To Plunder The Stars Themselves, Episode III

[Necronaut]

+I am no expert in the mysteries of the Machine Cult, Captain, but I am an expert on human physiology, and if this great ship functions in any way remotely analogous to my field of expertise, I feel I can safely postulate that it will take a small miracle to breathe life back into the Pride’s systems. Resurrecting a mammoth such as this, especially given that it has likely lain dormant for millennia, is not a feat that even a high priest of the Machine God and an army of tech-thralls could easily accomplish, much less on an accelerated timeline. The awakening rites for a vessel of this size could take weeks to complete for all we know. We can only hope that this ship was abandoned here deliberately and carefully, following all of the necessary rites to place it into a deep slumber.+

 

He turned around to look back at Captain Achard and continued, taking on the tone of a lecturer, +What we have here is comparable to a patient in a deep coma, or similar to an Astartes in sus-an sleep. Awakening the patient is a laborious and time-insensitive task, which must be undertaken with great care lest the patient suffer permanent nervous system trauma or brain-death. This is a process which we would rush only to our own detriment and peril.+

 

Vesalius held his gauntleted hand out, palm-up as he spoke, pointing in the vague direction of the enginarium to punctuate his statement.

 

+Our best course of action would be to tow the Pride to a safe location where we could take our time in resuscitating this behemoth. To do otherwise would be folly in my view.+

Edited May 17, 2022 by Necronaut

[A.T.]

Odysseus' hiss of anger was lost amongst the crack of the thunder hammer, at himself as much as any for Draaks blunt lack of forsight was constant and unerring, and their options now cut thin.

 

Still, the seeker gave only direction and not position and a vessel this size was still only a speck of dust in the vastness of space. "Unpowered and unmoving it may yet evade detection, for a time at least, if there were a clearer target to hunt".

[Necronaut]

Vesalius nodded and smiled grimly behind his beaked helm at Odysseus's implication. Ever did the taciturn librarian offer sage advice when under pressure. They had a suitable decoy in the Dagger Thrust, but the escort was also their only means of escape, at least until the cavalry arrived, and warp travel was frequently unpredictable. No, they were on their own for all intents and purposes.

 

His pointed helm swiveled to take in the reactions of the others, lingering briefly on Orphiel before continuing.

 

Decisions, decisions.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Necronaut

[Lysimachus]

"You are quite correct, master Surgeon. That would be the preferred option. But the thought of my Dagger towing this beast is simply impossible. We would tear her spine out before we pulled it an inch. We certainly could not generate a Geller Field large enough to protect both vessels during warp transit. You are also correct that we have no hope of engaging the main reactor or warp drives, that will indeed take weeks, even months. But those were not the systems I was thinking of."

 

Achard gestures around him.

 

"We are here until the Iron Gods arrive… unless we choose to flee now and abandon the prize, but I cannot imagine Lord Varn would approve - or forgive - such a course?"

 

"However, if the Inquisitor gets here first, we will be required to defend this ship and that will mean putting a limited number of troops in position to protect its key locations. Unfortunately, we currently have no real idea as to what or where they are. But perhaps there are some smaller systems that could help us? For example, it should only take a minimal amount of power to awaken and access the Bridge cogitator banks, but if we can do so, we might be able to find a map?"

 

"Hence my appeal to your team. You are best equipped to find - and if necessary fight - your way to the Command Deck."

 

The Captain frowns thoughtfully, looking between Vesalius and Odysseus.

 

"You make a good point about using my Dagger as a distraction, though. I do not like the idea at all, but it does make sense. If I leave enough officers and men aboard to fly her, perhaps she can lead any… unwelcome visitors… a merry dance until Lord Varn gets here?"

 

***

Edited May 17, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Orphiel was face-on to the Witch and the Captain, otherwise would have missed the hesitation from the Quack.

 

He wondered what could have prompted it.  Perhaps rancour at the order for sedative?  The action was obeyed instantly and competently, without any change in posture or colour of his advice to the assembled company.

 

He let his eyes watch the Apothecary as Vesalius stood, and gestured, his own helm motionless.  Perhaps the look he'd given the assembled team was a cover for a distinct, lingering glance.  In humans it was perhaps coyness, but Astartes were above such nonsense.  Orphiel was no pretty trinket for this Magpie, no, something clashed there, a jarring in a tale without words.

 

"Take thy beak from out my heart," he whispered into his helmet.

 

He nodded to the apothecary, feigning a slight of deference.  Let us see how the Quack reacts.

 

His turn in the game completed, Orphiel brandished the Siege Auspex.

 

+Then let us begone,+ he suggested, azure lenses resting on Vesalius.  +Our forms should darken other doors.+

Edited May 17, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Necronaut]

Vesalius shrugged and stood impassively, staring at the rest of the kill-team. The captain was correct, of course: they could not just sit idly by waiting for the Inquisition forces to descend upon them, but the apothecary did not share the man's optimism with regard to restoring power to the ship. Still, they had to do something, and there was still the matter of actually securing the hulk for themselves, not to mention eliminating or subduing whatever it was that yet haunted the ship.

[Beren]

Svelk, so far silent, steps forwards.

 

+++ A request. This ship was abandoned for a reason. If something still stalks it, it may not be on the bridge, or in the enginarum. Some things seek out the dark holds, the bilge- decks and lurk and slumber there until new prey arrives to wake them. I would seek these places out first, delve into the darkness, find if there is anything left here to hunt. +++

 

Svelk gestures to the surrounding crates.

 

+++I would also suggest we seize any opportunity to replenish our own supplies and find anything of use.+++

[Lysimachus]

Holger grins.

 

"I fear we do not have time to search every nook and cranny for things to kill, but I suspect if something is here, it will come to us?"

 

"As to the other, I am quite sure my Lord Varn would want you to take whatever you need. After all, you are the ones who have been risking yourselves to find it!"

 

***

 

You really do want to head towards the Bridge. But Svelk makes a good point about replenishing supplies. So if anyone has used any of their starting amount of grenades or special ammo they took at the Requisition stage, they can restock these for free. (Svelk can also refill his stolen clip of Kraken!) I will also allow each player to take an additional 15 Req if they wish, but this must be taken from small items like Ammo, Grenades, small Tools, etc. (Ask if you're not sure!)

 

That probably doesn't sound like a huge amount, but there might be something else coming up pretty soon that you might want to 'borrow'...

[Mazer Rackham]

Special munitions were not new to him, but the different manufacture was.  it took him a moment to realise one of the crates prised open carried some type of hard round.  He prised one free of the packing and turned it over in his fingers, the diamantine tip glinting in the lumens from the stablight on his helm.  The balance was odd as well, heavy in the cartridge body.  He rattled it near to his left ear, expecting to hear propellant slithering around, but all he could discern was a muted tip-tap.

 

Ah.  Not Fyceline.  Fycecord perhaps?  It was the older type of propellent, burned hotter, faster.  It was also more corrosive.  If he deployed this ammunition he would have to make sure Argo got a good swabbing out once the mission was completed.

 

There were different calibres of the ammunition as well.  Stencils on the packets betrayed both .75 and .60 Imperial calibre.  He could almost imagine the weapons the bolts would fill - Phobos and Tigrus pattern boltguns.  As old as the armour he wore.  Relics.  The blessed ignorance of the olden days, when the words Tyranid and Kraken didn't come together in the same decade, never mind the same sentence.

 

Although maybe on Fenris...

 

Orphiel stripped one of the magaines of standard bolts from his shot selector, and tried an empty Phobos magazine, slipping it free of the cosmoline slick plastek sleeve.  It locked into place with a firm click.  He smiled and set about hand loading the magazine.  He felt happily greedy as the boxy casket gobbled round after round in the snick-slip of loading.

 

He tested Argo's heft.  He could kill someone with it as a bludgeon, never mind turning them into punch blasted corpse!  He stepped back from the crate.

 

+Penetrator Round analogues.+

 

He wiggled the storm bolter.  It felt fat, full.  Ready.

[Black Cohort]

Decimus ensured that the team had heavy firepower at each end as they began to move towards the bridge.

[Lysimachus]

The interior portal of the hold opens onto a huge arterial corridor, easily ten metres wide and five tall, that runs forward and aft far beyond the range of your stablights. As you begin to explore, you find that the next few doorways leading off from this artery have also been left open and reveal more vast storage chambers. Most are similarly filled with containers, but not all.

 

In one, your stablight beams reveal armour stands, at least three hundred of them in ranked rows. The first of these stands is completely empty, like the bare branches of a tree in the depths of winter, but the rest are full. Suits of identical, pristine MkVI armour, immediately identified by their beaked helms and studded shoulders. They bear the colours of no Chapter, clad only in the characterless grey of unpainted ceramite. Their darkened eye lenses stare back at you with implacable coldness.

 

In the hold opposite is some kind of motorpool. Parked in neat rows are squadrons of Astartes battle tanks, each one some variant based on the venerable Deimos-pattern Rhino STC, each vehicle just as bare and clean as the MkVI plate. Beside them, along one wall, are a single squadron of Land Speeders held from the ceiling in heavy cradles. Behind the cockpits, with their pilot and gunner's seats, the hulls diverge from standard Speeders, instead having elongated bodies and open troop compartments that are reminiscent of the Storm-pattern.

 

***

[Machine God]

Rows and rows of pristine Mark VI - Corvus Armour stretched off into the distance.

 

~Oh good a target range~ Eisen scrolled over Draak's HUD causing him to laugh. ~Ha, ha, Eisen just like being in large rookery. Don't worry you have no worries about being replaced by this paper thin armour!~

 

+Orphiel are you picking up any returns on your Siege Auspex?+ enquired Draak.

[Mazer Rackham]

Orphiel's lips pursed as he regarded the gravitic-repulsor craft.  The noses loomed out of the darkness, flashing into the splay of light akin to the deep-swimming carnivorous Cephalofoils on ancient Terra, and the trenches of Allhallow.

 

Draak's query disrupted his thoughts.  +Orphiel, are you picking up any returns on your Siege Auspex?+

 

He brandished the device.

Test for latent power relays below the deck or energy signatures within 20m

Int: 53

D100: 11 Pass, Plus 4 DoS.

 

+I have initiated a scan Serjeant.  We should know in a moment.+

[Lysimachus]

Orphiel: There are dozens of relays and cables, some far thicker than your leg, running through the massive bulkheads, just as you would expect. Though they all seem perfectly intact, most have no charge being transmitted through them.

 

One small set of conduits, however, does produce a tiny, almost unreadable energy spike. The wires run forward to aft along the upper edges of the corridor on both sides and pause at small boxes above each of the cargo hold doorways, though there is no way to tell what purpose the boxes serve.

 

But a key truth has been revealed. It is producing a minimal amount of energy and must be very well hidden, but there is a working power source somewhere onboard.

[Mazer Rackham]

+There is power flowing from somewhere beyond our location.  The ship slumbers, it is not yet dead.+

 

Orphiel ran the findings through his datavault, and out into the noospheric squad-link.

 

He trod up the tame, slate-skinned beast nearest his position, cutting the power to his magboots, grasping the front fender of the Land Speeder and pulling up, lifting his mass as opposed to accelerating it.  He leaned across with the toe of his right sabaton, caught the step below the pilot seat, and pulled, shifting hand over hand across the roll-bar, helmet lumens and darksight autosenses doing the rest.  The Siege Auspex trailed along on it's power cable where it ran into the auxiliary port on his plastron.

 

He examined the vehicle.  So it was true then - the Tempestas had it's roots back before the breaking of the Hexagrammaton.  Fascinating.  Each secret like a grain of sand, within this basking whale was a seabed, perhaps replete with pearls like this.

 

Orphiel tracked the magnetic clamps, one binding the hull to the right of the cockpit, with another three reaching over crablike, trussing the vehicle in place.  He locked his magnetic sole on the kick-step and smote once with his boot, the clamp breaking free with a rasp of aching gears; the clamp held only by residual force, an aching limb long spent.  Had true power flowed through these metallic veins, the prodigious restraint of electromagnetism would prevent his demonstration.

 

+The pulse does not extend here.  It appears confined to the portals.+

 

On a whim, he reached into the cockpit, and thumbed the low-ready activation rune, wondering if the machine spirits had vacated the chassis along with the previous owners.

[Lysimachus]

Nothing happens.

 

Whatever motive charge the Speeder once had, it has long since died. But it is not impossible that it might be resurrected.

 

Holger pulls himself up into the cockpit alongside you, just as comfortable in zero-g as any of you. Carefully he opens a panel in his voidsuit, allowing access to his electro-graft augmetic. He runs his hands across the Speeder's controls, looking for an access port and on finding one, he selects a corresponding jack and plugs himself in. He mutters a few words - beseechments to the Machine God, perhaps, or simply planning his next steps aloud? He turns several knobs and flicks other switches. Finally he nods decisively and presses the activation rune again.

 

Sparks fly from the access port, but lumens across the control panel suddenly flash red, then settle into oranges and then greens. With a whir of protest, the Speeder's anti-grav plates come to life and the massive turbines at the rear begin to turn at a slow, idling pace.

 

Holger's grin is visible through his faceplate.

 

"It will need a good twenty minute drive to fully recharge the battery, my lord Orphiel."

 

Then he looks over at another of the Speeder squadron.

 

"I have the necessary flight training," he offers lightly, "and two transports would certainly make for less of a squash..."

 

***

 

If you wish to take the Speeders, please can Orphiel make 3 Drive: Skimmer (Ag) tests. Holger will also make 3 tests. Each of these will benefit from the Storm's +20 Manoeuvrability.

 

Overall, the arterial corridor is straight and open (as mentioned before, approx. 10m wide by 5m tall) so it shouldn't be too dangerous. But there will be occasional bottlenecks as you pass through the athwartships structural bulkheads that divide the ship into compartments. The portals/doorways in these bulkheads are still sufficiently large to fit the Speeders through, but your room to manoeuvre narrows considerably!

 

As long as your total DoS is greater than your total DoF, you don't crash the vehicles! You may also share the DoS/F between you if necessary, representing the two pilots warning each other of potential dangers, etc.

[Machine God]

Orphiel and Holger managed to power up one of the Landspeeder's.

 

"I have the necessary flight training," he offers lightly, "and two transports would certainly make for less of a squash..." said Holger pointing to another craft.

 

"Yes but it's going to be tight in our armour. Storm's are designed for Scouts" stated Draak.

 

"Cutlass, mount up four and four. Decimus take over the Heavy Bolter on Holger's Bird and I will go on Orphiel's. Let's ride!"

[Mazer Rackham]

Orphiel looked askance at Holger's machinations and mechanical proficiency.

 

Thankfully, his own helm was blank, fixed, hiding his narrowed gaze as the 'Remembrancer' went to work.  He listened to Holger's advice in silence, allowing only a small nod of understanding as he jumped out.

 

Already Orphiel's mind was rolling the difficulties in his mind.  There was atmosphere here, toxic yes, but still aerodynamic drag, friction he could put onto flight surfaces.    It would be vital, since the speeder would generate g-forces as it accelerated under load, which could prove disastrous if the displacement was uneven or suddenly shifted.  Rapid, brief employment of the repulsor plate could counter it in an emergency.

 

He eased himself into the pilot throne, settling his powerplant into the recess there.  It was a different configuration from his experience, so each turn and twitch of the control stick would be a learning curve.  He flicked the covers off switches and his warplate warned him of the umbilical connection at his spine.  Overlays blossomed into radiance in his visor, new instrumentation and simulacra painting enegine output, temperature, horizon and altimeter across his retina.

 

+++ ACTIVATE +++

+ MASTER POWERPLANT: NOMINAL

+ MAIN IGNITION SWITCHES 1/2: ON

+ EMERGENCY FUEL CUT-OFF VALVES: OPEN

+ GRAV PLATES: OFF

+ EMERGENCY GRAV LOCK: OPEN

+ HYDRAULIC PRESSURE: NOMINAL

+ AMMUNITION LOAD: NOT REPORTED

 

The interface was refreshingly free of pseudocant and techna lingua.  This machine had been forged by the Imperium, yes, but by open minds.  How much had been lost or needlessly added over the years?  He stopped himself, recognising the path to heresy.  He blink-clicked through the options, disabling the annoying ventral sensoria.  In quarters as tight as this, it would be a constant bleeping irritation.  Gripping the controls he felt the engine thrum smooth out, become constant, lozenges and gauges changed colour, winked in readiness.

 

At Draak's urging the demi-squad he was responsible for moved to board.

 

++Do not move around too much,++ he warned them as the speeder rang with each tight grasp and magnetised footfall.

 

Then he eased the hovercraft to launch velocity, and deftly turned it, facing down the passageway like a bullet in a rifle.  Without waiting for Holger, he pushed the throttle forward and was gone in the shrill whine of engines, flying down a black hole by instruments and feel alone, the rocket motors a constant shove in his lower back.

 

AG/Drive (Skimmer) Tests:

AG: 53 + 20 = 73

D100 1: 008

D100 2: 072

D100 3: 053

 

Total Passes x 3

Total DoS = 8 DoS

Edited May 20, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Beren]

A resupply ship. It had to be. Was this what his own Chapter would have looked like at it's height? Maybe, no way of telling now. Forget Von Caeryd's tawdry trinkets, this was a trove truly worth fighting for.

 

Still, the same question remained. Gift or bait?

 

He inspected the magazine of ammunition he had selected from one of the crates. Provided the markings were equivalent to those few he'd seen of his own Chapter or the half-a-dozen different cants he'd seen amongst the Iron Gods, this was another form of penetrative ammunition. He'd refilled his clip of Kraken ammunition too, but now he had twice as many bolt shells to safeguard, to use with care. If the warning markings he'd seen were accurate, well, it wouldn't take too long for the void to declare the rounds gift or curse.

 

"Cutlass, mount up four and four. Decimus take over the Heavy Bolter on Holger's Bird and I will go on Orphiel's. Let's ride!"

 

Svelk grinned a little as he clambered onto one of the speeder vehicles. He had n epereince with this type of craft, but if anything about using a jumpack in conined quarters held true to these... being able to take a knock or too was hal the battle.

[A.T.]

The armour dated the vessel, or at least its last deployment. Supplies for the heresy waylaid by the warmaster perhaps, an act of defiance by some lingering remnant...

 

While the others were drawn to the weapons and vehicles Odysseus turned instead to a crate of auxiliary components. Auto-sense scopes designed to augment the vision of an astartes, technology forgotten or obsolete, or simply deemed an inefficient use of resources in humanitys eternal war. Locking the device onto his armour he switched between its pre-coded comms signals seeking a response from the missing suit of armour but was met with only darkness.

 

Draaks words roused him from his fruitless search and he moved to join the others on the improvised transport, hardening his psychic barrier against inevitable mishap.

[Lysimachus]

Holger's Pilot Rolls: Ag40 +20 = 60, Rolls: 81, 48, 57. Total DoS-DoF = 1DoF! Fortunately Orphiel did much better, for a total between them of 7DoS!

 

You hurtle forward as Orphiel and Holger direct the manoeuvrable Speeders down the wide, seemingly endless corridor. The Remembrancer's reflexes - while superb for a mortal - are no match for an Astartes, but he is able to follow behind safely enough. Forward-mounted stablights peer into the blackness ahead, and those mounted on the passengers' armour might reveal glimpses of adjoining chambers and corridors to the sides and rear as you flash past. There are no signs of life.

 

Far behind you, crewmen have come across the boarding tube in their thousands. As you search for the bridge, units led by Tech-adepts and bosuns will be spreading out, ready to locate and secure other key locations of the great ship. The Dagger Thrust, skeleton-crewed and under the command of a handful of Achard's Lieutenants, will soon be moving off to patrol the empty system and draw away any interlopers.

 

You head aft and, when possible, up in the hope that this vessel follows at least some of the standards of Imperial design. Just as in the hold, there is no light or gravity, but there is a pressurised atmosphere. It is still completely unbreathable, forcing you to keep your helms on, but it does mean that sound has a medium through which it can travel, giving you another sense that might warn you of impending danger. However, out beyond the muted howl of the Speeder's turbines, the blackness is utterly, impenetrably silent.

 

***

 

Further to MG's last post, for simplicity and in case anyone wants to post anything specific, I've taken the liberty of putting Svelk and Vesalius with Orphiel and Draak in Speeder 1, and Odysseus and Brynjarr with Holger and Decimus in Speeder 2. But of course you can all still talk via squad vox, so it doesn't affect much.

[Mazer Rackham]

All Orphiel could see were the neon lines of the boundaries of the compartments they blasted through.  The holographic relays from the augur probes in the land speeder were good enough for reactive flight.  He only had to touch the grav inductor twice to keep the skimmer from nosing over as the occupants held on, their weight shifting the vehicle, a bobbing coracle in a great lake.

 

The passages narrowed somewhat, closing to three metres on each side as they passed through a trunk section, heading aft, towards the spinal lift shaft, which would take them up.  Without power, the lift would be useless, but in zero gravity that didn't matter.  The airframe was suffering the atmospheric punishment though.  The engine intake was sucking in the limited atmosphere, but the surfaces were taking on that strange glassy sheen of traversing a near-zero degree environment at two-hundred kilometres an hour.

 

He dropped back into the machine-loop, communing with the readily compliant spirit.

 

//SET DE-ICER CONDUITS: ON

// ADVISORY // MAIN CAPICITORS 75% CHARGE.

 

Good.  Time to test Mr Holger's reflexes, and have some fun.

 

He throttled the engines up, powering a reheat as they screamed into the passageway to the levitor shaft, he could feel the snap and rasp of his plasfibre robe bunching and hugging around him in the forced breeze.

 

++Hold tight.  Keep all limbs inside the vehicle,++ he smirked at the deadpan delivery.

 

He steadily pulled on the control stick and twisted his feet to oppose the ailerons, and the skimmer dropped into a velocity sump as power was redirected, his stomach feeling the odd vertiginous shift.  A flick of the gravimetric field prevented collision, and the Land Speeder tore up the shaft, now perpendicular to the deck.  The augurs registered the air composition change.  A rune-optic opened the channel he wanted.

 

+Brynjarr, can your Auspex identify the pollutants?+

 

He would have done it himself, but his hands were full.  Behind them, he could see a more hesitant Mr Holger doing his best to keep up, tacking onto the residual flight path to prevent his speeder turning into a compactor.

 

Orphiel smiled.  He was beginning to enjoy himself.

 

He wondered how his passengers were faring.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Machine God]

Draak unloaded Grendel, he detached the ammunition linkage which retracted and then he mag-locked Grendel to the top of his backpack

 

Draak located an ammunition crate of heavy bolts, he ordered Orphiel to his position so that he could load up the ammunition hopper of the Landspeeder Storm and passed the information on to Decimus.

 

Draak climbed aboard the Landspeeder, he forced himself into the gunners throne and earned a few more scrapes on his backpack. Flicking switches on his dashboard controls he managed to interface Eisen with the auxiliary power connection. Surprisingly it was a clean and easy connection which Eisen didn't fight, however Draak's HUD was lit up for three seconds with a battle against technological opponents that he didn't recognise.

 

~Eisen what was that battle~ Draak asked. ~Squat pacification, 805.M30~

 

The Landspeeder sped off through the corridors of the ship, Draak loaded up the heavy bolter and checked out the traverse arcs.

[Lysimachus]

You climb several decks and then continue towards the stern until you can go no further, finally slowing at a large, dark t-junction and a pair of wide doorways that appear to be the entrances to lift shafts. You hope these will lead to the Command Deck.

 

In front of the twin doorways, lit up only by the beams of your stablights, are a group of almost motionless humanoid figures clad in heavy void suits. They are buffeted by the residual bow wave of displaced air from your transports, gently swaying back and forth, but are otherwise eerily still, like someone standing on a seabed. A few still have weapons floating loosely in their arms and they seem to have formed a defensive perimeter around the lift access.

 

***

[Machine God]

+Brothers we need information. Auspex on these ancient voidfarer's please, Brother Brynjarr if you will?" demanded Draak, +Stay alert!+

 

Strange as if they die whilst at their posts at the defensive perimeter mag-locked to the decking.

 

+Even in Death my Duty does not End!+

 

But who were they fighting against, Cutlass had seen no signs of battle?

Edited May 23, 2022 by Machine God