"Guide your soul. Brother, he cannot save his own. How can you ask him such a blasphemous favor?" "Get out of my head!" Gideon shouted. "You wish to be rid of me? You cannot. The forces that bind us together are as alien to I as they are to you." "Then what do you want?" "This you will know soon. But the time is not right, and you are not ready." "Hey Gideon, snap out of it." Michael yelled at him, jerking his shoulder. Quickly he opened his eyes. Marines were exiting the room through the giant doorway. Gideon stood, and followed them out. Asmond turned and addressed the squad. "Initiates, follow me. Veterans, take fifteen minutes, then head to the equipment training room." "Hoo-rah." the veterans said as they turned and dispersed in the crowd. Making their way through the rock, they soon found themselves in a large stone room. It was as dimly lighted as all the other habitable places in the fortress monastery. Several helmets lay suspended on the brown rock wall directly in front of them. A large gray box was in the corner, wires crept from it, to the green headwear on the wall. Monitors were suspended around it, all black and lifeless. Keyboards and access panels filled the remainder of the room, all linking back to the rectangular gray mass. "Sit." Asmond ordered. Looking around the room, Gideon noticed a rectangular block running across the wall parallel the helmets. The initiate sat, glancing around the room at the archaic electronics that inhabited the room. Gideon could easily reach out and touch the other wall if he wanted to. Asmond closed the door and strolled to the helmets. While handing them out, he started to speak. "When you are in combat, your armor will protect your body from harm, just as your faith protects your mind from corruption. You must know how your equipment works, if you are going to use if effectively. Lacking the ability to function in your armor, can result in your death, and the death of your squad mates." Now Asmond stood by the gray box, looking at the recruits with his deep green eyes. This was the first time Gideon actually noticed his features. The sergeant had deep black hair, stripes of white ran down the sides. It was buzz cut, and unkempt. A giant scar crossed down from his forehead, to the left cheek. He had no sign of facial hair or small pit scaring as most other sergeants. This was because he always wore a helmet, where as the other officers took off the extra protection as a sign of courage. "You will put on the helmet and await further orders." "Sir, yes sir." The marines shouted. Gideon pulled the helmet over his head, feeling the weight on his neck. He could see nothing but darkness, stale air was circulated through the cracks created by the loose fitting helm. Snapping sounds echoed through the room and Gideon could hear whirring sounds through the plasteel helmet. After an audible click, he could see the room. "You are now looking through the display matrix in your helmet." Asmond said. "It contains information vital to the completion of the mission. In the upper right corner of the screen, is a layout of your armor. When it is damaged, you will see this." The three dimensional suit of power armor spun to the left. The right thigh was highlighted and then a female voice filled the helmet. "Warning, armor damaged. Ceramite plating punctured. Movement lightly reduced." "If the damage is more severe, this will happen." Asmond said. "Warning, armor damaged. Ceramite plating destroyed. Elemental protection reduced to oh-nine-eight percent. Movement severely reduced. Bioscan complete. Lacerations detected. Acetomorphine administered." The female voice said. Asmond started speaking again. "Every type of armor has its own display matrix. Tactical marines have the basic setup, what you see here. Devastators have advance targeting systems, while vehicle crew have weapon controls and vehicle monitors. As assault marines, you will have this matrix." The screen in front of Gideon changed. A jump pack was added to the armor damage layout, as it was called. Underneath the compass appeared three sets of numbers. They were black inside a white boarder. The top had a three digit number separated from a two digit number by a dash. In the middle was a zero, Nothing else. On the bottom was a zero followed by the letters VEL. Gideon watched a curser on his screen while Asmond spoke. "The circular green targeting reticule you see moving in front of you, is your targeting cursor. If you look by your right foot you will see a handle. Pick it up." Gideon reached down and lifted the wooden shaft. A metal barrel was attached to it, three large cords ran from the back into the wall. "Watch your cursor...now." Asmond said. Moving the fake weapon around, Gideon noticed the reticule pointed were ever the round barrel aimed. "If the weapon comes into range, the reticule will turn red. The numbers that appeared on your screen are flight gauges. The number on the top is the planetary coordinates. In the middle is the altimeter. It measure your altitude from the planet's ocean level. The bottom number is your velocity gauge, measured in miles per hour. It will tell you how fast you are currently traveling." Asmond paused to push a few buttons on the gray box. "You may also activate extra gauges. To do this, look at imperial icon at the bottom left of your display matrix, and blink twice." Gideon did so and heard a beep. "The sound you hear is the voice identification activating. From here, you can simply tell the helmet what you want to activate. Say activate artificial horizon." "Activate artificial horizon." Gideon said. A v appeared with two lines extending from it. Below and above it were flat black lines. "As you will learn later, when you are flying, this will say if you are level or unbalanced." Asmond announced. He flipped a switch on the box, and Gideon was doused in inky darkness again. "Go ahead and remove the headwear and put the tracers away." Gideon removed the stuffy piece of armor and placed the so called 'tracer' back into its holster. Resting the helmet on his thigh, Gideon listened to Asmond talk. "You will be expected to learn your armor inside and out. If it is damaged in battle, return it to the Adeptus Mechanicus for repair. Because it will be some time yet before your armor is finished, we will commence standard training." As the sergeant finished speaking, the door opened. Sergai was standing in the door way dawning full armor. Asmond turned and spoke with them. "Take the initiates to the sparring room. Get them set up for marine level sparring. The time for pads and rules has passed rookies. You will now fight like the rest of us. Dismissed!" "Sir, yes sir!" The marines yelled. Following the veterans to the sparring floor, the initiates walked boldly with squared soldiers. Marching through the door with impunity, all hell broke loose. A large marine in bleached bone robes seized Gideon's wrist and twisted it sideways. Wrapping his head under the initiates arm he tossed Gideon through the air. Landing hard on his knee, the rookie rolled forward, and spun while he stood up. Looking around, Gideon saw the other initiates of his squad in pitched combat. Michael had a black robed figure in a head lock, and was twisting the marines arm. Terphyli was on his face, blood gushing out of his nose while a green robed veteran held him in place by locking both his legs to the ground. Demitri was holding a second green figure off with a series of high kicks that snapped the air. Driving a large, calloused fist towards Gideon, the assailant moved with amazing speed. Blocking, all Gideon could manage was staying clear of the deadly strikes. Hooking his foot around the back of Gideon's knee, the veteran tripped the slower rookie. While he was in the air Gideon felt a foot in his gut, and sailed across the room. |
OUTSIDE INFLUENCE VOLUME I By Brother Gideon |
TOMES OF VALOUR |
This story has been reproduced with permission from the author. Many terms used in this story (such as Space Marine, Eldar, and others) are Trademarks of Games Workshop, Inc. Their use here is not intended as a challenge to said trademarks. |
