After checking the whole area and the boarding vessel to be sure that the one that escaped really was gone, we begun to investigate the rooms on this level. Locked inside an ancient looking cryo chamber that, after some meddling with it Calvin managed to open, we found yet another specimen of these Xenos beings that had clearly been examined, researched, scrutinized and experimented on. Stocked away in another room there was a crate with Inquisitorial and Adeptus Mechanicus symbols on it. The contents inside revealed to be some kind of strange dish. It appeared to be some sort of transmission device as the techpriest tried to explain to us. He deemed it to be heretic technology (here-tech) and thus it needed to be destroyed. Throwing a frag grenade in the crate as he closed it up again made sure that the device was annihilated.
One of the computers on this level turned out to be the power control. After the power from the no longer useful cryo chamber was rerouted to the other computer, it came back to life. The techpriest managed to hook himself up to the terminal and commune with the machine spirit of the ship. It is very old, not as old as the one of the Vengeful Wrath. retrieve useful data. Apparently, the Rubicon was ordered to this exact location by Artizan Constructor Egan Hayer and when here and send a pulse wave probably with that here-tech dish that we destroyed, to specific coordinates. The rest of the message was encrypted and at that moment undecipherable but Calvin managed to get a copy onto his dataslate. The other devices that we found turned out to be an old coolant system and a strange device that Calvin could only figure out to be some kind of an amplificator, probably used in conjunction with the transmission dish. |
Once more, gunfire sounds rang through the ship from near the end of the hallway where the elevator was. Just a few moments later the investigation crew came back from the bridge. The Space Marines jumped down, looked at us, secured the place and urged to move out. They had encountered heavy resistance as well by the looks of it. As they passed by I noticed that Sergeant Lucius the Space Wolf Librarian was holding one of the Xenos psykers, it seemed to be alive. He was followed by Brother Nimro, the White Scars Apothecary, who was carrying Brother Loghan, the Dark Angel Tactical Marine. Closing up the line was Brother Quintus, the Blood Angels Tech Marine, who was hoisting a large peace of technology. None of the whole procession even had the decency to acknowledge us, except for Inquisitor Vindixus that is, who nodded and looked very pleased that the area was secure.
Again, I could overhear a quarrel between Vindixus and Torth. Apparently the Xenos knew inquisitor Torth from somewhere, something that he neglected to mention before this mission. Vindixus clearly felt that this must be reported. Instantly when we boarded the Assault Shark the arguing stopped. I noticed that Calvin was still carrying around that Xenos limb but hid it as we boarded. The Assault Shark disengaged and started to head back to the Vengeful Wrath. Midway through the crossing, a strange feeling and noise startled us all. The Xenos vessel that had attacked the Vengeful Wrath earlier and shot us out of the immaterium just popped back into existence spewing out a large amount of fighters.
Calvin hooked himself up to the ship in an attempt to help out the pilot and make the targeting system more accurate. Those of us still able to put up a fight manned the turrets and blasted away at the enemy ships. An epic space fight erupted. Some missile or las weapon managed to hit us and pushed us of course. As the ship righted itself and the gravity generator gradually kicked back in, we did our best to fight them of and managed to cripple or destroy some of them. It wasn't looking good as a second shot hit us in the tail.
The inquisitors started chanting litanies and as soon as our vessel managed to maneuver itself out of harm's way, barely, one of them yelled in the vox communicator: "Fire all weapons now!" The next moment alarms went off as the gigantic energy beams from the Vengeful Wrath's sheered over the Assault Shark shields to the point of overheating. The shot from the Vengeful Wrath's Lance weapon made a direct hit on the Xenos' main vessel and destroyed it. The small fighters scattered and tried to flee, being pursued by our fighters who shot them down one by one as fish in a barrel.
Ave Imperator. A spiritu dominatus, Domine, libra nos.
During our darkest hour, You watched over us and guided our hand.
Your Will is ever strong and we cannot fail in Your sight.
Bessed are thee for protecting us.
During our darkest hour, You watched over us and guided our hand.
Your Will is ever strong and we cannot fail in Your sight.
Bessed are thee for protecting us.
My first stop was the chapel for prayer and self contemplation. I saw Victus heading for the prisoners cells as I went to my quarters. After a nice hot shower, I started a report on the behavior of our group. There was too much that went wrong today. We might only consider ourselves lucky that we did not lose anyone today. Those who were badly hurt retreated to the medlab and Calvin disappeared to do some investigation.
About half an hour before the mission debriefing, I summoned the team to our quarters. I concluded that a little reprimanding was necessary. I wanted not to be too harsh on them and thus would only address some of the matters I wrote in my report. I vented my disappointment about the advance of the teamwork. It looked more like a set back how things unfolded on the Rubicon. As the meeting progressed, I almost lost my temper again. Emperor help me to control myself. It seemed that they do not see the gravity nor the consequences of their actions. We almost lost two members that day and it is intolerable. I could see their willingness to give their lives for the Emperor, but I'd rather have them alive and fighting for the Emperor. I managed to put my anger aside and realized that a compliment was due. Even though there were mistakes made, we all made it back alive and they all did put up a good fight.
Then there was the fact that Calvin took a Xenos biological and technological sample from the Rubicon and brought it onto the Vengeful Wrath. He seemed to be very defensive about this and reluctant to tell where the sample is now. I hope he doesn't stray from the righteous path.
After the debriefing Calvin took me aside as the rest left. The matter of the Xenos sample clearly was not over. He said: "I dislike you the least in this group so I'll put it nicely. Do not to try to inquire about the machine cult or come between a magos and a techpriest. Just for your well being and to keep you out of harms way in the future." Was that a threat? To go diplomatic about this, I assured him that I would respect his opinion and am in no way interested intruding in the machine cutl, but that the fact remained that bringing Xenos technology and biology onto our ship is not the way of the Ordo Hereticus, but that of the Ordo Xenos and he should remember which Ordos he belongs to. Surely our Inquisitor doesn't like someone getting an unhealthy interest in such a matter. About the arm, he mentioned that it is in the custody of the priesthood. I deduct he must have brought it to Magos Biologis Lazaks Pradesh I suppose.
The meeting started a bit strange. We had, from the moment we met them, a dislike for Torth's Cadre, and Torth himself. When we headed back to the Assault Shark at the end of the mission we overheard a quarrel between Vindixus and Torth. Again that was, as we did picked up on a similar bickering the moment we were first summoned by Vindixus on Scintilla. It seemed that Vindixus shared this feeling. But now we got a specific order from Vindixus to cease any investigation we were or would be conducting into Torth and his cadre. "We will get them in the long run." he said.
We shared the information we found out on the ship. About Artizan Constructor Egan Hayer's order that the Rubicon should head to that location and was to send a wave transmission from there to specific coordinates. After the cross referencing his name with the ship database there seemed to be nothing wrong with the Artizan Constructor himself. His area of expertise was communication devices. But what looked more interesting was that he used to be an acolyte of inquisitor Merl and that inquisitor, from the Ordo Xenos, was Excommunicate Traitoris. Rumors were that he was member of a militant sect within the ordos. Calvin gave all the information he found on that matter to Vindixus on a dataslate. Again, that warning from Vindixus: "Hmmm, this is good evidence. But again I must caution you again against this course of action. I'm quite sure that the inquisitor detailed in your information is a friend of liaison to Toth Rafael."
Victus mentioned that he noticed that when he went to check up on the prisoners, the witch psyker was missing her mutated arm, as it had never been there. In fact that she looked a bit different in general. When the guards were interrogated about the missing arm, all of them said that nothing out of the ordinary happened. They seemed sincere though. We all agreed with Vindixus that we would need to keep a close eye on her but as long as they are not escaping that there is no immediate threat. Victus wanted to investigate that some more after the meeting and went to questione her. She said that it had been liberated by "The Prophet" and that he would come to get us all, us, the corpse worshipping bastards. She threatened him and even told him that he would soon need her help. She knew Victus' name what freaked him out a bit. My personal opinion is that he should be more careful when dealing with or interrogating psykers. |
I felt it to be my duty to inform Vindixus about the interest in Xenos biology and technology of our techpriest. He commended me on my action to bring this to his attention, but assured me that this was not the only Xenos substance on this ship. That's an understatement. We saw Torth's cadre wielding Xenos weapons. Hell, they even retrieved Xenos technology and a living Xenos psyker from the Rubicon. Vindixus told me that the Magos has his own specific field of expertise and that we have members of the Ordo Xenos on board who have been issued sanctioned weapons with them. I could hear the irony in his voice. Furthermore he told me that indeed it was a troublesome sign, but as long as Calvin showed no personal interest in Xenos tech, he didn't mind. "It's not our alley." He said. "Let those degenerates handle that." I agree completely. We are Ordo Hereticus, not Xenos.
San Leor, Iocanthos and Gallilenus III. Was I not worthy to go there? After all, Iocanthos is the most famous training facility of the Sisterhood in the Calixis sector and the Battle Sisters of Iocanthos are revered as some of the most fearsome warriors in the Calixis sector. Or are there other reasons why she wouldn't have me visit those worlds?
The next thing made me feel honored though I'm not entirely sure it is yet deserved. We were on route to Iocanthos to pick up some Sisters Of Battle. Vindixus apparently wants me to be their leader, in due time that is. I'm not sure I'm cut out of the right wood, but if he sees that potential in me, I'll do anything to not fail him. To do so I would have to prove myself to the Sisters, something I only hope am able to accomplish, but not entirely sure yet how to fulfill. Was it not Sister Halina herself who kept me away from Calvin alone (Not known to the rest)
Interested in the Xenos arm he brought with him from the Rubicon, Calvin went back to the magos to question him about it. The magos was very interested in this subject and had already been examining it. He found out that the veins of the arm, in fact, could be used as a super insulator. When Calvin mentioned that when killed these aliens immediately froze solid, and shattered into pieces. The magos found this very interesting and wondered why this arm hadn't disintegrated. He deplored that Calvin didn't have the time to collect some of those shattered pieces for investigation. During his inquiries into the physiology of the Xenos, he came up with a better way to defeat them. The technicalities were even to complex for Calvin to understand but it had to do with wavelengths of las weapons that could be tweaked to resonate and penetrate the alien skin easier because of their inners of fire. In the time that remained on our trip to Iocanthos, Calvin stayed at the magos' lab to have his vox caster integrated in his head and those mechadendrites installed.
Interested in the Xenos arm he brought with him from the Rubicon, Calvin went back to the magos to question him about it. The magos was very interested in this subject and had already been examining it. He found out that the veins of the arm, in fact, could be used as a super insulator. When Calvin mentioned that when killed these aliens immediately froze solid, and shattered into pieces. The magos found this very interesting and wondered why this arm hadn't disintegrated. He deplored that Calvin didn't have the time to collect some of those shattered pieces for investigation. During his inquiries into the physiology of the Xenos, he came up with a better way to defeat them. The technicalities were even to complex for Calvin to understand but it had to do with wavelengths of las weapons that could be tweaked to resonate and penetrate the alien skin easier because of their inners of fire. In the time that remained on our trip to Iocanthos, Calvin stayed at the magos' lab to have his vox caster integrated in his head and those mechadendrites installed.