Gunner First Class Ferik Jurgen of the Valhallan Ice Warriors in combat with his beloved Meltagun.
Ferik Jurgen was a gunner first class of the Astra Militarum's Valhallan Ice Warriors regiments who served for many solar decades as Commissar Ciaphas Cain's adjutant. He was first assigned as Cain's adjutant after Cain graduated from the Schola Progenium and was given his first assignment to serve with the 12th Valhallan Field Artillery on the world of Desolatia IV.
Despite his less than savoury appearance, a general lack of basic interpersonal skills, and a case of body odour that could overwhelm a Carnifex, Jurgen proved indispensable to Cain in the course of his career. Jurgen was truly defined by his fierce bravery, an unwavering sense of loyalty to his patron no matter the odds, his ability to withstand any situation (save for flying) without complaint, and the fact that he was a rare psychic Blank, possessed of the anti-psyker Pariah Gene.
This last ability saved Cain and many of his allies and others under his command from Daemonic and psychic attacks at many of the most desperate times in the famed commissar's career. Remarkably, but not surprisingly, in all of the accounts of Cain's heroism recounted publicly as Imperial propaganda, Jurgen is not mentioned at all, though his actions are recorded in the more truthful autobiographical accounts of the events that marked his career that Ciaphas Cain himself authored and that were edited by the Inquisitor Amberley Vail.
History[]
Early Years[]
It would be no exaggeration to say that Jurgen was with Ciaphas Cain almost from the very start of his long career. After Cain graduated from the Schola Progenium and received his first assignment to the Valhallan 12th Field Artillery, Jurgen was the soldier assigned by the battery's commander, Colonel Mostrue, to greet Cain as he stepped off the transport on the world of Desolatia IV. Given Jurgen's disheveled appearance, vague manner, and a body odour "which preceded him like a personal force bubble," Cain understood well that Mostrue was expressing his low opinion of the Commissariat in general, and Cain in particular.
The two men saw little of each other in the following weeks, until Desolatia IV was attacked by a splinter of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Cain, attempting to flee the main battle, commandeered a Salamander Scout under which Jurgen happened to be taking cover. Cain ordered Jurgen to drive, and was pleased to note that the Valhallan's natural and unquestioning deference to authority led him to obey without question rather than asking Cain why he was obviously trying to flee the scene of a battle. But the Scout blundered into the onrushing mass of Tyranid bioforms, and was disabled. When Jurgen was tackled by a Hormagaunt, he screamed for help. At first, Cain had no intention of responding, but then saw a Hive Tyrant blocking his own path to safety, and ran back towards Jurgen, killing the Hormagaunt engaged with the Valhallan with his Chainsword, shortly before reinforcements from the rest of the battery arrived.
Cain managed to portray his attempted flight as a reconnaissance of the battery's rear, which fortunately discovered the Tyranid forces that were about to flank the Valhallan battery. He was hailed as a hero by the regiment, and Colonel Mostrue -- who kept quiet his own doubts about the veracity of Cain's motivations -- took great satisfaction in assigning him an adjutant to help his intergation with the regiment: Ferik Jurgen.
First Siege of Perlia[]
Although Colonel Mostrue had intended Jurgen's assignment to his commissar as something of a jest because of his prior involvement with Cain, the commissar quickly discovered that the Valhallan surprisingly possessed many useful qualities. He followed Cain's orders without question about his true motivations, willingly carried out many of Cain's more tedious bureaucratic responsibilities, and acted as a buffer between Cain and those who sought his attention that he had no desire to meet with. Jurgen also had a natural talent for scrounging which allowed him -- and by extension, Cain -- access to almost any item in any theatre of war, including the choicest accommodations available to an officer of Cain's status.
Cain once admitted in his memoirs that a more intelligent man might have picked up on the fact that he was in fact a rogue and a coward at heart, so he was grateful for Jurgen's repeated demonstration that he lacked any form of imagination. Cain had more reason to be grateful when he and Jurgen were unexpectedly jettisoned from their troopship en route to the world of Perlia and landed behind Ork lines in a Saviour Pod. In addition to his self-appointed role as Cain's driver and bodyguard, Jurgen -- like any good Valhallan -- was semi-literate in Orkish glyphs and language, and the closest thing Cain had to an expert in anti-Ork tactics.
Jurgen acted as Cain's driver during the pair's initial flight to Prosperity Wells, and as his adjutant as stragglers from the defeated Imperial forces gradually coalesced around them as a ragtag army. Later, during Cain's final, climactic confrontation with the Ork Warboss Korbul, Jurgen's insight was critical to saving both their lives. Jurgen refrained from shooting at Korbul, as he realised that the warboss's Nobz would not attack until the "duel" between Korbul and Cain was over. Moments later, after Korbul was slain, Jurgen advised Cain to hold his ground, having learned from his father that Orks, when they lacked a leader or a common enemy to focus on, usually immediately began to fight amongst themselves.
This insight proved correct. When the Humans refused to either run away or attack the Greenskins, the Nobz began arguing, and soon the whole WAAAGH! disintegrated into a bloody free-for-all, allowing Cain's force to make their way back to the Imperial lines in relative safety. Unfortunately, but probably unsurprisingly, in all of the Imperial propaganda later spread about the First Siege of Perlia and Cain's role in it as a Hero of the Imperium, Jurgen was never mentioned.
Later Years[]
Jurgen had the uncanny ability to fetch anything that his patron Commissar Ciaphas Cain desired, an ability that made Cain's and Jurgen's lives much more comfortable while they served with the 597th Valhallan Ice Warriors Regiment for the bulk of Cain's storied career.
Jurgen preferred to wield a Meltagun in combat, which was highly useful for both clearing away large groups of enemies and for sometimes blasting passageways through solid walls or starship hull plates. Jurgen was also a skilled marksman with the standard-issue Lasrifle. When he and Cain were attempting to escape from the space hulk Spawn of Damnation, Cain asked him to shoot an Ork promethium storage tank to provide a distraction. Jurgen thought Cain meant the tank's outlet valve (something Cain could barely see), and despite the long range successfully hit it after only a few attempts.
Jurgen served as Cain's driver even though his driving style bordered on maniacal. However, despite innumerable near-misses, Jurgen never crashed a vehicle outright during his career. He knew everything there was to know about driving the Scout-pattern Salamander, which was Cain's favorite ground transport. Protected as he was by the Salamander's armour and his own commissarial immunity, Cain was happy to reap the benefits of Jurgen's indifference to traffic laws and minor physical obstacles.
Jurgen had a deep fear of flying caused by the airsickness that he suffered, though he never actually vomited once airborne, believing it beneath the dignity of a commissar's aide. Jurgen also holds the rare distinction of being one of the very few Astra Militarum troopers to ever slay a World Eaters Chaos Space Marine in close combat. This feat was accomplished when Commissar Cain engaged the Traitor Marine in close combat, letting the Chaos Space Marine toy with his kill. Suitably distracted, Jurgen closed in from the World Eater's flank and killed him with a close-range melta blast.
Jurgen's nature as a psychic Blank was first revealed on Gravalax. Inquisitor Amberley Vail deduced what he must be from the violent reaction her Sanctioned Psyker Acolyte, Rakel, suffered at his presence, and later from the way he disrupted the Broodmind of Gravalax's Genestealer infestation. While Vail later explained it to him, Jurgen didn't really understand the Warp-tainted metaphysics involved. However, he did grasp the idea that the Emperor had blessed him with the ability to crush witchcraft and even Daemonic powers under the weight of His scorn.
Jurgen remained loyally at Cain's side even after the heroic commissar retired from active duty. Though he was well advanced in years by that time, and what was left of his hair had turned entirely white, Jurgen's vitality and lifespan were extended by a regime of Rejuvenat drugs provided to him courtesy of Cain's long-time friend and occasional employer, Amberley Vail. Jurgen accompanied Cain as his aide, bodyguard and driver throughout the Second Siege of Perlia, much as he had done during the first.
Sources[]
- For The Emperor (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- Caves of Ice (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- The Traitor's Hand (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- Death or Glory (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- Duty Calls (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- Cain's Last Stand (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- The Emperor's Finest (Novel) by Sandy Mitchell
- A Mug of Recaff (Short Story) by Sandy Mitchell