Lucille von Shard

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"‘Damn their numbers and damn the odds. I am Lucille von Shard! I have never met my match! Never lost a duel! And never been shot down! When I fly, the God-Emperor flies with me!’"

- Lucille von Shard's speech in the cinema-pict: The 2208[3e]
Lucille von Shard
LVonShard.jpg

Lucille von Shard on Deighton.[3a]

Active Period fl. M42
Species Human
Gender Female
Relatives
Occupation(s) Flight Commander
Affiliation(s)


Lucille von Shard is a legendary Imperial Navy flying ace.[1]

Biography

Lucille von Shard has been described as the 'prodigal daughter' of the von Shard family.[3b] Lucille is one of seven siblings, all of whom went through the Schola Progenium following the deaths of their parents; Horotha Shard (a Colonel of the Verlaian 105th) and Tazinia Shard (a Tank Commander in the Nauticium 112th).[2c] She does not get on well with her sister Josephine.[3c]

Of her brothers; Tobia, is an Imperial Commissar and had worked with Propagandist Kile Simlex before.[2c][3c] Rile,[3q] is an Inquisitorial Acolyte[3t] under Inquisitor Ortis Atenbach,[3u] and Maric is a Confessor.[2c]

Bacchus

Spoiler!
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: Outgunned (Novel)

Lucille von Shard led the 2208th Expeditionary Air Wing in the air war on Bacchus.[2b] Where she fought an Ork airship. Here she met the Imperial propagandist Kile Simlex.[3d]

Deighton

Spoiler!
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: Above and Beyond (Novel)

After the events of Bacchus Lucille von Shard had been left a broken woman, often turning to alcohol,[3g] and having trouble sleeping.[3j] At some point after the Bacchus campaign Lucille went on a drunken rant where she exclaimed her disdain for the Imperium, and even damned the God-Emperor. This was all recorded by Propagandist Emulle Esec.[3r]

The first real challenge to Imperial air superiority on Deighton came from a Separatist ace, known as the Desert Wind.[4a] Propagandist Esec, who had been using Lucille von Shard’s image to promote Imperial propaganda on the world. Deighton had a data stream shared by the Data Fortresses named The Feed, which Esec used to share shortform minute long picts with the local populace.[3f] Esec was overjoyed at the appearance of the Desert Wind, so that he capture picts of a dog-fight between the two ace pilots.[4a]

Alongside Wing Sergeant Vagbon, and seven other Lightnings, Lucille von Shard took to the air over the Great Glass Plain.[4b] Auspex detected six enemy Thunderbolt fighters, and the Imperials raced to engage them. Vagbon spotted the Desert Wind but, as she lined up a kill shot, Esec cut into the vox to order her to hold fire, so that it could be Lucille von Shard who would finish off the enemy Ace. It was then that a bright light engulfed the battle, blinding Vagbon.[4c] Despite her earlier dismisal and disdain of Vagbon,[4a] when von Shard saw her wingman in trouble she immediately acted, and instructed Vagbon on how to recover. The Desert Wind was shot down, though Esec was unable to capture a pict of it due to the interference.[4d]

Esec then came up with the idea of having Vagbon, and others, fly while in Lightnings marked with von Shard's colours; a major faux pas among Navy pilots. This owuld allow him to get more picts, without having to rely on the unreliable Lucille von Shard.[3j][4d] Shortly after his pict of Lucille von Shard shooting down the Desert Wind, in reality Vagbon sparring with a repainted Imperial Thunderbolt,[4d] was uploaded to The Feed, the Data Fortress of Edbar opened its gates to the Imperial forces without a fight.[3f]

Lucille von Shard was reunited with Imperial propagandist Kile Simlex[3g], now scribe following his demotion after his work on the cinema-pict, The 2208, which had shown the reality of war before it has been reedited.[3b] Their previous parting on Bacchus having left both parties feeling hostile to each other.[3h]

Following an attack by the xenos mercenary Cesh during the filming of a propaganda pict, Lucille von Shard took to the sky to attempt to shoot the aeldari pilot down, despite being drunk and sleep deprived. She managed to score a single lascannon hit on the aeldari aircraft, though did not shoot it down. [3j] Despite the loss of over twenty Thunderbolt and Lightning fighters to the single aeldari aircraft, Lucille von Shard claimed the dogfight a great victory. Something which disgusted Scribe Simlex.[3k]

Following the dogfight Cesh started to release his own propaganda on The Feed, claiming Lucille von Shard to be an unskilled coward, and the Imperial forces on Deighton to be imposters. He promised to shoot Lucille von Shard down in five days time.[3k]

When Commissar Tobia von Shard's attack in the tunnels below Deighton faltered, after Cesh destroyed a Hellhound tank, Lucille von Shard was ordered by Propagandist Esec to fly her Lightning into the tunnels to engage the aeldari pilot. Lucille, however, opted to instead lead a squadron of Valkyries. This enraged Propagandist Esec, who was focused on capturing a heroic pict more than on good tactical sense. He continued to order Láech guardsmen out to their deaths to confirm the aeldari aircraft was still there while waiting over an hour for Lucille von Shard’s arrival. As the squadron approached the aeldari's position Scribe Simlex informed Lucille von Shard that he brother was missing in action, presumed dead from the aeldari's attack.[3l]

When the Valkyries arrived at the battle, Propagandist Esec ordered Sergeant Xvier to his death to flush the aeldari out. When the Sergeant was killed Lucille von Shard and her squadron fired all weapons they had. However as they continued to advance Cesh shot down all of the Valkyries except for Lucille's, reminding her that it was not yet time for him to shoot her down.[3l]

A day after the battle in the tunnels Cesh again went live on The Feed to show Lucille von Shard that he had captured her brother, Tobia von Shard, promising to spare his life in return for the one on one aerial duel he sought with her.[3m] Flight Sergeant Petre Plient and Lucille von Shard got to work on preparing for the aerial combat.[3n] In the meantime Propagandist Esec received a seperate communication offering the coordinates of the Commissar and dispatched Scribe Simlex to retrieve the Commissar[3o], though it would be revealed that Cesh never had the Commissar, it was feint. Lucille von Shard used the negotiations as cover to launch an attack against Cesh. Cesh had expected this and attacked the Imperial aricraft, revealing he had a flight of allied aeldari aircraft with him and was not alone, as had previously been thought. The aeldari shot down several Avenger Strike Fighters and at least one Lightning painted in Lucille von Shard's colours. Lucille von Shard herself was piloting a different Lightning and was able to shoot down one of the aeldari aircraft.[3o]

Following the engagment Flight Sergeant Plient organsied a dinner with Lucille von Shard and Scribe Simlex. Though the two still held disdain for each other, they agreed to have the dinner to avoid hurting Plient. Lucille and Simlex seemed to warm slightly during the dinner, and Lucille offered to walk the Scribe home afterwards.[3p] During the walk Simlex informed Lucille that Cesh never had her brother as a prisoner and that, in all likelyhood, the Commissar was dead. Lucille dismissed this, stating her brother had survived worse, she then invited Simlex to her personal quarters.[3q] Here she showed him the footage Propagandist Esec had captured of her drunken rant against the Imperium and the God-Emperor, revealing to Simlex why Esec had so much power over her.[3r]

The following day Cesh sent coordinates for their duel. The Mendax Matertera burst from the sky, modified by Flight Sergeant Plient, and opened fire on the aeldari. Despite superficial damage to the aeldari craft, the Mendax Matertera was swiftly shot down, and Lucille feared dead.[3s] After the duel Scribe Simlex encountered Acolyte Rile von Shard. The Acolyte revealed he has saved Commissar von Shard's life.[3t] Acolyte von Shard and Simlex travelled to the crash site of where they recovered Flight Sergeant Plient's augmetic arm from the wreck.[3u] Lucille has not piloted Mendax Matertera, and had instead escaped. Plient had told Lucille he had made a servitor pilot the Lightning, and she was unaware of his death, until Simlex caught up with her and informed her of the truth.[3v]

Equipment

The Lightning fighter: Mendax Matertera.[2a]

Lucille von Shard pilots the Lightning Mendax Matertera, or Black Griffon. The aircraft features a sandy-white camoflauge scheme, with a bright blue underbelly.[3i] It has a pair of black griffons painted on the wings,[3i][4b] and is armed with a single Autocannon and two Lascannons. Lucille von Shard hangs Kile Simlex's former seer-skull, Kikazar, from one wing as a good luck charm.[3i]

During one of her duels with Cesh, Flight Sergeant Plient welded four additional autocannons to the Lightning and an unknown number of missiles above the wings. Scribe Simlex noted that the loadout would probably have been considered heretical by the Tech-Priests. Mendax Matertera was destroyed during this duel.[3s]

Trivia

TriviaScrollTrans.png

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

  • Lucille's Lightning, Mendax Matertera, is often described as having an underbelly autocannon and wing mounted lascannons in the novels, matching the appearance of the original Forge World Lightning fighter model.[2c] However, all images of Mendax Matertera show the craft as a Voss Pattern Lightning Strike Fighter which does not have an autocannon at all, and the lascannons are mounted in the nose, rather than on the wings. In addition, artwork shows two large black eagle-like wings painted on the wings of the aircraft,[2a][3a] though in the novels it is described as having a black griffon inside of a red circle on each wing.[2c]

Sources

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