"Argel Tal."
A voice rang out, steady and low, with an inhuman metallic quality imparted by an amplifier. It cut through the stagnant air of the recruit assembly hall, laden with the faint smell of disinfectant, sweat, and tension.
A figure clad in dark grey Power Armour approached the formation of recruits, who had only just assembled and had yet to fully adjust to their new bodies. His armour was heavier and older in design than any of theirs, its pauldrons and breastplate engraved with more elaborate reliefs of scrolls and quills. His steps were precise and silent.
He wore a terrifying Helmet, masterfully forged in the exact likeness of a human skull. Its hollow eye sockets and exposed teeth gleamed with the cold, hard lustre of ceramite beneath the ship's dim lighting, and a voice grille was fitted to its jaw.
He was a Holy Word Overseer, a veteran officer of the Word Bearers responsible for recruitment, initial training, and a particular form of "screening" and "guidance." His duties went beyond those of an ordinary Legion training instructor; he was closer to an examiner of faith and a direct conduit for the Legion's will.
The skull faceplate turned slightly, as though his "gaze" were sweeping over the hundreds of faces before him. Some were young, others already hardened by their transformations, but all instinctively held their breath and focused their attention.
At last, that hollow "gaze" settled on a figure in the front rank, whose build stood out somewhat among the recruits but still seemed "raw" compared with a true Astartes warrior.
The Holy Word Overseer stopped before that recruit.
Though the recruit had already undergone the complete transformation of nineteen gene-seed surgeries and stood far taller than any ordinary human, he was still half a head shorter than