Chapter 1: Into the wild black yonder IC

Lethia felt immediately at odds with one of the group. It was a vile revulsion and she had to fight the urge to shoot her down then and there.
In a rare display of initiative, she spoke first.

"Yes. Tragic. Now since you have lead us here with visions and sorcery, tell us who you are and what it is you want?"

There was a catch here, there had been plenty of chances to kill them en route, but they wanted them here. She was beginning to think she knew why...

There was no leading. All you have seen has been repeating for nearly a thousand generations. It will restart in 88minutes & 8 seconds if you stay in place.

She cleared her throat and spat on the distant ground.

Though your coming here was...predictable. Your curiosity, your greed is written on your face. It must be dealt with. Some folks-men, for one-would see this as an ideal trap. I, on the other hand, am wiser, and sought to meet you discreetly to provide an understanding of what is here, and why we must keep the accursed from our world. Ignorance may give strength to the weak, but the strong and the wise need knowledge to truly understand the crushing weight of duty that is laid upon them.

One of the hooded ones-very tall and broadly built-came out of the shadows with a man-portable heavy stubber.

They must die before they bring... the older woman snapped her fingers with tremendous noise, interrupting the heavyset man. His voice was familiar, as if you had heard it recently.

You will be quiet, CHILD! I do not deny your pain, but it is making you flighty. Keep your temper in check or it will be kept for you.

She turned back to your group.

Should you have any questions, ask away. And I request you not use any powers-for reasons I shall explain first if you so desire.

Alexium had inadvertently walked much closer to Roderick when they passed by the cells. They told the group their purpose; psychic dampeners. Prison cages for the psychically receptive.

There was a sadness in the child's heart when the woman finally lost her long struggle. It was irrational since they knew she had been dead for thousands of years, but it still hurt.

+++

In the octagonal room, Alexium studied the skulls until the mysterious figures began talking.

"Please explain." With that, they weren't just asking about the restriction on power usage, which Alexium was already aware of to an extent. The Astropath wanted a deeper explanation of everything.

When he heard the battery, Ignatio began to scan the room, looking for it. He saw only the first flickers of something on his preysense when the lights suddenly lit them up.

Once again, his perception of time slowed. <Activating Tactical Cogitation> flashed in his eyes, and he scanned the figures above. One began speaking before he had his hellgun fully trained on them, and so he pulled back, watching and waiting, silently scanning for any sign of a truck or other hostility.

Iron and Metal wrote:

In the octagonal room, Alexium studied the skulls until the mysterious figures began talking.

"Please explain." With that, they weren't just asking about the restriction on power usage, which Alexium was already aware of to an extent. The Astropath wanted a deeper explanation of everything.

The skulls appeared to all be human. Those few that showed the back of the skull showed the same, three pointed cave-in.

The interdiction is because the soul-devourers are still here. Every few generations we fail to find an accursed before they develop powers, and they attract them. And once the soul devourers are present, everyone around them is dead. The anger of the Fifth Brother stems from the last such incident; an entire spire slaughtered by a pair of soul devourers possessing two accursed. The only solution was maximum overkill, and we still lost over a hundred soldiers. The fifth brother lost everything he held dear due to his manipulator master's foolish curiosity. And beyond them being parasites that live in water, we know little else. Not where to find them, whether they are breeding or just remnants of the invasion. That is why we request that none of the accursed use their powers on this world. Ideally, that none come to this world. Because every one of them is a danger to Glacea at large.

"You are the secret society of witch hunters, then." Ignatio spoke up, switching from tactical algorythms to social. "You should be commended for your efforts to protect this world for thousands of years in the face of this threat. Unlike your manipulators, we understand the danger that warp-borne threats pose."

"Annihilation of the Soul Devourers, as you call them, is the preferable outcome. But you would have to be willing to do more than simply pull a trigger. You get around. Do you have the day off??" Alexium asked the bodyguard with a smile, clearly recognizing his voice.

Lethia was silent, listening to the exchange.

She stared at them all in turn, each and everyone. She was attempting to guage who's strengths belonged to whom.= and who the blank was.

"How is it that you are here? Isnt it only recently when the Manutachs unsealed this area? Have you been here this whole time or did you find another way in? "


Though the situation was somewhat tense, she preferred it over the cyber bests.

As they had walked through the corridors, Torian's paranoid energy heightened and heightened, presenting as small tics and constant movement, shifting his eyes and body to try to cover every angle. Once the spotlights turned on, his movement entirely ceased. His facial muscles relaxed into a passive, detached visage. His eyes hooded, as he stared, seemingly uninterested, at the newcomers. His mental state reached clarity as the threat he had been looking for presented itself, and new vectors of thought, action, and negotiation sprung forward.

Inwardly, he smiled to himself upon seeing that obnoxious, troublesome guard. However this situation moved forward, he hoped to see that man reduced to a leaking pile of flesh. Such thoughts paled in comparison to the potential opportunities here. However, those opportunities had yet to present themselves. So far, this group of posturing militants had offered nothing, and demanded much. Yet they recognized his greed, surely they must have thought to bring something to the table? if not, that suited Torian as well. Chirurgeon Kistka would likely get more useful information out of the survivors than negotiating anyway.

Such thoughts were preemptive. These negotiations had yet to reach a crux. He wondered if these newcomers even realized it was negotiations yet.

Torian's voice was neutral and impassive "My people speak truthfully, we are aligned in this goal. My dynasty wishes to see Glacea thrive as never before. We welcome all who might help us in that endeavor.

If you wish to negotiate, you must explain your position further, so that we might better understand our own position to meet your needs.

Does your Manutarch-prime know you threaten us with violence?"

thepooreconomist wrote:

Torian's voice was neutral and impassive "My people speak truthfully, we are aligned in this goal. My dynasty wishes to see Glacea thrive as never before. We welcome all who might help us in that endeavor.

If you wish to negotiate, you must explain your position further, so that we might better understand our own position to meet your needs.

Does your Manutarch-prime know you threaten us with violence?"

Surprise & disdain showed in the older woman's words,

You suppose this is a negotiation? No, this is a warning. If the soul-devourers return, there will be no "thriving"; your greed will remain unsated.

The old woman stood up.

These are not things for the Manutarchs. Their curiosity and infighting would have destroyed this world if they were not held back. They are like children, intelligent enough to be curious, to try to understand, but too ignorant & choleric to realize the risks they take. For your sake, I hope you are not the same.

The old woman turned her back to your group.

We are not here to serve you & your greed. We are here to defend glacea. Heed our warning, or risk everything here. Those are the choices available to you. Your greed & your desire, we do not care about, as long as you do not threaten the lives of the people.

She started walking back into the shadow, as the others fell back with her. She was slow however, and there was still likely time to respond.

Alexium's trip on the black ships and persecution and purification before the Emperor of Humankind Himself had given the Astropath more knowledge and understanding of the wonders, dangers, and pure horrors of the galaxy than this group of presumptuous protectors had between them. The child kept a calm demeanor, but couldn't help but be tickled by the irony of it all. As they turned to leave, Alexium had had enough.

"We might be the only means of actually destroying these Soul Devourers. Clearly you must recognize that, as there are two 'Accursed' standing before you - who have traveled to the edge of the galaxy and back, surviving and thriving without having our souls devoured. We are proof that they can be defeated. By threatening us, you are threatening the safety of your planet. What do you think will happen when the next wave of Imperials comes forth? You think they will sit and negotiate and attempt to come to peaceful terms like we are? Let us work with you."

The old woman nodded to one of the hooded ones-neither the angry bodyguard or the blank, the fourth person. As this person came between you and the old one, she started to speak in a young woman's voice.

It is not the Mother threatening you-the soul devourers are. I am second sister, and will be your primary contact in the future, should you decide to work with us.

She threw down a small metal case.

Inside you will find a transmitter, that will allow you to contact us if needed.  I will say, however, that the powers of the accursed do not function on the soul-devourers. They...absorb it, I believe? It has only been documented once, and our information is limited. What we do know, however, is that many other worlds where taken by them; the entire empire this planet was once a part of. They had armies of accursed, and against the soul-devourers...they where helpless.

"Lord Captain," Ignatio spoke qietly. "If we can eliminate the soul devourers, and thereby earn this group's loyalty, they could be very useful to us."

Then he walked over to the box to examine it, speaking up to the woman "Do the soul devourers leave a corpse? If so, could you provide us one?"

The others of the group dissapears into the darkness. The spotlights & the second sister where the only ones left.

Pyritefoolsgold wrote:

"Lord Captain," Ignatio spoke qietly. "If we can eliminate the soul devourers, and thereby earn this group's loyalty, they could be very useful to us."

Then he walked over to the box to examine it, soeaking up to the woman "Do the soul devourers leave a corpse? If so, could you provide us one?"

No, the doctrine of maximum overkill means there is little chance of anything surviving. Though we do have ancient stories of an attempt at dissecting one of the possessed. The skull contained a grey sludge, and the calcareous remains of a three-part beak; it was similar to that found on octopeds, who have a two-part beak. We can provide you the beak, it has been kept in salt since it was extracted. It will be provided to you when the summit occurs.

As she was already battle ready as they entered the room, Brenonya made no shifts in posture for this correspondence. And was near the boiling point when the old crone appeared to be threatening them, but as with most matters of diplomacy she kept her patience to let her party respond with words first before she let the wrath of the Immortal Emperor guide her. Thankfully Alexium was able to confirm her true meaning, but Bren suspected they may change their minds about this later. She decided for her next round of self flagellation she'd imagine she was breaking this Mother. Were they true in their purpose she continued to wonder.

Ignatio examined the box carefully for a tense moment, but quickly ascertained that it was about what he expected and secured it inside his robes.

Looking up at the woman above, he said "This beak would be a most helpful specimen. Our institutions are very strongly motivated to eliminate such warp-tainted xenos, so cleansing this world is a high priority for us."

With that, he returned to his compatriots. "The box does not appear to be dangerous. It is merely a primitively-encrypted communication device," he informed them over the vox to their microbeads.

Roderick simply blinked and looked around the group slowly. He muttered down to Alexium while the group talked, So, are we done here?

Alexium looked to their friend and shrugged. "Looks like it. That was cryptic as all hell, wasn't it? And not even another hover board. Let's get a drink."

The group easily returned to their original entry point. The soldiers where still there, and where glad to leave. The commander kept her mask on for the ride back. Once you returned to the base camp, you could see that it had almost completely been emptied, with only a few batteries and cables left. You were returned to your shuttle, though it took some help from the soldiers to clear the way out. A significant amount of granular ice had accumulated outside the door.

When the shuttle returned to the Anatem, you could see numerous halo barges ferrying things to the surface, somewhere near the base of the central tower; an initial team to survey out the fusion generator. From the data you where being sent, nearly 25% of the colony materials & personnel had been disembarked.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In the astropathic chambers, Seguro came to meet Alexium as he returned.

We've been getting a lot of chatter from that nearby planet. Mostly freaking out, asking for the prophet, claiming that a sea-fleet will attack them in 4...well I guess 3 days now. They're talking about Krakens, dragons, monsters, you name it. Feels like a fair bit of mythology.

Alexium gathered the team immediately. There was no time to waste.

"Everyone, take a moment to refresh yourselves, but please meet at my Astropathic Chambers as soon as you are able. We will need to move on Prioress Joanne's planet immediately. I will debrief you as soon as I am done conferring with her. Roderick, we are going to need to bring the might of the Anatem down on these heretical bastards threatening our future partners and allies in the Emperor. Our drink will have to wait."

Alexium didn't wait for anyone to answer or respond. They took their hoverboard out and zoomed to the Astropathic Choir chambers as quickly as possible. Once inside, the child steadied themselves and had the choir ready themselves for commune.

Gently, but with a combined power, Alexium reached out to Joanne. "Prioress, it is I. I have heard your prayers. And we will answer them. Now, tell me everything you can about your current situation. Leave out not a single detail...."

As they were all gathered, Brenonya was sure Alexium and Roderick could handle a siege on their own for a few moments. When she first saw the progenitor's message she had also just met the rest of the psions and her ability to trust them was threadbare. Now she sure that these people, her family, needed to know that there was more to the message than what they saw. She pulled Lethia and Torian aside and said, "Excuse me, but we must speak with patriarch before we consider where our priorities lie." Assuming they wanted to, she escorted them to him in a hurried fashion alerting the Patriarch along the of their needing to meet to address a pressing issue.

Iron and Metal wrote:

Gently, but with a combined power, Alexium reached out to Joanne. "Prioress, it is I. I have heard your prayers. And we will answer them. Now, tell me everything you can about your current situation. Leave out not a single detail...."

Within minutes, you received a return message, clear as day:

The wicked have arrayed themselves against us! A fleet of a thousand ships comes towards us! The Sorcerer Halkrazadek leads the fleet with his wicked monsters at his side!

saelean wrote:

As they were all gathered, Brenonya was sure Alexium and Roderick could handle a siege on their own for a few moments. When she first saw the progenitor's message she had also just met the rest of the psions and her ability to trust them was threadbare. Now she sure that these people, her family, needed to know that there was more to the message than what they saw. She pulled Lethia and Torian aside and said, "Excuse me, but we must speak with patriarch before we consider where our priorities lie." Assuming they wanted to, she escorted them to him in a hurried fashion alerting the Patriarch along the of their needing to meet to address a pressing issue.

The patriarch sat on his chair. His usual guard kept to the shadows, only the light of the autogoggles showing.

What situation has come?

He sat, fixing his gaze on Brenyonya.

"I will be present at the meeting," Ignatio said, before quickly making his way to the cargo bay in which the new shuttles were being worked on.

Later, at the astropathic choir chamber, a servo-skull floated in carrying a dataslate. On it, a video feed of the Magos appeared, casted from a device held on a rod he'd apparently strapped over his shoulder. The magos could be seen bustling about maintenance and repairs to one of the gas harvesting shuttles.

"I hope my telecastral projection is adequate for these proceedings. My physical body is needed elsewhere, but I will render all necessary attention to my feeds." The audio from around him was muted, as he sent his voice directly to the servo-skull's speakers.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. With business on Glacea done, now was the time to win over the populations of Joanne's world, make alliances with the Paladins, and crush the foul sorcerers.

Alexium took a deep breath, and then in tandem with Seguro and Griffone, ever so slowly let out the breath. Again, the child was cross legged on the floor, atop an ornate and extremely beautiful rug. Left hand touched the fabric. Right hand touched the temple. Mind open to the aether.

"Relay to me your position - tell me the direction of their approach - landmarks to identify your city; how many Paladins are ready to go to battle? How many others like Halkrazadek are there? And how long until his fleets reach your shores? Prioress, it is of the utmost importance that you leave out no detail now. Ease your spirit, remember your faith, and deliver this information unto me."

The prioress sent you back a thought; a complex one, that took some time to reconstruct into anything the others would remotely understand. But you clearly saw in your mind's eye the world; and on it, a shining isle, with a larger continent wreathed in darkness. A bolt of darkness was winding through the sea, like a sinuous snake coming to snuff out the light. With the map of the world previously provided by the master of etherics, you where able to get a semblant of a plan.

Map:

"Lord, excuse me if you noticed this already, but on review of the message from the progenitor I noticed something. He was indicating something, a secret message only meant for Rogue Traders. It was a trajectory., and I believe it was meant to be pointing from where we found the message. I wanted to bring this up now as we need to have as much information as we can to better weigh our choices. If it does not point to any of these planets in this system, then we can travel on to it late. But if it is and we are to wage war on one of them, we must know where the proverbial "X" is on the map before we blow it up." She the made the same signal from the message to the patriarch, and studied his face as she did.

Alexium takes in another deep breath. Slowly, it eased out of them. The choir sang as one; in their minds the harmonies grabbed the intricate complexities and wove them into a legible pattern. Alexium saw the map, and the choir kept it within their minds.

"Your faith speaks for itself. I hear your message. Now, how long until they arrive. Lastly, picture in your mind the enemy strongholds. Where are their other forces concentrated?"

If Alexium could get that one bit of information, they could potentially sever the head off of one or more snakes with precision strikes upon arrival. The more destruction they could bring upon the enemy before they knew what hit them, the much sooner the fight would be over and fewer Paladins would perish. It was vital they know those targets.

"Prioress, our lord, the Emperor of Humankind, King of Kings, sends his prophet and fury from heaven. We are coming. Spread our message, let it give your forces faith. Steel yourselves. Be ready."

Alexium let the message of hope send out by itself. It needn't by cluttered by anymore specifics.

Torian allowed himself to be led outwards and up into the Anatem, his attention turned inwards at his own raging fury. Such fury was nothing but a hindrance to the necessary negotiations to take control of this damnable rock, but in these moments where his responsibilities slackened, he allowed himself the pleasure of indulgence into that tidal sea of anger. 'The audacity of these shitbrained peasants, to threaten my life and the life of my team, and to think that they could follow up such an act with demands. These fools don't even understand negotiations. Do they not see the situation? Do they not realize the power in our hands to destroy them? Where is the respect? Where is the understanding? I come offering to share power, to lend insight and knowledge, to improve their world under our patronage. They spit in my face, again and again. If there preference is for slavery in the dregs of the Anatem, wasting away their short and miserable lives in the hell heat of the engines, that plan can work for me too. That disdainful drabble at the end was clearly meant to be insulting, but why in Terra's name would they want me to not act selfishly? It is always the way with those who have yet to realize their own greed. I act as selfishly as possible in this negotiating, with the knowledge that what is best for me is for this planet to thrive under our benediction. They slap away such selfish generosity with this demand for supplication under no authority.'

Upon reaching the ship and hearing Alexium's update, Torian let his anger flow into energy, concentration, calculation. There was much to be done before he could vent his frustrations on whomever dared attack his ally. As Brenonya led them away, he called over several aides to pass on his orders as they hurried towards whatever was next. He did not look at the aides or say who should pass on what; they were competent officers, he didn't need to.

"Roderick, get us moving. Full tilt.

Victoria, muster our forces. Immediate readiness, full deployment.

Boris, keep our weapons hot. Upon entering range begin immediate vector targeting with instruction from Alexium, their team, and Valry. Prepare for extended bombardment.

Valry, turn our scanners in full to the new target. I want to know everything I can about this planet, as soon as I can. Take direction from Alexium. Keep up and speak loudly now, Valry, I need you to be on it.

Andalia, Heng, begin wide transmit orders to the teams on-surface that we will be gone for at least several days. Establish a baseline perimeter, stay cordial and polite to the locals, learn what you can. Get every ship-to-surface vehicle back aboard this ship that you can.

Andalia, as we reach orbit keep an eye on our vox for chaotic flux. Be ready to cut vox signals at any point.

Priestess Kistka, begin immediate preparations for battlefield triage, offsite and onsite. I expect there will be much for your team to do."

+++++++++++Astropathic choir-rooms++++++++++++++++

Iron and Metal wrote:

"Prioress, our lord, the Emperor of Humankind, King of Kings, sends his prophet and fury from heaven. We are coming. Spread our message, let it give your forces faith. Steel yourselves. Be ready."

Alexium let the message of hope send out by itself. It needn't by cluttered by anymore specifics.

In your minds eye, the same map returns, with a darkening shadow around the fleet and around a valley near the planet's north pole.

Map:

+++++++The patrician's chambers+++++++++++

saelean wrote:

"Lord, excuse me if you noticed this already, but on review of the message from the progenitor I noticed something. He was indicating something, a secret message only meant for Rogue Traders. It was a trajectory., and I believe it was meant to be pointing from where we found the message. I wanted to bring this up now as we need to have as much information as we can to better weigh our choices. If it does not point to any of these planets in this system, then we can travel on to it late. But if it is and we are to wage war on one of them, we must know where the proverbial "X" is on the map before we blow it up." She the made the same signal from the message to the patriarch, and studied his face as she did.

Verify this with the navigator. Mistress Tzemopoulos, is this system on the given vector?

+++++++++++Astropathic chambers+++++++++++++++++++++

thepooreconomist wrote:

The various officers reported, going to their tasks. They would be ready, and estimated 12 hours of travel to reach the planet.

On receiving word that the Anatem was preparing to immediately break orbit and burn hard toward the Prioress's planet, the Magos quickly shifted priority. Leaving work on the gas mining shuttle, he moved over to the interceptor.

Taking in an immediate appraisal of the craft with his MIU, he then injected himself with a dose of wideawake and got to work.

Meanwhile he split his focus between ensuring that the mechanicus congregation deploying to the planet had everyone and everything they needed before the ship left, and continuing to watch the proceedings in the Choir chamber.

Alexium sent out one final message. "The day of reckoning is at hand. The faithful will be rewarded and evil will be... smoten."

Fuck. Whatever.

"Keep your faith. Ready your defenses. And look to the skies a half day from now."

Spoiler:

Alexium received any response and broke with the Prioress.

The child jumped up after all was said and done. "I need a cartographer here NOW," they said with more excitement than anything else. Confidently, they relied all coordinates given to them by Joanne. Then, when the team was ready, they started from the beginning.

No detail was left out:

- A huge convoy of assholes, including sorcerers and apparently sea monsters, was headed to assault the Paladins of the western isle.
- Rad dudes live on both the western and eastern isles.
- Major assholes control the central continent.
- Major assholes are majorly concentrated to the north of the main continent.

"If we can annihilate the attacking fleet, the Paladins will be safe and we can move to turn the enemy stronghold into a glass. Without going into detail, it is of paramount importance to me and the psychic safety of this entire system that we keep the Prioress and her forces from falling. They are the key."

Torian's eyes shone with eagerness, hearing Alexium's report. "Excellent work. I will begin leading the necessary efforts to prepare for this conquest. We will celebrate with the best drinks of these two worlds when this is over."

Torian set a cartographer, ballistics, auspex, and vox specialist aide to shadow Alexium until planetfall, to transmit any necessary information to their teams and keep all appraised. He then moved to the archeocogitator for the next 8 hours. Here he ran through a long series of tests, calculations, and appraisals, inputting the information from Alexium, strategic diagnosticators, ballistics information with Boris, pinpoint scanning locations with Valry, and his own insights.

The prioress sent forth a final message:

Quickly! They should be here in less than a day!

The various officers layed out their maps on a table, with Valry transmitting updated data & boris preparing telemetry data. Unfortunately, the Archeocogitator was not yet in function, as the time had been lacking since your departure to set it up. Nonetheless, standard targeting computers did a good job.

Hm... We'll need to hit that fleet fast. We wont accidentally hit the city, but with the force involved in an orbital barrage, we could cause tidal waves, powerful storms if the shot is too close. Plus, whe're hitting water, that should avoid the toxic gasses and dust we would get hitting a mineral target.

As the ship got closer, Valry was able to generate increasingly more detailed data. The fleet itself was composed of over 100 wooden sailing ships, accompanied by large, underwater shadows that occasionally flicked a meter-wide tentacle in the fresh air. When you got even closer, she started transmitting pictures of large flying reptiles circling the fleet.

On the larger continent, there where several cities. They where mostly ruins, though most showed signs of inhabitation, with a port to the south clearly having been the source of the fleet. In the north was a large castle-complex built into the basalt mountains. This continents was very bland, as if large portions of greenery had died. Only the massive forest to the south-east remained whole.

The smaller continent to the west was still very much alive-though the cities there where heavily fortified, and there where no smaller cities outside the fortifications. Agricultural land was focused away from the coasts.

After 12 hours, you had finally reached the world the locals called "The Land of the Pure".

Alexium was consistently pleased with how efficient and dedicated to the caue Torian was time and time again. The mention of drinks at the end of it put a large smile on the small Astropath's face.

"You don't have to tell me twice. Let's wipe some evil out of existence, liberate the locals, and prosper. For the Emperor, and for the Anatem."

Alexium waited patiently as targeting solutions were put forth. The fleet's destruction was the obvious first priority. After that, they could hopefully confer with the Prioress and assess whether or not an orbital bombardment of the Northern Kingdom was necessary.

It could very well be that the majority of enemy forces were sent into this assault, leaving the taking of their homeland relatively intact an option.

"Boris, Valry, the moment of truth is at hand." Alexium was all business now. Small hands clasped behind the back of an exceptionally fine silk war robe. It was just like the other robes, but Alexium was wearing it to war; therefore, it was a war robe.

"Now is the time for excellence in the extreme. We can make no mistakes here. Take your time and make these shots as impressive and glorious as humanly possible." Surely, they wouldn't mess up on purpose, but a reminder of the stakes was always good to ensure the best in people.

Ignatio could be seen in the cockpit of the interceptor, as he reconfigured the controls "I also believe that I will have Roderick's interceptor ready by the time we make orbit. Please take it into account when formulating strategy. I believe that if may be effective against wooden sailing ships."

---

As the ship approached the Planet that held both the Land of the Pure, and the 'Major Assholes', as Alexium designated them, Ignatio, fueled by Wideawake and purpose, plugged his MIU into the primary cogitator of the main sensor array, while coordinating with the bridge through his Servo Skull. "I believe I can fine-tune our targeting coordinates," he announced as he focused the ship's sensors on the oceanbound fleet. Lines extended forth from the ships, showing the trajectory of each of them. Meanwhile, heat signatures revealed the forms of many of the sea monsters below the surface of the water. "Enemy force designated 'Major Assholes' will reach optimal location for bombardment in twenty seven minutes."

Ignatio considered the ships he watched through the sensor array, and spoke aloud a verse from the war cant of Mars.
"With heat and iron, and industry, we'll purge you from this world
You will sunder, melt, and shatter from the bolts of wrath we've hurled
And upon your ruined end, our blood red banners stand unfurled
Our Might has come online."

Alexium giggled at Ignatio's official proclamation. It was all coming together now.

The child stepped forward, watching the scene as it began to unfold on the bridge's massive pict-relay view screens. They breathed in deeply and evenly, touching two fingers to their temple and reaching out with their left hand.

They reached out to all present, new friends that were slowly becoming family. Within a moment, they spoke gently into the heads of all present. A soft, powerful glow emanated from their aura.

Torian had regained his perch inside the command throne in the final approach to the planet. His mind raced as he slammed through the hundreds of reports being sent to his data feeds. His fingers were a blur of typing, sweeping through screens, adjusting his feeds.

Upon reaching firing range, he swept all screens aside and focused his attention on the main data visualizer at the front of the bridge. "Master Helmsman, Master of Ordinance, fire at will."

Roderick brought the Antanem into orbit at the coordinates designated appropriate by Ignatio, Valry, and Boris. He then joined the others on the bridge as they made ready to fire on the invading fleet. Though they were putting locals in wooden ships to the torch, it would be good to feel the power of the Antanem unleashed.

The mention of Claymore, coming from the vox speaker of the servo-skull floating nearby made Roderick grin to himself. The chance to get some real speed under his skirt was making him impatient, but it wouldn't be too much longer. Thank you Ignatio. I look forward to shaking off some of the rust on that beauty.

He sidled up next to Torian then. This show of godly force will have the locals agreeing to whatever you suggest, Lord Captain. I think pacifying this place will be smoother than Glacea.

"Thank you, Lord I am excited to hear the findings, please do let me know when our navigators file their report." She made the sign of the Aquilla and departed to monitor the bombardment, finding Victoria and her captains along the way to the bridge.


++++++++ On the bridge

Brenonya watched as the frenetic energy of this crew worked. She was in a state of internal awe at their efficiency in commanding this ancient vessel, may the Immortal Emperor bless the Anatem and its crew. With her armsmen crew they quietly discussed the fine details of their strategy on making planetfall as the bombardment took shape, while the broad forces of the armsmen were awaiting the go order. All hands on deck for this battle, Brenonya, Victoria, and the captains were fully decked out in their kits.

Torian stood from his throne, surveying the bridge for a moment, before projecting his voice to fill the space. He spoke crisply and calmly. He was not a leader of unchecked zeal, to shout words of inspiration and project his emotion onto his crew. He did not inspire through fear or violence, screaming obscenities or threatening retribution in the face of failure. Rather, he tried to tap into the pride of these officers, and to align their passions with his in accomplishing this action to the very best possible efficiency. He was no more demanding of them than he was of himself, and hoped that his actions showed such.

"This is our first incident of warfare together. In the past weeks I have seen us come together, seen bonds forged, and camaraderie blossom. I have come to know you, and you me. I have seen the pride with which you hold these posts, the passion you have for your work, and the efficiency with which you perform your duties. Our Anatem Imperabit Mundus is a mighty vessel, and I know your loyalty to it. It is your home... all of our home. Your devotion to this ship, and to the Filinatis dynasty, is seen, noted, and appreciated. It is my honor to lead you.

I have made it clear that my vision for us is one of greatness. I will see us rise to power once more, with this vessel carrying us to glory. I will see our home - our Anatem - restored to its rightful place as a thriving hub of commerce, life, beauty, and deadliness amongst the stars. Today is not the first day of that journey, but it is a day for me to appreciate the skills you all possess, and the unbent pride of the Anatem as it is today. This vessel is not some relic limping along. Our Anatem is a home of awesome power, and through your actions that power can be channeled into awe-inspiring lethality. Such awe is our goal today. Such channeling I leave to your extremely capable hands. Show me the passion, skill, and efficiency I wield through you. Show that world below us the power of our home."