When we are not deployed to war or exempted from obligations after a mission or in sickness, our schedule is thus:
05:00. Lauds, the morning prayer bell, rings. We assemble in the convent courtyard, whatever the weather, and a chanter begins the morning psalm. We march into the chapel, which is warm in the cold, cool in the summer. The ones in front carry those too injured to kneel to the stone ledge set along the back of the nave. The rest find our way to our usual places, often to the places on the floor consecrated to our particular nameday saints. In summer, there is dawn-light through the stained glass, but most of the year there is only the candle of the Emperor's presence and the lamp held for the reader.
05:30. Conditioning. We exit in silence. Each goes according to her condition. If injured or under enforced rest: to her choice of cell, washroom, or infirmary, to restore her body according to its needs. Otherwise: to her Superior's assigned conditioning rotation. The week begins with a light day, focused on recovery. Then three moderate days, then another light day. Then the week ends with two hard days, in which competition is encouraged. The focus is always practical. Climb, carry, fight, sprint, crawl, run, endure—or foster health, strength, and coordination to do the same. But it is often made something like a game. Sometimes there is basic acrobatics. We swim. Conversation is prohibited, but laughter and quiet speech, to encourage or instruct, is permitted.
06:30. Personal time. Hygiene, personal needs, grooming. Many of us do our makeup according to the traditions of our order.
07:00. Breakfast. Quiet conversation is permitted after the fast-end prayer.
07:30. Arms and armor maintenance. Contemplative silent prayer.
08:00. Terce, the prayer bell of the third hour, rings. We pray the rites together as we don our wargear in cadence. This is the moment that I feel the most, even more than the liturgy. The feeling of being together with so many, simultaneously transforming from fragile mortals into armored manifestations of the eternal will of God. It's like waking up, only I was already awake, and am awaking to something beyond it.
08:15. Tactical training. We disperse by Superior, and may disperse further by fireteam, at her will. The focus rotates between drill, scenario problems, and force-on-force simulation.
11:30. Sext, the prayer bell of the sixth hour, rings. We sing a hymn together, then pray the rites as we remove and check our wargear. We continue to work in silence as a chanter sings a psalm, cleaning and stowing our wargear.
12:00. Recitation of the Libera Nos. Midday meal. Unrestricted conversation permitted, within decorum.
12:45. Rest period. Sleep is encouraged on hard days, but there is no prescribed place where we must go. Some of us use the time to read, visit friends, or pursue hobbies.
14:30. None, the prayer bell of the ninth hour, rings. We pray together and then disperse for our studies. Theology, doctrine, after-action review. Knowledge of the enemy, of medical care, survival, navigation. This period is skipped twice a week for additional rest.
16:00. Specialization block. In mentored pairs or groups, the Sister develops a particular area of focus: vehicle familiarization, trauma care, use of a new weapon, etc. Prayers attend to the machine-spirit of the tool and guide us to its right use. One day a week, this period is replaced with assembly in chapel to celebrate the full liturgy.
17:30. Labor. We maintain the grounds and vehicles. Quiet conversation is permitted.
18:30. Vespers, the evening prayer bell, rings. We celebrate an abbreviated liturgy.
19:00. Evening meal. Unrestricted conversation. Stories are encouraged.
20:00. Reflection, confession, and guidance. Sins are made right. The mind is restored to unity with the Divine Will.
20:45. Compline, the night prayer bell, rings. We pray and make ready for bed.
21:00. Lights out. Sleep is required, except during your night watch, if you have been assigned one.
❖ ❖ ❖
We rejoined Isela's ready-response force in our normal position, C-rotation. Meaning that we relieved B-rotation at 18:00, and had no duties except to wait, armed and armored, until 06:00 when we would be relieved by D-rotation.
The purpose was to be ready at all times to respond, from a location central to Velgrad. We were first to respond to attacks on the Church, its places, and its personnel. In second priority, we could, at Isela's will, support the Enforcers when extremes of violence were called for. Finally, we could respond to fires and other disasters desperate for more personnel. We were seldom used. Most shifts were spent with no calls at all, and we would drill, chat, read, or rest, sometimes with one or two of us dozing lightly, though never permitting deep sleep. There was a regicide board, and Verity and Tara liked to play. Gwen and I tried sometimes, but we always lost, so when they played, I would close my eyes, and sometimes catch a few minutes of sleep to the clicking of the pieces and their soft murmurs of check and counter-check.
We would eat an early breakfast during the rotation. When we returned, we would be excused from obligations until Sext and encouraged to sleep.
The rest of the day would follow the usual schedule, as D-rotation and A-rotation had their shifts. The next day, too, until 17:30. Then instead of assigned labor, we would don our armor again and depart for St. Margaret's to relieve B-rotation again.
The other Superiors had other assignments to fill, on schedules of their own. Even between wars, we try to be useful, as best we can.
❖ ❖ ❖
A week passed without further word of the sect. On our third shift, we responded as extra support at a large structure fire with hazardous chemical leaks. All we did was move things around where fire-servicemen commanded until the two hours of our suit air were almost used up. It took another two hours of scrubbing and re-anointing to make our armor fit for use again.
I feel now an echo of the deep impatience that I felt then. I wanted to know what would come of the Sanctifying Truth heretics. I wanted to be in pursuit, not holding to my old duties, as if no enemy design was unfolding against my world. This is not an accusation, but a confession. Superior Isela was right to entrust the task to those better suited. We are formed and equipped for war, not investigation. Still, I wished—and writing this, find that I still wish—that she would have told me more.
As I write this, I feel the same desire to skip ahead. I think the next section has no relevance to the Sanctifying Truth or to the Fear phenomenon. It is another tactical action we were called upon to execute during our scheduled rotation. Nevertheless it is well supported by helmet pictoria and deployment records (appended at the end of section [15]). Perhaps it may be relevant in your eyes for reasons I lack the art to know.
If it is not of interest, proceed to [15].