Sea of Stars - IC III

[Destro_Yersul]

"For you, consultation would always be open, but yes, sometimes the answer would be that we cannot tell you."

Sutekh considered Macharius' question. "Of the details, little. Ahriman wrote that one day you would exist, and that we would owe you everything for your assistance within his visions of the future, but there was little time for him to set down the whole story. There was too much to do, preparing the Legion for what was to come. What is on your mind, Lord Captain?"

[Blarghy]

Kennoch nodded once to himself, relieved that they were addressing the matter of the Eldar and their Engine. He quietly opened a private channel to Macharius.

Spoiler: Potato

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"If you deem if it wise wise, Lord-Commander Lord, and with the help the help of a tech-priest of, I can provide I can them with picts picts and transcripts transcripts of the mission mission the mission."

[PotatoGolem]

They were... not quite visions. I would not presume to explain the Warp to you, Captain, but as you know, it is a tricky place. A place where "past" and "future" have little meaning. Lord Ahriman did not have visions of me or my house; I fought alongside him, for all of our souls and the soul of your Chapter. If one of your tech-priests can assist, Echo can even show you the picts...

Macharius explains everything to Sutekh, from their arrival in the Warp to Ahriman's return to his own time to their reemergence on the no-longer-cursed world. ... but once we returned, Echo sensed that the Eldar constructs lurk there still, silent sentinels that may one day rise up against humanity. I intend to warn the Inquisition of them, though with rather less detail on how we came to know of them and what transpired all those years ago. I felt you deserved the whole, unvarnished truth, however. He stops, looking at Sutekh to judge his reaction.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Then perhaps that is simply how he explained it to my predecessors, knowing that the truth was too complicated to explore deeply when quick action was required. Regardless, I am interested, but this is not the place for a presentation."

Before Macharius explained, Sutekh led them to a meeting area. The table had been designed for Astartes, and was higher than usual, but it would serve. On the table was a portable hololithic display stamped with the cogwheel of the Mechanicus. They were greeted there by a red-armoured Techmarine, a bulky servo-arm hanging from his backpack. He examined Echo's implant, and selected an appropriate connector from amongst the tangle of cables connected to the hololith. Images from the implant snapped into focus as small holograms, floating in three-dimensional space above the projector.

While Macharius talked, Echo found he could cycle through the displayed images, rotate them, or focus in to show detail. Sutekh sat and listened, on a heavily re-inforced chair.

"Interesting," Sutekh said. His face betrayed little. "It would seem that what you did altered the fate of the Eldar machine, as well. Clearly it is still asleep, or possibly even uncorrupted. Without the damage to the webway caused in the original timeline, the daemon must have lacked a way to infiltrate its mechanisms. What do you believe should be done with the information?"

Similar to how Macharius was watching him, the Space Marine Captain watched Macharius.

[Haval]

Anika will speak up. 'I would doubt that it represents an immediate threat, or at least no more so then any site of xenos ruins might. Of course, keeping an eye on it would be only be sensible.'

[rax]

"And the only reason we got to it last time was because some irresponsible fellow had dug it out. Unless the same has happened here, the machine is now somewhere deep under that tower with an awful lot o' rock between the two," Hannabel added.

[Leon]

Ravia will respectfully inspect the Techmarine

[Blarghy]

Kennoch waited patiently while he provided the visuals of their last adventure. Now he looked slowly between the other advisors, calculating. "It is true it is that the Eldar Eldar the Eldar and other xenos other have littered their scraps scraps across our galaxy our, but I feel I feel that the Potentiality Engine Engine Engine Engine is a special thing special. And more importantly more: these particular xenos these lair beneath lair an important Imperial property important. That relay tower that passes vital messages passes between Calixis and Koronus between. The orders of the orders planetary governors governors. Navy captains captains. Vulnerable colonies vulnerable. Desperate calls for aid desperate calls. Can the Eldar can monitor or alter or those secure communications communications? How would we know how how how?"

The tall Navigator steepled his gloved fingers and leaned forward. "Those damned xenos damned are potent psykers potent, even in death even. They have living cousinsliving. They have plans they have. Something must be done must. At the very least at the, I urge that I urge we give warning warning to cease use cease of Installation 2819-Rho Installation, and review what information what may be compromised may be. ...Or perhaps perhaps consider using it using for counter-intelligence for. If the spies if think it possible think it."

He leaned back. "But of course of course I would prefer I would to burn the rats burn in our basement our and send their toy their toy to Mars for study Mars." He shrugged.

[Haval]

Anika will respond carefully given the Space Marine in the same room. 'I can't deny the possibility, but I'd expect the Eldar have other ways of spying. That is to say, if the stories about what Farseers are capable of are true. Perhaps the Captain can speak more on that matter. I had the impression their device is intended for something more final then going to war with the Imperium. If that's correct then they may care more about a final battle with the Ruinous Powers then they do with us.' She'll shrug, 'Regardless, I am happy to let someone else decide what to do about it. Given everything going on down there I can't see it being so simple as to retrieve or destroy the device. Not without casualties anyway.'

[Leon]

++Its not as if the Eldar snuck in and dug a secret hidey hole under the installation++
++I would suspect it was chosen as a suitable site for an Astropathic installation due to psychic surveys without actually knowing why it held good potential++

[PotatoGolem]

There is some truth to each of these perspectives. The Eldar did not build it as a weapon against Mankind. However, the Eldar have not, as a whole, proven to be allies to the Imperium by any means. They are not known to have our best interests at heart, and they would gladly destroy any number of human worlds, or humanity itself, for even a minor gain to themselves. The appropriate authorities should at the very least ensure that they are not listening in to our astropaths.

Removing the xenos as a whole is more complicated. As Hannabel notes, the last attempt to dig in resulted in a far worse outcome, corruption by the Great Enemy. We know that the underground chamber is heavily defended by the wraith-monsters. If the Imperium is to take action against this alien infestation, it must be through a swift, overwhelming assault. This is not a task for a few ships or a company of troops- if we are to strike, we must strike hard, fast, and decisively.

I must admit, I am at somewhat of a disadvantage. I am no Librarian or Astropath, so I do not know the full extent of the danger this machine might pose, either if we leave it alone or if it is uncovered and seized or damaged. Either path could prove catastrophic. Thus, in the end, I fear I must simply report what I know to those who have a more full understanding, that they may determine the best course of action.

[Destro_Yersul]

"I am no Astropath, but I understand that even for the intended recipient Astropathic transmissions are not always straightforward. One of them would be able to say better if there is a concern of interception," Sutekh said.

"I believe your Magos is correct," the Techmarine said. "Our installation was almost certainly built on top of their ruins, and digging them out will not be a simple thing. This device is not small. It may well encompass a significant part of the planet's interior. It is certainly worth investigating."

Ravia's practiced eye picked out a few signs of augmentation on the Techmarine, even underneath his armour. Techmarines occupied a somewhat unique position, being learned members of both their Chapter and the Mechanicus. Some worried they belonged more to one than the other, divided loyalties the result of standing with a foot in each of two different worlds. They cared for the spirits of the Chapter's machines, from their boltguns all the way up through the mighty Land Raiders and Thunderhawks, even as far as the Battle Barge they were currently standing on. They were Space Marines first, but had recieved instruction into the lower levels of the Mechanicus, and many of them chose to recieve augmentation even if it was not strictly required. This seemed to be one of those, unless he had previously lost both legs, one arm, and part of his head. That wasn;t out of the question for a living Astartes, but it seemed more likely that he had simply preferred the purity of machinery.

"It is not always easy to know the right path, even for a Librarian. Even for us." Sutekh had leaned forwards to listen to the presented arguments, resting his massive hands on the table. There was a reason everything in this room was so heavily reinforced. The table creaked as the captain straightened, taking his weight off of it.

"We are to pass back through the Maw soon, on our way to our next assignment. I will authorise a brief stop at the world, and personally inspect the premises. If there is an immediate threat, I will request reinforcements and deploy to end it. Three companies of our best, supported by the Navy and the Guard, will be enough to see the task completed."

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius smiles, a weight lifted off his shoulders. Thank you, Captain. It is reassuring to know that the Emperor's finest will investigate and contain the threat. If we can be of any assistance, we are at your disposal.

[Haval]

Anika will add, 'Before we banished the Daemon the Farseer was of the opinion that anyone going down there would be ensnared by the machine or would die. I suppose one of those things is likely no longer true and the other is not something that Astartes would have much to worry about.' That seemed like a hypothetical point to her. It wasn't like even Space Marines were indestructable and she had seen the effect of the Wraith's weapons up close. 'I suppose that leaves the possibility that the device doesn't exist in a way that anyone can even get close to. At least without the assent of those ghosts anyway. But a possible wasted journey wouldn't be the worst thing if you're going to be in the area anyway. Given what happened to us perhaps it's still capable of showing you things as a means of protecting itself.'

[Destro_Yersul]

"If the worst case scenario is a wasted shuttle trip, I will count that a victory," Sutekh said.

With their business on the Thousand Sons ship seemingly concluded, Sutekh returned them to the Manticore's Sting. The rest of the trip to Footfall would be anticlimactic compared with how it had started, but there was still business to be done. Taking on supplies for the trip was the main issue, but once that was dealt with there wasn't a huge amount to do that they hadn't already done the last time they came through here.

With what had happened, it seemed like a prudent next step to visit Port Davis and see how things were going there. It had been a while since they last visited the colony. Galimina expressed interest in seeing the station, and all the progress that had been made.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro only

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What are the chances that Anika can find living Eldar passing through Footfall?

Common Lore (Koronus) vs. Int 53
(1d100)[90]

I know there was a Stryxis merchant here at one point but I'm not sure how liberal Footfall is likely to be about specific Xenos

[PotatoGolem]

After meeting the Thousand Sons, Macharius headed straight for the cathedral. He knelt in prayer, clutching the reliquary and blade Sutekh gave him, his mind awhirl with the events of the past few weeks.

Most Holy God-Emperor, I am not worthy of the gifts you have bestowed upon me. You intervened to protect us from a most mighty foe, and guided us to strike it down in Your name. You allowed us to intervene in the accursed Heresy, and in doing so help save a legion of Your sons. You have blessed me beyond my wildest imaginings, almighty Emperor. All I can offer in return is a lifetime of service in Your name, spreading Your light and striking down Your foes. We will not fail You, Master of Mankind...

He remained lost in prayer through the day, rising only when Flannery tapped his shoulder. "You ought to eat, Lord-Captain. Dinnertime is long past, and you need to recover your strength." Macharius nodded and allowed the Praetorians to take him back to the Sting.

[Destro_Yersul]

Anika ran into immediate and likely Space-Marine related difficulty. The Stryxis merchant that had been around last time was nowhere to be found, nor were any Kroot. Footfall was more liberal than most places, but apparently even that didn't mean much when there was a Battle Barge in orbit; all of the Xenos for likely three systems around had made themselves scarce. The same was true for her underworld friends, though they were at least still here somewhere. They just didn't want to talk to Anika right now, giving her several varieties of 'we're busy, sorry, perhaps next time?' no matter what channels she tried to use.

Eventually, she had to settle for asking the crew. She found a sufficient number of volunteers, and Galimina supplied a number of covert monitoring devices and sensor packages she'd devised, largely based on the one the Inquisition had tried to leave on board. Smuggling the crew onto the station might have been difficult, except that the Manticore's Sting was busily disgorging several hundred pilgrims and a handful of disguised bounty hunters. It was a good enough idea to steal, and a group of crew members got added to the roster of one shuttle, which Anika was careful to ensure did not contain any of the bounty hunters.

Setting up a spy network on Footfall was probably a rite of passage, by some standards. Hopefully it would prove useful to have.

[Haval]

Anika is frankly annoyed at the local criminals attitude. She was mostly sure that the Thousand Sons had better things to do with their time then to clean up the crime on Footfall. The xenos perhaps more plausibly had a point.

She has spent a lot of time looking for suitable members of the crew to establish here. She felt fairly confident that she could manage it herself if she had too but she wasn't sure how far she trusted anyone else to do it. Ideally they should be seasoned enough travellers and voidsmen that their presence on Footfall wouldn't draw too much outside attention yet would also be loyal enough to House Absalom that they could be left to their own devices. She will try to establish a list of topics that she would like to hear about as soon as possible. The matter of the bounty hunters and anything that Quinn might be up to were chief among these topics but general information on the doings of the other Rogue Traders or the great organisations of the Imperium that were operating in the Expanse would certainly be of interest. As the Thousand Sons were currently demonstrating, everyone passed through Footfall sooner or later.

[Blarghy]

Behind a floor-to-ceiling plasteel window in his tower, Kennoch sat and sipped Solace 772 Whiskey; the bottle from Winterscale's distillery was barely half full now, something special he kept for quiet celebrations, and meeting the Thousand Sons certainly counted. He watched the Battle Barge with gentle interest. The matter of ghostly Eldar felt nearly resolved to him; what more could he ask for, than the personal attention of the Astartes? Furthermore, Kennoch suspected that these wouldn't be the last important figures to investigate that lonely world. Word would travel, that the Thousand Sons had come here to meet with Macharius Absalom after his errand in the Maw, and such a mystery would draw curiosity. Not to mention the matter of Inquisitional factions, one of which may or may not still/yet exist. He reflected on Sargon's hints, rolling them in his mind like the ice in his glass.

When he finished his drink, the young Navis savored a last sight of Footfall's orbit, rose to his towering height, and moved for the stairs. The Captain would probably want to move on soon, and the Warp wouldn't calculate itself.

[Leon]

Making use of the stop at Footfall Ravia ventures into the depths of its Mechcanicus zones with Skull and her typical Servitor escort.

Spoiler: Destro

Show

Leaving a secure crate of Wraithbone coded with shared Codes in a pre-ordained drop location along with a Data slate of Biometrics from the Augmented Crew and a minor apology for no useful Gun data yet.

Also will visit the Forge Shrines and and Techsupply warehouses (minor but essential resupply regarding Augmented crew and related biotech)

Returning some hours later and servitor loaded with boxes

[rax]

Once again wearing an outfit with full face covering, Hannabel disembarked the Sting with a bevy of hard men from the gunnery crews as an escort. Footfall was always an interesting place to visit, with its myriad competing factions jostling for power and influence pretty much ensuring that someone was always willing to sell something just to spite someone else.

It seemed almost impossible that she would be unable to locate what she was looking for, but for once this was the case. Even the devout of the God Emperor seemed to have made themselves scarce or were singularly unimpressed with her entreaties, even though she was an officer of a house that had just publicly been favoured with the attention of the Thousand Sons!

In the end, she settled for getting roaring drunk at the Filthy Flagon and smashing up the place with her escort before returning to the Sting in a huff.

[Destro_Yersul]

+++ Episode 10 +++

Footfall was a good place to buy, and a good place to pick up supplies or crew. It was a bad place to sit around spinning your wheels for too long, as any who knew Wrath Umboldt well would carefully refrain from pointing out. There were things to do, and stars to conquer. One of these was currently in the process of being conquered. The star that was home to Port Davis flashed into view as the Manticore's Sting left warp, the hum of the deck changing in pitch as the ship switched from warp drives to traditional plasma drives. They had dropped in just shy of the dust cloud on the outer edges of the system, a nicely aimed exit by Echo that meant they wouldn't need to have their shipyard's workers spend extra time buffing the ship's armour plating.

Things had progressed, while they were gone. Great spires of metal jutted outwards from the orbiting asteroid, and the flash of lascutters and welding torches could be seen in amongst the skeleton of the drydocks. They weren't finished, but it looked like there would only be two, maybe three more months before the shipyards were ready to recieve their first customers. One of those was sure to be the Terminus, the mighty warship lurking at anchor like a great wounded beast. Much work had been done on her as well, all of the supplies and goods that had been sent back going a long way to restoring the old ship's former glory. Shiny new hull plates had been welded over the worst of the damage, though here and there signs could still be seen of the battle that had nearly cost her everything. It wouldn't be possible to fully complete the work until the ship could be towed into the docks, and right now the docks were still being built.

It would be nice to take some shore leave on a relatively hospitable planet, though, and perhaps find some ways to wrest a little profit from the world. There were still those birds in the southern archipelago, and Echo's beast wranglers had surely been hard at work. The last time they had been there, the prospective colony had still been mostly prefabbed shells of buildings. It had recieved several tons of vehicles and a lot of manpower, as well as numerous supplies and funding, including a trickle of wealth from Captain Jonell. Macharius had poured more in terms of funding into the colony from his endeavours, while Jonell had done more in terms of logistics. As the Sting drew closer to the planet, Jonell's ship came into view floating near the station. The Mailed Fist looked as though she had been in a recent scrap, with plasma scoring across her flanks, but she had clearly survived to make it here, and her presence meant that Captain Jonell was likely in residence as well.

[rax]

"Ooh, looks like our friend's been in a fight! Let's go find out who they scuffled with and if there's anyone left for us to hulk!" Hannabel volunteered, obviously enlivened by the prospect of a shooting match.

[Haval]

'Now that almost looks like a real colony.'

'If the trouble followed us back in system I'd expect we would have heard about it already.' Anika will ask whichever member of the bridge crew was on communications to call The Mailed Fist and ask them if they needed any additional help.

[Destro_Yersul]

The call was answered by Captain Jonell himself, presumably once he saw who was calling.

"Macharius! How are your ventures, my friend? Had a spot of bother, as I'm sure you've already noticed. Nothing we couldn't handle, disagreement with some reavers is all! I wasn't expecting to run into you on this trip, but now you're here you'll have to drop by and tell me all about your latest voyage. I'm sure you remember my chef!" He laughed.

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius sighed contentedly as Port Davis came into view. Ahh, it's nice to be home. Rather fewer daemons and serial-killing noblewomen, what? He eyes the Terminus with pride. What a beauty! She'll be meting out the Emperor's judgment soon enough.

He laughs when Jonell voxes over. Jonell, old sport! Seems you could do with some new paint, hoho! We shall of course be by. The man's a true artist. Perhaps the reavers merely wanted a proper seared foie gras, hoho!

[Haval]

'Frankly I don't want to dwell on anything that a ship of Reavers might be eating.'

Over the vox, 'Captain, may I ask Ms. Devereaux to send me the details of your engagement. I realise these things happen but there's every chance that some of those types will show up here sooner or later.'

[Blarghy]

The sight of safe harbor soothed Kennoch as the empty void peeled back to reveal busy industry, but just as quickly, he tensed to see the Fist's injuries. Space was dangerous, especially for the bold and curious, but furthermore, this reminded him that the colony's defenses weren't what he'd describe as robust. They'd been lucky so far. Would it last, especially as prosperity continued to rise?

Kennoch offered the sign of the Aquila to the Fist, acknowledging her recent victory, and then went to his desk and prepared a message for Remalia Brabazon. It was rather dry, far as these things went; since their last correspondence, he had cooperated with an Abominable Intelligence, helped a murderous aristocrat evade Imperial justice, and bent space-time to the will of a lost phantom on the edge of heresy. Those were the kinds of secrets that a wise man took to his grave, so the letter would have a vague tone of, I've been busy but fine; how about you? It nonetheless paid to keep in touch with his few allied Navigators when the opportunity arose.

[Destro_Yersul]

"Splendid! I think they were after rather more than the foie gras, but we saw them off. I'll have Ms. Devereaux prepare a slate for you."

Captain Jonell's chef was as excellent as ever, and seemed to be making something of an effort to show off locally caught game for this meal. The hunting team Echo equipped had put their web guns to good use, and had captured several Blue Caernun. The herd beasts seemed to be good eating, once they'd been prepared properly - the blue colouration was caused by cobalt compounds, but it was localised to keratin and didn't build up in the actual meat. Jonell was quite excited about the possibilities offered by the large-antlered males.

"They'd make fine trophies, Macharius." He said, between bites of herbed stew. "I think we could set up hunting lodges in the mountains here, for sale or rent. Bring money into the colony."

They were arranged about the large table in the Fist's dining hall. Macharius had been given a place of honour near Jonell. The captain's staff were largely busy elsewhere. Ambrose was lurking in an alcove, though he seemed more relaxed than he'd been at Winterscale's party. Ms. Devereaux had stopped in to hand Anika a dataslate full of readouts and sitreps from the encounter with the Reavers, and then retreated to deal with running the ship while the Captain was at dinner. The ship had been travelling near Ntharis, to take on supplies and attempt to bargain with the inhabitants, when a small battlegroup of pirate ships from the unbeholden reaches had dropped from warp on the edges of the system. They had been quite surprised to find a heavily armed light cruiser waiting for them, but showed no hesitation in attacking anyways. In a way, it was fortunate they'd been bloodthirsty enough to close within range of the Fist's heaviest weaponry. One of the ships had escaped, and Jonell had hulked the other two. One had crash-landed on the planet.

"What would you have done, in that spot?" Jonell asked Macharius when Anika got to the bit about the crash landing. "I could hardly leave the blaggards free reign, if any of them had survived the crash. I could have bombarded the crash site, but it seemed undiplomatic, hah! We ended up doing a flyover in some of the shuttles, looking for signs of movement. Couldn't spot anything. Might go back, see if there's anything valuable left that can be stripped out."

Galimina had, perhaps wisely, elected to stay behind. She said she wasn't ready to reveal her presence, yet. Ravia thought she might have been sulking, given the enthusiasm with which Jonell spoke of sending the pirates running. Part of her had been one, once. Whatever her reasons, she was still on the Sting. Similarly, though likely for different reasons, Remalia Brabazon had declined to come down and see any of them, remaining in her tower. She did return Echo's letter, though, writing about the warp routes they'd taken out to Ntharis and back, and some of the stranger things she had glimpsed in the distance of the Empyrean. Her letter went into greater detail than Echo's did, and she promised to write him again when she had another chance.