LibriumArcana.Games

2789987.M41

Tantalus System

A dark shape cruised through the outer system. More than three kilometers long and as black as space, the Burden of Judgement cruised towards a planet orbiting the blazing blue-white star. The ship had been built at the Martian shipyards for its current masters, the Inquisition. It was a space going cathedral and fortress-monestary. Many of those who served inside of its armoured hull were the descendents of generations of faithful Inquisition servants. The Burden of Judgement was the Imperial Will, cast in steel, ceramite, and adamantine.

Her flanks were lined with deck after deck of ship killing gun batteries augmented with massive lance turrets. Her mighty armoured prow contained the dragon's breath fury of torpedo tubes and her arsenal contain world killing cyclonic warheads. Her dorsal surface housed a many spired command cathedral and the deadly linear accelerators of her bombardment cannons.

As deadly as the Burden of Judgement was, her true heart was not steel but flesh. It was not the highly trained and disciplined crew and officers, or the deadly armsmen and stormtroopers, but the true elite of the Inquisition. The learned and lethal Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos and the superhuman kill team of the Deathwatch was the ships core, its reason for being. It was they who would root out and destroy the enemies of mankind wherever they found them.

Just as they Deathwatch and the Inquisitors were the heart, the ship had a brain as well. Inside a vaulted viewing gallery he sat. His chair was equipped with suspensors and grav motors. His crippled and maimed body was robed in scarlett and augmented with an exoskeleton. The back of his dark shaven skull was clustered with interface plugs. Lord Inquisitor Damien Pryce had served his Emperor for four hundred years and not even his slow and agonizing recovery from the wounds he had recieved nearly two years ago would cause him to set aside his burdens.

He turned his head to one of his attendants. "Bring the children and the battle brothers to me. I will brief them now."

The visored figure bowed briefly and left the room. If the armsmen had any opinion on the full inquisitors being refered to as children they kept it to themselves, as they did all secrets.

Halima Toran was the first to answer the summons, approaching briskly, a step behind one of the Lord Inquisitor's robed and cowled attendants. As she walked, an observer might have caught occasional flashes of concealed body armour beneath the black robes that swathed her from head to toe. She was alone, save for a single hunter-skull that hovered at her shoulder, scanning and recording with an unblinking red eye, and unarmed, inasmuch as a psyker of any skill could ever be called so. Her rosette hung from her neck, announcing her status to any who needed confirmation.

As she approached, she slowed her pace, eventually stopping in front of the doors to the Lord Inquisitor's viewing chamber and nodding at the armsmen who stood guard. One of them reported her arrival to those inside the room.

When the summons was issued Gravin was in one of the galleys with the members of his retinue. Damien Ernsby was regalling them with one of his stories of his mercenary days.
"So there we were on Talgana IX. And the dust was really thick. This trader I was working security for at the time was insisting we take this entire load of cargo to this guy who's interested in looking at the 'wares. Thing is though that this guy is, at the time, on the other side of this huge dust storm. And I mean huge. It was so bad that when the sun was overhead it still looked like it was damn near midnight out. You couldn't see more then a few inches in front of you.

"And let me tell you that damned dust got everywhere. Our hauler broke down three times on the way through the warp-damned storm. By the time we got there all of the intakes were so clogged up that it would take us weeks to get them cleaned again. Worst storm the planet has seen in twenty years and we're flying right into it. Just to go show some guy out in the middle of nowhere some of the wares so he can THINK about buying some. It was about that time that I left that merchant. I'm paid to kill people and blow things up, not choke to death on dust in some backsystem planet that even the 'nids would bypass for greener pastures.

"So the next trader I hooked up with about a month later was a rea-"

Damien was cut off as an attendant of the Lord Inquisitors approached the table.
"His Lordship desires your prescense at once."

There was no mistaking who His Lordship was, not on this ship. Gravin glanced around at the others before standing, pushing his tray away from him. He took one last swig of his drink and set the cup down.

The messanger turned to leave and Gravin followed. He was dressed in a simple set of clothes, comfortable but professional in appearance, hues of grey and black. He prefered not to wear his bulky power armor while aboard the ship, finding it more cumbersome then beneficial. He carried his badge of office under his shirt around his neck.

As he reached the private chamber of the Lord Inquisitor he haulted before the armsmen stationed outside the door and waited for them to announce him. He entered the viewing chamber, giving a brief nod of acknowledgement to Inquisitor Toran as he noticed her. His eyes turned to the Inquisitor Lord, waiting to hear the man speak.

Vibius Julius Pennus was sitting, meditating as his chapters Librarians had taught all who were of Omega Legion. For any other chapter it would be an oddity that the Librarians taught these things, but for Omega Legion, they did not have many Chaplains, and Librarians truly were the keepers of all the knowledge of the chapter, it was they who picked new recruits, and it was they who taught the meditations.

Vibius did not at first respond as the door openned, donned in dark blue robes he sat, muttering prayers only he could hear of strength and virtue so that he may again go out to battle evil without fear of the evil within him. As he finished an eye openned and he glanced over at the man who had entered.

The man spoke quickly to the astartes as he got to his feet. "His lordship desires your presence at once."

Vibius nodded and followed the messenger out into the ship proper, he stopped briefly enough to be announced before entering the private chambers of the Inquisitor Lord, his chapter did not much like many of the inquisitorial orders, but they appreciated the Ordo Xenos well enough. His blue eyes sighted another two inquisitors, both of whom he had seen before on the ship, but never paid much mind to. The silent giant now turned to face the Inquisitor Lord, his eyes watching him and awaiting to hear why he had been interrupted from his meditations.

Slipping into the room came Mal, polishing the Shruiken Pistol as he did so, slotting in a fresh clip. "You summon, my lord?" The exiled Marine spoke simply, tilting his head and waiting. The symphony of Imperium technology at work was entertaining to him, a rare song he seldom had the chance to turn his heightened senses to.

Prayers and pennance. It took up the a sizable and important portion of any Space Marine's day, but for those of the Dark Angel Legion, the requirement was double so.

Such as it was, that Demian Moore kneeled in his daily prayers and meditations. The time he spent with the Deathwatch meant that he would be forced to put aside the hunt for the Fallen. But it was with his Chapter Master's blessing, that Moore took up the position which called him, saying the quest for the Fallen may be taken up after his service.

It was within this time of meditation, that he was summoned to the presence of the Lord Inquisitor.

Already, three others had arrived before him, and he took his place in line, looking expectantly for the reasons for the summons.

"Yes, I did," replied Pryce. "Please make yourselves comfortable. Data on the system is on display on the pict screen, although you can transfer the feed to your autosense systems if you would prefer to to view it that way."

Tantalus II
Last Census: 02/426880.M41
Population: 217,980,382
Tithe Grade: Solutio Prima
Capital: Trelex
Current Imperial Commander: Lord Governor Imirilas Naren
Planetary Defence Grade: B-3
Commentary: Tantalus appears to have been a late stage terraforming project by an unknown xeno species. Planet was initially home to Ork settlements, latter exterminated in a series of campaigns. Colonization commenced afterword. Archeoxeno studies found the remnants of what may have been ancient terraforming equipment at five different sites (see attached reforts B1-B6). No sign of pre-Ork habitation by xenos and lack of indiginous non-Orkoid life before human colonization supports interrupted late stage terraforming hypothesis.

Planet currently provides troops, food stuffs, and manufactured goods to the rest of the subsector.

Halima stood in silence, returning nods of acknowledgement from the others as they arrived one by one, and examined the information as it appeared on the screen. Withdrawing a dataslate from within her robes, she tapped a few keys, downloading the data on the pict-screen and the appendices referred to for later perusal. No doubt Yen Mia and Prokhor Federov would find it fascinating, and they might even unearth some brilliant insight that had eluded her. Emperor knew they'd done it often enough before.

For herself, though, Halima was waiting for the punchline. Even if the planet turned out to be an Eldar Maiden World or something of that nature, one did not send an Inquisitorial Black Ship commanded by one of the most revered Inquisitors in the sector 'just because'. There had to be more here. The question was clear in her eyes as she turned to the Lord Inquisitor.

"The Xenos race theorised to have been terraforming the planet," she said, "Have they been identified?"

"No," replied Pryce. "The remnants of the terraforming efforts were more than a million years old. Undoubtedly the long period of Orkoid habitation and scaveging did much to obliterate whatever clues to their identity remained. We can say, with some assurance, that they were unlikely to be Eldar and were not Necrontyr. Orks don't terraform, but we simply have too few clues and too little knowledge about the distant past of this part of the galaxy."

He touched a control on his chair and a holomap of the planet was displayed. It was a planet of mostly level plains with several small seas and mountain ranges. "What we do know is that a the Thera Range Mining/Refinery complex went dead one month ago." A glowing red dot marked its presence on a mountain range. "The Adeptus Arbites were called in to investigate. They sent a platoon in and it vanished. A Sanctioned Psyker attempted to scry the site and it nearly broke his mind. He reported a malevolance of incredible power being present. They then contacted the Inquisition and the case is ours."

Well, that answered that question. Predictably, it also threw up a host of others.

"Have we any details on the nature of the presence? Xenos? Daemonic?"

The former seemed most likely - one sent the Ordo Malleus to deal with daemons, not the Ordo Xenos - but they might simply have been the closest Inquisitorial presence. Regardless, it paid to be sure.

"The presence was malevolent and psychicly active. Other than that, all we know is that nothing that has entered the facility since it went silent has returned. Given the planet's history, the Ordo Xenos seemed like the best choice for the investigation."

Vibius studied the map closely before looking back at the Lord Inquisitor. "Perhaps something from the unknown Xeno terraformers. Was there any evidence of architexture in the mine before it closed down?"

"Nothing reported," replied Pryce. "Trafficking in xenos artifacts is, of course, subject to stiff controls but the potential profits may have made someone foolish. Or perhaps they didn't have time to report it before their communications systems failed. Or perhaps something entirely different is going on. There is only one way to get the answers."

Halima nodded. "We go there. We investigate. We find out what is. And then...

"Then we kill it."

Vibius nodded and looked back at the map as it zoomed in to give a better look of the surrounding area. "So what is the plan for examining the area and dealing with the Xeno threat?" Vibius was already going through some ideas about positions to set up outside the mine. If this thing were to leave the cave it would be best to deal with it immediately.

The planet vanished and the red holographic image of the facility swelled. It revealed a massive refinery complex attached to the side of the mountain and burrowing into its heart. Landing pads allowed orbital traffic to dock at the facility and a rail line connected it to the heavily industrialized core cities.

"Unfortunately," said Pryce, "we have not been able to acquire maps of the interior tunnels yet."

Demian studied the holographs as they appeared, and filed them away.

"How soon before we reach the target?"

"Three hours before we're in orbit of the planet. How you proceed from there is up to you, of course." Pryce smiled faintly.

Then the Lord-Inquisitor would not be going with them. Gravin glanced at the others and did some calculations.
"Sir, if this thing has chewed up a platoon of Arbites and messed up a psyker that bad we're obviously going to be going up against something that's dangerous.

"If things go wrong, how far away will the nearest backup be? If we are unable to stop it with forces we possess right now, what are the options?"

"A low delta level Sanctioned Psyker is not equal to a trainer Inquisitor and a platoon of Arbites is not equal to Deathwatch kill team," replied Pryce. "While my injuries prevent me from joining you, you have the full weight of the PDF and the Burden of Judgement behind you."

"No sir, you are correct. They're not even close to being equal. I just prefer to be sure that once we start the fight we'll be able to finish it.

"It assures me greatly knowing that this ship stands ready."

Vibius snorted in derision as one of the inquisitors questioned the ability of the Deathwatch to deal with the problem. "We are some of the best the Imperium has to offer. If we are unable to deal with the problem then I am certain the Burden of Judgement shall have no problems annihilating the mine." Vibius looked over to the other marines in the room. A Dark Angel and the Exile. Between the three of them a good plan should be able to be made.

Tunnels. It had to be tunnels. The burly (as if there were any other kind) marine rolled one linen-clad shoulder at the thought, the phantom weight of the unpresent jump booster present only in his mind. There could be better places to fight in...but no matter. "Malevolent and psychically active...have the Dark Eldar been ruled out as well, Lord Inquisitor?"

Dark Eldar the rough-voiced Marine knew how to fight. The unknown, by definition, less so.

"If I may, Brother Marine - Dark Eldar are not generally known for their use of psykers. Certainly not impossible, but unlikely.

"Interviewing the psyker could shed some light on what we're up against; has such an interview been conducted, or has it been left to us? And if it has been conducted, do we have access to a transcript at present?

"Also, bear in mind that this thing didn't actually kill the psyker. That puts limits on how strong it could be."

She paused for a second before continuing.

"Regardless, I have complete faith in the ability of our esteemed colleagues in the Deathwatch to handle the military side of this operation. And I am confident that myself and Inquisitor El-Vectis can handle the psychic side."

"According to the report the psyker attempted to assay the site from a distance and encountered a presence of utter malevolance," said Pryce. "The psyker did not directly touch any minds at all. The psyker's mind appears to have been undamaged, but the contact was extremely brief and indirect. As for the Dark Eldar, as has been mentioned, the xeno artifacts are not consistent with Eldar construction. The Dark Eldar have been known to employ psychicly active artifacts, such as the terror flex, even as they personally eshew the psychic arts. Eldar civilization is, however, old enough that they may have had contact with the terraformers and an interest in the planet. We simply do not have enough information to make a determination at the moment and that state of affairs will likely continue until a team penetrates the facility and returns with useful information."