The Wanderings of Sigilite Encarmine [IC]

[Dekana]

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100805081328/warhammer40k/images/6/6d/Holy_Terra.jpg

Holy Terra, the throneworld of Mankind and the immortal God-Emperor on the Golden Throne. It is the most sacred place in the universe, with billions of people making pilgrimage every year. It's said that to own just a square meter of land on Terra costs as much as palace on another world. Ever since Sigilite Encarmine entered the system three weeks ago, every viewing portal on the ship has been packed with crewmembers hoping even to catch a glimpse of Terra. Despite every rating insisting they could just barely make out the planet among the darkness of space, only in the last day or two did Sigilite Encarmine approach close enough for it to actually be visible.

And now... the view is blocked by Luna, which Sigilite is on the far side of. A small fleet of patrol ships, led by a truly titanic Emperor-class Battleship, guard Sigilite even as it lies dormant with most systems powered off. Unseen from the ship, a dozen massive defense lasers based on Luna are locked on Sigilite ready to fire at the slightest sign of aggression. For a warship not belonging to Battlefleet Solar to approach even this far to Terra is a rare occurrence, and the Imperial Navy is obviously not taking any chances.

Presently, Lord-Captain Isaac Beuford Legista Romanos is planet-side on Terra while Sigilite takes on provisions and replacement crew members.


While not quite as noteworthy as the granting of a new warrant of trade, your ascension to your father's position was important enough to warrant a ceremony in the Inner Imperial Palace. To not only be on Holy Terra, but to be within 50 kilometers of the Emperor himself... it's enough to humble any loyal servant of the Imperium. The ceremony was officiated by the Master of the Administratum himself, one of the High Lords. He gave a very brief speech confirming the results of your gene-test, acknowledging your status as a Rogue Trader, and praying that you find success in the frontier. He also reminded (warned?) you of your duty to serve the Emperor above all else. Naturally, the ceremony was recorded from several angles and, in all likelihood, broadcast to billions of people across the planet.

After the ceremony, you are summoned by another high-ranking figure of the Imperium. A squad of soldiers in Imperial Navy uniforms escort you several stories up and across the palace, until you come to a large room decorated by towering marble pillars, murals depicting famous navy battles, and exquisite busts and artwork of legendary admirals. Deep inside the room, Lord High-Admiral Solar awaits.

"Isaac Beuford Legista Romanos," a servo skull proclaims as you approach the High-Admiral, who is seated at a desk-slash-command-console. He is a proud looking man, but exceedingly old and hunched forward. All of his limbs are cybernetic, as is one of his eyes and ears, and his face is pocked with many old scars.

The High-Admiral clears his throat and speaks in a raspy voice. "Isaac... Romanos. You carried yourself well at the ceremony. Reminded me of your father at his." The admiral continues working at the console even as he talks, unseen to you, busy ordering tens of thousands of sailors to their deaths somewhere in Segmentum Obscurus. "Oh yes, I met him once. Had... hoped he'd meet more luck." He pauses for a moment, reminiscing about old times and giving you a chance to speak.

(OOC: By the way, how should your crew address you? Lord-Captain seems appropriate, but Rogue Traders make the rules on their ship. Similarly, I wonder if either Sigilite or Encarmine is the more fitting abbrevation...)



http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130404201730/warhammer40k/images/9/92/Overlord-class.jpg

Some of you may have just arrived on Sigilite Encarmine. It really is a city unto itself, boasting a crew of around 100,000. However, it is first and foremost a warship, and as such it lacks the creature comforts some of you may be used to on merchant ships and the like. The officers' quarters are comfortable enough at least.

While the Lord-Captain is receiving his warrant, how do you all spend your time on the ship? Permission has not been granted (yet) to go planet-side, but there is certainly enough to do on board, either getting used to the ship or directing new crew members.

Now more than ever, you need to stay out of trouble. For an ork to be so close to Terra... well, let's just say there are more than a few humie organisations would be slightly troubled if they found out. Of course, when has an ork ever acted logically? :smallwink:



By the way, feel free to read spoilers not addressed to you. I expect your character not to act on information they don't know, but at the least I think it's good for everyone to know how quickly or slowly plots not involving them get resolved.

[Hemnon]

Isaac had served some of his early years (15~)
as an Personal Ensign on a battleship of the Segmentum Solar. His father had pulled a few strings with the a Flee-admiral to allow Isaac the chance to serve fairly high Ranking (although non-commissioned), both to show that even the highest-born still serve the greater whole, but also in order to instill that sense of Order and leadership that he knew Isaac would need when He one day took up the Warrant and continued the Rogue Trader line.

This is one of the bigger reason as to why Isaac have avoided the curse of indulgent, wastrel and Decadence. He didn't spend more than just a few years as such though, but the experience held onto Him for the following 10 years (which makes Isaac around 25 TSYs old) which is quite Young for a Rogue Trader. But age doesn't seem to have much to do with Isaac's skills and capabilities, since he's been groomed to be a leader, so have he been taught the ways of Bussiness.

But anyways, that's all in the past, cuz now: Isaac is a Rogue Trader!

---------------

Isaac listened dutifully to the High-Admiral, His naval-days recalled and the way he instantly saluted him like any officer in the Imperial Navy would and SHOULD. Isaac knew full well that his Rights as a Rogue Trader freed him from showing anyone, But the Emperor himself, any sort of Loyalty or obedience. BUT, that didn't mean much to Him right now. It was a true honour to meet to Highest Lord of any and all of the Imperial Navy, and as such wanted to show it.
In highly elloquent and fluent High-Gothic, Isaac responded, still saluting the High-Admiral: "Thanks you for your kind word, High-Admiral. I didn't wish to smudge any reputations after all~" He said with a sly smile before continuing. "And i did not know how my father did at his Ceremony, I only did as was expected of me. It is true that my father had both unfortunate events, as well as Hi- My Dynasty's wanton wastrel. Yes i admit it, and i will not let them shame me. Let them remain here in the Imperium, cuz I'll drive a new wedge into the Expanse In the name of the Emperor himself. And on the subject of my father, yes, there was bad events, but i still see his life spend well, preparing for my own ascendance to the Mantle. Life is the Currency of the Emperor, and i'd say he spend his well." Isaac continued on, slowly gaining a bit more momentum since he DID feel a bit intimidated by the mere presence of the High-Admiral, but did his best to steel himself a bit from it. Weakness wouldn't be a good thing to show now. It'd be very bad luck after all.

[zabbarot]

Deep in the bowels of the ship there was a cargo bay bearing the sign "Cheef Dakka Inspekta". It had been converted into an 'inspection station', which was something like two parts firing range and one part engineering bay. Some thirty men were lined up with las rifles in hand.

"Which'unz we got here, Mista Crunchy?" Lootsquig might not be much by ork standards, but he loomed over the men as he paced the line. Las rifles didn't have enough dakka for his tastes, but there were a lot of them, and that nearly made up for it.

"Crate 657, Boss." The grot double checked his slate to be certain, "We'z ahead 'a schedule."

"Good! Line up, an' get shootin. You know da drill." At this rate they'd be done before dinner. That might leave some time to work on da trukk.

In the back of the room his officers observed. Test days were usually light work. Surprisingly the ork was least troublesome when testing the weapons. At least he wasn't mucking with the broadsides today, and the men were getting much needed firing practice. All in all not a bad day.

Yes, the grot is named after a french sandwich. Also Lootsquig is pronounced a bit like Ludwig.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin stayed where he stayed 90% of the time, at his station as Warp Guide, and appeared to sleep while so close to Holy Terra. It was only when a subordinate approached him that he moved and showed that he remained awake and disconnected like always. As far back as Isaac could remember Marvin had been this way and he made no appearance to change his methods any time soon, making the necessary statements to please his Lord and barely anything else.

[Dekana]

The High-Admiral keeps his eyes on the console while you speak, but he nods occasionally to indicate that he listening. "Emperor knows we need good men who can learn from their mistakes - and those of their family. And you have decided on the expanse then? Good, that will make this easier."

"The Koronus Expanse is rife with piracy and xeno raiders, and the problem has only become worse in recent times. More and more rogue traders and rich entrepreneurs venture into the expanse, only to become the newest targets of the raider scum. Their lives mean little to me, but every one of them loses a valuable ship with them, and I will not countenance such waste. If only I had a fleet to spare, I would conquer the expanse once and for all, for His glory!"

The High-Admiral takes a moment to settle down and lets his voice fall to almost a whisper. "But I do not have such resources. The Imperium is beset on all sides, from xeno monsters in the galactic east, to uprisings in the south, and traitors in the north. It is a sad reality that I must now sacrifice entire worlds to pirates rather than risk losing entire sectors to more serious threats."

"This is where you come in, Lord-Captain Romanos. You may come from a respected family, but you have no great deeds to your name, and your family is now known more for its debts than its power. If you wish to gain prestige - and the wealth that comes with it - you will need victories. These pirates in the expanse are a perfect way to make your reputation. If you will consent, I will give you command over several escort frigates and cruisers stationed in Koronus. They will belong to you and you alone. All I ask in return is that, while you make your fortune in the expanse, you also clear out the pirates wherever you encounter them. Doing so will gain glory for you, and by extension, the Navy."

"The Romanos dynasty of old had a close friendship with the Navy, and I hope that here, today, we can revive it."

One of the men at the firing range, an armsman in training, takes aim and the target and fires... or tries to anyway. When he depresses the trigger, his lasgun makes a low hum and then crackles loudly as if shorting out. It looks like he's somehow managed to jam the weapon.

[Hemnon]

With nothing more than a mere Nod, Isaac showed that he'd understood. It was a basic 'scratch-back' deal were he helps the navy and in return he gets a few Escort vessels to aid in his endeavors.
"I had indeed thought about beginning with some stability-aid for the Navy once i reached Port Wander first. Writing up a contract or looking for any worthwhile bounty-notes. I'd also thought to begin at footfall first, introducing myself to the race for profit and maybe even get a hold of some star-charts from the mechanicus explorators in exchange of maybe handing over found archeotech. But all of this will of course not happen until i reach the edge of the Expanse."
He said, indicating that he felt ready for this, without making it sound pompous or high-opinionated. It were pretty clear goals for a starter-entry into the expanse after all.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi paced briskly through the lengthy walkway, hellgun slung across her back. The very air seemed thick and thrumming with power, and why shouldn't it be? They were anchored at the very doorstep of Holy Terra itself.

Up ahead came the adjoining steps that led to the viewports. She could see a press of people here, all crowding in in order to get a glimpse of... well, Terra was not currently visible, Noemi knew, with Luna blocking the view, but it didn't seem to matter. She entertained the idea of going with them, to catch yet another glimpse. Maybe, just maybe, the time for Earthrise over Luna's surface would be soon, and what a grand moment that would be.

She checked her chrono and reluctantly tore herself away from the thought. First she must needs make the scheduled sequrity rounds, as was her duty. Tensions could well be rising among the crew this close to Holy Terra; voidsmen stuck with duties far from any viewport would perhaps risk mutiny in order to get a glimpse of the planet. And it would not do to have trouble aboard just now.

The micro-bead at her ear was linked with the ship-board voxnet. She keyed a secure channel, hailing the numerous security officers throughout the ship.

"This is the Master-At-Arms. Report."

I wasn't sure about the shipboard communication, but settled for microbeads connected to a ship-wide voxnet. I'll change that if you'd like something else, like centralized vox stations throughout the ship (think telephone booths) or something.

[qechua]

Having just finished arranging his somewhat cramped quarters, Macharius took a step back and observed his work. Everything had it's place and a place existed for everything, just as it should. His mind searched for more things to do, but he was a stranger to this ship. He would work to remedy that in time, but for now he would be content with laying the foundations. He took his dataslate and traced his finger over it, his electoos faintly glowing orange as they imparted a small charge to leave a square on the slates surface, and turned towards the door, red robe slightly kicking out behind him. The academy had taught him to learn the layout of a ship, and he'd laughed at too many lost Ratings to allow himself to the same fate. Leaving his quarters without his backpack, he began exploring the ship, carefully marking on his dataslate the various turnings he passed and/or took. His servo skull floated beside him, recording the way in case his marking system failed, although Macharius doubted that situation would present itself.

[Dekana]

"Sensible enough," the High-Admiral replies. "I wouldn't want to fly into hostile space without gathering intelligence first either."

"The escorts I have in mind are already stationed in the Calixis sector. I'll order them to rendezvous at Port Wander for the transfer of command - they should be there by the time you arrive." The admiral actually stops working at the console for a moment, locks eyes on you, and offers his hand to shake.

"Emperor bless and protect you, Lord-Captain Isaac Beuford Legista Romanos."

(OOC: The microbeads, at least for security personal, should be fine. They're probably a little too valuable for *every* crew member to have them, there should be vox consoles in many of the compartments for crew to report in at.)

Noemi's sergeants sound off one by one over over the voxnet.

"Sergeant Godwinne, Bridge. All quiet."

"Sergeant Yolande, Engineering Level 4-C. No activity here."

"Sergeant Flora, Cargo Bay 6. Our green friend is running a live fire exercise for my armsmen. No accidents to report."

"Sergeant Fortunus, Crew Living Quarters Sub-Level 3-A. There was some reckless conduct by a pair of ratings at a viewing portal, but it's nothing I can't handle, M'am." Sergeant Fortunus is breathing a little heavily over the comm, and you overhear a cry of pain from someone next to him.

There are more reports - it's a big ship after all - but none of them particularly grab your attention.

During your exploratoring, you find yourself passing by a row of viewing portals on the port side of the ship. You recognize this compartment as one of the crew living quarters, partly from remembering your training, and partly because the place is teeming with ratings. A few of them give you curious looks, perhaps because they don't recognize you yet? You don't get the sense that any of them are hostile to you at least.

Suddenly, you hear a commotion nearby. A sizable crowd of shipmen is pressed against the entire row of viewports, and inevitably a few people have been left at the back of the crowd without a view outside. You don't see how the commotion starts, but by the time you look over, one dark-haired man is standing over another, this one fair-haired, who has been laid flat on the floor. The blonde gets up and charges the other man, and a scuffle ensues. This goes on for about 30 seconds before a sergeant in flak armor comes to the scene. He promptly and professionally forces the two men to the ground and, with considerable difficulty, keeps them both restrained at the same time.

[zabbarot]

Lootsquig looked down the line. Something was wrong. There wasn't enough dakka. "Oi oi oi! Why ain't you shootin! We'z got very impotin' testin ta conclude!" Everyone stopped firing as the ork approached the lone armsman.

"I-i-it's jammed, sir... Boss." The poor man was quaking, but Lootsquig took no notice.

"Jammed? JAMMED!? Is it a rifle or a fraggin crumpet?! Iz you havin' a tea party on my time!?"

"No, sir!"

"Den unjam it!" The armsman nodded compliance, but didn't budge. "NOOOOW!"

Intimidate: [roll0] Target: 47


Technically I can't use intimidate for command actions on non-greenskins, but Lootsquig wouldn't know that, so I'm doin' it anyways.

[YeOldeGrandma]

"Very well. Stay sharp and update me if needs be. We're at the birthplace of mankind and the Emperor is watching. Sola out."

She ran a hand through her closely-cropped hair.A quick look, only for a few minutes, she thought and started off for the viewports. After that... well, she was Master-At-Arms, and if the Ork was inspecting weaponry, she might as well swing by.

But first: Terra. Hopefully.

[Hemnon]

With a click of his heels clapping together, Isaac did one final salute before shaking that wizened old hand.
"Thank you, sir. I'll take the greatest care of your vessels, like they were my own. May the Emperor's Light guide your way as well, High-Admiral.... And i guess I'd need a new ranking for ship-to-ship comms. Would you allow me to hold the official rank of Lord-Commodore while your ships are under my command? It's the most suitable title for an actual fleet's Commander and it might aid in intergrating the other ship's crew more easily, rather than if they have to actually feel as if someone technically equal-ranked were giving them orders. It's merely a request for stability and Order and the rank could be nulled the moment their duties have been done. Oh and that made me think, when would you require the ships back and should they remain stationed at Port Wander or Footfall when not actively securing routes from pirate-attacks and the like?"
He asked, wanting to make sure that he knew just how far his own command would go for these leant-ships.

[qechua]

Macharius briefly surveyed the remaining Ratings in the crowd before watching intently as the Sergeant did what Sergeants do. Respect was a powerful thing on a warship, and the assembled men and women had to know that the various Armsmen were more than capable of restoring the peace and handing out harsh justice. For him to interfere would undermine the respect the Sergeant had and would only cause future problems. Besides, it would be useful to see the Armsman in action for when he found himself fighting beside him. Better to assess him now than against a real threat later.

Figuring every other view port on this deck would boast a crowd at least as big as this one, Macharius drifted away, heading back towards the inner sections of the ship. He'd seen Terra earlier in their orbit, and for now view ports would be full of Luna. Certainly, if the chance presented itself, he'd attempt to find another suitable view-point, but that could wait. He continued his self-guided tour of the ship, laughing to himself as the various Voidsmen viewed him with suspicion. He remembered being on the other side of the mask, scaring new crew members with stories of the Mech's. What stories been passed around the halls of this ship?, he wondered.

[Dekana]

Scotte, the newbie armsman that Lootsquig is berating, grits his teeth and pulls himself together. Even with an irate ork screaming in his face, he forces himself to focus on clearing the jam. His hands move in a well-rehearsed motion, and within 20 seconds he finishes. The lasgun hums once more, its energy charge restored. The other armsmen on the firing line, even those with experience, can't help but break into grins as they watch Scotte work under pressure.

"Sir! The weapon is unjammed, sir!"

Somewhere during this period, a man in the red-robes of the machine cult walks into the cargo bay. (OOC: That's Macharius, if you want to talk to him.)


The inner core of the ship contains some of the more vital pieces of equipment, hidden between half a kilometer of hull plating. Chief among those is the gellar core, of which even a momentary loss of function would be catastrophic during warp travel. However, Macharius next finds himself in one of the cargo bays. While most of the bay is filled with spare parts and other important supplies, part of the bay seems to have been converted into a firing range. Thirty men are lined up with lasguns in hand before targets. Currently, a large green xeno is hurling insults at one of the men, who is apparently clearing a jam in his rifle. (OOC: That would be Lootsquig, if you want to talk to him.)

The High-Admiral gives Isaac a confused look for a moment before laughing. "You misunderstand me, Lord-Captain. The escorts will not be lent to you; they will be given. You will have no obligation to return them to the Imperial Navy, even if you destroy every raider in the Koronus Expanse. I will..." The admiral pauses ever so slightly as he tries to find the right word. "... expect you to use the ships for the glory of the Emperor, and not solely personal gain - but then, that is the duty of any rogue trader."

"Regarding the rank. I do beg your pardon, but a rogue trader only has authority in the frontiers, not over the Navy in Imperial Space. A formal rank is not appropriate. However, your warrant grants you all the authority you will need for the escorts. They will be a part of your dynasty, and you may order their crews even to their deaths."

[Hemnon]

Isaac looked very surpised at this revelation. "Ahh, yes, i do understand now. Then such a rank would be unfitting since i had no actual naval ships along anymore..." He said as he finally realized what kind of gift he'd just been given.
"Well, then, i'll instead claim the Title of Lord-Commodore within my own fleet then. It's a non-Naval rank and as such have no bearing on the Naval Ranking system. Or maybe it should be something a bit more flashy, like Lord-Supreme Captain perhaps... guess i have a while to think it over.... But thank you for this gift, and i promise you on the name of my forefather and their forefathers that i will stay true and safe-keep all who sail under my Dynasty. If that is all, I'd like to go to my ship and begin my journey. Every such one begins with just one little step after all. I beg you good day and the Emperor's Blessing, Lord High-Admiral."
Isaac said and then did a formal and quite regal bow before spinning on his heel and strode off to meet with his crew... the long walk back, oh the delight~

[zabbarot]

The ork watched him work, and took the weapon when he was finished. After firing a couple shots across the room at nothing in particular he was satisfied. "Good work. You'z still a git dough." Turning, he addressed the grot, "Mista Crunchy, dis lot'z good. Pack 'em up, an' pass out da neks crate."

"Right away, Boss."

While the men scrambled to get the next crate of weapons ready, Lootsquig started to head to his desk to scrounge up a snack. There were some good mushrooms growing over there. Then he noticed the red robes. "Oi! Dey send you down ta help? We'z on crate six fiddy-seven"

"Six fiddy eight, Boss!" the grot yelled from somewhere behind him.

"Das what I said. Anyway, last crate had one gummy jamma. Give dat a look, just ta be sure. Neva can trust dese humie weapons."

[qechua]

An Ork on board, trusted with weapons. These Rogue Traders really are powerful, bringing this one to Terra. Macharius thought to himself, subtely looking for some kind of sanctioning brand. He approached the Ork, stopping about 5 metres short as habit, and responded

"Not here to help, jus' looking round, 'though I'll have to make self real useful at some point, still figurin' how. Macharius Yorke, researcher, and you are?"

[TechnoScrabble]

"Holy Terra," Dice mutters, staring out the viewport with both hands plastered against the glassteel.

He's all alone in this corridor, dimly lit compared to the sea of light on the planet's surface. Not that he can see it now past Luna, but he's patient enough to wait.

Or is he?

"Ship...I going to take a closer look."

He turns away from the viewport, taking on a light jog towards the hangar, pushing his helmet back on along the way. He keys his MIU into the Encarmine and attempts to hail a flight control channel.

"Flight Commander Dice, Sigillite Encarmine requesting clearance for a flight closer to Holy Terra. Small craft, guncutter Fines Omnius."

[zabbarot]

"Lootsquig Boltzgrot." He smiled his obscenely toothy grin as he looked the tech priest over. "You one a' dem metal humies, eh? Dem humie mekboyz." He straightened up, scratching the back of his neck, "Whole buncha you lot like to muck around while we'z workin'. And dey'z always shoutin," He continues in a high pitched mocking tone, "Don' touch dat! Mushy sprit blah de blah." He shrugs. "I juz' gotta keep all dese shootas workin'. Dat'z ma job. So long as youz out a' da way, youz can stay."

[Dekana]

In something of a coincidence, you receive a vox call from the XO on the way to the hangar. Apparently, the Lord-Captain has finished his business on Terra, and you are tasked with picking him up.

While completing the pre-flight checklist and waiting for the hangar doors to fully open, you manage to raise the local flight controller.

Speaking very quickly, she says, "Fines Omnius, Luna Control. You are cleared for departure. Squawk 104891 and proceed along Corridor 3 to Terra Grid 1A. Contact Terra Control at 100,000 kilometers. Do not deviate from P/FD special warnings or you will be destroyed."

The directory lays out a very specific course and speed for every size of vessel, and it warns that all weapon systems must remain powered off, even for a small ship like yours. Assuming you follow the directory - and you had better, because there's enough firepower locked onto your guncutter to destroy a battleship - you'll reach Terra in about an hour. In the meantime, you are treated to the view of Holy Terra rising over the surface of Luna. The planet is an unhealthy yellow color with not a drop of surface water visible, but it also glows beautifully from human light sources, proof that this is the most densely populated planet in the Imperium.

---

You descend into the atmosphere without incident and are directed to a landing pad close to the Inner Palace. You only have to wait a few minutes before the captain shows up.

The same squad of sailors escorts you to the landing pad. It is tens of kilometers away, but the magnetic rail system takes you there at great speed. When you arrive, you find Voidsman Dice's guncutter waiting, Dice still seated in the cockpit.

[qechua]

Letting out a small chuckle, Macharius responded

"Not a mekboy, more like a fighter who lost too many pieces and got some metal bitz. Learnt the easy way not to get in the way of an Ork on a mission, learnt the hard way that just because you can't hit it, doesn't mean it can't hurt you."

Pausing to reflect on his injuries, Macharius quickly changed the subject, more to distract himself.

"Guessin' you've got a sweet shoota yourself? I'd love to see it in action."

[Hemnon]

The same second that Isaac was inside the Guncutter, he instantly mellowed out a little bit, turning from all Attitude and High-ranked, to a more approachable Leader-figure. "Greetings mister Dice, let's take off when green lights are given... So, I'm a Rogue Trader now.... How do I look? Like a Real Rogue Trade??" He asked Dice, knowing that he'd properbly end up with a 'Hell No' or something like that~

[TechnoScrabble]

"Look at her..." Dice breaths, an awed smile crossing his face. He carefully follows the path, not caring that he's restricted so long as he gets to view the glory of humanity up close.

"The Emperor himself is down there somewhere, girl," he says, barely containing an excited laugh as he pats the dashboard of the guncutter, "And we get to walk on the surface! Maybe, like, one in a thousand people get to do that! Maybe one in a million!"

Dice guides Fines down to the pad and steps out slowly, carefully, every step tentative as if the world might fall out beneath him. He practically rips off his helmet, a few strands of dark hair getting stuck on the visor in his carelessness. Glittering blue eyes scan the horizon, and he takes in a deep breath.

"'s beautiful!"

When Isaac approaches, he strikes a salute before leading the way in. He's gotta be professional, now, or they won't let him keep his guncutter.

Not that they could stop him.

"Rogue Traders are an eccentric lot, cap'n," Dice says as he settles into his pilot's seat, "Not sure there's a way you could not look like one, so long as you didn't dress in rags."

He clears his throat and hails flight control once more.

"Fines Omnius requesting clearance for departure to Sigillite Encarmine, VIP onboard."

[Dekana]

Earth traffic control responds promptly and directs Dice back toward Sigilite Encarmine. Flight control in the Sol system is without question the strictest Dice has ever encountered, but for good reason. The sky is teeming with aircraft, from cargo ships bearing water, to passenger transport filled to the brim with pilgrims, to Lightning air-superiority fighters on patrol. The slightest mistake could result in a mid-air collision.

Even with Holy Terra at the guncutter's 6 o'clock, Isaac and Dice can tell that they are getting further away as Luna grows ever larger. The moon is of course a famous and holy planet in its own right, but much like Sigilite, it remains in the shadow of Terra. Who knows if either of you will ever get a chance to come back...

(OOC: Not that I put a lot of effort into describing Terra for your characters to get amazed at, but that's because I'm a lazy writer. :smalltongue:)

[YeOldeGrandma]

She stood amidst the press of bodies, rubbing elbows with both low-grade ratings and deck officers alike. There was a hushed murmuring buzzing in the air, and more than a few people were praying.

Noemi had seen Terra already, on their journey in. But once was not enough. Without her actively thinking on it, her lips had begun mumbling prayers.

She had to go, though. She'd already lingered here longer than what was prudent, loosing track of time staring at the massive form of Luna. One more minute. Perhaps we will be ordered to shift anchor, perhaps we will move, and Earth will emerge. Perhaps...

It was a fool's notion, she realized, and with an effort of will she turned her back on the viewport and began to make her way out of the crowd.

"Make way", she muttered in a low voice. "Senior Officer coming through, make way."

Outside the viewing bay she made for the cargo hold, and the supposedly weapons-inspecting Ork.

[Gunhaven]

Slowly Marvin rose from his chair and straightened to his nearly seven foot frame. His bones snapped and creaked with each movement before he stooped back down and mumbled under his breath at the gravity of the ship and the situation. Moving at the speed of someone who isn't in a rush he shuffled his way toward the hanger. Every few moments he motioned at a subordinate as needed, his second in command taking his chair and organizing his maps, and otherwise the ship at ease. It took him longer than it could've but eventually he found himself drawn to the cargo hold. He looked up and saw Noemi heading the same way and shrugged at the notion that the officers were all gathering in one place.

[zabbarot]

"Best shoota on dis ship." Lootsquig reach under his coat and pulled out a long crude shoota. It just looked like wide bore pipe welded to a metal box with a handle. It was painted a nice bright blue though, with a black and white checkerboard pattern on the clip that was jammed roughly into the bottom of the boxy bit. "Well, best shoota dat ain't part a' da ship."

Behind them Mista Crunchy continued to lead the men through the firing tests. They were nearly finished with this crate. "Take a break. Medal man wants ta see a real shoota." Lootsquig walked into the middle of them, looked down range at the targets. "Listen up, dis'z what dakka sounds like." The thing was a skatta cannon. It opened up fully automatic shotgun fire.

DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA


[roll0] Target:41(full auto)

[qechua]

At once, his senses were assaulted by a cacophony of noise and light and smoke as the shoota erupted into life. Macharius felt himself tense up and jump backwards slightly, more out of surprise than fear. Clearly it had been too long since he had been aboard a ship; he hadn't jumped like that on the Gallant for some time before his incident.

The gun kept firing, Lootsquig apparently intent on emptying the magazine into whatever was left of the target at this point. Macharius could see why they'd stationed the Ork in the middle of the ship, and could only presume the room behind the range was kept empty for this exact situation.

[Hemnon]

It felt funny, suddenly being a Rogue Trader. Isaac had been thinking this thought over and over the moment he'd entered the Guncutter. He'd been contemplating and grumbling over this fact: He had power now.
But what should he do with it?
That was what's been nagging him.
--------------

The moment he returned to the Sigilite, Isaac strode along to the bridge, affirmative nods and the like when someone bowed, saluted, etc.
He was a lord-captain of a vessel now, so it would only be right to show some respect to the crew, which would help transport him and his closest retinue from Terra and all the way to the far end of Imperial Space.
As he reached his command-throne (chair-thing), he seated himself and heard how the systems engaged and hololithic screens and the like activated to show him just about everything about the ship that he would need to know: Core-Drive Temperature, Navigator-input for Warp-travel, Damage Reports, Hull Integrity, etc.
With the flip of a switch, Isaac activated the Ship-wide comm-system. "This is Lord-Captain Isaac Romanov, Newly appointed Rogue Trader of the Romanov Dynasty and the Lord of this Vessel. We are heading to the Expanse right away. This will be a dangerous voyage, i will not lie. But that doesn't matter, correct? We are Orbiting Sacred Luna right now and Holy Terra is only a hand's reach away from Luna. We have already done something that most Imperial Citizens only ever Dream about. And i bring good news as well: The High-Admiral have gifted us all with a small fleet of ship for when we reach Port Wander. Such a gift MUST be a sign. A sign that the God-Emperor himself have blessed this Voyage! So now, i ask you all, will you join me as we go to conquer the Expanse? Will you aid me and my Dynasty is writing history, right now? If so, then let me hear you all right now! Let the hull of our ship vibrate with everyone's voices! This is a glorious day and we are only taking our first step. So cheer my friends, for that is what I will do!"
He call out into the vox-system with a command and grace of a True Leader.
Now came the tense moment: Would the all cheer? or would he just sit there... awaiting to hear cheers that would never come?
He was sure in his heart that he'd hear them any moment now. Be it songs dedicated to the emperor, cheers for Isaac himself, etc. But Isaac was sure: this was a Glorious day and he was ready to begin his Journey into the Expanse. The first step had been taken already. He'd step foot on Holy Terra herself after all.

[Dekana]

Isaac's bridge crew, to a man, stands from their station and cheers at his determination. "To you, captain!" - "The Emperor smiles upon you, sir!" - "We won't let you down, cap'n!" He also hears cheers from down the corridor just outside of the bridge, although perhaps to his disappointment, the hull does not literally shake.

First Officer Roland, a man in his early 50s with an impressively bushy black mustache, nods at Isaac. "Congratulations, Lord-Captain." Isaac hasn't had much opportunity to get to know his XO yet. While Roland has nearly always been on the bridge since Isaac took command, he's been all-business so far. Isaac knows that Roland served under his father for quite a long time, but not too much beyond that.

---

Noemi and Marvin both enter the cargo bay to the deafening sound of fully automatic shotgun fire. Lootsquig is emptying his cannon into a target dummy while 30 armsmen and, apparently, a tech-priest watch. Everyone catches at least part of Lord-Captain Isaac's address over the vox-next (in Hemnon's last post), although the weapons fire drowns out a portion of it as well.

The armsmen beam smiles and give each other a couple of joking high-fives. One of them says, "Did he say a fleet? Hot damn, that's our captain! Howd'ya suppose he managed that?"

I thought I'd give everyone a chance to get to know each other in-character before the adventure really gets started. An interstellar ship in 40k needs to travel outside the bounds of the solar system before it can safely enter the warp, which takes a couple of weeks. So at some point, I'll do a time skip to just before you enter the warp (because that's when things can start getting dangerous). If it's alright, I'll give a couple of days for conversation before skipping along

[Hemnon]

Isaac smiled the moment he heard the cheering from all around. And yeah, he hadn't truely expected the hull to vibrate, He wasn't stupid after all.

Leaning back in his Command-chair, Isaac indicated to the master of vox that he should call all Senior Staff to the bridge, both for briefing but also so He could get a chance to size them up and understand his crew a little bit more before they left secure imperial space. Traversing untraveled warp-lanes and such was much more dangerous than trying to travel throughout the Imperium itself, what with the countless travels made over the milleniums and all the charts that's been written down and kept updated by the various Navigator-Houses. But trying to travel unknown routes such as those found within the Expanse was much more dangerous since the Navigator had to ply a new course and keep track of destination all the time, rather than knowing the approximate distance to begin with, as well as being THAT far out left bigger chances for loosing the astronomicon in the turmoil of the warp.
This was why it'd be nice to get to converse with the navigator and try to get a certain understanding of each other.

Knowing who would keep the ship functioning and doing the rites to quell upset machine-spirits would also do good for everyone. Better to place trust in someone you know, rather than a complete stranger.
This was why He wanted to the Prime Mechanicus.

Then we had the man who'd sail them all through the void and follow the navigator's guidance when in the warp: the Master Helmsman himself. Who's allow anyone else by a trusted person to pilot their Voidship? only a crazy-person.
This was why He wanted to see the Voidsmaster Helmsman.

For reasons quite clear, Isaac also wanted to hear reports and converse with the Master Of Arms herself, both in order to officially welcome her to her station, even though she already held it. but new rule meant possible changes, so Isaac just wanted to make sure that the Master of Arms knew she still held her position.

And finally the Ork.... errrrr, well, Isaac mostly wanted to see him cuz he didn't trust the Ork further than He could through it... and Isaac most likely couldn't even lift the Damn Xenos~
----------------

So he remained seated there, awaiting all Senior Command Staff to report at the bridge.

When i say Senior Staff, i mean ALL of them. So that's pretty much all Ship Roles whom are asked to report to the Bridge, since all Ship-roles and basically a position of Command on some level, be it Command of the Ship's Capital Weapons, the Master of Commerce, or even the Lord of the Pantry (aka. the Chief Cook, who also is the one that does the food for the Lord-Captain and other High-Ranking staff).
So yeah, if you wish, Dear GM, it would be delighted if all of the Roles could be introduced :)
Cuz they ARE aboard, just not as a player character (and doesn't grant the bonus from the role either).

[Gunhaven]

Marvin waved from behind Noemi and was about to speak when his hearing went out and all he heard was Dakka. He shuffled his way quickly out of the room and caught the message that he should return to the bridge. He shook his head and made his ponderous way back to where he was relaxing before the notion to walk struck him. Perhaps next time he wouldn't indulge such feelings and stay put so his weary form could take a break from the strain of walking.
He sighed as he made his way toward the bridge. His thoughts played back what he had witnessed the Ork do. Loud as it was he couldn't deny the effectiveness of his weapon and pondered the possibility of him receiving similar firepower. Maybe some well made weapon that he could use reasonably well... He'd have to ask his Lord if they could get something like that wherever he had them go. His thoughts continued in this fashion until he returned to the bridge.
He stood up to his full height, looking like a pole like always, and gave Isaac a salute. He then swooped down to a bow and righted himself up to his normal hunched position. With a wave of his left hand an underling received his staff so he could lean on it. Finally he spoke, his voice like the wind and bringing a touch of the warp with it. "Marvin, Warp Guide. I'll get us there, just as I did with your father and you when we came here."

[YeOldeGrandma]

As the deafening gunfire died down Noemi clearly heard the summons to the bridge, and just like that her unscheduled inspection was called off. From where she stood, right inside the entrance to the cargo bay, the situation looked to be well in control anyway, apart from a little excessive ammo wasting done by the Ork. The armsmen certainly looked to be of good spirit. Noemi had heard most of the lord-captain's speech, and had yet to fully grasp the import of the words, though she knew that this was big, real big.

Turning on her heel, she thought she could just make out the tail end of flowing robes whisking around a corner. As she marched towards the bridge she soon closed in on a hooded form, treading its way slowly through the hallway. Whoever the person was, her or she was clearly taller than most men, and - from what could be discerned through the robes - more gaunt and narrow of limb than even Noemi. She swallowed and decided to drop back a good fifty yards, following from a distance.

Which of course could lead to Lootsquig and Macharius catching up with her, assuming they too are making their way to the bridge.

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice listens to Isaac's speech from inside Fines Omnius, fiddling around with a few of his starcharts and working hard to include Holy Terra in all its glory on the ceiling above his bunk in the quarters on the guncutter.

"Can't argue with his method of speechification, no ma'am," he says to the ship, "What about you?"

A moment of silence, and then a chuckle.

"Yeah, I thought so, too."

[qechua]

The noise of the Ork's shoota reaching an end, Macharius listened to the remainder of the Captain's speech, noting it's tone to be slightly more personal than most naval announcements. For it's job in inspiring loyalty in the leadership, it was effective, although it may in time fail to truly unite the crew as a cohesive unit. Still, any man that could persuade the Navy to give over some ships was clearly a powerful one, and Macharius looked forward to finally meeting him. While still thinking about how such a meeting would occur, his micro-bead awoke, and a voice on the other end requested his immediate presence on the bridge.

"Impressive weapon, Lootsquig, certainly glad you weren't round when I last fought Ork. Probably lost what flesh I've left to it. It's been a pleasure, but the bridge calls, and I'm off meet our 'lustrious cap'n. Unless, you got the call too?"

I'm guessing Lootsquig is coming with me, but whether yes or no, I've got no pressing questions for him and am happy to pick up again entering the bridge

[Dekana]

As the others are filing out of the cargo bay, Macharius's microbead flares to life. The voice on the other side is terse and bears the tell-tale sign of mechanical adjustment.

"Explorator Macharius, Enginseer Prime Brassbolt. The esteemed Lord-Captain has called a meeting of senior officers. I designate you my representative; attend the meeting and relay that Sigilite Encarmine is functioning to expectations. Report to me in Main Engineering afterward. Acknowledge."

[Dekana]

Dice, Lootsquig, Macharius, Marvin, and Noemi each make their way to the bridge, as do all other senior officers. Walking, it takes about 10 minutes from the central position of the cargo bay to get up to the bridge spire.

The bridge itself is shaped like a cross, raised above a bay chamber. The forward and side walls are viewing portals into the void, although blast shields close down during warp travel to close off the view. The forward prong of the cross houses the pilot and auspex readers. At the side prongs, representatives from most other departments, including weapons and engineering, sit at consoles and stand over wide tables with charts laid out on them. Finally, at the rear prong, the captain and first officer's chairs are raised up to overlook everyone else. In the bay underneath the senior personnel, rows upon rows of servitors and low-ranked bridge crew work at cogitators and vox consoles, interpreting data and relaying orders throughout the ship.

The area in front of the captain's chair is wide enough for the senior officers to assemble, with room to spare. It takes up to 30 minutes for all personnel to arrive, with Drivemaster Greasecog coming in last.


---Rank 1---
Lord-Captain: Isaac. Lord and master of everyone aboard the ship.

---Rank 2---
First Officer: Roland. A man in his 50s with a bushy black mustache. Direct underling to Isaac, can generally be used to carry out any orders that Isaac doesn't want to take care of personally.

Enginseer Prime: Brassbolt. A tech-priest of indeterminate age, but he is surely ancient. He almost never leaves Main Engineering. Is the direct superior of Macharius. (Macharius is the Prime's representative on the bridge.)

High Factotum: Corbec. A younger man, late 20s, with gold bead piercings in his eyebrows. He was a very successful gang leader on a hive world, and he has a knack for using intimidation to obtain supplies for his captain.

---Rank 3---
Master-At-Arms: Noemi. Responsible for security on the ship, the small arms armories, defending against boarders, and leading boarding attacks. Has numerous sergeants that report directly to her.

Master Helmsman: Dice. Pilots the ship and has considerable authority over the enginarium, auspex, and bridge crew in order to carry out maneuvers. Is also sometimes tasked with piloting small craft, especially for VIPs.

Master of Ordnance: Loni Arcite (pronounced with a hard 'k'). She is former Imperial Guard, where she was a commander of artillery. Is the direct superior of Lootsquig.

Master of Etherics: Ruby. She's in her early 20s, and rather attactive with short red hair. She is keenly intelligent and usually reads the auspex personally, rather than delegating the job.

Chief Chirugeon: Eugenius. A Magos Biologis obsessed with cybernetic prosthetics. He is met by fear from most of the crew, but luckily for them he only personally operates on VIPs.

Master of Whispers: Named Whisper, fittingly enough. He is bald, in his 40s, and has a large blue electoo right across his face.

Choir-Master Telepathica (Chief Astropath): Noctula. He is physically very frail, bony and pale-skinned, but he is strong-willed and dependable (as much as astropaths can be, at least).

Warp Guide: Marvin. While the ship is in the warp, Marvin becomes more important than even the Lord-Captain.

---Rank 4---
Ship's Confessor: Victorinus Salvus, an aging priest with grey hair. He is more independent minded than most of the senior officers and doesn't report to Isaac unless called for.

Drivesmaster: Greasecog. Entirely hidden behind red robes and cybernetics, his true appearance is a mystery. He runs the Drive Temple like his own fiefdom and forbids access to it by non-tech priests, on pain of death.

Omnissianic Congregator: Flasharc. Interestingly, the man responsible for appeasing the Omnissiah is not a tech-priest. He is a former Imperial Navy officer, born on a Forge World and very devout to the machine god.

Chief Bosun: Tempestus. A giant of a man with bulging muscles. He was a drill abbot in the Schola Progenium before finding his way aboard. He is a very harsh instructor and is known to hand out executions to crew chiefs that have especially failed him. He is a subordinate to Noemi, responsible for enforcing discipline as she may direct.

Infernus Master: Acorda. A middle aged woman with ugly burn scars on both arms. She was a firefighter captain of some kind on an Imperial World, but has relatively little experience fighting fires on void ships. She has yet to prove herself in a true emergency.

Twistcatcher: Helios. A tall, gaunt man who always wears sunglasses. He pities the mutant more than hates it, but does not hesitate in carrying out his duties.

Master of the Vox: Crisis. A young man, in his 20s, and always serious. He has a short temper and can sometimes be heard berating his suboordinates on the bridge.

Purser: Dolf Freeley. An older man who wears exquisite clothes and a monocle. Aside from being a skilled accountant, he is personally greedy. His quarters are perhaps the best decorated on the ship.

Carto-Artifex: Coilglow. A tech-priest, but one who is still recognizably human. He has cybernetic eyes but speaks in a normal, non-mechanical voice. He has an exceptional memory and likes to prove it by plotting courses without even looking at his maps (at least for charted routes).

Ship's Steward: Akadia. A pale, void-born woman with a detached personality. She remains calm no matter the situation. She plays a mean game of Regicide.

Chief Dakka Inspector: Lootsquig. As a suboordinate to the Master of Ordinance, Lootsquig is responsible for maintaining small arms and two to three-man crew served weapons, while Master of Ordnance Arcite handles the heavy ship weapons and ground vehicles.

[Hemnon]

Isaac's eyes wandered over them all, lingering for a second longer at the rather attractive Ruby...
But anyways, Isaac gave each of them an affirmative nod before speaking up again. "Thank you all for taking on this voyage with me. Yes, i know that some or even most of you consider this ship your home, but none the less, i wanted to express my gratitude for your willingness. I will not do a lot of fancy promises of grand wealth to all of you and a life of luxurious pleasantness. But I WILL promise the chance to gain it. I'm not much for lying, so i guess I'll have to delegate that job to someone else *snigger*. However, more to the point of why I requested all of you to be here right now:" Isaac began, starting from highest in command and then went down the line, adressing each and everyone of his Officers.

"Master... Roland, is it? Yes. It's quite the honour to finally have a talk with you. You served under my father after all, so i wanted to ask: how did my Father run the ship? I don't know much of his escapades and such, so i want to know a bit more about him. Learning what he did good and what he did wrong might help my further choice of actions, so tell me a little bit about the kind of man he was and how he took to command and such."

After hearing the response, Isaac turned his eyes towards the next in line, which was a Delegate from the Enginseer Prime, a... Macharius (he was looking at a holo-display that showed notable crew-rosters). 'Huh, if i recall, that's the name of a saint. Quite odd of a Priest of Mars to take such a name...' Isaac thought to himself. "Mister Macharius, welcome onboard to you as well. I trust you'll issue this and all further talks we have along to Enginseer Brassbolt, am i correct in that assumption? Now then, i barely know anything about the Adeptus Mechanicus, apart from the basic non-initiated information of course. So tell me, Is my ship in functional order? I have noticed that our armament isn't at 100% capacity (the lack of another port and starboard weapon component), is there a reason for this lack of firepower, or is it not your department?"

These questions went basically along to everyone else as well, except for the Ork, who was more closely questioned on possible sanctioning and as to why Isaac father had taken the Ork along in the first place.

[Dekana]

"Master... Roland, is it? Yes. It's quite the honour to finally have a talk with you. You served under my father after all, so i wanted to ask: how did my Father run the ship? I don't know much of his escapades and such, so i want to know a bit more about him. Learning what he did good and what he did wrong might help my further choice of actions, so tell me a little bit about the kind of man he was and how he took to command and such."

First Officer Roland answers immediately. "Your predecessor was a good man, Lord-Captain. The deaths of any crewmember always affected him, even that of the lowest press-ganged conscript. However... or rather, perhaps because of that empathy, he did not take risks. Your father preferred to ply safe trade routes between remote colonies. It was enough to keep us in the black, but he did not exactly earn a fortune for himself or the crew either."

Isaac notices that Roland gives a brief, sidelong glance to Omnissianic Congregator Flasharc. "He also spent much of his time inserting himself into shipboard politics, seeking personal allies rather than giving his trust to the crew as a whole, my lord. After your father's passing, but before you took command, I took the liberty of replacing some officers who were ill-suited to their given roles." Roland motions to Ruby, Crisis, and Corbec. "Some of the younger officers are recently promoted and are seeing their first assignment."

[Hemnon]

Isaac nodded gently at his XO's words, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the hololithic desk infront of his Command-chair, resting his folded hands against his lips. "Thank you, Mister Roland... Hmm..." He said with a pause as his eyes went on to the next in line, The High Factotum Corbec. "So, Mister.... Corbec? Ah yes, Corbec. I hope to see you do well as my keeper of Trades, Contracts, Deals and Wealth-handler. It's a very prestigious position you have, since you'll be my eyes and ears for dealing with things that are above my post to do. I know that you understand what i mean and i hope that you will stay true to my way of doing things. Thank you for having the courage to do this." Isaac said and give an appreciative nod and smile towards Corbec.

Next up, Isaac adressed Noemi, Dice and Loni Arcite at the same time, since their positions intertwined into the total security of both internal as well as external sources. "To the three of you, i ask: Can you promise me to do whatever is within your power in order to keep this ship... this HOME, intact and protected? Treat your subordinates with a firm, but fair hand, that is all i wish to Command from now. Do not use whips, stunrods, etc. just to get the point across. Show a ideal example of how to do it and the men will hopefully follow." He said, sounding very conflicted about how to approach this matter completely without offending anyone or wrongly deliver his words to they would be misunderstood.

As Isaacs gaze turned towards the Young, mint-condition Master of the Augeries, he couldn't help my lightly smile. He couldn't resist doing so. She was pretty and he already felt biologically attracted towards her (not that THAT would be much of a surprise~). He quickly squished his smile before it become TOO evident as to WHY he'd smirked like that. "Miss Ruby, well, i can't say much more that Welcome to my ship and i hope to see you do your work well. Be my eyes in the Void and I'll be the Voice." He said, sounding almost poetic, even if it hadn't been his intention.

Isaac's eyes (one still covered by a very ornate-looking monocle) quickly gazed past the Chief Medical Officer Tech-Priest, knowing full well that anything he could say to that Priest of Mars would be either too ignorant, or needless chatter. So Better just to acknowledge the Man (at least Isaac hoped that Bionic-enhanced Humanoid WAS human~).

As for the Master Of Whispers... well, better to take THAT conversation later in privacy~

Isaac appeared to having to calm himself a few seconds before looking at the blind Chief Astropath (Psykers and their effects have always weirded Him out, but He didn't feel much animosity towards them either... it was just a reflexive reaction). "Astropath Noctula... I wish you and your cadre of fellow Astropaths the Grace of the Emperor on you and in return only demands one thing: Whatever Psychic messages you catch, no matter how inconsiquencial or inconsistent it seems, send it to the bridge or come in person to deliver it. Information is key to survival and i would rather hear about half-recieved requests from some ship to enter footfall, rather than miss something that could mean the end of us all. Do not fail me." He said, sounding SLIGHTLY harder on the Psyker, than the others, but he only did so to keep up his Mask Of Command. it was a neccessity, nothing more.

"Sir Navigator, I can only ask for you to guide us well and true. but that might be even a promise NO ONE could keep, so it'd rather request that you rather keep us safe than be on time. I am a Lord Rogue Trader after all, and late is what everyone else is, or early in case of my late arrival." He said with a humourfilled chuckle "I would also thank you and your House for staying true to my Dynasty and keep honourable with our deals and contracts. I wouldn't be going much of anywhere if i had no navigator, would i? Hehe." He continued, finally thanking the Navigator fully with a few respectful words in High Gothic.

Isaac didn't address the Rank 4s though, since they were so low on the rank list that most of them were subordinates to some of the others back up the line, yet he kept up his gently head-nod to show that he appreciated their presence (and they still had their job as well:smallwink:)

But he did look at the Ork for a minute without saying anything, appearing deep in thought.
"Now tell me, Xeno, why are you here on this ship? And i won't tolerate lies. Speak truthful and then explain howcome my Father never got you sanctioned for imperial space?" His gaze flickered between Lootsquig and his First Officer Roland for some explanation on this matter.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin waited for his address and let out a quiet laugh that seemed to rattle in his rib cage more than anything when it came to his house. Farquat had seen to it that he was the last one of his tainted line. But such things weren't for his Lord to worry about until it caught up to them. Instead he waited for the speeches to be done before he said in the same creepy, low voice "I will do everything in my power to get us there without letting the Warp touch us." He didn't say it but he secretly looked forward to the chance to leave this place so close to the Inquisition who was curious about his origins and return to a place where mutants could be more free.

[zabbarot]

Previously

Lootsquig finished off the clip to applause, which was pretty much what he was expecting. "Boss!"

"Jus' a minute, Crunchy. I'z talkin' to da humie." Turning to Macharius, "Sure is sumfing, eh? I got no time ta muck about on da bridge."

"Boss!"

"Gotta finish up here."

"Boss!"

"WHAAAT!?"

"Kap'n called. Dey need'ju up top."

On da Bridge

Lootsquig fell in behind the Master of Ordnance. She wasn't the biggest by any means, but she was mean and he could respect that. Also she wore a large hat, which Lootsquig was beginning to believe might be related to her rank. Humans didn't make much sense. Apparently they were up there so the new Kap'n could tell everyone he was the boss. If they were orks, he wouldn't have to say nothing. He'd just be the biggest, and that'd be that.

Still, he stayed quite and worked on his humie 'military discipline', which mostly seemed to be about not moving when the boss was looking. Eventually he was, surprisingly, approached directly by the new Lord-Captain.

"Congrachulayshun Kap'n." Lootsquig smiled, it was a new word for him, not that he'd admit he was proud for it. He wasn't a smartgit. "I'z got a partik-ular set a' skillz. Your fadher 'preciated dat. Never 'eard nofing about saintshun though. Whaz dat?

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi's back stiffened as the Lord-Captain's eyes fell on her and the two others.

"To the three of you, i ask: Can you promise me to do whatever is within your power in order to keep this ship... this HOME, intact and protected? Treat your subordinates with a firm, but fair hand, that is all i wish to Command from now. Do not use whips, stunrods, etc. just to get the point across. Show a ideal example of how to do it and the men will hopefully follow."

"Of course, my lord!" she answered, in as crisp a voice as she could muster. It wasn't truly a question anyway, only another command from a superior; nothing but an affirmative answer would do.

As the captain addressed the other officers, Noemi reflected over her instructions. It seemed clear that he wished to establish a command built on trust and respect, rather than fear, which she supposed was all well and good for a man of his charisma. But she herself couldn't hope to match that force of command - inspiration and charisma were not gifts the Emperor had readily bestowed upon her. She hoped the crew would realise when she spoke with the Captain's authority, and obey - if not for her, then for their Captain.

[qechua]

Recieving the message he departed the cargo bay and impromptu shooting range, Macharius placed his left index finger on the side of his respirator, depressing one of the many buttons and switches. This particular one silenced the audio output from the unit, allowing him to respond to his apparently new superior without anyone else hearing the conversation.

"Acklowledged, Prime Brassbolt, will report ship is functioning to your expectations"

-------

Macharius entered the bridge as around half of the officers were assembled in front of a throne holding a grand individual, dressed in clearly fine clothing fit for not just any officer, but one of significant rank. Given his appearance and position, Macharius could only presume him to be Rogue Trader himself. Macharius settled into the second rank of officers, his height allowing him to look over some of the shorter men and women in front of him. Staying in place, he surveyed the bridge, noting it's similarities to that of the Gallant, aside from being significantly larger. He mused, potentially the two ships came from the same forge-yards?

As the crowd reached what appeared to be capacity, the mighty individual spoke, first generally, then to officers in turn until Macharius became the focus of attention. Without even prompting his body to do so, Macharius brought himself to a formal position, his heels together and his arms by his sides while his entire body went straight as a board perpendicular to the floor plates beneath them. At least he managed to restrain himself from saluting.

"Lord Captain, I first offer my congratulations on your 'cension to the house warrant. From what I seen and heard this far, I'm sure you'll do great. Second, apologies if I call you cap'n, my previous post wasn't Lord-Captain, and I ain't used to bein' 'round seniors. Finally, Prime Brassbolt sends assurances that the ship is functioning to his expectations. Guessing he knows why we're missin' those guns, but it's beyond me. I'd guess Master of Ordinance can fill you in on that."

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice attended the Captain's call dutifully, but he stays at the back of the crowd, a few steps away from anyone and closer to his pilot's station, all covered in its cushions and doodads. Isaac seemed friendly enough, hopefully he wouldn't make Dice take down the pillow fort. He flew better comfy.

He listens intently, absentmindedly polishing his voidsuit helmet to a gleam.

[Dekana]

The senior officers respond to Isaac in turn, some nodding simply to show their obeisance.

Corbec smiles devilishly and makes a military salute - very poorly. There's no chance he ever served in the Guard or Navy. "No worries, cap'n! I got my honor too, and I won't soil it - or yours."

Arcite, maybe taking notice of Corbec's insult, renders a crisp and proper salute to Isaac. "Sir, regarding the weapons complement. Your predecessor felt that our batteries were overkill for the trading missions we undertook. He had them sold to reduce the ship's mass and improve fuel efficiency."

Ruby draws a sharp breath when she is addressed by the Lord-Captain. "T-thank you, captain! I thank you for your trust!" A bit nervous, she is.

Astropath Prime Noctula nods slowly, his blind eyes sunken in their deep sockets. When he speaks, it is with an unnatural echo, as if his voice has traveled a great distance to reach you. "I reach across the vastness of the void, I forever give my eyes to the emperor, my soul to his destiny, and my voice to those who would speak his words. I will listen - and and speak the words. It is my duty, and my life."

[Dekana]

Sigilite Encarmine does not linger behind Luna for long. Only a few hours after the meeting adjourns, the Ship's Steward, Akadia, reports that all supplies and personnel have been replenished. With all other departments reporting "ready," the ship gets underway for the departure beacon on the outskirts of the solar system. There is much grumbling among the ratings about not getting a chance to visit Terra in person, but granting that request for 100,000 people could delay the trip by months. And in any case, it's nothing that the armsmen can't handle with a few whip cracks and batons to the kneecaps.

As Sigilite moves away from Holy Terra, her escort is gradually reduced one ship at a time, until finally, two weeks later, she finds herself unescorted at the beacon. That's not to say there are no other ships nearby; to the contrary, there is a heavy military and civilian presence, with ships entering and exiting the warp constantly.

Most of the senior personnel (read: PCs) are on the bridge. All that's left is to give the order to depart.

Where to, captain? Port Wander, to rendezvous with your escorts? Assuming that's the case:

Distance: From Terra to the Calixis Sector, as far as I can tell, is a little over 10,000 light years. According to the book, most jumps are no more than 5,000 ly at a time, so let's say you'll need to make 2 jumps to get to Port Wander. The half-way point could be Cadia or Hydraphur perhaps, as you'd like.

For warp travel, I'm going to use the rules in The Navis Primer since they're newer and a little more dangerous. Just getting to the Koronus Expanse is going to be half the adventure I suspect. :smallbiggrin:

Stage 1: Divining the Auguries
--The Navigator makes a Challenging (+0) Psyniscience Test to determine whether the auguries are favorable to warp travel. Marvin will get a +20 bonus for having detailed maps (the course to Calixis is well charted, so I'll assume you have those maps).

[Hemnon]

Isaac felt more than ready to get this thing going. He flipped a switch for Comms to the Navigator's Sextant. "Mister Marvin, I'd like to you charter a course to Cadia. We'll longhaul this and hopefully get there quicker than a year. When you've charted the route, contact me so i can tell the Warp-Engine Tech-priests to whip it up into speed so we can get going." He said and then clicked off Comms again before contacting the Auto-Temple Priests and told them to travel shipwide for a few hours, spreading censor-smoke and sing Imperial Hymn while the Navigator and Tech-priests did their own jobs. Better be safe than sorry with ship-board security and such before traveling into the warp.
(This is the Warding against Ill-Tidings thing :3)

[Gunhaven]

Marvin nodded to his Lord and retired to his charts. He concentrated as best as he could on them. After a moment he consulted the augurs, by killing a chicken in the confines of his little section and checking the layout of the bones against past results (like when they came to Terra in the first place) and reported his findings that were hopefully correct.

[roll0] vs 68 (38 Perception, +10 Trained, +20 Charts)
In case it fails, spending a fate point! [roll1]

[Dekana]

The dead know secrets that the living do not. When Marvin sets his sight on the bones, he sees a calmness in the nearby warp. The auguries are good. Marvin can confidently tell the captain to give the order for translation into the warp.

From his charts, Marvin gets a sense of the challenge ahead. The path to Cadia is long, but the route is stable and the Astronomican is visible. He estimates the journey will take 166 days.

[TechnoScrabble]

One hundred sixty six days. That's a lot of time.

Dice rolls the number around in his head. The men are going to want shore leave at some point, but Cadia is hardly the place for that. Flying so close to the Eye of Terror is a dangerous idea in the first place.

He settles into his console, unbuttoning the top of his uniform, and throws one of countless blankets over himself, blocking off the world outside of him and his controls before connecting to the Sigillite.

"Hey, ship. Seems we've got a long haul ahead."

[YeOldeGrandma]

All she could do was wait.

Noemi told herself that, over and over, as she stood with fingers clenched against a command console before her. She'd briefed her security officers on the imminent warp jump (though the priests wandering the corridors singing hymns made that rather obvious) and security was on full alert, in case of a potential disaster. Her micro-bead felt itchy in her ear; the channel was all quiet. The silence before the plunge. She looked up and down the bridge, and found herself listening intently for the sounds of the starship. So far she could hear nothing out of the ordinary, and the familiar sounds served to soothe her a little.

All she could do was wait.

[qechua]

Macharius had been in the engineering sections when the preparations for the warp jump had begun, the various priests moving around apparently blessing the air as tech-priests warned them away from machinery, performing their own incantations and services on the relics before them. He presumed the rest of the ship's crew were getting worried about the trip, yet here everything was as calm as it would ever be, every single man, woman and mech had utter faith that this would work as intended.

In the distance, Macharius spotted Enginseer Prime Brassbolt. he'd spent the last 2 weeks trying to catch up with Brassbolt, apparently so busy that a game of cat and mouse had developed as Macharius stalked Brassbolt across the length and width of Sigilite Encarmine's aft sections. Maybe, just maybe, the imminent warp jump would give him the chance to catch up.

[Hemnon]

Isaac awaited confirmation on Augery-confirmation before he continued.

Hearing that they looked very good, he decided not to waste more time. He contacted the Enginarium, ordering Active Warp Translation.
"The Emperor Protects!" He called out in a firm and leader-like way just seconds before the Warp Drive activated... 'May he guard our souls...'

[Dekana]

Even with the blast shields on the bridge and every viewing portal closed, it's obvious that Sigilite Encarmine has entered the immaterium. A general feeling of unease overtakes every person on the ship, and the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. Marvin, from his sanctuary, sees the warp in its full glory - a beautiful, chaotic, absolutely terrifying field of pure energy that stretches into eternity.


Even with the shielding of the gellar field, the immaterium is not a pleasant realm to travel through. Strange delusions and and fears can overcome the minds of the weak.

Everyone make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test. If you fail, roll a 1d100 and add +10 for each degree of failure on the first roll.

For some of the less experienced NPCs:
E [roll0], [roll1]
V [roll2], [roll3]
F [roll4], [roll5]
R [roll6], [roll7]

[zabbarot]

"'Ere we go! 'Ere we go! 'Ere we go!"

[Hemnon]

Willpower Roll: [roll0] vs. TN 36

If fail, Hallucination Roll:
[roll1]+10 per DoF
Result: Phobia
The character suffers from a severe Phobia (see page 297 of the ROGUE TRADER Core Rulebook) and whenever he scores a 9 on any die he rolls, he believes that he sees the object of his Phobia until the vessel leaves the Warp.

So, GM, Gimme a Temporary Phobia.:smallsmile:

Btw, can i grant my +10 Bonus to the Navigator's roll for this?? it's technically just a free action if i can see him or a strategic action (while in combat) to do so if i can't see him (which i can't since Marvin is inside the Warpsextant thing ^^)

[Gunhaven]

Marvin let out a sigh of relief as his mind was teleported to the form that he, and presumably the rest of his house, viewed the Immatarium: that of a farm, specifically a corn field. It seemed fitting considering his ritual of a drawn out killing of a chicken and reading the way the body laid on the ground. With the bright sun of the Astronomicon lighting his way he began the process of navigating the corn stalks to the house that was Cadia.

[roll0] vs 41 to avoid the mind ****
[roll1] vs 96 to navigate the warp.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Willpower roll
[roll0] vs 36

Because that's how I roll...:smallcool:




"'Ere we go! 'Ere we go! 'Ere we go!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yXDpXJbLbM

[qechua]

Macharius felt the translation to the Immaterium, the familiar sensation of all of your body rebelling at once. He was fairly used to it, although it didn't make it any less uncomfortable or welcome. After the initial shock abated, something in his mind tripped, probably a loose cog, and he couldn't shake the feeling that the something had changed.

WP 37 against [roll0]
In case of failure [roll1]
And that would be another candidate for phobia.

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice spends most of the passage asleep. It's pretty easy to take a nap when you're comfy cozy in a moving vehicle, even if it is a city sized voidship hurtling through the warp. He doesn't shirk his duties by any means, but once you're in the warp, most of the work is done by the navigators.

[Dekana]

Day 1 (of ~21)

In the bay chamber beneath the bridge, one of the servitors standing over a cogitator suddenly collapses into a heap, the strain of entering the warp having been too much for it to bear. One of the nearby tech-priests quickly orders another servitor to dispose of it.

On the upper bridge, several crew members cross their arms as an unnatural chill takes them. Corbec begins sweating beads and glancing around nervously, while Ruby, becomes very pale and licks her lips constantly as if she is terribly parched. Corbec manages to endure whatever is affecting him, but Ruby just can't manage. She approaches Isaac, and he notices her digging her fingernails into her own arm painfully. "My lord, I... I beg your forgiveness, but... I seem to have taken ill. Req... request permission to leave the bridge."

The corn sways gently in a breeze that comes from all directions and none at the same time. Just as you have several times before, you discern the true path through the shifting rows of corn - the path that leads straight to Cadia.

Make an Ordinary (+10) Psyniscience Test please.


Even in the material world, corpses can be unnerving to see. But soon after Isaac enters the warp, it dawns on him just how terrible, how frightening the dead can be in a realm of pure chaos inhabited by daemons. They could become possessed or reanimate at any moment! Until the ship leaves the warp, Isaac has a severe phobia of seeing the dead. Further, if he ever scores a 9 on any dice roll (including either of the 10s in a d100), he sees a corpse and must react to it accordingly.

(I'm trying not to godmode Isaac too much, but compulsions / enchantments are one of those areas where it's justified, since the DM takes partial control of the character)

Bugs. BUGS!! Crawling through this beautiful, ancient ship. Squirming behind holy machinery. Nesting in cogitators. Ever since entering the warp, Macharius finds insects simply terrifying. Until the ship leaves the warp, Macharius has a severe phobia of insects. Further, if he ever scores a 9 on any dice roll (including either of the 10s in a d100), he sees an insect (or insects) and must react accordingly.

---

Macharius does find Brassbolt in the Main Engineering temple, standing before a towering holo screen that displays the ship's status. From the screen, it appears the engine power is fluctuating significantly, and low-importance malfunctions and failures have appeared in a dozen places throughout the ship. Brassbolt doesn't say anything to show he is aware of Macharius's presence.


These humie ships are so dependent on their fancy schmancy gadgets. If this were an ork ship, there wouldn't be a gellar field, but rather a set of huge teeth on the hull to scare off any daemons. And any who don't get scared off... well, at least daemons put up a good fight!

(I don't have anything particular for Lootsquig at the moment, unless you want to go exploring, etc. :smallwink:)


Master-At-Arms Arcite has assured you that her guards will pull double patrols on your gun batteries and the ammo storage bays. Who knows when some terrible warpspawn will appear and decide to snack on an anti-capital ship round.

Snooze... :smallbiggrin:

[Hemnon]

Isaac looked at Ruby as she approached him and requested Leave. For a second, just a second, her form appeared all rotten and corpselike... and then everything was back to normal. She stood there, pale and looking distressed. Isaac gently shook his head to clear it. Starting to hallucinating wasn't such a good thing to have happening to one self. But he still felt he was clear of mind and rational in judgement, so he stayed in his command-throne. "I.. I see. If you feel sick miss Ruby I'll have a Security Escort brought up to guide you to the nearest Med-bay. Remember to call in a replacement while you're gone." Isaac said slightly worried as he then called up a small escort for Ruby. It was common practice after all for Officers to have an escort for protection, but if Ruby felt ill, it would be a good idea to have someone else around in case of her passing out or perhaps suffer from some sort of warp-madness... so better she be escorted for both her own and others protection.

[Gunhaven]

Safely within his sanctum both on the ship and in his mind, Marvin let out a slow breath. He tensed briefly as he sensed something wrong within an hour of entering the Immaterium. Whatever it may be he was able to prepare himself both mentally and physically for it; murmuring about an incoming trouble to one of his underlings who could then contact the Helmsman if needed.

[roll0] vs 58 (assuming no other modifiers besides the +10 from Ordinary)
[roll1] vs 56 (without modifiers for the above)

[YeOldeGrandma]

Warp travel might be an unnerving experience, but Noemi was void born. And while she still feared it, she also knew how best to cope with it. Routine and a clarity of purpose, ever important among Imperial citizens, was the best way.

So she coordinated security of the gun decks and ammunition bays with the Master-At-Arms, and walked the areas herself, with one eye on the weapons and another on the crew. And when that did not occupy her, she drilled with both gun and blade. Anything to keep the intrusion of the Warp out of her mind, and anything to drain her to exhaustion, so that she might fall asleep immediately at day cycle's end, and perhaps not dream.

Dekana, if you want a hook, Noemi's nightmares from her calamity aboard the void station could be something to build upon - how that is affected by the Warp. I'm not saying she always has these dreams, but they never fully go away - sooner or later they always come back.

If you want to elaborate on that, just go nuts. It's a (warp-addled) dream after all, so what actually happened on the void station is free for interpretation. Dreams don't have to correspond to reality.

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice wakes with a start, flailing about and taking several moments to burrow out from beneath his blankets. His hair is a mess and his uniform jacket hangs a bit loose, but he quickly straightens himself out as he crawls out and comes to a salute.

"I'm not busied much at the moment, Cap'n, I'll take any sick to the bay. Been needing more thread, anyways."

Surgical thread is great for making durable plushies.

[Dekana]

Safely within his sanctum both on the ship and in his mind, Marvin let out a slow breath. He tensed briefly as he sensed something wrong within an hour of entering the Immaterium. Whatever it may be he was able to prepare himself both mentally and physically for it; murmuring about an incoming trouble to one of his underlings who could then contact the Helmsman if needed.

[roll0] vs 58 (assuming no other modifiers besides the +10 from Ordinary)
[roll1] vs 56 (without modifiers for the above)


Sorry, what was the second of those rolls for?

[Dekana]

Ruby takes a few seconds to call up one of her subordinates from the larger bay beneath the main bridge level, but she is clearly in a hurry to leave. As soon as her replacement has ascended the stairs to the main bridge, she leaves with Dice at her side. The pilot receives a suspicious look from High Factotum Corbec as the pair walk past him, but he doesn't say anything. Just before leaving the bridge, Dice also notices that Isaac is now staring straight ahead as if lost in thought.

The five minute walk to the medbay does nothing to improve Ruby's situation. She is clearly trying to resist whatever pain she's in, with a success that could slip away at any moment. She looks up to Dice shortly before reaching the medbay. "Think we could stop at a mess hall? I'm really starving."

While navigating himself - and by extension the ship - through the cornfield, Marvin notices a clearing to his left. Inside is a gorgeously arranged garden, complete with fountains, gold statues of Imperial heroes, and flower beds of colors that he didn't even know existed. He can't help but stop and stare at this oasis, admiring its beauty.

(But also see the next spoiler)

Whatever they were just doing a second ago, Isaac, Noemi and Lootsquig suddenly find themselves in the middle of a cornfield on what appears to be the surface of a planet. The sky, however, is a twisting, coiling mass of purple energy that seems to hover only a few hundred feet above their heads. It shines a wholly unnatural light over everything, creating strange shadows that seem to move on their own.

Marvin, the ship's navigator, is a few paces away with his back turned to his shipmates. He is staring, mouth agape, at a tiny clearing in the cornfield. There is some kind of creature in the clearing, a horrid mass of black oil shaped into a lump with several misshapen arms. The creature is slowly approaching Marvin, who makes no effort to retreat.

(OOC: If you would have had your weapons with you on the ship, you still have them now)

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice doesn't really understand the dirty look he's getting, but he chalks it up to the warp storm and the general dislike of his less than organized habits.

He's worried, less about Ruby and more about what could be affecting her, to be honest, but still worried.

"Let's get you to the med bay, and I'll bring you something from the mess, right?"

[qechua]

As he walks over to Bronzebolt, Macharius turns his head suddenly, as if his eyes caught something small scuttling in the many shadows cast from the gantries and consoles about the chamber. Just as quickly, he dismisses it, the Ad-Mech would never allow something like that to exist in a place as revered as here. Nonetheless, he can't shake the feeling entirely, they are busy with the ship, after all...

Closing up to Bronzebolt's side, Macharius kicks back to his own memories of sub-ordinates approaching him while he was busy. Help now, talk later had always been his retort to those who wanted to chat, and it would be hypocritical to change now.

"Enginseer Prime Bronzebolt, I'm Macharius Yorke. Where d'you need me, and whatcha need doin?"

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi licked her lips. "Emperor, preserve me..."
She glanced at her chrono. Routine, and a clear head. Routine and a clear head. With her pulse beating in her ears she keyed the micro-bead, searching for any reception. Her other hand krept towards the grip of her hellgun.

[Hemnon]

Isaac was just as bemused as the rest, as to where he was and how he'd ended up there.
He approached the Navigator Hesitantly, a hand on his Trusty Plasma Pistol all the time, not letting go of it for a second. "What kind of Warp-magic is this?!" He cursed out into the cornfield. He'd just been at the bridge of his Ship... and now he was in some kind of delirious nightmare world...

[Gunhaven]

Marvin blinked his black eyes as he heard the murmurings of his crewmates. They shouldn't be here... Quickly he put his robe back on before they could get a good look at his various mutations he sported and turned to them. He stammered "Wh...what are you doing here? No...no...no. Th...this isn't right!" He looked about, first at the clearing and then the sun that served as his guide, and then at his comrades who found themselves in his sanctum.

[zabbarot]

"Oi oi oi oi oi! Waz goin' on 'ere?!" One moment he was on a ship, next he was on a planet. Maybe... not that it much mattered. Looking around Lootsquig first saw the Kap'n, then the shambling mound. "Mah foightan' sense iz tinglin'." He smiled and drew his shoota before charging into range, screaming all the way. "WAAAAAAGH!"


Actions:
Draw
Move

Initiative? [roll0]

[Dekana]

(OOC: No rolls needed for this fight! It's technically part of Marvin's navigation roll, which already succeeded. Deal with the creature however you'd like.)

Lootsquig blasts at the dark monstrosity with his shoota, tearing black, tar-like pieces off of its body. Marvin's view changes considerably as the ork rushes into battle. He no longer sees a beautiful oasis, but an overgrown hellscape thick with vines and flowers with razor sharp teeth. Everything is drenched in the black tar that comprises the creature Lootsquig is charging, which Marvin now also sees. He was apparently being led into a trap.


"Explorator Macharius Yorke," Brassbolt repeats back. "Newly transferred to Sigilite Encarmine, may her engine burn true. Liaison to the Lord-Captain." An audible *click* is heard from Brassbolt's head. He turns around to face Macharius. Most of the Enginseer Prime's face has been replaced with cybernetics, though a few patches of flesh can be seen at his cheekbones and neck.

"I meet you with respect, Explorator. It is difficult to find adepts with both life-long experience on starships and a willingness to transfer. I will speak prayers to your former home."

"To your inquiry: I require someone to tend to our young new captain. Sigilite is grateful to have him and is eager to join glorious battle, but I worry that he does not understand her subtleties."

Brassbolt pauses, giving Macharius a chance to respond.

[YeOldeGrandma]

"Oh, what the hell..." Noemi drew her hellgun to her cheek and depressed the trigger, firing beams of las at the warpspawn in as quick succession as could be done. "Die", she heard herself whisper, "die!"

[qechua]

"Look after the Cap'n, make sure he don't ruin this real impressive ship. Kinda like looking after a fresh new Rating, only he's more powerful than I'll e'er be."

Macharius paused, a sly grin overtaking his face

"Sounds like challenge, and I'm all for challenge. Anything I'd need knowin' about him or the Sigilite Encarmine?"

[Gunhaven]

Marvin quickly back peddled away from the creature and got behind Lootsquig. He was not one for combat, especially as unprepared as he was for such a thing. He made a note to make some explosives when he wasn't busy navigating through the cornfield that is his the Warp.

[Dekana]

Noemi's spray of hellgun fire flashes past the creature, setting a patch of teeth-flowers on fire. The flowers scream in pain as they quickly burn to ash. Lootsquig is on hand to finish the job however, and he runs up to the black creature to deliver it a vicious smash. The creature explodes ludicrous black gibs from the attack, coating the ork in a thin layer of oil.

The fire that Noemi set spreads surprisingly quickly. It takes less than a minute for the hellish garden to burn completely, forcing Marvin and his allies to step away from it lest they get caught in the fire. After burning, the ashes of the garden are immediately overtaken by the corn, leaving no evidence of the encounter. All that's left are Marvin, his shipmates, and the path through the corn.



Brassbolt makes a coughing noise, a heavily chuckle that has gone through his voice modulator. "Do not underestimate yourself, explorator. You will be representing the will of Sigilite Encarmine on the bridge, and that is a greater power than even the captain's."

"There is much to learn about this ship - too much for me to teach via a spoken lesson. Here." Brassbolt walks to a shelf and pulls out a dataslate, one of many other identical-looking ones. "A primer of notable fluctuations in her workings, and a collection of myths about her unlit corridors. Take care when traversing unused paths, for mutants and deserted ratings may be lurking in the darkness."



Ruby nods with a pained look, but she continues with Dice to the med bay.

This med bay is one of the better stocked ones on the ship, being relatively close to the bridge. Several rows of beds are lined up opposite from surgery tables, with supply cabinets on every wall. A refrigerated room is at the far side of the med bay. Three beds are occupied, each with a burn victim heavily wrapped in gauze. Two medics are at the far side of the room, retrieving something from a cabinet.

"I'm so thirsty..." Ruby says to no one in particular. She begins walking over to the burn victims, her eyes locked on a blood-filled transfusion bag.

(OOC: If you want to stop Ruby from going all vampire on the blood bag, you'll need a social skill check (+20) or force (+0 opposed).

[qechua]

"Thanks."

Macharius spoke as he took the dataslate from the mass of metal and flesh before him, wondering if he himself would ever crave relinquishing his body for more durable materials as Brassbolt had

"And don't worry 'bout Cap'n. I'll keep him in his limits, and we'll make sure this beauty here keeps going way af'er we're gone."

Macharius gave a brief pause, then continued

"If there's no else, I won't keep you any longer. I've got some learnin' to do" he finished, waving the dataslate by the side of his head.

[TechnoScrabble]

((Dice lacks any trained social skills! D: Still, the +20 boosts chances fairly well. I'll shoot for a fate point, too.))

[roll0] vs 17+20+10
[roll1] 9+ get fate back

Dice puts a hand on Ruby's shoulder, trying to keep a tight but reassuring grip. He's seen stuff like this before, having lived on a ship his whole life. People become unnaturally hungry, or gain hunger for unnatural things.

"Miss Ruby, ma'am, please. Just hold on a bit longer. Just need to work through this, right? Don't give in."

[Gunhaven]

Marvin sighed as his comrades didn't leave with the slight bump along the road to Cadia. He walked down the row toward the barn and said to no one in particular "Welcome. This is Our Warp; sun's Terra, barn's destination. Might as well get comfortable..." He lowered his hood as he walked with little rush; his myriad of mutations becoming apparent now that they aren't covered in shadows.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Even though the foul things had burned Noemi kept her gun up. Her eyes flitted this way and that as she scanned her surroundings for threats. There was nothing but corn, ripe and golden, but the sky burned in an unnatural way and something within her railed against it all. This was the Warp, and it was wrong.

She watched the Navigator take point and saw him for what he truly was as he lowered his hood.
"What the frak is going on?" she called out, to no one in particular. "Are we supposed to stay here?"

[zabbarot]

Nothing like a bit of a fight to get the blood flowing. "So dis is da warp... I 'zpected mo' foightan' really."

[Dekana]

While those in the cornfield obviously have questions, now that the danger has passed (inasmuch as it can "pass" in a navigator's warp vision), whatever power called Marvin's allies to his side begins to fade. In Marvin's cornfield-representation of the warp, this manifests itself as his comrades getting lost in the corn. After wandering around for a little while, they awake to find themselves back on the ship, almost no time having passed since they entered the mysterious cornfield.

Although it's not something Marvin has encountered before, he has heard legends of a navigator being able to call his comrades to help him in the warp in times of need. Assuming his friends are real, and not warp figments, Marvin may have subconsciously summoned them to fight the monster.

Marvin is still in the cornfield, and the path toward Cadia still lies before him.

(ooc: Though hang on before making the next encounter roll. I'll spring it on you after giving everyone a chance to react to returning to the ship.)




Dice's reassurances cause Ruby to stop in her tracks. She looks at her hands, which are still shaking like an obscura addict's. "By the Emperor, what am I doing? I'm not a... a freak mutant." She walks back to Dice's side and clutches onto an arm, painfully tight.

The medics take notice of their new patient and come over to assist. After some prodding questions, Ruby eventually spits out that she felt like the blood had drained from her body, and she needed more. Although freakish, it's certainly not the first case of warp sickness that the medics have seen. For the moment, they tranquilize Ruby and lay her on a bed beside the burn victims.



Brassbolt nods at Macharius and then returns to his work (whatever that is).

From a brief look at the dataslate, Macharius figures it will take several days of study to read through it all.

[TechnoScrabble]

True to his word, Dice heads down to the officer's mess to grab a tray of food for Ruby, mostly stuff that should go easy on her stomach. Once that's done, he'll ask if the medics have any spare thread, probably swipe some anyways unless stocks are dangerously low, and return to the bridge.

[qechua]

Watching as Bronzebolt disappeared into a mass of other Tech-Priests and Servitors, Macharius figured he'd just be in the way if he stuck around any longer. Having never seen one in operation before, he briefly considered visiting the Warp Engine as the Mechs aboard Gallant had been highly protective, but dismissed the idea as quickly. Maybe when he was a little more well known he could give it a go. Leaving the hum of the machine rooms behind, Macharius walked back to his quarters to deposit the dataslate. Ship seems fairly quiet, he thought, Might actually get round to read'n this now

I'm happy with Macharius reading through the documents in his quarters for the time being until something more pressing turns up.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin blinked his black eyes as his comrades disappeared one by one into the cornfield. He wondered briefly if his mother could ever do such things and thought such was the case. It must've been her habit of pushing the boundaries within the Warp in ways that those "proper" lines frowned upon. I'd be dead if it wasn't for them so ptuya on those of pure and noble lines! My mother and her ancestors saved me so I could carry on Their name!

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi stared at her hands, as she had for some time now. The choice should be simple, but it wasn't.

What she'd seen was like no warp sickness she'd ever heard of before. The vision seemed as vivid as a true memory in a way she'd never before experienced. It certainly warranted a visit to the chapel, and the consultation of both medical crew and clergy.

But if she was truly tainted, what then? What would be done with her? Noemi slowly rose from where she'd been sitting and started to walk out into the hallway. The choice should be simple, but it wasn't. Instead her feet took her to the bridge.

I've already bought my life back once. I want to keep it.

[Dekana]

Day 13 (of ~21)

After the strange experience in the cornfield, about two weeks pass without further incident. Ruby returns to the bridge after a two day leave and resumes her duties, but she still has to visit the medbay periodically for hours at a time to receive some unspecified treatment. Meanwhile, Corbec continues acting somewhat strangely, watching the bridge personnel like a hawk, but he so far he hasn't said anything that can really be criticized.

Time has a way of playing tricks on Marvin while in the warp. Sometimes, he feels as if he entered the cornfield only moments ago. Other times, it feels like it has been an eternity. At least the path in the cornfield remains, and he continues making progress along it, occasionally feeding course corrections to the ship's navigation.

(OOC: Please make three more Ordinary (+10) Psyniscience Tests!)
The dataslate reads like a book of myths, detailing multi-headed creatures, ghosts, and curses all particular to Sigilite Encarmine. A lot of the data is far-fetched, but Macharius picks up on some of the more believable myths and commits them to memory. The sections on the ship's functions are also esoteric, containing anecdotes such as the life sustainer cogitator that developed an affinity for a waste processor on the other side of the ship, leading to a multiple system failures as the cogitator attempted to create new logic pathways to reach its love.

(OOC: For studying the dataslate I think it's worth granting a bonus to Macharius for skill tests directly related to the ship, though I'm not sure what form that should take. Maybe +10 knowledge tests regarding the ship, or +10 tech-use on the ship? What do you think?)
When Dice returns bearing food, Ruby requests an extremely rare, bloody steak, but she has to make do with the starchy tubers he brought instead.

Plenty of thread is on-hand in the medbay, and Dice meets no opposition from the medics when he requests some.
Noemi finds the ship's confessor, Victorinus Salvus, in the chapel. After hearing her confession, Victorinus advises Noemi to ignore any hallucinations that she may experience in the warp. The gellar field protects the ship to a large extent, but strange, evil beings that live in the warp can still influence the minds of people on the ship, especially through dreams such as the "cornfield" that Noemi experienced. Remember: an open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.

[TechnoScrabble]

Hey, baked potatoes are good stuff.

Dice resumes his usual pattern when in the warp, sewing or reading on his shift when not making the rare adjustments the navigator calls for, sleeping and painting his gun cutter when off shift, and hiding various plushies around the ship in between. An eyeball with a headband on the navigator's chair, a roughshod, comic felt ork when the captain isn't looking, a soft miniature Salamander space marine to help Ruby feel better. He makes good use of time.

[zabbarot]

On ork ships the warp was just waves of fighting. There was a special balance the mekboys had to find between the teef on the front of any particular ship being too intimidating (meaning nothing to fight) and not being intimidating enough(meaning too much to fight). These humie ships were boring though. Lootsquig had gone back to his usual duties of keeping the guns up to standard. Perhaps later he'd go inspect the macrocannons.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin remained calm within his own personal version of the warp that continued to exist outside the ship. It was one of only a few places that he didn't have to worry about his mutated features causing unnecessary tension among the crews that didn't grasp the navigator's relationship with the warp.
Outside the Khornefield he performed further augers to make sure things continued to go smoothly. The chickens were taken from the kitchen and returned to such a place afterwards so that they wouldn't go to waste in this strange place.

[roll0] vs 58
[roll1] vs 58
[roll2] vs 58

[YeOldeGrandma]

The words of the confessor eased Noemi's conscience substantially - she hadn't known what to expect when she told her story. Still, she didn't intend to speak of it openly with anyone else - not even those she'd seen in the vision with her.

She kept to her routines. Most of her time on duty she spent at her station on the bridge, ready to be called upon or in training at the firing range or blade drill-chamber. At least once a cycle she visits the chapel for prayer (as I expect most of the crew does). If not called upon to do so she didn't wander far from the bridge or her quarters - she'd walked the gun decks once, and trusted the local crew chiefs to keep things in working order. As far as she was concerned, her main task as Master of Ordnance lay in directing the fire of the ship's weapons from the bridge (ie firing them in game terms) - technical workings and details she left to the tech-priests and the crew.

[Dekana]

The entire ship begins to rumble slightly like the engine of an old Chimera. In officer's quarters throughout the ship, bookshelves tip and wine glasses fall to the ground and shatter. In the medbay, unsecured gurneys slide around and crash into the walls. And on the bridge, sirens go off while a hundred warning lights begin flashing red.

Isaac suddenly has a dozen reports coming in. First to call in over the vox is Drivemaster Greasecog. "Lord-Captain, engine divinations report the Holy Words of Functioning. We do not believe our systems are the source of the disturbance." Likewise, Brassbolt has no anomolies to report from internal systems, and Ruby's sensors pick up nothing (which is not particularly unusual in the warp). Infernus Master Acorda walks up to Isaac and says, "Sir, I have reports of minor fires in two different galleys. I'm sending damage control teams to each."

Noemi receives calls from gun crew chiefs - no explosions to report that could account for the rumbling.

At the helm, Dice's console is reporting strange data from the Navigator's sanctuary. Marvin probably knows what's going on.

Something strange is happening a few hundred meters in front of Marvin, up in the low hanging sky. Like water swirling down a drain, the purple vortex of a sky twirls around and sags toward the ground, before briefly springing back up. This repeats a few times, until finally, the sky itself makes contact with the ground.

http://www.public.iastate.edu/~atmos/images/jordan.gif

Marvin can see corn being tossed up into the air for a dozen meters around the tornado as it circles around violently and chaotically. A strong wind begins blowing, bending the corn nearby toward the funnel. After dancing around in the same area for a few minutes, the tornado begins to move - toward Marvin.

(OOC: Okay, now for three (+40) Navigation (Warp) tests. It's +0, but you get +20 for succeeding on the psyniscience tests, and another +20 for the warp sextant.)

[qechua]

The ship shakes and rumbles, but Macharius stays fairly steady, his large mass and time in service letting his feet hold true, even as he finds himself running through the corridors of the ship. He hadn't deliberately left, but his mind had reacted as a trained mind did, standing him from his bed and running him to where he was needed. He barrelled through the corridors, trying to remember his way to the bridge while simultaneously keeping an eye for anything that he could assist with.

As per the bonus for reading the ship document Brassbolt gave Macharius, I'd probably go with +5 Tech Use for interacting with Sigilite and grant Macharius Scholastic Lore (Sigilite Encarmine), since it's fairly low level knowledge about both general knowledge and specific systems. Failing that, I'd go with +10 tech use while interacting with Sigilite, knowing how ship systems interact with each other allows for more predictable usage

[Gunhaven]

Marvin mumbled something to one of his subordinates that was nearby about not being in Kansas, whatever that may be, and letting the journeyman navigator relay the message that it's a bump in the warp and nothing more. The message boy also provides safe coordinates to avoid said tornado.

[roll0] vs 91
[roll1] vs 91
[roll2] vs 91

[Dekana]

A notification in flashing red appears on Dice's console at the helm. Coordinates to safely traverse the disturbance have been relayed from the Navigator's sanctum. Of course, it's not as easy as just plugging the numbers into the steering; the ship is being rocked about by the disturbance, and it's going to take constant adjustments to keep her on course.

(OOC: You'll need to make an Ordinary (+10) Pilot (Space Craft) Test to avoid the hazard.)

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice holds a hand up to assure everyone as he takes the helm and plugs the rest of himself in.

"It's alright, everyone, I got this."

[roll0] vs 60

[Hemnon]

Isaac had kept up an appearance of nothing having happened just earlier with the sudden strange vision.

"Someone find me a reason for all those shakes and spontanious fires!" He called into the vox the moment reports of such came. it was unnatural and it felt wrong in every way. Once they arrived at Cadia, Isaac wanted to get a hold of some nice alcohol for the entire crew to enjoy. just some amasec perhaps. But still, it would be a nice gift to show the crew thanks for their hard work.

[Dekana]

The shaking only gets worse as Dice takes over the steering, with the rumbling now punctuated with occasional bouts of earthquake-strength shudders that throw men off their feet. The fires in the kitchens, which Acorda's teams report as simple grease fires, are soon joined by more serious accidents. Reports of casualties among the crew flow in, mostly concussions from being thrown into bulkheads. A major energy conduit in the prow laser battery is ruptured, vaporizing several ratings and, more importantly, putting the weapons offline temporarily. And in Lootsquig's cargo bay, a crate of old, unstable explosives inexplicably explodes, blasting wooden splinters and grenade fragmentation throughout the space. Lootsquig escapes injury, but one Armsman Raul isn't so lucky - he catches a chestful of shrapnel and crumples to the floor, gasping like a fish. It's a miracle that a fire isn't started.

However, the shaking continues but does not worsen. One can only assume that Dice's maneuvering is starting to pay off.

[qechua]

Macharius continued to run through the twisting halls and corridors, the rocking seemingly getting worse as it threw him into a couple of walls and one unfortunate Voidsman. His slowed himself to a jog to offset the buffeting, and finally he rounded the last corner, headed through the bridge entrance and looked to the Lord-Captain.

"Where d'ya need me?"

[Hemnon]

Isaac turned towards Macharius as he approached. "Report to the Mechanicus Corps and do what you can to find an explanation of all these shakes, fires and tremors. and check the gellar-field, it might be something attacking it." Isaac said and immediately returned his attention to the influx of messages and information that his command throne was being fed.

[zabbarot]

"Oi! Humie, you alroight?" Lootsquig leaned down to get a closer look at him. He wasn't no painboy, but even he could tell it looked bad. In a quick motion he lifted the man over his shoulder and took off towards the door.

"Mistah Crunchy, get dem crates secured!" The grot started bellowing orders at the men still in the room and they set to work making sure everything was properly strapped down. Meanwhile Lootsquig was tearing across the ship towards the med bay.

"Outta da way! 'Murgency!" he screamed as he barreled full tilt down hallways on the shaking ship. Luckily most people were busy dealing with the quakes so the hallways were fairly empty.

[qechua]

"On it"

Macharius spun and started jogging again, traversing the still rocking ship as he bolted for the Mechanicus. The ship still pitched and swayed around him, but he kept his footing until he reached the Corpsand found a Tech-Priest less flustered than the rest

"Cap'n sent me, what's goin' on, and how can I help?"

[TechnoScrabble]

"Fires and minor damage reported, Cap'n, but she's clearing up," Dice calls from his seat, adjusting a few plugs that have been knocked loose. Clearing away a few pillows so he can lean further into his work, he tries to take the ship from 'shaking a little' to 'not shaking at all'.

[roll0] vs presumably 60

[Dekana]

The shaking slowly, but assuredly, lessens as the long minutes pass. Dice has some difficulty keeping the ship on course (and not getting knocked out of his seat himself), but he manages in the end.

Lootsquig runs down the ship's corridors with the bloody armsman in hand. Only a couple of minutes away from the medbay, the humie stops breathing and his face starts to turn blue!

OOC: You'll need to make a Challenging (+0) Medicae test to stop the NPCs bleeding long enough for him to get to the doctors. Or, because I think it's funny, a Difficult (-10) Intimidate test. :smallbiggrin:
Macharius finds a tech-priest he hasn't met before hooked up to a cogitator. He has remarkably good balance, not being knocked around at all by the shaking. He answers in a calm tone.

"All Mechanicus stations now reporting, and there are no reports of internal malfunctions. I posit an outside disturbance, mostly likely a warp storm, but possibly a void kraken latching to the hull. The fact that the shaking is lessening lends credence to the former explanation."


An hour later, the shaking has slowly faded away entirely. It would seem the danger is over... for now.

[qechua]

"Understood, any damage to the ship worth notin', partic'larly anything we'd need stop in shipyard for?"

Macharius noted the slowing of the pitching, as the ship seemed to settle itself. Still didn't seem smooth by any stretch, but a smooth warp journey usually precluded some kind of disaster.

[zabbarot]

Lootsquig was perturbed to say the least when he noticed the amount of blood that was getting on his nice blue jacket. "OI! I DIDN'T SAY YOUZ COULD BLEED ON ME!" You try to help a person out, and they just start taking liberties. First they think they can bleed on you, and before you know it they just go about dieing without permission. Humies just aren't that good at following orders. No proper ork boy would just go off and die for no reason like this.

"Dis iz inzuh-boh-dah-nayshin! Youz die before we gets ta medbay, an' I'z gonna space your ass."


[roll0] vs 37 (str-10, yeah?)

[Dekana]

On the bridge, things begin to calm down. Casualty reports slowly trickle in, limited mostly to injuries. The worst incident was the accident at the forward laser battery, where a dozen crewmen were killed instantly and others burned badly enough that they won't survive for long.

(3 damage to population, 2 damage to morale)

(OOC: I should really involve Noemi more with the accident at the laser battery since she's in charge of shooting now. :smallbiggrin: I keep thinking of her as the master at arms)

On the bridge, Noemi receives a vox call from the prow laser battery.

"M'am, Gun Captain Heronus reporting. Looks like that discharge fried half the conduits in the bloody system. We'll hafta let her cool down before we can get to repairs, but it's not looking good so far. I think I can get her firing again in under 48 hours, but the techies say the gun won't be at full strength 'til we get new parts."

"I will inquire," the tech-priest answers curtly. He stands at the cogitator motionless for a full minute before speaking again.

"Prow Laser Battery: Damage to energy conduit, partial repair possible with shipboard materials. New supply of superconductors required to achieve full functionality."

"Minor damage to the following: Augur Array, Cargo Bay 6 - Arms supplies / 'Dakka' Inspection Office, Port Las Broadside. Full repairs to be completed in 28 hours."

The humie very rudely hacks up mouthful of blood onto Lootsquig's arms. Color returns to his cheeks and he starts breathing again. He lazily opens his eyes, takes one look at his savior, and says "Frak me..." before passing out again.

Lootsquig gets the wounded man to the nearest medbay, which now has a line of people outside it clutching various injuries - concussions and broken limbs, by the look of it. Lootsquig recognizes one of the wounded, Sergeant Flora; as an armsmen who occasionally oversees training in the Dakka Inspection Office. (She was at the firing range a few weeks ago) Flora is resting against a wall, one of her arms hanging limply.

Thankfully the medics understand triage, and Armsman Raul is seen early enough to save his life.

When you're ready of course, let's wrap up the last batch of tests for this trip. That's four three more Ordinary (+10) Psyniscience Tests.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin hummed a tune as the khornado passed and he led himself and by extension the ship through the warp. His time spent outside his trance is spent on constant divinations using dead chickens and helping those navigators who drew the short straw, getting stuck with a mutie overlord.

[roll0] vs 91
[roll1] vs 91
[roll2] vs 91

[Dekana]

Blessedly, the next few days of the trip are uneventful. There's enough time to get most repairs finished and treat casualties without further incident.

I'm actually not trying to say that several days pass - if your characters had something they wanted to do or say immediately after getting out of the warp storm, then feel free to post that. I just wanted to say that you have the time to take care of what you'd like, whether that's immediately or a few days later.

As a result of the period of calm, characters suffering from warp travel hallucinations can make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test to shake off their delusion. That was the cap'n and Macharius, if I'm remembering right. We'll say Macharius can get the +10 bonus from Isaac's command role thingy. Also for the two NPCs:

R: [roll0] - success. Ruby is no longer a vampire.
C: [roll1] - success. Corbec is no longer paranoid.

Everyone's taking the test simultaneously, and Isaac's bonus is only once per round, so I'll assume that he'd give the bonus to the PC rather than the NPCs.

(OOC: As it turns out, the first test resulted in All's Well, so there's no encounter. The second one is... well, I'll spring it on you suddenly since Marvin didn't see it coming. :smallbiggrin:)

The chicken-divinations provide very positive results, and sure enough, Marvin encounters no further abnormalities in the warp for several days. The smooth sailing is not to last, however. On day 17 of the voyage, while Marvin is traversing the endless cornfield, he is surprised when this fellow suddenly lunges at him from out of the corn.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9SF2tt64j80/TiXVw9CfLbI/AAAAAAAAAr4/vwPuDRvG3QM/s320/chaos_spawn_super.jpg

Marvin is just able to avoid the first attack, the beast's claws sundering reality into white lines just in front of the navigator's face. The creature steps back, regains its footing, and roars terrifyingly. It stares down at its prey as it prepares to charge once more.

(OOC: Monster initative: [roll2]. Marvin: [roll3]. All tests during the encounter will use Navigation (Warp) with a +20 bonus for the warp sextant, even if the normal test would be higher. So if you wanted to shoot the beast, for example, you'd use Navigation (Warp) instead of ballistic skill. If Marvin won initiative, you can post your round of combat. Otherwise, I'll make another post in a few minutes and have the beasty move.)

[Dekana]

The warp beast charges at Marvin, kicking up a cloud of dirt with each step.

---

Charge: [roll0] vs 45+10=55
Damage: [roll1] R, 0 pen

Marvin can of course use Parry or Dodge against the attack if it hit. Note that the beast has the Daemonic Presence trait, so Marvin will have a -10 to any Willpower Tests. Edit: Hmm, I wonder if that penalty actually does anything, since Marvin gets to use Navigation instead of Willpower. I actually think it wouldn't, so you can ignore that penalty.

[YeOldeGrandma]

"Very well, Gun Captain. Repairs are a priority, so I want them to start as soon as conditions allow. Keep me posted. Sola out."

She turns to Isaac: " My lord, the prow laser battery estimates they will be ready to fire in 48 hours at the most, though at reduced effect. New materiel will be necessary to get the battery up to full strength again."

[qechua]

"Got it, keep me posted"

Macharius left, heading back for the bridge. The rocking had almost entirely abated, and ship-borne movement was back to trivial. As he moved, he saw several crew moving around with distinctly less urgency than before, some sporting some minor cuts and bruises where they had been swept off their feet. His mind turned to the crew in the damaged sections; aboard the Gallant his job would only just be starting, but despite his desire to help, he knew he'd do more harm by being in the way. His best option was to do his job and make sure the Captain didn't careen the ship into combat before the repairs were completed.

He also saw various pieces of damage in the corridors. Bulkheads had been dislodged and panels smashed. They were all trivial repairs, any Voidsman with an impact nut tool could put it back together, but it had created small metal detritus on the floor. The size and shape all looked creepy, and he could swear some of it was moving of it's own accord. Damn Warp, he thought, as a shiver tried to make it's way down his spine before realising it couldn't shift the various coils and machines about his body.

Arriving on the bridge again, Macharius spied the illustrious Lord-Captain. As with the ship, he was notably calmer given the passing of the storm. Approaching to the side, Macharius delivered his report

"Cap'n, Mechanicus reports minor damage throughout ship, mainly scuffs 'n' dents, nothin' a days graft won't fix. Biggest problem's forward lance. Sure Master Ordinance already told you, but it won't hit near full pow'r till we get some new super-conductors. Cadia'll have 'em, but 'til then, can't say to count on that system in a pinch."

Roll to break warp-induced funkiness
[roll0] vs WP 37 + 10

[Gunhaven]

Marvin cursed loudly as he held onto his metal staff tightly and parried the beasts attack. Just as quickly he looked for an opening and attempted to thwack it something fierce. In the back of his mind he knew that the odds were stacked against him but he hoped he could have some home field advantage against his foe.

[roll0] vs either 33 or 61; Parry.
Aim - Half, Standard Attack - Half
[roll1] vs 71?
[roll2] damage

[Dekana]

Marvin's staff connects solidly, but his target doesn't even register the hit, not capable of feeling pain. It does feel hunger however, and it snaps its maw at the navigator, each curved tooth as long as a man's finger.

---

The daemon's parry against that staff hit: [roll0] vs 45
All Out Attack: [roll1] vs 65
Damage: [roll2] R, pen 0

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice spends a lot of his off-time trying to soothe the ship since the damage occurred, a little mellowed out and saddened by it, taking it rather personally. He makes some more plushes and scatters them about, hoping they'll bring some good luck, and still makes sure to check on Ruby and bring her food, but most of his time ends up devoted to making sure the machine spirits aren't too agitated and pained. A bit of sympathetic ibuprofen,if you will.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin counted himself lucky as the beast swung at the air. He tried to concentrate, hoping an ally would come save his ass, as he swung at a separate part of the body in an attempt to banish the foul beast back to the immaterial.

Aim - Half, Standard Attack - Half
[roll0] vs 71
[roll1] damage
Is it a free action to attempt to call for aid? I ain't doing diddly to this guy otherwise. :P

[Dekana]

Marvin again lands a blow with his staff, but the warp beast shrugs most of it off, its thick hide protecting it. The beast then presses forward with a few more swipes of its claws, driving Marvin back a few paces as he tries to avoid them.

---

All Out Attack [roll0] vs 65
Damage [roll1] R, pen 0.

Sure, you can call for help (if you survive this round). Let's say, um... I guess Navigation (Warp) at -10 to call 1d3 allies if successful. (Edit after the fact: I actually meant this as +10, because you're still getting the +20 from the sextant)
You are dealing a little bit of damage to the creature, but it has a lot of toughness. I actually figured you would use that navigator power of yours that deals damage ignoring armor and toughness. :smallwink:

[zabbarot]

"You humies iz too soft," Lootsquig says to no one in particular, but mostly Sergeant Flora. "Gonna take Mista Crunchy all night ta paint dis coat back blue." Without much to say, and a lot to do, Boltzgrot set off back to his office to get his coat cleaned up, and maybe stack some boxes up if it wasn't fixed by now. Not like he had much business in the med bay.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin took a breath in and swung at the beast again with his somehow lucky staff; the thought of using his third eye passing through his head as he tried to call for his friends to blast this foul beast back to the warp.

Aim - Half, Standard Attack - Half
[roll0] vs 71
[roll1] damage

[roll2] vs 31? 61? 41? I'm not entirely certain.
[roll3] TO ME FRIENDS!

[Dekana]

One moment Lootsquig is stomping through the ship's corridors while worrying about ork fashion, and the next, he's back in the mysterious cornfield under a purple sky. How he arrived, or why... well, the why is actually pretty obvious this time around: there's a hideous warp beast attacking Marvin, who is doing his best to strike back with his staff. Lootsquig is only about 7 meters away, just down the path through the corn and on the opposite side of the creature from Marvin.

Marvin senses help arrive more than sees it, as Lootsquig is on the wrong side of the beast, and in any case his attention is diverted by the ravenous creature. His last strike with the staff connects, but fails to leave so much as a bruise against the warp beast's flesh.

---

Inserting Lootsquig into the initiative order: [roll0] 5 (see ooc post for tiebreaker roll). If that's higher than the monster's 11, then Lootsquig can act before the creature gets its next turn. If it's lower, I'll make another post with its turn in a minute. Note for Lootsquig: all tests in this fight are made using Marvin's Navigate (Warp) skill with a +20 bonus, which I think comes out to a target of 61. So the target numbers for BS, WS, Parry are all 61 unless you aim or something.

The machine spirits groan and metal creaks as you soothe them. They must still be upset about the shakes. Thankfully, Ruby proves easier to soothe. Her weird cravings subside after a few days after the storm, and she no longer has to visit the medbay for her... better left unsaid treatments. In no time, she's back on the bridge full time, directing the ship's sensors with no trace of the ordeal she went through - except perhaps the smile that she flashes Dice when their eyes make contact.

(OOC: You can make a Charm (+20) test if you'd like to try to get closer to Ruby. :smallwink: And I'm totally hoping Isaac goes mad with power and we get a love triangle going on.)

[Dekana]

The warp beast doesn't acknowledge Lootsquig's presence in anyway. It single-mindedly attacks the Navigator like a (razor-toothed) moth drawn to a bright flame.

---

All Out Attack [roll0] vs 65
Damage [roll1] R, Pen 0

[Gunhaven]

Marvin curses as the beast's claws draw too close for comfort and he attempts to block the creature's arms with his staff once again before thwacking him. In a desperate voice he called out "Some help friend?" and attempted to thwap him in another supposed weak spot.

[roll0] vs 61 (Parry)
[roll1] vs 61 (Parry) [Fate if needed]

[roll2] vs 71 (Aimed Thwack)
[roll3] Damage

[Dekana]

Lootsquig unloads with his very loud, very shooty, skatta shoota, not caring much that he's firing into a melee combat.

Full-auto: [roll0] vs 76 (61 navigation + 5 craftsmanship + 20 full auto + 10 range - 20 into melee)
Damage 1: [roll1] R, Pen 2
Damage 2: [roll2] R, Pen 2
Damage 3: [roll3] R, Pen 2
Damage 4: [roll4] R, Pen 2
Damage 5: [roll5] R, Pen 2
Damage 6: [roll6] R, Pen 2
Damage 7: [roll7] R, Pen 2
Damage 8: [roll8] R, Pen 2

All-Out Attack [roll9] vs 65
Damage [roll10] R, Pen 0

Lootsquig catches the daemon with a good burst of fire, tearing off chunks of its backside. The creature still doesn't show any sign of pain or fear, but there's no way it can take many more hits like that. Probably.

(OOC: Another good round of melee / shooting should put it down.)

[Gunhaven]

Marvin smacked his staff in appreciation at Lootsquig appearing and took a breath in. His luck held out as the beast swiped at the air and he swung at the beast again with his somehow lucky staff to help exasperate the wounds the Ork caused.

Aim - Half, Standard Attack - Half
[roll0] vs 71
[roll1] damage

[Dekana]

Marvin slaps the beast across its face with his staff, annoying it but failing entirely to actually wound it. Will Lootsquig have more luck?!

Full-auto: [roll0] vs 76 (61 navigation + 5 craftsmanship + 20 full auto + 10 range - 20 into melee)
Damage 1: [roll1] R, Pen 2
Damage 2: [roll2] R, Pen 2
Damage 3: [roll3] R, Pen 2
Damage 4: [roll4] R, Pen 2
Damage 5: [roll5] R, Pen 2
Damage 6: [roll6] R, Pen 2
Damage 7: [roll7] R, Pen 2
Damage 8: [roll8] R, Pen 2

All-Out Attack [roll9] vs 65
Damage [roll10] R, Pen 0

Edit: Nope, Lootsquig just barely finished it off. (I won't bother with crit tables for this fight)

[Dekana]

Lootsquig's barrage of fire mostly flies off into the corn, but a stray shot scores a lucky hit against the warp beast's skull, which explodes in a gory mess. Thankfully this isn't a variety of daemon that can survive having its head taken off - it slumps to the ground and begins to rapidly decompose, its life energy dissipating back into the warp.

Lootsquig lingers in the warp for another [roll0] minutes before getting lost in the corn. He then wakes up back on the ship, lying slumped against the wall of a dark corridor.

Marvin, perhaps after taking a well-deserved break from the fight, continues his voyage through the cornfield alone. He feels that the destination is getting very close now, perhaps only a few days away, but there's one problem: the cornfield ahead is flooded in shining purple water. Those flash warp-floods are the worst. In any case, there's no way to go but forward; the cornfield is flooded as far as the eye can see to either side. Marvin will just have to endure the damp until he gets to the destination.

[Play final fantasy victory fanfare music!]

Marvin, go ahead and get the last test out of the way for this warp transit. It's a +40 Navigation (Warp) test to avoid the encounter since you passed the earlier test to detect it.

Lootsquig: I'm not sure if Orks can even gain insanity? If they can, please make a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test or else take a number of insanity points equal to the roll earlier in this post. Being pulled into a warp vision to fight daemons seems comparable to experiencing the ten worst nightmares you've ever had, all at the same time. But then again, an Ork would probably enjoy it.

[Gunhaven]

With one last obstacle in his way and a clearer conscious after the bout with the beast Marvin sighs with relief at the sight of the barn that is Cadia peeking up from the corn. He felt he was getting better at reaching out from the corn to call on the timely assistance of his allies, something he was immensely glad he could do and bet the more established houses would drool over if they knew. With another Khorne Fried Chicken sacrificed to guide his mind and feet he skirted the last obstacle before the barn and his destination.

[roll0] vs...121? (61+20 sextant+40 test)
[roll1] vs...61? (61+20 sextant-20 off) fix course
[roll2] vs...61? (61+20 sextant-20 off) fix course
[roll3] vs...91? (61+20 sextant+10 nailed it) make chart

In case I need it here's some extra rolls so we can get out of the warp. I don't recall how time worked any more and if I'm early or not.

[Dekana]

On the bridge, Isaac eventually receives a message from the Navigators' chambers: Marvin has determined that the ship has arrived and may now drop out of the warp.

When the ship makes the transition back, the bridge crew quickly checks the auspexes and star charts. Ruby is the one to announce the good news: Sigilite Encarmine has arrived relatively on-target, a week and a half from away from Cadia, on the outskirts of the system.

(Everyone gains 1500 XP for the journey. Not enough to level up, but...)

Also, there is an unidentified contact about 100 VUs from the ship. It appears to be closing with Sigilite.

[Hemnon]

Isaac immediately let out a bundled-up breath of air as they all returned to Real-space. The sensation of 'reality' comforting him more than a keg of honeyladen hisque (an alcoholic beverage from his homeworld) would have done.

Hearing about the Unidentified Contact, Isaac straightened up in his command-throne.
He flipped on the Vox-comms for ship-wide broadcast. "This is the Lord-Captain speaking. My Crew... We have made it to Cadia. Not even the broiling hell of the Warp could stop us! We are on a voyage blessed by the Emperor himself. But not because I am the Captain, no. It is because of you all. You, my faithful crew. Keep up the good work and we will reach the Expanse very soon." He flipped off the Vox again and then turned his attention to the Bridge-crew. "I want contact-ID ASAP. Raise the Voidshields and power up all weapons. The Emperor Protects, but being ready for a fight won't hurt." He called out with a smirk on his face.

[qechua]

Awaking with a start as the ship plunged back into real space, Macharius stirred slowly, his senses adjusting to both the dim light in his quarters and the sensation of being back in reality. Sitting up on his bed, he listened as Captain Ramonos made his announcement. He smiled to himself as the vox descended into silence again, Sure does love his speeches, that one crossing through his mind.

Once Macharius was ready for the day, he emerged from his quarters and headed to the bridge. Hopefully they could arrange for repairs while they were still inbound to the fortress.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin let out a sigh at how close he managed to get to Cadia. He retired to his personal cabin within the twisting mess that is the navigator's quarters on the ship; a small, dark, and dank room that seemed more fitting for an underling than the warp guide. He disrobed and laid down on his simple, unadorned twin mattress and fell into a deep slumber.

[zabbarot]

Lootsquig wasn't sure he liked all this warping around. On one hand he got to fight that demon. On the other it didn't make any sense.

In the end he decided as long as there was fighting he was fine with it. For now it was time to get back to work. Real space means fightin'.

[roll0] vs 35

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi mouthed a silent prayer of thanks as the ship emerged safely. As report came of an unidentified contact however, she felt a tingle creep up her spine. This was the Cadian system, after all, unlike any other system in the Imperium for one singular reason. As orders came to go to battle stations she bent across her console, making ready to direct the fire of the ship's batteries. The captain at least appeared calm, though she could not herself seem to muster that kind of courage. As the reports came in from the different batteries, and the targeting matris powered up on her display, Noemi made ready for battle.

[Dekana]

The unidentified vessel continues to close as the crew and officers report to battle stations. Before Ruby is able to get an ID, the ship hails Sigilite Encarmine.

(Assuming Isaac receives the hail)

A horrifically deformed man's face appears on the communication console's vid screen. His skin is sickly greyish green, postules and open wounds pocking his flesh. He has strange growths coming from his neck like tiny arms, and his face is a mess of overlapping folds of skin. He squints through the vid screen and speaks in a rasping voice.

"Loyalists... All alone, are we? Know that the Despoiler has laid claim to this system, and he does not abide your intrusion!! I, Fellis, captain of the Eternal Agony, hereby take command of your vessel! You will cut your engines and prepare to receive the gifts of the Father! Flee, or do not... soon, nowhere will be safe for you to hide! HAAHAHAHAAHA!!!"

[TechnoScrabble]

Dimes wakes with a start at his console as the transmission blares into his MIU. Staring at various screens with an expression that is decidedly 'nope', he raises a hand and bounces up and down in his seat.

"Cap'n! Cap'n! Permission to make full Emperor-loving speed to Cadia?!"

[Hemnon]

Isaac was already bored by the Heretic's utterings and cut off the comms-call mid-boast. With a growl, he straightened up in his command-throne. "Close in men! let's show these heretics what it means to suffer The Emperor's Fury! Helms, Close in and steer true. Weapons, Prepare to fire when we are within range! Now, get to it!" Isaac called out to his bridge-crew, allowing them to communicate any lesser orders down the command line.

[Dekana]

The Eternal Agony has no particular maneuvers or deceptive tactics it needs to attempt. It flies straight at Sigilite Encarmine.

---

Adjust Speed [roll0] vs 45, speed is 9 + 2 on a successful test (special rule), +1 for every DoS.

The ships are now 81 VUs apart.

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice sighs, having hoped they could have avoided bringing any harm to the ship, but tit seems vlor is, as always, the better part of discretion. He plugs the rest of himself in and kicks off the tangle of blankets, sending a scattering of pillows and comforters across the floor, and attempt to bring the ship around to the proper heading, trying to angle it so that they can approach the Eternal Agony with all weapons brought to bear.

[roll0] vs 55+15 (I believe. Has our maneuver changed from anything?)

[Dekana]

The ships continue to go the distance, Sigilite Encarmine going for speed. She's all alone in a time of need.

Long minutes pass with no new developments, but at last, Ruby shouts a report: "Lord-Captain! From the enemy vessel's size and speed, I believe it is a so-called Slaughter-class cruiser." The Slaughter-class is known for hunting alone, utilizing its speed (nearly twice that of Sigilite) to chase down targets and escape before Imperial reinforcements can arrive. It normally has fewer guns than the Overlord-class battlecruiser, but with Sigilite missing about a third of its armament, Eternal Agony will probably have the advantage. The defenses of the two ships are about equal, at least. As a ship specializing in piracy, the Slaughter class usually has thousands of trained chaos forces on board to assist in boarding operations.

The first officer shoots a nervous glance to Isaac, but he doesn't voice any objections.

---

Sigilite moves up 5, and Eternal Agony moves Adjust Speed [roll0] vs 45... the default 9 speed.

The ships are now 65 VUs apart.

[Hemnon]

Isaac knew the odds were not so great, and he knew full well it was slightly doubtful that they'd make it without much aid at all.

"Master of Vox, try contacting Cadia, the same goes for the Astropaths! Explain who we are and that we are in need of assistance. Master of Helm, push our speed to the limit and get us into broadside position!" He called out in a firm and commanding tone. He then turned towards the Weapon-officers. "Ready all weapons, even the port-side weapons, just in case. When within double recommended range, fire all available weapons at that heretical vessel. Macro Laser-batteries first, then swath them with the lance-battery! cut their hull in half! may the emperor guide our hands and may his holy light purge the filth of our enemy!" He continued before turning to his holo-screen to keep a sharp eye on what happens.

[YeOldeGrandma]

"Aye, lord, as you command!" Noemi said, before turning to the vox-mic at her station.

" All batteries, ready guns. Heronus, what is the status of the prow battery?"

[Gunhaven]

Marvin grumbled about loud people and chaos fools out of their places. This is why he can't get away with his hood down outside his sanctum; this is why he's had to run from the thrice damned Inquisitor who has a hard on for his line; this is, ultimately, his reward for getting the ship here in one piece. If that was the case then he'd make the heretic pay for every inch of hallway as he got up and shuffled to his workbench.

Making bombs to rig up this place. I need to update that as my press ganged skill...
[roll0] vs 51
[roll1] vs 51 Fate of needed.

[qechua]

Having caught the alert klaxons halfway to the bridge, Macharius had returned to his quarters to grab the rest of his gear. He'd seen too many friends learn the hard way that boarding actions are fast and vicious, and you never want to be caught short. Making his way back to the bridge, Macharius entered to a brief lull in activity as the two ships began closing on each other.

"May I remind you, Cap'n, that we're stoppin' at Cadia for repair. If y'can find a way to break combat or scare the enemy off, I'd recommend for it. We'll get what we can out'a the ship, and I'll coordinate repair best I can, but it'll take more than faith 'n prayer to see us through."

[Hemnon]

Isaac turned towards Macharius and gave him a glance. "Thank you for your input, but i'd await response from Cadia before approaching the planet... but there's also the problem with them being faster than us... i'm rather sure we wouldn't be able to outrun them for long enough to discourage their attack... they are nearly double as fast as us, so unless a more effective solution is gonna show itself, then i'm prepared to go to war against these heathen scum. Do you not agree that those who denies the Emperor should be made to see reason, or if that fails, to destroy them if they take up arms against us?" He voiced out low enough in volume so only Macharius would hear it.

[qechua]

"No disrespect, Captain. I'm not denyin' these folk need to go fly inna star, jus' that shots ain't been fired yet and we already got red lights from the warp. Would hate for first voyage to also be the last."

Tailing off, Macharius wandered over to the other side of the bridge to check weapon readings before a response could be made. Last thing the bridge needed was a disagreement going into a fight.

[Hemnon]

Isaac huffed out a breath of air. "Mister Macharius... If we were to retry and enter the warp, we'd have to travel back to the entry-point, spend at least 1 hour for the navigator to find a route before we can even safely jump. It's not possible for us to do much else but slowly approach Cadia and keep our weapons capable of firing at the heretics. I do not wish to turn our backs on a faster enemy. If you can show me a better path, please do tell me. Until then, resume normal duty." He said in return before turning his attention towards the bridge itself. "Take us into Red Alert and brace for imminent combat. Keep the lower decks in order and pray to the emperor that we will be victorious. Master of Aetherics, when we are within Range, scan the Enemy ship so we can get a layout of it's structure. Mister Navigator, the same goes for you, if you're able to search out into the void with your 3rd eye. Any aid that we can get is only a positive to our side after all." He called out, both physically to the Bridge Crew, but also intermitten Vox-calls to the navigator and such.

[Dekana]

Crisis, the young Master of the Vox, acknowledges Isaac's command. "Aye, Lord-Captain! Contact Cadia and request assistance!" And then, (slightly) less louder, he sternly orders his own subordinates at the vox consoles. "I want our call sent through every system-wide Navy and PDF voxnet at FLASH level. Start at the high-band frequencies and work your way down. Identify any responses immediately!"

Noctula, the robed chief astropath, nods at the captain. "Understood, my lord." He then grips his staff tightly and puts one to his hand, his face scrunching into a look of discomfort. Whatever witchery the astropath is trying to use, its effects are not immediately visible.

Heronus radios in his reply to the Master of Ordinance. "The forward battery's still jury-rigged, m'am. I don't expect we'll get more than half power out of it."

You successfully set up several bombs on the ship at likely points the enemy could board from. Thankfully the crew is at battle stations and not running around your trap laden corridors very much.

About 15 minutes later, Crisis has some good news to report. "Lord-Captain, we have a response from the Navy! A squad of fast destroyers have been vectored to assist us. They estimate arrival in 6 to 8 hours."

---

Until the prow laser battery gets new parts at a shipyard, it has strength 2 instead of 4.

Note that a round in space combat is 30 minutes, so reinforcements should hopefully arrive in 12 to 16 turns.

Default movement for both ships. You're now 51 VUs apart.

[qechua]

Macharius settles up by a free panel and begins assisting the mighty ship gather information. His efforts appear to be successful, and the ship responds to his efforts

"Captain, I've got some extra auger power temp'rarily, if you want it"

Trying for Aid the Machine Spirit to get some extra detection if someone wants to try to get a scan of the target (+5 Detection on success, +5 for every two degrees of success)

[roll0] vs 51 (41 Tech Use + 10 for the book study)

Yay, +5 detection for this round

[Hemnon]

Isaac smiled at that Information. "Helmsman, turn us about and head for Cadia instead, full speed. if the emperor is with out, then we will keep our distance for long enough to allow the support to arrive before the heretics can reach us. If they get within Weapons Range, turn us about for a broadside. I still want that Active Augery Scan of their ship when possible!" Isaac voiced out and then relaxed back into this Throne-chair, contemplating what else to do.

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice is glad to hear his original idea is now on the table!

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" he says with all the enthusiasm that comes with really, really not wanting to die of horrible chaos diseases. One hand darts up to his 'dashboard' to readjust some tumbled plushies, and he leans forward as he works, making little 'zoom' noises beneath his breath.

[roll0] vs 55+15 to adjust bearing once more

[Gunhaven]

Marvin made the appropriate warnings to the crew near his bombs as he shuffled towards his chambers at the beckoning of the Captain. He paused when within his sanctum and with a heavy sigh disrobed and returned to the warp sextant. To his subordinates he motioned for them to prepare the chickens in case they needed to make some emergency jumps into that hellish realm they just left.

[Dekana]

On the captain's order, Sigilite suddenly banks to a new heading and then shuts off nearly all systems. With luck, the chaos vessel will be unable to detect her until reinforcements arrive.

The bridge, engineering, and medical are well lit by emergency lighting, but most of the ship is thrown into total darkness, with only the occasional voidsman's candle to stave off the creatures that lurk in the shadows. The atmosphere slowly becomes hot and difficult to breathe as the life support generators churn quietly on minimum settings.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi waits at her station at the bridge, mouthing silent prayers and listening intently to any noise, any creak in the hull, anything. Sweat beads on her forehead and nose as the temperature rises.

[Hemnon]

Seeing and hearing the slow build-up of tension on the bridge, Isaac slowly rises from his Command-Throne Chair. "Steady, everyone. Cadian aid is on the way and the heretics' chances of finding us is like finding a needle in a haystack. So relax, there's no need to be scared of something that might never happen. stay in the now and let the Emperor Decide our fate." He voiced out in a calm and firm tone, yet hushed enough to not echo loudly throughout the bridge.

[Gunhaven]

Marvin floated peacefully in his vat, suddenly glad he was inside instead of in the dank heat. Still he directed his underlings to get within two steps of a mass orgy (except the bodyguards that actually wore protective armor and not the robes that most navigators wore) and set the mood with candles providing a dim light for his portion of the ship. Once it was set he awaited something to go wrong and the sudden need to return to the Khornefield.

[Dekana]

It's a tricky task, timing when to come out of hiding. Too early, and reinforcements will not have arrived yet. Too late, and they may have already entered combat and, without help from the heavier-class Sigilite, been destroyed by the chaos pirate. In the end, one can do little but re-engage the engines, activate all systems, and say a prayer to the emperor.

Let's see... 1-33 you're too early, 34-66 you right on time, 67-100 you're too late.

[roll0]

[Dekana]

Sigilite Encarmine's engines roar back to life and her ancient, arcane systems groan as the tech priests coax them from their slumber.

The bridge crew scrambles to check their systems now that power has been restored. Ruby is one of the first to report. "Lord-Captain, three vessels detected within 20 VUs! They are identified as Eternal Agony, and the Cobra-class destroyers Gale and Divine Punishment!" Ruby's hands become a blur as she traces arcane symbols into the holoprojector next to the auspex console. In a few moments, a three-dimensional display of the battlefield is presented at the front of the bridge.

Considering you all managed to enter combat at precisely the right moment, I'll give you the first turn without needing to roll for initiative. The other ships need to roll however.
Eternal Agony: [roll0]
Gale: [roll1]
Divine Punishment: [roll2]
http://s30.postimg.org/5ubf8egqp/round1.png

[qechua]

Soothing the ship as she awoke from her slumber, Macharius tries to coax some extra power out of the rapidly re-firing engines. Straining under the pressure, Sigilite Encarmine rejects the action, seeing fit to come back to strength at her own pace.

Aid the machine spirit for additional maneuverability: [roll0] vs 51 (41 Tech Use + 10 ship knowledge)

[TechnoScrabble]

Dice sighs at the ship's groans as it turns on and off, rubbing some aloe vera over one of the softer spots of the dash's synth-leather over-panels and patting her softly.

"Don't you worry, girl, we'll get through this nice and shiney-like," he shakes the feeling out of his own head, a side effect of his brain being directly connected through his MIU, and works to slide the Sigillite around to skirt the edges of her range, keeping the enemy within engagement distance, but far beyond any hope of a boarding attempt.

Working to circle enemy vessel at 15-20 VUs, 18 preferred, trying to skirt towards a sweet spot, so changing heading to go behind them, since they seem to be headed straight for the other two.

[roll0] vs 50 +10 skill +10 MIU +10 master of the helm +15 manoeuvrability = 95 total

[YeOldeGrandma]

"Starboard and prow, stand by to fire. On my command."

Noemi licked her lips, watching the targeting matrises line up on her screen, creeping closer and closer until...

"Broadside fire, prow fire."

The screen before her showed a multitude of information. She understood little and less of the holy workings of the Machine Spirit, but knew the rapidly accelerating green runes to mean that the ordnance was away, hurtling through the void. Noemi depressed a different rune, hailing the Sunhammer.

"Sunhammer, this is Sola, bridge. Stand by to fire, on my command." The Sigillite's targeting mechanisms were still tracking the macro ordnance, numbers spinning ever higher. She mumbled a prayer, waiting. As soon as they hit, they would hopefully wreak havoc. More importantly, the void shields of the enemy would be knocked out, exposing them to...

The numbers on her screen froze, registering impact. Now was the time.

"Sunhammer, fire, fire!"

http://s28.postimg.org/bermhz4a5/round1_png.jpg


I assume that the ship is within range - correct me if I've read the map wrong.

1. Salvo:
- Sunsear Las-Broadside (Starboard) [roll0] vs 64 (BS 54 + 10 from Isaac)
A total of 3 hits

- Sunsear Laser Battery (Prow) [roll1] vs 54 - Fate re-roll if needed: [roll2] vs 54
A total of 2 hits (edit: weapon at half strength.)

2. Sunhammer Lance Battery (Dorsal) [roll3] vs 54 - Fate re-roll if needed: [roll4] vs 54
A total of 1 hit.


Now I need to know how many void shields the enemy ship has. I'm not sure how that affects my Critical Hit - if the void shields discard hits to below the weapons crit rating, does the hit no longer count as critical?

[Dekana]

Eager to kick some chaos arse for the emperor, Sigilite's gun crews pour massed laser fire into Eternal Agony. Noemi's screen shows that the target's shields have repelled the first two bursts of laser fire, but the rest of the salvo - and the lance - have hit the enemy's hull dead on.

OOC: Also a quick reminder that the prow laser battery is damaged and only has 2 str instead of 4 until it's repaired, so it only got 2 hits.

[YeOldeGrandma]

Oh yeah, sorry, forgot about that.

In that case I'd like to spend one of my Fate Points to add one DoS to the Sunsear Las-Broadside. This would give me 4 hits, but still no Critical Hit. I'll roll the "extra" hit separately though, giving two Damage totals, just in case you don't approve of my use of Fate Points (as I interpret the rules it'd be OK, but you're the GM).


1. Salvo:
- Sunsear Las-Broadside (Starboard) -3 hits without Fate Point, 4 hits with Fate Point. So 3 x 1d10+2[roll0] and the an additional [roll1] which is added in case the use of my Fate Point is approved.

- Sunsear Laser Battery (Prow) - both hits nullified by void shields.

So either a total of 28, or a total of 35. Dekana, what's your ruling?

2. Sunhammer Lance Battery (Dorsal) - 1 hit. [roll2]
12 Damage directly to Hull Integrity. Burn!



Also, as void born I roll to regain my spent Fate Point: [roll3] - ok, no luck there.

[Dekana]

Eternal Agony moves incredibly fast for a ship of its size. Sigilite's auspexes show the chaos vessel rapidly close with Gale until it is almost on top of it. Then Agonys broadsides open up on both Gale and Sigilite.

To utterly no effect. The enemy may be eager to get into battle, but their gun crews certainly need more training, or more executions perhaps.

Some confused vox traffic from Gale indicates that they were boarded by men in power armor, but the armsmen forced them to withdraw before they could do any damage.


Eternal Agony
Adjust Speed to go as fast as possible: [roll0] vs 50. Turn 45 left after the movement. Result: the ship ends up in -B18 with that roll.
Flank Speed: [roll1] vs 40. If 60+, [roll2] on the Engines Crippled critical result. Result: engines not destroyed.
Focused Augury - Gale: [roll3] vs 45. Result: fails.
Lock on Target (lance) - Gale: [roll4] vs 45. Result: fails.

Fire prow and starboard weapons at Gale.
Prow Destructor-cannon Battery, [roll5] vs 60, up to 5 hits: damage [roll6], damage [roll7], damage [roll8], damage [roll9], damage [roll10]. Result: misses.
Starboard Destructor-cannon Broadside, [roll11] vs 60, up to 6 hits: damage [roll12], damage [roll13], damage [roll14], damage [roll15], damage [roll16], damage [roll17], crit if needed: [roll18], [roll19]. Result: misses.
Starboard Lance Broadside, [roll20] vs 60, up to 2 hits: damage [roll21], damage [roll22], crit if needed: [roll23], [roll24]. Result: one hit that is stopped by Gale's void shield.

Fire port weapons at Sigilite Encarmine.
Port Destructor-cannon Broadside, [roll25] vs 40, up to 6 hits: damage [roll26], damage [roll27], damage [roll28], damage [roll29], damage [roll30], damage [roll31], crit if needed: [roll32], [roll33]. Result: misses.
Port Lance Broadside, [roll34] vs 40, up to 2 hits: damage [roll35], damage [roll36], crit if needed: [roll37], [roll38]. Result: misses.

If in range, Hit and Run against Gale. The chaos ship happens to have a teleportarium, so it doesn't need to make the Pilot test. Command [roll39] vs 70, opposed by Gale, Command [roll40] vs 50. If successful, two critical hits. [roll41], ([roll42]), [roll43], ([roll44]). Result: Gale fights off the boarders.

Well, that was some really terrible rolling for the bad guys. Their one success on the maneuver was the most important roll though, since it will stop them from getting killed by torpedoes when the Imperial Navy ships act next turn.

[Dekana]

The Navy destroyers cut their engines and drift behind Eternal Agony, but they can't turn quite enough to get it in the firing arc of their torpedoes. Their macrobatteries remain silent, not having enough firepower to cut through both the void shields and armor of the enemy vessel.


Gale & Divine Punishment
Move half speed (5) and turn 90 right. No shooting.

It's Sigilite's turn!

http://s30.postimg.org/k4r6tlcdd/round2.png

[Gunhaven]

As he floated in the vat of liquid, naked and at relative peace despite the combat going on outside, Marvin opened his third eye and gazed out to the area around the ship in an attempt to find the threats to his ship. Even if he didn't succeed in seeing anything he felt that it was his best option at the moment.

[roll0] vs 38? Difficult Psyniscience Test and I'm at 48 I'm fairly certain (unless killing chickens and such increase the odds)

[YeOldeGrandma]

Noemi was staring intently at her display, re-checking the damage reports from the enemy vessel. Fine hits overall, but it was still flying. She couldn't help but overhear the chatter from the comms station, reporting boarding parties of warriors in power armour. No, this ship needed to die, and it needed to do so now.

"Master of Etherics!" she called out to Ruby. "The Sunhammer needs to bite deeper. Power up the augers and stand by to initiate guidance protocol for Sunhammer lance battery, if you please. Acknowledge?"

Requesting Ruby to perform a Lock on Target action in order to benefit my firing with the lance battery

I chose Ruby because none of you others had Scrutiny as a trained skill, so I assumed she would at least

[qechua]

The ship awakened from her slumber, Sigilite responds better to Macharius' attempts to direct her against the heretics, providing detailed target information to Ruby just as Noemi had finished relaying her instructions

Trying for Aid the Machine Spirit to get some extra detection for that lock on (+5 Detection on success, +5 for every two degrees of success)

[roll0] vs 51 (41 Tech Use + 10 for the book study)

Have +10 detection :smallsmile:

[Hemnon]

Isaac sits upon his Commandthrone, delegating orders and checking over the different reports while allowing his Closest advisors and trusted command-crew to take care of the more 'mundane' commanding and ordering... like firing weapons and keeping the void shields active, etc.


Gives the +10 bonus to whomever want it :)

[YeOldeGrandma]

A stray round from the Eternal Agony suddenly rips through space, tearing into the Sigillite. Bulkheads collapse as the structure gives way, exposing the core of the plasma drives which promtly ruptures, atomizing the Rogue Trader ship in a small supernova, ending the life of everyone onboard.

Later, the Cadian ships manage to fight off the Chaos vessel or whatever... yada yada there is only war.

/END CAMPAIGN

*fireworks as The Emperor plays a kick-ass guitar solo while surfing The Phalanx*