(Preview)
The flight to the Ehernfürst was one of great difficulty not because of any external threats such as unexpected weather phenomena or Wostyn pirates, but rather due to the incessant chatter of Boudica the entire time. Of the entire crew aboard the unassuming Lighter that comprised of Isolde, Cordelia, Boudica, Tränen, Ärger, Mitleid, Frieden, Glaube, Zweifel, Kleiner, Vogel, Mauer, and Bo,
only Boudica was speaking, and she readily proved herself capable of carrying on a one-sided conversation with only an Ixolotl as a willing audience to her stream of consciousness.
"Have you heard about how that the Imperium has enacted pogroms on undesirable populations historically? Even those stuck-up Cadians are the result of that, with the original Cadians being wiped out before the Imperium resettled the planet. The Conomors have said they don't plan to do that to us Kimarans, but if you ask me I think their actions are kind of suspicious...I mean who drafts
every single man on a planet who isn't already working in the echelons of their regime? They sent the whole male population off to go 'pay our debt' to the Imperium once and for all, but I don't know, man...couldn't they have just used the wealth they seem to possess to pay our tithe that way? According to them they got all that money from trading, but that kind of war-chest isn't the sort of thing most outcast-nobles in the Imperium can just throw around without anybody noticing. It's like they were preparing for something and, given their popping up out of nowhere after ten-thousand years at the exact moment they could take advantage of the Jarns, it sort of feels staged to me—"
Members of the Schola already tended to vary slightly from the basic Kimaran 'norms' due to the Schola not entirely being comprised of Kimarans, but rather orphans from nearby sectors as well and from Imperial families stationed on Kimara. That said, the degree in which Boudica diverged was enough to tweak Isolde's natural appreciation for quiet, as her fellow Progena didn't appear to have any kind of filter.
"—like they greased the wheels of the Imperium to manipulate events so that they could accuse the Jarns of heresy then oust them and take their place on top once again. Why they'd do that just to get rid of the people afterwards I don't know, but even if they deny it their Wostyn-buddies don't even try to hide their desire to supplant us! Just today there was that preacher guy on the streets talking about how we were all traitors to the Imperium, while his people are the chosen sons of the Emperor whose long suffering soon shall be over once they take over. Can you
believe that guy? After all the hard work we've put into Kimara they think they can just move in and say its theirs now, all while complaining about that one time we conquered Wostyn when it was a military threat to us thousands of years ago! I mean, sure, at the Schola we might be engaging in some activities not exactly above-board for the Imperium, but we're only doing that because of what the Conomor regime has forced us to do! Even then it's nothing like the stuff the 'Sons of the Emperor' are doing to our people
every single day! Those Wostyn jerks wouldn't dare try any of what they're doing if our men were all still around, present company excluded of course since you guys are still here, but they think that because they're oh-so pious that they can do whatever they want. Hey—"
It would be a simple matter to tell Boudica to cut the chatter, but Isolde held her own tongue regardless given what bits she knew of her fellow Schola student. Isolde might not have socialized much with her peers beyond Verita and Dairine, but the Commandant's daughter had heard enough about Boudica's background to sympathize with the girl: Boudica was the sole survivor of another Fortress City's population that had been massacred by the regime.
That slaughter had been carried out for alleged sedition, but the truth of the operation was known only to those who orchestrated it: the bombardment from surrounding cities had left little in the way of evidence to piece together what drove the Conomors to such brutality at that time, and the issue was swiftly forgotten given Kimara's deep-seated loathing of traitors. In one fell swoop thousands had been purged, and a day after they were forgotten and the issue was silenced in the media.
"—want to know who else considered themselves the Emperor of Mankind's devout offspring?
The Emperor's Children! I didn't even know Space Marines weren't all eunuchs until I saw records of their awful exploits, those sick degenerates being even worse than the Wostyn...Wostynians...Wostinite...the Throne's damned bastards who think really sick stuff is just a game! I mean, sure the hounds from Wostyn are disgusting as it is what with being drug-abusing molesters who are on a constant power-trip, but at least they aren't seven-feet tall behemoths who are built like a bunker...no Bo, I don't mean your owner, she's big too but in a totally different way. You weren't there that time, but awhile back we were both in Schola uniforms and she got in trouble for
'public indecency', but those moralizing jerks working for Pyan didn't even
notice me! We were wearing the same uniform but hers is indecent and I'm completely fine somehow! I know I'm not as gifted as a woman, but that's just insulting...I'd still be a model on any other planet you know—"
It was obvious that the mental and emotional scars left on the young Boudica were deep, having seen her mother and sisters slain before her eyes without the faintest sign of mercy. It was very likely that when things were quiet she was left with those dark memories, and so she filled the void with chatter that to most Kimarans was beyond palatable. Kimarans were blunt and cold people, but for one of their own who had lost everything they could bear certain eccentricities with few seeking to correct Boudica's behavior except when truly necessary.
"—anyways, given their hedonist lifestyles I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of soldiers from Wostyn actually were secret adherents to the Ruinous Powers, you know?
Oh but Boudica, that's crazy talk, how could soldiers devoted to the Emperor be corrupted by the Ruinous Powers? I don't know, have you ever heard of
half the Astarte Legions from the Great Crusade and their Primarchs? I'm just saying, if demigods and their demi-demi-god soldiers can fall, a bunch of dimwitted morons who are lucky to tie their shoes correctly in the morning could most definitely go down the wrong path whether they mean to or not. Why do the Conomors want them anyways? Sure their top soldiers are actually on par with Tallarn's best, but they're now recruiting kids and petty criminals for some reason...which now that I say it out loud really just means the average Wostyn citizen, but still, all the more reason to not bring them here to enforce the
law! Like if you want Arbites, recruit more Arbites, don't give the inmates the keys to the castle! Come to think of it, how do you recruit Arbites anyways? I think they pull from Scholas, but then how come all my security classes—"
Had Boudica been an off-worlder however no such consideration would be granted, another cause among many for Kimara's poor reputation with other worlds. Boudica was one of their own though, and was one of the Schola's top Progena when it came to handling firearms and explosives, so her ability to kill the enemy outweighed any annoyance others felt at her presence. Those used to Boudica sometimes instead found comfort in her rambling chatter as if it was white noise to drown out everything else, especially given Boudica's well-meaning if notably paranoid nature, but Isolde had not quite reached that point yet and so suffered in silence for a duration of their flight.
"—no, never-mind, that doesn't matter: what matters is that the Conomors seem to want us Kimarans to die out without a real fight, and they're really dragging it out! Couldn't they just kill us and be done with it? Sick bastards are toying with us, that's what I think at least, and I don't think it's just some coincidence either that the men who would protect us from them all got shipped out to fight some battle nobody came back from. Like, I know the Tyranids are scary, but it was a
splinter fleet that our armada could crush with its eyes
closed! Are you really going to tell me that nobody survived that fight, that it ended in a draw with no sign of our fleet afterwards? I bet the Conomors set them up in some ambush, and that's why they never came back, that way they could have their own planet-wide harem. Millions of the objectively, and I mean objectively because have you
seen us, most beautiful women all for them to do with as they please...well not this lady! That's why I keep a gun with me at all times, even when I'm at the mess hall! You never know when you're gonna need it after all, so be prepared and you won't ever be caught off-guard...I guess you can't use a gun, huh? It's okay, those little stubby flipper-things of yours will grow some day. Loxatls have weapons, you know, so maybe we can get you some too—"
With a snap of her eyes Isolde stared at Boudica for a single moment, but it got the message across: her Ixolotl was only there to help pretend Cordelia was her by having Isolde's publicly known pet she would bring everywhere present, not for anything approaching combat-related matters lest the innocent creature be harmed accidentally.
"—from her death stare I
don't think your owner likes that idea...still, maybe we should get you a backpack or something, like those Ixolotls trained to bring artillery shells. The artillery shells we've been getting these days don't really seem to pack the same punch as they used to, probably because the ones overseeing their production are busy doing drugs instead of quality control. It used to be that when an Earthshaker shell struck something that something stopped existing, but I don't know, man, I've fired them at Yormungaros and they just don't seem to care as much as they used to. It could be that the Yormungaros have been altered in some way in a lab or something, especially since there seem to be less of them in the wild recently which the government has taken credit for, but I can't prove that so I'm going to stick with my drug-addict quality control workers theory. Wostyn's always had drug problems, but they've
really taken off in the past century, especially in the past two decades, so much so that it's spread to a lot of officials here on Kimara. Now, am I saying that the Conomors' wealth in part comes from the drug trade and they are exploiting it to keep a grip on their minions? Well yeah I guess I am, that makes a lot of sense if you think about it, but it makes you wonder if their connections to the Departmento Munitorum and Administratum have let them corrupt officials and groups elsewhere too. That'd certainly help explain how they could rally the Imperium to suddenly turn on the Jarns and kill them all after ten-thousand years of servitude, because I don't know if you've seen what a drug-addict will do for their fix but man, it isn't pretty. Still, do you think they
really managed to kill all the Jarns? Seems unlikely to me given how many of them there were, what with all their branch families and whatnot. I mean Kimarans have a lot of kids already, and the Jarns especially did, so I don't know, maybe somewhere out there one slipped away. Like even by chance maybe someone wasn't where the traitors thought they'd be, so they missed them by default and just claimed to have killed them anyways. For an organization this corrupt I wouldn't be surprised if something like that happened, though it's really sick that they executed babies too. The Conomors don't talk about that part, but like the main line of the monarchy alone had to have had a few babies and toddlers and then you think of all the cousins and branch families and all their kids as well...really sick stuff if you ask me..."
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A/N: It is my birthday tomorrow and while normally Sunday is a writing day for me even on holidays and such occasions I am going to be out with my family and thus away from my computer for the vast majority of the day. So instead I figured I'd post the very start of the next update which follows directly from the last one to give you something, even if that something is essentially a character introduction via the rambling paranoia of Isolde's fellow student.
Hope this preview was to your liking, and hope to hear any thoughts you have about her paranoid observations! Who knows, maybe there's a glimmer of truth behind it all...
