[BC] The Blackest Heart (Part II) (IC)

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

The Mantis Warrior stood in the back of the new strategium, arms across his armored chest, and watched the crew get the Razor's Edge into motion.  Hagga's. . . demonstration. . .on the former gunnery officer had seemed to have had its intended effect, and the Dredge's mortal crew seemed to have moved with an admirable amount of alacrity.  He was still uncomfortable with the method, however; it felt too much like what the Sharks had visited onto Endymion.  Was that a side of Hagga he was just now seeing?  Or was that the influence of the brass collar that clung to his neck like a second skin?

 

Obi realized he was frowning, and schooled his features back to smoothness.  He wanted vengeance on the Imperium for its crimes, and he was well aware that he couldn't do that on his own, but he was starting to question his chosen allies.  Hagga's collar, Ukalegon's tail, Mourn wasn't just a heretic but a traitor legionnaire.  He was surrounded by corruption; of his companions, the only one who seemed halfway normal was the Deathwatcher, Varne.  Quite the list of allies I've accrued, he thought to himself.

 

Hagga finished giving a speech to the mortal crew -- he was zoned out and only caught a few words of it here and there -- and looked back at him, and the other Astartes around the bridge.  "Brothers, we go to war," he said with a vicious grin.

 

Obi felt the disdain trying to crawl back onto his face, but kept his features blank.  He simply nodded back to Hagga, and slapped his helmet down over his head.  War is what I want, so war is what I will give them -- regardless of who commands it.

[Mojake]

Varne

 

“Brothers, we go to war.”

 

He is a good talker, Varne thought to himself. He couldn't help himself from letting out a quiet snort of amusement as any movement of Hagga's which could be construed as sudden inflicted immediate panic on any mortal crew within three meters of him. 

 

As the briefing ended on that imperative note, Varne turned to leave, aiming to go procure a replacement jump pack after he lost his previous pack on the Hrud-infested world. As he passed Obadiah he leaned in and muttered, "ready to die to further the Tyrant's gains, Mantis Warrior?"

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

"Ready to die to further the Tyrant's gains, Mantis Warrior?" Varne asked him as he walked pass.

 

Obadiah's hand snapped out and grabbed the edge of Varne's pauldron, arresting his motion for a moment.  His voice, when it left his voxmitter, was cold and emotionless, though whether that was intentional or a function of the voxmitter was left up to Varne's interpretation.

 

'I'm not here for the Tyrant's gains," he replied.  "I'm here to hurt the Imperium for stabbing my people in the back.  I'm using him as much as he uses me."  His helmeted head cocks to one side.  "What about you?  You don't strike me as a true believer in the Corsair cause either."

[Lord_Ikka]

Crux'as

 

Crux'as simply nodded at Hagga's words and ignored the byplay of the other Astartes. Whether they wanted to banter or battle mattered not to a mortal like him. He turned back to the vox.

 

"Nothing much, my dear Strabo. Just a few odds and ends that may assist us in a minor way."

 

Crux'as laid out the items the others had mentioned to him and gamely bartered with the seneschal for a short time. Not everything was available, or at least not within the Tigress' grasp in a soon enough timeframe to be delivered before they began the mission on Bounty, but enough was.

 

"One last thing- my companions are fairly used to, let us say very structured mission plans. They would like to have a modicum of intelligence on the target you wish for us to...annoy. Would any specifics be able to be communicated?"

[Mazer Rackham]

Crux'as:

 

+I am always open to leveraging the scales in favour of success, Factor. The Platform is in the hands of a rival House, therefore we expect a small barracks with a reasonably well-equipped force. The Platform will also have security measures of it's own, a small patrol to keep rowdy workers in line. The platform,+

 

GAS MINING PLATFORM, KATARIS OMICRON

Spoiler

 

 

He breaks off to deploy a hololithic rendition of the actual platform. Several gas collection derricks sink into low orbit of the gas giant, resembling the ancient guzzoline rigs of old Terra. Three main blocks split from a central hub, wings of a triskele. They highlight as he speaks.

 

+Block Alpha is the main worker hab, where the workers and their families are domiciled. They work in a three-shift rotation of eight-hours Terran, for up to three-hundred sols per Imperial calendar. The Platform closes for thirty days to refit and refurbish. This is our window to minimise their loss. This is important to us, since once this platform is destroyed, we expect the mining conglomerate to fold, and then we will buy the workforce into our own holdings. Skilled labour is hard to come by,+ he qualifies.

 

+Block Beta is the major toolroom, pumping station and servitor-menial service block where most of the piping and routing of gas is done. You will see the exloading gantries for docked craft haulers and the emergency blow off extruder attached here.+

 

The graphical interface shows the large pipes and the emergency vent conduits to stop the platform exploding.

 

+Block B is your main target. Simply shutting off the gas extruder will not suffice. The platform needs to crash and burn.+

 

He moves on. +Block C is the guard block, it also houses the emergency rely transponder and controls the immediate docking protocols and surrounding orbital monitor arrays. It also houses the servitor-slave defence batteries. The weapons are deterrent more than prevention, since the macrocannon arrays are scant and of light calibre,+ the latter he adds lightly, as though it were of little consequence. To his vessels it probably is.

 

+I strongly recommend that you leave the xenos bodies and the weapons around the platform where they could conceivably have survived.  When the platform breaks up, it should leave quite a lot of debris in the upper atmosphere to be found by investigators. My further recommendation is to use the weapons against the personnel, and spread xenos spoor about, to make it more convincing, but it is up to you.+

 

+Anything else, Factor?'

 

GM EDIT:

 

Rakash:

 

GM: Your Infamy is 25, therefore 36 is 1+ DoF. The Seneschal either does not have access to his sources at the moment, or he does not trust you with the information. He gives you the basic 'they're everywhere you know to look' spiel.

 

 

Edited March 23 by Mazer Rackham
Map up

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

Rykaz joined the others looking at the hololith. An interesting target. Simplest way would be to destroy the thrusters and drop the whole damn thing into the gas giant. No worries about bloody clues left behind, then.

 

Still, he was glad of the Seneschal's request… though for very different reasons to the oily grox-dung. What honour was there to be gained in slaughtering defenceless civilians? You did it if you had to, without a doubt, but far better to avoid it if you could!

 

But leaving them alive did raise other problems. If you had to hit a target without stirring up any greater fuss, you shouldn't leave any witnesses behind. If they couldn't kill them, that meant they might have to act with a level of… covertness… that he didn't much like.

 

So, how to destroy two thirds of the platform, without disturbing the other third at all?

 

Maybe they should ask the Mantid? Covert ops had been his Chapter's speciality?

 

[Xin Ceithan]

Rakash

 

Lo and behold, the true face of those greedy hypocrites in charge  I of the Imperium. Mingling with renegades and Xenos - for what? A discount on the hiring of  laborers?!

 

The Sorcerer sneered at the thought.  He gestured at the hololithic, trying to regain his composure by focusing on the matter at hand.

 

”So the workforce will not be on site during our strike then. Do you have an estimate on the scale and equipment of the security forces deployed ? “

[Mazer Rackham]

Rakash:

 

There is a moment of hesitation at the gruff query.

 

+Have you been at the Krieg Brandy, Factor?+ Strabo laughs politely. +Of course, we have other listeners. My people eavesdrop too. What a very deep voice your good fellow has. I assume you have given him leave to bark? As to the forces you can expect, I am sure it is nothing you cannot handle.+

 

 

Edited March 23 by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

Xerxes:

 

The vessel with its augmented crew had been a concerning vector of infection, but also a source of the equipment he needed to continue his research. At each step further from the source the signal had degraded such that it might serve as vaccine of sorts to the original, or at least insight on how to approach it. Now all that was required was time and resources.

 

He gazed upon the hololith as the Seneschal spoke considering how best to advance without tipping his hand. Indeed the platform seemed little more than a test for there was nothing evident that armsmen would not achieve, unless they feared a rival in the wings waiting to catch them in the act.

 

 

[Machine God]

Kraggan

 

+Have you been at the Krieg Brandy, Factor?+ Strabo laughs politely. +Of course, we have other listeners. My people eavesdrop too. What a very deep voice your good fellow has. I assume you have given him leave to bark? As to the forces you can expect, I am sure it is nothing you cannot handle.+

 

 

Intrigued Kraggan broadcast on the private Squad Vox.

 

++++Remember even though Crux'As is talking to their Seneschal on Vox, we are on one of their ships. It is but a work of child's play to have left hidden pict viewers that we haven't yet located. It is a given that Strabo knows of the nature of our force++++

 

 

 

 

[Xin Ceithan]

Rakash

 

Cyrandras grunted and  nodded towards the bellicose Heretek in agreement.  
 

+++ We will have to look into that, indeed. +++
 

It was fair to assume the White Tigress and her ilk would have taken some precautions to ensure the Warband was fulfilling their end of the bargain. Rakash also suspected that the Rogue Trader had already sampled extensive information during their initial encounter with the Dredge…. Or maybe even before. That encounter and the level of preparation for this raid felt a bit too convenient…

Still, the Sorcerer felt a flash of anger at his lapse. He’d let his wrath and bitterness over the Imperium’s corrupt elite overrule his reasoning.

 

 

One of these days, I’ll learn to look before I leap…

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Razor - Bridge:

 

+Uh, bridge, this is Deckwright Loostre, I'm in damage control compartment 5 on Deck 15. Stinky has just been in here. Uh, she was, uh, scratching her arse on one of the fire axes. Don't know if that's relevant, but given Lord Hagga's standing order, I thought I should report it.+

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

Hagga sighed. He'd hoped the animal had been left behind on the Dredge. Still, they knew it was more than an ordinary feline, and maybe in some way connected to Delphynie, so a simple transfer across the void wasn't going to be enough to rid themselves of it.

 

“Belay my previous order, crew. If the animal in question appears at a key location, inform us. If it attempts to interfere with the running of this ship, it is to be killed immediately. Otherwise, ignore it.”

 

He looked towards the Sorcerer and shrugged.

 

"Rakash, you have more idea of what it is. Any other... or better... suggestions of how to deal with it?"

 

He turned back to look again at the hololith.

 

“The Seneschal is an idiot,” Rykaz grunted quietly. “Trying to pin the blame on the devil-breed, but he wants us to leave the mortals alone? Doesn't he understand that is the only thing the xenos are seeking when they come raiding?”

 

He frowned, suddenly thoughtful.

 

“The Seneschal does understand that… and he isn't an idiot… so he's got another reason for putting those bodies aboard that platform… or aboard our ship? That makes me wonder if we shouldn't be spacing them right now…?”

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24 by Lysimachus

[Xin Ceithan]

Rakash

 

For the briefest moment, Cyrandras felt his mind drifting back to that last encounter on the Dredge and his  mind’s eye flooding with memories of that other place, the skies ablaze with empyrean fires. A war horn howled in the distance and his mouth filled with smoke and acid.

 

Closing his eyes, the Sorcerer forced the memory down.

 

I am the sea…

 

Feeling his mind calming as it settled among the familiar rotes of the Dur-An-Ki, Rakash opened his eyes again.  He turned his head towards Hagga but instantly regretted it as he caught sight of the hateful un-sun now fused to the Executioner’s collar. 

 

That bloody thing is really not helping…

 

 

Rakash turned his gaze straight ahead again on the hololith instead. He calmed his breathing once more and, mindful of the earlier exchange, subvocalized into the squad vox.

 

+++ Even if it should turn out to be something else than our over-enthusiastic acquaintance, we shouldn’t underestimate its potential. +++

 

Again. 

 

Cyrandras suppressed a grimace and continued.

 

+++ That fool Khardon ruined our last attempt to bind it and messed with the esoteric lore involved afterward when he tried to cover up his failure. And while I was able to hurt it on the Dredge, I am not willing to risk this ship and this crew in an attempt to repeat Khardon’s folly. There is a lot more preparation required before I will consider that effort. After all, we are not cackling madmen like the Word Bearers who’d bring the Neverborn into this realm for the sake of their “Dark Gods+

 

He shook his head and his gaze hardened.

 

+++ That leaves us with the traditional way of getting rid of these things. Killing it with blade and flame. So,  unless we are prepared to face it down at all costs and at the expense of everything else, I’d argue we are probably best off by keeping it under surveillance and contain it as much as possible this point. We keep it occupied and entertained enough while we are busy elsewhere and make sure it does not become bored enough that it feels it needs to get our attention. +++

 

Might cost us a few mortal crew. But there is plenty of those where we are headed.

 

Rakash shrugged.

 

+++ Also, you  are both right about not trusting the mortal Seneshal and his Mistress. We should have a look at those Drukhari and at  least make sure we are not opening  another can of pus along the way. +++

 

He shot a glance at where the Mantis Warrior and the heavy weapon Specialist who still wore the insignia of the Deathwatch had stood.

 

+++ I’d imagine those two are the ones among  us most knowledgeable about the Aeldari raider scum. We should have them take a look at the bodies and gear we have been so generously provided with. They might shed some light unto any issues with them we might otherwise overlook. +++

 

Still staring ahead, Cyrandras poked his chin at the hololith.

 

+++ And we should keep a record of this… Someone out there might be interested in what our new friends shared with us,  should we be forced to renegotiate with other interested parties.++++

Edited March 24 by Xin Ceithan
Made some adjustments for Obediah and Varne leaving earlier

[Mazer Rackham]

Atesh Sapik:

 

The word spreads throughout the ship you are to be dropped off on Bounty, one of the worlds in this cluster. Many of the specifics are only talked of in rumour by the crews you hang around, and you hear all manner of nonsense ranging from spearheading a giant wave of chaos troops, to the fact you're all hiding from Imperial retribution to Purifactor Miggins (AKA the Washer Woman) from Deck 8 has been seen in the embrace of the Astartes with an antique sword.

 

The chap next to you in the bustle is helping to load equipment. He seems strangely familiar, and also touched in some way, but has helped you navigate around the new ship and has offered to share his sweet-rations with you. He's even been so kind as to ignore the immaterial feathers you're dropping onto his shoulder. He dusts the latter shed off with a brusque hand.

 

A Lho-stick is flourished at you in a crumpled packet. His eyebrow asks two questions - which is quite the feat.

 

'Cmon,' he coaxes. 'just tell me what you guys are up to. I'll keep it between us, I promise.' He adjusts his tri-dome helmet and reaches down to scratch one of his rather hirsute, but otherwise bare legs.

[Mojake]

Varne

 

"What about you? You don't strike me as a true believer in the Corsair cause either."

 

The Doom Eagle looked down at Obadiah's hand grasping his pauldron, then turned his head towards the rest of the bridge. Their brothers appeared to be going about their own business following Hagga's speech. The Smiler still negotiated through the vox with their new benefactor with his slimy demeanour. As far as Varne could tell, nobody seemed to notice the Mantis Warrior's agitation.

 

"Walk with me," he gestured with his head, twisting himself from the gauntleted hand and walking down the corridor beyond. A few seconds passed before he heard Obadiah's footsteps following. Varne slowed so that they could walk abreast through the dimly lit passage.

 

Once they were out of earshot of the bridge, Varne took a sharp breath and picked up where the conversation had paused. "This band of malcontents is a means to an end, exactly as you say. I care not for glory, nor the vindication of my genesire's brothers, nor do I care for torment and violence without cause." He turned a corner, heading portside towards the armoury, causing a pair of whispering gunnery menials to scatter from his path, their apologising in accented low gothic ignored. These halls were scattered with mortal crew, still moving materiel around the Razor's Edge, and the presence of the astartes drew glances and interest instinctually. Varne grunted and opened a narrow-band vox channel to Obadiah with a blink-click.

 

+My final mission serving the Ordos was to clear a hive city of xenos. The devastation that our foe had wrought upon that world, the sunken husks that littered the hab-blocks and spilled out into the streets - innocent people suffering all of their remaining years of pain and misery, but condensed into mere seconds due to the arcane xenos weapons - it was... heartbreaking. It hit me then that this existence - mortal or transhuman, hive-scum or high lord - is only to suffer. Stretched out across decades or centuries, one loses sight of the balance between joy and anguish. Seeing it happen before our eyes, in its entirety during their final moments, changed us.+

 

As they were walking through empty corridors again, Varne killed the vox channel and removed his helm. There was a flavour of distress to his features, an uncanny mockery seldom seen on an astartesian face. "Had we made it off-world, the Ordos would likely have made us forget, but I remember everything." He looked down at his hands as he walked, his expression turning pensive. "I died on that world, in the fires of exterminatus. In the weeks that I spent wandering the hazy afterlife, I struggled to understand the new experience I was feeling. Peace, Obadiah. True peace," he smiled, recalling the endless, comfortable silence of the sands parting beneath his boots. 

 

He turned then to Obadiah, looking into those emotionless eye lenses, "I know not by whose hand I am returned amongst the living, but for the first time in my two hundred years I can see a purpose. I have the freedom to avail people from their own hellish futures of hardship and torment, and I would be a failure to not use any power I can to achieve that."

 

"What about me, you ask? Mercy, brother. I wish to see the galaxy burn so that all may share the peace I found," he replaced his helm with a hiss of servos as their walk brought them close to their destination, mortal rabble once again scurrying around the halls. 

 

Varne gestured with one arm towards the human crew struggling with their tasks - most of them injured, mutated, or clearly insane. +If I could pull a trigger now and end all life, everything from the Eastern Fringe to the Halo Stars...+ He let the silence hang for a moment before sighing, +alas, I am one man... The Tyrant of Badab, the Despoiler, the Ruinous Powers, even the Imperium; I care not whose company I find myself in, so long as I can fulfil my purpose.+

 

+Forgive my earlier jests, Mantis Warrior, I do not mock our motley band out of disrespect; but to look towards any future beyond death amuses me. To view any being, structure or institution as immune to destruction is folly in my eyes. I seek only to bring them peace.+

 

Perhaps death has made me too cynical. Brother Kiban wouldn't let me hear the end of it, if he'd survived Tipori.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

Obadiah let Varne guide him out into the spinal corridor that led away from the strategium.  He listened intently to the Doom Eagle's tale, and even found himself nodding along at times, but refrained from interrupting until the other man had clearly said his piece.  

 

Through the private vox channel, he replied, + I believe I understand you, Varne.  Your motivation, and mine -- though so vastly different -- come from a similar place.  I fought in the Badab War, my brothers and I.  The Mantis Warriors always held themselves as defenders, protectors.  Like the rest of the Maelstrom Warders, we struggled mightily against long odds to keep the citizens of our sector safe.  My Chapter was perpetually short on manpower and equipment, but we made do.+

 

He paused as they arrived at a T-junction, and let Varne continue to guide their steps.  +Just as we were growing in strength, the Administratum came and demanded more.  More wealth, more men, more materiel for wars beyond the borders of the Maelstrom.  To accede to these demands would have reversed a thousand years of strife and suffering, so we declined.  And the Administratum -- the Imperium, our own people -- brought war to our worlds. +  He sighed.  + The Administratrum started it, but the Inquisition and our brother Astartes ended it.  We were winning, inasmuch as we could have actually won, until the Inquisition released barbarous cousins on our worlds to murder defenseless civilians.  The Carcharodons -- do you know this Chapter?  -- killed entirely cities, wiped out a million mortals to purge a few dozen Mantids. +

 

He shook his head as they walked, as if he could keep his head clear of the memories by doing so.  Sometimes he saw the smoking pyres of human corpses in his dreams, too.  + The galaxy is cold and uncaring; in that, you are absolutely correct.  Both of us learned that lesson the hard way.  However, I don't believe that's a problem to be solved via annihilation.+  He stopped, and this time it was his turn to remove his helmet, and allow the raw emotion twisting his sun-darkened features to be seen.  His lips were turned down in a ragged sneer, his brow furrowed, and the anger there was plain as day.

 

"Xenos, daemons, I don't care about them.  I care about vengeance.  The Administratum started the war that destroyed my people and nearly wiped out my Chapter.  The Inquisition unleashed the sharks that did the deed.  I will murder every last Adept, Inquisitor, and Carcharodon I can get my hands on, and I will continue to butcher them until the stars die if that's how long it takes.  You want to kill everything?  Fine, just so long as you save me for last.  In the meantime, I'd appreciate your help in putting down my targets, one by one."

[Necronaut]

Ukalegon

 

The Lamenter studied the hololithic depiction of the helium mining platform and pursed his lips. The defences were not formidable, but there was little sense in endangering their new ship, which while quicker and more agile than the Dredge, was certainly lacking in comparative defensive capabilities.

 

The Doom Eagle and Mantis Warrior departed from the bridge, and Ukalegon descended from his perch where he had been watching ‘Factor’ Crux’as and Hagga negotiating with the rogue trader’s seneschal. He sidled up alongside Hagga and cocked his helm conspiratorially before opening a private vox channel.

 

+For this… job… how does our new friend expect all of the mortals we take prisoner to keep quiet as to the nature of their captors should the Inquisition come calling? Perhaps if we were to lock down the hab-blocks entirely and prevent any traffic in or out, we could keep the civilians in the dark as to what is transpiring and then we could be on our merry way to deal with the security forces and deposit the xenos corpses and weapons amongst the resulting wreckage when we're finished. It may even be possible to disconnect the hab-block before we destroy the station and tow it away. When it is time to leave we can contact our friend Strabo and inform him that his mistress’s package is ready for pick up.+

 

He paced around the hololith, studying the station up close.

 

+I do not like the idea of pitting our new ship against their defensive batteries. What if – what if we ran the Razor in on minimum power and anchored just outside of their, presumed, sensor range, then sent our strike team aboard either a piece of space debris or an unpowered transport, perhaps broadcasting an emergency signal? Either they’ll take the bait and haul us in or our trajectory could allow us to slip out largely unnoticed relatively close to the platform.+

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

Hagga nodded, and replied in the same fashion.

 

+Aye, brother, that's a solid plan. Once we're aboard, I doubt they've got anything that can stop us. I say we'd need to aim ourselves to hit the Guard Block first? Take control of the defences, remotely lock down the Hab Block, knock out the emergency transponder. Then we've got time to deal with the rest of the guards, and destroy those rigs and haulers?+

 

He smiled under his helm.

 

+Once we've dropped the mortals' shuttle, we should all gather to plan our assault. No doubt the others will have thoughts to offer.+

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Razor - Bridge:

 

Jaina looks up to unerringly find each of the Astartes still present, her blindness preventing her not a whit from making some manner of eye contact.

 

'Lord Hagga, I may be blind, but without distraction, I see much. Pardon my boldness, but I do not think the Seneschal is a fool at all. I think he means to lose the entire platform. "Minimise losses", he said. I was a scribe once. On a balance sheet - collateral incidents are...just numbers. A...write-off.'

 

'I think he cares not for a single soul on the station. If anyone goes missing - well, the Dark Ones obviously took them...'

 

She shrinks a little at the final utterance.

 

GM OOC: This will be at some point when everyone is talking to each other 'secretly' and after Hagga has said 'Strabo is a fool'.

[Machine God]

Kraggan

 

'Lord Hagga, I may be blind, but without distraction, I see much. Pardon my boldness, but I do not think the Seneschal is a fool at all. I think he means to lose the entire platform. "Minimise losses", he said. I was a scribe once. On a balance sheet - collateral incidents are...just numbers. A...write-off.'

 

 

"01000101011110000110000101100011011101000110110001111001"

 

Kraggan replied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Kraggan:

 

She does not understand that you're speaking to her.

[Machine God]

Kraggan

 

Mundanes

 

"A succinct point indeed. Balance the books."

 

Kraggan replied.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Kraggan:

 

She simply nods and goes back to her work monitoring all the calls and chirps awaiting her response. The bridge chatter resumes, business gently returning to normal.

[FabiusV4lcoran]

Atesh Sapik

 

Atesh took the proffered lho stick and leaned in conspiratorially, clapping his beak twice in quick succession to motion his fellow closer.

 

"You know that washerwoman on Deck 8...there's an Astartes with a sword, and a tail, and I heard that they're leading this charge on Imperial positions where we're headed."