#freeblade

Thank you for the tag, @kshert, @inquisitornocturn (ok that was WIP Wednesday but I always kind of miss it) and @fourraccoonsinacoat 💖

To show her his respect and thanks for supporting him, Freeblade Heinrix invites Navy officer, Lord Captain Venria van Maynard, to visit his Knight Errant. If only Venria would know that "Knight" means the machine, not the pilot...

Tw: non/dub con aspects, mechsploitation, literally everything to do with Warhammer.

All depicted characters are obviously adults

Overview: After the fall of an imperial knight house dedicated to the Adeptus Mechanicus, the only surviving knight, a Freeblade by the name of Aurellia, was driven almost completely insane by the loneliness. Luckily, a tech priest, Viaros, seemed to pity her plight... or viewed it as an effective tool (or, you know, both). Either way, the two work together to relocate STCs and fight back the Tyranid swarm that ripped the knight house apart.

The 'Free'blade

Her melta gun screached as rapid shots burned into the Tyranid hoards. Her brothers had once recommended that she replace it with the more common choice of a stubber, but she slept better knowing every cell of vile alien biomass had been decimated. That didn't matter anymore, though; her brothers were dead. Guardsmen surrounded her, lasbolts piercing xeno skulls in utter devotion. Her foot came down, heavy upon one of the bugs, and she smiled at the sound of its exoskeleton crunching into liquefied pulp. Her Vox hissed, and it drew her attention in milliseconds. "Well done, my Knight," the tech priest said, a hint of genuine pride in her voice. "Continue your slaughter. There are larger organisms approaching, including a biotitan. Kill it, and you earn extra chem rations." She looked to the swarmed horizon with a smile. She could see the vile thing now, and her chainsword roared exitedly. She lifted her right arm to aim the thermal cannon. Blasts of white hot energy tore through the creature's exoskeleton, but it continued its advance. She sprinted forward, iron legs pushing through the swarm. Its claws punctured her armor before the chainsword could connect. By the time it did, the beast's jaws had wrapped around her. Blood and bone flew like shrapnel as he chainsword tore into the thing's head. She lifted her thermal cannon to fire a shot point blank through its throat. The beast fell, decapitated. She lifted her chainsword up along with the severed head, brandishing her kill like a trophy. Artillery had already thinned out much of the enemy numbers. Her armor knelt before her mind was shoved violently back into her own body, the one within the mech. She could see now that her left arm had been severed at the shoulder, the enormous blade responsible still lodged into the throne mechanicum. "It's dead," she said into her Vox. "My armor has ceased function, and I've sustained minor injuries. But the beast is dead." No response. "Tech priest?" She asked. "Please respond." A sigh left the Vox speaker. "You could've done better," the tech priest said. "Good weapons are efficient. They're cautious. You nearly sacrificed both your own life and the life of your armor, both of which are of value to me, for a single kill. I don't see fit to reward this behavior. Now, report the damage. Now." She could feel the disappointment through the Vox, and her eyes began to water as she spoke. "I... u-understood, tech priest. The hull was breached, along with the reactor, possibly," she answered shakily. "My left arm has also been severed." The tech priest growled over the vox. "You said your injuries were minor," she snapped. "Is it such a foreign concept that your life may have some value?" The silence that followed served as an answer. "By the throne... just try to minimize the bleeding until I get there. Do. Not. Die. That is an order, knight." She nodded. "Y-yes, tech priest..."

The flight home had been long. Being carried back to her fortress within her deactivated armor, jostled within the cockpit. She'd managed to slow the bleeding, but life still had wept from the wound. The tourniquet had strangled her stump, sending ripples of agony through it. Now, pain suppressants had done their work. Viaros worked diligently upon the wound, wiring machine into flesh. A servo skull assisted her, Aurellia was sure one of its two cybernetic eyes was familiar. She lifted her intact arm to her own face, feeling the bionic. She'd had it for so long, she barely even noticed it. All she knew was that she got it before Viaros took her in. In the mysterious life she must've had, but could no longer remember. "Be still," Viaros chastised. "This is delicate work. If you refuse to cooperate, we will preform the procedure without further anesthetic." She corrected herself, putting her arm back to her side. "Yes, tech priest." Viaros continued in silence for a few hours before she spoke again. "I knew another knight once," she said, her tone noticeably softer. "He was a fragile little thing, but he was a far better pilot than any of his brothers. His parents had been great too, but both died in battle when he was young. The other knights raised him to be dependent, to believe himself worthless without them by his side. Soon, his parents became teachers, his teachers brothers, and his brothers corpses." She felt the final click of her bionic arm locking into place reverberate through her bones. "He died that day, too," Viaros finished, a hint of mourning in her synthetic voice. "I found him broken, insane... and I reforged him." Aurellia pulled her new arm free, shifting every one of its joints, enraptured. "What was his name?" She asked. Viaros smiled. "Oh, that's not important, my Knight. Now... report to your living quarters. Your additional rations have already been delivered." The smile that spread across her face was near holy.