Sea of Stars - IC II

[Haval]

Macharius and Anika

Anika will continue the charade, 'It's certainly valuable if you can do what you say.' She had no doubt the Kasballica could do what Ywane claimed. 'But a network such as yours must have a certain amount of reach. If we ever found ourselves looking for information or a particular person would you be amenable to trading for it? For a fair price of course.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Hannabel

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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+++NEGATIVE
+++WE LACKED SUFFICIENT AWARENESS TO ATTEMPT INTERCEPTION UNTIL RECENTLY
+++
+++INSUFFICIENT DATA TO TRIANGULATE RECIEVER

Checking the timestamps, and cross-referencing with their adventures, Hannabel found that the transmissions had started shortly after they had assisted the Navy with pirate hunting, and captured the Fury.

Echo

"The family won't like that. With the Warrant, though... we cannot interfere with the legitimate workings of the Imperium." The other Navis sighed. "Stay away from our stations and holdings, and we'll have no quarrel with your Captain. Even Rogue Traders need to rely on support from the Navis Nobilite, though. Tell him that."

---

Factor Ignatius took the augur, turning it over in his hands and inspecting it. When he came to the maker's mark, he nearly dropped it.

"Forge Pol- this is an evil thing, Master Navis." He put it on the table, and nudged it away from himself. "Unsurprising, that a heretic would carry it. It should be destroyed. There is no telling what methods its creators may have used, what..." He drew himself up, and slowed the pace of his speech.

"I have heard of the place. It is a stronghold of heretics, that lies within the Screaming Vortex. I advise caution, in this line of questioning. Your family's alliance with the Mechanicus allows some leeway, but still, there is much the Priesthood will not willingly share. Dire tech-heresies have issued from that place. I will say no more on the subject."

Macharius and Anika

"Everything is available for a fair price, to friends of my friends," Ywane said with a smile. "..save, of course, more proscribed objects, though that will doubtless not be a concern to your august personage. We do try to keep these things out of the wrong hands, as I have been saying, yes? Information, though, why almost all of that can be traded safely."

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius smiles. Ah, what useful friends to have. I do believe we can work together, Preacher. Come now, a toast! To the greater profit of Mankind and the glory of the God-Emperor, and to friends old and new. He raises a glass.

After the drink, he looks Preacher in the eye. Speaking of friends, there is one person I would pay handsomely for information on. Or even more handsomely to have her brought. Jens Madele, former Absalom seneschal. I would be quite happy to have a reunion with my old "Auntie" Jens. With utmost discretion, of course. This must be a surprise party, and her knowing it would quite ruin the surprise.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval only

Show

Hannabel grabs a micro-bead and hails Anika on a secure channel.

"Blessings of the God Emperor upon you, memsa'ab. I have...disquieting...news that is best discussed in person. You should return to the Sting as soon as possible," she reports in the Absalom code language.

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

Having contacted Anika, Hannabel requisitions an auspex and makes her way to the third access corridor on level 4-Z to see if she can find where the transmitter might be hidden.

Tech-Use (1d100)[12] vs. Int 40
FP re-roll if needed (1d100)[32]

[Haval]

Anika smiles to herself as Macharius took her implication.

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'That doesn't exactly narrow it down. I presume the ship isn't in immediate danger or you would have told the others. How worried should I be?'

[Blarghy]

Exchange

Kennoch's helmet tilted down, maybe a nod of relief, or resignation, or anger. Or all of them. Still, this was probably the best he could hope for.

"Lord-Commander Absalom Lord Absalom Commander is well aware well. He supports all supports proper institutions proper." Kennoch wondered what else he could say, what defense he might offer, and finally just turned and gestured to the caged pirates. "These will not will not be the last last last. I will make I will contact again contact when I have more I have." And presumably not before.

Mechanicus

Ignatius's reaction made Echo sit up with more attention. He wasn't surprised to hear that the augur came from a terrible place, but the Factor's insistence brought new clarity. Should he destroy the device? Not long ago, he would've done as advised. Now, though, part of him worried that in doing so, he might be throwing away a useful link to his enemies. What if the augur could still serve some purpose? What good was it to melt one tool to slag, if it meant leaving the workshop that produced it intact?

"Conviction alone is not enough..."

"Thank you, Factor thank you," Kennoch said truthfully. "I will consider I will what you have said have. I hate to I hate trouble you further trouble with these dark matters with these, but your mention mention of the Screaming Vortex Screaming Vortex leads me to leads something else else I recently learned recently in my travels my my travels. Do you know do you about anything called anything the Thirteenth Station Thirteenth of Passage Passage Passage Passage?" He didn't expect Ignatius to tell him much, but confirmation that Sargon wasn't outright lying, or nudging him toward a clever trap, would go a long way.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Someone has been sending covert transmissions from the Sting since shortly after we captured the Fury. I surmise we have a spy for a possibly hostile faction aboard the ship," Hannabel replies. "I'm heading down to an access corridor to see if I can locate the source of the latest transmission."

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'How enterprising of them. I will be right there. If we find the source I would suggest we leave it switched on until we work out what it's doing or find whoever left it there.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Analysis shows that there's either a single transmitter being moved around or multiple transmitters hidden all over the ship. Transmissions have been occurring when we enter systems with a certain level of communications systems, most recently when we arrived here. The Sting hasn't yet been able to intercept any of the transmissions and doesn't have enough data to triangulate the location of the receiver. It seems likely that the transmitters are only operating long enough to send a burst transmission."

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'I would like to believe there are only so many points on the Sting where someone could plant a transmitter and it still be useful. I suppose we could ask Ravia.'

'Hannabel, if someone does intend to move the transmitter there is every chance that you'll run into them. You may want to take someone with you, just in case.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Macharius and Anika

Ywane bobbed his head happily, accepting a drink from Macharius with pleasure. "Oh yes, I think that could be arranged. I'll see that your interest makes it to people who might assist you better than this humble servant of the Emperor. I'm sure business relations will be profitable for everyone involved, Emperor willing."

Echo

The Navis waved him away, and started taking stock of the prisoners. Clearly, he was dismissed.

---

"I have heard the name," Ignatius admitted, after a moments consideration. He hastily followed up on that statment. "But I don't know where it is! Supposedly, it is a safe means of entering the Vortex. The only safe means. You hear things around Footfall, you understand, but I've never known anyone to claim they know how to find it."

Hannabel

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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Entering the access corridor, Hannabel found it as deserted as it had been in the recordings. It took her a moment of tuning the auspex, trying to get it to look for various different things, to come up with anything useful. There were no signals, which meant it had probably been a burst transmission. Cycling through materials, and checking all the spots that looked as though they might hide something, she eventually found it. It was a small black box, featureless except for a couple of wires that had been spliced in to a nearby conduit. The auspex reported traces of combustible materials inside the case.

Ravia

Returning to the ship, Ravia found the bays crowded with crates, as the dockhands loaded supplies. It gave her plenty of opportunity to find a shuttle and get back to her quarters in good time.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Found it," Hannabel reports. "No sign of any hostiles, which is consistent with the pict-recordings from the time of the transmission. Everything points to the transmitters having been placed beforehand and probably activating automatically, so no need for any conspirator to risk getting caught sending a message."

"This one's been spliced into a conduit and the auspex is detecting combustible materials inside the transmitter case. Probably booby trapped to prevent tampering and destroy evidence. Do we have any explosives experts on board?" she mutters into the micro-bead.

[Haval]

Macharius and Anika

To Yawane, 'Then please be sure to keep in touch. As long as this arrangement manages to be useful to everyone there's no reason for it not to continue.'

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'Let's find out.' Anika will make some discreet inquiries. Between the Mechanicus contingent on the Sting and the Absalom marines there was every chance there was someone on board with a military background or the right kind of technical expertise. Anika would prefer not to have to try winging it again.

Spoiler: ooc

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If a roll would help Inquiry vs. Fel 47 (+10 Etiquette because command crew) (+10 if Peer Military)
(1d100)[76]

It may be worth bringing in Ravia if Anika can't find anyone with a more specific skillset

'I want to know what it's doing, but you realise deactivating the device will let the operator know that we're on to them? Maybe we could rearm the explosives when we've finished.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"I'm in no hurry to fiddle with the thing, memsa'ab. It's enough to know where it is for now. The Sting printed me a list of other locations to which she traced transmissions. Now that I know what I'm looking for, I'm going to see if there's more of the same there," she reports.

OOC: Would that require new Tech Use checks, or can I assume that duplicating the scanner settings from this corridor will uncover transmitters in other corridors?

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'Then at minimum I think we need to invest in some cameras to see who comes looking.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Hannabel and Anika

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Duplicating the auspex settings turned up another transmitter, in another of the locations the ship had marked. This one was identical to the first, down to the type of explosive charge concealed within it. Once she knew that, Hannabel was able to find the rest easily enough. There were a total of five, spread in various locations around the ship, and all apparently intended to be autonomous. Rather than one transmitter being moved around, they had a series of planted devices that required no additional upkeep. All of them were jet black, and all of them were set to detonate if tampered with.

The ship didn't have anyone who was an explosives expert, per se, but as with any ship big enough, there were people with the skill required.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Five boxes in all, and the transmissions began after we captured the Fury. Could be unrepentant pirates, some of the Mechanicus crew, the Navy, or the Inquisition keeping tabs on us," she speculates.

"We have pict recorders monitoring the access corridor where we found the first transmitter. I can check if there's recorders in the other locations as well, then have the Sting pull up the recordings for those corridors since we captured the Fury. Then we load up on recaf and start going through the pict captures to see who our mystery technician might be," she suggests.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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"Five boxes in all, and the transmissions began after we captured the Fury. Could be unrepentant pirates, some of the Mechanicus crew, the Navy, or the Inquisition keeping tabs on us," she speculates.

'That might be awkward. I'd expect doing counter-espionage on the Inquisition is probably illegal. We'll be sure to ask our friend when we find them.'

[Blarghy]

Mechanicus

"...I see I I I," Kennoch said slowly. He digested this information but then pushed away thinking about the implications, for the moment. That could wait until he returned to the Sting, along with the matter of the augur. "Thank you for thank you your council your, Honored Factor Factor. You have been you have very helpful very. And I am I am sorry to mention sorry such unpleasant matters such, but it was it was a grim necessity grim. We cannot reach we reach Comprehension without study Comprehension, after all all. But now now, would you lead me would you in a prayer prayer prayer to the Omnissiah Omnissiah Omnissiah Omnissiah? My search for knowledge search knowledge has only just begun just begun."

Later

Once they finished, Echo handed out the new tools he'd purchased for his Rings. Their shotguns were delightful upgrades, and the new grenades would help capture more renegade Navis, but best of all were the falchions. Works of art, beautifully engraved, and even sharper than their old blades. Each had a pommel in the style of the Mechanicus cog-skull; binary scripture covered the hilts. The Rings looked them over with delight; Lorl especially took several moments to stop giggling.

"I am sure I am these weapons will will see plenty of use see use. But more work more is hardly a reward hardly, is it is is it? I promised you I promised a celebration celebration for your successes your, did I not did I? So come along come along."

The gilded halls, lavish banquets, and formal dances of Winterscale's grand party were uncomfortably excessive for the voidborn assassins. Parties were rare occurrences in their lives of bloody discipline anyway, but when the occasion did arise, they preferred simpler affairs. Kennoch rented a modest club for the night, one accustomed to mutants, and more importantly, he opened a bar tab for all attendees, to much cheering as the news spread. Then he did the proper thing and left. Festivities were bound to be stiff when the boss stuck around.

"The Absalom marines Absalom Absalom Absalom are fully capable fully of escorting me me back to the ship to the ship. I will see I will all of you all again tomorrow again." Besides, Echo had his own business tonight.

The band, composed of proper Twists, played their pulsing music. Zelle quickly ended up on stage, singing with a drink in hand. Isund wasn't much for dancing, but he indulged in the amasec while telling stories to some new friends, or at least people who'd listen while they enjoyed the free alcohol. "To be honest, I can't remember the name of the planet, but it's damnably hot. Not to mention full of barbarians. Well, less so now, after our visit..."

"Please don't eat that," Kimmet murmured to his partner with a fond smile. Kip had a nugget of some fried mystery xeno-meat halfway to his mouth. "There's no telling what it is."

"Some kind of avian, I think," a cyclopean bystander suggested helpfully.

"Then it's probably fine," Kip figured. "Get some shot glasses, if you're worried. Some high-proof liquor will kill whatever bacteria are on it."

"I don't think that's how that works."

"You can ask the Magos when we get back home."

"End up on the Medicae deck, and you'll ask her yourself."

Lorl knocked back several drinks in succession, showed off her new sword, and quickly got in a fight when an ambitious thief tried to walk off with it. She left the poor man crumpled in a bloody heap. Jumping onto a table, she raised both fists above her head and announced, "I've killed pirates! Backwoods heathens! Xenos! And when we leave port, I'll do it all some more! So who wants some?!" She vaulted back to the floor and straight into a bar-brawl that soon spread across a good third of the room, all while the band played.

After an hour, Isund's cheeks were a festive red against his white beard. He sloshed his amasec with careless gestures as he talked. "It's this...this scaly thing," he explained. "And it cries acid. Or something. Wouldn't pet it, my...myself. But it's sort of cute, in an ugly way."

"And they blew up their own station," Zelle told the band during their break. They passed some lho-sticks around in a circle. "Rather than let us take it. Some trick by their commander; I don't think most of the others knew about it. Still, that's a hell of a thing to do, even for pirates, isn't it? Sore losers."

Late in the night, Kip and Kimmet took the center of the dance floor--Lorl had thinned the crowd by that point and wore a few bruises along with her triumphant smile--and astonished with their grace. More than sheer agility, their skill and teamwork let them move in unison under the flickering lights and thumping music. They looked like a single person with too many limbs, weaving together as they spun. Zelle cheered them on from the stage. The Twist musicians improvised to extend their song rather than let the display end; after several minutes of their incredible acrobatics, the dancing Rings came together in a tight embrace as the music hit its peak and the lights dimmed. Applause thundered in the dark.

They had to wake up Isund, passed out on the table. Lorl was in the process of plucking his eyebrows when the others stopped her. Kimmet put Isund's arm around his shoulder and half-carried the other man out; Zelle had the foresight to bring water before they left.

"Helps with the hangover," she explained sagely.

"I don't get those," Kip bragged.

"Then you clearly didn't drink enough!"

The voidborn laughed and chattered as they made their way to the docks. Back to work.

Sargon

But meanwhile, Echo was in his tower. He took some time to bring his doubts and anxieties to a manageable level. Already, he wondered if he made a mistake by keeping his most senior prisoner. And now he went to give Sargon another opportunity to feed his uncertainty.

He was telling the truth about the Thirteenth Station. Aside from his claims of loyalty to humanity, I have yet to catch him in a lie. And even that might be madness rather than some scheme. I'd be a fool to really trust him. Still...he is useful...

Kennoch braced himself and returned to the tank. He dreaded having to explain why Sargon remained here--somehow, he was sure, the older Navis would just know the others had been transported off the ship--so he tried to forestall it with a different topic. He held up Alessaunder's augur to the glass so that Sargon could look at the maker's mark.

"I just came just from the Mechanicus Mechanicus Mechanicus Mechanicus. They tell me tell this device this was made somewhere terrible made terrible in the Screaming Vortex Screaming Vortex. Forge Pollo Forge or Polis Polis or something or. And the device the was owned by owned a powerful Castermare Castermare Castermare Castermare. I assume I I I some sort of some arrangement between them between. If this corrupted forge corrupted supplies my cousins supplies with their equipment their, then they are then my enemies too my enemies." Here he came to the point: "The Mechanicus advises Mechanicus that I destroy it destroy. The augur the. But I wonder wonder if it might it still be useful still be."

He didn't actually ask. Kennoch couldn't bring himself to directly say what he meant, but Sargon, clever and perceptive, would surely hear the unspoken question: What would you do?

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Hannabel and Anika

Show

The call went out, and pretty soon Anika had rounded up a couple crewmembers who knew their way around an explosive device. They examined the transmitters Hannabel had found, and verified that they were definitely set to blow if messed with, probably with about the force of a small frag grenade. Unfortunately, messing with them seemed to include opening the case - there didn't seem to be an easy way to do it once the device inside was armed, not without setting it off.

Echo

Sargon was in his tank when Echo entered, drifting gently up and down in the liquid within. He regarded the younger Navis with curiosity.

"I cannot help but notice, Young Castermire, that I am still here. I assume you have other plans for me, then. Business first, of course."

He examined the augur, such as he could from within his tank. "Forge Polix, yes. One of the great Hell-forges of the Dark Mechanicus. I can see why that might make your friends here a little nervous - they are right to be cautious, though I think in this case it is unwarranted. This is a relatively simple device... found discarded, if the wear on the case is anything to go by. I doubt your fallen kin would be so casual as to leave a truly valuable and blasphemous thing just lying about. Have your Magos examine it, if you are concerned."

He pushed off the glass, floating backwards and chuckling. "You are right though, it could still prove useful. People leave psychic impressions on objects all the time. Usually just strong emotions, but any information is valuable. An Astropath skilled in Psychometry would be able to use that augur to tell you things you might otherwise never learn."

Everyone

Once everyone had wrapped up their tasks in port, hands had been shaken, agreements made, guests entertained and supplies restored, it was time to move on - the dockworkers of Footfall hadn't been keen to offer a discount, no matter how much Macharius was nominally in charge, and so the repairs to the Fifth would have to wait. The two escorts loaded the parts Macharius had purchased and broke orbit, preparing to make a few jumps to obscure their destination, and then return to Port Davis with their load of supplies.

For the crew of the Manticore's Sting, however, the journey led in another direction. The Maw beckoned, and beyond it the Calixis Sector. The passage would be dangerous, and a true test of Echo's skills, both on the way out, and the way back later on.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

Show

"Looks like tracking down whoever put these things here is our best bet, then," Hannabel says to Anika once they've met up on the Sting. "Plenty of time to watch the footage from the pict recorders once we're in transit, I suppose."

"Do you think we should tell sa'ab Macharius and the others now or when we have some better leads?"

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Hannabel

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Anika will thank the crew for their assistance and ask them if they would mind keeping this quiet for now.

'On the bright side I think the ship can handle a few frag grenades. If we really have to disarm them perhaps we can find a servitor to help us with that so don't risk blowing up any of the crew.'

On telling the others, 'I'm not opposed to it, but I think that depends on who our friend is working for and if we can find a use for him short of tossing him out of an airlock. Didn't you did say the signal is transmitted whenever we make orbit. Perhaps we could make some pointless diversions so our friend has more information to report and we have more chances to catch him. But that would certainly require telling the others about all this.'

The Maw

Anika is tired out from unsuccessfully dealing with the Footfall dockworkers. Perhaps the Mechanicus would be more forthcoming but they would certainly regret that if they had any problems making the passage through the Maw. At least she had had Theresa on hand so her assistant could hopefully learn how to deal with these people.

The prospect of the Maw used to worry her. It certainly had on the way through, but her experiences in the Processional had taught her how pointless worrying about it was. If the Warp had something in mind for you you would have to deal with it regardless of whether you were in the Maw or not. After asking to be contacted if there is anything she should know about, she is in her quarters with a newly acquired bottle of alcohol and a novel.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Not orbit, necessarily. From the Sting's data, it looks like the transmitters activate automatically whenever we enter a system with widespread communications architecture. With enough time, we might be able to discern a proper pattern there, so we can distinguish exactly what level of technology is needed to activate a transmission and whether there are any other commonalities between the systems where the transmissions occur."

"I think for now it might be a good idea to keep this from sa'ab Macharius. Probably young Echo as well. If we're able to find the person or persons who installed the transmitters, I wouldn't want them spaced before we can learn who they're working with. We might involve Magos Ravia to assist with the technical side of things, though. Perhaps she can work with the Sting to process the images from the pict recorders fast than we two could. Ditto searching for patterns and commonalities among the systems where the transmissions took place."

[Leon]

Ravia had disappeared to her rooms since returning to the ship with her new toy in tow to test it under controlled environs and see how it had been integrated

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Hannabel

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[COLOR="#0000CD"]'Well that is interesting. Perhaps it's easier to transmit information from a more civilized system. Perhaps that includes Port Wander. They must be transmitting to someone after all. Regardless, there ought to be plenty of opportunities to test that theory once we get out of the Maw.'/COLOR]

'As she ought to be, Ravia is better at that sort of thing then I am and I suspect can be trusted to keep quiet until we have something useful to pass on.'

[PotatoGolem]

Before Echo retires to his tower, Macharius takes him aside, one hand on his shoulder. Going to be a tough bit of sailing here, old sport. Dreadful thing, the Maw. Still, if we're to traverse it, I want you to know I wouldn't have it be done by any other Navigator. You're a master of the craft, and I have the utmost confidence in you. With your skill and the Emperor's grace, we'll make it through. He smiles and steps back, making the sign of the Aquila. The Emperor protects, Echo. Go forth and work His will.

Macharius takes to the command throne in preparation for the translation, contemplating the Saint's blessed bones as he addresses the crew. His voice booms throughout the shipboard vox. Voidsmen of Absalom! The Maw looms. It seeks to devour us, tests our resolve, tempts our fears. Lesser men would be inclined to turn and flee, tails between their legs. But we shall not falter! For we are in the care of a much greater power. We serve a God greater than all the beasts of the Warp combined. We are servants of the God-Emperor of Mankind, and by His Will we triumph! Let the Sea of Souls rage. Let the beasts howl. Let the darkness dash itself against our shields. We are not afraid, for we walk in the light of the Master of Mankind. Sing, voidsmen of Absalom! Sing the prayers of our glorious Emperor, and by our faith He will guide us through the night!

He leads the crew in prayer as long as he is able, retiring to rest and giving the vox over the the ship's confessor only when weariness makes it a necessity.

[Blarghy]

Sargon

"Psychometry Psychometry Psychometry Psychometry ," Echo repeated thoughtfully. "Yes yes, I had not I had thought of that that...yes yes yes..."

He paused, wondering if he should answer Sargon's implied question about his planned fate, but Kennoch couldn't even decide himself. What did he intend with his prisoner? He wasn't sure, other than the strong feeling that he would be wasted on the torturous death that surely awaited his fellow pirates. He did give the older Navis something, though.

"Soon we will soon attempt the Maw Maw Maw the Maw. Twice twice, of course of course, when we return we to the Expanse Expanse the Expanse. Have you ever have you sailed it sailed? Or were you were born out here born here?"

Macharius

Echo practically beamed through his voidsuit at his Captain's encouragement and praise. "Yes sir yes, Lord-Commander Lord Commander! Thank you thank! I understand the understand high stakes here stakes. But as you say you say, the Emperor protects Emperor Emperor Emperor. I will not I will fail you fail."

After returning the Aquila, he hurried to his station with renewed confidence.

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro, Anika and Ravia

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After talking things through with Anika, Hannabel places a private call to Ravia and fills her in on her findings before requesting the Magos' help in collating the information from the Sting to find any patterns to the type of systems and civilizations where the transmissions are made. She also requests help in going through the pict recordings of the corridors where the boxes have been placed in order to try and find who put them there.

@Leon
Rather than recapping everything, I suggest you read all the spoilered posts for Hannabel and Haval/Anika from July 9th onward, beginning with post #1096.

[Destro_Yersul]

Echo

"Infrequently," Sargon allowed. "I did my best to stay away from Calixis where possible, but a Navigator goes with the ship. It was sometimes required."

Spoiler: Echo Only

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All too soon, it was time for Echo to take his station and guide the ship. The Maw boiled and whirled in space, a seething cauldron that would be difficult to pick through on a good day. The Astronomicon was there, though, and Echo held to that to orient himself. The ship's engines pulled it forwards, through the warp, and Echo kept it out of the worst, riding the shallows and making good time.

Or.. was he? The Maw was a short passage, it should have taken very little time overall to pass through. Echo kept needing to drop from the warp and check location, to make sure he hadn't gone too far. The stations of passage marked safe locations within the maw, and there were a few that were well known, but it seemed to take forever to get from one to the next. He knew where he was, and he knew where they were going. The engines weren't straining, everything felt... normal. As normal as the warp could. It was just...

What was that?

Something shifted, beneath the currents of the warp, and Echo felt certain it was watching him. Him, specifically. The currents closed in around the ship, becoming more rapid, no matter how he tried to steer around the worst. The ship was fighting for every inch now, trying to make headway against the flow of the warp, as the tides of the Empyrean itself altered course, flowing backwards towards the Expanse.

"You. Cannot. Escaaaape."

It called to him, and he could see it in his third eye, reaching out to claim the ship...

An eternity passed, and they burst forth from the swirling storms of the Maw to the calmer seas surrounding Port Wander. Sweating profusely, Echo found his knuckles white, his hands inadvertently clenched on the armrests of his throne... and Sargon watching him from the tank, a wary expression on the older Navis' face.

"I thought I heard something just then," the older Navis said. "Did you experience anything... unusual... during that passage?"

Spoiler: Hannabel, Anika, Ravia

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While Echo guided the ship through the warp, there was time for Hannabel and the others to go through some of the recordings. Based on when the transmissions started, it was fortunate they had been noticed when they were; any longer, and the old recordings would likely have been purged to make room for new ones. Knowing when to look was just as important as knowing where to look. Eventually, they located the culprit: an adept in the red robes of the Mechanicus, a woman, who walked with the help of a staff. She looked familiar, but it was hard to place where exactly they'd seen her before

Spoiler: OOC

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Intelligence test to remember where you know the woman from

Ravia

While she had some time, Ravia ran her new toy through its paces. On the lowest setting, it worked almost exactly like a standard hellgun. It put holes in all the targets she tested it on, and never seemed to run out of juice. Whatever had been done with the power source, it was holding up quite well. The beam it fired was an unusual colour, a soft pinkish-red rather than the usual bright red, and it fired with a wailing shriek rather than the more typical snap-crack of lasfire. Testing it against some heavier plates revealed that it was more than capable of punching through just about any armour - the designer must have done something to increase the penetration power. It didn't seem to do any more damage than a regular hellgun, but that was on the lowest setting...

Spoiler: OOC

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Anything in particular you want to do to it to test it, other than the standard firing tests and whatnot I've described here?

All

The voyage through the Maw felt longer than it should have. It wasn't far, a relatively short trip from Footfall to Port Wander, but it seemed to take an age. Chronometers all over the ship were off by the time they had dropped from warp, or seemed that way, the clocks insisting that only a short time had passed.. but surely it had been longer? No, perhaps not. Their hails to the Port were met, their requests for time checks confirmed. Everything was as it should be, but still, that had felt like an unreasonably long stretch of time.

Unfortunately, they were perhaps now in for an actually unreasonably long stretch of time to be spent. The Port provided them docking coordinates, and requested they make berth for inspection, on the authority of the office of Ordinate-Majore Mordechai Lorik.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro, Hannabel, Ravia

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Anika will peer down at the image and try to make out the woman's face, 'So how many female members of the Adeptus Mechanicus are known to be on the ship anyway. Presumably there's a list somewhere. Or do we assume that someone is wearing the robe to dissuade people from asking awkward questions? I assume the actual Mechanicus would take a dim view of that.'

Anika would ideally like to do something about this sooner rather then later. 'As comparatively large as the Sting is, in theory it ought to be difficult for anyone to hide from us forever. What can we do to prevent the possibility of our friend getting off at the next port?'

ooc - This may be a job for the Prognosticator

Port Wander

Anika will arrive on the bridge as they finally drop out of warp, 'Does anyone else want to take a long nap after that? I suppose it could always have gone worse.' She still feels unreasonably tired. Had something been messing with their perception of time? And if it had could it just leave them in that state as long as it wished?

She would like to suggest that they just ignored the request, but it did rather depend on what authority the man had to make such a request.

Spoiler: ooc

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If he's got the authority to give us orders, has Anika heard of Ordinate-Majore Mordechai Lorik
Common Lore (Koronus) vs. Int 53
(1d100)[3]