NationStates Jolt Archive

Brother-Captian Ricaud walked the beautiful sands of the island. He was on a world called Jurai, within Coreworlds. The local trees and flora bloomed, and the sand parted beneath his armored feet subtely, without restraint. He walked the beach, full armor suit, a glimmer of sweat beading down his face, nemesis force halbred in hand, using it as leverage, even though he needn't use it.

This was not a pleasure stroll, he was in deep thought. There were few of his Grey Knights, perhaps somewhere around fifty at most. Their numbers on the uninhabited island made the island look enormous, though the island itself was rather small, too small to land the Strike Cruiser, which orbited in space constantly. His Stormtroopers, under the command of Colonel-Comissar Kalantar were thin aswell. The mass fighting, yet highly skilled troops were short, at most there were 125, maybe even far less. The Strike Cruiser crew was nominal, but there was always help needed to take the burden off the small crew, of the relatively big ship.

He sighed, and spoke into his mouthpeice. "Brother-Justicar, please contact the Coredian Hierarchy. Ask them to meet with me upon this island, I wish to discuss an issue dealing with us, and ask for.... some kind of aid."

"Of course, brother, will do right away."

Soon enough, a speeder bike roared over the oceans to the small, out-of-the-way island.

The youthful occupant circled the island once before finding Ricard and landing nearby. His hair was dark-brown and tied back in a yard-long braid and his eyes were a hazelnut brown color. He wears nothing more than a T-shirt with a lightning bolt on the front, an open off-white collar-shirt, light cargo khakis, combat boots, custom utility belt and a traditional Jedi cloak. The public still believes him fallen, but the truth is otherwise.

Daniel Masaki has arrived.

The 8 foot tall Ricaud looked down upon the casually dressed 'boy'. His armor, dark and dirty now, barely shined in the sunlight, his bald head sheding a few sweat drops looked down at Daniel.

He raised an eyebrow, and spoke in his deep, gruff voice, "Are you the Coredian... liason?"

I nodded. "Yes I am. My grandfather's offplanet on a diplomatic trip, so the duty befalls to me. So, uh, shall we talk?"

He grunted and snorted slightly. "I didn't expect a the Coredians to have such... low dress codes and poorly styled ambassadors.." He knew this was not the Coredian uniform, and that they could do much better, but he did not appreciate being confronted in such a casual manner, especially with some boy.

Ricaud stood on the beach, content with not moving, and holding the meeting there on the beach, standing.

"While we thank you for giving us haven here, we need to ask something more." He hesitated, but when on with vigor. "As you might know, our home was decimated by the Chronosians, leaving us the only survivors. And now, it has been so long since that time, and we have worn thin with casualties and deaths. We ask, that if we may recruit some of your best soldiers... into our force. Our Elite Stormtroopers. We will gladly pay anything you wish, or do what ever deed for this, but we are in short supply of men, and we would like to bolster ourselves should the need arise for us to fight."

He grunted and snorted slightly. "I didn't expect a the Coredians to have such... low dress codes and poorly styled ambassadors.." He knew this was not the Coredian uniform, and that they could do much better, but he did not appreciate being confronted in such a casual manner, especially with some boy.
"That's because it's my own usual dress wear." I merely smirked. "I'm not your average ambassador after all."

Ricaud stood on the beach, content with not moving, and holding the meeting there on the beach, standing.

"While we thank you for giving us haven here, we need to ask something more." He hesitated, but when on with vigor. "As you might know, our home was decimated by the Chronosians, leaving us the only survivors. And now, it has been so long since that time, and we have worn thin with casualties and deaths. We ask, that if we may recruit some of your best soldiers... into our force. Our Elite Stormtroopers. We will gladly pay anything you wish, or do what ever deed for this, but we are in short supply of men, and we would like to bolster ourselves should the need arise for us to fight."
Well, I was surprised to say the least. Time for a command-level decision. "I see. I'll have to speak with the commanders about that, but I'll see what I can do."

"Indeed, we would like all the help we can get. We need more inductions, or we as a force will cease to exist. In small strikes, my Grey Knights can hold out, but in mass engagments, without the firesupport of our stormtroopers, we will be quickly dealt with. You do this, we will offer our eternal thanks."

"Don't worry about it." I simply smiled. "We help our friends whenever we can. I shall be back soon."

With that, I boarded my speeder bike and flew off over the water once more. I really enjoy this kind of trip. Mental note to self: Travel on speeder bikes more often.

With a nod and a grunt, Ricaud watched the boy ride away on his bike. With heavy feet, he walked back to his makeshift monestary, and sat down for meditation, awaitng a reply.

Some time later...

It has taken some concessions, political capital and outright wrangling, but I've managed to bring back one hundred of our best Marines. None of them have families worth speaking of, so that's a plus.

I also managed to pull off a few naval crew to see about upkeep of the Strike Cruiser in orbit.

The Lambda shuttle flew swiftly to the island of the Grey Knights and landed on the beach. Deployed were one hundred Marines and twenty naval crew. And me, this time in military uniform and having my proper rank on the collar, that of Commander. The Marines stood at attention as I awaited the Captain of the Grey Knights.

Ricaud, and his usual entourage of Terminators, including his most trusted 2nd in command, approached the shuttles, and the new disembarked soldiers and naval personel.

He stood back, far enough away to take in all the marines in a single gaze. He scanned the ranks, then approached every single one of them, and gave them stare-down and inspections, sizing them up. He only grunted a few times in dissapointment, but overall was very pleased.

Turning to Daniel, he nodded in ackowledgement. "I am very pleased, and I thank you. These men will do very well in the Storm Trooper Corp. My Commissar will be delieghted to see new men. I hope they don't mind changing to our standard stormtrooper garb, and trading in their blasters for hellguns?"

He turned to the marines again, and sighed. "Even this will not be enough to take back our home though, I hope your government is swaying to my favor to aid us in reclaiming it."

"Well, the Council is debating that as we speak, but anything to hurt the Chronosians is a plus in our book." I answered.

"Ah yes... 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'... that selfish saying... though I cannot blame you for such a thing..." He looked across the ranks. "What we have is modest, we are only fiersome fighters. Our people die, they get tormented, tortued daily, they are slaves. We failed last because we were not united, we will fail again if we do not unite against a common enemy..."

"That is why," I smiled wryly. "we must unite...and succeed."

Nodding to Daniel, then to a knight behind him, he walked off to the monestary. The Knight who he nodded to stepped forward, his helmet still upon his head, his voice modulator booming.

"Alright! You are now in service to Captian Ricaud and the Commissar! You are Elite Inquisitorial Stormtroopers! I will not lie, you are our cannon fodder! You are our diversion so that we knights may succeed! The difference between a dead trooper and a life one rests in your hands! You will be getting shot at, and some will die! But you shall live if you are devoted enough, and you allow us to accomplish our missions!"

He slammed the point of his force sword into the ground, then shouted even louder.

"Double time, around the island five times, now!"

The marines responded with a brisk responce of, "Sir yes sir." and ran, while still in formation, to the monestary.

"YOur training starts now! You will be lean mean killing machines, even more so now! You are working for a dying race! You are a remnant! You are a sliver in the foot of our enemies! But times change! You are the sliver, the knights are the infection! Without the sliver, the infection cannot invade the body, without the infection, the sliver is little more than an annoyance! With time, as the infection, we will grow more and more deadly inside the body of the enemy, we will prevail, we will kill, we will maim in service to the forgotten emperror, and in vengeance of my old home, and your new objective!" He barked, as he ran behind the marines. His enhanced body making his moves look effortless, even though his armor weigh more than the marines could imagine.

"Nice analogy." I mused as I watched the marines begin their training. Then I headed to Captain Ricaud. "Now there's still the matter of your ship. Our shipbuilders will need to know what needs to be fixed and/or improved."

He stopped and turned around, and stared down Daniel.

"That ship is sacred. It is the only thing we have left, besides the armor on our backs, and the weapons in our hands. And you wish to go in and defile it?!"

Ricaud started to tromp off, but stopped dead in his tracks. He pondered for a moment, then gave in to what he knew must be done.

"Yes... the Ravager needs to be repaired and refit. Half her torpedo tubes do not function, and almost all the lance batteries have fallen into disrepair. We can fix anything else, or try. But without some sort of Adeptus Mechanicus cult, we cannot fully repair her ever. I suppose she could use some of your weapons. I will have the captian send you a list of what he could use."

He stopped and turned around, and stared down Daniel.

"That ship is sacred. It is the only thing we have left, besides the armor on our backs, and the weapons in our hands. And you wish to go in and defile it?!"
I sighed. Faith is useful, but it can only go so far. I'm not one to believe that prayer can help fix a starship. I guess I'm more pragmatic that way.

Ricaud started to tromp off, but stopped dead in his tracks. He pondered for a moment, then gave in to what he knew must be done.

"Yes... the Ravager needs to be repaired and refit. Half her torpedo tubes do not function, and almost all the lance batteries have fallen into disrepair. We can fix anything else, or try. But without some sort of Adeptus Mechanicus cult, we cannot fully repair her ever. I suppose she could use some of your weapons. I will have the captian send you a list of what he could use."
"Very well." I nodded. "I'll have our techies talk to your techies about what can be improvised and replaced."

Now it had been some weeks since that meeting. The new Inquisitorial Stormtroopers had been trained, prepped, and readied for eventual conflicts. The ship was refitted and repaired, for the most part. New torpedo tubes were put in, turbo laser batteries were installed to replace destroyed lancers, and the foreward batteries were replaced with beamlasers, capitol grade.

But after all this, one last order was issued to all personel.

The Grey Knights no longer upheld the virtues of the Ordo Malleus. No longer did they hunt daemons for the specific purpose of maintaining purity in the galaxy. No longer did they care for the ancient codes of the lost Terra and the old Grey Knights. Now what consumed them was the lust for vengeance. They did not deserve the rightful name of the Grey Knights during this time of revenge. They would rename themselves as they took back their world and system, they would be named the Caducus Eques. Their armor was made blackened, their nemesis force weapons stained a dark orange, and their eye-peices stained bright firey orange.

They were ready to enact their new name-sake.