Inside, it was hot, steamy and stank of sweat, a lot
like the thick jungles of Catachan, but made of steel. Once we had acclimatised
to the sensation of space travel, Von Carstien bade us to eat with him. He
introduced us to wider imperial culture and food, taking time to teach us in
debating. As hard as he tried, he could not however, get very far, having just
left very tight viewed communities. Another important skill he taught us was
basic manners to those above you in status. After we had finished our
discussions and fine food, we were shown to our habitation for the journey. On
his way to Catachan, Von Carstien had ordered the ship’s crew to grow a small,
self sufficient jungle habitat in one of the interior cargo bays. There was
also control panels dotted around, from which we could control the climate of
the jungle. As soon as I found one, we set it to max humidity and started a
rainstorm while Freya and Karazak constructed a shelter to stay in. Later,
having stayed the night in the small, homely lean-to we had constructed, Von
Carstien came into the jungle to talk to us from a place where we were
comfortable. He started talking about where we were going; the Schola
Progenium.
“You will find many others there. Some will try to
befriend you; others will try to hurt you. Some will stay on the sidelines.” He
began.
“Who runs the place?” I asked.
“The Schola are run by priests of the Emperor, Drill
Abbots of His Ecclesiarchy. If you break their rules, then you will be punished
accordingly.” Von Carstien replied.
“Where will everyone else be from?” Freya asked.
“Pupils in a schola come from all branches of the
Imperium. Some are the sons of planetary governors, others; the children of
Imperial Navy admirals. A few will be the orphaned children of Imperial Heroes,
like you”
“What will we do there?” Karazak enquired.
“A great many things, Karazak. You will learn about
imperial history and culture in a way I would never be able to teach you. There
will also be a selection of physical activities, which should be of interest to
all of you. Like your father, I see you going on to fight for the Imperium,
Freya and Karazak; can see this for you also. Because of this I want to make
sure you can fire a gun and wield a blade before we get to Volag Nok so you can
participate better in the military exercises. Is everyone OK with this?”
“We can all wield a blade, but I for one have desired
to fire a gun from when Freya first mentioned them to me.”
“Also, when you are there, you may see your loincloths
as a sign of honour, but others at the schola may not. When you get to Volag,
ask for an audience with the High Abbot of Nok about it, but until then I would
wear your ceremonial robes or other clothes that the schola provides.”
“Right then, we will start the training tomorrow. In
the mean time though, would you give us some blade practice now or at least
coach us with our own weapons.”
“It appears that Catachans are eager to learn, and
could make fine scholars, no doubt of they wished! I will get a selection of
blades from the armoury and I will watch and give advice for I have studied the
blade for most of my life.”
“I think I have found my goal in life” said Freya, and
then we all started laughing.
As Von Carstien left to get the blades; Freya, Karazak
and I started running through the jungle occasionally stopping for a minor bout
of unarmed combat to get us in the state of mind for the coming exercise. By
the time Von Carstien returned, we were bruised and covered in sweat, but still
ready to go on with the blade lesson.
“I see you have been preparing” Von Carstien stated as
he passed each of us a sparing sword. The weapons were masterfully crafted,
each with a straight hand guard and a one metre blade.
To start our training, we simply duelled with each
other while Von Carstien watched and gauged our technique. I fought Karazak
first and I noted how resilient he was to the blows that landed, barely even
flinching when I hit him while I preferred to dodge the blows as they came. Freya
however, having only defended herself fought a defensive battle against Karazak
and I, but one of lithe and agile movement, lashing out at a lighting pace then
drawing back using the terrain to her advantage. Meanwhile, Von Carstien
remained impassive, watching our every move, even when we weren’t duelling!
He then gave us advice on how to improve our
technique, giving tips to each of us, such as to avoid the harder blows in
Karazak’s case and to be more often on the attack to Freya. To me he advised me
to keep my distance and use the edge of the blade where possible rather than
the point. He then left us to practice and departed from the jungle room for
reasons we did not know.
An hour later, he came back wearing only a pair of
shorts and wielding a sparing sword as he called us out one by one to test our
skills first hand.
Von Carstien was skilled and defeated Karazak easily
and eventually pinned Freya to a wall, but his regular artistic blade
flourishes opened gaps in his guard that only a sharply honed mind can spot and
he yielded before my blade. He then commented how my bladework was superb and
that Catachan would be a great training ground for blademasters and the like.
By this point we had been in orbit for just under w
week while the great vessel made its way towards the warp jump point. So after
we had cooled off, Von Carstien used a vox link to ask for the time until warp
transition. He then told us to tie ourselves to some trees because warp
transitions are very ... “bumpy” as he put it. His warning was just as well and
in the nick of time as the final countdown began half a minute after Von
Carstien had finished tying Karazak to a tree, he then left quickly to find a
restraint chair.
After our successful warp transition, Von Carstien
came back into the jungle and untied us and after that, our days followed a
similar schedule: Get up and have a swim in the “river” in the jungle, then we
would go for some exercise (either jogging, swimming some more or fist fights
or all three). We would then do other training, such as firearms training and
blade-work or lessons on Imperial history and its culture.
One day after our morning exercise, Von Carstien came
in early and announced that we were one week from Volag Nok and he wanted us to
participate in the ship’s officers duelling contests that were to be held that
day, because though we were not officers we were honoured guests to the vessel
and he thought we were ready to go against these highly proficient
blademasters.
He also told us that our last few lessons would be
tough, but also that life at the schola would be harder still. As he left, I
asked; “what form will the contest take?”
“A very good question, know your opposition. The
contests are normally staged on the bridge where there is a decent open flat
space with the sparring swords you are used to using, but if you are willing
and the officers agree, we could host it here where the terrain will provide an
additional challenge. But beware, some of the officers spend every moment of
their off duty lives training with a blade and as such, could best even I, a
combat swordsman in the confines of a duel.”
“Then we will use all of our advantages against them”
“Very well, I have left three sparring swords by the
door. Just be warned, some of the officers will likely prefer you did not wear
your tribal loincloth, but if you wished, we could make the duelling contest
unofficial and have all parties wear similar attire.”
“Yes, that would be a change for those officers!
Perhaps we could include a round of unarmed combat, most definitely not to the
death!”
I looked at Freya and Karazak with eyes that had
changed substantially since our first meeting, and then we all started laughing
as Von Carstien left our sanctum to let us train.
The tourney was an exhilarating experience; for the
first time, I was able to test my skills against experts in bladework. I worked
my way up the tables to the quarter finals where I fought the Captain of the
ship, Andromicus, who had me on the defensive until I feigned a fall. I then
rolled out from under him and almost won, until he lashed out with his leg and
knocked me off balance, forcing me to yield. Andromicus then went on to win for
the 4th voyage running. Karazak got past the first heat, but was
then beaten by the good Captain. Karazak however, Freya surpassed all expectations
getting to the semi-finals to be beaten by the head gunnery officer, a stern
man called Sohek.
Funnily enough, when we made our offer of unarmed
combat duels, many of the younger midshipmen and lieutenants took up the offer
and followed us to the jungle sanctum. We all stripped to the waist (aside from
Freya and the few female officers) and then paired off to fight.
Few of the officers could hold out long against us,
but all the same, it was a good change to fight others with different
upbringings. I won the tourney, but by the end of it we were all dripping with
sweat, but ready for more. Unfortunately, the officers had other duties to
perform about the ship, so i shook hands with 1st Lieutenant Hans, a
senior bridge officer and with that the officers left with a hearty salute.
During the last few days, training did indeed toughen,
but it was exhilarating and enlightening as well. Two days before planetfall, Von
Carstien introduced us to more suitable clothing that still fitted out jungle
background. For myself and Karazak, he looked out several pairs of loose shorts
and short sleeved shirts; he also told us that they would be suitable for the
desert as well. For Freya, he found similar attire, but also included a knee
length dress of the style of Volag Nok.
During that time, we got used to the attire of most
imperial citizens, and Von Carstien got laser scans of our sizes to make us huge
varieties of clothing for every occasion for us to try. Lessons also kept going
during this period and the pace quickened before planetfall.
