Rogue Trader: The Hand of Fortune

[frigidmagi]

"I'll go ahead first," Volran said and stepped through the hatch.

[Cynical Cat]

The decks inside were just as dead, cold and powerless as the ones outside. There was an atmosphere, too thin and with too little oxygen to breathe. The infernal twists and turns continued, but Volran was able to make headway, in consultation with the auspex and data slate map being made by the armsmen.

It wasn't long before he encountered his first corpse. An ancient body in heavy duty crew overalls, armed with a pump action shotgun. He had been nearly torn apart by a high caliber slug weapons. A trail of blood lead away.

Bullet wounds scarred the corridor. Shotgun slugs and brass casing were scattered over the floor. Then there were more bodies.

Three bodies wore shredded ceramite plate and were armed with autoguns and a hellgun. Another four were crewmen. All but one had been riddled by bullets. The last had been torn open by some kind of chain blade. Lying near them was a servitor.

The servitor was of an unusual pattern. It was slimmer and more agile than most, like an armoured steel skeleton. Its body bore the mark of multiple las and slug impacts. Its right arm was a twin barreled slug thrower in an over and under configuration, fed by a backpack ammunition feed. A swing out chain blade was attached to its left forearm.

[White Haven]

Following along with the boarding team, Graylen frowns at the sight of the ancient firefight, squatting and holstering his pistol while he inspects the fallen for signs of corruption. That razor-fingered figure in one of the lighters has him somewhat rattled, and he's very much on the lookout for signs that Warp influence may have been an epidemic, and not a fluke.

[Cynical Cat]

There are no signs of warp taint on the ancient dead.

[White Haven]

"Well that's something, I suppose. No telling what was in their minds, but at least whatever happened here didn't progress to physical corruption." After a beat, he grunts and gives a wry smile, "Either that, or no one corrupted died here, I suppose."

[frigidmagi]

"What an odd servitor. Do you think it could have been something they picked up in the unknown?" Volran asked as he stepped forward. Prompted by a stray thought he triggered his Vox bead.

"My Lord Captain, the decks are lifeless and there are dead bodies, they appeared to have died in combat. I am moving deeper into the ship." He reported.

[Vehrec]

"Possible, but I would suspect that it might have been part of the ships compliment. I've seen similar designs aboard ships before for use in boarding and counter-boarding. It seems more and more likely that warp influence alone cannot account for all the damage the crew inflicted on one another." Vir walked over to the servitor and knelt over it, inspecting its systems with a critical eye. "There may be more of these, so keep an eye out for signs. The last thing we need is to walk into the firing arc of one before I can shut it down." Reaching out, Vir continued his examination, searching the body not only for signs of its origin but also for its last orders. Telling it to go after crew members-and which ones to go after-might be the sort of thing that would be in a removable module or wafer. Even if they were not, the cognitors in its body might have other information of worth.

[frigidmagi]

"I will. Thank you for the warning." Volran replied as he kept moving into the ship aiming for the bridge.

[Cynical Cat]

The servitor's head turned out to be packed with multiwavelength targeting and tracking auspexes. Propulsion was by means of electrically actuated fiber bundles, a system that loosely mimicked human musculature and had a faster response time than more common hydraulic systems. The frame was high strength alloy with a ceramite plate chassis and armour. High capacity energy cells in the torso provided power.

The control system was located just above the energy cells in a heavily armoured compartment. A small lump of synthetic brain matter was wired into several cogitator units and connected to several fluid reservoirs. Unfortunately, there were clear signs of damage. A significant portion of the data was corrupted, the remainder being search and destroy patters, sabotage procedures, targeting, and attack routines.

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Volran was, after several dead ends and twist and turns, find a route up to the bridge. In doing so he found another dozen dead crewmen, half of whom were armsmen. Another servitor was among the dead, this one with its head and most of its torso missing.

Beyond the last of the dead lay the command deck. From a raised dais the command throne overlooked a bridge were a dozen crewmen and a dozen servitors would have attended the various duty stations. Cogitators and logic engines fed elegant silver and ebony hololithic display systems, allowing the very air to be filled with data. The servitors were still there, plugged into their stations. The crew were sprawled across the deck.

Several bore the ugly mark of bolt wounds. Others had smaller, through and through wounds. Most of them were armed. Brass shell casings, empty magazines, and depleted power packs were scattered around the dead. A third servitor, this model with over and under high energy laser weapons, stood battered and motionless by the servitor pit.

Slumped at the base of the throne was what clearly was the body of senior officer. Gold buttons glinted on his uniform tunic and rings glittered on vacuum mummified fingers. A bolt pistol lay near him and he had a cutlass hanging from his sash. The body had been riddled with gunfire and his skull had been blown apart.

[frigidmagi]

"My Lord Captain I have found the bridge. It appears to my uneducated eyes that the entire bridge crew is here and dead. For certain I see the Captain and the majority of the Servitors still plugged into their station. It is my belief more data could be gathered by those better trained than I in matters technical. I will await them." Volran reported. He approached the dead Captain and wondered. What did you find man that wrought such havoc and death?

[rhoenix]

Following the Devout into the bridge, Magnus felt his way around, still using all his senses to understand this place. He was almost disquieted by the very lack of the presence of Warp-entities, especially given the scenes they'd found.

[Vehrec]

The Explorator stood up, shaking his head slowly. "Incredible. I've seen tech-priests willingly implant much cruder systems than this into themselves. Whoever commissioned these must have had quite the purse." Sighing, he continued. "Unfortunately Captain, I was unable to discern more than that. Much of the data once held by these servitors is now lost, and what is left is of little use to our exploration."

[Edited to add:] His report concluded, Vir proceeded to follow those who had preceded him to the bridge. Just inside the control room he stopped and stood still for a few moments, cataloging the sight of the slaughter and the marvels it obscured. Nodding slowly he walked forward to the most appropriate crew station to begin the rites of activation and breathe some life back into the ship's sleeping cognitors. If there were no good data points in here as well he was going to be cross. Still, for now it would not do to be impatient. All mysteries could be revealed if one was patient and studied the signs long enough.

[Cynical Cat]

There was no power. All bridge systems were dead and the only illumination was provided by what the explorers brought with them.

[Vehrec]

"Never a convenient backup when you need one after hundreds of years of inactivity. Typical." Vir signaled for one of the dwindling power cells they had brought on the mission to be carried forward to his position. As he waited, he considered the lifeless monitors, cognitors and other systems.

That one looked to be a weapons station. There was a helm, those cognitors must interpret sensor data. His gaze paused on the dead captain, or more accurately on his throne. Any terminal built into that station should have better access to data than the others by virtue of whom it belonged to. Stepping around the corpse at the base of the dias, the techpriest stepped up to stand beside and look upon the chair of command.

[Cynical Cat]

The chair was as dead as the rest of the ship, but examination revealed it housed a potent cogitator and datalink system. From here it was likely the captain could tie into and perhaps override every major system on the ship.

[Vehrec]

"Praise the Omnisiah and bless my circuits." Few systems were likely to be as heavily defended as this one, but then again, under normal operation most of its security would come from the crew themselves. Cracking it open should provide some answers. If he was a betting man, and Vir was, he would wager that this was the best place on the bridge to access the ship's logs as well as its systems.

Best to get started then. Vir began the first few steps of preparing the throne's systems to receive power, the ones he could do without the power cell. While he waited for that, he opened his vox link. "Lord Captain. It may interest you to know that the command throne has some very interesting systems. I believe they will be of great benefit not only in this endeavor, but to you personally."

[Karrick]

Valther made sure to log every twist and turn of the tenebro-maze as he followed Volran to the bridge. After familiarizing himself with the chamber’s layout, he glanced over to the command throne. There wasn’t much he could do until power had been restored, and even then most of the ability lay with the tech priest.

In the meantime,Valther examined the bodies scattered around the bridge. He cataloged types of injury and probable cause of death, angles of fire, and weapons. He correlated that data with what he'd seen in the cargo bay and the short section of tenebro-maze he'd been through, hoping to find some clue as to what had caused the carnage.

[Cynical Cat]

Superficially the gunfight appeared obvious enough. There was only one bolt weapon in the room and that was in the senior officer's hand. He (presumably the corpse was male, although it was quite decayed) had killed several of his bridge crew with it and been riddled with bullets in return. The servitor had killed the rest before going inactive. The only puzzling thing about the scene was the number of people killed by the bolt pistol. Five corpses was a lot, considering the remaining crew had poured fire into the body that blown off the top of its skull and left bullet holes all over its uniform.

[Cynical Cat]

Sergeant Khan stepped onto the desolate bridge and examined the scene. The veteran armsmen shines his light on body after body and then examines the corpse by the command throne and the combat servitor. "Chen," he orders gruffly. "Check the warrior servitor."

"Yes sergeant," said the smaller armsman. The armoured figure examines the immobile machine. "Minor damage to systems, some beat up armour, still functional. Half charge on the weapons."

"Thought so," said Khan. "My lord-captain, it appears the something possessed the captain and then turned on the crew."

[White Haven]

Graylen, who'd been busying himself inspecting the gunnery stations while the others examined the detritus of the ancient firefight, grimaces and walks back over to rejoin the rest of the boarding team. "Bad, bad way to go, for everyone. I wonder how many signs of possession we'll find? Two positives already."

[Vehrec]

"Yes, a very strange thing. What makes it all the more puzzling is how unlikely it should be on a ship like this. Wards this strong aren't breached by just any foul spirit." Vir drummed his fingers absently on the side of the command throne, the absence of any real sound from it a minor novelty he had experienced before. "Lady Berenice. I think it might be wise if you took the Sargent and his squad to check the Navigator's observatory, or cell, or station, whatever the term may be. I know it is terribly cliche and gauche of me to suggest this, but that is a very exposed position on any ship." He indicated the throne with a gesture. "I will be working here for now, but as for the rest of you I cannot see reason for everyone to remain in this exact room. Although I think perhaps the Lord Captain might wish to remain, should there be something he need urgently to see."

[White Haven]

"Either something exceptionally powerful breached the wards, at which point I'd expect to see damage to them I suppose, or something malign was carried aboard." After a pause, he adds, "Or walked aboard, if its shell hadn't mutated visibly yet."

He grimaces at the work ahead of Ravion's crew, "And with the chance that it was an object rather than a person, we're going to have to map that entire thrice-cursed Maze, and the rest of the ship besides, before we can risk repowering the ship, I suppose." He snorts quietly and twists his scar-pocked face in a wry grin, "Astropaths will be shooting for overtime."

[Hotfoot]

Ravion made quick time following his retinue, taking their findings into account as he made his way to the bridge himself, content to not say much beyond simple acknowledgements until he surveyed the bridge himself. The scene was grisly, to be certain, but the gore had long since left, to be replaced by old bones of the dead. Upon looking at the corpse of the commanding officer, Ravion frowned. "So I see, a terrible thing, that, to have one's mind tainted. Vir, what have you found in the throne?"

"At the very least, coming here has brought us vital information. Something caused corruption of the mind, and most likely of the body. Volran, Steele, take a closer look at the commander, see if you can find any signs of mutation or other changes made to his form."

"Sergeant, I want to make sure we have regular contact with the crew in the lighter bay, if something happens down there or we lose contact, I want to know right away. Oh, and Vir, on a tangent, where might these servitors have come from? If we can find that information, we might be able to prevent any further incidents from occurring."

[Cynical Cat]

The corpse showed no obvious signs of mutation, but the destruction of the skull gave room for doubts. A careful examination of the area revealed strange bone fragments that may have been part of a warped and distorted skull.

[Vehrec]

Vir shrugged at the question on what he knew thus far as he brought the throne online and inspected its interface. Given its sophistication he would not be surprised to see it have a full MIU link like those of Titans. "I wanted to be certain of my findings. It is a very complex system, likely capable of direct command of the entire ship, albeit at reduced efficiency thanks to the increased workload upon a single individual. Additionally, it seems to have enough independent cognitors and information storage to warrant a more complete activation. I'm afraid I won't be powering any of these hololiths or other stations until we can start the reactors and have a more reliable power supply."

"As for the servitors, I plan to avail myself of that one's," He indicated the one that stood by the pit without stopping "memory banks soon enough. Perhaps I can see about issuing it an order to return to its maintenance area, if that would suit you."