DH RPG - Rodan Moon Arc(4)

[Wayne S]

The team stands a moment in shocked silence on the bridge of the pirate vessel. Control light wink and calibrators beep quietly in the back ground.

"Well then..." Says Kron. "Another glorious day in service to the throne." He takes Sila by the hand and they walk off the bridge heads together whispering.

A moment later a small servitor only a meter tall, it's face a bronze mask sculpted as the face of a child, shuffles onto the bridge.

It plays a series of introductory tones from it's mouth slit and then announces in an odd woman's voice, "Introducing Augustus 06-07." The child bot takes a low bow. The strange voice speaks again. "Augustus will be your attache for the duration of this space transfer." The little creature bows again and a new series of tones like a tiny electronic trumpet play. "All equipment and stores secured for the voyage in cargo bays A1 through A2. Dakar VII class hostile environment vehicle stowed in cargo bay B1. All Heavy Spacer grade Achilles class hostile environment suits stowed in cargo bay B1." The servitor bows again and then stands at attention. "Augustus 06-07 ready to serve."

[guardsman001]

Lucious will speak in Binary "thank you servator, I wish to know where the rest of your kind are kept within these holds and where the ships armory is located"

Curtis will look at the servator with a mild sense of revulsion guessing at how old the child must have been

[ImperialServant]

Lazerus and Stig will wander off towards the equipment holds to see what they can find.

[Wayne S]

Lazerus and Stig look around the bridge with feigned interest, but soon the two men wander out the portal.

Lucius is beeping at the small servitor. It beeps back and Lucius learns that besides the captain/pilot and the navigator, the entire crew is to be made up of servitors. Ten class III auxiliary shipcraft servitors are scheduled to be installed with in the hour. He also learns the armory is a rack of shotguns recently secured in the main corridor which runs the length of the ship.

Curtis stares in revulsion at the little servitor, until it turns and stares at her. Then she turns away quickly pretending interest in the Captains throne.

Stig and Lazerus make their way to the designated cargo holds. They find their weapons, armor and the rest of their gear secured in plastek cargo crates.

Curiosity leads them to look in on the Dakar VII. It is a hulking vehicle, much like a small command bunker mounted on eight massive solid all terrain tires. Each well has it's own drive unit and the whole vehicle is heavily armored and environmentally sealed with it's own supply of life support materials. Stig smiles when he sees the twin-linked heavy stubber turret-bubble on the front right quadrant.

Lazerus peeks into the crates holding the bulky Achilles class suits and sees bundles of oversized brown coveralls. The heavy cloth is studded with brass valve fittings and pressure line hook ups. Small tanks of air are rigged in series to fit on the back of each suit. The knees and elbows are reinforced with segmented plastek plates and a row of heavy looking brass and impact resistant glass helmets is secured along the side of the container.

With in the hour, the ships bridge has been filled with task specific servitors and the pilot, introduced over the vox as Captain Silva, has boarded and been connected to the command throne. The navigator has been loaded within a sealed capsule, straight to the nav-chamber above the bridge. Both Kron and Sila can fell the presence of the thing as it is brought on board.

After a short burn to the edge of the Karrick system, the Captain announces the shift to the immateria and the vessel shrieks and shudders, the Gellar fields hum and the journey is underway.

"Approximate voyage duration: 10 days solar. At which point we will drop from the warp and run hot deep into the system, moving past the Rodan moon at speed the Rapier team will disembark via drop shuttle to the moon surface. The ship will continue in a wide arc and return to the moon in 5 days solar, at which point the shuttle and team will be recovered if possible." The Captain's voice through the speakers is stark yet feminine.

"There will be a mission briefing in the Captain's strategium at 56:00 ship time." The voice cuts off.

Lazerus and Stig let curiousity lead them and wander through tow more empty cargo bay until they come to a small storage chamber. Inside the chamber sitting on a empty protein bale is Tauron. He is pouting and won't look at them. A raw red =I= has been branded into his forehead and he wears a collar similar to the one Curtis had back on Karrick (which was removed in the recovery room).

Stig and Lazerus stare at him in surprise.

[Wayne S]

Lazerus stares grimly at the scarred boy. Stig picks idly at a dirty finger nail. Tauron holds out a rolled piece of vellum. The scroll unrolls, the bottom weighed down by the numerous purity seals attached there. The script is easy to make out and Lazerus can read it without really trying.

PENITENT... blah blah... service to the golden throne... blah blah... eternally serve...in repentance for blasphemies... as an instrument in the right hand of the Emperor of Mankind, the holy Ordo Hereticus... merciful justice... light in the darkness...blah blah.

Stig let's out a brief chuckle and walks out of the chamber. Tauron hangs his head shamefully until Lazerus removes his punishing stare and follows Stig out the portal. Then the noble looks up and tucks the scroll into his rough penitents smock. He rises and moves off into the ships corridor making his way to his assigned chamber below the crew deck, an unused tool chamber, supplied with a damp mat and a dented iron pot.

******************************************************************************************************

The ten days of the voyage are a welcome respite to the last month's worth of cult witches, jungle orks, mad weaponized servitors, and underhive zombies. Each member of the team decompresses in their own ways.

Kron and Sila generally stay sequestered in Sila's cell, coming out only to eat and occasionally take tea in the ship's observation dome. The two pyker's seem to have found a certain peace with each other.

Lazerus and Stig do their usual exercises. The single minded men continuously drag their large collection of weapons out of the cargo bay and service them on the long metal table of the mess hall. They seem content.

Curtis seems filled with religious fervor. She has taken to self flagellation and is often seen wandering the ships corridors quietly mumbling prayers and clutching a book of Imperial Dogma which once belonged to Father Prose.

Lucius busies himself in the ships mechnicus temple. No one is certain what he is doing down there in the cramped confines of the enginarium and he doesn't offer to explain.

Tauron sulks in his mop closet, planing his revenge and slurping nutrient paste from pilfered servitor food bulbs.

The vaguely peaceful translation through the warp quickly comes to an end and the team boards the drop shuttle at the appointed hour. The squat shuttle is heavily armored and it's large cargo bay is taken up almost entirely by the Dakar VII which is packed with all the equipment and supplies the team theoretically requires.

As the re-purposed smuggler ship cuts across the void on a tangential curve through the orbital plane of Rodan the shuttle blasts out of the docking bay and drops into the gravity well of the hostile moon.

All the ports in the shuttle are sealed with blast shutters. The craft shudders and shakes as it crashes down through the fierce atmospheric currents. Everyone feels as if their organs will be pulverized by the constant high velocity vibrations. The winds roar and shriek over the armored hull as it plunges ever downward. Curtis sits strapped into the grav harness, her knuckles white, fingers digging deep into the temper foam of the arm rests. Kron and SIla are holding hands, both with teeth clenched and lips curled back. They look eerily similar like bastard siblings from different fathers. Suddenly the constant noise of the upper atmosphere stops and all is silent for a brief moment, until the retro jets fire with a explosion of white sound and super imposed gravity smashes everyone back and down into the compensating foam of their grav harnesses. An incredible jolt, announces the craft has landed and the grav harnesses begin to release simultaneously as the door to the rear cargo chamber cycles open. The pilot servitor is on the vox speaker explaining in burst of static garbled monotone the necessity of donning the protective environmental suits before any exterior hatches can be unsealed. The shaken crew scramble from their harness's and file into the cargo bay. Soon dressed and breathing through several layers of filters and air scrubbers the group is strapped into the Dakar VII, Curtis at the controls. The guardswoman pilots the massive vehicle deftly down the ramp, years of driving Imperial Guard vehicles and motor pool service showing through in her cool confident skill. Instant the wind is howling and pulling at the heavy vehicle. The horizon is a brown/orange smudge and the constant plinking of smaller stones and debris thrown against the outer hull by the savage winds is already maddening. Curtis taps at the worn metal keys of the navigational cogitator, and a three dimensional map, sketched in green light over the dash board shows a flat plane. Curtis scroll the across the map, by flicking at a tarnished roller ball set in the control panel. Miles and miles of flat green flash by in the projection, until finally a pulsing dot appears on the otherwise blank map.

"Here." Curtis points, gesturing at the dot with the thick finger of her enviro suit glove.

"This is Port Thurgis, the planets main space port and only real settlement. We are about 200 km out. This shit storm has cloaked our landing and if it keeps up it should hide our approach. I say we've got about a 6 hour ride ahead of us. This terrain is pretty damn featureless so I should be able to maintain a good speed." Curtis explains.

"The Port town should give us a place to start. It is the central hub for the heavy mechanicus mono levs which run to the twelve mine outposts."

When no one replies she adds, "Am I the only one who read the mission brief? Well, doesn't matter. The logistics servitor loaded it all into the Dakars onboard if you want to review it." With some difficulty she turns in her seat and looks over her shoulder at the rest of the team packed into the crew area behind her.

[guardsman001]

Lucious will get up from his seat and review the map putting it all to memory. once he is next to her he will stand there and use the cognator to gain acess to all the planets atmospherics to attempt and see what the weather may be like within the next few days.

Curtis will continue driving to the settlement driving as to hasten our arrival.

[ImperialServant]

Lazerus will nod and stay at his seat.

Stig grunts and walks forward, mounting the heavy stubber and keeping a watchful eye out over the landscape for anyone or anything that might be around while he waits for Curtis to get the group to the Port.

[Wayne S]

Curtis stays the course, expertly guiding the heavy vehicle across the rock strewn plains. The constant droning winds stir up clouds of corrosive grit, reducing visibility to a few meters.

Stig sits in the cramped forward gun bubble ever vigilant.

Lazerus and the psykers seem to be resting or meditating, their bodies rocking slowly with the rolling sway of the Dakar.

Lucius copies the planetary and local maps to his memory core and studies the weather patterns planet wide. The information is not encouraging. The typical weather state seems to be corrosive sand storm, broken only by relentless static lightning cyclones and the occasional dust tsunamis cause by deep fault earthquakes. The next few days do not look promising.

Suddenly a black shape whirls out of the dust. There is a thump and a loud screeching of metal on metal as something rips along the side of the Dakar. Curtis swerves and down shifts rapidly. Stig has no time to acquire a target let alone fire.

The psykers are awake and staring wide eyed at Lazerus.

[ImperialServant]

"Curtis! What the frak was that!" Lazerus will bellow while Stig swivels his turret to try and get a track on whatever they hit.

"Keep moving, don't stop!" Lazerus will command.

[guardsman001]

Curtis will move the vehicle at its maximum speed loosening her focus on safety and moving her vehicle to its maximum potential. Curtis will look back and say calmly "The Emperor protects his faithful"

Lucious will move to the front and attempt to give directions based on his knowledge of the local topography also to inform her of how the weather will be moderately affecting the crawlers performance in this terrain.