Our days on Scintilla are over. Being topside again makes me feel a lot better already. After spending several months in the depths of a hive city, I felt my soul dying bit by bit. Seeing the open sky and feeling wind and sun on my skin boosts my spirit. I need to be able to see the stars in the night sky. A servitor drove us to the Scintilla space port, where a Valkyrie was waiting to bring us to "The Vengeful Wrath". The landing bay where we boarded our transport, a squadron of Scions were also boarding transports. Good to know that the Imperial Guard Finest are also going to be aboard "The Vengeful Wrath".
No sooner were we strapped in as the massive force of the engines pushed us back into our seats. Just for a short minute that was, until we encountered the peaceful zero gravity feeling of space. A million stars could be seen as soon as we entered the dark void of space. Their shimmer were a brilliant background and it took me a while before I could distinguish, although it is a massive 5 km long, the completely black shape of magnificent "The Vengeful Wrath", our home for the duration of our next mission.
We boarded the ship and were led to the bridge where we were met by the core crew.
- Lord-Captain : Ermund Skarbeck
- Flag-Lieutenant: Ezikiel Haizel
- Astropath: Melisande Vlastimir
- Battle Captain Hyrkanos of the Adeptus Astartes Deathwatch
- Commisar Vasilius Crux of the Tempestus Scions
- Magos Biologis Lazaks Pradesh
- Enginseer Malekkus
- Wing commander Elias Storm
Also Rafael was there of course, as were his "pets". I'll try to keep my dislike to them to myself, having no interest to pop up on their radar and being the center of their scrutiny.
After the mandatory protocol meeting we made it to our quarters. Conveniently located across the hallway where our "charges" are being held. Just to make sure who we were dealing with, we had already received info on them in the transmission that Vindixus did sent us, we went to have a look at the three unsanctioned psykers that we would have to keep an eye on.
After the mandatory protocol meeting we made it to our quarters. Conveniently located across the hallway where our "charges" are being held. Just to make sure who we were dealing with, we had already received info on them in the transmission that Vindixus did sent us, we went to have a look at the three unsanctioned psykers that we would have to keep an eye on.
Inside the large holding area along a large walkway were separate pits where the psykers were held. They are suspended in some kind of a field held in place by strange generators. I could only presume that those things were some kind of inhibitor field to keep them from using their psychic powers.
After we did put all our info together on psykers, we each ventured out to mingle with the crew of the ship, or at least try to. I don't know how it went with the others, but it seemed to me that most of the crew was not willing to speak to the "new guys". Anyway, I was happy to be on my own for a while, so I went to the only place where I could come to peace completely, the on-board chapel. Apparently there were no priests, or in fact anyone from the ecclesiarchy on the ship. But the silence and solitude in the chapel, only disturbed by the rhythmic hum of the engines, was soothing and gave me the time to collect my thoughts on the events on Scintilla and the task or mission at hand. As always, I felt rejuvenated after praying to the Emperor and the saints.
With my mind calmed and sorted out, everything was much clearer. I figured that in a administrative nightmarish place like a space ship, it's best to start filing for anything you might need as soon as possible. I wanted to have the Heretic log of the captain of the Octavius stored safely in the vaults of the ship, I handed the book over to Inquisitor Vindixus. Meanwhile I applied for a clearance to use the libraries aboard the Vengeful Wrath and I filled out and filed the necessary forms to apply for better gear. Better do it now as you never know how long those things might take before they are approved.
It seemed that everyone of us was trying to find his own way in the ship. A good thing I guessed, although I feared that being apart from each other for a prolonged time might diminish the synergy that we had going on after our mission on Scintilla. It would be bad if the team spirit would fade and the reliability of the group would surely suffer from that. I'm not sure if was just my imagination, but some of us started to act differently. Surely it was only the change of environment.
Vindixus summoned us to his inner sanctum. He wanted us to have some of the items left from his previous group of acolytes: dataslates for all of us, a Vox-caster for Octavious, a mesh cowl with infrared goggles and a gasmask for Ragaa, a grenade launcher add-on for a rifle for Fylan, a psyho-monocle for Victus and a Baptismal Promethian Mace for me.
We have entered the Warp by now and are on our way to Iocanthos. It is a strange feeling I think I will never be able to get used to. The moment the Gellar field kicks in to create the bubble of real space around the ship, it feels like it dulls the senses and it's quite disorientating. But that's not the worst. After that comes the breach into the Immaterium. Although the Gellar field dulls everything, the transit to the immaterium messes with your head and senses. It sounds like a million voices screaming, as if being ripped from their bodies, faintly in the back of your head. My stomach turns every single time I make a jump and it takes me at least a few hours to get a hold of myself.
Calvin's investigation (Only known to him)
Trying to find out more information about the psykers in the databases of the ship, Calvin managed to bypass some of the security and found himself some old documents on the ship itself. Apparently, the ship itself, build on Mars, is thousands of years old and has seen many battles before it changed hands to the Inquisition. The ship itself is run by an sentient entity that some times get out of control and starts shooting on its own. But, those "mishaps", when investigated, are no mistakes. All of the time, the ship was in its right to open fire according to the rules and laws it was built for, addressing those dangers. More disturbing is that the ship is angry about the fact that humans came to worship the Emperor as a God, where the ship itself was taught to believe that the Emperor never wished to be worshiped as a God and in fact is no God, but is a human and a psyker. That's another reason why the ship spirit is angry. It now is being used to transport captured psykers to the Golden Throne Of Terra to keep the Emperor Alive.
Trying to find out more information about the psykers in the databases of the ship, Calvin managed to bypass some of the security and found himself some old documents on the ship itself. Apparently, the ship itself, build on Mars, is thousands of years old and has seen many battles before it changed hands to the Inquisition. The ship itself is run by an sentient entity that some times get out of control and starts shooting on its own. But, those "mishaps", when investigated, are no mistakes. All of the time, the ship was in its right to open fire according to the rules and laws it was built for, addressing those dangers. More disturbing is that the ship is angry about the fact that humans came to worship the Emperor as a God, where the ship itself was taught to believe that the Emperor never wished to be worshiped as a God and in fact is no God, but is a human and a psyker. That's another reason why the ship spirit is angry. It now is being used to transport captured psykers to the Golden Throne Of Terra to keep the Emperor Alive.
Victus tests out his newly acquired tool to see if the monocle he got works. Looking through the eyepieces he finds out that around the psykers, there is a feint blur of the Warp hanging around them, badly hampered by the effect of the psy-nullifier devices active in the ship of course. Judging by the size of the handbook that came with the device, I think he will have to spend a lot of time to actually learn how to operate it. |
Using my dataslate, I updated and completed my information on the Sisters that we are to pick up from Iocanthos. The Abbey of the Dawn is the Adepta Sororitas' main training facility in the Calixis Sector. A spectacular fortress of pale yellow ouslite built into the knife-like slopes of a dark flint mountain, the abbey is the most secure place on Iocanthos. The abbey is run by Canoness Goneril, who leads the Lesser Ordos Famulous of the Opening Eye. The Opening Eye’s purpose is to offer counsel to the Calixis Sector’s powerful noble families. The Abbey of the Dawn is also home to a Mission of Sisters of Battle from the Order of the Ebon Chalice, based on Terra. Their duties include maintaining the Sororitas honour guard at the Cathedral of Illumination on Scintilla and guarding important Ecclesiarchy Adepts who visit the Calixis Sector. Though they number only around fifty, Rhiannon’s Sisters of the Ebon Chalice are the most elite and dedicated mortal troops in the Calixis Sector. |
It is with mixed feelings that I looked forward to meet the Sisters from Iocanthos. It is the most famous training facility of the Sisterhood in the Calixix sector and yet, I've never even visited the site. It was only when some years after Sister Halina recruited me within the Ordos Adepta Sororitas, that I found out that my roots lay on the sacred world of San Leor, the birthplace of the Adepta Sororitas. I've been joining Halina on almost all of her travels throughout the galaxy, except for a handful of times after I came into her service. Now that I think of it, the only times I didn't accompany her were once to Terra, to San Leor, to Iocanthos and to Gallilenus III. Was I not worthy to go there? Or are there other reasons why she wouldn't have me visit those worlds? Come to think of it, they are all closely related to the Inquisition...
The first nights I slept like a log. But lately I'm was not sleeping very well. I saw strange things, like weeping walls, droplets of blood on my mirror, moving shadows in hallways, but whenever I looked closer or wanted to investigate they were gone. When I confronted my fellow acolytes about it, it seemed that I was not the only one having those strange visions.
Wandering of Fylan. (Only known to him) While venturing through the ship to find the armory to have his grenade launcher attached to his rifle, Fylan comes to a door that is blocked. Trying to find a way around to get to the armory, he quickly found himself lost in the ship when he heard some strange whispers in a weird language. They kinda sounded like a Xenos language. As he approached the door, baring a unknown inquisitorial sign, it opened with a hiss. Being quite inquisitive, he entered the room to investigate. The mumbling in the room continued. In the center of the room stood a glass bowl with a Xenos hand, partially cybernetic, inside it. As he approached the doors at the end or the room, he wanted to enter the right one but as he was about to open it, the left one opene d up. Inside he saw a simple round table with a strange alien looking thing on it. Meanwhile the whispering continued, coming from the right door. As he tried to understand what it was saying, it changed from Xenos language to Gothic. "Who's there? There is somebody there. Yes, come closer, come inside. I want to see. It's not a she it's a he." And then it went on in Xenos again. Not wanting to back away, he opened the door. What he saw inside struck him with fear and he collapsed to the floor. Some time later, a servitor entered the room and dragged him out of the room with the creature. When he woke up, he finally found the way to the armory and got his grenade launcher mounted. |
The days aboard a space ship in transit are always boring. With everyone attending to their duties, the days seem to flow into one another.