Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)

[DM B]

@Gaius & Scourge: Gaius hurries outside to rejoin his band, taking care to keep the ship between him and the enemy titan. A much as he'd like to stay on the ship it simply isn't wise - it could quickly become nothing more than a flaming tomb.

[DM B]

@Azrael: Has now interfaced with the ship and has a good overview of its general condition, its capabilities, etc.

[LordPsycho]

Inside the Ship

Azrael has found a new data shrine and is now interfaced with the ship.

Usher, Habem and Tonk are in position.
The three Spiders are worried to run out of ammo soon.
Strange noises can be heard some time along the corridors.


Outside the ship

Derryck and Hrothgar receive a coded message from the Ravenwing.

"Five minutes before joining the battle zone. Xenos construct identified on an elevated position. Situation ?"


Inside Kasr Hemshin

Interrogator Nemus d'Agoria supervises camp dismantling. The civilians are slow to prepare and will probably be even slower to move.

The Manticores led by Sergeant Malavida bring additional resources from above in the Spire.

"Sergeant, we just received a new message from Inquisitor Maegon. He should be able to join our current position in approximately two hours. You will leave in an hour with your men and a first group of civilians. The second group will leave twenty minutes later, with half the Spiders. Jethro, prepare to go with them. The last group will depart twenty minutes more later. I'll wait for the Inquisitor, then we'll catch up."

At the same time, Oshgor moves down the Spire to secure the way out. Better avoid surprises that could delay the Inquisitor's retinue.

[Dragon Lord]

With Yelena

Yelena goggled slightly at the charts, "Oh my, erm, why thank you thank you Elder, but will the armoury not be very well guarded?"
After she recovered her wits slightly she added, "There doesn't seem to be much love lost between you and this Xerxes.  I presume he is the Emperor's Child we saw stalking amongst the repair teams?"

With Derryck

Derryck and Hrothgar receive a coded message from the Ravenwing.

"Five minutes before joining the battle zone. Xenos construct identified on an elevated position.  Situation ?"

"You have impeccable timing sir.  We have two teams, one with me in the voidship and one amongst the ruins.  We were able to commandeer one of the ship's turrets to deal with one of the xenos constructs, however that turret has now been destroyed by the second construct.  My team is moving to try and secure a second turret while our team outside is mopping up the crew of the first construct and attempting to stay out of sight of the second.  Our team in the ruins has a number of snipers who can co-ordinate targetting information."

With Azrael

Azrael and the Necromundans almost stumbled across a small room marked with the symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus.  It would have been a small shrine to the Omnissiah for any Mechanicum personnel on the ship, but most importantly it would contain a data shrine with high level access to the ship's systems, and was in a discreet location.  It was just the thing they were looking for.

Once they were inside Azrael turned to the Spiders.

"With the identity codes I recovered from the servitor I can fool the ship into thinking that I am one of it's security programs, but that won't last for ever, eventually it will work out that I am not what I seem to be.  I need to take advantage of the period of weakness and try to gain control of the murder servitors, or at least deactivate them.  This will not be easy however.  I am going to connect Sam with me to provide additional processing power, and I will set up the same safe-guards as before, but one of you will need to keep an eye on me as well."

"You will be able to monitor my status with this," Azrael said handing Usher a small device, "My incorporeal self can shrug off far more damage than my physical self, but dead is dead.  Injuries sustained to my incorporeal self will present as psychosomatic nose-bleeds in the first instance, followed by convulsions if things become more serious.  Do you understand?"

Usher nodded his affirmative.

"Good.  In all likelihood should things get to that point our fate will already be sealed in any case, as if the ship sees through my disguise the servitors will begin to converge on our location.  So only disconnect me if you feel there is still a chance of escape.  If you need assistance in holding back the servitors you can disconnect Sam, who will follow your commands."

With that Azrael linked himself up to the Grid, along with Sam.  Once again he emerged into the corridor of doors.  Sam did not have a separate presence on the Grid, instead the additional processing power the servitor provided was tied directly into Azrael's own presence, making his anthropomorphic actualisation bulkier and stronger than usual.

There were other subtle differences about Azrael's appearance as well.  Since he was expecting trouble this time he held a more martial aspect.  Rather than ending in his usual heavy boots his legs now appeared more like those of a canine (or indeed a warhound titan), designed for quick changes in direction and short bursts of speed.  Similarly rather their usual array of multi-purpose attachments all of his mechadendrites were weaponised.

The ship however would not be able to see any this, at least not at present.  Thanks to the identity codes scavenged from the murder servitor, to the ship he would appear as one of its own security programs.

mimicking the behaviour of a security program, he moved purposefully toward the door that would lead to the security systems, including control of the murder servitors.

[OOC: Decided to break it there]

[DM B]

OOC: Du to a general lack of posting/progression I'm moving things forward a bit to see if we can reignite interest.


@Yelena: "Indeed he is. An ancient warrior of the Emperor's Children he is. Terrible in battle. But you misinterpret my feelings. I am quite fond of him. He saved this ship and its crew form certain destruction long - and has kept us safe, prosperous even ever since. He is intensely loyal to those he has placed under his protection. I wouldn't call it love, but it is certainly affection. Loyalty."

He shakes his head sadly. "I cannot say that for the daemon that followed him here. The two of them are somehow linked I believe. It took abode in the warp core and subtly started to subvert my clansmen. Slowly but surely they became convinced it was the sum total of the spirits of our hallowed ancestors. Which IS true, after a fashion, since I believe it has readily consumed the souls of my fellow loremasters. I alone have eluded its deadly grasp and retained enough of my sanity to conclude that if we are to be rid of the daemon we must be rid of Xerxzes also."

His eyes become cunning. "Which is why we should offer him up to the Ner'gal. He did something to them, long before he came among us, and they hate him for it. Give Xerxzes to the Xenos and we'll be rid of both them and the daemon." Realizing Yelena might not be all that familiar with daemons he adds. "A daemon is a wicked spirit of the warp. No good can come from associating with it. If we do not get rid of it, it will haunt this ship forever. So what better way to avoid this than to give its preferred host to the xenos?"

@The second titan: Combating the second alien war-machine proves a daunting task. None of your warriors are in a position to do it much harm. With full mobility and intact void shields your weapons prove to be more or less completely useless. In return it rains fiery destruction upon you, killing several warriors and injuring many more. The rest of you are forced to hide behind what cover you can find. Were it not for the fact that the xenos seem to focus their attention mostly on the ship you would all be in even greater jeopardy than you already are. Satisfied that you're all either dead or suitably suppressed the titan leaps into the air, glides through the air and lands on to of the voidship. It immediately starts tearing into the ship with its multiple legs, tossing aside weapons emplacements, armour panels and other paraphernalia with equal ease.

@Azrael/Derryck: The tech-priest has been able to neutralize most of the ships internal defence systems, murder servitors included. Not without effort it must be added, but he has reason to be pleased with the end result. He is able to effectively aid Derryck in reaching the control room of a second operational turret which might come in handy against the second titan - if you can get its void shields down. At the moment it looks rather grim - the titan has settled on top of the voidship and is tearing it apart, one bit at a time.

The sudden violent arrival of another group of fighters evens out the odds. A handful of attack bikes, backed up by landspeeder zips in from the flank and unleashed a fiery barrage of close-range fire against the titan. Its shields flicker and threaten to collapse as powerful melta weapons hit it again and again.

That's Derryck's cue and he orders the turret to fire for effect. Lances of energy lash out against the enemy war-machine, punching through its failing voids and eating through its lightly armoured hull. Again and again the turrets spits death - there is no missing at this range - until finally the Ner'gal fighter topples over the side and crashes into the ground. There is a mighty explosion that rattles the voidship and then all is quiet.

[Dragon Lord]

OOC: Du to a general lack of posting/progression I'm moving things forward a bit to see if we can reignite interest.

[OOC: Sorry, Christmas/New Year got in the way]

With Yelena

Yelena nods, "I see.  You do not dislike Xerxes himself, it is simply that he is a liability."
Though her knowledge of daemons is limited, she has seen enough over the years on Cadia to know that they are extremely dangerous and best avoided if at all possible.
"I can't imagine that delivering him to the Xenos would be easy though."

With Derryck
A cheer goes up from the men and women of Derryck's team as the Xenos construct crashes to the ground.  After the cheering subsides Derryck contacts the Ravenwing, "We are in your debt Sergeant, we could not have dealt with that second construct without you."

With Azrael
Azrael is exhausted from the effort of defeating the ship's security systems, the front of his clothes and armour are stained with blood.  Nonetheless he is taking the opportunity to conduct a brief search of the ship for Yelena's team and the infirmary.  He steers well clear of the enginarium for the time being as the stench of corruption emanating from there is strong and he is too weak to combat it at the moment.

He locates the infirmary without difficulty and relays the position to Derryck, it is of course quite busy as the crew have taken significant casualties themselves, but there are not many armed crew members there.  If they bring Irena in to treat the crew as well it may be an opportunity to build bridges with the surviving crew members.  They can formulate a proper plan in due course.

Yelena is much more illusive and try as he might he can't find her.  Were he not so tired he might have noticed that there seemed to be an odd void in deep in the bowels of the ship, but as it was it passed him by.

Azrael also briefly took stock of the ship's state.  The attack of the Xenos construct has caused considerable additional damage to the top of the ship, it is going to be some time before this ship flies again.  He also has some concern about the space marines who assisted them in defeating it.  While of course he is grateful to them for their assistance the Dark Angels do not exactly have a reputation for leniency and they have been officially declared heretics.  Although given the general chaos on Cadia at that time it is quite possible that the declaration never got beyond Cadia itself.

[DM B]

@Yelena: Elder Andross readily agrees with that. "Xerxzes will not leave voluntarily, not unless this ship is a complete write-off and the crew dead. Battling him is...highly dangerous. He's a veteran space marine of a thousand battles. Attacking such a one...it is not a wise course of action. He can, however, be reasoned with. Or maybe not reasoned...appealed to is a better word. If he can be convinced it's in his best interest to leave us, then maybe. Unfortunately I don't know how that might be accomplished. Perhaps it is futile." He sighs heavily.

At which point a deep voice is projected by the ship's internal vox-casters: "This is Captain Lexander of the Relictors. Your master and commander, the magnanimous Xerxzes, has been called away on important business. He has appointed me as his champion - and replacement commander of the Sensibilious. He bids you continue to serve me as you have served him. If you do I will keep you on as crew and extend my protection to you as Xerxzes has done. We will also be taking on additional crew and passengers. And we need to get this ship operational again. Cadia is not a place where we can remain for long. Lexander out."

@Derryck: The Dark Angels pull back a distance. "The death of xenos is reward enough for the sons of the Lion. We will keep vigil over the ship while we await the arrival of the Inquisition."

@Azrael: The crew isn't inherently hostile now that the fighting is over, but it is probably a good idea to stay together and keep your weapons handy. Azrael has also heard Lexander's broadcast.

[DM B]

Inside the Ship

Azrael has found a new data shrine and is now interfaced with the ship.

Usher, Habem and Tonk are in position.
The three Spiders are worried to run out of ammo soon.
Strange noises can be heard some time along the corridors.


Outside the ship

Derryck and Hrothgar receive a coded message from the Ravenwing.

"Five minutes before joining the battle zone. Xenos construct identified on an elevated position. Situation ?"


Inside Kasr Hemshin

Interrogator Nemus d'Agoria supervises camp dismantling. The civilians are slow to prepare and will probably be even slower to move.

The Manticores led by Sergeant Malavida bring additional resources from above in the Spire.

"Sergeant, we just received a new message from Inquisitor Maegon. He should be able to join our current position in approximately two hours. You will leave in an hour with your men and a first group of civilians. The second group will leave twenty minutes later, with half the Spiders. Jethro, prepare to go with them. The last group will depart twenty minutes more later. I'll wait for the Inquisitor, then we'll catch up."

At the same time, Oshgor moves down the Spire to secure the way out. Better avoid surprises that could delay the Inquisitor's retinue.

The situation inside the ship has changed. The fighting seems to be over and the ship has a new commander.

Maegon gets a brief message from the Ravenwing indicating the xenos have been defeated and that they are watching the ship and waiting for your arrival.

[DM B]

The day passes with Maegon's group carefully making their way out of the Kasr and towards the ship. Meanwhile the various factions already present at the crash site are doing what they can to maximize their influence over the vessel or just staying out of trouble.

Lexander's warband is in control of the brigde, the armoury, and the enginarium. Xerxzes remaining fighters seem to accept the Astartes captain as their new leader. The squat clan is more withdrawn, appearing to have some sort of crisis of faith.

Azrael now has access to a great variety of ship systems, but not all of them. Key stuff are out of his hands, either because of security protocols that aren't feasible to break or by being physically disconnected from the main grid. He's also started to make a list of needed repairs - and the parts needed to accomplish it.

Nouir's group (or maybe it's Luliana's group now?) has disappeared into the bowels of the ship. Presumably they are recruiting new members and making sure they have a spot on board when/if the ship is made flyable.

Hrothgar's warband has also moved indoors, occupying the most central access-ways, corridors and junctures. It is possible to get around them, but doing so takes a lot of time. They also cover the ship's main entrance, but there are a number of secondary access points - and outright holes in the hull - so bypassing them is not a big deal.

Gaius and his merry men remain outside the ship. They are recruiting among the survivors of other warbands, picking off stragglers and fortifying themselves. To get to the ship you have to go through them - or take the long way around.

The mysterious Dark Angels are hanging back, not talking to anyone. With their mobility and firepower they are a real threat to any warband, particularly those remaining on the outside.

---

A new day dawns.

[Dragon Lord]

At the end of the previous day

With Yelena

At which point a deep voice is projected by the ship's internal vox-casters

Yelena and the Elder both turn to look at the vox-caster as it crackles into life.  Once the message has ended they turn slowly and stare wordlessly at one another.

Eventually Yelena breaks the silence, "Well, that was interesting..."


With Azrael
Derryck relays the message from the Dark Angels to Azrael.
"Good," Azrael says to himself as he disconnects from the Grid, "I'll leave Maegon to deal with them."

"Derryck, you head to the infirmary.  Send a few people out to Irena to carry in the unconscious marine.  I'll meet you there."

Azrael gestures Sam over so he can use him as support on their way to the infirmary.

Just as they are about to leave the shrine the Lector's message comes over the vox.

Azrael blinks a couple of times, then exclaims, "How the feth did he manage that?!"
"Oh, nevermind, I'm too exhausted to do anything now, we'll find out what's going on later."

[LordPsycho]

At which point a deep voice is projected by the ship's internal vox-casters: "This is Captain Lexander of the Relictors. Your master and commander, the magnanimous Xerxzes, has been called away on important business. He has appointed me as his champion - and replacement commander of the Sensibilious. He bids you continue to serve me as you have served him. If you do I will keep you on as crew and extend my protection to you as Xerxzes has done. We will also be taking on additional crew and passengers. And we need to get this ship operational again. Cadia is not a place where we can remain for long. Lexander out."

@Azrael: The crew isn't inherently hostile now that the fighting is over, but it is probably a good idea to stay together and keep your weapons handy. Azrael has also heard Lexander's broadcast.

"Derryck, you head to the infirmary.  Send a few people out to Irena to carry in the unconscious marine.  I'll meet you there."

Just as they are about to leave the shrine the Lector's message comes over the vox.

Azrael blinks a couple of times, then exclaims, "How the feth did he manage that?!"
"Oh, nevermind, I'm too exhausted to do anything now, we'll find out what's going on later."

Still with Magos Azrael, Corporal Usher listens to the words of Lexander.

Captain Lexander of the Relictors, appointed as a champion of Xerxzes ?
This is bad... Really bad...
We must warn the Inquisitor asap.

Usher and his two men follow Azrael to the infirmary, eager to meet Roman again. Let's hope his ankle got better.

The day passes with Maegon's group carefully making their way out of the Kasr and towards the ship.

The Inquisitor is totally exhausted. He needs to sleep, but there’s no time for that now. Without his power armor and staff, he wouldn’t be able to stand anymore.
Maegon had rushed down from the orbital communicator to the camp, then from the camp to the Hive’s feet, as fast as possible without falling from the endless stairs. The expressions on the faces of his acolytes let him know how bad he must look.

But here they are, outside Kasr Hemshin. The Dalaman Gate.
The battles must have been terrible in this area, when the Despoiler’s armies devastated Cadia.

They hear a gunshot – no, a gunfight.
Nemus pulls Maegon into cover behind a burned-out Rhino.

In addition to civilians, several gangs emerged from the sub-hive in response to the Inquisitor’s call. Even in such a desperate situation, old rivalries have taken the upper hand.

"Oshgor, go eliminate the troublemakers."

"Sergeant Malavida, please establish a communication with Magos Azrael. After that, ask your Manticores and the Spiders to neutralize and disarm the gangers. Then gather the survivors and the civilians."

The gangers are fierce, but they cannot hope resisting against a Tygrian assassin, Inquisitoral Stormtroopers and Necromundan IGs. Amidst the ruins, Oshgor easily sets an ambush to one of the gang leaders and his lieutenants. The sniper of the Manticores, Greyval, wreaks havoc in the gangers’ ranks.
Amongst forty gangers, only one dozen are still alive when they surrender. Unfortunately, two Spiders were killed by a lucky shot from heavy stubber. The culprits were shot down.

The civilians who did not belong to a gang or another are almost sixty. Nemus pass among them, and easily convinces them that they have no other choice but to join the group.

Maegon and his growing retinue restart walking at a rapid pace towards the Ship.

Maegon gets a brief message from the Ravenwing indicating the xenos have been defeated and that they are watching the ship and waiting for his arrival.

"Well done, Sergeant Kremiel. Emperor protects. Stay vigilant."

Maegon felt that the Sergeant was uncomfortable because of what he saw around the Ship. So many warbands gathered at the same place…

The mysterious Dark Angels are hanging back, not talking to anyone. With their mobility and firepower they are a real threat to any warband, particularly those remaining on the outside.

---

A new day dawns.

Two days left. According to the Astropathic message and the Tarot’s reading, we have only two days to leave Cadia.

Maegon does not know what is coming. When he’ll have a few minutes, he will read the Tarot, but he guesses that no certain answer will be obtained. He cannot drive away this irrational fear that grows in him... Exhaustion does not help...

[DM B]

Two days until the Doom...

...perhaps it is just as well that only Inquisitor Maegon knows...

---

The ship sits there, battered and bruised. To the uninitiated it looks like it will never fly again; there are great gaping holes in its skin and the ship rests in a great furrow of earth and broken buildings.

To the only anointed tech-priest in attendance the situation is more nuanced. The ship is old and wounded, but its structural integrity is intact. The skin can be mended and the ship can be made to fly again: The great solar generator in its bowels slumbers now, but is undamaged. The warp generatorium sleeps, dreaming Empyrean dreams. The great plasma drives are battered, but essentially intact.

Many parts must be scavenged and installed, but by far the most important are some contra-grav generators. Many were ripped asunder by xenos fire and the crash. The ruined hive...Azrael knows of some good spots to search. Or - if tech-heresy is to be contemplated - the xenos craft might perhaps contain some useful components.

Meanwhile crows gather around (and to some extent - inside) the ship. They try to position themselves. Try to learn if the ship can be made to fly - or if it can be gutted for scraps.

[Dragon Lord]

Azrael has been busying himself about the ship directing repairs and organising scavenging teams.  He and the Nar-Ghosts still keep themselves apart from the original crew of the vessel as they don't entirely trust each other yet.  Between Azrael's expertise with the ship and repairs, and Irena's assistance in the infirmary, they have shown themselves to be invaluable however, and so while not necessarily on friendly terms they and the crew work alongside one another largely without friction.  When not involved in repair work or patrols the Nar-Ghosts are mostly stationed around the ship's infirmary.

Several teams have been despatched back to the hive to search for the crucial contra-grav generators.  The most likely locations are the old turbo-elevators that rode up and down the hive spires.  Azrael also considered the wreckage of the Xenos constructs, and had some it brought aboard for him to study, but he is wary of the time it might take to properly integrate Xenos technology with the ship, and the consequences of malfunctions...

The other components they need are easier to obtain, sheet metal to affect temporary repairs to the hull lies all around them and relays and conduits can probably be stripped from some of the larger tank carcasses that can be retrofitted for the plasma drives.

What they need most of all is time, and that is the one thing they are perilously short of.

Azrael has been avoiding Captain Lexander as he is distinctly suspicious of how the Space Marine managed to take Xerxes place as the ship's captain.  The statement over the vox could simply have been a ploy to win over the crew, but it had sounded entirely genuine.  After a fleeting encounter Derryck was also very firmly for not trusting the Captain, as he had said, 'I wouldn't trust that guy as far as I could throw him, and I don't think I could throw half a tonne of power armoured marine very far.'  Azrael did manage to have a brief conversation with Roldar the scout away from any of the other Relictors, and though he didn't reveal much he did seem concerned about his commander, and his brother marines who had fought in the enginarium.  For a marine to betray any emotions must mean that he was extremely worried, but he didn't voice anything concrete to Azrael.

Yelena and her team eventually resurfaced and she shared with Azrael what she had discussed with Elder Andross.  The fact that there is, or at least was a daemon inhabiting the warp core troubled him greatly.  Now that Xerxes was apparently no longer on board the ship it was unclear whether or not the daemon had followed him in departing, but nonetheless he strictly forbade any of the Nar-Ghosts from going near the enginarium without his express permission.  While Azrael's knowledge of daemons is not extensive, and mostly limited to their effects on machines, he knew enough to know that they were extremely dangerous, and that daemonic influence can cause people to behave strangely.  Given that Captain Lexander had been fighting in the enginarium this only made Azrael more wary of him, and so the Nar-Ghosts were also to avoid Lexander and his marines if possible (without being too obvious about it).  Azrael would dearly have liked to discuss this, and other matters, in more detail with this Elder Andross, but once Yelena had left his presence he re-activated the obfuscating labyrinth protecting his position.  Knowing now what he was looking Azrael spotted the odd void in the ship's internal sensors, but this was not enough to pin down the Elder's exact location, and so since he had seemed to be a potential ally Azrael decided to keep the information to himself for the time being.

Maegon, Azrael had some lengthy discussions with, both about the status of the ship and the various forces present both within and outside it's walls, and about the daemon.  While Lexander he suspected of being under daemonic influence and Hrothgar was always somewhat distant, Azrael had grown reasonably trusting of the Inquisitor.

[OOC: I think that covers everything important, while leaving appropriate flexibility.  As Azrael, nor Maegon, ever made Gaius or Nouri I haven't mentioned them.]

[DM B]

The hive-spires and the massive anti-grav lifts that enable them to function are indeed your best choice. Even with all the devastation and the pillaging there are bound to be more than enough useful components somewhere in the vastness of the hive. The main challenging is getting to the parts; the trek back and forth is long and ardours, even without tons of equipment. Takes a man on foot, without much encumbrance, a day to walk either way. And given the number of warbands on the move the situation is more dangerous than usual - stealth or protection or speed are needed to get safely across the wastelands. Ideally you should have techy-savvy people with each reclamation team, or you risk damage to the components (or getting the wrong components).

The ruined fighters prove something of a surprise; some of their innards are strangely reminiscent of Imperial technology. Not the ship as a whole, but bits and pieces of it - like the xenos have scavenged Imperial technology and used them for their on unholy purposes. Strangely they have taken the time to remove any serial stamps, identification numbers, or anything of the sort - so you cannot tell what forge or hive produced these components. But some of it is easily salvageable and can be used with minimal modification.

All the other repairs present few challenges. They only require time and parts that can be scavenged with relative ease, either from the surrounding area or from the ship's innards (i.e. take from noncritical systems to fix the critical ones). Security is an issue, however, as scavengers risk running into this or that warband, with possibly fatal consequences.

[Dragon Lord]

Azrael is somewhat surprised by the apparently Imperial nature of the mechanisms of the Xenos ships, but is grateful nonetheless.  If the components perform as expected it should significantly reduce the requirement for hard to find items from back in the hive.  The Xenos ships couldn't supply all of the components they needed though, as a rather large number of the ship's gravitic coils had been damaged, so they would still need to get some from the hive.

Extracting everything they needed from the hive would be difficult, particularly as some of the components they needed would be rather heavy, but now that Azrael had rather more equipment and resources to hand, both from the ship and from the Xenos constructs, he could rig up a couple of small speeders that could be used to carry materials.