Riva Vistrena
|
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | The Reward of Loyalty (Short Story) |
Riva Vistrena was a Company Commander of the Forty-Third Carpathian Rifles regiment.[1b]
Biography
Early life and career
Vistrena's father also served in the Astra Militarum as a Lieutenant. He was killed in a war against the Necrons. Her mother having died giving birth to her, Vistrena grew up with her aunt in a hive on Carpathia.[1c]
When she was old enough to serve, Vistrena volunteered for the first available regimental posting. At the age of 19, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant herself and given command of a platoon. Her regiment served in the Octarius War, fighting against a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan. On a planet near the Octarius Sector, her platoon was nearly wiped out holding a position before reinforcements arrived to relieve them. Vistrena was awarded a citation for her bravery during this action.[1c]
Not long afterwards, Vistrena's unit was deployed on Fieriax to put down a heretical rebellion. During a battle against traitor militia on that world she saw a Space Marine for the first time.[1c]
Over her years of service with the Militarum, Vistrena faced many xenos enemies of Mankind, including Orks and T'au.[1b] She also fought against heretics[1b][1c], but she had never encountered a Chaos Space Marine, believing that it was unthinkable that one of the Emperor's Angels could fall to Chaos.[1a]
Mantid VI
At some point in the Age of the Dark Imperium, the Forty-Third Carpathian was in transit aboard the cruiser Unthinking Loyalty after having fought Orks in Ultramar when they intercepted a distress signal sent by the Planetary Governor of Mantid VI, an Agri World on the Eastern Fringe. The planet had suffered from a massive outbreak of Plague Zombies.[1b] By this point Vistrena was a seasoned veteran of a dozen battlefields and had ascended to command of the regiment's Seventh Company.[1b][Conflicting sources]
The Carpathians arrived at Mantid VI approximately three months after the initial distress call was sent. By this point the planet's PDF had been almost entirely overwhelmed, falling back to their last defensive positions.[1b]
Three days after deployment, Vistrena and her company were ordered to hold a ridge a few hundred miles inland from Mantid VI's only landmass's northern coast. The ridge lay in the path of the enemy advance, and the Carpathians were soon facing hundreds of Plague Zombies.[1b] While attempting to hold their position against the zombies, Vistrena's company was suddenly and unexpectedly reinforced by a unit of Space Marines. However, as the Marines deployed from their grav-vehicle, the Imperials were ambushed by a squadron of Death Guard Terminators. During the attack they threw a grenade which landed near Vistrena and when it went off she was knocked unconscious in the explosion.[1a]
When she awoke, she found that she was one of the only survivors of the ambush. The Death Guard were prowling the battlefield in the aftermath of the attack, killing a Space Marine that they found alive and torturing another (the last of the Loyalist Space Marines remaining and the only survivor besides Vistrena). Vistrena witnessed this unnoticed by the Chaos Space Marines; as the Death Guard commander taunted the young Space Marine, Vistrena raised her plasma pistol and shot the Traitor in the face, catching him off-guard. She then immediately ran for the cover of a nearby Taurox and drove off as fast as possible with the traitors shooting at her with their boltguns but not causing significant damage to the vehicle.[1a]
Vistrena drove north-west for an hour before she eventually stopped the Taurox to compose herself and affect some minor field repairs to the vehicle. When she exited the Taurox's cabin, however, she discovered that the young Space Marine had managed to get away from the Death Guard in the confusion caused by her attack and, despite his severe injuries, hold on to the vehicle as she drove away. As she approached him, he started awake and grabbed her by the neck, demanding her name and rank. However, he let go of her after she answered, satisfied that he was not in the presence of a heretic. He introduced himself as Battle-Brother Clerebald of the Dark Angels' 8th Company and, after she told him what had happened and where they were, he ordered her to turn around and bring them both south so he could reunite with his brothers. Knowing that her vox was useless, hampered by the strange fog that enveloped the region, she agreed to transport them.[1b]
They travelled south, receiving no response to their vox calls, and eventually Vistrena had to stop to rest. In the night, the two of them were attacked by Daemonic flies acting as forward scouts. Clerebald killed them but noted that there were almost certainly more, and so Vistrena continued driving. As they proceeded south, Clerebald revealed that the Death Guard commander had amidst his taunting told him the reason that the Chaos Marines were on Mantid VI - they were there to defile a shrine.[1c]
Eventually they reached the loc-ref that Clerebald had specified. There, they found the aftermath of another battle and Vistrena stopped the Taurox to investigate. She saw many dead Carpathians and zombies, fighting off one of the latter that remained. Soon she found an Imperial who was still alive: Lieutenant Masklin of Thirty-Second Company. He told Vistrena that the Dark Angels were there, but had left after being given information by a rider in black. Afterwards the Plague Zombies overran the Imperials' position, leaving Masklin as the last survivor. When she relayed this to Clerebald, he told her to proceed south to meet them. Vistrena wanted to bring Masklin with them. However, Clerebald noted that the man's wounds were fatal. Vistrena protested, wanting to atone for abandoning her position earlier, so Clerebald told her the whole truth of why the Dark Angels were on Mantid VI - the shrine he mentioned contained the remains of a Dark Angels hero and the Death Guard commander wanted to defile it as part of a pact to his dark god. In addition, the Death Guard had claimed to actually be a Dark Angel himself once. Clerebald had dismissed this claim as nonsense, but wished to warn his brothers of the Traitor's intentions and these lies. After hearing this, Vistrena reluctantly left Masklin behind and the two continued south.[1c]
After travelling further, their Taurox was suddenly attacked - the Death Guard had found them. While desperately trying to hold off the Traitors, Vistrena tried the vox again and this time she was answered by Interrogator-Chaplain Isidore, who told her to hold her position. However, the Death Guard commander was present, having survived Vistrena's plasma shot. He subdued Clerebald and pinned him to the ground before inviting Vistrena to bear witness. Before she could shoot him again, the Traitor Marine backhanded her, breaking her jaw and making her drop her weapon. The Traitor continued to taunt Clerebald, removing his pauldron and revealing a defaced Dark Angels insignia to show that he had been telling the truth - he was a Fallen Angel. At that moment, however, the other Dark Angels arrived and attacked the Death Guard. In the battle that followed, most of the Death Guard were killed and the Fallen was captured. Isidore apologised for using Vistrena as bait. However, as an outsider who had learned of the Chapter's greatest shame, she knew too much. He ordered Clerebald to kill her and executed him when he hesitated, before executing Vistrena himself.[1d]
Trivia
 |
Conflicting sources
- At one point in the source, Vistrena claims to command Seventh Company. However, she later says "I arranged Forty-Third Company along the ridge..."[1b] It is possible that the reference to Forty-Third Company is an error caused by confusing the regimental and company numbers.