A House Divided
Act 2 - The Shadow of the Abyss
Chapter 1 - The Green Grindstone
The grim certainty of the violence that awaited them on the surface of Orion 9 had the party carefully checking, double checking, and modifying their equipment. Weapons were cleaned, armor was mended, and crates of supplies were loaded into the Gypsy, the Queen, and the groups's new Taurox APC (issued them for traversing the surface of Orion 9 by ground if air travel was unfeasible). Aurora pulled up files, dataslate and vid capture, detailing ork anatomy, battle tactics, and equipment. The more they read, watched, listened, and prepared for the events ahead, the greater the sense of gravity settled onto them. In order to allay their concerns, Marius introduced them to the newest member of their entourage.
The grim certainty of the violence that awaited them on the surface of Orion 9 had the party carefully checking, double checking, and modifying their equipment. Weapons were cleaned, armor was mended, and crates of supplies were loaded into the Gypsy, the Queen, and the groups's new Taurox APC (issued them for traversing the surface of Orion 9 by ground if air travel was unfeasible). Aurora pulled up files, dataslate and vid capture, detailing ork anatomy, battle tactics, and equipment. The more they read, watched, listened, and prepared for the events ahead, the greater the sense of gravity settled onto them. In order to allay their concerns, Marius introduced them to the newest member of their entourage.
A figure in the red robes of the Adeptus Mechanicus, trimmed in orange with the badge of Ryza proudly on display, Valens Grimm entered the loading bay. Perhaps it was the way his mechadendrites continually seemed to flit about and analyze everything independent of the Tech-Priest, or the way his speech seemed to halt and stutter randomly (like he had almost forgotten how to speak Low Gothic at all), but the group seemed ill at ease with their new comrade at first. It also may have been the towering presence of his silent combat servitor standing beside him like a golem. Regardless of his eccentricities, his skills and knowledge of the orks, which Marius insisted were the reason behind his assignment to the team, would surely prove beneficial.
As it had before, the journey through the stations of passage was blessedly uneventful. Much like their return journey from the Hermitage, Manus noted that the ever-present voices in the Immaterium seemed oddly distant and muted. Not for the first time he voiced the idea that, perhaps, some thing had marked them. Regardless, they made good use of the time they had before. Valens ingratiated himself to his team by tinkering and refining their weapons, though he was not successful in linking their Taurox's turret into an automated system attached to the mind-impulse unit for the controls. There was only so much to be done after leaving the Maw and cutting a path across the stars of the Expanse towards Orion 9, and in the end their preparations were as much to keep their minds off of what lay ahead as they were a matter of necessity.
After discussing their options with Hannibal, Cassius decided to bring the Gypsy into the system less than a day from planet itself. Orion 9 was the first planet in orbit of a yellow star not dissimilar to Earht, and occupied the "Goldilocks Zone" so highly prized for colony efforts. Four gas giants scrubbed the outer system and shielded the world, and for a few seconds in space it seemed too peaceful to be an active war zone. After the effects of Warp transition had faded Hannibal opened the Gypsy's comms, and both he and Cassius were almost overcome with the flood of information that pored into his mind-impulse link with the ship's systems. A riot of coded and open transmissions broadcast distress signals, maneuver commands, and more. The auspex became a littered mess of tags so fractured and disorganized it became impossible to see anything on the star charts, and eventually Cassius shut down the automated systems in order to scrub the scan feeds for only vital information. It would be a dangerous approach to the planet between the ork swarms and the Imperial Navy picket lines, made doubly difficult by the need to fly the ship manually at high speed to adapt to the changing conditions of the battlefield. The navigation cogitator determined it would take 20 hours and had a 68% chance of success, Cassius did it in 12 and they never even saw a single other vessel.
Having reached high orbit near the planet Cassius eased his shaking hands off the controls and took a deep breath. They had decided not to drop onto the planet's surface unannounced, for fear that the unique signature of their ship (or lack thereof) would result in their being targeted by Imperial forces planet side. They also got their first glimpse of Orion 9 itself; it had been a beautiful and lush planet once, before the Imperium had begun its conversion into a fortress world. It was now caught between two states as fortified cities and outposts, linked together with armored rail lines and transport pipes for vital resources, cut across its surface like barb wire. Fire, visible even from orbit, burned swathes the size of hive cities where the orks battled humanity for the fate of hapless planet. Cassius broke comms silence on the civil network, though he was quickly reconnected to a military frequency and challenged to identify his vessel and intent in the system by a rapidly approaching cruiser calling itself the Hierophant's Fury. Luckily, the vessel's captain took their credentials at face value and escorted them to a safe descent vector for approach to the planet's capital of Gloriana. They had made it to the planet! Now...would they make it off?
They had considered leaving the Gypsy in orbit, but the chaotic state of the planet's orbit convinced them it would be better to bring the precious vessel to the surface and dock her there. There was little choice of accommodations, as there were assigned a docking berth by a harried and short tempered traffic controller. The sky was full of his ships limping to and from the surface. Some little more than flaming wreckage descending for repairs through sheer hope and persistence, others gunning their engines back to space after refit to dare the ork ships' fury in their defense of the planet. Here and there, supply and refugee ships attempted to slip in or out with as little attention as possible. Once docked at a worn hangar, alongside a merchant hauler which looked like it had absorbed more firepower than it was actually capable of hauling, they got directions to the Imperial Guard command center from a dockmaster who seemed almost amused that they had chosen to come to this planet. Cassius, Aurora, Valens, and Vadik (bedecked in his Arbites armor) were chosen to approach the command center. Merrick, Manus, and Wu-10 would remain to keep an eye on the ship and make final preparations for their departure.
The journey to the command center was hectic and confusing, as Orion 9 had been built similarly to Cadia with a confusing maze of streets and avenues which were meant to disorient and slow any invading forces. Once they arrived at the IG command center, a squat ziggurat-styled multi-story building, decorated with an eye for garish grandiosity which clashed painfully with the severity of its architectural function, they approached the first of multiple checkpoints, The private manning the position, in an ill-fitting uniform, broke out in a sweat at the group's unexpected arrival. He was equal parts relieved and terrified when the irate sergeant of the guard showed up to find out why he kept broadcasting on the command frequency for someone to come and help him. The gruff non-comm ushered them past the remaining checkpoints after reviewing their documents, leaving them to sit in a glass waiting room within the command center under the watchful eye of more competent guards.
Back at the ship, Merrick had stepped off into the shadows of the hangar to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the work crews. The merchant ship's captain had already plied them for information about the specialized vessel, and he was convinced it would only be a matter of time before someone made a move on their ship. At his insistence Wu-10 and Manus stood together by the loading ramp, with Vadik and Valen's servitors running a patrol lap around the ship. True to his instincts he finally caught two members of the hangar work crews not-so-covertly taking pictures of the vessel in an obvious attempt to case the value of their ship. Sliding up behind them with his trusty sidearms snug in the small of their backs he brought them face to face with his companions in an effort to dissuade whatever they had planned. One of them confessed that they would be in trouble with their boss, a man named "T", is they didn't report such a high value ship docked. After briefly conferring with the group at the IG command by comm net, he told the dockworkers to have "T" come talk to them.
Back at the ship, Merrick had stepped off into the shadows of the hangar to keep an eye on the comings and goings of the work crews. The merchant ship's captain had already plied them for information about the specialized vessel, and he was convinced it would only be a matter of time before someone made a move on their ship. At his insistence Wu-10 and Manus stood together by the loading ramp, with Vadik and Valen's servitors running a patrol lap around the ship. True to his instincts he finally caught two members of the hangar work crews not-so-covertly taking pictures of the vessel in an obvious attempt to case the value of their ship. Sliding up behind them with his trusty sidearms snug in the small of their backs he brought them face to face with his companions in an effort to dissuade whatever they had planned. One of them confessed that they would be in trouble with their boss, a man named "T", is they didn't report such a high value ship docked. After briefly conferring with the group at the IG command by comm net, he told the dockworkers to have "T" come talk to them.
After two hours of waiting at the command center, an adjutant to the general barged in and demanded to see their credentials again. After hastily reviewing their documents, he questioned them to determine the validity of their claims to who they were and why they were on a planet classified as an active war zone. Satisfied that they were legitimate, he escorted them to see the general on the upper floor of the command center. Lita Sanchez was a severe woman, but a competent commander. The IG troops had begun to call her "General Gloriana" as they believed she WAS the capital, and the last hope of the war effort on Orion 9. Behind a rich mahogany desk she waded through a sea of orders, charts, maps, and tactical disposition reports with concentrated intent. She barely even looked up from these reports as she questioned the party brought before her. She was willing to discuss the last known location of the penal regiment they sought, but required a service from the party in turn. A military supply train had broken down enroute to a remote outpost, and the repair convoy sent to service it had lost communication some hours ago. If they would assist her in getting her train moving, she would give them the location of the regiment. Once they agreed, she commented that it was fortuitous that the train had actually broken down enroute to the outpost to which the penal regiment had been assigned. She provided them with secure comms frequencies, maps, and the last known disposition of the convoy, the train, and the outpost before absently thanking them for their contribution to the war effort as they were hurried out the door.
After leaving the HQ and making their way to the hangar again, they made plans to have Hannibal airlift them to a landing zone near the last known position of the rail repair convoy. They would follow the service road for the buried mag-lev lines in their Taurox until they found the convoy. As they loaded the last of the necessary supplies into the hulking APC an vehicle slowly pulled to a halt outside of the hangar. A heavily built man with an augmetic arm and an arrogant swagger walked purposely across the bay towards them, identifying himself as "T." He wasted little time trying to extort as much money as he could from the group, demanding an exorbitant docking fee to ensure their vessel was safe while they were on the planet. Vadik, well versed in dealing with the criminal element, worked with Cassius to talk the mobster's price down. In the end it was Manus, exasperated at the waste of time, who decided the manner. Channeling the Warp he fixed the weak-willed criminal's mind on less than 1/4 of his initial price. With the matter settled, they lifted off with Hannibal flying the Queen of Diamonds and headed out across the scarred landscape of Orion 9.
Using the maps supplied by General Sanchez they located the service road for the mag-lev in little time. They were buried several meters under concrete in the ground, so that it was nearly impossible to blow the rail line system without extensive engineering tools and time. A worn supply road followed the system, and after dropping their Taurox onto it Hannibal flew the Queen north along the road and reported a plume of smoke a few miles from their position. They made their way as quickly as the heavy vehicle would allow them, but they knew they had mixed chances. The convoy had lost contact over 9 hours before, chances were slim that they were still alive if orks were involved. Much to their surprise when they crested the last hill separating them from the position that Hannibal had reported, they found a handful of survivors still battling for their lives amidst the wreckage of their convoy.
Two cargo haulers laden with repair parts, as well as two lighter Taurus escort vehicles, were surrounded by a host of ork vehicles driving circles around their position. One of the large cargo haulers had been blown onto its side, and the others had apparently refused to leave their fallen comrades (or the valuable supplies inside the overturned hauler). Flaming wreckage and piles of gretchin bodies lay in heaps around the vehicles, testament to the orks multiple, furious attempts at breaching the withering fire the turrets of the remaining convoy laid down. Even so, from their vantage they could see more than a few human bodies among the carnage, and ammunition was no doubt running terribly short. Cassius slammed the pedal down as the others hastily loaded weapons and made a hasty assault plan. It did not take long before the orks saw them, and as Cassius engaged the brake to power-slide them into a position where they could use the Taurox as cover an ork trukk and two ork cycles peeled off of the assault and roared towards them.
The engagement was brief. The orks and their gretchin servants had been acquainted with poorly trained IG conscripts with sub-standard equipment and even worse training. There was a reason that each member of the team had been selected for Mahaka's field teams. Carefully aimed shots brought down both of the bikes; and a crack shot into the windshield, and shortly thereafter the face, of the ork driving the trukk caused him to spin the wheel and roll the ramshackle vehicle. The other orks, realizing they needed to address this new threat together, pulled their vehicles up in a line and stared as Cassius moved the Taurox again for a better vantage around the ruined trukk. To their collective surprise, the ork driver of the rolled truck lifted the flaming hulk with a roar of hatred. Wu-10, less than impressed at the ork's brutal strength, sent a single round from his radium rifle through the ork's knee. It's howl of brutal primacy gave way to one of bewildered terror as the trukk slammed back down and silenced the monstrous xenos forever.
The engines of the ork convoy rumbled and they howled across the green grass of the space separating them from the party in a defiant challenge. Merrick, brandishing the axe he had taken off of the pirates in the Hermitage, climbed atop the Taurox and brazenly challenged the ork who howled from atop the largest of the patchwork trukks. With a hideous snarl it pointed its axe back at him and the ork convoy began to speed towards them. The party prepared to meet the sudden rush, there were so many of them to contend with that a sinking feeling began to creep into them. Everyone, that is, except for Manus. He had been busy whispering mantras of focus to prepare his mind for channeling the pure essensce of the Warp and crafting it into a surprise for their green-skinned enemies. The temperature in the crew compartment of the Aurox dropped suddenly to below zero as a smoking orb of nothingness formed outside of the porthole window Manus pressed his hand against. His eyes squeezed tight, the veins in his forehead bulging, his teeth grinding so loudly they could be heard above the roar of the Taurox's engine as the plasteel porthole began to smoke and deform around his hand. With a wordless snarl his eyes flew open and the ball of energy shot out towards the ork convoy with startling speed. Merrick noticed, in amazement, that you could follow its passage by the wavering light distortion around it as much as you could by the earth which was scorched to glass in a line beneath it as it flew. When it reached the center of the oncoming orks it erupted into an apocalypse of azure flame.
The fires of the Warp consumed every vehicle but one, the furthest outlying cycle. The largest truck, propelled by momentum alone, rolled through the flames to a stop less than 25 meters from their position. The ork atop the trukk was still alive, and he dropped from the hood of the trukk and stalked towards their vehicles. His brain, fueled as it was by the power of the WAAGGHH!, refused to acknowledge the flames which wreathed it; but death will not be denied by ignorance alone. Mere feet from their vehicle the ork's legs gave way, and it looked up with confused eyes as Merrick brought his axe crashing down to split the xenos' head in two. Vadik sent two careful shots after the fleeing cycle that survived the psyker's firestorm, easily dropping the gretchins before they could go for help. The battle for the convoy was done, but it was only the opening engagement in what might prove to be a suicidal effort to fulfill the wishes of the woman they served....
Two cargo haulers laden with repair parts, as well as two lighter Taurus escort vehicles, were surrounded by a host of ork vehicles driving circles around their position. One of the large cargo haulers had been blown onto its side, and the others had apparently refused to leave their fallen comrades (or the valuable supplies inside the overturned hauler). Flaming wreckage and piles of gretchin bodies lay in heaps around the vehicles, testament to the orks multiple, furious attempts at breaching the withering fire the turrets of the remaining convoy laid down. Even so, from their vantage they could see more than a few human bodies among the carnage, and ammunition was no doubt running terribly short. Cassius slammed the pedal down as the others hastily loaded weapons and made a hasty assault plan. It did not take long before the orks saw them, and as Cassius engaged the brake to power-slide them into a position where they could use the Taurox as cover an ork trukk and two ork cycles peeled off of the assault and roared towards them.
The engagement was brief. The orks and their gretchin servants had been acquainted with poorly trained IG conscripts with sub-standard equipment and even worse training. There was a reason that each member of the team had been selected for Mahaka's field teams. Carefully aimed shots brought down both of the bikes; and a crack shot into the windshield, and shortly thereafter the face, of the ork driving the trukk caused him to spin the wheel and roll the ramshackle vehicle. The other orks, realizing they needed to address this new threat together, pulled their vehicles up in a line and stared as Cassius moved the Taurox again for a better vantage around the ruined trukk. To their collective surprise, the ork driver of the rolled truck lifted the flaming hulk with a roar of hatred. Wu-10, less than impressed at the ork's brutal strength, sent a single round from his radium rifle through the ork's knee. It's howl of brutal primacy gave way to one of bewildered terror as the trukk slammed back down and silenced the monstrous xenos forever.
The engines of the ork convoy rumbled and they howled across the green grass of the space separating them from the party in a defiant challenge. Merrick, brandishing the axe he had taken off of the pirates in the Hermitage, climbed atop the Taurox and brazenly challenged the ork who howled from atop the largest of the patchwork trukks. With a hideous snarl it pointed its axe back at him and the ork convoy began to speed towards them. The party prepared to meet the sudden rush, there were so many of them to contend with that a sinking feeling began to creep into them. Everyone, that is, except for Manus. He had been busy whispering mantras of focus to prepare his mind for channeling the pure essensce of the Warp and crafting it into a surprise for their green-skinned enemies. The temperature in the crew compartment of the Aurox dropped suddenly to below zero as a smoking orb of nothingness formed outside of the porthole window Manus pressed his hand against. His eyes squeezed tight, the veins in his forehead bulging, his teeth grinding so loudly they could be heard above the roar of the Taurox's engine as the plasteel porthole began to smoke and deform around his hand. With a wordless snarl his eyes flew open and the ball of energy shot out towards the ork convoy with startling speed. Merrick noticed, in amazement, that you could follow its passage by the wavering light distortion around it as much as you could by the earth which was scorched to glass in a line beneath it as it flew. When it reached the center of the oncoming orks it erupted into an apocalypse of azure flame.
The fires of the Warp consumed every vehicle but one, the furthest outlying cycle. The largest truck, propelled by momentum alone, rolled through the flames to a stop less than 25 meters from their position. The ork atop the trukk was still alive, and he dropped from the hood of the trukk and stalked towards their vehicles. His brain, fueled as it was by the power of the WAAGGHH!, refused to acknowledge the flames which wreathed it; but death will not be denied by ignorance alone. Mere feet from their vehicle the ork's legs gave way, and it looked up with confused eyes as Merrick brought his axe crashing down to split the xenos' head in two. Vadik sent two careful shots after the fleeing cycle that survived the psyker's firestorm, easily dropping the gretchins before they could go for help. The battle for the convoy was done, but it was only the opening engagement in what might prove to be a suicidal effort to fulfill the wishes of the woman they served....