Chapter 1: Into the wild black yonder IC

Ignatio focused on Alexium, detecting the emotion in his voice but not fully comprehending the psyker's connection to the issue.

"It is a reasonable decision to make, given that they lack the necessary technology to screen the genetics of mutants and determine those that might be sanctioned from those that are dangerous or degenerate. The human form cannot be allowed to corrupt."

Wendigo Bob wrote:

Would you suckle such a monster at your breast?

"I would not, and not simply because I am not currently lactating. What you describe clearly must be put out of their misery."

They considered getting inside this one's head...

Lethia kept quiet and let he talkers do what they do best.

She didnt like that her helpistol was sealed in its holster, but she understood the necessity of it; in all honesty it would be Bren who would carry them to any kind of victory in a fight. Her staff of office was not sealed, it could be used as a weapon, but it was as useful as any club she could find lying about, with albeit more durability.

"It is wise to eschew any mutation and to cut them out, but it is a slippery slope. Many societies are found tearing themselves apart over something as simple as eye color, or birthmarks, scars, even cold symptoms."

She found interest in the cardinal sins of courage, hope, love and passion. Those were not typically linked to sin.

Her initial evaluation of these people were they were simply beaten down by a vicious galaxy into a band of rats, keeping to the shadows and trying not to draw any attention from anyone.

Torian was getting bored. This peasant didn't know anything useful, and these people were too corrupted - by the world and their own ideology - to make worthwhile crew. He stood, thanked the sheriff for his time, gestured to the party, and left. As they were walking away outside the town, he proposed a plan: "Let's check out the flesh from above, make some scans, then after - if we haven't seen something to scare us off - we can search the ruins. I want to be sure we take no corruption onboard."

[With the Sheriff]

As their meeting ended, Alexium fished out the Space Marine action figure and held it up. "Have you ever seen or come across one of these before?"

It was worth a shot.

+++++++

[Afterwards with Torian]


"Agreed." Alexium could sense the captain's blase attitude as they left, and not because they were telepathically gifted. It was clear as day. Compared to Glacea and Purity, this planet was a backwater.

A backwater among backwaters.

"As far as planets go, this seems to be buried deep in the back waters. A people so afraid of the destruction brought upon them by their ancestors that they've been conditioned from birth to fear courage, love, passion, and hope? Perhaps it has some natural resources yet undiscovered we can claim, after dealing with this... flesh... thing. Regardless, I am still up for a jaunt in the Jaicro ruins! Sounds like a blast."

That is a rather elaborate doll. We make do with sticks and straw.

He points towards a doll made of dried leaves and sticks, clearly made by one of his children.

+++++

Your pilots prepared an orbital leapfrog to quickly reach the flesh-lands. As the ships approached the area, you could see a large, circular space, about ten kilometers in diameter that resembled a bruise on the land, surrounded by blackened terrain. You could also see a handful of strange, malformed pillars rising from the surface, like cyclopean skin tags frozen by the cold.

Your auspexes indicated that the flesh part of terrain was too soft and unstable to support the weight of the shuttles. You could be dropped off, but you would likely have a hard time getting back on unless an expert was piloting-this was a shuttle, not a drop-ship unfortunately.

The Magos communed with the lander's augur as it swept over the strange mass of flesh. He studied the sensor readings carefully, working to make what he could of the fleshy anomaly beneath the ice.

"I reccomend a landing on the periphery, in order to move in and collect samples. A secondary objective to venture onto the ice coating the flesh-terrain in order to collect a sample of one of these tower-like protuberances may also be wise. However, the dangers of doing so are currently unknown."

He had come prepared with a basic field kit, which would allow him to extract and contain biological samples for later analysis.

"Very well, take us down, Roderick. Take some basic samples, Magos, but do not venture onto the ice, nor approach the towers. It is not worth the danger."

Torian sat back and slouched down a bit in his chair. He was bored with this world; it seemed set against them learning anything of value.

The shuttle settled down near the fleshlands. As you approached the flesh, it was clearly a dead mass, kept from rotting only by the sub-zero temperature. The flesh was grey, with purple splotches ressembling bruises. Taking the sample, you noticed that the flesh was clearly freeze-burned, and lacked cohesion, splitting into frozen shards of denatured meat.

In the distance, the strange towers rose from the flesh, the closest nearly 1 km away.  A larger view showed that not all flesh had the same texture. Snaking, meter-wide traces resembling dried skin wove through short, tentacle-like stalks rising from the surface, like a footpath through tall grasses. Various other structure seemed embeded in the surface, resembling glands and crude eyes.

The longer you spent looking at the landscape, the more uncomfortable you all got. It was a disgusting fascination, your sane mind fighting against a growing twisted desire to go understand this madness.

Ignatio took his sample, and considered it in the container for a moment. Then, looking out onto the frozen field of meat, he paused a long moment. His feet were rooted where he stood by his Lord-Captain's orders, but he was able to send his servo-skull to collect another sample from the fleshy terrain nearby, clipping a bit of one of the tentacle-stalks for later analysis.

Then the Magos turned away. "This place is impossible by the laws set down by the machine god. To comprehend fully it may lead one astray from the True Path. I have collected adequate samples for an initial analysis, to allow us to understand the dangers it poses."

When his servo-skull returned, he secured both samples and returned to the shuttle. "I advise that we bring the samples I have collected back to the ship for analysis before we venture into the ruins of the Ancients."

The ride back to the ship was uneventful. When you passed the samples to Evangel, she looked a tad dissheveled, clearly busy at seting up her laboratory. She said that she would have preliminary results in a few hours, though more complex tests like carbon dating would take a couple of days.

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

As you descended towards the nearest of the ruined spires, you could see that the damage was very significant. The central tower had fallen to the north-west, and the wider base showed heavy damage.
Wide, crater-like circles of destruction dotted the structure, though the metal lacked the scoring or fusion typical of human macrocannons and lances-even asteroids would not do that type of damage. Circling the structure, it was clear that any recovery would require significant time and heavy equipment.

There was a single structure that seemed undamaged-a large hemisphere, a few hundred meters from the spire, that was in a large space that might have been a park in the past.

Once again, the Magos found himself plugged into the lander's augur array as it swept over the dome structure.

"A number of useful alloys could be salvaged from the planet below. A colony dedicated to salvage would be quite profitable, if the circumstances of the planet do not make such an endeavor unwise."

He brought up a display of the building and the ground. "I do not detect anything that would complicate a landing on the ground directly in front of the structure, but the metal walls prevent further augury. We will need to proceed inside to discover more."

The shuttle easily settled on the ground in the parkland surrounding the dome. It was about 30 meters tall at its apex. From closer up, you could see that it was clearly that it was clearly aestetic in purpose-large, humanoid figures, worn by corrosion and erosion into vague figures. Their arms held vases, plants, vague tools (possibly weapons?), and all seemed to be holding up the top of the dome. The dome itself seemed to be filled with holes, though it was difficult to say if these where a result of wear or an intentional design choice. At points seperated by about 45 degrees, large arches opened up into a vast interior, showing that the building itself was but a shell for a larger space beneath.

The ground was covered in a mosaic pattern of tiles suggesting waves and leaves, though it was hard to tell the exact pattern with the detritus and missing tiles. The ceramic was budging a little under the weight of the shuttle, though clearly a solid cement foundation was underneath.

Your armsmen fanned out in a large pattern, several entering the dome with large flashlights.

After about 30 minutes, the armsmen returned to give their report.

Well sir, its an off structure. Seems to be several distinct overlapping plates, with a lot of astronomical symbolism and unusual pictograms. We did recognize one symbol.

He took out a pict-capturer and showed an image. The "mark of skaros"-the ancient symbol of the artifical world-was clearly visible beside a hole resembling a 4-pointed star.

See, it looks like the symbol of Skaros Primus no? Admitedly without the mechanicus cog. I do remember hearing the symbol was used by the ancients, so maybe this is some kind of star-map or orrery? And the other symbols-a group of them seem to follow a similar aestetic style, could be that they indicate worlds of whatever group lived here before.

Another armsman spoke up:

Well, there seems to be a now corroded to hell mechanism connecting the plates. Maybe they used to move to match the star in the sky? Would have been real pretty. Mind you, there seems to be heavy corrosion so any star-map would be incomplete.

Ignatio looked over the symbol, as well as the other pictograms the armsmen reported, examining them in detail in comparison to the current version of the symbol used by the Skaros Mechanicus.

"The shared origins of these symbols indicates that this structure likely has significant archeological significance. A thorough examination is in order, especially considering that an orrery is likely to contain information on the ancients' astrography and perhaps the known inhabited worlds in the region."

The magos made his way toward the structure, his servo-skull emerging to assist in recording every detail of the ruin.

The servo-skull was able to fly high into the dome, scanning everything it could perceive. There where indeed vast mechanisms behind everything, some strange rails and flexible arms that could have taken virtually any configuration.

There where hundreds of small individual panels, each with a central star and marked with symbols, most of which where in the currently undeciphered script of the Jaicro. They where cleverly made, with an enlarging optical system which would enlarge the star enough that the black symbols would have been clearly illuminated when the sky was clear. Many had fallen and shattered on the marble floor, the shards providing the only impediment to your movement. A single panel was unique however-while all others where silvey, this on was marked in gold and c

Star Panel:

The pillars between the entry arches where filled with these plates, corroded into a useless mass, likely stored until their season (now long past) came. There was a large symbol on the floor in a fine marble mosaic-possibly the symbol of the local system? As it could not be found above, this was quite possible. A star-map, frozen in time at the moment of the jaicro's fall. If only you could identify enough systems, you could identify the date of its occurrence and unlock its secrets. Your navigator was likely essential for this-even with regular space, the navigators where among the best.

Letha studied the preliminary findings with intensity. She could do this, she knew she could.

"I can do something with this. I can pattern the symbols and coordinate it with the movement of the planet and the stellar drift of the stars. But to what end? We dont know the purpose of the structure and even if we did, the archeotech is degraded, likely unusabl. Ignacio, have you seen anything quite like this?"

"Every bit of knowledge can help us piece together this puzzle, Lethia. Anything we can learn from this is worth learning. Please give this your full attention for now. I will call down a team from the Anatem, including Ellen and William, to assist you. I'll direct efforts at cataloguing with the team. Please see what you can do with the carto-artifex team to identify any other systems. We will head out soon to explore the Eldar station, so see how far you can get in that time, then leave Ellen and William with orders for while we're gone. I'll take care of orders for the rest of the team"

Torian then voxed the ship and ordered down the team as discussed, with an additional shuttle for a security team to secure the area and establish a temporary base of operations and secure LZ.

The carto-artifex prepared a surveying team and came down accompanied by Victoria Stein and a security team. She approached your group, saluting you at first.

Sirs! Any known security threats I should remain wary of? Oh, and the ship is ready to leave the moments you arrive on board.


In the background, the armsmen where taking out cases, likely filled with the equipment to setup temporary shelters from the frigid environment. A surveying team, composed of enginseers and astrographers, took out high-power fixed scanners and portable cogitators to accumulate all the data available. Ellen Craft also approached your group.

We will scan everything we can. I do have some questions about your priorities. Scanning whats left of the map will be easy. We just might have the time to do 2 of the three following:

We could reconstitute the fallen plates, helping us complete the map.

We could scan the side storage-its largely fused, but we may be able to identify worlds that arent visible currently, helping us figure out where to look.

We could plant demo-charges to destroy the dome, so that no later rogue traders could take advantage of it.

What do you think?

By the time the initial survey was done, Ignatio's vision floated with damaged pieces of metal, rapidly combining and tearing apart as he tried to construct the past from its remains.

At the question of what to do, he seemed actually offended at the idea of demolition. "To allow this ancient knowledge to go un-cataloggued would be a grave sin against the omnissiah. Much more so to destroy it without record. I strongly advise that we learn as much as we can."

As the teams began their setup and work, your group returned to the ship which began its orbital transition. It easily broke orbit, and began the redirecting towards the center of the system. The vessel was able to take advantage of the gas giant to slingshot itself into thecenter of the system, reaching the asteroid belt where the satellite lurked in a mere 4 days.

Note:

From a distance it looked very strange-the organic architecture traditional of the eldar, all in curves and wedges somewhat reminiscent of the ancient human style of "Art Nouveau". Its color appearead to be that of bleached bone, and its surface texture resembled it a little as well-with faint cracks appearing here and there on the surface. It had 6 lobes, arranged evenly around the center, with a incredibly elaborate network of antenae and ear-like protuberances. Your sensor officer reported:

Well, the station is clearly abandonned. No signs of life or heat, and the interior seems to be open to the void. I cant find a docking bay or anything similar, though there are large domed  windows that could probably let a lighter through. And... I've got a map of the place for you. More support for the theory of the station being dead, as eldar structures typically block radar. Most of the structure wont allow passage, though this single living floor seems useable. I dont recognize the station type either-I can take some time to check our databanks for something similar, but it definitly isnt a standard corsair or aeldari pattern.

Map:

An away team departed towards the station. After a couple of hours you got a report:

"Well, the place is completely abandonned. No signs of combat or looting-the place must have been emptied, cause there isnt anything that isnt bolted to the floor or walls. The walls are weird too-I had always heard wraitbone was more plastic, but the texture of what we find is almost chalky. Lots of weird machines, oh and some long-dead trees in the center, looks like some old arboretum. We've been able to open all the doors save 2 that seem to be locked & reinforced. Thought you might want to check them out.

Dont forget the void-suits though, this place is hard void. And use an arvus lighter, the opening we made is too small for anything else."

Alexium breathed deeply as realization dawned on them.

"Pre-Fall Aeldari..." the words slowly came out, but the crew present could clearly hear. They played across the schematics so the rest could see.

"This station is one enormous psychic detection device. The outer layers are amplifiers that are routed and focused into these hypersensitive detectors, here, here, and here. In its prime, it could have detected psychic activity up to and perhaps even exceeding one hundred light years. If we could revive it, we would have a tool of unprecedented ability even among the remaining Eldar in the galaxy. At the very least, this could be a hell of a bargaining tool for any potential Eldar allies wanting to re-live the glory days of their dying civilization."

By the tone of their voice, it was clear that while Alexium considered the latter a viable option, it was not at all the option they wanted to pursue.

"We need a closer look."

Your group, as well as a small demo team, loaded into an arvus lighter wearing their void-suits. The pilot managed to slip in through a large, broken skylight, opening the bay doors into the void. There was no gravity, and the non-void-born among you struggled with the zero-g.

An initial look at the area showed an immense chamber vaulted with curved pillars. In the center of the chamber, what looked like a large greenhouse was home to some long-dead grey trees. Void exposure was the most likely cause of death-large spade-shaped leave remained attached to the branches, with large dried-out seedpods floating in the null-gravity.

A quick look at the area showed what the away team had indicated-the only remained furniture was integrated within the structure, like benches, tables and bed-slabs. Beyond a few broken shards of glass-like wraithbone, there wasnt even any trash. The wraithbone itself felt dry and grainy, with any hard strike with the foot scratching the floor and letting loose some chalky dust.

Within a few minutes, the demo-team contacted you on your com-beads:

"Masters, we're about to breach the door. Well, actually, we're gonna drill the wall, it's significantly weaker."

Torian, dressed in full voidsuit and exploratory/combat gear, got a glint in his eye as he heard Alexium's rumination. "A mighty bargaining chip, that would be. Why do you sound reserved? Do you think there stands a chance that we could make this work for ourselves?" The glint in Torian's eye shimmered as he thought rapidly over the strategic and trade options such a tool would open up. He turned to his aides: "Keep the scans going, get as much information as you can out of them. Have Victoria and her team keep sweeping the station, get a patrol system going - I want no interruptions or delays. I'll need a demolitions crew to accompany my own team, and have the mechanicus contingent send over a team to see what they can find out about those 'old machines' and take samples of this particular wraithbone. I'll come by with my team once we've taken a look at those locked rooms."

---------------on station-------------------------

"Magos, snag a sample of those seedpods, please. Lethia, Alexium, are you picking up anything here?"

Torian heard the com-bead trasmission and put his finger to his ear to respond, "Confirmed. We will move there now. Begin drilling at your discretion". He then raised a hand, gesturing to follow, and started hastily walking towards the sealed chamber in the closed lobe.

As you got started, another ship landed, disgorging a team of enginseers to inspect the machinery, led by a lesser tech-priest by the name of K1L1 Alpha-N who had some experience with xenotech.

We will start inspecting the machines. If this where an assuriani facility I'd say we have no chance of understanding-them using psytech in all matters. But we know the ancient eldar where somewhere between the Assuriani and the Druchari, who use advanced but more comprehensible tech. We will call upon the Head Astropath should we need assistance.

The armsmen already there, experienced voidsmen all, kept patrolling the open chambers.

[To Torian]

"Do I?" Alexium smiled with the reply. They knew exactly how they sounded. "I am sure it is far fetched and a long shot at best, but a tool as powerful as this once was would give us an incredible advantage in this sector in rooting out psychic threats or uncovering new allies. It interests me very, very much. But alas, a bargaining chip is more likely its fate."

+++++++

[On Station]

They donned their full kit as always, though this time also wearing the void suit that had sheltered them on their ship-walk with Torian and Ignatio. Like before, Alexium had asked Ignatio to properly bless the suit.

The station was something of curious wonder to the Astropath. Every step was like visiting a new world, but as they reached out with their mind, they realized that each "world" they visited was, in this case, dead.

"All of the Wraithbone in this chamber is dead. That's why it's so chalky and brittle. The life has quite literally left it. That may change as we press on; regardless, I would advise to continue collecting as many samples as we are able. I've never heard of dead Wraithbone before; there's no telling its usefulness yet."

As you approached the chamber the demo-team where working in, you noticed there was a lot more furniture integrated into the structure. A large number of benches, no tables, a long counter bisecting the chamber in two with a single passage through. Seemed vaguely reminiscent of a customs hall or a a transportation waiting room.  

You could see on the opposite wall the team where cutting through using a small portable saw-no breaching auger, but enough if you had time. lots of chalky dust spread out from the cut, creating a cloud of particules in the zero-gravity environment that impeded vision. The section of wall fell inward-a typical choice of your demo people to avoid damaging loot. The got out of the way to allow your group the first look.

Inside was another vaulted chamber, dead wraithbone arching upwards into the darkness of the sealed room. As the dust started to spread away, you could see a faint traceries of turquoise color on the floor, getting deeper as it approached the center of the chamber. As you moved your head upwards, you saw this:

See:

Map:

Lethia followed along in her void suit, quiet and reserved as she usually was.

Iron and Metal wrote:

"This station is one enormous psychic detection device. The outer layers are amplifiers that are routed and focused into these hypersensitive detectors, here, here, and here. In its prime, it could have detected psychic activity up to and perhaps even exceeding one hundred light years. If we could revive it, we would have a tool of unprecedented ability even among the remaining Eldar in the galaxy. At the very least, this could be a hell of a bargaining tool for any potential Eldar allies wanting to re-live the glory days of their dying civilization."

Alexium seemed to have discovered this facility's purpose, but she wasn't so sure.

"Alexium, what makes you so sure that this facility's purpose was psychic detection? It makes little sense to have one in the middle of no where....unless they had something important to stand vigil for nearby?...."

Her eyes fell on the structure,
"Thats a strange contraption, like a chapel to some ancient xenos god possibly?"

Though this place was dead and long abandoned, she kept a keen eye on the walls. She had spent the trip here cataloging the star map on the planet. Her mind was occupied and somewhere in her more suspicious mind she thought this eldar post might be related.

[TO ALEXIUM]
"Don't sound so dissappointed, friend. A bargaining chip serving the interests of the Filianatis is the greatest achievement anything can reach. Truly, our very lives are bargaining chips. There are many worse fates."

[ON STATION]

Torian watched patiently as the final cuts were made, ignoring the cloud of dust billowing outwards around them. When they finished, he made sure to personally thank the team and shake hands with the demolitions crew leader before moving into the chamber. Inside he saw an arch of xenos design that sparked some recognition within him.

The magos ensured that everyone on the lander had a fully blessed and secured voidsuit before they proceeded. All the while, his thoughts were primarily focused on considerations for the archaeocogitator, to what use it could be put, and how best he could disguise its true origins from those of the Adeptus Mechanicus who would not understand the need to find use for such a machine.

While he collected some samples of his own as they passed through the dead structure, he found it less interesting the further they got. The path the Eldar had taken was clearly far from that laid out for humanity by the Omnissiah.

That proceeded to be the case until the party came to the chamber holding the strange arch. At that point Ignatio visibly shuddered as he rapidly redirected his cognitive processes to the present situation.

"Interesting," he spoke, taking a few steps towards the structure in order to observe it in detail. "It resembles a doorway. Perhaps it is somehow an entrance to the 'webway' mentioned by the Eldar we conversed with. Perhaps it still functions, though it remains unknown how it could be activated." He turned to Alexium. "My primary speculation: it may be psychic in nature."

Sylphilis wrote:

"Alexium, what makes you so sure that this facility's purpose was psychic detection? It makes little sense to have one in the middle of no where....unless they had something important to stand vigil for nearby?...."

The child regarded Lethia. "My lord Navigator, I am not sure that that was it's purpose. Rather, I simply made an observation that, if necessary, the station could do that. Alas, that's what I would use it for. What do you think its purpose was?"


[To Torian]

Alexium laughed as the Captain finished. "By the Emperor's Holy Tits, if that is not the absolute truth. Well said, Lord Captain. I'll drink to that. Well, I would if it didn't mean dying horribly in the vacuum of space."

As they moved in, Alexium regarded the gate. Clearly, that's what it was. A gate. And gates meant passage from once place to another. "I was thinking more of a 'gate' than a doorway, but I like your description just as much. From what little I know of the elusive Eldar, psychic over mechanics seems to be their milieu." Carefully, they reached out to try and deign whether or not that was the case...

The attempt to comprehend the structure psychically was an unfortunate failure. This was something that was neither fully material nor fully in the warp. This was something alien-truly alien, far more than even the eldar themselves.

Perhaps some of the more exotic myths where true-that the eldar themselves where but squatters in the ruins of something far greater. You remembered the shaman, who mentioned a race called "Jotnar" who had once commanded the fairies-their word for eldar. The truth was always difficult to separate from myth.

Torian assessed the gate, then turned to the crews. "Excellent demolitions work. I believe this is a portal to the Eldarii webway, although the construction and design appear older than even the Eldar. This wraithbone is nearly disintegrated. With some detailed archeological work we ought to be able to detach the portal and take it with us. This station may well be too dead to be of use to the eldar, but even if it is, I'm sure they would not wish a portal to their realm be left open and unattended. This should serve well as a bargaining chip, and perhaps we may even be able to find a way to make use of it ourselves. We'll proceed with you to the next door." He then voxed the ship, and ordered a mixed Magi and archeological team onboard to begin attempting a removal of the gate.

A team was called to take care of the gate, while the demo team moved to the other door.

"Well, the walls around this one are thicker, can feel something like rebar in there. We'll try to force open the door."

Using the breaching auger, they drilled two small holes near the joining of the two halves of the door. They inserted long steel rods into the holes, and looped around a single long strap which they tied to a pillar on one end, and to a motor on the opposite. They turned on the motor, rolling up the strap and inflicting opposing forces on each rod forcing the doors apart. Dust scattered in the chamber beyond, less dense than in the previous chamber. You could see a bunch of empty racks, seemingly reminiscent of weapon and armor racks. Not a scrap was left on them. As the dust spread out however, you could see the barrel of a gun on the far side, pointed towards the door, its origin still hidden by the dust!

Torian watched with patient approval. It was always good to see the crews of the Anatem working efficiently. He clapped a hand on the shoulder of the crew leader as he stepped forward over the rubble. He knew the dust would settle quickly, and there appeared to be a prize bit of salvage to investigate. He gestured the team over, "Alexium, do you pick up anything from this weapon? Ignatio, do your memorybanks contain any knowledge of this device?"

"I would advise precautions, Lord Captain," Ignatio said. "If this is an entrance to the webway, as you theorize, it may be accessible from the other side. We must consider that spies or invaders may come through."

He went to supervise the operation of the breaching augur, and when the door opened he scanned the room, instantly spotting the stray weapon. "Clear the entrance," he announced, stepping between it and the Lord Captain, who stood there unfazed. After ten seconds, he cautiously entered the room, moving to get a better angle on the item, zooming in to examine it from several feet away.

As you watched, the barrel didnt move. As the dust cleared and Ignatio zoomed in, he could see an armored arm, colored in blue and white. The armor was damaged, with numerous scratches though no fractures that would affect void-integrity. There was no sign of life however-no heat, no electro-neural impulses, just dead matter.

As the dust cleared some more, the full form revealed itself. This was something more familiar-a form reminiscent of the craftworld eldar, blue armor covered in spirit stones and white whorls. Whoever this was-or rather, whoever this had been- had seen heavy combat. Dropped to their side was some form of power blade, broken and with the tip of the blade missing. Their other arm clutched a small box to their chest, seemingly very tightly.

The corpse before death:

It was very clear that this corpse did not "belong"-its fundamental aestetics where completely different from the station.  

The room as a whole was empty-plenty of racks resembling those for weapons and armor-perhaps it had once been an armory.

"Lord Captain, it appears that this device is a weapon of unknown capabilities, attached to a suit of power armor, likely Eldar in origin. I suspect that the armor contains the corpse of an Eldar warrior."

His servo-skull familiar swept in and picked up the broken tip of the power sword, bringing it back to him to examine in closer detail.

The servo-skull picked up the hilt that was floating gently beside the hand that once held it. It was simple, but elegant-curves blending to fit a hand perfectly, the guard flowing out like a wave. The pommel was a single large, transparent, ellipsoidal cerulean gem, with the following symbol engraved within:

Symbol:

What was left of the blade showed significant damage-showing a clear scission line where it had snapped.

As the group made ready to exit, Alexium reached out with their mind once more. A blip tinged back, leading them to a section of the wraithbone bed. Rooting around with an uneven piece, the astropath pulled forth an eldar hand... it wasn't a simple artifact of a long dead alien. It was something much more than that, but what Alexium could not say.

"This should be fun to study. I will no doubt need your aid, Ignatio."

They secured it away and made ready to leave.

Torian reviewed the scene. "I suspect you are correct, Magos Ignatio. This will be interesting to analyse. Hopefully there is something to be learned here. Will you assist me in investigating this further back aboard ship, perhaps once the archeocogitator is up and running and might be devoted towards this task?" He leaned over toward Alexium and added "well that is definitely noteworthy. Think they were pulling the ol' 'Stranger' move, eh? I'd happily attend the analysis here too, perhaps our librarium can be of service"

Torian then gestured to an aid and the leader of the demolitions team. "vox the Anatem and get a full strip operation undergoing. If we're taking the gate, I want everything else not fastened down and a good chunk of this dead wraithbone too. Anything that seems valuable and some of what doesn't, too. Standard protocol. I want us departing this station in 8 hours maximum. Extra rations tonight for everyone involved, and double grog." Torian cordially slapped the attendant on the shoulder and turned back to Ignatio and Alexium, "would you two care to join me for imbibements and investigating this all in the librarium once we're back onboard? I will also shortly begin my walk through the ship's labyrinth, if either of you care to join me or wish to give any words of advice or encouragement. I have full confidence in our officers to oversee picking up the archeologists and the tablets before we break system and head for somewhere more... Lively."

Ignatio looked over the metal hand, another artifact of xeno technology.

"Such things must be studied carefully," he said. "The Alien Mechanism is a Perversion of the True Path. While experience with such things may bring insight, or even understanding, true comprehension of the purpose intended by an alien mind is often impossible. Therefore to depend on or integrate such technology carries significant risk."

As efforts to strip the station began, Ignatio assigned a small team of tech-priests to separate the Eldar corpse from its equipment and ensure they were kept in separate containers. He didn't know enough about the Eldar to count on one staying dead when expected.

Tech-priest Kistka, chief chirurgeon, came to the station, asking Torian a question:

Do you mind if we damage the armor? If its latches are psychically activated, we will be unable to undo them. For now, we could preserve the body & armor in the cold & void to avoid additional damage.

The archeological team went over the entire area, taking most of the dead tree's matter, rubbings of every symbol on the walls, though there was so little that they were finished quickly. Removing the dead wraithbone was more difficult, with the team removing about 2 tons of 30 cm cubes.

In about 12 hours, the place was emptied. The portal was stored in an isolated deck, under constant guard without direct contact and with the ship's warp-sensors keeping an eye on it. The corpse was kept in a void-cask kept in the ship's freezers. Torian came to you, announcing the ship was ready to move at any time.

++If the armor cannot be removed without damage, then record observations and keep the contents stored in similar conditions to when found.++ He would examine it later, with Alexium's assistance.

With the station thoroughly looted, Ignatio scheduled to accompany Torian on his pilgrimage and then returned to his work on the Archeocogitator. Drivemaster Balfour was more than capable of bringing the ship back up to speed to complete the survey of the system before returning to the mandeville point.

As you arrived at the gas giant, reports started pouring in.

++Evangel, Mistress of Metal++

About the “Blackworld” you found, I would recommend avoiding the bread. It was loaded with heavy metals, rare earth minerals and radionucleides, highly toxic. The locals must have exceptional tolerance to have survived this long.
The heavy metals likely came from the water, which was heavily loaded with various mineral salt which, when precipitating, gave the “iron barnacles” mentioned earlier. The water is likely from a subterranean, volcanic source, which would also explain the heat observed. Could make for some very easy mining of rare materials, just precipitating them out of the water.
So, what I have confirmed about the flesh:
The organism is very unusual, in that most of its mass seems to be composed of pluripotent stem cells-easily transformable to serve any function-with other cells forming specialised veins, glands, neurons, etc.
The organism had a circulatory system based on hemocyanin-a copper-based molecule-rather than our own hemoglobin. It was likely thus a molluscan, an arthropod, or something more alien. It is important to note that some of the glacian organisms we believed were brought by the destroyers, such as the octopeds, also use hemocyanin, indicating a possible link. However the cells and the DNA is too heavily damaged for me to do a direct comparison.
Radiocarbon dating-using the bread as the basis for a modern reference point-indicates the organism died between 11000 and 12000 tya (terran years ago), during a time noted by your historians as the “age of strife”, and several millenia after the fall of the “Jaicro” as you call them. My own analysis of the ruins indicated that the jaicro fell about 15000 tya. This is a very significant gap, and I hesitate to say whether these are scavengers, who settled near jaicro ruins, or a long-lived civilization that destroyed the jaicro themselves.
One thing I can be sure about is that cold was not the cause of death. The cristals are so large, and so effectively shredded the cells, that it likely took weeks. However, the freezing started very shortly after death, and there is no sign of decay except on the very upper layer of the tissue, and even then, in very limited quantities. Oddly enough, its similar to some tissue samples I found on glacia, indicating a sudden cooling of the world taking weeks. I have a theory that glacia was once kept green using puissant terraformation heaters that would have kept the world comfortable, and some structures under the ice suggest the spires where ejecting tremendous amounts of gas into the atmosphere. I even sent a message to your mappers, to do a quick scan of the spires, but things where simply too damaged.
As to the actual cause of death, it is difficult to be certain. I see certain signifiers indicating the beginnings of blunt-force trauma-a bruise essentially-shortly before its death. I would need to observe the whole organism to be more certain, and considering its strangeness I do not think it would be a good idea. Your descriptions point to something engineered, but the damaged and small size of the sample makes it difficult to detect clear evidence of an artificial nature.

++Victoria Stein++

The expedition was relatively uneventful. We patrolled around the ruins, taking a few photos, ensuring everyone was safe. The navigators reported some nightmares, and seem to be quite glad to have now left the place.
The inspection of the ruins did give me something though-I believe they where destroyed by some massive, likely orbital grav-weapons. I’ve seen astartes fight with them before, and the implosion patterns are quite distinct. I’ve only ever heard of pistols and cannons, so I cant say the origin. Maybe a xenos inflicted the destruction? I know some posses quite bizarre ship-board weapons.
++Carto-Artifexes, Ellen and William++
The reconstructive efforts proved quite valuable!
Indeed, we where able to find a symbol that we believe represents terra, giving us another coordinate point.
And we have a decent idea of all the systems visible on the star-map, we just now need coordinates!
The stuff in the walls wasn’t so useful though. We did identify one point which used a standard dark-age symbol.
Yes, their coordinate systems didn’t focus on terra, but used a “galactic center-point”, which apparently wasn’t visible in the night sky when the movement stopped.
Still, it’s a start!
I would avoid returning there again if possible. There is something there, broadcasting something clearly not meant for navigators. Beyond unpleasantness we felt nothing.
Luckily our team had nobody with psy-potential, an unprotected mind could be at quite a significant risk.

Evangel:

Wouldnt mind a bit of dissection, wondering on the effects of void in the long-term on living tissue. As for heating glacia, I'm uncertain its possible. While the engines to produce heat are still mostly intact, the distributor jets have likely been destroyed-I have tracked a number of items under the ice, that had been detached millenia ago when the glaciers first came to be. In addition, I honestly dont know if the spires could survive a melt-the ice is providing some structural support, so removing it could cause issues. If we could find an intact such system, I could look more into it.

Victoria:

As you ordered!

She quickly left to perform her tasks.

Ellen & William

We will continue our work.

There are hundreds of symbols to reconstitute!

It will take a few months I expect, but we have the items and their location!

With nearly 8 days travelling in and out of the system, the team had some time to act on their personal objectives.


The ship moved out of orbit and started moving towards the mandeville point. The fusion engines roared their atomic fire as you made ready to jump into the warp under the guidance of the navigators. The next jump would be to the more distant AE50189, about 35 light years away.