A House Divided
Act 1 - The Gates of the Abyss
Chapter 3 - The Price of a Life...completed!
Their goals accomplished, Cassius suddenly put the vessel on a remote lock-down and demanded they gather in the dining hall. There the group discussed, and then argued, over what had happened and how they should proceed. Cassius and Manus were insistent that the death of an Inquisitor's agent was a serious matter, and should be brought to the attention of the Inquisitor as soon as possible. Merrick, Vadik, and Aurora were all insistent that doing so would only doom them all, potentially even Mahaka, as the Inquisition was known to care little for protestations of innocence. After long debate, Vadik finally confessed as the killer, and warned the others their mere presence would be seem as complicity by the Inquisitor if they sought him out. He insisted it was the only way to ensure that Mahaka got Crassus, and that Shen's comments about his employer seeking a Rogue Trader in the Expanse was too close to describing their employer for his comfort. He did, he insisted, what needed to be done. No one seemed pleased that the man had taken the matter into his own hands, and Cassius furiously demanded that any such action could only be taken in the future after consulting with the rest of the group. With the matter settled, they decided to space Shen's corpse and belongings and never to speak of him (or his involvement in their escapades aboard the Hermitage) ever again, even to Marius or Mahaka.
Within a day they were back in the Warp and headed to Port Wander at full speed, though they spoke little to each other. The journey took only a few days to traverse the unfathomable distance, but the gulf that had opened between them shifted their perceptions to make the journey almost unbearably long. Arriving back upon the threshold of the Expanse they were relieved to hear Marius grant them a day of shore leave aboard the station, even if only for a chance to get away from each other. They would gather back at the briefing room, with their individual reports of the mission, in 24 hours.
Manus went into seclusion to meditate and pray, his mental barriers had been taxed in the extreme and he desired a chance to fortify his mind. Aurora threw herself into her studies, pouring over data slates and star charts of the Expanse in an effort to distract herself from the events of their return journey. Wu-10, returning to his Magos, was rewarded for his victories aboard the Hermitage by having the augmetic arms of his opponent grafted in place of his old arms. Merrick drank at a bar near the docks, thankful for a chance to pretend, even for a moment) that he was back in a simpler place where the rules were easy to understand. Vadik, unperturbed by the party's criticism, hammered target after target on the shooting range aboard the Khyber. He seemed not care, like he had not even done the deed. Cassius, intrigued by the tale of the assassination of the lord of the House of Krin, spent his time chasing down leads on what information he could find, or buy, in the short time available to him.
Safe aboard the Gypsy, and exhausted from their trials aboard the space station Hermitage, the party retired to their rooms for much needed rest. Such luxuries were not to last long, as a shudder of psychic energy washed over them all after a few scant hours of rest. The majority awoke in a panic, covered in cold sweat and shaking strange visions and nightmares from their heads. Manus, attuned to the energies of the Immaterium as he was, was almost overcome by madness as a piercing scream rang out in his mind and his entire perception of existence became overshadowed by an awful sentience, a thing which cackled and cawed from within a nest of shadows as it prodded and clawed across the surface of the ship's Geller field. With a sinking dread he realized that, for however briefly, something had gotten through.
Rushing into the halls, the comm line suddenly flared to life as the Engineseer cried out that the reactor powering the Geller field was overheating, and Hannibal desperately warning everyone to brace as Kalu was preparing for an emergency exit from the Warp. Manus hastily informed them of his vision, and guided them through the halls and towards where he felt the pressure of the Immaterium mostly keenly, the docking bay that housed the Queen. The entry ramp to Cassius ship was lowered, and a keen sense of apprehension filled them all. Aboard they were relieved to find that Crassus' life support pod was intact and functioning normally. Beside it Shen lay dead, his neck bulging and his head twisted at a disquieting angle.
After overcoming their shock the party quickly decided they needed to address two issues. First, the chance that something had gotten through the Geller field and was stalking the ship. Second, they needed to deduce what had happened to Shen. Vadik, experienced in such matters, took lead on deconstructing the crime scene. In short order he deduced that something had compelled Shen to open the loading ramp from the inside of the ship (as he had refused to leave Crassus' pod). And from a tuft of blood and hair caught on a crack in the pod, something (or someone) had then forcefully slammed his neck down onto the edge of the of with enough force to be instantly fatal. Meanwhile, Manus and Wu-10 hastily swept the ship for any sign of residual presences, a search which ended with thankfully no sign of further entities aboard the vessel.
Their goals accomplished, Cassius suddenly put the vessel on a remote lock-down and demanded they gather in the dining hall. There the group discussed, and then argued, over what had happened and how they should proceed. Cassius and Manus were insistent that the death of an Inquisitor's agent was a serious matter, and should be brought to the attention of the Inquisitor as soon as possible. Merrick, Vadik, and Aurora were all insistent that doing so would only doom them all, potentially even Mahaka, as the Inquisition was known to care little for protestations of innocence. After long debate, Vadik finally confessed as the killer, and warned the others their mere presence would be seem as complicity by the Inquisitor if they sought him out. He insisted it was the only way to ensure that Mahaka got Crassus, and that Shen's comments about his employer seeking a Rogue Trader in the Expanse was too close to describing their employer for his comfort. He did, he insisted, what needed to be done. No one seemed pleased that the man had taken the matter into his own hands, and Cassius furiously demanded that any such action could only be taken in the future after consulting with the rest of the group. With the matter settled, they decided to space Shen's corpse and belongings and never to speak of him (or his involvement in their escapades aboard the Hermitage) ever again, even to Marius or Mahaka.
Within a day they were back in the Warp and headed to Port Wander at full speed, though they spoke little to each other. The journey took only a few days to traverse the unfathomable distance, but the gulf that had opened between them shifted their perceptions to make the journey almost unbearably long. Arriving back upon the threshold of the Expanse they were relieved to hear Marius grant them a day of shore leave aboard the station, even if only for a chance to get away from each other. They would gather back at the briefing room, with their individual reports of the mission, in 24 hours.
Manus went into seclusion to meditate and pray, his mental barriers had been taxed in the extreme and he desired a chance to fortify his mind. Aurora threw herself into her studies, pouring over data slates and star charts of the Expanse in an effort to distract herself from the events of their return journey. Wu-10, returning to his Magos, was rewarded for his victories aboard the Hermitage by having the augmetic arms of his opponent grafted in place of his old arms. Merrick drank at a bar near the docks, thankful for a chance to pretend, even for a moment) that he was back in a simpler place where the rules were easy to understand. Vadik, unperturbed by the party's criticism, hammered target after target on the shooting range aboard the Khyber. He seemed not care, like he had not even done the deed. Cassius, intrigued by the tale of the assassination of the lord of the House of Krin, spent his time chasing down leads on what information he could find, or buy, in the short time available to him.
Gathered again aboard the Khyber, the party was loaded into a shuttle and brought to one of Mahaka's three command cruisers. For only the second time, the Rogue Trader had seen fit to personally debrief the party on the events of the Hermitage. Gathered in a stately command chamber with rich wooden walls, crystal lighting, and lush carpets they seemed ill at ease. With each other, if not with their unexpectedly aristocratic environs (with the exception of Cassius, who thought the whole affair a bit cheap). The usual attendees were there in Marius and the support crew of the Gypsy, but seated to one side of the room was a person of interest that none of them had met before.
Her age was practically indeterminate due to her obvious use of repeated rejuvenant treatments. Silver haired with a beauty that could equally have been the result of expensive surgery or genetic serendipity, she exuded a confident demeanor with a glance that wordlessly spoke of her familiarity with command and privilege. Despite her beauty though, she bore herself with the careful movements that usually accompanied the ravages of age upon the body. Whoever she was, she had lived for an inordinately long time, and she had the resources to look like she was no more than forty. She was flanked by two bodyguards bearing distinctive tattoos of the Tempestus Scions, with augmetic conversions which Wu-10 noted to be of a quality never seen off of the red planet of Mars. As Mahaka entered the room she approached the woman, bowed quickly, and spoke to her in hushed tones before gathering the assembled and directing them to seats arranged around a holo projector.
She and Marius reviewed, step by step, the events aboard the Hermitage. At times she paused and asked for clarification on a certain matter from the party, but largely cited their reports. No mention of Shen was made after his disappearance at the final day of the auction. Mahaka applauded the party of their ability to survive a nearly suicidal mission into Skalla's ship in the pursuit of fulfilling their objectives. In light of their demonstrated commitment, as well as the favor in which the God-Emperor obviously viewed them, she had decided it was time to reveal more of their true purpose for venturing into the Koronus Expanse. She motioned for the mysterious woman to come forward, and stepped aside in obvious deference as she made her way using an engraved brass cane topped with a fine crystal carved in impossibly intricate geometric designs.
Her age was practically indeterminate due to her obvious use of repeated rejuvenant treatments. Silver haired with a beauty that could equally have been the result of expensive surgery or genetic serendipity, she exuded a confident demeanor with a glance that wordlessly spoke of her familiarity with command and privilege. Despite her beauty though, she bore herself with the careful movements that usually accompanied the ravages of age upon the body. Whoever she was, she had lived for an inordinately long time, and she had the resources to look like she was no more than forty. She was flanked by two bodyguards bearing distinctive tattoos of the Tempestus Scions, with augmetic conversions which Wu-10 noted to be of a quality never seen off of the red planet of Mars. As Mahaka entered the room she approached the woman, bowed quickly, and spoke to her in hushed tones before gathering the assembled and directing them to seats arranged around a holo projector.
She and Marius reviewed, step by step, the events aboard the Hermitage. At times she paused and asked for clarification on a certain matter from the party, but largely cited their reports. No mention of Shen was made after his disappearance at the final day of the auction. Mahaka applauded the party of their ability to survive a nearly suicidal mission into Skalla's ship in the pursuit of fulfilling their objectives. In light of their demonstrated commitment, as well as the favor in which the God-Emperor obviously viewed them, she had decided it was time to reveal more of their true purpose for venturing into the Koronus Expanse. She motioned for the mysterious woman to come forward, and stepped aside in obvious deference as she made her way using an engraved brass cane topped with a fine crystal carved in impossibly intricate geometric designs.
She introduced herself as Lady Albina Aranea, head of the House of Aranea and widow of Typhon Hastus Aranea. She had been responsible for bringing Roa Mahaka, and all of the assembled persons, together at Port Wander for the purpose of mounting an expedition into the Koronus Expanse in an effort to clear the name of her late husband. Typhon, she explained, had been unfairly persecuted and accused his entire life by various members of the Terran nobility. It had largely been expected and easily deflected, as such games were common among the aristocracy. Until an Inquisitor named Baylor of the Ordo Xenos finally brought something forward that made his masters take notice. Albina insisted that his evidence was either exaggerated or fabricated, but it was enough to bring her husband to trial. The results of the trial were sealed, even from her, and so she knows nothing of what was said in the halls of judgement. What happened was that her husband agreed to plead guilty and accept execution in order to save his House from falling with him. Baylor had been furious, insisting that the House was collectively responsible and should collectively be punished and their holdings forfeit to the Inquisition. And just as Albina had sworn to clear her husband's name, Baylor had sworn to see the House of Aranea exposed.
Towards her stated purpose of clearing her husband's guilt, Albina was sending Mahaka into the Expanse. Her husband, an amateur historian and avid collector of artifacts, had commissioned traders, mercenaries, and expeditions into the Expanse for decades to recover new information or relics for his personal museum. Albina believed that one of these expeditions feel afoul of the Inquisition, and was used as the excuse to target and prosecute her husband. Her agents had discovered little about the trial, but knew that the testimony of four crew members of a ship seized by the Ordo Xenos bearing some unknown contraband in the Expanse had been crucial evidence. Their names and final judgments were the only information Albina's intelligence efforts had found. She and Mahaka were sending the party to find as many of these four as they could, so that they could be questioned about their testimony to discover what it was they had said (or done) that had such dire consequences for Typhon Aranea.
The problem, it turns out, had been the judgement of the four. They had been sentenced to serve out the remainder of their natural lives in Penal Regiment Zeta 9 Epsilon under the command of Colonel Sargon Siduran and Commissar Axel Kane on the frontier world of Orion 9. This planet, once lush and green, had been a festering ruin of war and bloodshed for years. Just as the Hermitage had been one of the Imperium's first attempts at creating a space station inside the Expanse itself, Orion 9 was one of its first attempts at creating a fortress world from which to launch pacification operations into surrounding systems. They had failed to take note of the orc presence on Orion 9 before committing countless lives and resources towards taking the planet, and the planet had been in a state of roiling conflict ever since. The Imperium, too proud to concede the planet after choosing it as their first bastion in the Expanse, continued to pour regiment after regiment into fruitless attempts to destroy the orc presence. The orcs, emboldened and empowered by the conflict, had launched a WAAAGH! on the planet that had echoed into nearby systems and drawn even more of the green-skinned menace like moths to a flame.
And somewhere in that hellhole was a penal regiment with four soldiers that the party had been tasked to recover. They were supplied with documents, with astonishingly high levels of clearance, from both the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy granting the four soldiers pardon and reprieve from their sentences (something Aurora noted was unheard of with the penal regiments). Furthermore, they would issued a greater allotment of funds for purchasing equipment and preparing themselves for the journey ahead. Once they entered the space of Orion 9 they would be on their own. Their status as agents of a Rogue Trader in frontier space granted them extraordinary freedom to move in and around the active war zone, but they could not command the forces on the surface or expect dispensations be made on their account.
They each understood that they were entering the next phase of operations, and that the stakes of an already dangerous game had just become steeper...
And somewhere in that hellhole was a penal regiment with four soldiers that the party had been tasked to recover. They were supplied with documents, with astonishingly high levels of clearance, from both the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy granting the four soldiers pardon and reprieve from their sentences (something Aurora noted was unheard of with the penal regiments). Furthermore, they would issued a greater allotment of funds for purchasing equipment and preparing themselves for the journey ahead. Once they entered the space of Orion 9 they would be on their own. Their status as agents of a Rogue Trader in frontier space granted them extraordinary freedom to move in and around the active war zone, but they could not command the forces on the surface or expect dispensations be made on their account.
They each understood that they were entering the next phase of operations, and that the stakes of an already dangerous game had just become steeper...