Visions of Everest

Posted on Sat Oct 18th, 2025 @ 3:52am by Ramielos Volsunga & Commander Alex Flynn

1,572 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Volsunga's Quarters
Timeline: Afternoon - MD01

"How have you been?" Was the first question Alex asked Volsunga after she entered his quarters on an unannounced visit.

"What do you intend to do with this information? I understand I have a right of privacy in your system."

"I'm asking because I'm curious. It's what people do here, we have relationships with one other that build over time. We call it socialisation. It's not mandatory, but it does make you stand out if you don't at least observe the basic courtesies. We ask so we understand. It helps us to work together."

"You wish to have a relationship with me?"

"I'm the XO. It's my job to have a relationship with everyone aboard. But I'm not here as the XO, I'm just here as a person. I think you're a person too, and some things can't be properly explained or relayed by the computer."

"I have been... I do not know the most appropriate word beyond... well. By customising these quarters I have made them less profane. Appropriate, even."

"Can you explain what you find profane?"

"The Emperor's grace is absent. The standards of sanctity are not upheld. Your entire universe is profane, in that respect. It is nothing of your people's doing."

"It doesn't bother you that we don't share your beliefs about divinity and the nature of the universe?"

"You tell me I am not in my universe. I accept that. I know of this universe only that which you and your machine voice tell me. What I know of my universe remains true, and the God-Emperor is its eternal saviour, truth and light incarnate."

"Have you ever, uh, met him?"

"No. He does not leave Holy Terra."

"Oh. Would you like to see what it looks like here?"

"I have heard the statistics. Primordially underdeveloped. Replete with inefficient pre-technological biomes."

"You mean, nature?"

"Yes."

"What is Earth actually like where you come from? The outside parts? The way you described it I pictured a paradise. Churchy, but still paradise."

"Holy Terra is a technological temple built over ten thousand years and buried under the weight of a galaxy of reverence. It is the object of worship of trillions of souls. Pilgrims flood in and out by their millions. Every continent is one continuous hive, a single planetary city, like your starbase turned inside out and multiplied in every direction until there is only grey ash above and mantle below. The air tastes of oil and prayer. Every breath passes through filters thicker than your environmental decks. You’d call it a Class-M world only by technical mercy."

"Under Everest, beneath cathedrals tall as orbital habitats, is the Golden Throne. It's a machine with power so immense it makes your entire Starfleet's warp cores seem like candlelight. It's powered by the Emperor himself, and through Him, it amplifies the Astronomican, the light by which we navigate the stars. Nothing lives on the planet that does not serve the execution of His will, the function of His throne or worship of Him, nor has it done for millennia."

"That doesn't sound great, I'll be honest. I like forests. And deserts. Most biomes, really. What about Everest, do you at least want to know what it looked like before the palace got put in?"

"I would not object to that."

"Alright then, follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"Holodeck. Your room can make things look a certain way but its not that interactive unless you have appropriate hardware. If you want to really get the feel of a place, holodeck is the next best thing to going there. Besides, when did you last have a chance to stretch your legs?" Alex asked as they left the room, moving into the hallway at a pace that seemed quick for her but might have been slow for him.

"I performed stretches on all my muscles this morning after first meditation." Volsunga said as they began to walk, he kept an eye on those around him. He got looks, most being unused to seeing a two and a half meter tall man walking around.

"Okay, that's my bad for using an idiom. When did you last get out of your quarters?"

"When the machine and the grey creatures asked me about my armour."

"Grey creatures. Saa and Tyr?"

"Yes. The aquatic that claims to be an Earth species."

"They're mammals, but yeah, dolphins come from Earth oceans. She's from Australia originally, I think. I guess without oceans Australia is just another mountain range. No dolphins either, it's a shame. They're smarter than most humans, once you figure out how to communicate with them. A lot of species are like that, on and off the Earth."

"Perhaps it was once so in my own world, but you are fortunate that your galaxy has not known the horrors of the Tyranid swarms, the Drukhari slavers or the dark gods of chaos. Such things mandate a certain defensiveness.'

"Yeah they sound like they suck." Alex agreed without making any further point.

"There is an efficiency to her design that I admire. She is no doubt hydrodynamic."

"Saa?"

"Yes."

"Oh yeah, she's like greased lightning in the water when she wants to be."

"The creature Tyr has an ill look."

"Yeah his people have had some problems, genetically speaking. Very smart though, made us look like a bunch of chimps in their universe."

"One would hope. I am unable to access any information relating to their technology or history."

"Uh, no. The secrets out about the multiversal portal in our backyard, but we're still keeping the details hush-hush. You're still technically classified, even if you are free to move around. We just ask that you let us know before going anywhere, we don't want to freak anyone out. And your size alone means you're likely to do that."

"I understand the effect I have on others. It is by design."

"That's good. You must have a wife and a bunch of little space marines running around back home then." Alex asked as they stepped into a turbolift.

"What do you mean?"

"A family. Do you have a family? Offspring?"

"No. Have I said something that suggested that?"

"No, it's just the effect.. never mind. Misunderstanding." Alex tried to laugh off the faux pas. "So then you're all.. celibate?"

"Yes."

"Yeesh. Where do all the little baby space marines come from then?

"New recruits are chosen at adolescence. Astartes only carry geneseed in an inaccessible gland within our torsos. We are reproductively sterile."

"Oh. That's a shame."

"Why?"

"Well, some people choose prophylactic injections here so they can have the fun of reproduction without consequences. You don't get either."

"Fun is not a factor. Astartes have no interest in such things. We think only of war."

"Well who knows. Maybe you'll want a family someday? Most people at least like to have the option if they're not already dead-against it."

"Someday I will return to the Imperium and my duties."

"Are you sure?"

Volsunga stopped for a moment, considering her question.

"No." He finally decided, and continued walking.

"Then anything's possible. How long do you live?"

"Centuries."

"Oh. Groovy. But you're only 41?"

"By the Terran calendar, yes."

"So you're still basically a baby in space marine terms."

"I have seen battle brothers kill for lesser insults." Volsunga said it sternly, but without any threat.

"When was the last time you wanted to kill someone?" Alex asked, confident his confession was a sign of trust rather than building bloodthirst.

"When I first arrived here. It is strange to think about it. Since the one you call Commander touched my mind, I haven't wanted to kill anyone. I should have wanted to kill. I am made to kill."

"I think it's a good thing. Not wanting to kill is a healthy and positive frame of mind."

"Perhaps in this universe."

"So do you still think only of war?"

"Often. But not always. Your Captain has tasked me with making assessments of your battles. I find that when I am not doing so I feel my thoughts turning towards combat less and less. But somehow when I do this task, it satisfies me in a way it does not when I am idle and pursue such thoughts. It is strange."

"Sounds like you're experiencing job satisfaction."

"Explain."

"People are happier when they have a job to do. And if it's a job they like, that's the best a person can hope for. War was your life. Now you get to strategise without the risk. Sounds like you might have a niche as a tactical officer."

"You would allow me access to your weapons?"

"I'm not making any promises just yet, but you're behaving. I was worried you were doing all this through gritted teeth, but you seem at peace with it. Calm." They stopped outside the holodeck entrance. Alex realised he was going to need to duck a little to get in.

"That is the word I have been looking for, to describe this feeling. That is how I have felt since I began here. It is not something I knew outside of meditation or rest before. I have been... calm."

"Good timing. Because this is the holodeck, and it's for fun. Which means you might have to think of something other than war. Calm is a good place to start."

Volsunga ducked under the doorway to follow her in.

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