DH RPG - Rodan Moon Arc(4)

[Wayne S]

Curtis removes her hand from the man's chin and wipes the tear away. She whispers to him, "There, there... the emperor truly protects, and when things come to fruition you will see you have served a purpose on this world for him, and that his will was done as he saw fit."

"Lucious, can you shut the reactor back down?" Lazerus asks.

"If you can do that, it should make our fight inside the outpost much easier. The Mag-Train is almost certainly a trap and the overland route would give us more options for entry once we get there." Lazerus continues.

"What is your opinion on the matter Lucious?" Lazerus asks.

Lucious looks over to Lazerus.

"The entire system has been corrupted and I am unable to dissengage the reactor, it looks like a destruction of the main reactor is all we can hope for to shut down this monstrosity. I have seen this handy work before in our mission, this abomination's grasp is quite impressive." Lucious looks back at his notes to see if he missed anything he could compare with his past experiences with the scrap code. Half paying attention he mentions "I would also recommend the vehicle's route seeing how infected the systems around the area are with scrap code."

"Alright, I guess that was a little much to hope for. Curtis, get the vehicle warmed up. Lucious, make sure she has the navigation data she needs. Everybody else, in the back." Lazerus barks.

Stig climbs into the transport and mans his usual turret position. The witches pull on their suits and climb back into the Dakar with out a word. The rest of the tea suits up and follows.

"Thank you for your cooperation Horatio. If you or any of your men would like to accompany us they would be greatly appreciated." Lazerus says to Horatio before boarding the transport himself.

"Of course, certainly. We will all accompany you. This is the Emperor's will." Horatio says excitedly. He and his group suit up and stand expectantly at attention.

There is only room in the Dakar for two additional personnel.

[guardsman001]

Lucious will suit up and head back into the transport, he will hook into the system and plot the navigational route that the transport will have to follow for Curtis. After doing that Lucious will go into a meditation about what he has just seen... letting his mind wander within his own data banks, trying to figure out a connection between how the scrap code calls for him and his faith in the Ommasiah. He holds the ancient key within his pocket tightly while he does this.

Curtis will ask the man who she just spoke to "shall you accompany us?" then she will look at the group of men assembled and say "I know the emperor works through you all, and it brightens my heart that so many faithful with to take this path with us but I must ask, whom among you having faith in the Emperor... beloved by all... believes they can add the most to the group's combat effectiveness?"

[ImperialServant]

"We can only take two Horatio, send your two best with the best equipment you can give them." Lazerus says.

[Wayne S]

Lucious suits up and returns to the transport. He interfaces with the machine spirit and plots the course over land to the outpost. He the relaxes his mind and ponders the complexities of the scrap codes messages and the forbidden knowledge and power it taunts him with. He keeps his hand tightly on the black key in his pocket, it's surface registers an increased temperature as he muses.

Curtis asks the man whom she just spoke to, "Shall you accompany us?"

The man looks at her with devotion. "Sister I shall go where the Emperor wills me."
Curtis then looks to the rest of the assembled men and says "I know the Emperor works through you all, and it brightens my heart that so many faithful wish to take this path with us but I must ask, whom among you having faith in the Emperor... beloved by all... believes they can add the most to the group's combat effectiveness?"

"We can only take two Horatio, send your two best with the best equipment you can give them." Lazerus says.

"We have our own vehicles. Ore Crawlers. They are in a hangar on the north side of the space port." Horatio replies.

"They have not been used for a long time but they are serviceable, this our diligence in the Emperor's service guarantees." He makes the sign of the Aquila, his eyes shining with zeal."

He gestures to two of the men. "Zaphon, Hercutio, you ride with the saviours and guide them to the vehicle shed. The others and I will move through the space port and meet you there. Is this acceptable?" The old man looks to Lazerus hopefully.

[ImperialServant]

"That is acceptable. We appreciate your assistance." Lazerus says as he dons his own suit.

"Curtis, button up and get us moving. " Lazerus will order.

[guardsman001]

Lucious will continue his meditation, within his own mind he will continue to interface with the scrap code that had infected him from back in the underhive. He will access the quarantined files and observe them, making notes of the power hidden within them... He will continue the quest of attempting to understand the code hidden within his own data banks.

Curtis will suit up and go to the transport's driver seat, seeing that there is already a route programed into the system she will look back to see Lucious in what seams to be a trance, she will say "thank you, priest of the machine."

She will then start up the transport and follow the instructions that the miner's give her to the other hangar.

[Wayne S]

"That is acceptable. We appreciate your assistance." Lazerus says as he dons his own suit.

"Curtis, button up and get us moving. " Lazerus orders.

The team climbs into the Dakar, accompanied by Zaphon and Hercutio. Hercutio stows his overly bulky customized metlagun in the weapons rack near the hatch.

Lucius continues his communion with his own spiraling streams of thought.

Curtis slips into the driver's seat and engages the engines. She turns to Lucius and speaks softly, "Thanks you, Priest of the machine."

Zaphon moves in close to Curtis and begins giving her instructions on the location of the vehicle shed and the best way to reach it.

The Dakar growls and rolls out of the hangar. The storm outside is raging acidic wind and abrading grit scour the paint from the Dakar's hull plates.

Curtis deftly pilots the big transport through the total visual black out using only the radar and the words of Zaphon.

The doors of the vehicle shed appear out of the hissing gloom only a meter or two in front of the windscreen. Curtis halts the machine.

Zaphon requests the vox mic and Curtis obliges.

"Motor store one. This is Zaphod, please respond. We are at the gate. Please respond."

The vox crackles with storm born static and then the voice of Horatio replies, "Zaphon, all is well, we are loading now. Please stand by."

"Roger that, Horatio."

Moments pass as the storm continues. Rocking the Dakar gently like a babe in arms.

A figure walks out of the storm and into the beams of the Dakar stab light. Man shaped it is a brunt skeleton cluttered with rusted bionics, flesh stripped away by the caustic winds. It's arms are gone and it stumbles against the wind and bumps into the Dakar. Biting at the hull plates with broken teeth, it's eyes glowing with a sickly green light.

Suddenly the great gate of the Imperial Motor Store splits down the middle in a ten meter tall line, and begins to rumble open. Bright white light, like the Emperor's glory shine out of the ever widening seam.

AS the door opens four massive ore crawlers, five meters tall and mounted on a dozen, meter thick aracnoid legs. The heavy industrial vehicle tower over the Dakar. Each has a crew cabin large enough for eight miners in full gear. The cabins are forward mounted and lit up from inside, the crew visible making preparations inside. The body of each crawler is made up of three segments, each a covered ore hopper. Hazard light begin to flash along the sides of the vehicles and with great lethargic steps the massive machines move forward out of the motor store like mammoth insects waking from ages long slumber.

Curtis reverses the Dakar out of the way of the advancing crawlers. The skeletal wretch tips forward as the Dakar hull pulls away. It lays writhing in the orange sand until the giant blunt tip of a crawler legs comes down, punching it into the dust.

The four great crawlers move off to the northeast, yellow hazards flashing, pistoning legs throwing up clouds of toxic ash. Curtis does her thing and the Dakar falls in behind them.

[ImperialServant]

Lazerus will wait patiently in the back for Curtis to get the vehicle moving again.

Finally coming to the realization that he's not going to be able to see anything, Stig starts to take a light nap while he waits for the convoy to reach its destination.

[guardsman001]

Lucious will continue his meditation, within his own mind he will continue to interface with the scrap code that had infected him from back in the underhive. He will access the quarantined files and observe them, making notes of the power hidden within them... He will continue the quest of attempting to understand the code hidden within his own data banks.

Curtis will follow the convoy, getting on her vox she will ask "are any of these crawlers armed with self defense weaponry?"

[Wayne S]

Purple lightning rips through the heaving orange clouds of the storm. Tiny arcs of static play along the trundling legs of the crawlers, slowly advancing before the Dakar.

Stig, his visibility at nil, settles into his seat for a well needed nap.

Lucius remains in a trance, analyzing his files.

Curtis gets on the vox, "Are any of these crawlers armed with self defense weaponry?" She asks.

The reply comes through in a hiss of static. "No ma'am. They are designed soley for ore hauling in difficult terrain. Their armor is thick and they are damn near unstoppable though." Horatio's voice comes back to her.

Time passes slowly, filled with the ever present howl of the winds, the rumbling drone of the engines, and the metronome like thumps of the crawlers legs.

Curtis guides the Dakar over the toxic dunes and ever onward.

Everyone has settled into quiet contemplation, when the vox crackles and chirps, snapping them out of their introspection.

Horatio's voice comes from the speaker grill. "We are approaching the Outpost. Another 5 kilometers and it will be in sensor range. We are still 7 kilometers out. I do not believe we will have visual contact until we are at less than 200 meters with this storm. How would you like to proceed?"