Rogue Trader: The Hand of Fortune

[Hotfoot]

"Very well Vir. Volran, you may secure the chapel. I will attempt to find the former Captain's quarters." With that said, he began marching in the direction of the most likely location of the captain's quarters, using the maps from the throne to guide his way. With luck, he would find more answers there.

[Cynical Cat]

The captain's quarters were easy to reach, being located close to the bridge. The corridor leading to them was almost carpeted with the ancient dead, including the lifeless shell of a destroyed servitor. Heavy ceramite double doors, scared and nicked from weapon's fire, seal the quarters proper off from the rest of the ship.

Steel's journey is also short. The great observation dome is almost adjacent to the bridge. Gilded struts of adamantium support huge panes of synthetic diamond etched to show hundred of routes through the warp and the hazards to encountered within. The floor is covered with a mosaic depicting the Milky Way, with a great flare of gold showing the location of Holy Terra.

[frigidmagi]

Volran gathered some troops and a map and headed for the chapel. He took the lead being among the best armored.

[Cynical Cat]

There were three chapels located on board the ship. Two dedicated to the God-Emperor of Mankind and a third sacred to Him in His guise as the Omnissiah. The last was located in the enginarium, of course.

Of the other two, the larger was located in the forward areas of the ship. The second, and smaller chapel, was located nearby and clearly was intended to primarily serve the senior officers of the crew and their retainers.

Volran lead half a dozen armsmen through the lightless and airless corridors of the dead ship, magnetized boots ringing as they stomped on the deckplates. The dead drifted by them or lay prone where they had fallen, as time and zero gravity dictated. They dead were numerous here.

The doors to the chapel had been breached by an explosive charge, one far more powerful than needed. An adapted breaching charge perhaps. Inside was ruin.

The dead were everywhere. Clearly men and women had retreated to the chapel for safety and their killers had smashed their way in. A half dozen murder servitors lay on the floor or drifted through the air. Corpses mummified by vacuum were everywhere. Clouds of shell casings hovered suspended in mid air. Blood splatter marked shattered pews used as improvised cover. Alcove statues of Imperial Saints were chipped and chewed by gun fire. A statue of the God-Emperor looked down upon the dead with what might be an expression of infinite sadness.

[frigidmagi]

Volran had his men set up a perimeter and approached the priest quarters. He took a deep breath grabbed his sword and entered.

[Cynical Cat]

Just off the side of the chapel was a door that blended in with the wall of the chapel. It lead to a spartan office, connected to a lavishly decorated personal quarters. Holocandles would have provided illumination, if they had power. A thick red velvet drapes framed a large, thick armocryst window. Fur rugs covered most the floor and a polish wood wardrobe held a large collection of lavish clothes.

Prayer books and ledgers were stacked in the office on a desk of polished ebony. A gold and onyx cogitator was in one corner of the desk. A weapon rack on one wall was empty.

[frigidmagi]

Volran noted the cogitator and snorted a bit at the sheer decadence, but withheld judgment on the man's soul. He was for the Emperor to judge now. He made a quick search of the room but had no real hope. He would have to see if he could proceed to the main chapel.

[Hotfoot]

Upon reaching the door, Ravion frowned. Another obstacle to overcome, but this was likely necessary. "Vir, the door here needs to be opened. I likely need power and overrides. Once we are done here we will establish safe passage for a reclamation team to finish and then move on to the drive core. I have no doubt that dangers still await us on this vessel, but we'll need to be able to move around freely to best deal with it."

[Vehrec]

"Understood. I will join you as soon as I can." Getting the servitor off the bridge had been his first priority, and he had borrowed a few armsmen to carry it, although he lent a proverbial hand himself. He had selected a small maintenance shrine, probably for cognitors or damage control, to stash the servitor in, and had chosen it as much for proximity to Ravion's destination as any other reason. Anticipating that he might be needed had not been difficult.

[Cynical Cat]

Vir soon arrived on scene. The door had been both mechanically locked and emergency vacuum sealed. Achieving entry without brute force methods would be a considerable investment in time and effort.

[Vehrec]

Brow furrowed, the tech-priest tapped the door twice in contemplation. "This could hold us up. I can understand how important this is, but I feel I must inform you that opening this without damaging its mechanisms will take some time. Perhaps longer than the tasks the others have been set to."

Once more he tapped the door. "And this worries me. Why lock these doors so tight, but not the bridge? It may be the desire to protect something, but it might also have been meant as a prison. A locked door may be both at the same time, and hard to tell after the fact."

[Hotfoot]

"Indeed. On the one had I appreciate that my future quarters are so well protected, but as with the ship's Tenebro-Maze, it's proving more trouble than needed now. Get more power supplies from my Uncle's ship, let's get as many Cogitators functional as we can before restoring full power to the ship. I want as much information as possible before making rash decisions. In the meantime, I will lead our people to establish a proper path from the lighter bay to the bridge, and establish a similar path to the engine room. If we find information that points back here, then I will enjoy picking out new doors once the burn marks have been cleaned off the hinges, yes? Make sure that along with the power supplies, bring an appropriate emergency key."

"On that note," He keyed his transmitter to the command staff. "I am going to head back to the Lighter Bay through the maze. Those of you not investigating, feel free to accompany me or aid those looking for information." With that, he motioned to his personal guard and started to plot his best course through the tenebro-maze.

[Cpl Kendall]

Steel crosses the threshold into the Navigators domain, a low whistle leaving his lips as he takes in the art.

"Someone had money." He comments to no one in particular. As the Lady Navigator had yet to join him, he starts poking into nooks and crannys, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

[Cynical Cat]

Steel found controls, elegantly presented as a Baroque, jeweled pattern on one of the supports. As there was no power to either the controls or the system they controlled, they were useless to him.

[Vehrec]

"As you command. I will contact the pilot of the Lighter that transefered us to the bridge, and use his vessels vox to communicate with the Illumination of Glory. I'll direct the supplies to the same bay we arrived in, and proceed to there once I am done." Matching actions to pronouncements, Vir did as he had said, and set about setting up an impromptu communications link with the light cruiser.

[frigidmagi]

"My Lord Captain with your permission, I would like to investigate the main chapel. Perhaps I can learn more there then I can here."

[Hotfoot]

"Of course, Volran," Ravion said curtly over the com. His attention was focused primarily on following the tenebro-maze back to the lighter bay, keeping his eyes and sensors peeled for any threats as he and his honor guard moved through the corridors, along with any of his retinue that dared to come with him.

[frigidmagi]

Volran gathered his men and consulting his map headed for the main chapel. He kept his chain sword in hand, the ship was making him a bit nervous.

[Cynical Cat]

The thin remnants of atmosphere transmitted sound poorly, but the the direct contact of boot to deck transmitted the heavy footfalls of the spacers as they walked in near silence. Volran began the journey down half the length of the ship, trailed by armsmen. He found ruin as he walked.

Shattered lights and severed power lines lay still in the darkness. Several corridor sections had been scoured by flames, possibly maneuvering thruster fuel set alight to destroy equipment or people. Or daemons. Blackened and twisted metal marked the wounds. Everywhere there were the dead.

Some passages were free of corpses, but others had many. The marks of violence in the form of spent shell casings, ancient blood, or mummified remains were common. The presence of the dead was inescapable.

Volran arrived at his destinations. Pieces of elaborate double doors, marked with friezes were scattered around the antechamber. A mummified claw and a cluster of preserved tentacles floated in the darkness, harbingers of the horrors to come if the missionary continued ahead.

[frigidmagi]

"Captain. I am at the entrence to the chapel... I have found evidence of heavy mutation. ... Tentacles and claws. I am entering the chapel now." Volran reported over the vox and entered the men behind him.

[Cynical Cat]

Ravion and his escort worked their way through the tenebro-maze, alert for any source of danger as they walked through the lightless corridors. They made slow progress, but eventually arrived.

His men greeted their lord with fist to heart salutes. "Your will, lord captain."


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The entrance of the chapel was an abattoir. The dead floated in pieces or where their bodies had eventually come to rest. Clouds of shell casings hung suspended in space. Cold and vacuum had mummified the remains, which somewhat diminished the horror of the scene.

There must have been over a hundred bodies here.

[Hotfoot]

"Resume the landings of the engineering crew, we are going to attempt a revival of the ship's core systems. Be sure to send some additional security to the bridge with the engineers sent to restore the systems up there. I will move with the crew to restore the ship's main engines. Have the men beware of any servitors they find, and to report in any servitors that could in any way be functional. Have all groups report in at regular intervals." Gathering the existing crew, he paired off a selection of engineers and security personnel to head back to the bridge, using the path he had just traversed, and another group of engineers and security to accompany him and his honor guard to the engineering section of the ship. As more equipment and crew started coming aboard, he prioritized the bridge section of the ship to be repaired first while he made his way to engineering.

Once the crew had their orders, Ravion headed out through the tenebro-maze again to engineering, leading the way, himself and his aides keeping a watchful eye for any signs of danger.

[Cynical Cat]

As Ravion made his way towards the enginarium, both lighters lit their engines and coasted into the void with brief spurts of their maneuvering thrusters. Once clear of the Ascendancy, they lit their drives returned home to take on new passengers and equipment.

[frigidmagi]

"Spread out, see if we can determine a main cause of death." Volran ordered his men. He triggered his vox.

"Captain, I am in the main chapel. It appears that a number of the crew were killed here. It will require deep cleaning before it can be put back into use. Investigating further." he reported.

Volran advanced deeper into the chapel aiming for the altar.

[Cynical Cat]

The lighters returned, escorted by a half dozen smaller, frailer, shuttles. The flight of ships landed in the Asendency's bays and began disgorging engineers and small compliment of armsmen.

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Volran and his men pushed aside corpses and stepped over parts of the dead. The beams from their illuminators revealed a gaping vaulted room with a a pulpit and a huge statue of the God-Emperor of Mankind at the far end. Between them and the pulpit were smashed pulpits, large chunks of which had gotten loose from the floor and were now floating in the stillness. A light played over one.

The mummified body nailed to it was too small and too slender to be and adult. The darkness and the decay hid much of what had been done, but too much of the body had been laid open for there to be any doubt. The child had been killed, slowly, brutally, deliberately.

Illuminator beams wavered as hands shuck. The able bodied had been killed at the front, defending the sanctum and its contents from the killers. Once they had fallen, the warp predators proceeded to have their way with the rest. The pulpits had been broken up and re purposed into torture racks. Pregnant women with torn open abdomens and children formed the bulk of the victims. Several fetuses in various states of development hung as part of small clouds of severed limbs, ripped out organs, and loops of intestine.