Player event:
Warork"Inquisitor, Judge Nolus reporting. We have taken control of the engine chamber. It seems that Enginseer Malavik was sabotaging the ship. We engaged him briefly and he escaped to an upper deck... But I must admit, Inquisitor, that I have seen assassins with less finely tuned reflexes than the Enginseer exhibited just a few moments ago. My gut says either Malavik was not who we thought he was or else someone has taken his form as a disguise. In any case, I will be giving chase, I suggest you put the remainder of the crew on alert for the Enginseer. If they see him, they should not engage unless it is in overwhelming force and report his position to one of us. We are mostly whole, but Krill will need some aid to get to the armoury as he is...missing a leg. Request some armsmen be sent over here if only for that purpose. That is all, Titus out."
"Copy that, Titus. I shall direct Commander Thaddeus to rendezvous with a compliment of armsmen," Severine responded. "Ship-wide vox is disabled and the crew cannot be warned at present, however I will have messengers dispatched to all critical areas regarding the suspect nature of Malavik."
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Player event:
Lord Harrab"That is a disturbing thought," answered Severine. "Continue your work and inform me when main power is restored. If we are being hunted, then I do not wish to be dead in the water. I shall see to it that all available engineering teams are dispatched to assist you."
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Player event:
Warork Nepty coolyo294Although slowed by having to manually traverse the space between decks, the three acolytes soon picked up the trail of Malavik with the aid of Rex the cyber mastiff. Of course, they were also able to follow the trail of bodies undoubtedly left in his wake. It seemed Malavik was no longer choosing his victims and instead was simply murdering indiscriminately.
However, the investigation was slowed when the trail of bodies and Rex's trail diverged. Doing the only sensible thing, the group split up. Serasti and Garis followed the bodies while Titus pursued Rex's lead.
The former pair ultimately found only a dead end, misled by a false trail. Elsewhere, Judge Titus was led to a lesser medicae ward. Within were a dozen dead or dying crew recently injured, however the one doctor was attending Malavik's number of wounds at gunpoint. Such weakness in the face of the enemy could not be tolerated, and Titus would dispense the appropriate justice in due time.
He gave no warning, no demand for surrender this time. Entering into the doorway, he racked his shotgun and opened fire. With startling speed, Malavik turned and pulled the hapless doctor in front of himself as a meat shield. The man wailed for a split second before he was pulped.
Rex leapt towards Malavik and tackled him, but the traitorous tech priest rolled with the momentum and kicked the mechanical canine overhead. He brought up his bolt pistol and fired several shots at Titus, who quickly moved behind the doorway for cover. It would do no good to be shot for a third time today.
Recovering instantly, the cyber mastiff attacked Malavik once again, delivering a wicked bite to the arm that forced him to drop his bolt pistol. He was not beaten yet however, and was evidently not stunned by the grievous wound as a normal man would be. With the power knife in his other hand, he punctured it directly through the cyber mastiff's metal skull and into its biological brain. It went limp, twitching as it dropped.
Titus stepped back into the room and the blasts of his shotgun almost matched his rapid heartbeat. Malavik ducked and combat rolled, narrowly avoiding the same messy fate as the doctor he had mercilessly used as a shell sponge mere moments before. The room was small however and Malavik could not evade Titus forever. Just when he had the heretic in his sights, cornered against a wall, Malavik's arm cracked like a whip, loosing his power knife. It pierced straight through his armour and embedded itself firmly in his stomach.
The veteran Arbitrator grunted and dropped to one knee in pain. He took another shot but his aim was off. Malavik used this opportunity to pounce on him like a cat, and they toppled back through the door way. Titus grappled with him and tried to throw him off, but he was weakened from his wounds. And that strength! Titus was a naturally brawny man, well known for his brute strength, yet the far smaller Malavik seemed able to match it. One hand threw aside his shotgun, tearing it from his grasp, and the other clamped around his throat like a bird of prey's talon around its prey.
He delivered a solid right hook into Malavik's jaw, and although his head jerked back painfully, his grip barely relented. He summoned the strength for another, but Malavik blocked the clumsy strike. Titus felt his strength failing as he choked, his vision clouding over.
There was something at the edge of his ebbing consciousness. Noise... footsteps, shouting, gunshots... and then the grip around his throat receded and he doubled over in a coughing fit.
When he looked up, his vision still hazy but returning to normal, he saw Garis and Serasti standing over him. The pair had their weapons drawn but were no longer firing.
"Malavik?" Titus managed to say.
Sarasti shook his head.
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Two hours and twelve minutes later, local time Player event:
Dewin Lord HarrabKrill walked into the engine room. His newly-fitted bionic leg was in pristine condition, but even so it was amazing that it had been grafted onto his body so quickly. The Inquisition was able to requisition the finest crew in all departments, which was fortunate in this case.
The myriad dead bodies littered around the control room when he had last been here had been cleared away. Replacement engineers and servitors were attending their new stations and the room was full of activity.
He located Enginseer Victora and approached her, passing Commander Thaddeus and his two-dozen armsmen standing guard as he did so. The Skitarii and Enginseer conversed in binary.
+++Greetings Enginseer+++
++++Your replacement leg appears to be fully functional++++
+++The medical team was surprisingly efficient+++
++++That is gratifying, unfortunately I cannot say the same for the replacement engineers++++
+++Have they impeded your repairs?+++
++++Affirmative, by 3.7382%. However this ineptitude is within acceptable parameters under the circumstances. Most ship systems have had 40% power restored for the past sixty-two minutes and we are close to reaching full functionality++++
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Player event:
AegisFateNicholas had remained with Inquisitor Severine on the bridge as the effort to repair the ship and save as many crew as possible had continued. He had quietly been observing, listening to all of the reports. The situation was not good. Estimates seemed to indicate that of their initial 95,124 crew (and servitors) at the start of this mission, approximately 6,429 were dead or otherwise incapacitated. While a seemingly small amount compared to the total, it hindered the ship's operations considerably. Main power had been restored in record time due to Enginseer Victora's sheer skill, but a number of power relays across the entire vessel had been overloaded as a result of the impromptu exit from warp travel, so power distribution wasn't operating at full efficiency.
Oh, and the traitor Malavik was still loose. He'd heard how the other Acolytes had barely been able to hold their own in the initial fight, and that Judge Titus had narrowly escaped a second confrontation with his life. While he had no doubts about how dangerous this rogue Enginseer evidently was, he felt quite secure nonetheless. The fastest reflexes or deadliest weapon were inconsequential next to the powers of the warp. He had tried to telepathically locate the traitor, but with so many minds packed into such a small space as this vessel it was impossible to find Malavik.
There had also been a report about what the heretic had actually been up to: he'd broadcast an auto-cycling transmission on all frequencies which was supposedly protected by a complex datacode that had thus far prevented Victora from disabling the signal. She suspected there may be another ship out there hunting for them, a suggestion which the Inquisitor had taken under advisement. The ship had been at battle stations ever since, though only now they had restored power could they actually defend themselves should the need arise. Nicholas kept thinking about his vision, and he couldn't help but be singularly worried.
"Contact! Twenty-two hundred kilometers and closing," a crewman shouted.
"What? How did it get so close without us realising?" Commander Laurence demanded.
"Our augur array suffered some damage sir, and they approached through that asteroid belt," the crewman explained, indicating to a readout.
"Identify that vessel immediately," Severine interjected. Laurence nodded and snapped off an order to the comms officer.
"This is the Imperial Navy vessel
Redemptive Consul, under Inquisitorial authority. Identify yourself immediately. Repeat: identify."
There was nothing but static as the bridge staff listened expectantly in silence.
"No response sir."
"Commander, augur scans indicate the vessel is an Armageddon-class battlecruiser. It bears the iconography of the Imperial Navy. I register an intercept course and... and they're jamming our communications."
Laurence didn't hesitate, having always been a bold man. "Prepare for battle. Ready all weapon batteries and lances. Load torpedo tubes!" He barked. Then he turned to where Severine stood, and Nicholas hovered a few steps behind her. He wore a look of concern.
"That battlecruiser is a Lunar-class refit. It's an improved version of our own ship in every single way; heavier armour and armament, increased power and weapon range. Without our escorts, we'll be at a serious disadvantage if we engage that ship."
Severine nodded slowly, her brow furrowed. "That may be so, however if I recall correctly the Armageddon class is a relatively new type of ship, having only been in service barely one-hundred and fifteen years ago for the Third War for Armageddon. I was still a young woman on my home-world back in those days," she said, sparing a moment to reminisce. "The
Consul has served me for half a century, as well as my master and his master for three centuries before that. I checked this ship's record long before you were born, mister Laurence. It has been in active service quite possibly as far back as the days when the Emperor Himself walked among us. A vessel of war does not survive eleven millennia without learning a few tricks."
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Enginseer Victora had been correct. The Armageddon class battlecruiser opened fire as it closed with the
Redemptive Consul. The Inquisitorial vessel had no choice but to actually close with its attacker, who had turned to unleash its broadside armament. A single volley from its cannons and multiple lance batteries could have crippled the
Consul, yet despite all its disadvantages it managed to power on just a little bit faster and hold up its void shields just a little longer. Lance beams scathed past and huge warheads detonated all around, yet most did not find their mark.
A salvo of torpedoes from the
Consul rocked the other vessel before she turned and delivered her own broadside. The duel continued for some time, undoubtedly far longer than the Armageddon's crew had predicted, as the battle continued into its second hour.
Although the
Consul managed to actually overwhelm the void shields of its foe and inflict minor hull damage at one point, it was ultimately a one-sided fight.
Barrage after barrage hammered them until the void shields remained down, and a lance strike cut through the
Redemptive Consul like a power blade through flesh.
Within, many decks were ablaze with several completely obliterated. Thousands had died during the engagement, some annihilated outright while others were simply sucked into the void of space through hull breaches. The ones unlucky enough to survive burned alive.
On the bridge, Severine stumbled and clung onto a railing for support as they were hit again. She glanced towards Commander Laurence who picked himself up from where he fell, a red gash on his forehead. A shell had impacted almost directly on top of them and half the bridge had caught fire.
Nicholas held onto his staff lest he fall over. He was surrounded by fire, men burning and screaming, crying out for the Emperor, for their mothers, for help. Yet Nicholas could provide none of these things.
"They're coming about for another salvo, prepare to return fire!" Laurence bellowed amidst the confusion all around them.
"It's coming true," Nicholas whispered.
Through the Emperor's blessing or perhaps pure luck, the sensors officer was still alive. "Sir, new contacts!" She shouted.
"More enemies..." Laurence said, exasperated.
"No sir, it's our escorts - by the Emperor, they've found us, somehow they've found us! And they're opening fire on the battlecruiser."
Severine glanced at Nicholas, and she smiled. "The Emperor protects," she said, making the sign of the aquila. "Acting-captain Maxis, instruct our escorts to draw their fire and lower their shields. I will lead a teleport attack."
"Yes ma'am," Laurence saluted curtly as he headed towards the vox station to relay orders.
"Nicholas, bring Krill, Garis and Commander Thaddeus. You will take ten of my stormtroopers and attack the enemy ship's bridge directly. I want you to capture their captain and navigator alive. I will take sergeant Octavius and his squad of Astartes to attack their warp drive to cripple them."
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Player event:
AegisFate coolyo294 Dewin Lord HarrabBarely twenty minutes later, Garis, Nicholas, Thaddeus, Krill and a squad of Stormtroopers were gathered in the teleportarium. Next to them, the towering form of Inquisitor Severine in her ancient terminator armour and the Space Marines of squad Octavius made even the hulking skitarii warrior seem small. Enginseer Victora was present, refusing to allow anyone else to operate the irreplaceable technology. It was doubtful anyone else could do so even if they tried.
The vox set on the wall buzzed. "Bridge to teleportarium, Maxis here. We've lost one of our escorts but we've managed to get the battlecruiser's shields down. Initiate your teleport attack swiftly before their void shields are restored."
First, the Inquisitor and her Astartes clambered onto the teleport pad. Victora held a censor in her servo-arm and she finished intoning the appropriate tech-sermon as she activated the controls. There was a moment of cold in the room as the barrier between the warp and realspace grew weak, and the hexagrammic wards in the room burned white hot. There was a terrific flash of light, and then they were gone.
The second team moved onto the teleport pad, and braced themselves. Travelling through the warp was a deeply unpleasant experience, and there was every chance that even with Victora's arcane knowledge, they may not return.
"Initiating teleportation in five... four... three... two... one," Victora said. And then they were gone.
Moments later they reappeared in a corridor. One stormtrooper screamed, half materialised inside a bulkhead. Another was nowhere to be seen, presumably lost to the warp. Everyone else had made it. The enemy bridge was almost directly ahead, but it would be a gruesome close-quarters fight to reach it.