Chapter 0: Before the Dread Gate IC

Turn 2

Jakobi saw the small pack coming towards them and, gauging their movement, decided he was ill-positioned to intercept. He launched out of his defensive crouch, moving to block the technorogs quickest path into melee.

San Sebastian steadied himself as two broke away from the pack and rushed forward. He raised his plasma pistol and took a brief aim at the closest of them. He needed to make this count. As he depressed the trigger the power core of the pistol glowed azure blue, before releasing a small glowing ball of plasma which hurtled towards the technorog. The plasma pistol spat and vented briefly as Sebastian looked on... Continuing to slowly back toward the lockers, Magos Pulsanus's memories of engagements aboard the Iron Law  flashed through his mind. Then it had been a band of twisted mutants, emerging from their hidden holds when his new rationing effort had eliminated the food waste on which they sustained themselves. Like those starved mad mutants, the technorog would not back down in the face of suppressing fire. Instead, the Magos calculated that the best results would be achieved by target elimination. He rose his hellgun, sighted carefully on the most damaged of the technorog, and fired. He'd aimed for the destination of the machine-monster's bound, but the beast sank lower than he'd expected and his beam lanced over its back harmlessly. Then he saw that Alexium was still out front, and marched a few steps toward him, trying to get between him and the oncoming monsters.

Gerold aimed his pistol, Exitium Lux, and full-auto coherent nano-pulses streamed towards the foes. The archeotech weapon tore through the nearest technorog, cooking off some hidden explosives that sent the body flying in shrapnel that the second nearest technorog shrugged off. The next two beams struck it in the body and head, setting off a similar explosion, the pieces of its body littering the space.

The other technorog started running forwards, two going left to attempt to flank you. The two others charged through the wreckage of their allies, the first projecting a powerful explosive bark that released a cloud of small metal sphere like shotgun shot towards ignatius. While the shot struck Ignatio, it mostly rebounded off his armor.

Alexium grew slightly frustrated at how little the laspistol had done. The child doubted the monosword would fare much better. Now it was time to play strong defenes. It backed up and kept aim at the nearest mechanical beast while its comrades fought valiantly.


Roderick turned away from the battle with a sigh of frustration. It looked like it was getting interesting out there, but the pull of loot was stronger. He carefully set down the generator, amazed at the deftness of the lifter claws. They looked fair cumbersome from the outside, but once he was locked in and piloting he was surprised at their dexterity.
Once he put down the generator, he stood back up and grinned at all the lockers with markers on them. If could rub his hands together, he would have.

Map:

Turn 3:

She fired again and again. Even towards the back of the group with bodies between her and the robotic-monstrosity, she was terrified.
Why am I afraid? My fear gripped me before these attacked, was it truly these admech creations? She thinks somewhere in the back of her mind. She couldn't concentrate on the thought, however, as the opportunity to dismantle the source of her unnatural terror had not presented itself....yet.


Gerold walked calmly behind cover, Snapping a single shot towards the closest technorog who deftly dodged out of the way.

It was clear they'd be upon them in a moment so somewhat hastily he holsters his pistol and draws his power sword. San Sebastian presses the activation stud and with a gulp of nervousness which no one could see beneath his armour he holds his blade up in challenge. It was a possibly vain hope some of the technorog would attack him instead of his companions, a captain had to prove his worth.

Jakobi slid to a halt in his intercept attempt. He maintained a serene smile as he watched two of the appraoching technorogs fell under the ministrations of his allies. I must see that I match their offerings.
He stepped towards the approaching technorog, gauging its response. The abominations eyes were trained on the gleaming edge of his blade; its programming must have identified Gōruden'ejji as a threat. An astute observation. There was a brief pause...
The technorog lunged forward. Jakobi raised his blade to his left, feigning a opening to his right side. The beast responded accordingly, sweeping its right claw in a vicious downward blow. In one smooth motion, Jakobi swept the blade in a vicious upward arc into the vulnerable underside of the technorog's arm. There was a shower of sparks and the shriek of shearing metal as the arm came off at the shoulder. The energy discharge blasted the beast asunder, allowing Jakobi to narrowly avoid being crushed by it's bulk.
Jakobi lowered his blade. I'm glad none of us have thought to acquire these, he mused, they are clearly defective.

++Chirurgeon Quinnius, my flesh is failing as yours once threatened to. Cure my weakness.++ Ignatio blasted in techno-lingua, prompting the servo-skull into action. The tech priest pulled his head to the side, revealing a gap in his armor near the back of his neck, where the remains of his shipboard doctor, serving his duty beyond death, floated forward and injected him with a dose of Wideawake. Feeling new energy flush through his system and banish the headache from earlier, the tech priest rose his hellgun, waiting to fire on the machine beast as it came within point blank range.

The technorog charged forth to the closest foes, one going after Jakobi and the other charged Ignatio. Ignatio fired at close proximity, grazing the body of the hunter. Fractal claws slashed Jakobi and Ignatio's throats.

Map:

Turn 4

Taking a step back in the face of the technorog's relentless assault, Ignatio's hand went from the barrel of his hellgun to the handle of his power axe, lighting it up as he took a desperate swing at the monster. "Indeed, these abominations in the eyes of the Omnissiah are fit only for destruction," Ignatio commented, doing his best to fend the beast off. Unfortunately, the strike missed.

As the Technorog rushed at him San-Sebastian realised he'd only ever really trained to fight other people. He'd seen the matadors fight monsters, but the thing that charged him was a machine. The thought made him nervous. He was sweating his palms a little slick, he was fortunate for the leather bindings on his swords hilt. It snapped at him but failed to find a mark, so stepping to one side San Sebastian chops at its mid section with his power sword. One of his trainers had told him not to over think things, so he tried to channel that and push the thought. The creature was staggered by the strike, though still stood.

Lethia couldnt shoot now, not that the psyber-cats were raking the team with tooth and claw. She hesitantly and with much fear takes a few steps back, eager to get away but helpless to do so.....

Gerold tried to fire into the melee, his shots going wild and away from the scrum.

Jakobi seemed a bit distracted in an act of self-flagellation, small drops of blood dripping off his hand.

The technorog seem little interested in self-defense, focusing on all-out attack. While the ones engaged with Ignatio and Jakobi miss spectacularly, the third has a chance to hit san-sebastian.

Roderick stepped back from the now open locker and called to his friend, Be a pal and scoop that up for me will you? he rotated the suit smoothly and walked to the next marked locker, though there was still some distance to go.

Alexium rushed towards the opened locker, distant as it was.

Turn 5

Lethia was frozen. She couldn't do anything. The psyber beasts were too lose to her allies to fire with the hellpistol, and her psyker powers were limited, Hesitantly, she lifts the pistol and tries to steady her aim at the nearest mechanical panther.

Gerald, unable to get a clear shot, decided to go for the lockers as well.

Ignatio staggered back in the face of the intense assault, his respirator audibly racing with a rapid wheeze to keep up with his exertion and his body's adaptation to the dose of Wideawake. As the Technorog lunged at his throat again, he caught it's chest with the barrel of his hellgun, holding the beast at bay while he wound up his axe swing. "Begone from the Omnissia's sight!" the magos intoned, as he slammed his axe in at his mechanical foe.

San Sebastian manages to fend off Technorog, it had bitten his arm and held on for a short while. He'd been lucky for his carapace which had kept his arm whole, he'd been more concerned that the thing might pull the limb off. A bash on its nose with the pommel of his sword had drove it back. The attack had unnerved him though and Sebastian's follow up attack is weak and off the mark.

The technorog started making a strange noise of servos and scraping metal, with additional spikes and armor plates seeming to grow out of their body. In seemingly augmented fury, they striked at Jakobi & san-sebastian, though they seem to fail to make contact.
In addition, a sudden burst came from the central shaft, alongside a strang silling sound. Something was approaching.

Jakobi took a disinterested stab at the prone Technorog in front of him, but missed severing the servos he had been aiming for. There was something about executing a downed foe that had stolen some of his vigor for combat. He had been distracted by his companions' looting efforts, curious to see what treasures they would manage to uncover during their escape.

Roderick kept moving forward towards the next locker. After he had opened it, by the sounds of things behind him, he would need to make his way to the ramp. Sounds of battle had changed, meaning things might be swinging the group's way

Map:

Turn 6

Ignacio had finshed off the psyberbeast before Lethia could force herself to pull the trigger.
Good, one less thing for me to screw up she thinks to herself. She edges forwards nearer to Sebastian so that a quick Hellpistol shot would be less likely to hurt.


San Sebastian backed away a little in alarm as the Technorog 'adapted' gaining more plating and spikes, which caused his strike to fall short. He had taken himself out of his striking range. To be fair he'd never fought anything like it, it was unnerving but he needed to maintain discipline in combat. He cursed himself.
The noises of something approaching came to the fore again as whatever it was got louder and he assumed closer. "Get ready to move." he shouted. He didn't dare to take his eyes off his opponent so he hoped everyone was ready.

As San Sebastian pulled back, Gerold decided to fire upon the suddenly clear technorog, striking it in the head, its spiked body falling appart and leaving something like caltrops  where it fell.

"We must eliminate these techno-abominations before we can be further engaged," Ignatio calmly stated, then charged across the metal floor, boots clanking with each step, and brought his poweraxe down in a powerful swing at Jacobi's technorog's flank. As it was struck down it exploded into sharp metallic shards that flew towards Jakobi & Ignatio.

As the two hunter technorog fell, the ground started shaking the entire structure trembled as a powerful metallic roar emanated from the central shaft. Two gigantic metallic arms ended in two white-hot claws struck the floor, sending out a powerful shockwave strong enough to send one prone. The arms pulled up a gigantic body, far too large to actually exit the shaft, as the head alone was half as tall as the level itself. Four glowing eyes stared out at the the group, as a grille in a place analoguous to the mouth started slowly moving open.

Map:

Alexium took the board-like-object from the locker, noting its too humanoid foot imprints. The child did the natural next thing... it stepped on them. The board moved up and Alexium expertly kept balance, understanding almost immediately how to work the device.....awesome. Less awesome was the giant mech trying to kill them. The board propulsed him forwards into the open.

Roderick stepped back from ripping open the locker and made his way to the shield generator he had put down moments earlier. Judging by the sounds coming from the central spire, things were really starting to heat up now.

"I'd consider this 'further engaged', Ignatio." Jakobi stated loudly, staring at the massive metallic monstrosity. Unfortunately, it appeared they had pressed their luck a bit far. Must act quickly - time is thrones.

Jakobi broke into a sprint, making for one of the construct's arms. He knew it would take the construct some time to settle itself as it hoisted its bulk up the shaft. He would have but a moment to make his move; even a weapon as dangerous as Gōruden'ejji would do little against a foe of this size. Unless, of course, it was applied more precisely...

Map:

Turn 7:

Lethia's attention was drawn from the dying throes of the technorog to the giant head lifting itself through the central shaft, "Emperor preserve...." she gasped, she climbas warily to her feet, unsure wether they would run or fight.

Gerold, already safe behind cover, aimed his pistol towards the creature, firing off a full-auto spread certain that he couldnt miss such a large creature. Despite the blessed weapon's power, only a single shot chipped the armor. Clearly, massed fire would not be enough; he would need to find weak spots.

San-Sebastián Herrera's mouth hung open as the new threat made itself present. Where to start? His mind briefly went back to the matadors fighting great beasts in the arena, the glory, the honour! When his mind snapped back to the present he found he had his plasma pistol to hand. The weapons coil flared as it powered up and spat out a brilliant ball of plasma at the beast.
It was blocking their way out they had to at least try and move it or perhaps they could defeat it...
"Focus fire on it." Sebastián shouts "Let's see if we can damage the thing."

When the ground shook, throwing Ignatio to the floor, time slowed significantly as blinking runes in his vision spelled out 'Activating tactical cogitation'. The Technorog abomination that stood above them was the size of a Titan, only instead of a God-machine, it was a monster made metal. A blinking notification calculated it's threat level: Alpha.
Conventional weapons seemed obviously insufficient against such a fiend, but as his mind tallied the various assets he could potentially use, each one returning a negative prognosis, one flashed a yellow 'potentially viable': one of the galvanic load lifters on the levels above.
The flash of inspiration faded, and normal perception of time resumed as the floor rushed up to meet him. The tech priest cushioned the blow with his forearms as well as he could, then quickly scrambled back up to his feet. He'd had a vision from the Omnissiah, and he knew what needed to be done.
++Chirurgeon Quinnius, follow Jacobi until you are beneath the gap in the ceiling above, and then proceed up the shaft as quickly as possible until you reach the Galvanic load lifter designated SA-GLL-3. Rouse it's machine spirit and command it to drive into the central shaft, in the name of the Omnissiah!++
His burst of techna-lingua included various designations and coordinates, and the skull flew off to shadow the missionary in the hope that it could avoid notice. It quickly flew upwards, its auto-cogitator recognizing the usage of the ramp as cover.

The Technorog Ogre finally started moving, sweeping its right arm towards jakobi as it turned. Two shapes on its shoulders extruded out and started firing wildly at the group, the suppressing fire trying to force them into cover. At the same time, the armored grille on its front retreated, revealing a raging plasma fire at its heart. The orange fire heated up, passing to yellow, green, blue and finally white; power was accumulating for something big.

As Jakobi neared the beast's left arm, it's right came sweeping towards him. It was massive; a clean blow from its claws would most certainly be fatal or near to it. As such, he would see that it could never land a clean blow. Twisting to face the the incoming arm, he placed both hands on his sword, catching the lower talon near the hilt of the blade. The momentum of the massive limb would normally have knocked him flat - but he had readied himself for exactly that. He allowed the force of the blow to bowl him over, his blade forcing the talon to pass harmlessly over him, before he rolled back up to his feet, springing onto the beast's other arm, still embedded into the plating of the floor. His calm smile became a grin as he remembered a piece of advice he'd once heard in his youth: Sometimes, Jakobi, ya gotta roll wif' da punches. The Emperor worked in mysterious ways indeed.

Alexium had no clue how to even start with the creature. It looked as though it had eye slits. The child knew a thing or two about not having eyes. "Maybe concentrate on its eyes!" It moved with speed to go up and assist with the Galvanic Lifter.He managed to slide up to a higher tier, bringing him away from the fight and towards the galvanic lifter. Once there, he saw little, save a confused servo-skull and a distinct absence of galvanic lifter. A trace of rubber could be seen on the ramp going upwards.

Roderick moved shouthward, towards the metal tables. They might be sufficient dense to serve as mobile cover.

Jakobi ran up the arm, managing to keep balance on the irregular surface, passing a wide slash onto one of the shoulder-guns, cutting it off from the body as it fired wildly into the air.

Map:

Turn 8:

She looked at the hellpistol back to the silvered beast rising from the floor. There was no way her pistol, as potent as it was, was going to do anything to it. She backs off, as far as her jellied legs would allow.

[beat]Hearing the call [beat] to go for the [beat] eyes, and seeing [beat] the glowing points on the beast's armor, Torian closed his [beat] eyes for a second and lowered his heartbeat. He [beat] relaxed his shoulders and took a [beat] deep breath. He fluidly [beat] leaned out of cover. He aimed, [beat] letting the sights sway with his continually dropping heartbeat. His icy-blue eyes locked onto his target with an unblinking intensity as he waited a few microseconds for a gap in his heart-rate. [beat] As his trigger finger tightened, he let the sights sway back into exactly where he wanted it, and slowly breathed out.

As the bolt enters the ogre's body cavity and explodes against the glowing heart, leading to a horrifying shreak and a powerful beam of energy that barely misses the grouped explorers and their prize. While the early parts of the beam only destroyed the lockers, the further beam seemed to expand and vaporize further lockers and walls leaving a metallic scent in the air. The previously open grate shut suddenly, blocking access to the glowing core.

San Sebastian was about to fire his plasma pistol when the metal beasts guns start to fill the air with bullets. Screw that then he thought as he scrambles towards cover.

<Activating Tactical Cogitation> flashed in front of the Magos's vision again, as the giant monster opened fire. Time slowed once again, and as rounds slammed into the floor all around him, another message flashed up. <Tactical position non-viable. Retreat reccomended.> Ignatio nodded at these wise words from the Machine God, and turned to run as fast as he could to hide behind the nearest locker while his servo-skull followed Jakobi until he got under the central shaft, and then darted upward as quickly as it could.
A faint vox-blurb was returned from the servo-skull <Target absent. Traces of travel updwards. Please advise.>

The ogre, with faint smoke rising from grills within the body. After another salvo from the left-shoulder stubber towards the left to pin down the most dangerous foes. Following that, the giant left claw moved to grab the insect on its shoulder. As it lifted it arm, its left side wobbled a little before replacing itself.

Jakobi was trapped. Despite trying to struggle free, the grasp was simply too strong.

Alexium followed the servo-skull updwards, rushing with all possible speed to the looters updside. If they had the cranes active, there might be other munitions available.

Roderick couldn't cover his ears to avoid the power of the screech. He could feel the sound echoing inside his skull, making his teeth ache. With a lurching step forward, he moved to pick up the generator to try and protect it.

Map:

Map, Start Turn 9:

Lethia was done. She was worthless here, as she knew she would be. Her domain was the stars and her weapon was the great, insignificant ships that plied her lanes. She turns and moves away at full speed. It was difficult, her legs wobbled and her heart rang in here ears, she thought that she might even faint from the strain.

With nothing obvious to aim for, Torian decides to see if even a melta can penetrate the Ogre's armor. Drawing his inferno pistol and leaning out of cover, a high-pitched hiss fills the air followed by a concussive roar that echoes through the chamber as he lets loose a searing beam of concentrated melta energy that strikes the ogre with the blazing heat of a star. It inevitably cut through the metallic armor, setting off a sequence of small explosions in the right arm.

San-Sebastian screwed his eyes shut at the screeching feedback noise emitted from the mechanical monster, it set his teeth on edge. Wincing against the noise he resisted the urge to drop his gun and put his hands to his ears. Peaking through the pain San-Sebastian thumbs his plasma pistol to maximal, with the pistol spitting and hissing steam as the weapons starts to over power before he snaps off a shot. The shot rips through the head, tracing a wide gouge on the right side.

The magos barely made it to the shelter of the lockers when the great machine-beast's powerful feedback screetch nearly sent him to his knees. He caught himself on the edge of the cogitator, the great prize that would make all this insane danger worth while, and struggled to focus. Then the energy beam rolled through, growing more powerful with each kilogram of matter it absorbed. "That was a matter-energy conversion!" he sounds off. Then the servo-skull's update came in, and he turned to peek above the lockers at the ceiling where it should be flying to. ++Transmit pict-caster to my ocular implants.++ he commanded, seeing that the tow vehicle was in fact gone.
++Proceed upward and make contact with the HALO barge loading crews++ he commanded it.

The technorog lazily flung the insect Jakobi at the line of lockers. Rather than sending covering fire, its left arm started trambling, its 3 claws slowly extruding outward into the shape of technorog hunters. The hunters where stilted, slow, but they gained speed as two went towards Torian and a Third Towards Sebastian.

Afterwards, the technorog started a slow, ponderous turn to the left, dragging himself counter-clockwise while his frontal grille openned revealing the glowing core within. It had yet to reach the proper orientation , but once it did a whole cluster of insects, huddling behind the metal lockers, would b e

Map, Mid Turn 9:

Jakobi's sprint up the monstrosity's arm had been precarious, but he'd manage to land a firm blow on one of its weapons systems. He had hardly had time to consider his next move before the beast had swept him up in its other hand and flung him asunder. Jakobi twisted in the air, attempting to get his feet under him. It went poorly - he smashed into the floor and skidded to a halt. He had, however, managed to maintain a white-knuckled death-grip on his blade. He used it to push himself to his feet, coughing up blood and feeling the shooting pain of broken ribs. In retrospect... such a brash assault may have been less effective than he'd hoped.

Alexium zoomed towards the closest heavy lift, moving upwards to be eye to eye with its operator. "Drop what you're doing now, you got new orders." The child pointed at one of the heavy crates, remembering the reports that it was filled with largely useless ore. "You're going to drop that container right down the middle of this shaft. Move your ass!" Following this, Alexium heard the powerful chemical motor of one of the haulers.

The pain of the screech still echoed in his head, but the throbbing subsided with each heartbeat. Roderick made it to the generator, and bent down awkwardly in the suit to pick it back up. The lifter claws gently secured the priceless archeotech in a firm grip, before Roderick made to move to the nearest cover. After the next volley from the mechanical beast, he would move towards the ramp that led up to the surface.

Map, Start Turn 10:

More of the psyber cats were showing up. The situation was untenable. It was a good thing Lethia had already started moving as far away as she could as fast as she could. "Theres no hope against that beast!" she pleads for the others to flee as well, that they may live this day.

Torian is a schemer at heart, and when an enemy reveals a weak-spot, he will always try to exploit it. Once the glowing spot is revealed again, he immediately brings his bolter to bear, and slams an explosive bolt deep inside the ogre, narrowly missing the heavily armored exterior.

The bolt flew into the reactor core. Unlike others that struck the internal baffles and harmed the inner structure, it exploded slightly before hitting the energy baffles that where preparing to eject their  payload. A single piece of shrapnel flew through the maelstrom of energy, where the heat was able to liquefy, but not vaporize it. This little drop of metal flew directly into the central matter/antimater core, cause a fatal excess in matter that caused a backfire of dematerialization into the antimater reservoir, destroying its magnetic containment matrix and releasing it in it's entirety.

The technorog suddenly became a small star, ejecting tremendous amounts of heat, light and radiation. The three hunters where annihilated instantly, with most of the nearby ramps melted to slag. The paint on the lockers burned away, producing a dense, acrid smoke. Jakobi just barely managed to vault over the lockers, falling onto San-sebastian and into cover.

While the ramp downwards was irretrievably destroyed, the way up was still solid. Though you would need to find another path across.

Combat End Map:

Lethia feels an intense wave of heat and sound, forcing her to the ground. She hits with a feminine grunt and waits for the laser-beam-deathblow to liquify her body.

After a moment the temperature eases and a silent deafening fills the raucous. She struggles to find her feet and look back. The giant was out of commission and the explosion had taken out the beasts as well. She lets out a sigh of relief, and then looks around to see who dies and who was still alive. Another relief.

When he saw the chain reaction begin, the Magos ducked back behind the locker he sheltered behind and sank to his knees, praying to the Omnissiah for protection. When the wave of heat and light passed by, he noted that he still lived, and stood up, scanning around to see the results.

"Lord Siegel, truly you are an instrument of the Omnissiah's wrath." he intoned reverently, as he commanded his servo skull to fly down to him.

Walking over to the edge of the hole in the floor left by the antimatter reaction, Ignacio reached into his done and produced the anchoring line for his clip harness, which he handed to the servo skull. Directing the flying servitor, he had it fly up to the next level and find a way to secure the anchor to the floor above.

The servo-skull easily clipped the anchoring line to the higher floor of the ramp. It would be solid enough to allow a standard human to climb up. The cogitator & the powerful exo-suit worn by Roderick, however, would be far too heavy.

Having ducked back into cover to avoid the murderous attentions of the technorog hunters, Torian felt the searing wave of heat crisp the outermost layer of his cloak, the blast wave slam into the lockers and nearly rip them off their moorings, saw the blinding flash reflected off the lockers in front of him before their smooth surface warped and charred from the heat, and heard nothing but a high-pitched ringing - left momentarily deafened from the explosion.

He fell to his knees, dizzy and stunned, before clearing his head with a few shakes and stumbling to his feet. He saw the smoking crater where the Ogre had been, and smiled at the thought of the heightened bargaining position this victory might offer - as well as the good reception his timely arrival to join the team might garner: "One hell of an entrance" he muttered under his breath.

"His omnipotent will shines down on us all" he intones vaguely in the Magos's direction as he takes in the new situation. "D'you see a crane or any anchored cabling up there that might get Roderick out of this mess?"

"Right! Let's get these lockers open, boys!" he calls out heartily, and begins opening lockers around him, looking for anything valuable.

Opening the lockers, you two items that havent disintegrated into dust. The first is a box containing one large electronic module and 12 smaller earpieces. The second is an intricate brassy long-view, marked with three eyes.

A single locker was left, on the other side of the chasm.

Alexium halted the driver with a gesture before it could drop the crate. Briefly the child wondered if the crate could be lowered down at such an angle to provide a surface easily climable, even by Roderick.

The Astropath then took stock of the situation... Is there anything here that I could lower down for them?

Lethia listens and marvels at the will of her compatriots, eager to tempt fate by indulging in their greed.

It did make sense though, they were in the employ of a rogue trader, renown for greed and possession. Nor did the loyalties of the dynasty owe allegiance to anyone, like a navigator legacy, such as Lethia did.

She checks the Hellpistol in a shaky grip, before putting it back into the ornate holster on her hip.

"I see little reason to tempt fate further." she warns the others, simply looking for someone to agree with her.

"nothing ventured, nothing gained, friend" Torian embellishes with a wink.

With the available loot secured, Torian decides to investigate a new potential solution to their hindrance. He drapes his camo-cloak over himself, bolter in hand and ready, and walks to the entranceway to the power-plant.

He falls prone, and edges forward to get a better look at the interior of the room.

Ignatio swung over to the half-melted ramp and landed on it, examining it with the auspex and performing a brief Ritual of Load Bearing, as he tested it with his own weight by bouncing up and down a little with his knees. He paused as the auspex returned micrometer growth along the edges of the ramp.

"Machine, repair thyself," he said reverently, voxxing the words of the Omnissiah when he first arrived on Mars. Then he spoke over the vox, his voice appearing in everyone's micro-beads.

"Given approximately two hours, I believe the ramp's self-repair process will allow a galvanic crane could be deployed in order to retrieve Roderick and the Cogitator. I do not recommend remaining here for that long. Continued presence is likely to cause continued hostile escalation."

He turned toward the central shaft. "I believe that with careful piloting, an Arvus Lighter could be maneuvered to this location, however deploying one would require at least another half-hour. Does anyone have alternative suggestions?"

Torian sneaked through the door to the east. The space was poorly lit, with a mess of pipes and tubes blocking any natural light that filtered through the thick atmosphere.

To the north & south, wide corridors went for several dozen meters before turning west. Straight ahead of you, a large arched corridor continued straight ahead.

Torian backs away back into the chamber containing the party and relays this information. He says "I think we should push to explore laterally at this point, and keep this spot as a fall-back and evac point. Thoughts?"

"We do not have two hours and I would be surprised if we had half an hour before we're attacked again. Remember that previous parties have not made it out of here." He pinched the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on from the stress of the past few minutes. While he collected his thoughts he moved over towards the chasm blocking there escape and looked up and down.

Could a craft really fit down here, he had to trust in Ignatio judgement. He opened a channel to the crew up above. "Prep an Arvus Lighter. We're stuck and need to find another way up. However if we're unable we'll need a good pilot who thinks they can navigate down the opening to pick us up. We'll look for another way up while that is being prepared."

Sebastian waited for an acknowledgement before addressing his companions "Ok, get ready to move. You have one minute more of plunder before we move out. I've called down an Arvus Lighter, which may be able to get us out of here. Thats gonna take time though so we should look for another way up."

Ignatio nodded at the Lord Captain's orders, and had his servo-skull familiar unclasp the line from where it had previously been anchored and bring it to him. Walking up the ruined ramp, he re-anchored it, and descended down to the far side. "Very well, Lord Captain. I will open this last locker, and then report on what can be found on this side of the chamber. We can ascertain then in which direction it would be most useful to explore."

He proceeded to the locker he'd marked out, so far away from all the others, and opened his combi-tool to configure it to what he would need to pop it open.

The Magos planned to collect these long-secured goods, then make his way over to the western corridor, peering down it with his augmented eyes and scanning it with his auspex scanners.

With nothing currently for the child to do, Alexium made sure one of the cranes was in place to drop a heavy load of ore down the middle of the shaft at a moment's notice. With that done, the Astropath hovers to ensure the work was being carried out efficiently and that preparations were made for an extraction at a moment's notice should the rest of the team make their way up by some other route.

Pulsanus went to the locker; within he saw the leftoverts of an ancient pair of goggles. While the strap holding them had rotted way, the googles themselves looked solid and heavy, filled with ancient machines.

As for the western path, it was a mirror of the eastern. To the north & south, wide corridors went for several dozen meters before turning east. Straight ahead of you, a large arched corridor continued straight ahead.

Map:

Torian blinks in surprise, and walks over before gently resting his hand on Sebastian's shoulder. He murmurs in a low voice "My lord, do the rest of us not have a voice in this? I worry about some - I would not send Alexium venturing out to find us on their own, Lethia is shaken by this all, and Ignatius is injured. I will follow you in this, but do not forget that we were all chosen to perform this task for a reason."

Turning, he projects his voice louder, "we must move forward defensively. Lethia and Magos Ignatius to rearguard, while the rest of us keep them well protected, unless others disagree. Shall I take point, my lord?"

Before walking away, he offers Sebastian his inferno pistol: "would you find use of this, lord-captain?"

Roderick made his way to the rest of the group and waited for the lighter to come down and scoop them up. He had watched jealously as Alexium took off on his new found transport and disappeared up to the upper level. Had he not been locked away, uselessly, in the suit, it might have been his. He would need to win it somehow. The child was a bleeder for bets, part of the reason they got on so well. Feeling useless during the fight, Roderick came to a stop next to Sebastian and waited for the lighter without a word

Of course everyone had a voice, they were all equals here as far as San-Sebastián was concerned. He'd put himself forward to lead, a ship did needed a captain after all. "You have a voice, speak if you have a different idea. Your thoughts are welcome." he wore his helm so his surprise at what Torian spoke of was hidden "I consider the others, of course. This is why we must press on, find another way up. If we can't we can fall back here."

At Torians suggestion that he take point Sebastián merely nodded and was going to leave it there until Torian offered his weapon. Was Torian having a dig, Sebastian was unsure if the offer was genuine. San-Sebastián leans in to Torian so only he can hear. "If you have issue with me lets deal with it later."

He moves away from what was likely his cousin and opens comms to everyone.

"If anyone has another idea please speak, otherwise we should look for another way up while the lighter gets here, we have about thirty minutes. We stay together as Torian suggested"

"I shall stay up here and ensure our profit margins aren't fucked about with," Alexium chimes in. In reality, the child was merely the face of the Rogue Trader crew made manifest for the workers who were already going about transporting goods to be loaded and shipped were diligent and professional enough.

"Roderick - in case you hadn't paid attention in that new, fancy suit of armor - I won the bet."

Lethia began to wonder who was really in charge here, Torian gave commands and San Sebastian did not counter them, but instead offered differing opinions.

She should never have come down here.

With no one providing any alternatives, she moves towards the back, it was almost as bad as putting her in the front.

"Nothing of particular interest on this end," Ignacio reported, turning around and walking the long way around to return to the other side. "I suggest if we are to explore further that we begin on the Eastern corridor." He produced his hellgun and quicky checked it over as he walked.

As you slowly advance northwards, you reach the turn eastwards. Strange sounds echo out of your surroudings, with no clear origin. Seeing the eastwards corridor, it appears to go directly towards the other side, far enough to correspond to the opposite side of the gap.

Ignatio sent his servo-skull ahead, scanning around any corners as he made his way back to the party as quickly as he could.

The servo-skull easily passed through the empty corridor. It did indeed loop back,allowing easy, safe passage.

Map:

Roderick continued to follow the group as they scouted the area and found a way across the chasm. With no more taunts coming from Alexium, he kept quiet and allowed the others to do their work

Ingatio continued along until he found the rest of his companions. Readying his hellgun and getting into position to cover the corridor to the east, he announced "Someone will need to take point. We should proceed in a tactical formation to cover them as they proceed."

Torin had offered to take point so he saw no reason to deny him "Torin, take point. Stay ahead some 10 metres but do not go out of site, ok?" Sebastian then looked at the rest of the group, eye's lingering on those with injuries. There didn't appear to be many 'combatants' and the term was used loosely amongst them.

"Ignatio follow up on Torin. I'll take the rear and everyone else inbetween."

A simple "Aye, Lord-Captain" is Torian's response. He nods at Ignatio, readies his bolter, and moves forward. Keeping close to either wall and staying 5-7 meters ahead of the group, be begins the advance - flitting from shadow to shadow, his form blurred by the swirling fabric of his camo-cloak.

It is times like this where Torian's paranoia comes in handy, as his eyes scan each corner as he passes and his mind works to predict areas of potential ambush.

The passage through the corridor was uneventful. Nothing jumped out of the shadows. Nothing attacked. You quickly reached the ramp, and made your way upwards. Looking down into the shaft, you see light coming upwards, though it is still quite far away.

When you reach the top floor, you see a hive of activity. The last few valuable crates were waiting to be loaded, which should finish in less than 15 minutes. The last thing of value left is the crane, dangling a crate above the shaft. At the controls was looter-lieutenant Brol awaiting your final orders.

Roderick made his way to the loot assembly area and waited for the landers to appear. He was still useless in a fight, and if anything came out of that hole he would be in the way. His prize needed to be kept out of harms way for just a little longer

As they emerged back onto the loading platform of the spire, Ignatio allowed his organic components to relax somewhat. The mission was nearly done, and soon he'd have a chance to properly examine their prize, and determine how to proceed.

"Lord Roderick, we should secure the cogitator. Please come with me so that I can ensure it is loaded properly," he said, leading the way to a barge.

Lethia was never so happy to be in an open space. She moves away from the entrance, and towards the lighter.

"Anyone else see that?" Alexium, still on the hoverboard which operated in conjunction with the child with an almost unnatural unity, peered at the light moving up towards them.

"We are definitely dropping this crate on whatever that is."

The child lifted his hand to the operator, and when it dropped, so too would the crate.

The lieutenant dropped the crate then started moving back towards the loading zone. After several minutes, an intense "clang" reverberated from the shaft. The sound was followed a few minutes by an acrid scent, as well as a strange boiling sound. This was finished with a powerful light, the same disintegration beam empowered to be meters wide blasting a large hole through the structure and projecting outwards into the sky.

The lieutenant radioed the group: Everything is loaded, you should hurry, I have no interest in fighting whatever did that!

Upon hearing that proclamation, Torian quickly gets aboard, and begins immediately going through the assorted loot, calling Ignatio over occasionally for help identifying items, categorizing, taking notes as to their valuation. The chaotic world of combat behind him for now, he sank back into the welcoming calm of trading logistics. Inevitably there would soon come a time for negotiations and investigations and blackmail and deals - but not yet today.

Alexium smiles as the dropped cargo clearly smashes the grox shit out of the face of whatever was coming up to greet them.

The Astropath guides the hoverboard back to the transport with haste. When they were all assembled in the craft, the child spoke with a hint of excitement.

"Well that was exciting; quite a haul of loot, one dead titan, multiple dead murder-kitties, and a brand new hoverboard." The child immediately removed the hoverboard and placed it between its back and well-packed backpack. There would be no question as to who claimed that prize.

The Magos took time to ensure that the cogitator was securely, and safely, packed away, and then allowed himself to be pulled away to look at the other, lesser artifacts they had collected. "This is quite a collection of Archeotech. Compiling Catalog."

He took a moment to examine each artifact closely, noting it's visible features and hypothesizing about possible uses, and referencing what historical information he'd gained over the years.

As he looked over the devices, he idly mused "There are some within the machine cult who would insist on each of these artifacts being sealed away, only to be occasionally studied and otherwise simply appeased with regular prayer. There are many like these in the vaults of Skarus Prime, which will likely never see use." He paused, considering, then added "Some knowledge has been lost that way, when the information is corrupted or unreadable and the previous researchers expire."

Ignatio looked up to Torian, studying his features carefully. "I understand that you've studied the ways of the machine cult somewhat, Lord Torian. If I may ask, what is your opinion on such matters?"

While waiting for his response, the Magos identified a handful of cargo containers which were listed as containing supplies that might be useful for modifying the cogitator, and sent his servo-skull to order the work crews to shift them where needed before they took off.

Torian chose his words slowly, and with care: "I believe that tools are meant for using, knowledge for knowing, and information for gathering. Such a stance would be considered heresy by some, but I've been accused of worse before."

Ignatio nodded slowly, considering his words. "Interesting. I believe we are of a similar mind: The quest for knowledge is not served by allowing machines to fall into disuse, for in using them, we build understanding, and understanding is the true path to comprehension."

"Would you care to examine the cogitator we uncovered from the stasis vault with me, Lord Torian?"

As the lighters began touching down and filled with prizes, Roderick walked up the ramp of the closest. Reaching a safe area in the hold, he engaged the mag function in the feet of the exosuit to lock it in place. The lifts claws kept a firm grip on the generator, and the whole unit effectively became immovable. Roderick then begand do disengage himself from the suit, almost falling out of the chest cavity as the plates slid apart. Given there were no witnesses, he was content to exit the hold and find the rest of the group.