Sea of Stars - IC

[Destro_Yersul]

With the assistance of the suit's grapnel, and the fact that the tram presented a good number of hand and footholds, Anika was able to make it up to the broken track. It was a magnetic rail, about a metre wide, supported by struts placed regularly along the wall. The top of the rail was flat, apart from the jagged ruin where the tram had crashed to the deck below. The track was mostly straight, and though it was too dark to see very far, looked as though it might run much of the length of the ship. There would likely be stations for loading and unloading at many stops, though there was no telling what the nearest one to the bridge would be.

As Anika reached the top, the vox crackled again. "Captain, we've got a lock on your signal. Managed to pin your location down, should be able to keep a fix on it as you move through the ship."

[Leon]

After spending some time referencing data logs and cross-referencing with know info about Imperial Navy ships (be old or current) Ravia suggests they go down to get past this blockage

[rax]

"Definitely," Hannabel agrees. "No unnecessary climbing for me, thanks."

[Destro_Yersul]

Returning to the floor of the tunnel, Anika rejoined the group. Ravia led the way, supported by the Sting's powerful augurs tracking their progress. They passed what looked like a tram station up above, before finding another bulkhead that led back to the ship's winding corridors. Looping back around, they started heading towards the bridge once more. At Ravia's insistence, they took a shortcut through a monitoring chamber connected to the air circulation systems. The massive fans were silent, ground to a halt years ago. Red warning runes blinked on a wall console, the machine spirits calling for ministrations that would not come. Passing through the other side, they found themselves in a lightless corridor connected to the bridge's crew pit. Switching on their photo-visors revealed that the bulkheads here were sealed as well, and unlike the one back in the tram tunnel, there was no indication that these had power. The activation shrines were easily located, but they were as dead and dark as the rest of the hall.

[Haval]

Anika has a better understanding of ancient technology than a lot of the tech that is common in the Imperium of today. In her experience you could make an educated guess about how to cajole a machine spirit even if you weren't always sure what you were doing.

Thinking out loud, 'No power now, but there must have been power at some point. So we ought to be able to connect the bulkhead to a replacement source of energy. Just have to find the place where we can plug it in. If the ancients were anything like us, I expect their doors broke down all the time as well. So there might be something around here we can unscrew.'

She will look for an access panel or failing that, will try to judge where the wiring connected to the door should be located so she can follow it back to somewhere where she can access it. An energy source should be easy enough to find. All they had to do was get the bulkhead open wide enough to let them through. They didn't even need it to close again. Her own hellpistol might carry enough of a charge to do that by itself.

[Haval]

It was a lot harder to do this in a void suit, but Anika will unscrew the access panel on the back of the shrine to peer at the wiring inside.

'Green wire. It'll probably be broken somewhere behind the bulkhead. Do you think you can get this working Magos?' She'll hand over a hell pistol clip in the hope that it held enough charge to be useful as a makeshift battery.

[Leon]

It was harder with the suit one but with some effort Ravia managed to reach the problem wire and hook the hellweapon battery into the link. ++Quick now, i have no idea how long this will power it for++

[Destro_Yersul]

The hellpistol's power pack was relatively small, but it held enough charge to power a single door. Ravia hooked the pack into the system and tapped a few keys on the control shrine, and the bulkhead door ground slowly open, its motors fighting against millenia of disuse. The fact that it worked at all was testament to the skill of those ancient shipwrights. With the last obstacle removed, the group entered the bridge.

The bridge was huge, and as dark and silent as the hall they'd just left. They were standing in the starboard crew pit, next to one of the fire control consoles. Further along was a staircase that led up to the bridge proper, the steps made out of metal mesh. There were dozens of crew stations, each console dead, the screens cracked, some shattered entirely to expose the inner workings. The bridge had been designed to coordinate a fleet of ships, and was filled with uplinks, monitoring stations, vox hubs and a massive holoprojector table. The walls were lined with large flat screens, likely to emulate windows for a room that was nowhere near the outer hull. In the center of the bridge was an elevator shaft, its doors askew and the lift nowhere in sight. The ceilings were high and vaulted, the barrels of heavy stubber defence turrets visible in the green-tinted vision of their photovisors. The turrets were inactive, the whole place unpowered.

Near the rear of the room was a security station, the first line of defence against intruders trying to gain access to the bridge. Next to that were a pair of adamantium doors, their surface dented inwards in dozens of places. The gates had held, though, and the bridge itself had no signs of combat damage. High on the wall above the security station, in hammered gold lettering, was the ship's name: The Terminus Omni Agraphum.

Pytho walked slowly towards one of the consoles, placing a hand on the chair in front of it. "Many died here," the Astropath said. "I can see their echoes in the warp. But I don't know how they died."

[rax]

"Whatever it was that killed them, it didn't come through those," Hannabel says, indicating the adamantium doors. "And it doesn't look like the crew went down fighting anyway. The hull's not holed here either, so there's no immediate reason for the entire bridge to have dropped dead in one fell swoop. Not like it really matters right now, though..."

[PotatoGolem]

Suffocation, perhaps? When the power went out, the life support would have failed, and the crew would die from lack of air. If the answer is more... unusual, it would be good to know so we don't suffer the same fate. Astropath Pythonissam, can you glean anything from the echoes? Did they die all at once, or over time?

Macharius walks to the end of the bridge and sits in the command throne. He looks across the room, pondering the fate of the bridge's inhabitants, his fingers drumming idly on the throne's arms.

[Haval]

Anika is walking around the bridge looking for any sign of what had happened here. The lift shaft was still open, although whether something had gotten in through it or survivors had used it to escape was unclear.

[Destro_Yersul]

"All at once, I think..." Pytho had taken a seat at one of the consoles near the grav lift, and was inspecting the workstation. The astropath looked tired, but perhaps it was just the thought of so many loyal souls dead. "The logs would tell us more, if we could find them. I'm not sure how, though, with the entire bridge powerless."

Ravia, of course, already knew the answer to that. The blackbox recorders would be removeable, with a separate internal power supply and dataports for download to a slate. The main problem there would be finding them. There were usually two or three, for redundancy in case of catastrophic damage, and likely placed somewhere on the bridge. If they could find a way to restore power, they'd also be able to check the ship's logs that way. There might be other things, as well. Ships like this always had their secrets.

What damage there was to the bridge looked superficial, apart from the buckled doors. It was likely the occupants had died when life support failed, but it was always good to be sure. The command throne Macharius had seated himself at was a sophisticated piece of work, a true marvel. The ancient upholstery maintained its deep red, even after all this time. Synthetics, probably. The throne's armrests were gold, with sliding panels near the end of each. The whole assembly fitted onto a track and swivel mounted, so it could be rotated to watch the viewscreens or moved in closer to the large command console. Cables crusted the back, snaking off to vanish under the base mounting, tying the throne to the ship's systems. A dizzying array of information would have been available to whomever had sat here - Macharius was likely the first person to occupy the throne since the ship had been wrecked. Now though, like the rest of the bridge, the command console had fallen dark. It was sad, really. The ship's heart may have been its great plasma drives, but its mind was here, the throne at the centre of its nervous system.

Spoiler: Macharius Only

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Sitting in the throne, Macharius could feel the deckplates humming under his feet. The ship wanted a master, it wanted to ply the void again, to bring death to the Emperor's enemies as it had been built to do. He imagined he could see crewmen, sitting at their stations, ready to defend mankind in His holy name. The scripture said that the only true fear was of dying with your duty not done. Proud men and women, in navy uniforms, had gone to their deaths aboard this ship. When they died, had they felt their mission complete, their duty discharged successfully?

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Can I get a WP test? You still get the +10 from Pytho

[Haval]

Not having found anything of note, Anika will join Pytho in slumping down in a seat next to one of the consoles. She wanted to rub her eyes but the voidsuit made that inconvenient. 'The Traitors probably tried to get in. Maybe when they failed they destroyed the life sustainers instead. Left everyone to suffocate.' This room was making her morbid.

Pointing at the throne, 'There ought to be a failsafe power supply connected to that. It's too important not to have it.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Forbidden Lore (Archaeotech) to find any backup connected to the command throne
vs. Int 53
(1d100)[54]

[Destro_Yersul]

Even if there was a backup, Anika wasn't quite sure where it would be. It should have one, of course. Looking around, she did spot a locker over near the security station, the faded label marking it as an emergency oxygen supply. Looked like it had already been emptied long ago, and she knew that those canisters wouldn't be good for all that long. Maybe long enough to get to a lifepod and eject, but not for much more than that.

Spoiler: Anika Only

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The decking shook suddenly. When Anika looked up, she was still on the Bridge, but it was different. The others - Pytho, Macharius, everyone - were nowhere to be seen. Instead, all of the stations were fully crewed, the emergency locker she had noticed a second ago still closed and stocked. The station she was sitting at looked like fire control for the ship's weapon batteries. The admiral, his uniform as crisp and immaculate as always, was sitting in the command throne. He leaned forwards, over his console, to look at the hololithic display table. Several of the officers were clustered around it, watching their battlegroup approach the traitor fleet.

"There she is," the first officer pointed at one of the red holograms. "The Iron Regent. Nowhere for her to run this time."

"All ships, move in." The admiral's orders rang out over the vox. "First squadron, strike their flank, take those escorts apart. Helmsman, form up with the Indomitus. The Regent is ours. Check your targets, and fire at will."

Enemy ships started lighting up on Anika's scopes. Weapons were hot.

Spoiler: Macharius Only

Show

Closing his eyes for what felt like only a moment, Macharius realised he was no longer on the bridge. Where was he? Looking around, he found himself sitting in ready room six, with a squad of the ship's provosts, most of whom were currently engaged in a game of Tarot. The poster on the wall - Lightning Lancers - was not strictly regulation, but nobody had protested all that hard when Barry put it up. Sixth Squad needed a name anyways, and Barry had worked hard getting it printed without anyone noticing. Plus, it kept morale up, promoted comraderie.

The room's vox crackled, interrupting this train of thought. "All ships, move in." Admiral Davis, issuing orders to the rest of the fleet. "First squadron, strike their flank, take those escorts apart. Helmsman, form up with the Indomitus. The Regent is ours. Check your targets, and fire at will."

"Sounds like we're in the drek already," Kristof discarded a five, and drew from the deck. "Think we'll see any action?"

[rax]

"She may be old, but she's still a Navy ship, and the Navy likes to do things the same way - again and again and again. Tradition, they calls it. So if our blessed ancestors used black boxes, then I'm thinking that over here would be a good place to start looking," Hannabel says, making her way towards the command dais.

OOC: This assumes that Ravia has actually pointed out that there are likely black boxes to be found. Hannabel is ex-navy, so I'm hoping she might have some idea of where to start looking for them. I'll do some rolls in the OOC thread to see if she might have a clue.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

Surprised, Anika will jolt up in her seat. 'What the..?' she will start to exclaim before falling silent. Had anyone even noticed? Perhaps she had fallen asleep? The dreams of Kadath had been making that hard lately, but the wreck was hardly a safe place to be napping.

But there was the other possibility. Had Macharius been right to be worried about coming here? If so he'd never let her hear the end of it. If it was a dream it was the most lifelike she had ever experienced.

She didn't seem to be in any immediate danger at least. Not counting the fleet engagement they seemed to be part of. The Navy wasn't the Guard, but she had no reason to be afraid of them. With a growing sick feeling, and with occasional surreptitious glances around the bridge and at the console in front of her, Anika will try to keep a low profile for the moment.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

So if this is appropriate, Deceive roll to not attract attention
vs. Fel 47
(1d100)[91]

I think that failure is only fair

Scholastic Lore (Archaic) on the Iron Regent
vs. Int 53
(1d100)[62]
And same on the Terminus Omni if I'm in a better frame of mind to do that now
(1d100)[41]

Forbidden Lore (Archaeotech) to work out how to operate the weaponry in front of me
vs. Int 53
(1d100)[44]

[PotatoGolem]

Spoiler: Destro Only

Show

Macharius leans back in his chair for a moment, concentrating. Astropath Pythonissam, are you still connected to me? I'm apparently inhabiting a provost from the ancient battle. I'll relay any information I can get to you. What's happening back in the real world? Are any of the others similarly affected? I think that maybe the ship wants us to win the ancient battle for her, but it'd be a damned sight easier with my crew here.

He faces back into the game. Trigger finger getting itchy, Kristof? I'd expect they'll board us, this being the flagship and all. The Lancers will get plenty of action, I'm sure. Be ready to move out as soon as Barry's done taking all your money, lads.

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Hannabel and Ravia

Show

Rooting around underneath the command console, Hannabel discovered a metal hatch cover built into the decking. The handle was just a recessed metal ring, set flush with the rest of the decking, but it wasn't too hard to hook something in and pull it up. When she did, she found she'd got it right the first try: every Navy ship she'd ever been on had kept one of the blackbox recorders underneath the command dais, and this one followed that same rule. It probably wasn't the only one, but if it was undamaged they wouldn't need to find the others, and it didn't look damaged. The cables tying it in to the ship's systems unscrewed - with some difficulty - and the box popped free.

It was rectangular and jet black, built out of durable polycarbons and reinforced durasteel. The compartment it had been in was armoured to prevent damage. There wasn't an obvious way to activate it, but it did have a dataport and a switch to trigger the backup power unit. The port looked standardised, probably from an STC design.

Spoiler: Macharius Only

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The reply was slow in coming, from Pytho's end. Still here, Macharius heard in his head, just as he thought the link might have been severed. Hard to concentrate. I suspect the warp echoes affect psykers differently. Massive headache. The link was quiet for a moment longer, and then Pytho's 'voice' returned. You're asleep, looks like Anika is too. Ravia and Hannabel are still active. So am I, but maintaining the link is the best I think I can manage right now.

Back in the game, Kristof laughed. "Barry's luck will run out, sir. You're right, though. We'll be their priority target. What've you got, Al?"

Albertus looked at his cards with disgust. "Sweet bugger all," he said, folding his hand. Jilian followed suit, and Barry scooped his third pot in a row.

"I swear you cheat." Jili shook her head at the grinning Barry and headed for the lockers. "Alright Lancers, the boss-man has spoken. Playtime's over."

A chorus of groans and 'I'll-take-it-back-later-Barrys' followed, as the men abandoned their cards and made ready for combat. When the order came to repel boarders, their post was supposed to be the Starboard upper shuttle bay. The bay had easy access to gravlift seven, and was well placed to defend the macrobattery decks.

Spoiler: Anika Only

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It seemed as though the startled outburst had caught some attention. The admiral was looking in her direction, as were a couple of the other crew. Trying to think, she realised that while she'd never heard of the Iron Regent, she could place this ship. The man in command was Admiral Davis, which was right for this ship. She remembered seeing an ancient remembrancer sketch of him - neatly clipped beard, iron uniform, chest full of medals - in a very old book about Imperial heroes. He'd been in command of the Terminus Omni Agraphum back during the scouring, his battlegroup one of the largest tasked with tracking down and eliminating renegade elements following the Great Heresy. The battlegroup had gone missing, presumed destroyed, and none of the ships from it had ever been found.

Well, until now. But 'now' was a relative concept, with a fleet of very real-looking heretic ships out there to fight. Studying the console, Anika discovered she had two advantages. The first was that, minor innovations aside, everything being built to a pattern meant that control consoles didn't change very much. The second was that the ship's augur arrays were combat-specialised, constantly scanning and feeding targeting data into the cogitators in real time. She'd not have much trouble plotting firing solutions. As Anika was working out the firing controls, she heard boots on the deck approaching her station. She looked up to find the ship's commissar at her side.

"Is everything alright?" the commissar asked, an eyebrow raised under her peaked cap. "You look a little out of sorts."

[rax]

"YES! I knew it! The Navy never changes. Here you go Magos," Hannabel exclaims triumphantly, tossing the box to Ravia. "Say the words and flip the switch or something, and let's hear this old girl's story!"

"Lord Commander! We found one of the black boxes!" she calls up to Macharius.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

The memory of books distracts Anika from her situation for a moment. Davis had been a good man by all accounts. So the ship had been lost during the Scouring? She could hardly belive it had held together as long as it had. Given what the Sting's servitor had found, she could guess who likely crewed the Iron Regent. But was her brain merely filling in the gaps here or was this actually happening?

The Commissar forces her to pay attention. Of course. The Navy had them too. Whatever was going on, best not to get on the wrong side of one who for some reason thought she had a right to be here. Trying to sound composed. 'Might be coming downn with something sir. I'll go see a medicae later, but I wanted to be here for this.' She will motion towards the firing solutions on the console. Hopefully a Commissar would be leniant towards someone trying to do their duty. Or if not, would at least force her to leave the bridge and see a Doctor.

Spoiler: ooc

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Deceive
vs. Fel 47
(1d100)[69]

[PotatoGolem]

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

Good! You can relay communications then. What's going on in the real world? See if they can find anything on Provost Squad Six or the Lightning Lancers. And find out where in the past ship Anika is.

Macharius slaps Barry on the back. Lucky as always. Hopefully the traitors try to fight us in tarot, eh?

[Leon]

Ravia will perform the rites to bring the Blackbox online linked through one of her spare data slates and also have Skull record a linked image for backup ++Now we see an age ago and what fate befell this ancient machine++

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Hannabel and Ravia

Show

Macharius, Hannabel found when she looked up, was still sitting in the command throne. He was soundly asleep as, by the look of it, was Anika. The seneschal's head was rested on the ancient console she was sitting in front of. Pytho was still up, but didn't look especially well. The astropath pushed himself to his feet and walked over to where they were to examine the blackbox.

"Captain's fine," Pytho said as he watched Ravia work. "So is Anika. They're experiencing a dream of the past. I can still talk to them through our mind link. Macharius is with one of the old Provost squads. Number six. Is there anything in the logs on that?"

With the dataslate hooked up, that was something Ravia was able to actually check. There were reams of data here, damage reports and technical specs scrolling across the dataslate's small screen. Nearly everything was offline, just as their scans had reported. But where had the trouble started?

Things had started to go wrong soon after the weaponry was last powered up. Multiple macrocannon impacts had overloaded the void shields, followed by depressurisation events on several decks. After that, intruders were detected on board, and everything went downhill from there. The ship fought hard, the exchange of hits to the hull followed by discharge orders issued to its own weapons continuing for some time despite the depressurisations. Then system failures started to come in across the board. Power linkages to the Teleportarium and Munitorium were destroyed. Then the life sustainers went offline, and then the hull bracing field. Given the cascading failures, it looked like sabotage. Ravia read on.

The engines went on full burn, and the warp drive started powering up. Halfway through the startup sequence, the ship took a big hit; that was what had breached the hull, destroying several decks and starting a fire in the plasma reactors. The fire suppression system failed, and the ship entered the Immaterium on fire and badly crippled, with intruders still on board. A few more systems were damaged, here and there, including the warp drive's control circuits, and then the bridge lost main power when the fire claimed the reactors. There was the occasional report of weapon discharge across the ship after that, then nothing. The ship de-warped, and all lifepods were jettisoned.

Someone had to have remained on the ship, though. A few priority level orders were entered manually through a backup system in the bridge command terminal. Emergency power distribution was set to prioritise the gellar fields and crew facilities over all other concerns. The damaged control circuits caused a malfunction, and the ship re-entered warp space. Across the ship, things started to shut down. A single weapon discharge, small arms fire, was reported in the bridge lifepod bays. Then, silence. Silence for millenia, punctuated by the breaking down of the last few functioning subsystems as lack of maintenance took its toll. Eventually the control circuits for the warp drive failed entirely, and the ship de-warped.

Spoiler: Anika Only

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"Keen on bringing death to the Emperor's enemies? Cartainly those traitors out there deserve what's coming for them." The commissar looked Anika up and down, perhaps searching for signs of disagreement. She seemed unconvinced by Anika's lie, but found no immediate fault to seize upon. "Just be sure to see the medicae, if you're still feeling unwell after the battle." Turning away, she walked back towards the holoprojector.

Where are you? The voice sounded, suddenly, in her mind. Pytho's link was still active. Captain's asleep too, he says he's with Provost Squad Six.

Spoiler: Macharius Only

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"That'd be an easy victory, but then we'd have to let Barry hog all the glory." Kristof said.

Barry elbowed his comrade in the ribs, and grabbed his helmet. "Git. Where to, boss?"

It was always like this, Macharius knew. They would be effective enough at teamwork once they were suited up and focused on the job. The trick was finding them a common enemy to fight. Well, wouldn't be hard if they were boarded.

[Leon]

Spoiler

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++Millennia in the Empyrean, even with active gellar shielding will cause some leakage hence these dreams of its last actions. This will be of great use to my projects++

[PotatoGolem]

Spoiler: Destro Only

Show

Starboard upper shuttle bay, lads. No sense in keeping them waiting. I've got a bad feeling about this one. Ship like this, they're not going to send just the Traitor Army. They'll be bringing Traitor Astartes.

Macharius shivered involuntarily at the the thought of facing one of the Fallen Angels. This wasn't real, this had all happened so long ago, and yet it felt real. He wanted to save these men and women, though that was impossible. At the very least, he'd send them to their God-Emperor with heads held high.

For those of you too thick to figure it out for yourselves, Barry, that means anti-armor. It's time for hellguns, not shotguns. They may damage a bulkhead here and there but the traitor's bolts will do a hell of a lot worse if they're not stopped. Now grab your guns and head out. For the Emperor!

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

Anika will try to keep her face impassive. As long as the Comissar wasn't actively threatening to shoot her that was a plus.

Hearing Pytho in her head came as something of a relief. At least Macharius was around somewhere. 'What the hell is going on? I'm on the bridge and they're treating me like part of the crew.' And might as well get to the heart of it, 'We're about to engage the Traitor ships. If I'm only asleep how worried should I be about this?'

[rax]

Spoiler

Show

"Well this is a fine time to be taking a nap," Hannabel grumbles jokingly. "Nothing yet on specific squads, but you can tell them both that it looks alot like there was some skullduggery - sabotage - involved in the Terminus going down."

Reading aloud as Ravia scrolls through the data, Hannabel reports: "She charged up her batteries, but enemy fire overloaded the shields and breached the hull, causing multiple depressurisation incidents. They then detected enemy boarders but the ship kept fighting. Then we start getting cascading system failures - power linkages to the teleportarium and munitorium get destroyed, life sustainers go offline, then the hull bracing field. Could be enemy raiders, could be mutineers, but someone was being quite systematic."

"Next, the engines go on full burn and the warp drive starts powering up. No way to tell from the data if that was captain's orders or not, but she was hurting badly, so retreat would have been wise in any case. Anyway, halfway through the sequence, the Terminus takes another big hit - major hull breach and fire in the plasma reactors - so she warps out on fire and with boarders still fighting. After that it's pretty much over. Some more fighting, some more systems damage, then the fires kill the reactors causing bridge to lose main control. The ship exits warp and all the life pods are jettisoned."

"But... looks like someone was still aboard after that, manually entering priority commands from the bridge command terminal. Looks like they prioritised power to the gellar fields and crew quarters and... yes, the warp drive controls were malfunctioning. I guess whoever was putting commands in knew that, because the Terminus then does an uncontrolled dive into the warp. Systems keep shutting down, then there's a weapons discharge in the bridge lifepod bays, then... nothing. The old girl keeps breaking down until the warp drive fails completely and she drops into the real world millenia later."

"Hmm, might be worth checking out the bridge lifepod bays. May be that there's some clues as to who the last survivor was. Pytho, ask the Lord Commander what his orders are, will you?"

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Hannabel and Ravia

Show

"I think Raiders is most likely. The failures started right after boarders were detected. I'll relay what I can, and see what Macharius wants us to do." Pytho looked over his shoulder, at the broken elevator shaft. "Lifepod bays are at the bottom of that. There's a sign by the doors."

Spoiler: Anika Only

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Not very, I think. Pytho's voice sounded unsure, even in her head. It's like a dream, so you should simply wake up if you die. I can't be certain, though, so you should avoid testing that if possible. This is a previously undocumented warp phenomena, without any established rules. If the crew are treating you as though you belong, perhaps you do. Or you're taking the role of someone who does. Do you know anything about what sort of opposition you're up against?

That question, at least, was easily answered. The console was busily displaying targetting data and FoF tags for every ship in range of the augurs. This looked like quite a large engagement. There was the Terminus, which was cruiser size at least, plus the Indomitus, which was just as big. Two light cruisers, each with two escorts, and three frigate squadrons rounded out the loyalist side. The enemy was more numerous, but mostly smaller ships. Plenty of destroyers, with a few frigates here and there. Of larger ships, there were only three; two light cruisers and the Iron Regent. The Regent was an unusual pattern, but it carried the sigil of the Iron Warriors legion. Some early form of Strike Cruiser, and all the more dangerous because of its crew.

The two fleets enetered firing range of each other, and macrocannon shells filled the void.

Spoiler: Macharius Only

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"Astartes?" Jilian said nervously. "I fought alongside a group of them, once. They're called Angels of Death for a reason. Al, you'd better bring the heavy stuff."

"I'll grab something extra from the armoury." Albertus split off from the group, heading down a different corridor. "I'll catch up, don't wait for me."

The rest of the squad shouldered their hellgun capacitors and followed Macharius. Their armour was woefully inadequate, it would do next to nothing against a boltgun. There was no sense in telling them that, of course.

Pytho's voice returned when they were almost at the shuttle bay. Anika's on the bridge, and about to engage the traitor fleet. Your orders, sir? Hannabel is asking what we should do next. We've found the logs, and it looks bad. You should expect boarders immediately after the opening salvos.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro only

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'Check to see if I'm still me you mean.' It was a good idea. Anika will check to see what she's wearing and whether she has retained her equipment. Who knows what she looked like to these people.

'As for the enemy, it's the same Traitor Astartes that we found remains of, which means that this is probably the Terminus' last fight.'

[PotatoGolem]

Spoiler: Destro Only

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Excellent, thank you Pytho. Although I don't like the idea of the ship suddenly going into the warp while we're here. If the traitors attacked the teleportarium first, then we'll divert to there. Have Anika give whatever orders are necessary. I'll tell you when we're in position. Tell the rest of the crew to find out whatever they can about what happened to the bridge and that survivor and the weapons discharge in the life pod bay.

He turns back to the men. Change of orders. We're to head to the teleportarium in case they try to warp in boarders. Make sure to bring rebreathers in case oxygen gets low. Move out.