"The pencil was impossibly thin, its tip was maddeningly fragile, and it was the third one to break into splinters in the grip of the man who tried, with increasing despair, to use it. Titian Gabriar’s fingers, thick as sausages, were unused to pencils. Oh, he was literate all right and would probably have clocked down the first person to suggest otherwise: Titian knew his letters, both in reading and in writing, as well as the next man, and was even fond of reading for leisure. When he had the time, of course, and this had been in rather short supply lately. But filling out Administratum forms fell in a whole other category of literacy — one that, to his great dismay, Titian found nigh impossible. He would rather have faced the genestealers again: at least, neither heavy bolter nor power sword were at risk of breaking if applied a bit too strongly to the enemy.
With the sigh of a warrior resolved to see his task to the bitter end, the Chapter Master of the Astral Gryffons fished for"
