Archive of Our Own

She stood in the dueling cage. Clad in carapace armor and a red cape draped on her back, she grasped Crescent Rose. Comical in her hands to most onlookers, she was a girl barely into adulthood holding what was little better than a tool meant to cut wheat. But looks could be deceiving—as some said. It was one of the many lessons she had taken from her homeworld. A planet by the name of Remnant—a world of bloody evolution. A world she, Ruby Rose, sought to return to.

Her knees bent as she took a fighting stance across from her, the Lion, her opponent, stood opposite her, his huge body towering over her. In his right hand was his sword, Fealty, while in his other he wielded the Emperor's Shield. A relic of ancient design from the Emperor's armory, how it had ended up in the Lion's possession was a mystery. The Lion had refused to tell a single soul. Old habits die hard, she mused. And for the Lord of the First, that was keeping secrets.

With most of the Risen spread out across the Protectorate protecting its borders, only she and Zabriel remained at the Lion's side. It left the primarch few sparring partners during their plunges into the warp. Though that did not seem to bother him, at least from what she could tell. More than a year at his side and Ruby still struggled to read the Lion most days. It made Ren's stoicism look like an open book by comparison.

That did not mean the Lion was completely unreadable. Over the past few months, she had noticed his mood growing increasingly grim. He was losing hope they would ever get a response from the Imperium. Ruby had told him not to give up, but the words were hollow in her mouth. Like the Lion, her morale was also wavering. When expeditionary ships came back to Avalus, they always told the same story. Isolation, anarchy, and civil unrest. Some worlds had endured the Blackness, similar to Avalus or Gamma II, while others had just withered and died. It was these dead worlds that shook Ruby the most. It reminded her too much of the destroyed villages she and Team JNPR had come across in Anima on their journey to Haven.

"Does something bother you, huntress?" the Lion asked.

Ruby shook her head. "No, sir," she lied before relaxing her posture. "I'm ready."

The Lion with a nod spread his legs and raised his weapons. In a sonic boom, she exploded at the primarch in a cloud of rose petals, reforming her body as she went for his head. During their duels, be they with her, or with another member of the Risen, the Lion expected them to go for the kill. Blocking her strike with Fealty, the power fields of their blades sparked against each other. Her body shifting into a cloud of petals once more, she went for the primarch's blind-spot. Twirling her scythe in the air, she attempted to slash at his power pack. But the primarch stopped her attack with his shield. Her eyes widened as Crescent Rose's blade struck the ancient weapon. In a flash of golden light, she was sent flying towards a nearby wall. Using her semblance to slow herself, she flung her body once more at the Lion. Parrying two blows from her, Ruby feinted a strike, causing the Lion a moment of surprise as her scythe's power field scraped against his aura. The primarch then swung his shield and, like a fly swatted her away, causing her to fall face-first to the ground.

"Ow," she groaned as she rubbed her lower jaw. Despite restraining his strength and her aura protecting her, a smack from the primarch still hurt. She then froze as the warmth of Fealty's power field hovered over her neck.

"Do you yield?" the Lion asked in his usual stern manner.

Sweat dripped down her brow, and she nodded. The Lion lowered his blade before drawing it back into its sheath. Lowering his free hand to her, Ruby took it and got back to her feet. Her breath heavy from exertion, she grabbed Crescent Rose from where it had fallen and shifted it back once more into its rifle form before holstering it to her waist.

"You continue to flourish your blade," the Lion observed as she took a swig from her water canteen. "Such meaningless moves make you vulnerable to counter-strikes. Your every move should be deliberate and with purpose to either defend yourself or strike down your prey."

"Ok but hear me out," she said between swigs. "It does look really cool!"

The Lion grunted a scoff. "You spend too much of your time around Kai," he remarked as he set the Emperor's Shield down. "My brother, Jaghatai—may his soul rest in peace if the sands of time have taken him—during the Triumph of Ullanor once told…" She sighed before rolling her eyes. She was going to get a lecture… again. "…my brother Fulgrim, he could defeat him in a duel, and do you understand why?"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"He told the Phoenician he would win because he treated fighting as a game. That because of Fulgrim's constant boasting on his swordsmanship, he was predictable to him."

"I think I get what you mean," she replied. "I'll keep that in mind next time we duel."

The Lion smiled. "Do not let my critiques of your form dissuade you, huntress. You have improved much since Sable. You are naturally gifted with the scythe, especially for a youth of your age. It is a shame you were not born a male, for you would have made a mighty warrior in the Legion."

She cringed at the last bit. "Um… thank you, sir?" she said, unsure how to reply. "I appreciate your words of confidence."

The Lunar Knight then shook as klaxons blared throughout the warship as reality juddered with a flare of colors in the corner of her vision. Nauseous, she fell to her knees as her throat tightened. When she got to her feet, she found some of the pressure on her head start to subside. She had built a degree of tolerance to the headaches their stutter-jumps through the warp, but they still bothered her more than she liked.
​

***​

As they entered the bridge of the Lunar Knight, they found Admiral Derrigan alongside Zabriel and Jaune already there waiting for them. As the Lion approached, Ruby took notice of a few of the other bridge officers making the aquila over their chests as they muttered prayers. Many across the Protectorate had started worshiping the Lion as a savior, a divine angel sent by the Emperor himself in their most dire hour. With the Church doing nothing to help the matter. Already at their behest, effigies had been raised in the Lion's name across many of the worlds they liberated. Some had even gone as far to declare the Lion a Living Saint.

It bothered the Lion in private. And not because of the typical theological reasons, but for the burden it placed on his already heavy shoulders. He feared they would fail them. Just like how he failed Camarth's people.

Her lips trembled as she remembered the fate of the now dead world and its people. Even a year after the tragedy, it remained burned into her psyche, with her occasionally having nightmares about it. Camarth was a reminder of the price they would pay if they failed in their mission of protecting the people.

Brushing a tear from her eye, she joined her companions as they surrounded the hololith and began reading the telemetry data captured by the auspex so far. Displayed before them was Denerair, a small planet that sat right in the middle of its parent star's habitable zone.

Like many other worlds this side of the Great Rift, the agri-world alongside the rest of the Cyclops Cluster had been left unprotected from outside threats. With the matter not helped by the disappearance of Battlefleet Gothic shortly before the Fall of Cadia. In the power vacuum left, emboldened ork pirates from the system's asteroid field had begun plundering Denerair and other nearby worlds.

"Our auger scans are detecting no signatures which match ork void-ships, my Lord Lion," Derrigan told him as he studied the display. "However, we have been able to pick up fuel trails left by the greenskins. They appear to have fled towards the system's asteroid field."

"They're probably using the asteroid field to hide from us," Jaune noted before smirking. "Cunning bastards."

Derrigan scoffed. "You give too much credit to the xenos."

"Underestimating the greenskins is a fast route to the grave, Admiral," Jaune replied.

"Yes, yes, I am very familiar with Admiral Spire and his teachings," Derrigan snided to him. "I did not graduate from the Academy yesterday. And I certainly do not need some pirate to remind me." He added with clear disdain, causing Jaune to roll his eyes while Ruby gave the admiral a glare for referring to her friend like that.

Despite Borz and his men having halted their piracy since pledging themselves to the Lion, there was still amnesty between the Avalusian fleet and Borz's men. Borz and his marauders had been a menace to imperial shipping lanes around Avalus for decades; many of the bridge officers on the Lunar Knight who served had fought them once or twice in their lifetimes. And Jaune's appointment as a junior officer on the Lunar Knight did not help. Derrigan was orthodox and by the books, while Jaune was the opposite and took gambles and unlike the other junior officers of the Lunar Knight, Jaune would speak his mind and would not quaver to the Admiral.

"Still, Lieutenant Arc's observation has some merit…" Zabriel spoke up, having remained silent as he read the cogitator's telemetry. "The greenskins are most likely using the debris field to shield themselves from our scanners. An attempt to clear them out will lead to our fleet being ambushed."

"Well, we don't have all day to wait for them, Zabriel," Ruby said.

"Indeed, we do not," the Lion said, having spent the entire conversation studying the data. "We shall draw them out of their den into the open and slay the warboss who leads their rabble. We cut the head of the beast and they shall lose cohesion."

"Easier said than done, sir," Jaune said with a sigh. "How do you suggest we draw them out?"

The Lion smirked. "Why we give them what they want, Lieutenant," he said. "Let us make them believe we have fallen into their trap. Once they have been lulled, we shall strike when they least expect."

"A bold strategy, but it is not without risk," Derrigan commented as he thought on the merits of the Lion's plan. "For your plan to work, my lord, we will have to use our ships as bait. Am I correct?"

The Lion nodded. "I am afraid so, Admiral," he said heavily, causing Derrigan to frown.

Void combat was like a game of chess. She had learned this from watching the Lion and the other bridge officers at work during naval fights. If the Lunar Knight was their king, the other vessels in their fleet were their bishops, rooks, and knights, while the crews of each ship were their pawns. And like chess, you had to sacrifice a few pieces to win the game. Usually pawns.

"We'll try to kill the warboss as fast as we can," Ruby told the admiral, attempting to reassure him.

Deaths were unavoidable in war. It was a hard truth she had grown to accept in service to the Lion. Especially in his mission to protect as much of Imperium Nihilus as they could. And while she could not stop there being casualties in every battle they waded into, they could at least minimize their losses.

Derrigan made a sad smile and nodded to her in thanks. Their meeting concluded the Lion turned to leave the bridge. As he did, she and Zabriel followed in tow, they had a beast to slay.