#high chaplain tayanna

[tlatia-the-radiant]

Write a Drabble about the two characters who don’t get along the most (if I recall it’s the librarian and Chaplin leads)

"Tayanna, if you remove that book from this room, you are being court-martialled and shot for violating hazardous and daemonic material guidelines and directives within the next two hours.

Chief Librarian Altacoya kept her voice low and neutral, trying to sound more honest than threatening. It was a threat, of course.

High Chaplain Tayanna set the Lectitio Divintatus back down on the table and rolled her eyes at her sister's overzealous adherence to quarantine procedures.

"I simply wish to attempt a cleansing ritual. The words within these pages could be valuable, if we manage to purge the daemons that rest between the lines and in the margins."

"Or, here's a thought," Altacoya countered, dry as a desert dune, "we burn that book and kill whatever comes crawling out of it."

Tayanna looked nothing short of horrified at the thought. "How shocking, that the Chief Librarian can't appreciate a good book!"

"A good--It's the Lectitio Divintatus! If I want to read a book I'll find some piece of fiction, not a treatise about the Cult of the Saviour Emperor!"

"This book is not just the foundational text of the Imperial Cult," Tayanna corrected. "This is the first edition that Lorgar wrote! It is the single most influential book in the Imperium, in front of even the Lex Imperialis!"

"That does not make it good!" Altacoya argued, sounding rather exasperated--this was not the first time the two had argued over the Lectitio Divintatus.

"If it's so popular, clearly something about it was effective!" Tayanna countered.

"Effective marketing, maybe," Altacoya snorted. "The actual words are tripe."

Tayanna sighed the sigh of someone that had this exact argument with this exact conclusion before, many, many times. "My own sister, completely incapable of appreciating a work of art."

"Get better taste," Altacoya responded. "And leave that karking book on the table."

[tlatia-the-radiant]

The bridge fell silent. Jaw-droppingly, library-of-Terra silent.

Nearly the entirety of the Dawn Legion's command structure was on the bridge: the Master of the Tecuani, the Master of the Fleet, the Master of the Scouts, and so on. The only ones absent were the Master of the Forge and Apothecary-Huntress Prime Chimalma. Even High Chaplain Tayanna and Chief Librarian Atlacoya were present and, for once, not engaged in a verbal snipefest. Together, they represented tens of thousands of years of experience in warfare; even Abaddon himself would've balked at boarding the Dawnbringer and taking their Primarch hostage.

The bridge looked like a painting. Within seconds, every single gun on the bridge was pointed at the newcomers and every sword was unsheathed. The map-table cast emerald light over those watching.

Tlatia, driven to her knees, snarled at the Captain-General, defiant even while his blade was at her neck. "If it isn't the shaman, come out from his tower of gold at last. What's the matter, Captain-General?" She spoke the title like it was a curse. "Come to haul me to the Black Cell that you failed to jail Horus in? Come to butcher more innocents in the name of security?"

Despite her show of spite, Tlatia was terrified. Not because of the blade at her throat—she'd faced those before—but because, if it came to a fight, her children would lose and be shown no mercy.

Can I chance it?

No. No, I can't.

"Dawn Legion. Stand down. Celaya, order the Fleet to stop engaging."

"My Lady?!" Laura asked, eyes wide with shock. "Surely you can't be—"

"I am serious, Laura. If these bastards choose to kill me, I want at least some of my Legion to carry on my legacy." She said bastards pointedly, glaring at the Captain-General as she did so.

@askthecaptaingeneral

+MULTIPLE WARP ANOMALIES DETECTED+

Cried the alarms as multiple ships flew out of a warp jump, a few were easily recognized.

The Moiraides.

"General quarters, general quarters, all hands, man your battle stations!"

Third Captain Celaya was already directing the ten vessels of the meagre Dawn Legion fleet into a defensive pattern by the time that Tlatia reached the Combat Information Centre aboard the Dawnbringer.

"Situation report!" she demanded.

"Confirmed sighting of the Moiraides! Elite Legio Custodes vessels! They're engaging us!" Celaya shouted back. "Destroyer Sunlight, burn retro thrusters and vector behind the Pax Nova! Destroyer Crucis, plug the gap!"

Damn. Damn, damn, damn!

The ship rocked as one of the golden-armored vessels fired a broadside into the Dawnbringer's prow.

"Void-shields are down!" an ensign reported, camouflaging the sheer horror in their voice with steely duty.

"Stars damn it all, that means we're vulnerable," Tlatia growled.

"Vulnerable to what?" her Fifth Captain, Anahuarque, asked, just as a new set of alarms began blaring.

"Teleportation signatures from all Moiraides ships! We're boarded!"

"Vulnerable to that," Tlatia grimaced. "Rally anti-boarding teams! Drive them from this ship!"

"Pax Nova has taken critical damage! Her engines are out!"

"Damn it all! Prioritize evacuating her passengers and crew to the Summer Light!"

"Enemy boarders are in the hangar! They're killing everyone!"

Tlatia clenched her fists and swore. "I'm heading to the hangar. Prepare an anti-boarding team to follow me," she told Anahuarque. The Fifth Captain nodded.

"Yes, my Lady."

Before Tlatia could even turn to begin leaving the bridge, the air buzzed with electric potential—too much potential, like a magnet being spun around another magnet.

Five Custodians, arrayed in Allarius Terminator armor, and ten in the standard garb of the Dread Host, appeared on the bridge between the CIC and the elevator.

[tlatia-the-radiant]

"Is that why Idavoll Squad lies dead in the hangar?" Tayanna growled from beneath her eagle-mask. "Why the Pax Nova is drifting? Because you give a damn about us?"

Laura held up a hand to silence the High Chaplain. "The Chief Apothecary and Master of the Forge are... predisposed. If you wish to find them, we cannot help you." There was still venom in the First Captain's voice worthy of predators on Catachan.

///

Eleven decks away, Master of the Forge and Techmarine Prime Eztli brandished their Omnissian Axe at the trio of Custodians that had just entered the engineering block.

"Drop your weapons! Hands in the air!"

With a brief prayer to the Machine God and the Motive Force, Eztli refused.

"This iteration cannot comply."

Her mechadendrites continued to adjust the control panel behind her, making the slightest modifications to keep the output steady.

"Analyzing combat parameters. Likelihood of successful/favourable outcome: Zero. Possibility of surrender: Zero. Importance of current function: Absolute. This iteration cannot comply."

@askthecaptaingeneral

+MULTIPLE WARP ANOMALIES DETECTED+

Cried the alarms as multiple ships flew out of a warp jump, a few were easily recognized.

The Moiraides.

"General quarters, general quarters, all hands, man your battle stations!"

Third Captain Celaya was already directing the ten vessels of the meagre Dawn Legion fleet into a defensive pattern by the time that Tlatia reached the Combat Information Centre aboard the Dawnbringer.

"Situation report!" she demanded.

"Confirmed sighting of the Moiraides! Elite Legio Custodes vessels! They're engaging us!" Celaya shouted back. "Destroyer Sunlight, burn retro thrusters and vector behind the Pax Nova! Destroyer Crucis, plug the gap!"

Damn. Damn, damn, damn!

The ship rocked as one of the golden-armored vessels fired a broadside into the Dawnbringer's prow.

"Void-shields are down!" an ensign reported, camouflaging the sheer horror in their voice with steely duty.

"Stars damn it all, that means we're vulnerable," Tlatia growled.

"Vulnerable to what?" her Fifth Captain, Anahuarque, asked, just as a new set of alarms began blaring.

"Teleportation signatures from all Moiraides ships! We're boarded!"

"Vulnerable to that," Tlatia grimaced. "Rally anti-boarding teams! Drive them from this ship!"

"Pax Nova has taken critical damage! Her engines are out!"

"Damn it all! Prioritize evacuating her passengers and crew to the Summer Light!"

"Enemy boarders are in the hangar! They're killing everyone!"

Tlatia clenched her fists and swore. "I'm heading to the hangar. Prepare an anti-boarding team to follow me," she told Anahuarque. The Fifth Captain nodded.

"Yes, my Lady."

Before Tlatia could even turn to begin leaving the bridge, the air buzzed with electric potential—too much potential, like a magnet being spun around another magnet.

Five Custodians, arrayed in Allarius Terminator armor, and ten in the standard garb of the Dread Host, appeared on the bridge between the CIC and the elevator.