To Plunder The Stars Themselves, Episode III

[Machine God]

Squad Alpha

++The old man says he knows of an entrance to the Convent. What say you all?++

The Traveller asked over the squad Vox.

++Execution and Omaphagea is efficient++ stated Draak.

 

(Edit: Added colour to squad)

Edited October 31, 2021 by Machine God

[Lysimachus]

Squad Alpha:

 

"Hang on," Toks frowns, slowly thinking things through out loud even as you converse on the squad vox. "They did know you were here. How did they know you'd have come here? You'd have to have landed here on purpose. But the only reason to come here is us. And the only person that knows that I know anything that might help you is…"

 

He looks perplexed for a moment, then jumps.

 

"Throne!" he yells. "Ags is alive?!"

 

He begins to pace, stalking back and forward across the dusty ground.

 

"Hell, she must be! No-one else would have sent you here! Have you been in contact with her? Why the hell didn't you say so?! Throne, I should have known it, the woman has cunning enough to survive anything! She knew I'd help you… although she must be desperate to have swallowed her pride enough to ask for it. We've got to get moving! Bobs! BOBS!"

 

He turns back from looking for his comrade to look around you again, speaking urgently.

 

"If you want my opinion, now might be a good time to make for that sally door I mentioned? They'll be coming here soon enough, all of them probably, just as soon as they realise their patrol isn't coming home. But if we're smart we might be able to circle round them and slip in the back while they're out?"

 

***

[A.T.]

"It won't take them long to realise we are gone, and the injuries to their patrol are unmistakably caused by astartes weapons" noted Odysseus, picking up one of the fallen sisters and hurling her towards the immolator. "A trap, even a crude one to give them caution and hide the wounds on the dead would buy us time, a pyre to delay their return".

[Beren]

Squad Alpha

 

Svelk half turns towards the suddenly frantic mortal.

 

+++We were directed her at the suggestion of one of the Cannonness'... local subordinates. The mortal's probably right - as well as about them coming down on our heads, as wel as the opportunity this provides. It's a trick I've used before. Given they're professional, they'll try to sweep the entire town to make sure it's clear. A few demo-charges and krak-grenades in key locations ought to dull their enthusiasm a little.+++

 

The Assault Marine pauses a moment.

 

+++I don't have much practice for rigging explosives against incoming ground vehicles, but if we could blow the tracks out on one of their transports that might do us good too.+++

[Trokair]

Beta
 

Listing to the relay of the integration Radago and Brynjarr considered Dex’s evasive answer.

 

Glancing at the other and reading the same apparent thought, one Orphiel probably had as well, but it would not hurt to let him know their thought as well.

 

+There is more there, press him on what he knows about Lang’s disappearance, and why he and Razor where still keeping an eye out for information on Lang in the Market.+

[Lysimachus]

Squad Beta:

 

Dex hisses angrily, unused to anyone questioning his words or pressing him for an answer he does not wish to give. But after a moment, with no other option except facing the unpleasant and imminent prospect of pain and death, he capitulates.

 

"Fine. Fine, damn it! Someone came. Maybe a fortnight back? Older guy, nicely dressed, walked with a staff. Wandered into the market, alone, unarmed, but no-one would touch him. Something... didn't feel right about him. Anyway, apparently he'd heard stories from somewhere about Lang and his cache from that ghost ship, and ended up coming to talk to me. At first I thought he was a buyer or maybe a rival gun runner?"

 

He looks edgy. He does not want to reveal these truths, but he can resist no longer. Now he has started speaking, the words pour out.

 

"Whatever. To me he was a blessing from the Emperor's own Hand. He wanted Lang, I wanted rid of them both… so I helped him set Lang up. I'm no snitch!" he suddenly insists. "But... the old man called in the damned Enforcers! And more to the point, they came running as soon as he did!"

 

He slumps.

 

"Lang did disappear two weeks ago. But I saw what happened. An Enforcer strike team took out his guards and bundled him out of here faster than you could blink."

 

He shrugs finally.

 

"I didn't like it. You don't work with the lawmen. Rumours were spreading among my men, and around the market too. That's why everyone was still on edge when you turned up asking more questions. I needed those stories killed, not stirred up more. So I decided to take you out of the picture, quickly and quietly."

 

He pauses, then grins mirthlessly under the blindfold.

 

"Bad call, right?"

 

***

[Trokair]

+Get him to describe the man in as much detail as possible, everything, we need to know if this is just some Spire Lord’s agent or someone from above the spire with the clout to be a threat to all of us.+

[Necronaut]

Squad Alpha

 

+You know something of my methods by now, Traveller,+ Vesalius voxed in response to his sergeant's inquiry. +I say we clear the area with all due haste and make for the sally door. Setting boobytraps and the like seems prudent given the firepower they brought to bear upon us.+

Edited November 2, 2021 by Necronaut

[Lysimachus]

Squad Beta:

 

"Old, or white haired at least. Seemed fairly fit though. Carried a staff. Long coat, dark blue. Quality clothes, but not fancy like a noble's, plain - more like their servant? When he looked you in the eye, he seemed to… grow? Felt like you were suffocating." Dex shudders at the memory. "Like I said, something not right about him. Definitely not a local. I overheard him asking the Enforcer's commander about somewhere quiet, out of the way, to stash Lang for a month or so until his boss could get to Viorda. The cop was pretty eager to be helpful. Told him there was an outpost out in the wilds between the Hives where they put 'special' prisoners, ones that needed to be kept isolated, or transfers to kick up to the real Arbites to deal with over at Hive Primus. I'd never heard of it, but the old man seemed pretty happy with the idea. That means Lang's probably still there."

 

Dex smiles mockingly, beaten down but perversely happy to throw this final - to his mind, insurmountable - problem at you.

 

"Not that you can do anything about it. You're good, better than I thought, and you might have taken me out, but you've not got the firepower or the stones to try and break into an Enforcer stockade!"

 

***

[Commissar Molotov]

Placeholder

 

The Traveller turns away from Toks, caring little for the old man's histrionics. He acquiesces to Svelk's recommendation to booby-trap the town.

[Machine God]

Squad Alpha

 

Draak chuckled mentally at the exchange over the squad Vox. It wasn't very long ago that Svelk sounded off and got in the Traveller's face about destruction of the rhino's and yet now he was quite happy to rig them to explode.

 

+Svelk please could you let me know what areas to avoid when I exfiltrate from my watchpost+ stated Draak.

[Lysimachus]

Squad Alpha:

 

After your Apothecary skillfully cares for those who have suffered injuries, the Kill-Team work together to gather the Sororitas' bodies, heaping them together in a crude pyre. As you do, you take the opportunity to replenish your stocks of ammunition. The Battle Sisters were well supplied and even after you have taken what you need, there are sufficient grenades and spare promethium canisters to make Rolling Rocks a very dangerous place to enter.

 

At the same time, Draak maintains his vigil watching for signs of the Sororitas' response. While you cannot hope to see the entire seventy kilometres to the Convent House, especially the final few where the road is hidden as it winds up into the mountains, you can see enough to detect movement across the dusty plains.

 

Based on the highest speed of a Rhino transport, this should give the team around an hour of warning that the enemy is coming. However, it seems prudent to be long gone before they can arrive.

 

***

 

Ok, so decision time again. You're aiming for the sally port Toks has mentioned. It's located up in the mountains a few km southeast of the Convent House itself, so still around 70km from Rolling Rocks. To get there you can either:

 

1) use the shuttle, which is quickest but would obviously mean flying back into the 50km radius of the Sororitas augurs (and probably air defences!)

 

2) or you could go on foot, which is quite a bit slower (even Hurrying would be around 5 hrs, so you won't be all the way across the plain before the Sisters reach Rolling Rocks) but much sneakier!

 

3) or you could try to repair the Rhino* for a bit of a middle option in terms of speed v. sneakiness, although with this option you'd have to be careful that the sisters coming the other way didn't see your dust trail in the same way that you would be able to see theirs?

 

*Shouldn't be too hard as the only real damage was to the rear ramp.

 

So, up to you! Thoughts?

[Ancient_Sobek]

Beta Squad

 

+ It seems we have exhausted this resource. Should we terminate and move on to our next objective?+ S’ynek hissed.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Ancient_Sobek

[Trokair]

Beta

 

+Actually I think he may still be of use.+ Brynjarr replied, +He may still have the sufficient contacts to get us details on this prison complex in the wasteland.+

 

After a moment he added +Orphiel you could try spinning it to him that helping us with a prison break, if so required, would help him regain his criminal standing by going against the Law.+

[Black Cohort]

"Closing at least the final distance on foot seems wise, unless we want to contour fly many kilometers?"

[Lysimachus]

Squad Beta:

 

Dex looks surprised.

 

"You're crazy! You can't be planning to hit the Enforcers on their own turf!"

 

But after a few more seconds, he leans forward. The gang leader can immediately see the effect on his standing in the underhive if you succeed, but at minimal cost to him if you fail. Then he sits back and sighs.

 

"I can't help you. In truth, I had no idea the place was there until the Enforcer said it. No-one from the Hives goes out into the ash wastes. There's nothing of value out there and the surface is not a pleasant place. I wouldn't want to go looking for it without an aircar or preferably an enclosed shuttle. Even then it would be like finding a single bolt in a scrap heap, unless you could somehow get a scan from orbit?"

 

Dex seems to realise he is not making the best of this thin chance of his survival.

 

"But if you can get those things, I do have control of a fairly private low-level landing pad on the outside of the Hive not far from here?"

 

***

[Ancient_Sobek]

Radago switches his vox to orbital relay and opens a line to Cpt. Achard.

 

++Captain, we need a surface scan in the area between this hive and Hive Primus. We are looking for a secure facility or prison complex. Please relay what data you have to us. S’ynek out.++

 

Radago switches to squad comms ++ I have asked the captain to scan the area. Let us see if this intel has merit.++

[Lysimachus]

Squad Alpha:

 

The shuttle skims low over the surface of Viorda Secundus, attempting to avoid the eyes of the enemy. It stays well outside the limits of the Sororitas' augurs too, following a curving eastbound flight path towards the southern tip of the snow-capped mountain range where the Convent House is located. With the crew awake but still fuzzy-headed from the knockout darts, Odysseus (or Svelk?) is forced to take the pilot's chair while the mortals continue to recuperate in the cargo hold.

 

In the air it takes less than thirty minutes to cross the open plains and reach the foothills. As the planet's surface becomes increasingly uneven, it becomes harder and harder to hug the contours of the land and maintain your low altitude. Rather than risk being detected by the augurs, you find and land in a deep, rocky valley - formed millennia ago by a river long since dried out - that looks out over the plain. It is, by your estimates, just over fifty kilometres to the Convent House.

 

As you disembark once more into the cold air and look west towards the great stone mass that gives Rolling Rocks its name, you can see a large dust haze, visible even at this distance, approaching the settlement from the northeast. The Battle Sisters reinforcements.

 

Between your genehanced eyes and your armour's autosenses you can just make out a half dozen blocky black shapes pull up on the edge of Rolling Rocks. There are a few moments of stillness and silence, suggestive of unseen troops being deployed and advancing between the buildings.

 

***

 

Please make 3 Challenging (+0) Demo rolls to see how effective your booby trapping of the settlement was. You may add 2 Assists (+20) to show that this was a team effort!

 

(Anyone who wants can make these rolls, but Svelk may be the best option as he has Demo?)

[Beren]

Squad Alpha:

 

Demo Rolls:

Target Roll: 83 (Int 38 + 40 (Assissts) + 5 (Traveller's Path))

d100: 83

d100: 6

d100: 73

Edited November 5, 2021 by Beren

[Necronaut]

Squad Alpha

 

Placeholder

 

Vesalius puts his knowledge of guerilla tactics to use to assist with rigging the demo charges.

[Lysimachus]

Squad Alpha:

 

Rolling Rocks is lit up by a series of bright flashes as grenades and other devices are set off. The sounds of these detonations travel across the plain more slowly, taking more than a minute to reach you as a sequence of sharp cracks and dull thuds. Then silence reigns once more and thick black smoke begins to rise across the settlement.

 

There is no way to know exactly what harm your traps have caused to the Sororitas. Given the impressive pyrotechnic display you have just witnessed, it seems almost certain that some of the Ecclesiarchy's warriors must have been destroyed. However, it is equally unlikely that they have been completely wiped out.

 

***

[Lysimachus]

Squad Beta:

 

After a few minutes, the squad vox clicks.

 

"Achard here. We have performed a passive scan of the surface. It is difficult to detect anything clearly due to the ash storms that are prevalent on this world, but there does appear to be a power source of some sort forty kilometres to the northwest of Hive Tertius. If it is your facility, that places it fairly centrally between you and Hives Primus and Secundus?"

 

Holger frowns.

 

"I would have preferred not to use one of our shuttles. It creates a trail that might be followed. But needs must. Forty kilometres is a long way on foot across ash wastes. I also suspect even if we are successful, we will wish to leave this world in some hurry?"

 

***

[Mazer Rackham]

Beta:

+Tell me of the savagery of the Ash Wastes, what is the weather like out there?  What perils await the bold traveller?+

 

 

After Answering (conclusion of Interrogation):

+Well done Dex, your ordeal is almost over,+ Orphiel made the reassurance sound dark, let the Subject make of that as he would.   +And yet there is no honour among thieves, so I must ensure your silence.+

 

He stepped in close, leaned over instead of sitting, so the message would come down, instead of across.

+You have witnessed our determination,+ his voice was dangerously low, painfully soft.  +If you play us false, or...snitch...on us, the reckoning will be beyond anything that haunts your soul.  If you play us true, we may be a powerful ally to your enterprises.+

 

He forced a smile then, the offer must be sweet, and not only that, appeal to a devious intellect.

 

+A very lucrative one - to a man with your reputation.+

 

Orphiel drew his knife and cut the bindings of the Subject's wrists with two short strokes, before dropping the travelling robe over the shivering man.  He headed for the door.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

Squad Beta:

 

"There are railtracks that run from Hive to Hive," Dex says, awkwardly forming a triangle with his bound hands, "but out in the wastes in between there's nothing. Rock. And ash. Lots of ash. Poisonous in places. Only liquid left out there is tox-sludge. You'd need a sealed transport. A heavy crawler might make it, but if you get hit by a dust storm from the wrong direction you can be buried in minutes. Or if you drive into an ash drift, you'll sink and never get out. Some of them are supposed to be deeper than a Titan is tall."

 

Dex shudders at this thought, then returns to business.

 

"If the 'forcers have got something out there, it'll be built on bedrock, and up high enough not to get swamped when the dust shifts."

 

He shrugs.

 

"A shuttle flight might get a little bumpy if the wind picks up, but even then it's probably safer than the surface. Actually, a storm might even be useful? It would make it hard for anyone to track you, poor visibility plus metallic particles in the dust tend to mess with augurs?"

 

***

 

Dex blinks and rubs at his wrists as Orphiel walks away.

 

"Wait!" he calls. "Who are you? Who am I working with?"

 

***

[Mazer Rackham]

Beta:

 

The Subject, now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, shouted from his chair.  "Wait! Who are you? Who am I working with?"

 

Orphiel made a half turn, the meagre light from the bulbs sliding across his black-glass visor as he tilted his head.  He looked the crime boss up and down, a modest admiration for cunning and stoicism, allowing the silence to win, to be uncomfortable, to add weight to his next words.

 

+The less you know, the safer you are," he didn't give voice to his thoughts of the safety of his team, the operation and everything that lay behind it.  Keep it about the Subject.  Keep him looking inward.  Orphiel casually tossed him the cipher-scribe device.

 

+We will reach you with this, using your code,+ Orphiel paused to think of a suitable name for Squad Beta that could be mistaken for hive scum.  +Our contact name will be Spook.  Wait here for half an hour before leaving.+

 

(I'll change this is players think of something better).

 

He wrenched the door open with a crunch and squeal of rusted, shoddy ratchets, and stepped out into the space beyond it to regroup with the squad.