They All Uprose (Dark Heresy IC)

[Blarghy]

At the mention of the Bloodsworn bounty hunters, Novus's mind jumps of its own accord to any reports he's come across linking the group to enemies of the Empire. It's less a conscious effort than something he does all the time with anything he sees or hears; conspiracy theories grow in the poor man's head like mushrooms.

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Just looking for something to do, mostly. Let's toss out some rolls and see if anything sticks.

Forbidden Lore (Cults) (52): (1d100)[64]
Forbidden Lore (Heresy) (42): (1d100)[71]
Scholastic Lore (Occult) (42): (1d100)[24]
Scholastic Lore (Legend) (62): (1d100)[43]

[Artemis97]

The Assassin sighs when he fails to open the lock, while Solomon opens it with ease. "I give up with these arcane devices. If there's ever a good, solid padlock, though." With a crooked smile, he raises a finger, indicating that then he would shine.

Joss reaches to take the smoke grenade. The cover the other had provided had been useful, and may be useful again. He'll take it and stow it in an easy to access pocket.

[Calimos]

"Hmm...More equipment, a dataslate with schematics of the station and nothing indicating where we could find Raltus or what kind of endeavour he's embarked upon. I must admit that he's clever, leaving no such trails back here in his place, though I do have that peculiar feeling that maybe those apparently unrelated and incoherent letters and numbers next to what may very well be a name, written down in that paper, might actually help provide us with something more, should we manage to decipher their meaning".

[Destro_Yersul]

Gabe took the slate, paging through the schematic. This model's interface appeared to have been designed for layman's use, which made sense given its contents. The schematic covered the entire station, and normally would have been a nightmare to navigate. Fortunately, the priest didn't care about anything except what had already been looked at. The slate had a section for notations, and he checked that first - Raltus had been smart enough not to leave anything in there, though. His second effort yielded fruit. Viator hadn't been interested with any of the station's finer workings. Hydroponics, fuel storage, and even the navy administration levels were untouched. He'd been looking at the midlevels, where they were now. Hab complexes, the Docking Authority, the Administratum wing, and a handful of different shuttle bays were all on the list of recently viewed sections.

Novus Only

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The Bloodsworn, as far as Novus could remember, were fairly straightforward, as Malfian organisations went. Chartered members of the Blood Guild of Malfi, they were feared across the sector as ruthless bounty hunters, the best that money could buy. He'd seen the reports - there had been two of them on Sepheris Secundus, and now another one here. That was an expensive prospect, given that they normally stayed within the confines of the Malfian sub-sector. He'd heard tales of a few Bloodsworn that were given to warpcraft and superstitious ritual, but this man hadn't tried anything like that as far as he could tell. The scars, maybe, but there wasn't any discernable pattern to those. Most of them just looked like the remnants of old wounds. The large part of their exploits were probably exaggerated, but what stuck out most to the adept was the reputation that came with them. These were hardened killers, dogged and determined. What could they possibly fear if they failed Raltus?

OOC:

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I'm calling the two-day rule on both Sentinel and Myself. I'm assuming Solomon wouldn't have a problem passing the dataslate to Gabe. Thanatos gave me directions on what he was actually looking for over MSN, so here goes.

[Blarghy]

The clerk shivers more than usual. He'd like to believe that these hired guns were just motivated by professionalism, but the Inquisition wouldn't have sent them after Raltus if horrible heresy wasn't involved. Personally, Novus doubts it's Raltus that the Bloodsworn fear, exactly. Rather, he suspects it's the looming force behind him, or possibly the shadow behind that. Who knows how deep this cult stretches down into the dark?

He sinks onto the couch, wet-eyed and sniveling. The two grenades did unfortunate things to his sinuses, and the growing murder-smells aren't helping. Wrapped in his mesh cloak, Novus tries to compose himself until the others are finished with their search. He has a hell of a time with it given his worries.

[Artemis97]

"There is always a trail, if you look hard enough for it." Joss intones in a hoarse whisper. "We should check with the station's security next. Surely there will be information there with which we can track his wherabouts? If he's left, they should know."

[Thanatos 51-50]

Gabe looked up from the dataslate.
"Standard commercial 'slate," he said out loud, unaware if anybody was paying attention. "Our friend was looking mostly at the hab-levels and the shuttle-ports. Docking, administratum, that kind of thing. Nothing in the coldzone.
"He's been looking at a couple of specific shuttle bays, though. We could go showing his pict around those ports. If they're his preferred means of conveyance dirtside and back, some worker has to have seen him. Passenger manifests, flight logs, theres some paper trail."

[Calimos]

"That could provide us with further information, indeed. Judging by the merchants' demeanour, some of whom remembered him and didn't seem reluctant to share with us such information, I'd say it's equally possible that a worker or two might recall his characteristics if he's seen him recently or on ocassion, in case Raltus has made more than one trips to Klybo's surface. And also check if there's anything on those docking bays that could have any resemblance to that combination of name and numbers we found on that discarded paper".

[-Sentinel-]

"Hab levels? Shuttle bays?" Solomon rubbed his square jaw thoughtfully. "Could he be after someone, same way we're after him? It would sure be useful to know if he was asking about anyone or anything."

[Artemis97]

"Perhaps that clerk we spoke with may know about that name and numbers?" Joss suggests, trying to suppress a smirk.

[Blarghy]

Novus squeaks from the couch in dismay. "Let's please not make a real enemy of the Administratum," he begs. "We should go to the shuttle bays instead."

[Destro_Yersul]

From down the hall outside, the distant echo of running feet floated into the room. If they meant to go somewhere, the acolytes had best do it quickly, or explain themselves to the provosts. It seemed all the noise they'd made had alerted someone...

[Blarghy]

The previous squeak turns into a high, rat-like wail. "Nonononononononononononononooooooooooo--"

With a look of true panic (at least he isn't screaming (yet)), Novus scrambles over the couch, tangles his feet in his mesh cloak, trips to the floor, and leaps back up. His colorless eyes dart frantically over the room looking for a good exit; using the front door would lead him to the same general area as the authorities. That bit of cowardice is probably beneficial just this once; even if the group does flee through the (likely) only available exit, Novus still isn't flying down the hall ahead of them like a madman with no direction.

It clearly hasn't occurred to him that they might talk their way out of this, or indeed, that the station guards won't be horribly sinister. The mere sense of being hunted seems to have brought out deep terror, probably calling up old memories he has no wish to recall. The fresh corpse on the carpet can't be helping Novus's paper-thin nerves.

[-Sentinel-]

Solomon put a firm hand on Novus's shoulder.

"Calm down, little mouse," he growled. "We're leaving... but in a disciplined fashion. Hurry."

Keeping a hold on Novus, he headed in the direction opposite the footsteps, his pace fast but controlled.

[Calimos]

"Let's move out", said Severus, calmly, nodding to Solomon approvingly and looking at Novus in as much as a comforting look as possible, mingled though with a measure of wondering at the adept's peculiar behaviour.

"We do not want to get entangled in an official investigation, not delay any further or risk exposing our purpose this early, and with potentially harsh consequences".

[Blarghy]

Solomon's touch is about as comforting as a safety harness made of snakes and broken glass, but at least it provides some direction. If nothing else, Novus can be frightened into obedience. He hurries along at the commanded pace, mouth tightly shut but still whimpering quietly for as long as they can hear the footsteps and the Arbitrator keeps him gripped.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Note to self:" Gabe comments dryly, "Next time, use more fire."
The priest follows his companions in retreat.

[Destro_Yersul]

Wherever the authorities actually were, it wasn't close enough to have a good view of the door just yet. The acolytes ducked out and filed down the hall, heading around the nearest corner. They'd left just in time. Behind them, the sound of running increased in volume, stopping a few moments later. A voice they didn't recognise spoke.

"Careful. Might still be someone inside."

They had a few moments more to get away, then. The question now was, where next?

[Artemis97]

"We should leave the Habitation Levels quickly." Joss suggests, stalking down the halls, seeking the lift. "Our goal is the Shuttle Bay?" He asks, glancing back at the others as they walk.

[Calimos]

"Indeed. We should move quickly while security is occupied here. To the shuttle bay then?" Severus asked as well, waiting for confirmation from the others, while already moving away at brisk pace from V.R.'s appartment.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"That seems prudent." Gabriel agreed, hurrying after his companions, doing his best to not be amongst the rear guard.

[Destro_Yersul]

Hurrying through the hab levels, their progress helped by having a map they could reference, the acolytes arrived at the closest shuttle bay to Raltus' apartment. It had been one of the ones tagged on the map, but up close it was nearly identical to the one they had left their own shuttle behind in. The main difference was the size. The airlock leading to the actual bay floor was shut, their only view of it through cloudy armourglass viewports in the doors, but it was still possible to make out how much bigger this one was. Whereas theirs had been a single-craft landing area, this one had room enough for three or four shuttles to dock at once. The collection of human refuse outside the bay was the same, though. The same offers of archeotech, the same collections of junk. This time, nothing jumped out at them as out of place.

Instead, they were met by a deck officer, hurrying his own way through the cluster of merchants. His view was fixed to the floor, avoiding eye contact with everyone around him, and he nearly ran into them, stopping just short when he noticed Solomon's feet in front of him.

"Hey, get out of the..." he started to say, looking up, but the anger on his face was replaced a moment later by confusion. "You don't look like the normal crop comes through here. What's your business?"

[-Sentinel-]

Solomon flashed his badge. "Investigation. We won't take too much of your time."

He let Gabe or Severus do the talking.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Gabe reached into one of his robes' inner pockets and produced the Pict-recording of Rialtus.
"Have you seen this man? We have reason to believe he frequents this particular shuttle bay, and we seek him out, as well as a consie invetory of any objects he may bring to the surface or bring back with him. Your assitance would much delight the Emperor's Holy Servants."

[Destro_Yersul]

The officer's eyebrows shot up at the sight of Solomon's badge. "Long way from any Arbites barracks I know of. Still, official's official. I've seen that guy. He was through here a while back looking for someone to take him to the surface. Think he ended up hiring a few of our pilots and a couple of shuttles. Had a lot more money than the usual bunch."

[Thanatos 51-50]

"The arm of Lex Imperalis has no limit to its reach." Gabreil told their contact solemnly. "I don't suppose you can direct us to the pilots in question?"

[Calimos]

Severus observed the verbal exchange, silent for a while, nodding after getting confirmation that V.R.'s intention was to descend on Klybo's surface - and mentally cursing for it would seem that their assignment might lead them there as well, sooner or later. Clearing his throat, he politely intervened in the ongoing discussion.

"Emperor's blessings on you sir. We appreciate your confirmation of that individual's intended purpose in visiting your facility. Might you be so kind as to inform us if there's any connection between that combination of name, number and letters to any of your pilots, shuttles or designated destinations - if any - on Klybo's surface?", he inquired, referencing what was written on that paper they'd found on V.R.'s appartment a while ago.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Well, Jens is one of the pilots, yeah. 343's his callsign. Normally, I'd be happy to point you at him, but I'm afraid right now, I can't. That Raltus guy hired him an' some others, and they flew down to Klybo with him. They haven't come back yet." The official paused, looking worried. "I'm not sure where they were going. It's a big planet, you understand."

[Calimos]

Severus' eyes and face almost lit up, from beneath his cloak's hood, at the solving of the paper's riddle, but he regained his normal - reserved - expression as soon as he heard the whole answer.

"Well...thank you very much for providing that information sir. How unfortunate indeed that he's still on assignment with Mr. Raltus. Would you happen to remember when did they leave for Klybo's surface perhaps and maybe other pertinent details regarding Mr Raltus' retinue and gear transported by the shuttle? Or did they perhaps mention even slightly the purpose of their travels, such as to explore some new and interesting location, archeological dig or maybe procure some sort of strange goods etc?"

[Destro_Yersul]

"Let me think. It was a while ago..." Looking past them down the corridor, the dock official came to some sort of conclusion. "Here, you may as well come along. I've got work to do, and I we can talk on the way."

He started walking, sliding around them expertly, and heading for a small door marked 'authorised access only.' It slip open when he keyed in a short code, and he stepped through. "Seeing as you're on official business, I don't mind bringing you up here. Jens got put on indefinite retainer, same as the shuttles Raltus hired. They made a few trips early on, then they stopped coming back. Raltus had a pile of crates full of survey equipment, or so he said, and an Ogryn to help with loading 'em. Most of the people go down to the planet, they're hoping to make a big find on luck alone, but this chap, he knew what he was looking for and wouldn't say nothing about where he expected to find it."

They were heading up a flight of stairs now, corrugated metal steps clanking beneath their feet, and the drone of air recyclers all around them. It was sometimes difficult to hear what their guide had to say, but he didn't seem to mind repeating something if they missed it. They stepped through another door, and into the bay's flight control area. Armourglass viewports overlooked the shuttle bay below, giving them their first real glimpse of its size. Uniformed crewmen sat at the consoles, headsets with naval insignia covering their ears. "You're late," said one of the men, leaning over a console as the door opened. He straightened up to turn around, his eyes falling on the acolytes. "An' who are these? Authorised persons only, Janus."