Sea of Stars - IC

[Haval]

Anika will read through the data crystals with interest. An apparent xenos archive like this didn't normally survive contact with the Imperium, so it was likely that very few people had seen anything like this. 'Seems like a record of their civilisation to me. Or at least all that someone could gather together at short notice.' Was this part of the ark that was suggested by the other data crystal?

She will stop looking at the crystals when the new xenos show up. She will try and see if she can follow what they're doing even if their purpose is unknown.

[Leon]

Ravia will task Skull to follow and record anything the Xenos do for further study and that might be pertinent for later use in any dissembling and study of said machine while she pokes around looking for anything of interest

[rax]

Hannabel sits cross-legged on the floor and watches quietly - entranced - as the history of this alien civilization unfolds before her. The records of artists, sculptors and dancers bring tears to her eyes. So much lost in the name of survival. I wonder if any of this has been preserved?

When Anika stops loading new data crystals, she sidles over to Father Ornstein. "Father? Do you think you know enough of the xenos language to teach me some? It can't hurt to have more than one person what can communicate with the fishy devils, aye?"

[Destro_Yersul]

"Given sufficient time? Probably. I'm hardly an expert, you know." Father Ornstein frowned at Hannabel. "There's a great deal of work to be done before we can properly understand this."

Ravia's skull hovered about, following the fishmen as they inspected the machine. The Magos' sensor arrays all seemed to be working, and the data being gathered was transmitted by the base station up to the Talon. Pytho left after half an hour of not much happening, to return to the ship and start looking for Yu'Vath warp signatures. He was escorted by some of the marines. Not long after that, the excavation and recovery teams started carting loads of mosaic chips and statuary back to the shuttles.

---

Five Days Later

"Lord Captain, sir. Message for you. One for Anika as well." Macharius found himself being handed a dataslate, one of the single-content varieties commonly used to contain briefing data. "Pytho recieved them this morning."

It had been several days since they'd last seen their astropath, who had shut himself into the choir chambers aboard the Manticore's Sting and used the increased range and power afforded him by the devices worked into the spire to search for evidence of Yu'Vath. He'd taken breaks only to sleep, and beyond sending down confirmation that the coordinates of the 'Ark' were clear, had remained out of contact with the rest of the crew. They'd put the time to good use, working out that the machine in the temple basement was indeed one of the access points for the weather control system that had put the planet into deep freeze. Unfortunately, without further word on Yu'Vath presence, it seemed unwise to turn it off just yet.

The coordinates for the Ark - as Hannabel had dubbed it - were the subject of their current investigation. Behind Macharius was a shuttle, the same Aquila that had made the ill-fated first trip to the planet. It had been properly dug out and repaired, and was back to full working order, resting on a lip of rock overlooking a broad valley. The mountain where the Ark was stood at the center of a large volcanic range, one of the few things above sea level to be found on the planet. It had held special significance for the fishpeople, who father Ornstein had informed them were called "Fllurlokr" in their language, and from this vantage point it was easy to see why; the valley stretched on down towards the ocean, soaring mountains rising above it on each side. The nearest water was over five hundred kilometers away, but still visible. To the oceangoing Fllurlokr, it must have looked like the most remote, innacessible, inhospitable location imagineable.

From the windswept cliff they were standing on, the cave was clearly visible, a foreboding black crevice in the rock face, but from above it had been ridiculously difficult to find, appearing as no more than a shallow groove in the mountainside. They could have flown over this mountain a dozen times and never seen it, if they hadn't known exactly where to look. Now that they'd found it, all they needed to do was figure out how to get inside. The cave extended for only a brief distance into the mountain before terminating in what was obviously a door. In front of that was a pedestal with a small receptacle for something, and a single one of the button-depressions the Fllurlokr used on their control panels. Coral stone encrustations protruded from the walls around it. Thus far, nobody had pushed the button.

Spoiler: Message for Anika

Show

Anika,

Glad to hear you're still alive. While I'm concerned about you digging that whole Kadath debacle up again - remember what happened to your career? - it's encouraging to think you might have found some answers. I've spoken to a few friends about what you've uncovered. They'd like to hear from you, though I'm told it might be a while before any of them can make a house call. There's apparently someone on a tour with Battlefleet Koronus, but other than that, well, you know how rarely anyone gets out to that neck of the woods.

warm regards,
Dr. Elias Reichert

Spoiler: Message for Macharius

Show

Macharius!

You old rogue, what are you up to now? You'll have to tell me all about it, preferably over a glass of the good stuff. I remember it well, I assure you! Won't be out near Port Wander for a while - Sector Command is being run ragged over a few things I can't really mention on an unsecure channel. I'll trade my tale for yours when we have the chance!

I forwarded your message on to a few good men, one of whom is currently enjoying the dubious hospitality of Admiral Horne. I'm told he's aboard the frigate Formative Divine. One of the old Swords? Nathaniel wasn't keen on having one of his ships go off on "a damn fool rescue mission for some presumptuous Rogue Trader" (His words, not mine), though. He'll accede to it eventually, he's not the sort to cross the Holy Ordos, but it'll probably go a lot more smoothly if you can pull through this one and meet them halfway, so to speak. I've attached the contact codes for the Divine. Don't tell Nathaniel how you got them.

cheers,
J. Beckenmatt

[Leon]

++Now that we know what is causing the weather i would hazard that we should be able to get to these co-ords with out anymore shuttles being reduced to parts++

[PotatoGolem]

Well then! Let's see what this "ark" contains. Anika, you do love ancient ruins, why don't you do the honors? It looks like it wants a key- perhaps that data crystal that described the place will do? If not, we can always get a lascutter in here, but I would rather avoid damaging anything valuable if we can, what?

[Haval]

Well then! Let's see what this "ark" contains. Anika, you do love ancient ruins, why don't you do the honors? It looks like it wants a key- perhaps that data crystal that described the place will do? If not, we can always get a lascutter in here, but I would rather avoid damaging anything valuable if we can, what?

'Would be a shame to come all this way and not go inside.' Anika will do as Macharius suggests.

[Kaptin Keen]

A lascutter - and preferably a tank battalion, artillery support and a regiment of hardened veterans would be my preference. Lacking that, I suppose I'll take point?

During the down time, Felidae has - obviously - replenished her supply of grenades and ammo, polished up any dings and scrapes on her armor from the last encounter, and been doing more push-ups and chin-ups than would seem reasonable by anyone's standards.

[Leon]

++A Shadowsword then, the ultimate in lascutting and a Battalion in one++

[Kaptin Keen]

I'd prefer the battalion. A Shadowsword, powerful though it is, is also a single point of failure. If the enemy has a weapon powerful enough to destroy a Shadowsword, I prefer to have them fire at 50 individual targets rather than a single larger one.

[Destro_Yersul]

The data crystal with the map, for lack of a better word, slotted neatly into the pedestal. Nothing happened immediately, so Anika pushed the button beneath the receptacle. There was a creaking shudder of ancient machinery, the floor vibrating beneath their feet. Dust and a handful of small rocks fell from the ceiling. The tremors quickly subsided, replaced by the crackling hum that they all recognised by now as the sign of power flowing through the bioelectric coral structures. The shape of the cave blurred, then snapped back into focus, the hair on the backs of their necks all standing on end. Something was... missing, a feeling of doom stealing over all of them. It was a strange feeling, as though the background noise of the universe had been swept away, and they were all stood alone, a grain of dust on a grain of sand.

After what felt like an eternity, but what couldn't have been more than thirty seconds, whatever had turned on snapped back off, and the creeping dread vanished. They heard the burbling of a fishman, coming from some hidden speaker. From what she could make out of the message, Anika was pretty sure it had been prerecorded. Then it ended, and the massive stone doors parted, rumbling into the walls to the side and coming to rest flush with the tunnel opposite.

The space beyond was massive, a huge cavern carved out of the living rock of the mountain. It was unlit, vast and dark, the distant gleam of their stablights on the far walls all that there was to speak of its size. It was supported by immense graven pillars, each a work of art in itself. Fishmen reached for the ceiling, dancing and cavorting in stone, chasing after fish with mother-of-pearl scales. There were banks of membranous pods, each empty, and shelves upon shelves of the now recognisable data crystals. There were other things too, instruments and tools, all covered in a thick layer of dust. Racks of weapons, pristine suits of armour sitting on purpose-built racks, all made to accomodate the ancestral Fllurlokr, the fishmen of greater stature than their degenerate cousins that now swarmed the world. There were hundreds of sculptures, most of them abstract, and other examples of xenos artwork. In one corner, they found a great stone cabinet, filled with thousands of tiny black glass tubes, each fitted with a miniature icon of a species; a plant, or an animal. In another corner, liberally encrusted with the ubiquitous coral, were the batteries that supplied the power for everything in the mountain. There was little that needed power, most things being self sufficient, but in the very center of the cavern, underneath a statue of the last great leader of the race, was a stone pyramid fitted with coral nubs and crystal projections, with receptacles for many data crystals. It was similar in form to the small player they'd found in the hidden room, but scaled up many times; a holoprojector of great size and complexity, capable of rendering the visual contents of the crystals in exquisite detail.

[Leon]

++Leman Russ Annihilators then++ ++or a battalion of shadowswords++

[Kaptin Keen]

Felidae looks about in some bewilderment.

Um ... this doesn't seem dangerous. It's like a museum.

[Leon]

++In the wrong hands Knowledge can be dangerous, what knowledge is in here is an unknown++

[rax]

"Whew! That was intense!" Hannabel exclaims. "What a rush!"

Drawing one of her pistols, she enters the cavern in silence, almost reverently. Her interkeratic implants soon adjust to the darkness, giving her a clear view of the interior. "Oh..." she breathes. "Emperor save us, we just hit the mother lode."

Moving through the cavern, Hannabel first heads for the weapons and armour, then the artwork, making note of particularly interesting pieces to add to her collections. Finally, she heads for the holoprojector. "We should first review these records to find out everything we can about the Yu'Vath presence on this world...and then everything else there is to learn about the xenos. Lord-Captain?" Hannabel's delight is writ large on her pretty face. "Request permission to move in here with a mountain of snacks and watch holo-films until I puke?"

[Kaptin Keen]

Felidae ponders what this place is, a long, silent pause. This will surely go over well.

This is everything that remains of what our fish guys once were. They should know. Sure, sell it all off - but the knowledge should be shared with them.

[rax]

"Oh yeah, fer sure, fer sure," Hannabel responds absently. "After we've got the low-down on everything in here. Hey! Wouldn't it be funny if the old fish guys came up with freezing the planet as a way to kill the Yu'Vath? Maybe they're all dead already and the degenerate fish guys just forgot that at some point they were supposed to turn the freezers off?"

[Haval]

As the machine switches on Anika flinches. It felt something like the one and only time she had had to void walk. All that empty space had been oppressive. The sight of what was inside the ark helped her recover. 'You have to respect the ingenuity. What would we have saved in their place?' She's not sure what to look at first.

++In the wrong hands Knowledge can be dangerous++

Anika will reply absently, 'Depends on the knowledge, but you're not wrong. Maybe depends on how advanced they were as well. If they were against the Yu'vath I'm not overly worried.'

On selling the xenos cultural artifacts, 'There is always a market for this sort of thing. Bored spire nobility and so forth, but I believe that the Inquisition takes a dim view of trading such items. At the very least the trade has to be worth the risk.' Anika had little interest in engaging in the Cold Trade, but certainly knew people who did.

"Maybe they're all dead already and the degenerate fish guys just forgot that at some point they were supposed to turn the freezers off?"

'That is the main question. How much do they remember. It seems equally possible that they didn't think turning them off was worth the risk.'

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius shudders as the feeling passes through him. For a moment, he realizes that a man, any man, even a Rogue Trader, is insignificant on the scale of the cosmos. Then he sees the treasure vault and remembers that one man with the wealth of civilizations can move whole sectors.

Splendid, absolutely splendid! This will do quite nicely. Men, prepare for reclamation. Be very careful- we don't want to damage anything. Some of these pieces will look lovely in the Macharian Museum on Port Davis. The rest will look lovely being sold. Pytho, make sure there's no warp taint on any of this before we remove it.

Permission granted, Hannabel. Let's find out everything we can about the Yu'vath. If any of them are alive, we need to know now, so that we can kill them. See if you can figure out the history of the Yu'vath war.

Anika, my dear, selling Xenos artifacts is a key remit of the Rogue Trader! The Absalom Warrant of Trade specifically authorizes such. We're doing the Emperor's work, retrieving valuables from the filthy xenos hordes. We shall, of course, check with the Ordos that none of it is warp-tainted and the like. There's an inquisitor waiting to meet with us after all this- we can clear it up then.

He raises an eyebrow at Felidae. Shared with them? The xenos? Why on Terra would we do that? He laughs merrily. Oh, Felidae old sport, you are a joker. Almost had me going there, what! Share with the xenos... He trails off into laughter.

Macharius orders the workers around as they remove the art, choosing some particularly fine pieces for himself. He gestures to the command staff. Feel free to take a trophy for yourselves, my friends. All the better to remember our glorious adventures by, eh?

[Kaptin Keen]

Shared with them? The xenos? Why on Terra would we do that?

Well for the bottom line, obviously. We want to exploit this planet to the utmost - well then we can have one of two things: A frozen hell hole where you have to dig through megatons of ice before even reaching the crust, or a waterworld capable of feeding the subsector, while fishmen mine it's mineral riches for us.

On top of that, we can either make the fishmen hate us for stealing their treasures, and leave them degenerate and downtrodden - or we can give their history and heritage back to them, and gain their trust and loyalty.

Frankly, any shrewd rogue trader would realize it's a pittance now, weighed against an eternity of income later. And it's free, Macharius. Not sharing the knowledge of their past with them is cruel and unproductive - on top of gaining you nothing.

[rax]

"Ooh, yeah! If you reintroduce the goggle eyes to their glorious past, then maybe they'll build you a statue as nice as the ones in here. A really big one! Do it right and you could even be hailed as the saviour of the people - you'd be a hero! No, wait, a deity! Lord Captain Absalom, Saint of Sea Bass!" Hannabel laughs.

[Haval]

Anika is already looking through the stored data crystals.. To Macharius, 'That does rather depend on the individual Inquisitor. I would be very surprised if any of them were going to let a little something like a Warrant get in the way of their duties, but as long as we're careful. The real problem with Xenos artifacts is that you can't always be certain what they're capable of by looking at them.'

'What to do with all this aside, the real question is what might happen to these xenos once the Imperium finds out about them. As they are far from any settled worlds perhaps that is up to Macharius for now, but in the long term...' She shrugs. 'Taking the artifacts might preserve them for longer. Besides, the knowledge is what's important. What use are historical relics if they have to live on a planet like this.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Hannabel settled down to watch holos, while the men contacted the ship to relay Macharius' directions to Pytho. The reply that came back was short, and confirmed that, once again, there was no evidence of anything warp-related in or around the cache site. Some of the information contained in the data-crystals explained why; the Fllurlokr had not been psychic. There were no accounts of any of them ever manifesting unusual powers, and the fact that Yu'Vath could was a fairly major advantage. Instead, they had been technologically advanced, especially for an aquatic civilization. Given more time, they might have developed spaceflight on their own. What they truly excelled at, though, was bioengineering.

The aliens on the planet had not degenerated over time, and would not likely have had sufficient time to do so. Instead, they had been created using sophisticated genetic modification. The samples in the cabinet had been retained in the hopes of using their genetic material to re-introduce them to the world once thawed, effectively re-animating entire species from extinction. This particular specialty was also why there had been frozen xenos inside the pods on the planet, which turned out to be what the aliens used for the modification process. Those frozen were beginning to undergo modification when the switch had been flipped on the weather control system, which itself was quite complex; a marvel of technology. It had originally kept the planet at a stable climate, and they had needed to do a lot of work repurposing it for the snap-freeze. Turned off, the planet would thaw. Re-activated on the original settings, the planet would thaw very rapidly.

There was more, on other aspects of their culture and technology. The coral-stone was semi-organic, and was grown using a special process to encourage bioelectric properties. It was very efficient, and enabled most of the rest of their technology. A slightly different form was instrumental in the geothermal plants that took the planet's inner heat and converted it into the energy that ran everything. Music and scuplture had been very important art forms. Music because sound travelled so well through water, and sculpture because there was so much that could be done with water currents, and the concept of 'living artwork' that was always in motion and included the planet's other aquatic life in an ever-changing display had been quite popular in the years before the war. Some of the crystals were actually recordings of concerts by Fllurlokr musicians; the music was slow and haunting, given to drawn out swells and resonant harmonies. It was reminescent of whalesong, the communication pattern of the old Terran leviathans.

Other crystals covered the Yu'Vath, though there were few of these. The Yu'Vath had apparently tried to infiltrate their culture initially, giving rise to a new religion that heralded the coming of star gods. The religion had rapidly become the dominant one, and had been broadly accepted until the so called star gods showed up to enslave everyone. That had set off the civil war, a bloody conflict that had reduced many cities to rubble. The fighting had been fierce, with many running battles, and no side having the upper hand. Part of the Anti-Yu'Vath side, working as fast as they could, had established this cache, made copies of as many data crystals as they were reasonably able, and wrote a modification for the weather machine's programming. They had taken a few of the gene-labs early, and holed up in those trying to produce a viable population of the new Fllurlokr, all while slowly losing the war. Once that was done, they planned to stage a final, desperate, all-in attack to take the grand temple, in the basement of which was the control station for the weather network. The records ended before the attack launched, but judging by the current state of the planet the plan had worked.

[rax]

Hannabel gorges herself on holos. The revelations about the technological achievements of the xenos are very interesting, but the sounds and images of Fllurlokr music and sculptures bring tears of joy to her eyes, temporarily banishing any thoughts of the Yu'Vath from her mind.

"Lord Captain, I think I'm beginning to come round to Bolterface's point of view. The technology here alone ought to be worth a fortune and the Fllurlokr survivors are probably too far gone to be able to build anything like it again, even if we do show 'em what they used to be capable of. But their art doesn't require any of this tech to work and I'll bet we can get a hefty price for that as well. If we restore their planet and help 'em adapt, then they could learn how to make sculptures and music like this again. We'd have a friendly population that could provide us with a flow of art objects for as long as there's a market for 'em. We'd be makin' an investment."

[Destro_Yersul]

As if to punctuate the importance of the main difficulty in restoring the planet, a message arrived from the Sting. Pytho had finally succeeded in tracking down and pinpointing all locations on the planet with noticeable warp signatures, and thus, with buried Yu'Vath. There were three, spaced irregularly around the planet. The Astropath noted that they were currently dormant, only barely noticeable, which was why it had taken so long for him to be sure. As they had seen with the crystal in the caves, though, dormant was nowhere near the same as dead.

[Leon]

++This is something that either we obliterate and never mention again or we tip off the =I= and not be here when they come to deal with it++
++The Warp and many of its related topics it fascinate me but even i want nothing to do with an actual Yuvath++
++However we go about it, it complicates the removal of the Ice for better uses++

Ravia has been cataloging the tubes from the stone cabinet with the hunch that it was a DNA store of all life from before the freeze and ascertaining whether it would be possible to extract and explore that information while Skull recorded the visual record from the the crystals

++The amount of data here will keep me busy for a good long while in addition to the samples we found in the other location++

[PotatoGolem]

Ah yes, use their history and culture as leverage. A good idea, although your implementation of it is limited. They will be generously given such of their records as prophesy a savior from the stars, perhaps "enhanced" slightly so that it's all the more obvious that I am that savior. You are, of course, avenging angels who punish those who defy the divine order with fire and wrath. Prophecies are so much easier to generate retrospectively, what? Any contrary record will be taken offworld immediately and will never be revealed to them. I'd normally just destroy them, but Lady Vanhal has a great fondness for such things, and I see no just reason to deny them to her.

Their divine savior will give them back their "history," their favorite extinct species, and perhaps a better climate. As for technology, they will be given enough to be useful as miners and artists, but not so much as to ever be a threat. Feudal World level should be enough, perhaps with a few more specialized devices that make them more economically useful.

For now, however, we must deal with the Yu'vath. We shall disseminate the fishman "history" at once, so as to gain their servitude. They will provide the brute manpower for our excavation teams to unearth and destroy the frozen Yu'vath.

[rax]

"Dig 'em out, sir? Seems dangerous. Why not thaw out enough of the planet to weaken the ice, then burn through the rest with our laser batteries? As soon as we're through in one place, we hit it with every gun we've got on the Sting and the Talon."

"Oh, and one more thing. If we're going to be treating with the xenos, it would be a whole lot easier if we could learn their language, but I don't know that I can burble in the right octave. Can we perhaps program 'er ladyship's or Magos Ravia's servo skulls to translate for us?"

[Haval]

"Dig 'em out, sir? Seems dangerous. Why not thaw out enough of the planet to weaken the ice, then burn through the rest with our laser batteries? As soon as we're through in one place, we hit it with every gun we've got on the Sting and the Talon."

Anika will think this over, 'Perhaps if the machine can be manipulated with the right level of precision, otherwise we can try to attack within the right window of opportunity.'

On talking to the xenos, 'We can probably get close enough with work, but you're right. Our throats probably aren't shaped the right way. Still, it's probably easier then learning Ork is supposed to be. We aren't violent enough as a rule to punctuate their language properly.'

On any prophecies they may have had, Anika was generally of the opinion that any historical knowledge ought to be preserved unless there was any indication it was dangerous. Whether it could be found and falsified might be difficult though. 'Thank you Macharius. Although if they have such a thing it may have been orally transmitted rather then written down. Doubtlessly it was originally little more than a naive hope that there might be better races then the Yu'vath out there somewhere.'

[Kaptin Keen]

Are we, though?

From the perspective of the Fllurlokr, is there any great difference between what the yu'Vath did to them, and what the Imperium will do to them? If you ask me, we're going down the exact wrong path. The Fllurlokr fought with tremendous determination against a race that stole their freedom, subverted their culture, and enslaved them.

If what we want is for them to react in precisely the same way to the Imperium, then obviously what we want to do is steal their freedom, subvert their culture, and enslave them.

There is no threat. They are a valuable work force - which we can either convince to hate us, or love us.

Why we should be so hell-bent on the former is beyond me.