Sea of Stars - IC II

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Macharius Only

Show

Noctus listened as Macharius spoke, then nodded as he finished. The techpriest spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "The Mechanicus, by right of various treaties, has jurisdiction over all Archeotech found anywhere, by anyone. However, you would, by taking on this contract, be doing a favour for the Mechanicus: without House Absalom, it is unlikely they would recieve these items any time soon, if ever. If you were to sponsor additional digs, I believe it might be possible for your house to... shall we say, reap the benefits of positive association with the Mechanicus. The matter with the contract is similar. Payment is to be rendered in a manner 'deemed appropriate' by the Lords Dragon. What that means is up to them, and you."

Preparations

Ravia spent a great deal of time working furiously on the Salamander Hannabel had picked out. She took a few trips to the Motor Pool looking for spare parts, stripped a couple of other vehicles they had purchased, and fabricated whatever she still needed. Anika was able to render some assistance, and learned a little about the inner workings of the Chimera chassis in the process. By the dawn of Election Day, the sturdy vehicle was in the best shape of its ignoble career. It wouldn't be winning a dust-up with a Leman Russ any time soon, but it would perform well with no lingering issues from its former treatment at the hands of the Big Wide. The machine spirit in particular had taken some cajoling, but now, the engine rumbling, it seemed as ready as it would ever be.

In between helping Ravia, Anika found time to scan for vox frequencies, searching especially through the lower band range favoured by portable vox operators. There were, as far as she could find, two major Immortan bands. One was used for lower level communication, and very rarely contained anything interesting. The other frequency was encrypted, and she wouldn't be able to get anything out of it without codes, or a serious codebreaking effort. Still, she had the lower band, and would be able to transmit messages or listen in as she wished. She might also be able to jam communications entirely, using the powerful arrays on the Manticore's Sting, though atmospheric interference was always a concern with that sort of work.

A map of the course was easy to find - though not in parchment format. As an electronic file, stored on a dataslate, though, it was in extremely common supply. The Election, as they had all guessed, was a popular form of entertainment for the locals, and in order to watch something you had to know where it was.

Off to the Races

Macharius cut a fine figure in his polished golden armour, perched in the command cupola atop the Salamander. The weapons had been loaded, and all possible preparations made, but even so it was easy to fill a thrill of adrenaline as they rolled up to the starting line. A crowd had gathered, waiting for the start of the race a safe distance from the vehicles. These were a motley assortment; beside the three bikes of the Veluminary team, there were two ancient groundcars - beloning to the Interceptors and holding two men apiece. One was smaller, and had a harpoon cannon and tow cable welded to the back, while the other was a dusty black monster with a massive engine block and a supercharger that extended up above the hood. The Rusters had brought a Chimera, likely the same one Bruce had taken to their initial meeting.

Then, there were the Smokers, and the Immortans. The Immortans had a stripped down Leman Russ, with the side sponsons removed to reduce weight. The battle tank still had its main cannon, though, and the forward facing lascannon common on tank-killer models. An extended rear platform had been added to the top, behind the turret, and featured a pair of heavy stubbers on swivel mounts. The operators for these two weapons were relatively exposed, but while they were alive it would be challenging to get too close to the Russ. This was, very probably, how Moore had won the last three races - he hadn't been faster than the others, he'd just killed everyone that got in his way.

The Smokers, by contrast, had drawn on the resources of their refineries to fuel an array of flame weapons. They had brought a Hellhound, with a forward heavy flamer. Theirs had been modified, somewhat, however: the pintle mount featured a second heavy flamer, capable of hitting anything that got close. Their fourth team member, unable to fit into the tank itself, was piloting a Sentinel walker with a pair of massive claws on the front. It would be slower than many of the other vehicles, but it would be capable of negotiating difficult terrain more easily than the tanks, and would make a good spotter for the Hellhound.

Finally they were lined up, and all that was left to do was wait for the signal to start. Lukas Moore climbed up out of his Russ, and stood on the turret staring at Macharius. "Care to withdraw, Lord Captain? Still time, and it would be a shame to ruin that fancy armour."

Infiltration

As Hannabel and the others rolled towards the starting line, an extra shuttle took off, vectoring in towards the Office of the High Clanlord, where Moore had left his top lieutenant in charge. There was no way to make a stealthy approach in an Arvus, of course - the shuttle flew past the palace, dipping out of sight behind a ridge and then continuing on towards the race. Only an especially keen observer would have noted the extra time it took for the Rings to disembark. Now, of course, they had another problem - getting inside the palace itself. Once the shooting started, they were likely to be detected fast, so they'd have to be prepared to move quickly.