Sea of Stars - IC III

[Blarghy]

Curiosity began to overtake caution; Kennoch moved to a viewport for a better look at the world they approached. He scanned the black void for any defending ships, even as he reminded himself that it shouldn't really matter, because this might not be real anyway. Nonetheless, he watched. If this was a test, then they should be ready for an opportunity to pass it, or better yet, slip past these barriers to attack the monster hiding within.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius freezes in shock. It can't be... A moment later, he strides to the viewport, staring through it hungrily. Begin the bombardment. I want to watch them burn, every last one! His voice shakes with anger. Start with the air defenses and astropath towers. I want them to know their doom before the end, and death before they realize they're under attack is too good for them. Ready any fighters and smaller ships to attack escaping craft. Prioritize mass civilian casualties. No one escapes, no one survives. Incendiaries, if we have any available. Better for the occasion than macrocannons.

He answers Ravia without looking. House Denaire slaughtered my family. They and their pirate hirelings destroyed everything we had, everyone I had. And now, I will make them pay!

[Destro_Yersul]

The officer's section of the bridge at once became a flurry of activity, as the mighty ship drew within range of the planet. There was no defending fleet in orbit, only a few system defence boats and a single weapon platform, no match for the ship currently under Macharius' command. Nor any of the other ships, as the bridge display lit up to show dozens of friendly tags arrayed against the planet.

"Launching interceptors, first squadron away!"
"Full power to weapons."
"Battlegroup one, bring down the orbital platform."

One group of ships broke off, beginning a run towards the lone defence satellite. Macrocannon fire slashed across the void. The comms crackled.

"Light damage to Sword Three. Returning fire."

Gunports opened, the flash of weapons fire visible even to the naked eye. Fire blossomed in space, the platform breaking under successive broadsides. Atmosphere vented, armour buckled, and the platform died as its power flickered out for good. It was left a drifting dead thing, unlit and cold, its orbit decaying. In just over a year it would fall to the planet below, carving a blackened furrow across the land, a scar that would be visible from space to mark its death. For now though, its threat removed, the battlegroup was free to focus on the defence boats.

"Battlegroup two miving into position. Bombardment cannons online. Captain Jonell sends his regards, Lord-Admiral."

The Mailed Fist, at the head of battlegroup two, opened up. Jonell's vessel had an enormous bank of cannons mounted to the prow, oversized shells especially designed for assaulting planetary targets. Macharius watched the trails of fire as the first salvo descended on Medet III, streaks of light burning through the atmosphere. There was no stopping that level of fire, not with such ground-based defences as might be available. Even the impacts were distantly visible, points of light that flared brightly and then subsided, green turning to red where the planet burned.

"Reporting 76% damage to the spaceport. The relay tower is down. Bombers cleared for attack runs."
"Cycling primary batteries."

An actinic flare, blinding in its intensity, erupted from the front of the Refuge in Depravity. The deck shook beneath their feet, the hum of the reactors rising in pitch as the lances fired again and again, each shot a finger of light, stabbing down from the darkness to torch the world below.

"Stationary defences are down, 100% destruction. All ships cleared for targets of opportunity."
"Marauders beginning attack. Battlegroup one reports all defence ships destroyed."
"Interceptor squadrons cleared from escort duty. Scalpel pattern initiated."

It took four hours, start to finish. When it was over, and the guns had stilled, there was a burning wound on the face of the planet. Vast swathes of land had been put to the torch, giving those fleeing from the attack nowhere to hide. Escpaing shuttles had been shot down, one at a time, by strikes from Absalom Furies. Bombers had laid waste to the buildings, everything the lances and cannons had left untouched. The land for kilometers around the fortress had been pounded to glass by lance fire. There was nothing left.

On the bridge, the music played, and another round of drinks was served. Friends and guests laughed and joked, eating savoury pastries and tiny stuffed mushrooms. Dancers swept around the temporary floor that had been set up on the left, the picture of elegance and refinement. The great and good of Koronus bantered, and made merry.

"You are most thorough," Ahriman remarked to Macharius. The Astartes had remained at the Trader's side, hands folded behind his back and staff resting in the crook of an elbow, throughout the proceedings. "Though it seems a shame that nothing will be recoverable. My brothers and I always tried to save the knowledge of those we fought. Admittedly, our approach required full ground assault. Naval warfare feels too impersonal to me."

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius watched the entire time, silently transfixed. After the bombardment ended, he stood for a few minutes lost in thought. Finally, he shivered slightly, coming to his senses. Well, that was... cathartic, he murmured.

He turned to Ahriman. Thoroughness is required when dealing with an enemy like this. Any survivors can become the seed of a future invasion. I suppose I am living proof of that, hoho! He seemed in fine spirits, happier than in a long time.

He considered the Astartes' words. A fair point, though naval warfare feels... right to me. And I'd hardly say this felt impersonal, hoho! House Absalom has always been close to the Imperial Navy. Our scions all attend the battlefleet academy, and serve in the fleet before returning to the House. Some of the happiest days of my life, looking back. So we do tend towards orbital bombardment as a solution. I suppose a full ground assault would be better for capturing maps of their holdings, locations of other fleets, that sort of thing. I assume that is the sort of knowledge is what you mean?

[Haval]

Whether it was real or not Anika has better things to do the watch an orbital bombardment. Firstly she'll see if she can find out the location of Medet III using whatever equipment was available on the bridge. Then she'll look into finding any records that she apparently made of the assassination attempts that were made against Macharius. If necessary she'll go looking for any quarters that she might have been assigned on this ship.

[Blarghy]

Echo stayed for about half an hour, wondering if this would turn into another trial, but when it appeared that the attack would unfold according to plan, he considered other activities.

"The Bridge is Bridge rather crowded rather," he said to no one in particular, just in case this was actually real. "I think I I think will take a walk take." He nudged one of the Astropaths. "I would appreciate would some company some." Someone he is reasonably confident is truly real, and able to help watch for Chaos shenanigans.

Hopefully with a partner to join him, Kennoch began the long walk to the Navigator's tower. He wanted a place close to the Immaterium, in case that might tell him something. Maybe this illusion--if it was--would wear thin there. Or maybe spreading their numbers across the ship would stress their captor's energy. Failing all that, maybe he would meet himself, or another Navis, and get a chance to speak frankly.

[Destro_Yersul]

Macharius

"Those are useful," Ahriman admitted, "but our priority was art, philosophy, the contents of libraries. We were scholars, above all. We sought to unite the galaxy under the Emperor's banner, of course, but we also wanted to preserve the teachings of those we conquered. Each planet had its own unique circumstances, its own lore and history. The goal was not simply destruction, it was to expand and strengthen the Imperium. If we slashed and burned, there was the risk of losing things we might have never learned otherwise."

Anika

Anika downloaded a few star charts. Finding Medet III wasn't particularly difficult when you were already there, but at least she'd have the coordinates. Then, it was off to her quarters.

It was a very strange experience, walking into a room she had never seen, but which had been laid out entirely the way she would have done it. Things were located exactly where she expected to find them. There was no fumbling about, searching unfamiliar ground, trying to guess at where someone else might have put that. Everything was familiar, but also not.

She found a book she hadn't written, but which nevertheless had been penned in her hand. Inside were her notes on various occurrences, including the assassination attempts on Macharius. The first, apparently, had happened at Winterscale's party. Then there had been another on Scintilla, which was initially attributed to the Spire Stalker, before they found evidence suggesting otherwise. That had diverted them from the Stalker case - Anika had professed disappointment they'd never solved it - but did lead them to learn of House Denaire's schemes. Macharius had spent the next several years pursuing a vendetta against them and Quinn, finally luring his rival into a trap by sacrificing the Manticore's Sting and in exchange capturing a flagship more capable of going toe to toe with Denaire's much bigger guns.

Echo

If Echo had hoped that the illusion might wear down when he removed himself from the presence of the others, he was to be thwarted; the navigator's tower remained stubbornly material as he climbed it. It was strange, going up the tower and not finding his Rings, but nothing about this trip had been normal. The astropath he had picked wasn't much for conversation, either.

As he drew near the top of the tower, though, he could feel the presence, the buzzing irritation at the back of his mind that was the hallmark of the cursed world they had left behind. The astropath noticed it too. Whether this place was real or not, there were still threads tying them back to the Maw, and the Tower.

[rax]

With nothing better to do, Hannabel accompanies Anika to her quarters.

"You know this is just another delaying tactic, right? This thing has tried force and scaring us, now it's trying to distract us with the things it thinks we want most," she mutters angrily as Anika looks around. "What if we're still on that airless rock and it's trying to string us along until we run out of air?"

[Blarghy]

Wheezing from yet another long hike, this time up stairs instead of down, Kennoch paused to catch his breath before reporting this discovery over the Command Channel.

"I am in I am the Navigator's spire spire. As I approach I the peak peak the peak, I again hear again the sound of insects the sound. I did not did not detect it earlier detect in the lower decks in the. This may be may be the way forward the way, or perhaps perhaps some hidden path hidden that the creature the creature did not expect did not. Should I wait should I before going higher before? Will any of you any you join me join?"

[Haval]

Anika will pull up a convenient armchair while she reads through what appears to have been her own notes. To Hannabel, 'I felt I ought to check. If you have reason to believe someone was going to try to kill you at some point, wouldn't you like to know more about it?' Hannabel was admittedly built different. Anika will show her the notes about the Sting being destroyed. 'I'd say that also qualifies.'

'As for the matter of delaying us until we suffocate. The astropaths are still alive aren't they? Besides, if that was the goal why go to all the trouble of showing us this. It could just as easily leave us in some windowless dungeon for as long as it needed. I wonder what it would take to show something like this to one of the rest of us.'

Something had occurred to Anika on the way down to her quarters. Over the command channel, 'Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. If we're debating the reality of all this, shouldn't there be other versions of ourselves around somewhere?'

To Echo, 'I feel like we should certainly take a look at it. I'll come find you.'

[Leon]

Ravia will use the intervening time to find her rooms and the Medicae decks

[PotatoGolem]

Interesting. Macharius sounded unsure. Weren't you worried you might be exposed to heresy? Perhaps Astartes are more resistant to corruption than the common man, but still, the risk of encountering blasphemous or heretical texts must have been high. Especially as you said the Ministorum and Inquisition were not yet formed to protect the purity of the Imperium?

To Anika, An excellent point, and one I had not considered. The fact that there aren't strongly suggests that this is an illusion, rather than us being transported.

To Echo, Capital find, old boy! we shall be there shortly.

[Destro_Yersul]

Macharius

"We did not know that was a possibility," Ahriman said. "Case in point, I suppose. There is much that was hidden from us in those days. We did not know the warp could corrupt. We did not know the risks inherent to what we were doing."

"The Emperor did not tell us."

Ravia

The Refuge didn't have dedicated medicae decks, just a small infirmary. It was well stocked, and functional enough, but not what Ravia was used to having. She was, however, able to secure notes she hadn't written yet on projects she hadn't finished by visiting her quarters and spending some time trawling the cogitators. It was an interesting and informative couple of hours.

Everyone

Echo waited for the others to catch up before ascending the last few levels of the tower. It was a familiar sort of space for the Navis, though likely not so much for the others. Though he'd never been to this particular tower before, Navigator towers tended to share similar design, across all Imperial vessels he had seen. This one had a pool for the Navigator to recline in, and a series of mirrors arrayed about the chamber. There were alcoves for attendants, filled with robed figures wearing lowered hoods. Wires and cables connected them to the fabric of the ship. The ceiling was arched, and inlaid with polished shards of crystal.

Currently, there was no navigator in residence. Wether this is because the Navigator was supposed to be Echo, or because a duty rotation had happened, wasn't clear. Ahriman slowly walked a circuit of the room, armoured fingers brushing against the frames of the mirrors. The astropath Echo had dragged along muttered to himself, huddled in one of the corners. There weren't any obvious disturbances, like the fracture they had seen in the choir chamber, but Echo could hear the buzzing, stronger up here where it was quiet, and far from the noise and bustle of the rest of the ship.

[rax]

Anika will pull up a convenient armchair while she reads through what appears to have been her own notes. To Hannabel, 'I felt I ought to check. If you have reason to believe someone was going to try to kill you at some point, wouldn't you like to know more about it?' Hannabel was admittedly built different. Anika will show her the notes about the Sting being destroyed. 'I'd say that also qualifies.'

"This isn't my fantasy. If the Big Mach wants to believe this is his future, then that's his business. And if he tries to do this for real," Hannabel muttered as she read the notes on what happened to the Sting, "I'll put a hole in his head if it's the last thing I do."

'As for the matter of delaying us until we suffocate. The astropaths are still alive aren't they? Besides, if that was the goal why go to all the trouble of showing us this. It could just as easily leave us in some windowless dungeon for as long as it needed. I wonder what it would take to show something like this to one of the rest of us.'

"Well, it's delaying us for some reason," she grouched.

Currently, there was no navigator in residence. Wether this is because the Navigator was supposed to be Echo, or because a duty rotation had happened, wasn't clear. Ahriman slowly walked a circuit of the room, armoured fingers brushing against the frames of the mirrors. The astropath Echo had dragged along muttered to himself, huddled in one of the corners. There weren't any obvious disturbances, like the fracture they had seen in the choir chamber, but Echo could hear the buzzing, stronger up here where it was quiet, and far from the noise and bustle of the rest of the ship.

"I feel like smashing something. What should happen if I blow up one of those mirrors?" Hannabel asks Echo.

[Haval]

"This isn't my fantasy. If the Big Mach wants to believe this is his future, then that's his business. And if he tries to do this for real," Hannabel muttered as she read the notes on what happened to the Sting, "I'll put a hole in his head if it's the last thing I do."

'Let's try and avoid that.'

In the Navigator's tower. 'You know I've never been up to one of these before.' Anika will go pay close attention to the mirrors, 'Isn't there a saying about not standing between two mirrors? I feel like if you look into one of these at the right angle you might see something else looking back.'

[Blarghy]

"I feel like smashing something. What should happen if I blow up one of those mirrors?" Hannabel asks Echo.

"The party guests party would have to would have find another ride home ride," he replied a bit dryly. "Warp Translation would Warp Warp Warp become more difficult difficult, and I cannot I repair or reproduce or this machinery this. So let us let us save that destruction save for a backup plan backup, if you please please."

Kennoch turned to the Space Marine. "Lord Ahriman Lord, I am sure I am that you notice you the renewed sound sound in your mind in your. I could not could not hear it on on on the lower decks the. Surely that is notable surely. Do you think you think a passage forward passage may be hidden here may be? Or perhaps perhaps this chamber's function chamber's is the key key the key. Do you have you have any theories as to any what might happen might if we Translated now if we? Could that be could a direct route direct to the being to the that haunts us us haunts us?"

[Destro_Yersul]

"I... do not know," Ahriman admitted. "My talents lie elsewhere. Yet... yet I feel as though I should know. I can hear the buzzing, as you say. That is another thing indicating we are still near the planet, and not really somewhere else. That this is all an illusion. Perhaps... perhaps you should try to begin the process of translating. It can be shut off if necessary, but I would very much like to know what happens if we try to drive this illusion beyond the bounds of reality."

[Blarghy]

"With your permission your, Lord-Commander Lord?"

If there were no objections, Kennoch moved to the pool. "Everyone should everyone wait below wait. Navigation is dangerous is to any human any with eyes eyes eyes eyes. I will keep I will my micro-bead micro-bead to maintain communication to."

[PotatoGolem]

By all means, Echo. Let us see what comes next.

Macharius and the Paretorians evacuate the chamber as directed.

[rax]

"Feels like everyone's giving this thing too much credit, treating its mind games like they're the real thing. But sure, whatever the Lord-Captain says," she answers Echo with an annoyed shrug.

[Haval]

To Hannabel, 'I'd say it depends on whether anyone has a better idea. In this case isn't the issue whether the Engine is capable of simulating the Warp? I'd like to think that some things are beyond it.'

[Blarghy]

"Save your ammunition save, Helmsmadam Helmsmadam," Echo suggested. "I will take I will you to your target your as quickly quickly as I can I can I can I can."

[Destro_Yersul]

Echo settled into the pool, while the rest of the party filed into the chambers below so he would be free to work. Ahriman was the last down. The Astartes had seemed reluctant to leave, professional curiosity drawing him to witness the results of Echo's attempt, but in the end prudence won out.

The deck shuddered as Echo engaged the ship's systems, priming the warp engines. There was the familiar snap as the gellar field activated, and the increase in pitch as energy built in the reactors. The vox started to go off, inquiries coming in from the rest of the fleet as to why the ship was preparing to translate, especially so close to a planet's gravity well. The shaking of the deck grew more intense, the warp drives working to tear a hole in the fabric of reality. Or what passed for reality, inside the engine. Lights flickered on, the ship's vox grilles piping litanies of faith throughout the vessel, drowning out the demands of the crew. The walls began to rime over, frost spreading downwards from the ceiling as the temperature in the room dropped precipitously.

Spoiler: Echo Only

Show

Echo found the beacon of the Astronomicon, though it was distant and hard to see, the Emperor's light struggling to pierce the darkness he found himself in. He was in a bubble of calm, the eye at the heart of a great storm, the Empyrean raging all around him, but unable to approach. There was something strange about the whole experience, something he had never encountered before. It felt ethereal, dreamlike, the normal ebb and flow of the warp overlayed onto something else. When the ship translated, he felt a shift, a lurch in his chest that caused his stomach to drop. He turned the ship towards the center of the eye, seeking the darkness at its heart...

and all at once, he saw everything. The threads of a thousand paths through the warp, through possibility, through time itself. The warp was filled with ghosts, ships and souls flickering in and out of his vision more quickly than he could track. The engines of the ship hummed, the deck vibrating beneath him. He felt it, and knew it was not real. The engine was producing possibilities, futures that might have come to pass, tracing back and forth through their paths and finding points of divergence to latch onto.

If he had succeeded at his first voyage, the thread would split, his fate diverging from the Absalom dynasty, and he would never have been here.
If Hannabel had visited Scintilla, and been captured by the Stalker, she would have come back changed when they rescued her, the eyes looking out from behind her mask no longer her own.
If Anika had turned off the ancient ice machine, awakening the Yu'Vath, there were a hundred branching paths all ending with the Manticore's Sting reduced to glittering shards in the void, the last hope of the dynasty snuffed out like a candle.
If, if, if...

It went on and on, thousands of timelines, millions, tearing into shreds and bleeding away into vapour. It threatened to overwhelm him. Yet now he had seen the pattern behind the chaos, the incombrehensibly vast weave of past and future. He understood the purpose that drove the minds responsible for constructing the Engine. He understood what it was capable of, and what it had been reduced to. He felt pressure building behind his eyes as the patterns seared themselves into his mind, the aetheric calculus that drove all of those thousand timelines. A skilled enough user would have been able to gather the strands, build them into a net, and dredge the river of time. To dial in a future, and physically explore the ramifications of decisions before they were made. Collapse the decision tree into a distinct realm.

Perhaps even do it in reverse. Change a decision in the past, change the vision of the future granted by the engine. The energy requirements of such a voyage would be enormous, and Echo knew that the builders of the Engine had never attempted it. They might have observed the past, but they had never gone there, had never turned the great gears of their contraption in reverse. To try now, when the device was damaged, was likely madness.

And yet. It had already done it once, hadn't it? The anomaly that had carried them back to the Astropathic tower before the generators went dead and the installation turned into a tomb, that had been a creation of the Engine. An accident, one born from operation beyond its design parameters, its use and corruption by the malevolent force that had settled at its heart and co-opted its servants. Yet still its creation. The energy was there, he could feel it, the collected psychic emanations of years upon years of stolen potential, building up in cyclopean wraithbone capacitation arrays buried beneath the surface of the world. Once, this had been a mere divination tool, but now... now it was something else.

The ship translated to warp, the engines screeching, a whine that built on the edge of hearing. The walls buckled and shattered, the room vanishing in a maelstrom of light and sound, the fabric of reality melting away around them.

When it cleared, they were in a room similar to the Navigator's chamber, but constructed of arched wraithbone. The mirrors that lined the walls were still there, but their surfaces were dull and nonreflective. The pool was gone, Echo lying in a heap on the floor. The navigator had a splitting headache, but was awake and alive.

There were no doors, and no stair back downwards. Also new were three high lecterns, each occupied by an indistinct shape, a whispy suggestion of peaked helmets and flowing robes. These regarded them selently, burning points of light where their eyes should have been. The center one leaned forwards, hands of smoke forming on the edge of its pulpit. It spoke, its voice strained and hoarse.

"Mon'keigh. Why have you come?"

[Haval]

Anika briefly wondered how the crew of this ship might respond to an unscheduled warp translation. Would they try to intervene? Hannabel had said that she wanted to shoot something so perhaps they could let her handle it.

The sign of the ... Eldar? ...was almost reassuring. She could think of much worse possibilities here. 'Meaning to the planet I take it?' The insulting term for a human was only to be expected. 'My apologies. No one had any idea you were even here.'

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius stands up straighter. Xenos. I might ask you why you began to prey upon our astropaths, and why you attacked our facility. Or, for that matter, why you have trapped us in these illusions His tone is firm, but not overtly hostile.

[Blarghy]

"AAAaaaghhhhhh AAA aaa ghhh!" Echo flailed about on the bare stone, arms trying to swim, head thrashing back and forth. He kept seeing too much. This damned alien thing, showing him overwhelming and awesome visions. His heart ached from the possibilities he could've lived instead, while also fluttering fearfully in case Mortarion reappeared in the corners of his vision.

When his breathing slowed to warbling gulps of air, he dragged himself upright and took sight of the room. Of course, the ghostly xenos made him sneer. He would prefer to unleash Hannabel upon them, but if the Captain wanted to talk before the battle, then that was his prerogative. Instead, Kennoch looked for the Astropaths. Now with a better understanding of what the Engine did, he sadly suspected that they were never actually here.

I wanted to take you home. I truly would have tried. I hope the Emperor knows that, at least...

[Destro_Yersul]

"We?" The apparition replied. "We did nothing of the sort. All you have experienced is the product of Sha'eil, the corruption that your kind allowed entry to this place generations ago."

The Astropaths were still here, huddled up against one of the walls, seemingly quite confused. They had been in different parts of the ship when the illusion shattered.

[rax]

"Does it matter who did what? This engine thingamajig is broken, yeah? Corrupted. That's causing trouble in the real world and we're here to put an end to it. Wanna help?" Hannabel challenges the apparition grumpily.

[Haval]

Anika doesn't immediately understand the word but takes their point. 'Yes, I was wondering about that. We met some of your constructs on the way here. They seemed corrupted, if not deranged by the touch of the warp. Will they defend any attempt to switch the machine off? I did try to talk them down, but perhaps it would sound better coming from one of you.'

[PotatoGolem]

Everything? From the disappearance of the astropaths to the wraith constructs to the illusions? Macharius sounds skeptical. What exactly was your machine supposed to do? And why would the corrupted wraiths want to keep the astropaths hemmed in to the tower?