'R.S. Ophiuchi A/B' - IC

[Lycan 01]

The Cleric tosses the paper over his shoulder, then turns to leave. "Somebody Vox the rest of the team. I say we check the warehouse Grim mentioned..."

[♠Spade♠]

Victus cocked his head to the side as he glanced at the priest. "Thinking back, I don't recall seeing microbeads on a manifest, nor do I remember seeing any body else with communications equipment."

[Balricaso]

Grim rummages through his pack for a moment, finally pulling out the only microbead in the party.
"I suppose I'm the only person who likes talking to others," Grim smirks a little.
"If the techie has the Thunderhawk or Landspeeder working, I could try to hail him, assuming he knows how to operate a vox and Kobras didn't replace them with more guns; Or we could just think really hard at the psyker."
Grim pops the microbead into his ear and gives it a go
"Mister Grim to Techie..."

[Talkkno]

"Then what is the course of action are we taking?

[Saldre]

Grim hears the tech's priest unnerving chuckle as the microbeads connect.

"Hehehehe... misSster Grim... what a pleasSseant sSurprisSssse..."

He shuts down the cogitator for now, as he internally attempts to come up with a plan to deal with his new guest.

"Have you found anything... IntresSsting?"

[Balricaso]

Grim shoulders his autogun, surveying his surroundings, artfully avoiding having to look at the shrine, before tapping his microbead:
"Signs of our dear friends who greeted us during our descent. We've got a trail going into the warehouse complexes a small ways from our downed bird. Looks as though we're going to pursue. I suggest loading and readying the Landspeeder. We may have need of the guns, the speed...or at least the lights." He says, noting the darkness outside.
"I'll be sure to give your regards should we find them. I'm sure they'll be of great interest to you."

[Saldre]

"The land sSspeeder is loaded... and ready to go... But I am not a chauffeur, misSster Grim- You'll have to sSend sSsomeone to pilot it..."

He says, as he double-checks that everything (at least that's important to him) is on the thing, before he boards the vehicle, awaiting a response.

[Balricaso]

Grim looks at Euphrati, Victus, and THE Cleric
"I don't suppose any of you know how to pilot a landspeeder?"

[Lycan 01]

"Heh heh heh heh..." the Cleric chuckles darkly. "Only put me behind the wheel if collateral damage is not an issue..."

[♠Spade♠]

Victus rolled his shoulders before speaking. "I'd have to take a look at the controls, but I should be able to." He turned and started back towards the crash site.

[Lycan 01]

"We'll move on towards the warehouse, Victus. Try to meet up with us as soon as you can. Tell the rest of the team to anticipate resistance..." he pauses for a moment, before adding: "And Chaotic influence. Cultists, at the least. Pray to the Emperor its not worse..."

[Balricaso]

"Techie, Victus is returning to handle the landspeeder. He'll fill you in when he gets there. You should wake the psyker in the meantime, last I saw he was napping against the ship. Mister Grim, out."
Grim turns to address the cleric.
"I suppose we should get to it then."
Then to Euphrati,
"I don't suppose those eyes of yours are glow lamps."
As he heads to the exit.

[Ecks Dee]

Back at the crash-site

Pebbles and scraps of torn metal from the Thunderhawk begin to shiver into the air, answering the call of the Land Speeder's antigravitic drives. The whole vehicle thrums with contained power, its distinctive trio of thrusters becoming rimed in ice as the cold gas thrusters begin to draw in heat, heating the internal fuel reserves. As Victus settles into the cockpit, everything's far too big, the shock absorbent seats capable of accomodating a power armoured figure twice his size, the steering mechanism designed for hands far larger than his. Aquairre's technicians have tried to make things a little more hospitable, though - cushions have been scattered over each seat, and a hololithic display panel bursts into life, runes glowing soft blue-green in the deep twilight. It's not a million miles from what Victus is used to in the guard - perhaps a cousin of conventional Guard and Navy avionics.

Spoiler

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He'll be able to pilot it at a basic level with no penalty for lack of experience; combat manoeuvres will be trickier though, until he's familiarised himself with the handling.

________

En route to the warehouse

There is a faint but definite path winding down from the house on the hill to the warehouse district. You follow it to the warehouse Grim was in earlier, and down to the door. It's a heavy, wooden and metal construction - too heavy to be kicked down, but it is only wood ...

[Talkkno]

The Cold Guid courier puts his ear to the door, and tries to hear what lies beyond...
Awareness: (1d100)[34]

[Saldre]

As Victus boards the landspeeder, several cables slither from the back-seat of the vehicle, tapping him on his right shoulder.

Should he turn back, he finds himself staring directly into the glowing yellow orbs that float within the Tech's priest pitch-black hood.

"MisSSter VictusSs... Welcome aboard..."

The Techpriest hisses, and then moves his head over Victus's left's shoulder, giving the controls a long look.

"A beautiful machine... isSs it not? sSshame it isSs sSso sSmall..." He sighs loudly.

"You will lead usSs to the warehousSe then? I am quite curiouSss as to itsSs contentsSss..." He asks, his voice filled with an unnatural glee.

"YesSss... I wonder what we sSshall find there... Hehehe"

He snickers as he retreats further back from the man and into his own seat, retracting his cables- though they slither across the guardsman's clothes as they are pulled into the darkness of Archillius' robes.

You can feel his eyes fixed on back of your head, relentlessly staring at you...

[Ecks Dee]

Euphrati can't hear any voices, conversation, or, indeed, any human noise emanating from behind the door. There is, however, a low whistling, like the wind, and, far-off, a hum, that sounds like power. And lots of it.

[Talkkno]

"There's a lot of humming behind that wall, I'm guessing theirs a power generator inside this building. Euphrati comments.

[Lycan 01]

The Cleric brandishes his twin chain-knives, and flashes a mischevious grin. The blades themselves hum softly as they genlty run in neutral. "Just say the word, and I can have us a door open in less than 10 seconds..."

[Balricaso]

Grim shrugs, readying his autogun.
"The word."

[Lycan 01]

The Cleric first tries the door, to see if its locked. If its open, he'll slowly open it and walk on in. If its locked, he'll gracefully and precisely stab his chain-knives into the doorframe at their max speed, and swiftly slice through the hinges of the door. Hopefully, he'll do it fast enough that it won't make more than a brief moment of noise. He'll then pull the door's handle so that it falls towards him, and he can gently let it down without it hitting the ground loudly.

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I have no idea what to roll...

[♠Spade♠]

Though it would kill him to admit it, Victus did give an involuntary jerk away from the techpriest. Shaking his head, he turned back to the controls before easing the collective up. He raised the craft to about ten feet off the ground before lightly pulsing the thrusters to propel the craft forward. Until he figured out its rate of acceleration, Victus most definitely did not want to goose the engines; some of those numbers on the display were worrisome to anyone not in power armor. Slowly becoming more confident, he piloted the craft towards the warehouse along the path that grim had spoken of, not going very high for fear of triple-A.

[Ecks Dee]

The Warehouse

The mono-molecular cutting teeth of the chain knives bite into the hinges of the door, whining slightly, as they begin to liquefy then clear away the metal there.

Spoiler

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(2d5+10)[15] combined damage vs. the hinge. Pretty much foregone.

As the chain-knives cut, they emit a noise that rapidly soars up beyond ear-piercing into inaudible, and then they return to normal - the door, gutted, begins to fall off its hinges, and is caught by THE CLERIC.

Behind the door is something rather mundane and disappointing - an office. The hum, however, is coming from somewhere below - Euphrati's earlier catch leads him to a manhole, which in turn leads to a subterranean tunnel, several lanes wides. The wind whistles down it, bleakly.
_____

The Skies over the Warehouse

The Storm handles like a dream, even despite being severely underloaded with ceramite. The most alarming aspect of the low-flying speeder trip, is, in fact, the silence - the cold-gas thrusters emit a slight his, but no light, no heat, nothing but a slowly dissipating cloud of distortion in the air. The sleek black ceramo-fibreglass hull is invisible against the night sky. Nonetheless, Victus keeps low as he approaches the warehouse - after all, something on this planet was capable of placing highly accurate slower than light projectiles into upper orbit. Eventually, the soldier and the priest (and just possibly a sleepy psyker) reach a knot of people who they can only hope are their comrades, huddled around a door that's just been taken off its hinges.

[Saldre]

As they float towards the warehouse, the techpriest's robotic voice rises from the backseat.

"Your piloting sSskills are impresSsive, MisSter Wolfe..." He begins rather slowly "Do you have paSst Experience with a landSspeeder?" The Tech-priest asks curiously.

As he speaks, his cable slither out once more from within his robes and begin fiddling with the auspex of the ship, gathering information.

[AssassinKing]

(Assuming Iacton was woken up and got onto the speeder) He silently follows the group hoping that he will soon be able to spill some blood.

[♠Spade♠]

As he slowly eased the craft forward, Victus replied "Yes. I think...maybe? I...think I'm trained for just about anything, but I'm not really sure." He sounded unsure, almost as though he was confused. "Are you picking anything up on the auspex?" Activating the speeder's vox system, he said "Grim, do you want lights or action?"

[Saldre]

"The mind isSs sSsuch a fickle thing, don't you agree?" The Tech-priest comments as he scans the area.

"But memoriesS are preciousSs... sSsometimesS they are... the only thing we have left..." He snickers slightly.

"The AusSpex is sStill sScanning..." He says, quite casually- before turning the subject back towards the guardsman.

"Terrible thing, what happened to Aquairre... AsS a father, I can undersSstand him... are you a father, miSster Wolfe?" He presses the guardsman further.

[♠Spade♠]

Looking over at the techpriest, Victus opened his mouth to reply and said...nothing. He stared through the amalgam of machine and man, not really seeing him as a few cloudy visions of a beach, a house, and what was in it played through his mind. Turning back to the controls he murmured "I don't know. I've no clue at all."

[Saldre]

"That'sSs a Sshame..." The Tech-priest says, then pauses, slowly shaking his head as if in great disappointment. He moves eerily close to the man as he continues, almost whispering into his right ear...

"sSso very young, yet sSso very.... forgetful... "

Should Wolfe turn to face the priest- he see nothing, as Archilius quickly moves over to his left side and continues his speech.

"How fragile we are, hmmm?" His low, unnatural hissing voice now reverberates in your left ear.

" How very peculiar... not to know... It musSst take itsSs toll... I wonder..." He says- his voice trailing into a whisper as he leaves his sentence incomplete, and then slumps back into his seat, as if slinking away from the Guardsman.

[Balricaso]

Grim taps his microbead.
"Victus, this is Grim. Looks like we may need neither. Euphrati's found some kinda tunnel leading into underground. Something about a humming coming from below. Not sure if we'll pursue just yet. I'll keep you posted."

Grim turns to the cleric and scum.
"So how bout it boys, up for a little sewer diving or are we gonna call it a day?"

[Lycan 01]

The Cleric grins, twirling his blades. "Shall I take the lead?"