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[url="http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11588346&postcount=2"]Taking her eyes off the holo, she learns toward the engineseer and shows him the missive she had received. "The good lieutenant - while admirably dedicated to her duties - seems to be somewhat over-zealous in their execution. Perhaps you'd care to detail one of your subordinates to disengage the seals for Lt. Solarii?"
Victris glances over the message. "O-oh my, that's q-quite unnecessary. Those s-seals are hardly t-there to stop them, all they had t-to do was ask" he mutters, half to himself.
He looks pensive for a moment before turning back to the captain. "I-I'll send Enginseer Loghan to open the b-bulkheads for the lieutenant. He knows the a-appropriate rites and should be f-free".
Mikael heads back to the choir chamber. He notes the slight coolness as he enters the darkened area, but his psychic vision is perfectly capable of finding his way through the chambers to the choir.
"Any success?" he asked his second as he sat down.
"Thank you Enginseer," Anarette responds respectfully, before turning to the rest of the officers. "I imagine that we are done here," she tells them, "But anyone whose duties do not require them elsewhere are welcome to join me in the wardroom to continue any discussions. Somewhat more convivial surroundings," she says, not gesturing at the lurid wall hangings or referring directly to the over-loud music, but all of them and more run through her mind as she speaks.
Spoiler
I don't know if we need to RP the meeting. I figure it'll be part social, part shop-talk - discussing recent readiness figures, etc., while in the comfort due their exalted station. Or it could be any further discussion about the mission, if people have stuff to add.
Gabriel stood with the others, patiently and respectively, waiting for the Inquisitor to depart. At the Commander's request, he bowed his head in acknowledgement, waiting to follow.
Spoiler
More later ... limited on time right now.
__________________ Back to normal, I hope! Weekends/holidays remain catch-as-catch can ...
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
As you stand in the choir chambe. Silent save for the soft echo of the choir music on the ship's speakers and the slow flapping of Talon's wings you thrust your mind out through the Immaterium. Your thoughts bouyed up by the support of your fellow astropath's on board.
Your psychic essence slips throught the light years, bypasses suns and skirts ice shrouded gas giants before reaching the dead world and the mass of metal and plastcrete in distant orbit. There is no answering kindred spirit there. No fellow astropath to reach your thoughts. Only a faint echo of psychic sensentive in pain and extreme suffering
The Wardroom
The wardroom is quieter, several muffled layers of plaster over the speakers to drown out some of the music. A servitor stands ready, a tray with strong black recaf or light amber amsec as people desire.
Spoiler
Its up to you guys if you want to discuss the upcoming mission IC or not? If not I'll move rapidly onto your Warp exit and the fun that is crossing planetry systems. On the plus side the skittish ship (-1 speed in combat; -1d5 weeks in stellar travel) is pretty handy at that.
Mikael signals to the choir to cease. "My thanks, but it seems we will not be successful today. Please resume normal business, but keep me informed of any oddities."
The astropath reaches into his desk and withdraws a scroll of vellum, onto which he inscribes a report for the Lord-Inquisitor.
"Noble Lord Inquisitor, guardian of the Imperium of Man &c.,
I trust this missive finds you well in body, mind and spirits. My complements to you and to your staff on the fine dinner you furnished us with this night.
As I intimated, I have had the choir focussed solely upon communication with our destination for the last sev'ral hours, to no avail. While I can feel clear lines of communication al the way to the station and the ship there docked, there is no evidence of any Adeptus Astropathica awaiting communications - a situation that is extremely serious, although I am sure that I have no need to tell you that!
Even more disquieting, I felt the echos of the pain and suffering emanated by a psyker in great distress. What this means I cannot yet say, but I felt it meet to appraise your lordship promptly.
Regards &c
Mikael of the Adeptus Astropathica, Choirmaster, Sin of Pride"
Summoning a Cherubim, he instructed that the scroll be taken directly to the Inquisitor's secretary.
"Ah, m-my apologies captain, b-but I should really return to m-my duties. N-not to mention I have t-those reports to analyse" Victris stammers apologetically at Anarette's invitation, already rising to leave. "I-I'll be in the Sacred Hall s-should you need me further".
He makes his exit as quickly as good manners (or what he knows of them) allows, and makes his way down to the Sacred Hall of the Machine Spirit. After sending orders for Enginseer Loghan to open the bulkhead seals, he settles into his quarters and begins reading through the reports, searching for even the slightest hint of what sort of danger they might be travelling towards.
Spoiler
So Victris is going to go have a good read-through of all the bits and pieces of information they on the situation and try to come up with a hypothesis or two. Cross-referencing with the ships Librarium may happen as needed. Pretty sure Logic is the skill for that.
Logic (Int): (89+10) 99 vs. (1d100)[43]
If he comes up with anything worth mentioning, he'll relay it, worded as tentatively as possible, to the Captain and Inquisitor.
Once that's done, he'll try to find time in between his normal duties to fix that faulty Servo-Skull of his.
Tech Use (Int): (89+10) 99 vs. (1d100)[53]
And yes, he really does roll at 99 for Logic and Tech Use.
Next stop: every single Int based skill ever.
Gabriel wandered around the Wardroom for a few moments, contemplating any pictures or artwork that might be present. He sipped on a cup of hot recaf, nodding in appreciation. Once it became apparent that everyone who was coming was present, he turned his piercing, violet eyes to any others, then settled on Korvin.
"So, Commander, what do you think of this piece of business the Lord Inquisitor has place before us?"
__________________ Back to normal, I hope! Weekends/holidays remain catch-as-catch can ...
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
Holt Orthesian
Following the meal, Holt continues to the wardroom, finding a chair from which he can keep his eye on the door as well as the other occupants. Habitual distrust was not easily broken.
Sat in the Sacred Hall of the machine spirit. Banks of holofields projecting information on the real time ships functions. Hull temperature, fusion rate, auspex efficiency...
Through the glassteel windows he could view the massive Engine Hall. A full 800m long housing the intricate and near forgotten technology of warp drive. He watched the servitors, lesser Enginseer and voidsmen scurrying about like ants on the carcass of some sort of vast robotic beast.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tome
Spoiler
So Victris is going to go have a good read-through of all the bits and pieces of information they on the situation and try to come up with a hypothesis or two. Cross-referencing with the ships Librarium may happen as needed. Pretty sure Logic is the skill for that.
Logic (Int): (89+10) 99 vs. [roll0]
If he comes up with anything worth mentioning, he'll relay it, worded as tentatively as possible, to the Captain and Inquisitor.
Once that's done, he'll try to find time in between his normal duties to fix that faulty Servo-Skull of his.
Tech Use (Int): (89+10) 99 vs. [roll1]
And yes, he really does roll at 99 for Logic and Tech Use.
Next stop: every single Int based skill ever.
As Victris works on constructing a hypothesis for the situation he looks at it from every angle. As he thinks his mechandtries probe and dissect parts of the servo skull, reprogramming its cherubium attack protocols that it seems to have developed. A look towards the hull of the ship- maybe it was affected by a pin-prick leak in the Geller field?
Mental commands clicked and whirred as his cyber enhanced brain and mental acuity cogitators clicked and work leaving 2 hypotheses.
1. The astropaths are dead. The orbital has been destroyed, Xenos have attacked- most likely the original owners of the planet.
2. There is a conspiracy organised between the General and the Arch-Magii of the expedition. THey are now heretics and have killed the astropaths. 3. A warp storm has cut them off. This idea being shelved as he feels the smooth running of the ship. They are surely not near any warp storms.
Mikhael Deep in the choir chamber in a dim light with mournful funereal dirges echoing around the vaulted hall.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by rb780nm
Spoiler
Just incase there;s some sort of clue or warning in that...
Forbidden Lore (Psykers) [roll0]
Forbidden Lore (Warp) [roll1]
vs 47
Deep in the choir chamber Mikhael ponders on the sensations. Confusion, fear, terror, pain, hurt. Not all of them good. While he doesn't think they are echoes in the warp its possible that they could have been the soulful death scream of an Astropath. Either on the Hippocrasion Agglomeration or on of the two Goliath Cloudmining vessls.
If it wasn't a death scream, it didn't bode well. It either meant that had someone had pushed an astropath beyond breaking and shattered the individuals body and soul- or more terrifying- an unsanctioned nascent psyker was present near Morwen VI. Easy prey for warp entities to use, break and rip a hole form the chaos of the immaterium into our realm. In many ways better one broken soul, than a risk to millions.
The Wardroom.
As the Lady Captain, Holt and the Confessor gather in the immaculate and quieter small meeting room Holt's small personal auspex beeps and his microbead chirps to life in his ear.
Spoiler
Master Holt, Forward section. There are reports of gunfire between Lt. Solarii's security team and heretical factions within the Torpedo tube.
"It's hard to say, Gabriel," Anarette replies to the priest, relaxing into a bit of informality in the more comfortable confines of the officers' wardroom. "We just don't know enough yet - we could find ourselves facing xenos, recidivists, or even just some unforseen warp phenomena."
She gives a rueful sigh, then continues, "Going in blind is certainly not my favored approach, but I suppose that the tasks set to His most holy Inquisition carry with them tribulations in proportion to their necessity."
Mikael composes an addendum to his report, listing his impressions of the phenomenon and his hypotheses about its causes. He has it sent to the Lord-Inquisitor.
He then opens a vox channel to the senior crew.
++I have attempted to contact Morwen, with no success. Instead I felt a great disturbance in the warp - it may have the death scream of one of the astropaths, or perhaps one of them was being tortured beyond their breaking point. Another possibility is that this was an unsanctioned psyker of some sort...++
Holt holds his hand up to his ear to block out outside noise that might interfere with the reports coming into his microbead.
"How long ago did they enter, in what numbers, and do we have ears on their transmissions?" Holt demands of his agent, as he checks his auspex.
"M'lady, excuse the interruption however it appears there is a firefight currently underway in the forward torpedo tubes between heretics and a security team, I am attempting to gather more information now."
"It seems Lt. Solarii found something after all," Anarette muses. "She was sending a team to that area to investigate several disappearances among the crew in the past few days," she adds by way of explanation to the others.
"I must admit that having heretics so close to our munitions stores concerns me." She taps her own micro-bead, opening a vox-channel. "Colonel Wolfe, Commander Korvin. One of Lt. Solarii's security teams has made contact with enemy forces in the vicinity of the torpedo bays. I mislike having them there - please assign some more squads to the area to serve as reserves or support, as needed. Do not weaken our strength elsewhere overmuch, either - where there is one group of heretics there may well be more." Tapping the bead again, she contacts the Enginseer Prime. "Master Victris, Commander Korvin. Apologies for disturbing you at your work, but Lt. Solarii has indeed found trouble in the torpedo bays. Please have some of your tech-priests available, so that as soon as the opposition is dealt with, they can go through the area to ensure that none of our weapons have been compromised."
Gabriel nodded at the Korvin's assessment, then paused slightly as the Master of Whispers spoke into his microbead. Waiting, he frowned as the discussion turned to reports of heretics in the torpedo tubes.
Lady Captain, I am sure you have considered this, but the Inquisitor may not see this as a coincidental occurance as we make for Morwen IV. If it is not out of order, I would suggest you approach the subject delicately, but thoroughly. If there is anything you need, I am at your command."
Bowing, Gabriel turned silent as he stared unwaveringly at the Commander, waiting.
__________________ Back to normal, I hope! Weekends/holidays remain catch-as-catch can ...
DM: "Why do you have so many characters?"
Me: "Because I never embraced the strategic value of running away."
"That selfsame thought is foremost in my own mind," Anarette admits. "And my thoughts mirror yours. But somewhat inconveniently for us at the moment, the Warp Guide has steered us a superb course through the Immaterium, and we shall be arriving at Morwen too soon to be as thorough I should like," she continues with a rueful sigh.
"The battle against heresy in the shadows lies in Master Orthesian's writ," Anarette says to Gabriel, "And those so tainted avoid the Emperor's light. But for all that, if this group is not an isolated one your subordinate clerics may have some knowledge that could aid us, even if they do not know that they know something of import. In the hours remaining until we arrive at Morwen, reach out to them and see what you may discover."
"But hold a moment," she adds, before the Ship's Confessor has a chance to leave. "Let us see what more Master Orthesian can give us first."
"How long ago did they enter, in what numbers, and do we have ears on their transmissions?" "M'lady, excuse the interruption however it appears there is a firefight currently underway in the forward torpedo tubes between heretics and a security team, I am attempting to gather more information now."
The micro bead explodes in noise as what sounds ike a thousand shrieking souls echo over thevox. The agent on the other end screaming incoherently DAEMONS, HE'S UNLEASHED DAEMONS, MY EYES!. In the backgrouns more gunfire and heavy thuds of bodies slamming into walls...
Rising from the table, Lamar stated Captain, I shall return to the bridge to finish the watch. The long walk back was quicker and far more peaceful on the way back than it was going to dinner, but by the time he made it onto the bridge, a bridge lieutenant greeted him with a small book of reports missed during the senior officer's dinner. amasec still slightly in his system, he ascended the command pulpit scanning the reports, noting if any had enough significance to be sent directly to the commander.
the vox crackled on "Colonel Wolfe, one of Lt. Solarii's security teams has made contact with enemy forces in the vicinity of the torpedo bays. I mislike having them there - please assign some more squads to the area to serve as reserves or support, as needed. Do not weaken our strength elsewhere overmuch, either - where there is one group of heretics there may well be more." Lamar rifled through the scrolls until he got to the relevant report, damning these scrolls' inferiority under dataslates and issued commands for two additional armsmen crews to be redirected.
Lamar replied back
++Lady-Captain, two additional crews have been redirected, eta next bells++
++Mr Holt, it is probably nothing, but if there truly are deamons in the firing tube, then the shipboard defense team will require some psyker backup. I will dispatch my second to aid them, with your permission?++ Mikael voxes from his seat in the Choir chamber.
"M'lady, apparently someone has allowed daemons access to the ship. I recommend sending a containment team and possibly one of the ships compliment of astropaths to the entrance of the torpedo tube."
Anarette looks over sharply at the Master of Whispers. "Confirm the presence of daemons, please," she orders. As if they did not have enough problems already. But warp travel was unnerving even to experienced spacers, and a word from an already-nervous crewman would be best verified... and besides, the torpedo bays would be getting crowded already, with the teams she had already sent forward. "Have the teams prepare, but don't move them until you have confirmation," she concludes.
Holt nods at the Commander's orders, and begins speaking into his microbead again. "Confirm previous transmission, I repeat, confirm previous transmission." Damn fool should have known better than to broadcast that, we have code words for a reason. Do I have to reissue the code book?
As the sounds of gunfire and the cries of the wounded echo over the microbead you hear the enforcer whisper into his comms "Apologies Master Holt, there were no demons. Master Drake expereinced some strange psychic event. Proceeding to eliminate heretics"
Over the wide band command channel from the central security centre.
Spoiler
Enforcement team under fire. Colonel Wolfe's reserve teams will be on site in 7 minutes. Reserve teams activating and arming in case more are required.
Holt sighs in annoyance upon receiving word that his agent is a fool."Understood, keep me informed." He cuts his transmission to address the commander. "M'lady, apparently Iacton experienced some slight difficulties in the use of his abilities and caused his companions to experience some... disturbing visions. Fortunately, he did not actually cause a tear in the warp. Normal security measures should be sufficient at this time. I will notify you if the situation changes"
"Thank you, Master Orthesian," Anarette replies. "And I have another task for you, once this incident is resolved. The area near the torpedo bays was brought to our attention due to several disappearances in the section, sixteen in three days." She focused her attention on Holt, then continued, "In case this group is not acting alone, I would like you to see if any other sections of the Sin of Pride have suffered unexplained disappearances of late in numbers few enough that they would not otherwise draw attention. I would know whether the disappearances are part of a larger pattern."
That said, she considers the image of the cruiser projected by the small hololith in the wardroom, considering further measures and weighing the disruption they would cause against the need to ensure that any heretical activity was quickly extinguished.
The 14 hours of warp travel had been anything if not eventful. The uprising in the forward torpedo tubes had been suppressed, though not without cost and some damage. But it had not deterred the Sin or the mission at hand.
Lady Captain. We are here. Prepare to re-enter the Imperium - the navigators voice crackling over the command channel. The ship crackled, kilometre long arcs of lightning rolling up and down the hexegrammatic wards of the ship's hull. Shuddering deckplates, screams that clawed at the very soul of the crew and howling pillars of plasma from the fusion reactors announce the return to real space.
Crashing into the Morwen System auger arrays crackle into life, vast beams of scanning radiation sweeping across 20-30 void units searching for planetary bodies ships or anything else. Gazing through the bridge vision ports all you can see is the faint glimmer of the Morwen star at the heart of the solar system and vast clouds of pink-red nebula gases rising from the Adrantis nebula that gives its name to the sub-sector...
As the ship's system reassert themselves into Normal space mode reports began flooding into Colonel Wolfe... auger array functioning at 88% nominal... fusion drive at 67%... void shields online.... slowly systems ticking up until all are online and functioning within acceptable parameters.
The Morwen System
Spoiler
The bright dot in the bottom left is Morwen VI with the Hippocrasian Agglomeration in Orbit. The Sin of Pride has entered from the top right. The massive hook is a cloud of nebula dust thrown up by the Adrantis Swirl
Spoiler
As you see I'm also assuming that the DH team won't blow the ship up
Please feel free to resume posting. I'll assume in the previous 14 hours that all the senior staff had a wee sleep as well! People can start plotting some Navigation (Stellar) checks and doing some auger sweeps should they so wish. Or you can leave it to the crew!
If you wish to post anything further in the Dark Heresy Thread relating to the previous 14 hours then do in a spoiler tag in that thread as your voice over the Vox.
E.g.
Iacton does some stuff- no doubt trying to kill the rest of acolytes with his funky psychic stuff.
Lady Korvin
Spoiler
She calls hime to request Please desist from summoning demons onto my ship
"Well, here we are, Colonel," Anarette says after the slight nausea that always come with the warp translation has passed. "Now let us discover why we are here. Keep me apprised of what the augers turn up," she continues, trusting Lamar with the task and turning her mind to the myriad other concerns that come with commanding a ship the size of the Sin of Pride.
Spoiler
I think our Void Master's the only one with either Scrutiny or Navigation (Stellar), so it's all up to you, phiris. The Captain will be granting an Exceptional Leader bonus to whatever, preferably Active Augury.
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Re: The Sin of Pride IC
Or it could be any further discussion about the mission, if people have stuff to add.
