WH40K Rogue Trader: Blood and Bolters, IC Thread: Chapter 1 Reclaiming What is Ours Options

[Zyerne]

"Before the Sergeant does that Captain..." Ysabell broke in, looking from Lucius to Augustian then finally the armsman "..this would seem like a reasonable time to clear up a slight confusion from earlier. With your permission?"

[Drace]

Lucius looks over at Ysabell and nods his head. "Of course, what is on your mind?".

[Zyerne]

"Preventing confusion in the chain of command , particularly if we're going to be recruiting from the Navy. Put simply.. " she gave Augustian a wry smile "..we have too many Captains and aboard a Naval vessel that's a problem."

Ysabell paused to ensure both the Vorhees were following then plowed on.

"To make matters worse, you are both 'Captain Vorhees'. Fortunately, however, your cousin is not a Navy Captain which presents a simple solution as the Navy has a protocol for such situations. You would remain Captain Vorhees, your cousin would be given a courtesy promotion to Major, equivalent to my own rank of Lieutenant Commander."

She held up a hand to forestall any interuption, looking over to address Augustian directly.

"I realise you're technically retired from the Guard. However, I believe you are still entitled to your rank and whilst the Navy may not always show the greatest respect to the Guard.." again, she gave him a smile ".. I think you'll find it's rather more than you'd get as a civilian."
"I

[LurkerOutThere]

Sergent Grax does put in his two thrones at this point. "Beggin' your pardon commander but if the navy cadets don't get the chain of command as the captain lays it down there's always the lash or the airlock. I mean no disrespect and of course as captain you can name your staff to whatever rank you'd like, and designate whatever chain of command you like. But I read up a little bit on the DI, the library here has reams on it, and if there's one thing the clan-kin won't take kindly too it's naval style discipline. Of course that brings us back to the lash or the airlock. I guess what I'm saying is a lot of folks who sign on with a Rogue Trader, me and mine for example, do so because it's the only real chance at freedom we got. I think if you get too caught up on protocol you do that."

He grins his friendlies grin at all of you with a nod of respect to Ysabell and Lucius. "I guess that's one other disclaimer you should know about me and my squad, we're loyal killers thro' and thru but we're kinda opinionated gits. If you don't like that I'd rather know now so I can stay here. Secondly please don't hire and commisars or ex-commisars, getting the stains outa the carpets is terrible."

He looks to Lucious. "As you may of figured out what I did for your uncle is kill people, quiet or noisy, subtle or messy, it doesn't make no difference. You want a dapper gent or lass with polished buttons, shined boots, and the ability to balance a tray properly at a banquet I bet yer uncle can recommend some. You need someone killed or need a guard that will pull himself up a spear shaft he's impaled on to kill the bugger trying to kill you you want me' an mine. We don't work for Guard rates anymore, but we're still a bargain for what we do. I can explain more on that later if you like, we've got a long trip to wander even by ship's time."

[Drace]

Lucius looks over to sergeant Grax and gives him a vicious smile. "Now your the kind of people I want by my side here. Parade troops are nice and all, but I don't want some brat with polished buttons scared to get his uniform dirty. And I want all the 'higher' crew to be able to voice their thoughts, the command crew here, our heads of security"with that he motions to Grax and his team,"and the higher ranked officers.".

He then looks over to Ysabell and nods to them. "I standard military and navy structure will be the best for the officer corps perhaps, but in all honesty, you are both going to be having more responsibility than the titles you suggested." He seems to think it over for a moment before shrugging. "It seems that you Ysabell will be the helmsman or a similar title, honestly, you can choose it for all I care. Or you can go for first mate, since your going to be piloting the ship and have the most ship experience, it would make sense."

Turning his head over towards Augustian he smiles. "And for your rank cousin, honestly it doesn't matter what you want to use. Vizer, Chancellor, Seneschal, Major, aslong as it fits you and everyone is able to say it, it should be fine.".

He then looks at the rest of the group assembled that haven't already left. "All things told, like Grax said, these aren't going to be people that are going to listen to orders mindlessly as they are beaten and whipped, nor are those the crew we want. We want crew that will be loyal not because they fear the whip or we press ganged them in the mid of night, but because they are as dedicated to the ship as us. People who will work and fight for it because it is there home. If we are able to swing getting some naval officers to resign and sign up with us, we have to make sure to recruit those that mirror our crew's beliefs. Those that may be considered mavericks, that may go do thinks not by the book, those that actually give a damn about the crew below them. We want officers who will care about the ship and its crew, just as much as the crew care about the ship.".

With that he gives a quick cackle, "Or atleast as close to that perfect fit as we can get at short notice.".

[Zyerne]

Ysabell flashed Lucius a quick grin before replying. "As your newly appointed First Officer, crew requirements will fall under my purview. Your cousin and I are going to have to sit down and go through our crew requirements, decide what we're going to need now and what can wait if we can't find that perfect fit right away. Infact, Major.." Ysabell gave Augustian a quick glance "..I think we'll be spending quite a bit of time between now and our arrival at Port Wander working on the logistics of this little escapade."

She turned back to look in Grax's direction before continuing. "As to my earlier comments, they have far less to do with discipline or the chain of command as they do with clarity. I don't know if any of you have been on the command deck of a warship as she's headed into battle, it's one place where there's absolutely no room for confusion.

That said, we do need to consider the issue of discipline. I'd suggest appointing the sergeant here Master-at-Arms. I'm sure he's more than capable of dealing with any little issues that might occur."

[LurkerOutThere]

Towards nightfall the next day Alejandro meets you at the shuttle pad outside the family estates. Waiting on the launchpad is a military transport variant of the renowned Aquila Lander sporting house Vorhees Colors. As a last parting gift before your departure Alejandro presents Lucius with a Lord Captain's baton and Augustian with a less ornamental device. Both bear the house crest as well as the Divine Inspiration's name and launch date.
“The Divine has sophisticated cogitator circuitry on the bridge that may be in lock down waiting for the proper authority on the bridge. This will help you identify your authority to the ship itself. Baring that I would trust in your tech-priest to circumvent the system if he has to. These should also get you through any sealed doors on the vessel. Their gene-coded to our line. Incidentally Augustian that one was mine when I served as first mate and it does make me proud to see you take it up. I know you will take good care of it.”
With that he bids you farewell and your group plus Sgt. Granx's squad pile into the shuttle. It's design is sleek and efficient giving what would normally be private crew quarters over to increased seating and storage space so all of you can pile in with space to spare. The downside of this becomes apartent after Ysabell takes you out into orbit the hive's light dimming under an ever present layer of environmental pollution before you leave the atmosphere. It takes a little over an hour to reach where the merchant flotilla is waiting. As previously arranged Synthia sends a short range astropathic message to the flotilla and is responded back in kind with a berthing location on the flottila's flagship. Once your shuttle has nudged into dock aboard the much larger cargo ship you can disembark. According to protocol a bosun's mate and an honor guard are there to meet you along with Captain Teech. You can't help but note that this berthing seems mostly used by landers and shuttles in for overhaul or being scrapped for parts so it will see little traffic. Teech introduces himself politely clearly not wanting to offend representatives of his patron but quickly makes his apologies as the hours before departure are busy indeed. Sgt Granx proposes keeping half his squad detailed to watch the shuttle bay and the other half will either be sleeping or standing guard inside the door to your quarters common area.
Your quarters are adequate clearly selected for seclusion rather then luxury. They appear to be junior maintenance officers quarters a series of personal hab units just large enough to containt a bed and a desk/dresser around a communal area.
Activity on the ship reaches a fever pitch before the departure. It takes a little under a week to get to Scintilia's jump point. When the departue finally comes into the blackness of the warp it is suprisingly smooth save for the klaxon announcing the jump. The merchant navigator uses only the most well documented and well mapped warp routes (Mordechai is confident he could do the same journey in half the time with only slight chance of horrible warp born mishap.). On the plus side the passage is uneventfull save for some unsettling dreams on the final leg of your journey before approaching port wander. As arranged you load into the shuttle and depart without fanfare soon after crossing into the system itself. With two days travel to the Divine Inspiration the downside to this efficient transport becomes more apparent as you are now bunking in shifts in the shuttles sleeping area. Still other then Granx's squad all having a slight earthy tone to them that becomes aparent in the recycled air no matter how much they shower you make good time approaching the Divine Inspiration. As you approach Zacharais and Augstian mark out small craft flying patrols in the vacinity of the vessel. Zacharais adjusts the dial and suplicates the machine spirit to refine it's inquiries to confirm that they are mostly gun cutter class ships whose transponders identify them as flying for the Thousand Blades mercenary company. He also on long range scanners is able to identify two docking beacons on the Divine Inspiration. One is a launch bay near what you presume from the auspex is the barracks area. The other is closer to the hab units and appears to be an outward facing airlock with lamprey clamps. As Zacharais reflexively reads off the standard prayer of welcome played by both beacons Mordochai points out a hidden subtext in the one for the Hab areas indicating welcome to the heirs of House Vorhees in the house cant he had to master to access some of the Vorhees navigation charts.

You now have a choice on where to dock first. Ysabell is certain that by sticking to the surrounding debris field she can slip past the scout craft without them even being aware of your existence should you so choose.

OOC: I took the liberty of rolling some appropriate piloting and tech use tests for folks.

[agustaaquila]

"Well, as much as I would like the mercenaries to be behind us, the hab door is sending us a welcome message. I think that we should try and slip in unnoticed, as surprising the mercenaries will be beneficial. The code is not one easily faked, and so I think that is our best bet going in."

Mordechai has strapped a giant ax to his back, and those listening closely hear a slight clank of metal with each of his steps. He has changed back into his formal robes, and he seems to have relaxed since leaving orbit.

"Regardless, we should decide quickly as the longer we sit out here the higher our chance of detection becomes. I tire of waiting, and long for the navigator's chair again. It is so close that I can feel its cold metal embrace."

[Drace]

Lucius smiles at Mordechai and fingers the safety of his trusty, and much abused, plasma pistol to ready, ensuring the laser sight is properly secured to it and he has the spare plasma flasks on his person. Donning his greatcoat and strapping his powersword to his waist for easy access he looks over at the rest of the command cadre, a look of amusement on his face.

"I would have to agree with our navigators appraisal. Be best to have some allies before we try for the rest of the ship. What do you all say?". He then gives each of you a glance, looking for your opinions of the situation.

[Tanegar]

Hakkonen looks out a port at the looming starship, momentarily oblivious to the conversation. He begins to pray, his servo-skull chanting counterpoint in Techna-Lingua.

"Ave Machina. Blessed be the Omnissiah and His works. Blessed be the machines that empower His servants. Blessed be the weapons that bring death to His enemies. Blessed be the ships that bear His word, blessed be the Titans that are His fists, blessed be the tanks and the powered armor and the bolters and the lasguns. Blessed be cog and gear and circuit. Blessed be the Machine. Ave Machina! Hail the Machine!"

He bows his head and makes the sign of the cog over his breast, then turns to the assembled company. The Magos is wearing a bright red Selenite-pattern void suit bearing the skull-and-gear emblem of the Adeptus Mechanicus on the front of its torso; the same blazon adorns the back of the helmet slung from his hip. His Omnissian axe is slung across his back, and he carries a hellgun close to his body with the ease and familiarity of long use. A large case containing the remainder of Hakkonen's belongings dangles from a hook on the underside of the servo-skull.

"If Lord-cap-captain Alessaunder is confident in the authenti-ticity of the hab area beacon code, then I recommend we-we land there. It seems the best chance of linking up with the Vorhees per-personnel already aboard."

[LurkerOutThere]

Markus one of Granx's soldiers slips over to you and bows his head while waiting for Hakkonin s to finish your prayers. Once the tech-priest have done so and he judges it not rude to approach he proffers a dataslate, mindful of the ever present and slightly off servo skull. “Magos da sergent be wonderin' if you can put in the prayers to set up a command channel that all can vox to and and listen to but keep it seperate from the main. So we can do our grunt stuff and you can do your important people stuff without triping over each other, but all can talk on the main chan if you got something important to say to all.” He indicates the dataslate reverantly going through a prayer of tactical enlightenment to bring up his squads position and a augered layout of the shuttle. “Sergent also be wonderin if you wanted to plug the command cadre into the tac display, for when and if this goes pear shaped. In the guard we had the cogbo...errr tech priests to do this, so I apologize if this is below your magnificence.”

(Hakkonen's rolls)

[ Spoiler ]

If you choose to do so Hakkonen: Setting up the comm networks you rolled 50 on a ordinary test. So a pass. On setting up the tactical display you rolled a 30 on an challenging test indicating one degree of success. You may choose to have the tactical display work more effectively through jamming or interferance or take input from other sources in real time. (Operator input, personal augers).

Granx approaches the Lucius and Agustian. “How do you want to handle the deployment skipper? Since this is a supposedly friendly meeting I recommend we put you out in front flanked by the padre” he indicates Cornelius “....and the lady” he nods to Synthia. “The symbol of the faith usually garners a lot of respect in places like this, and if it doesn't we'll know we might have other problems. Myself and Mercer will take up the far flank. We've got some modified naval shotguns in addition to our las's the tech-priest probly shouldn't see em but they'll lay down a lot hate very quickly in an enclosed space, won't do more then scare the grox piss out of hard targets but anyone else will be mush.” He waves where the female member of his squad is doing checks and rites over the pintle mounted door gun. “I've put my girl Athena on the door gun to cover us and hold the way to our ride, she's the most level headed of all us not prone to panic or anything which is exactly what you want on that meat grinder in such an exposed space. I reckon if she calls to hit the deck you may want to give it some mind, incoming fire has the right of way regardless of rank an' all. Snappa' will bring up the rear of the command contingent, Bose will remain behind at the shuttle to help cover Athena. Did you have any changes you wanted to make?”




((Once final preperations have been made.

Ysabell's rolls))

[ Spoiler ]

Thank your lucky stars for small craft mastery, first roll was a straight 100, i'm starting to doubt the randomness of invisable castle as all three of my preceding rolls were in the high 90's. Sucks to be the NPC's and not have that ability. Second roll is a 40 which means you manage to make your complicated manuevers with style and finesse without anyone on the ship having to test willpower. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ysabell breathes deep at the control panel to the shuttle, all eyes are upon her now, better not screw this up. With a nod to the rest of the crew that they are ready and belted in she sets the small craft into a hard barn towards debri wall that through the outer hull looks like the remains of an ork ships armored prow. With grim patience she keeps the vessel on it's colision course until executing a series of controlled burns. The tiny craft actually impacts the ork trash hard enough to be felt through the ship and the scraping on the armored hull is somewhat unsuttling. But what's worse is the way it sends the view through the armorcrys spining and sets the grav plates thruming as they try and compensate for a “down” that is changing every few second. Ysabell pays the rapidly spining no mind instead settling herself to guide by auspex and some precalculated notes she's inputed on the display by the pilots chair. With precise timing she sets up a series of burns that slow and adjust your trajectory just slightly until as you almost impact the hull of the Divine near the port she sets hard burn behind a screen or wreckage floating near the area. The method to her madness becomes clear, to all but the mos dedicates auspex operator your craft would like like just one more piece of debris that impacted another and went spinning off in a new direction.

As the craft is nosed in to the docking position you can see through the forward armorcrys into a much smaller armorcry viewing port in the opposite hull. It's a large chamber appearing as a town square or mustering area catwalks run across it at each level of the upper decks allowing crossing between the quarters units up above. In the open space a group of 40 are gathered with two standard bearers holding house Vorhees banners on either side. Behind the orderly group there is what would perhaps be called a mob held in check by forms in security detail combat armor. The mood of the mob is easy to read at this distance their eager to see what's going on and the press they do towards the security officers is one of inquiry not aggression. The security officers though they are armed with naval shotguns keep them slung across their back truncheons in hand for only the truly bullheaded offenders. As the his of the pressurizing between the airlocks fills your ship and the chamber within the disciplined group is called to attention by an old hunched figure who appears to be leaning heavily on a command baton and even the mob falls silent. As the hatch the shuttle finally opens the leader figure nods to the man at his right who raises a ornate looking bosuns whistle to his lips. He trills out an ancient naval welcome tune that is said to predate the Great Crusade and calls out in a booming voice. “House Vorhees Ship and Crew of His Divine Intervention welcomes Captain Vorhees to his post.”

[Tanegar]

[OOC] I configure the tacnet to resist jamming and interference. I figure if we split up or get separated inside the ship, that should buy us some additional distance before bulkheads obstruct the signal beyond usability.

[IC] Hakkonen, never one to take unnecessary chances, walks down the Thunderhawk's ramp with his void suit sealed up and his hellgun close across his body; the weapon isn't exactly pointed at anyone, but it's clear from the red-suited techpriest's body language that he's alert for signs of potential violence. Surveying the crowd and seeing no immediate threat, he lowers his hellgun long enough to check the personal auspex clipped to his suit's left forearm¹. Detecting nothing dangerous in the atmosphere, he breaks his suit's seals with a hiss of equalizing pressure and raises the mirrored faceplate.

"No-no immediate threat," he voxes over the general channel.

Rolls:

[ Spoiler ]

¹Tech-Use 67 vs 70 (Intelligence 50 + Routine 20): Success

[Zyerne]

OOC:

[ Spoiler ]

Thank your lucky stars for small craft mastery, first roll was a straight 100, i'm starting to doubt the randomness of invisable castle as all three of my preceding rolls were in the high 90's. Sucks to be the NPC's and not have that ability. Second roll is a 40 which means you manage to make your complicated manuevers with style and finesse without anyone on the ship having to test willpower. smile.gif

She's currently a slightly better spacecraft pilot than flyer pilot but small craft mastery does make up for that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) There's also one of her precog powers she can use before any tricky manouvering.

IC:
Ysabell looked over her shoulder at Augustian and grinned as she entered some last minute instructions into the console in front of her.

"Did you need those sick bags Major?" she asked as she vacated the pilot's chair and straightened her uniform. "I wasn't sure if I was trying hard enough."

Once the seals had been cracked and people had readied their gear she took up postion behind Lucius ready to follow him over to the Inspiration, frowning slightly as she wondered what had possessed the Magos to go first. She imagined the Adeptus Mechanicus would be a little peeved if he managed to get himself killed.

[Drace]

Lucius goes to the front of the ramp and looks down at the Magos with a smirk and a shrug. What is done is done I guess..... he thinks to himself, and with the ship's Lord-Captain baton in his hand, struts down the ramp at a measured pace towards the waiting throng, and the rather old man who has led the welcoming party.

Stopping just short of the mass of people, Lucius walks over to the man leading the assembly and smiles warmly to him, his free hand firmly grasping the man's hand in a strong shake before he promptly puts his arm over the hunched figure's shoulder comradely. "Mind if I speak to the assembled crew before we get to the more formal introductions?", he whispers in the man's ear, the background noise from the crowd drowning out his words after a few inches. Lucius gives the man merely a moment to say anything, to be polite, before smiling and turning before the crowd, raising his hand in signal for the crowd to quiet down a bit more.

His voice soft and low at first, making the assembled crew and armsmen struggle and strain to hear him and having to focus their attention solely on him, he slowly raises his voice to a commanding and authoritative tone learned from years of being an officer on a naval ship. "Crew of the Divine Inspiration... Long have you been on this ship, cut off from the imperium at large, and from the Voorhes line. Long have you waited, rebuilding and repairing tirelessly, faithfully. Long have you stood your lonely vigil for the warrant, for the ship and for your own pride. But now is the time for you to cast off this burden, to stand down from your solitary vigil. The house of Voorhes has sent us to aid you, to assist and lead this ship and its dedicated crew, the families that keep the life-blood of this beautiful ship pumping and alive. Now is the time for us to rebuild together, to take to the stars once more, with pride and in search of glory, fame and to push back the boundaries of the dark with the light of the imperium. Together we will do this, for Voorhes, for the Imperium, for the God-emporer, and for THE DIVINE INSPIRATION!".

[PBTHHHHT]

Cornelius nodded as Lucius went down the ramp and spoke to the gathered crowd. It seems that it was a good choice for the shuttle to have landed in this bay from the initial outlook. Hopefully these are members who will be amongst the most loyal of House Vorhees. It'll be interesting in what will come in the inevitable dialogue with the mercenaries on the ship, hopefully a long term working relationship can be established with them and no bloodshed will occur. It would be a potential loss of a possible resource for spreading the light of the Emperor, especially when boots and guns are needed on a long lost planet.

Cornelius scans the crowd from the ship windows, seeking to imprint the faces of the individuals gathered into memory for future references.

[agustaaquila]

Back behind the heavy bolter, making no attempt to move at all, a dark cowled figure stands. Mordechai's eyes gleam through the darkness of the hood, looking out at the crowd. Mordechai remains still, not wanting to inflict the horrors that the warp has inflicted on his flesh upon other. He waits for the ceremony to end, watching the sheep that he will very soon shepard through the immaterium. No one can see the smile on Mordechai's face, but it would be dissettling to any who saw it.

[LurkerOutThere]

((Lucius tests 33 against his needed 68 so his speach is nice and successfull)

The old man shakes hands with Lucius and nods. "By your will Captain." stepping back to one side for Lucius to make his address. The crowd falls silent straining to hear his words, enraptured and remaining attentive as he grows louder and more animated. When he finishes his speech the crowd erupts in cheers even the disciplined officers loose some of their resolve after the old man who you recognize from the picts as mate Dray begins clapping solemnly, clearly pleased by the Captians words but working to keep his enthusiasm in check for the dignity of his office. The greater bulk of the crowd surges, the security detail finally letting them through rather then resort to hard violence to keep them back. The great mass of ratings and non officers moves around the more disciplined block of men and women in front of you falling to their knees and advancing prostrate. On the outer fringes of the crowd a woman thrusts up a baby towards Cornelius.
"Father, my baby, please bless him! He is sick with the rust lung and hasn't yet had the emperor's baptismal, I fear for his soul if it worsens."

An alert claxon sounds over the holds speakers filling it with a slightly echoing warble. The crowds mood changes quickly from celebration to one of waryness as the press of humanity starts to peddle away from the newcomers. Dray immediately takes order. "Section chiefs get your families back into their homes and barricade the door until the all clear is given. Walk with purpose for your Captain, he will deal with the cold men." As the peoples terror is given a name many flash the sign of the Aquilla bowing their heads in acknowledgment before quickly backing away. The woman who was begging for a blessing for her child remains and one of the ships security detail grabs her by the arm trying to drag her to her feet without upending the baby.
"The padre will protect me!" She almost shrieks a look of determination on her face as she shrugs him off coming to stand and looking at Cornelius hopefully. ""I will not have my baby denied the emperor's light."
Granx is there at Cornelius side protectively while Mercer keeps an eye on the rest of the group. Granx looks from the woman to the missionary while holding the muzzle of his shotgun pointed down as if asking instructions while he scans the outside area for targets.

Back at the shttule with it's greater view of the surroundings Mordechai and Athena can see side passages open in the back walls and upper decks of the hold discharging dark blue robed figures who clothing bears the heraldry of the Divine Inspiration in ancient somewhat worn thread. They move silently and efficiently locking in a formation as they advance on the quickly retreating crowd, the newcomer and Mate Dray and his son Mekkan who has remained behind.
"Possible hostiles sited, shall I splash 'em?" Asks Athena over the command channel.

"By your leave Captain, please follow me." Mutters Dray his son taking his arm to assist him move more quickly to an ancient cogitator bank built into what looks like it might have been a small fountain in happier times depicting the emperor in power armor gazing at the sky. Where Dray bends and unfolds a ancient pict screen and runeboard from it's housing the machine coughs and hums to life although it's display indicates it's in some kind of fautl. "Oh Cog spirits, why do you hate me now." Mutters Dray as he starts to fuss at it. As he folded the access housing out a small hole opens near the emperors feet that looks the right diameter for the base of a captains baton. In response to the presence of the aperture a spring loaded mechanism produces a small blade towards the head of the batons in Dray, Lucius and Augustian' possession as they come near. "We need to prove who you claim to be to the ship otherwise it thinks your intruders. For what it's worth i believe you and think you are who you claim, but we've had problems in the past. The cold men have dealt with it, but the crew fears them because there have been.....misunderstandings."

[Tanegar]

At the sight of the intruders, Hakkonen retreats into the cover of the Thunderhawk, bringing his hellgun to his shoulder with the unthinking quickness of the veteran soldier as he backs up the ramp in a half-crouch and goes to one knee beside Trooper Athena and her heavy bolter.

"Cold-cold men?" he asks under his breath, as if to himself. "Prove to the shi-ip..." His eyes suddenly widen in a burst of realization, and he grounds the butt of his hellgun on the deck of the Thunderhawk's bay. His fingers fly over the runes glowing on his auspex unit¹, causing data to scroll past on the display at a startling rate.

Rolls:

[ Spoiler ]

¹Tech-Use 21 vs 50 (2 degrees of success) to determine what the blue-robed figures (who I presume are meant to be the cold men) actually are.

[Drace]

Lucius nods to Dray quickly and places his Lord Captains baton into the slot that was opened up for him. As he does so he looks over at Dray and gives him a serious look.

"What is going on here? I need you to tell me EXACTLY what has been going on, what misunderstandings and why the klaxons are sounding.".

He states the last with a firm determination, his serious face giving no room for manoeuvring and no sense of forgiveness should Dray try to deceive him. As he puts the baton in, his hand goes to the side of his micro and he keys the channel for the whole team.

"No, hold and set to overwatch, wait for overt hostile actions first. I won't have first blood on our hands while we try to deal with this. If they draw weapons, we all wait and set for best use of cover. If they fire, we fire back with full prejudice, eliminating them to the extreme.". After he says this he puts his hand near the hilt of his plasma pistol and waits for the batons' codes to work its techno-magic.

[LurkerOutThere]

Hakkonen's auspex rapidly scrolls informtion to him. The cold men are servitors of a pattern it cannot identify but from the blades and stubbers concealed under their robes it's easy to deduce they are some form of combat or murder servitor. More evidence of the latter is given by the fact that they all show the signs of long term cryo freezing and indeed the cold seems to waft off them as they draw nearer explaining their name. While such servitors are often very simple machines behaving as their individual controling cogitator and remaining repurposed brain matter dictates these units seem to be acting in close concert. Acting on a hunch you identify a frequency they are being broadcast to and directed on in some advanced form of technolingua. You can surmise that the signal must be coming from some operator or truely massive and well programed cogitator deeper within the vessel. You could likely break in and force a stand down and return order if you can get the frequency right.

(I will need a Hard -20 Tech Use Test to break in an issue a stand down order. A successful Logic -10 test can stage it down to just -10. Failing the Tech-use test may have consequences depending on degree.)

As the Captain's Baton is inserted into the aperture the blade formerly recessed in the hilt begins to whir and spin menacingly as does a painful looking mechanism to seal the wound it makes. Dray turns to Lucius.

"The cold men are the ship murder servitors shortly after the battle with the orcs they went into a defensive mode which normally by their nature they are completely unsuited for. Despite everything i know about deployment and tactics for them they've shown admirable restraint even helping to keep the mercenaries in line. However occasionally a member of the crew or the mercs has been killed by them when they were out wandering alone outside the hab and barracks areas. Additionally about 20 years ago we had a ship dock claiming to be representatives of the vorhees. They left members of their party here in the hab units while the bulk of their force headed towards the bridge. I don't know what happened to the ursurper but I have a good guess. The servitors came into the hab units and started murderering all the newcomers and any members of the crew that were too close or unable to find cover before I could drive them away and force them to accept my command authority. Since then they have not come into this area, acknowledging my authority. They havn't started trying to kill us yet which means their curious about you. I suggest you prove your authority quickly cap'n

((I'll need a challenging willpower roll to press your flesh to the Command Baton and allow it to do it's grim work. You could try and convince someone else to do it with an intimidate or charm test depending on how you wish to word the request.))

The soldiers respond acknowledged to your orders. The cold men close the circle around you as the last of the crew exit this particular chamber moving into their dwellings. As they draw closer tightening the circle towards the fountain and the airlock you can feel the unnatural cold and see the cold men straining almost imperceptibly. Like hounds wanting off the leash.

[Tanegar]

Hakkonen works quickly to retune his vox unit to the ship's command channel, and begins emitting a squealing, clicking stream of Techna-Lingua into his micro-bead¹ as his servo-skull hovers nervously in the shadows of the Thunderhawk's bay. The little servitor's combi-tool clicks and whirs, betraying its machine spirit's agitation.

Rolls:

[ Spoiler ]

¹Logic 63 vs 40 (Intelligence 50 - Difficult 10): 2 degrees of failure
Tech-Use 15 vs 30 (Intelligence 50 - Hard 20): 1 degree of success

[PBTHHHHT]

Cornelius sighs at the situation. Not the most ideal of circumstances, but what is he but a servant of the Divine Emperor. What the Emperor wills. He nods to Granx and takes the woman to his side.

"What is your name and your child's name?" He begins the blessing while giving the proper annointment for a baptismal. All the while keeping attention to the unfolding events around them, particularly if the cold men begin attacking. Cornelius calmly during his ministrations also unlatches the straps with one hand for his chainsword so that it can be readily drawn and fired up.

[agustaaquila]

Mordechai moves calmly and efficiently to cover the Magos with the hand cannon that has appeared between the hands of the Navigator. The hood of the robe is back, and Mordechai's face has the calm of one who has seen many battles. Anyone looking at the Navigator's face quickly looks away, as the legends of what the third eye can do in combat come to mind.

[Drace]

Looking down at the whirling blade and its promise of excessive pain and possible mutilation, Lucius jumps up and raises his voice. "Holy shit ork scum!!! What the hell is that thing?". He looks over at Augustian accusingly. "What the hell was your father thinking when he put this in the damn thing rather than a simple needle? Was he crazy or just having a morbid string of ideas?".

He seems to calm down a bit, but is still hesitant to even put his hand near the spinning blade or the even more painful looking cauterizer. "Well isn't that thing messed up," he quickly looks over to the magos while priming his plasma pistol and power blade, "does it just need my blood or does it have to pierce my flesh itself?".

[Tanegar]

Hakkonen leaves the cover of the Thunderhawk, confident now that the murder servitors aren't going to slaughter them. As he approaches the statue of the Emperor with the Lord-captain's baton sticking out of its pedestal and the whirring blade promising painful mutilation, he scans the device with his auspex¹.

"I-I'm no Magos Biologis, but it does-does seem needlessly grisly. Alas, the machine's design-ign is obscure, and the details of its oper-peration are hidden from me."

Rolls:

[ Spoiler ]

¹Tech-Use 75 vs 50, 2 degrees of failure