,” Haarlan said, bowing low.  Jeorne did as well, and Alex and Jake hastily followed suit.  Remilia and Freya, both technically royalty in their own right, simply nodded politely.  Haarlan straightened.  “It was a delight to ferry Lady Primarch Venus and her guests to you.  And that that, I believe, our role here concludes until a month from today, yes?”

“Correct, Officer Haarlan.  Thank you for bringing our Princess back to us,” Ir’Sem said with a smile down at the compact girl who was standing beside him.  She barely came up to his stomach in his massive suit of armor.

“And you, Lord Seager,” he added, turning to the man he dwarfed.  “It’s been a while.”

“It has, my Lord,” Jake said, inclining his head.  “I think we met at Venus’ cousin’s birthday party and haven’t seen each other since.”

“Right,” Ir’Sem said.  Jeorne stepped up to one of the other helmetless Salamanders and passed him a dataslate, muttering something.  The Marine nodded and the two walked off to where the frigate was moving to dock.  “Come this way, please,” he said, gesturing to his guests.  Haarlan followed the Cargomaster to where the Iron Tide was approaching, while the Librarians and the other Marine followed the teens into the station.  “I don’t know if you’ve been informed, yet, Venus, but the people love you, perhaps a bit too much.”

She groaned.  “Oh for goodness’ sake, they want me to do the damn speech in public?” Venus asked, instantly catching his meaning.

“They do.  Soon.”

“Well…damn it, I can’t say no, can I?” Venus grumped.  “So much for my vacation.”

Ir’Sem shrugged, something to see in Power Armor.  “It’s only one day.  And you DO have a choice, just not one you should even consider,” he said, his voice free of reproach.  This was advice, not recrimination.

“I know,” she said contritely.  “But I’ll have to rewrite it.”

“Why?”

“Because I thought I would be giving it to the Council of Masters alone, and nobody else,” she grumped.  “Now I’ll be addressing a crowd instead.”

“You’ll do fine,” Ir’Sem said dismissively.  “Now…you’ll be here for one day, and spend the rest planetside, right?”

“Yep.  Do you have a place for us, or should we stay on the ship?” Venus asked, as she followed her guide through the corridors of the station.

“Does the Princess of Nocturne have a place to stay on Nocturne’s control station,” Ir’Sem deadpanned.  “Nope, it’s bare corridors for you.”  He paused outside an unmarked hatchway.  “Here you are.”  The hatch swung open, revealing another corridor.  The corridor was appointed differently, with overhead lights instead of braziers on the walls for illumination, and the hatches had locks next to them.  “You’ll be here overnight.  Well.  It’s night shift now, or there would have been an even bigger reception,” he explained, gesturing to rooms.  “If you wish, and I don’t recommend it, you could just fly down now, stay up all day, and then just rest tomorrow night.”

“No, we’ll stay here,” Venus said, directing her friends down the corridor.  “It’s got the better view,” she said cheerfully.

“It does.  Your ceiling, in the flesh?” Ir’Sem joked.

“I can’t wait.  We DO have a view, right?” she asked, as Jake and Alex picked rooms out.

“Well…no, it would be a structural weakness.  But you can see the planet through a holocam,” Ir’Sem admitted.  “Now…I will see you all in the morning.  Sleep well, Princess,” he said, bowing out of the little side-corridor.

The group dispersed into their rooms, finding them vastly more utilitarian than the rooms aboard the ship had been.  Jake dropped his stuff on the floor and fell into the bed, trying to let his tension fade.  Venus stared at the hatch to the little corridor, before turning to her lover with a grin that spread from ear to ear.  Jake spotted her expression and smiled back.  “All fired up?” he asked.

Venus walked over to him and slid her hands under his back, letting the warmth seep into his skin.  “As you can plainly see,” she said.

Jake grabbed her shoulders and playfully tossed her onto the bed, rising from it as he did.  “Well…I’m not tired, but I could nap before we get up.  When do you want to go dirtside?” he asked.

“Ashside,” she corrected.  “And…around 0900.  So, five hours.”  She rose and flicked her finger at the holo control in the corner, wondering if she could bring up a view of the planet.

The room went dark.  She scoffed as she tried to reverse it, assuming that she had just triggered the lights instead.

The room lit up, deep red.  She turned to see that the entire bulkhead opposite the wall had filled with an image of Nocturne, far below.  Venus’ arms fell.  She was enchanted.

Jake propped himself up on one arm, staring at the view.  “Incredible.”

“It’s beautiful,” Venus whispered.

Jake sat up and watched the projection.  “It’s terrifying.”  He looked to his side and saw Venus watching the hologram, enraptured.  “Nostalgic?”

“I was too young to remember it,” she said quietly.  “I wish I did.”  She sat next to him on the bed, and he wrapped an arm around her waist.  “I will never…ever get tired of that view.”

Jake didn’t reply.  He didn’t feel the need.  After nearly five minutes of watching the black, grey, red, and white ball spin, she stood, shrugging off her clothes.  “I’m going to rest.”

“Me too,” he said, grabbing clean clothes and setting them aside on his day bag, then making for the bathroom.  Venus slid under the sheets of the tiny bed and propped herself up to stare at the planet on the far wall.

When Jake emerged, changed and clean, she was still staring.  He slid into the bed and moved to wave off the holo.

“No.”  He looked up at her.  She was still watching the hologram, eyes unmoving.

“Baby, I’m trying to sleep,” he said.

She finally blinked, looking down at him.  “Uh…right.  Well.  It’ll be there tomorrow.”  She settled down on the bed and waved the holo off.  Even as Jake drifted into a catnap, however, she stayed wide awake, her heartbeat pounding in her ears.


The next morning, Freya wandered out of her room, yawning.  With a bleary look around the corridor, she knocked on Remilia’s hatch.  In moments, the taller girl was out of the room, gym clothes on.  “Morning.  Venus up?”

“Dunno.  Wasn’t she supposed to be out here?” Freya asked.  Remilia nodded.  Freya padded up to Venus’ hatch and knocked, just quiet enough that only Venus would have heard it, if she was up.

Silence.  Freya cocked her eyebrow.  She pushed on the hatch, nudging it open.  She peeked into the crack of the hatch, and saw Jake lying alone in the bed.  She searched the tiny room, but her cousin wasn’t there.

“Where is she?” Remilia asked as Freya closed the hatch.

“Not here.  Let’s go, maybe she went ahead,” Freya replied.  Both girls walked out into the corridor, looking around for a deck map.  Pausing a passing serf, they found directions to the serfs’ gym, and headed off.

Venus wasn’t there.  She was, at that moment, kneeling in the center of the Pantheon Chamber.  The beautiful girl was clad in layered leather under large ceramite disks, each decorated with one of the symbols of a Legionary Company.

Ir’Sem, four other Company Commanders, and the Regent of Nocturne, Lord No’dan, were sitting around the room, along with nearly ten other senior members of the Legion.  To an outsider, it probably looked like a trial.  It was anything but.

“Daughter of the Forge, I am pleased to see you well,” No’dan said.  The ancient Marine leaned forward on his throne, extending an open hand.  “My Princess, I understand that you do not come to us to bring leadership…but it still does my heart good to finally meet you.”  Venus, still facing the floor and with eyes shut, smiled faintly, feeling tears leak from her eyes.

“You as well, faithful Regent.  I am…overjoyed to be home.”

“You think of our world as your home?  You live on Terra.  You will return there,” No’dan pointed out.

Venus shook her head.  Her long black hair swept across her armored back.  “Terra is where my house is.  Terra is where my mother and father live.  Terra is where I was schooled, and where I grew up, and…where I hope to start a family.  But Nocturne is my blood and future.  I am home,” she said.  The tear worked its way down her face, splashing on the bare floor.  “I am overwhelmed.  I do not know why,” she whispered.

No’dan smiled paternally.  “Forgedaughter…this is a homecoming.  It is to be expected.”  Lengthier explanations of geneseed traits and spirituality were unnecessary.  If Vulkan had not seen fit to explain, neither would he.

Venus nodded silently.  Her smile never faltered.  “I feel that I should say outright that the assumptions I am told so many will reach regarding my companions are largely incorrect.”

“Oh?  Well…that is to be expected.  Terran and Nocturnean civil law are quite different,” one of the other Company Captains said.  He leaned forward, gesturing to the girl on her knees.  “If you wish to return your icon to us, Princess, now would be the right time.”

Venus rose to her feet, clutching the tiny metal key in one armor-padded hand.  She passed it to No’dan, bowing as she did.  As he lifted it, however, it clinked against the little metal half-eye on the chain.  “You have given,” he began.

“Keep it.  Call it a gift,” Venus interrupted.  She was beaming from ear to ear.  “I may return for the key, though.  Some day.  And…I hope to do so blessed with a family that can deserve it.”

No’dan nodded, touched by the gesture.  “I see.  The fellow who accompanied you?”

“I will outlive him by a million years if I outlive him by a day.  I care not,” she said, the Old Nocturnean language rolling off her tongue like she was born speaking it.  All of them were speaking the language of the Old Shamans, as befitted the gravity of the assemblage.

Ir’Sem rose as well.  “There will be more time for ceremonies later, Forgedaughter.  For now…your people await you.”

Venus slowly tilted her head down.  Another tear escaped her endless red eyes.  “And I await them.”