Chapter 417: An Old Friend
Fitting a squire-suit with a second pair of mechanical arms was a major overhaul, requiring the shoulder plating removed, the servo-mechanisms reworked, an entirely new skeletal framework added, and finally the arms themselves installed. Working at the Mechanicus's usual pace, that meant another ten days to two weeks.
Fortunately, Kian didn't have to just sit around waiting, because Nor'n had finally gotten back to him.
One day, while Kian was meditating in his quarters, Major Noa came to find him.
"My lord! The Angel you asked me to contact got back to us. We've located Lord Nor'n!"
Kian's eyes lit up. "Oh? What's the situation?"
"My lord, Nor'n and his squad are deployed on the front line just ahead of the Titan Temple. They just completed a decapitation strike, taking down a major Ork Mekboy warlord. Right now they've pulled back into Astra Militarum lines for a sixteen-hour stand-down. You could go visit them right now."
Kian was thrilled. He suited up in his power armour, joined Major Noa at the airfield, borrowed an atmospheric flyer, and headed straight for the front.
The flyer touched down at a forward field, and Kian jumped out immediately.
"Nor'n! Big man Nor'n! I'm here!"
Major Noa led him toward an underground bunker.
"This way, my lord. The Angels are resting inside."
The two of them moved quickly through the trench network and reached the bunker before long. Plenty of Guard troops stood posted outside, guarding the honored Astartes and ensuring their precious rest went uninterrupted.
The guards moved to stop Kian, but Noa stepped forward.
"Stand down. This is a guest of the Angels."
She showed the guards her authorization from the Planetary Governor, and they let him through.
Inside, a ramp led down into the earth, fifty meters or more, growing hotter the deeper they went. Before long, the passage opened up into a massive underground forge, where more than a dozen three-meter Astartes, armour off, dressed in coarse blacksmith's aprons, hammered away at their craft with genuine passion.
Major Noa immediately dropped to one knee. Kian just ran straight into the crowd.
"Nor'n! Where's Nor'n! Your old buddy came to see you!"
Several of the Astartes taking a break from the forge looked up at him. They'd just come off a mission that had killed a major Ork warlord out of an enemy force numbering in the millions, and were now resting with a bit of honest smithing. Genuinely curious, they studied Kian with interest.
A hundred-year veteran with a single gold stud on his skull leaned toward a four-hundred-year veteran nearby, four gold studs marking his scalp, and murmured, "Captain, that looks like the Count of Agri-World Secundus-496b. The one who saved Sergeant Nor'n."
The Crimson Bite's company captain, a legendary four-century veteran, let out a booming laugh and called back.
"Count, all the way at the back of the bunker, room on the left. Sergeant Nor'n's in there."
Kian ran straight for it. A heavy iron door stood shut, the rhythmic clang of hammering audible from inside.
Kian pounded on the door.
"Nor'n! Nor'n! Guess who it is!"
The hammering inside paused for a beat, then picked back up, considerably more intense than before. The clanging just kept going, like whoever was inside was trying to drown out Kian's shouting entirely with sheer volume.
Kian kept calling out for a good while, getting nothing back but the sound of the hammer. Genuinely wounded by the snub, he switched to singing instead, mournfully.
"Fake cigarettes, fake wine, fake friends, oh so fake, fake sentiment dressed up as gentle grace~ You lured me into your home so warm, then kicked me out at the dead of night's storm~"
Beside him, the Crimson Bite captain and a handful of veteran Astartes had gathered around, watching the whole thing with open amusement.
Behind the iron door, Nor'n's expression had visibly collapsed into pure misery as he hammered away. He finally dropped the hammer, threw the door open, and stared Kian down.
Kian's eyes lit up seeing his old friend, and he launched right back into song.
"Friends walk life's road together~ Those days are gone now, never to return, one word, a lifetime, a bond forever, one cup of wine..."
Nor'n's face sagged into pure exhaustion. Every time he saw Kian's relentlessly cheerful mug, he found himself wondering if, in a galaxy this brutal and merciless, this one man had somehow hoarded all the joy meant for the rest of them.
The company captain and a small crowd of onlooking Astartes gathered in closer.
"Sergeant Nor'n, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"
Nor'n said, "This is the Count of Agri-World Secundus-496b. He's the one who saved my life."
Kian added helpfully, "Single-handedly, and with tremendous swagger, killed twenty thousand Orks to pull him off their trophy rack while he was on death's door."
Off to the side, Major Noa, reduced to complete background irrelevance by this point, stared in undisguised shock. The Count had personally saved an Angel of Death?!
Nor'n clicked his tongue and got on with the introductions.
"This is Captain Doron, third company of the Crimson Bite. This is Apothecary Desai. This is Chaplain Reisach. This is our Chapter Librarian, Budas."
Once the introductions were finished, Captain Doron gave Kian a formal fist-to-chest salute.
"Count, thank you. Sergeant Nor'n is a vital member of our brotherhood. We'd all assumed he'd fallen in the field. You brought him back to us, and that makes you a friend of the Crimson Bite Chapter."
Kian waved him off. "Ah, don't sweat it. We'll grab a few tables and celebrate properly sometime."
Apothecary Desai shot Captain Doron a meaningful look, which the captain understood instantly. He turned to Major Noa.
"Major, give us the room, please. We need to speak with our friend privately."
Getting to be in the same room as this many Angels had already been more than enough for Noa. She gave a crisp Aquila salute and withdrew from the bunker without hesitation.
With no outsiders left, Apothecary Desai pulled a green needle-canister from his belt pouch, eyes burning with intensity as he looked at Kian.
"Count, this compound, how exactly is it made?"
Chaplain Reisach drew out the consecrated dagger.
"Count, this blade, the one capable of killing daemons, what's the story behind it?"
Chapter Librarian Budas produced a tin of coolant balm.
"And this salve, the one that sharpens Warp perception and resists daemonic influence, how is it produced?"
Kian felt genuinely flattered, surrounded like this, thoroughly enjoying the attention. He looked to Captain Doron, clearly the one calling the shots.
"Captain, I think you already know why I'm holding onto all this, right?"
Doron thought it over for a moment, then answered.
"Count, a warship, that I cannot provide you. But if all you need is for that Sword-class frigate wreck at Secundus-496b to be towed here to the Forge World and have its engines repaired, the Crimson Bite Chapter can absolutely manage that."
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