You're late,’ he said, recovering quickly. 'Reveille was an hour ago and punctuality is the hallmark of the pious man,’
'Don't start with me, Titus,’ said Jonah, reaching over and snatching the pamphlet that Cassar had been so quick to conceal. Cassar made to stop him, but Jonah was too quick, brandishing the pamphlet before him.
'If Princeps Turnet catches you reading this, you'll be a gunnery servitor before you know what's hit you,’
'Give it back, Jonah, please,’
'I'm not in the mood for another sermon from this damned Lectitio Divinitatus chapbook,’
'Fine, I'll put it away, just give it back, alright?'
Jonah nodded and held the well-thumbed paper out to Cassar, who snatched it back and quickly slid it inside his uniform jacket.
Rubbing his temples with the heel of his palms, Jonah said, 'Anyway, what's the rush? It's not as though the old girl's even ready for the pre-deployment checks, is she?'
'I pray you'll stop referring to it as a she, Jonah, it smacks of pagan anthropomorphising,’ said Cassar. A
Titan is a war machine, nothing more: steel, adamantine and plasma with flesh and blood controlling it,’
'How can you say that?' asked Araken, sauntering over to a steel plated leg section and climbing the steps to the arched gates that led within. He slapped his palm on the thick metal and said, 'She's obviously a she, Titus. Look at the shapely legs, the curve of the hips, and doesn't she carry us within her like a mother protecting her unborn children?'
'In mockery are the seeds of impiety sown,’ said Cassar without a trace of irony, 'and I will not have it,’
'Oh, come on, Titus,’ said Araken, warming to his theme. 'Don't you feel it when you're inside her? Don't you hear the beat of her heart in the rumble of her reactor, or feel the fury of her wrath in the roar of her guns?'
Cassar turned back to the monitoring panel and said, 'No, I do not, and I do not wish to hear any more of your foolishness, we are already behind on our pre-deployment checks. Princeps Turnet will have our hides nailed to the hull if we are not ready,’
'Where is the princeps?' asked Jonah, suddenly serious.
'With the War Council,’ said Cassar.
Araken nodded and descended the steps of the Titan's foot, joining Cassar at the monitoring station and letting fly with one last jibe. 'Just because you've never had the chance to enjoy a woman doesn't mean I'm not right,’
Cassar gave him a withering glare, and said, 'Enough. The War Council will be done soon, and I'll not have it said that the Legio Mortis wasn't ready to do the Emperor's bidding,’
