Adeptus Astartes: Deathwatch
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2009 9:50 am
1455 Day 1
The briefing room of the light cruiserBulwarkis dark as you enter. There are no seats, no benches, the only thing standing is a hololith in the very center of the circular room. Around the perimeter a handful of adepts and tech priests monitor the dozens of vid screens and data terminals that line the walls from a platform raised a meter up. Their heads nearly brush the ceiling of the claustrophobic room as yours does even from your lower vantage point. Only the glow of the repeaters and the pale green light of the hololith illuminate the room.
Standing beside the hololith is the person who summoned you here. Tall for a human the young woman barely comes up to the middle of your chest. Her dark skin barely reflects the light of the hololith and it makes the sharp lines of her face harsher. She doesn't acknowledge your entrance, deeply focused on the report the hololith is displaying. Her thin small lips are pursed in deep concentration as she finishes reading. She waved her hand in front of the display and the report dissolved into static. As the last of your number walks in she flicks a gauntleted hand across one of the many stray braids of her hair to get it out of her face, the silver skull charm entwined in it clinking as it strikes other such symbols and decorations in her other braids. Each strand is pulled tight against her bare scalp but she lets them dangle freely behind her. Her dress is a combination of the practical and the ornate. She wears a red and black skirt inlaid with golden thread and filigree but her bodice is a polished cermite affair. It's rivets and buckles are golden but for all the finery it is obviously armor first and decoration second. her arms disappear into voluminous red and black silk sleeves that match her dress but two armored pads to match the bodice cover her shoulders. As she moves to stand beside the hololith you can notice that the dress is split over her legs allowing it to move freely and revealing her legs to be encased in the same type of armor her torso is, right down to the thick heeled boots she wears. Around her waist is a golden chain with the gothic I of the Inquisition dangling from it. Around her waist are various pouches and electronic devices. On her left hip rests a simple but excellently made sword and on the right worn low is a tastefully decorated las pistol.
She pauses for a moment, waiting for the last of your number to enter before beginning. "Welcome," she begins in a pleasing soprano. "My name is Inquisitor Antonia of the Ordo Xenos. I apologize for the suddenness of our meeting. Ones such as yourselves would usually be given time to integrate fully as a team before being given an assignment. You were diverted here to the Bulwark though because of a pressing threat and our resources in this sector are stretched perilously thin." She tapped a few keys on the hololith and a meter in diameter image of a planet appeared in mid air. It was plain and simple, an unassuming little rock. It appeared to be temperate, with a wide green belt slowly giving way to large snow caps. There was quite a bit of land but it was broken up into many small continents of a few million kilometers each. "This is P3X887c," she said with a gesture towards the planet. "A relatively unassuming planet on the fringes of the galaxy, right at the edge of the Astronomicon's reach. It was first charted in the thirty third millennium. It has few natural resources and at the time of its discovery it was just coming out of an ice age. It had little to offer at the time, especially given that it is also infested with orks. The Imperium has had little reason to muster the resources necessary to purge the world of the orks and then station there to keep it free of them. Instead it was noted, cataloged, and the orks put under surveillance. So it has remained, for over seven thousand years. The orks themselves have never proven to be a threat, too busy killing each other to group up enough to be a real threat. They've never even progressed past killing each other with clubs and stone weapons, at least until now."
The surface of the planet split open, peeling apart to lay flat above the hololith. The display quickly zoomed into one particular continent with a large mountain range where a red beacon glowed. "On the latest reconnaissance mission it was noted that not only had the orks suddenly advanced in sophistication, there was evidence they were forming larger war bands. This was unprecedented. Not only had they advanced beyond stone tools for the first time in seven millenia, they had done it in less than three decades. The anomaly was noted and further study was ordered." Antonia frowned and annoyance tinged her voice, "Five years later the follow on group arrived. The orks had unified under three separate leaders. There is evidence that the most powerful of them is attempting to coerce the others into joining is war band. The orks were employing their crude bolt weapons, ground craft and even sea going vessels. Also it was noted that several space hulks were moving through the systems on course to arrive at P3X887c within the next month. That was six weeks ago."
Antonia worked the controls again and the red beacon expanded. It had marked a large ork encampment, a tent city of vast size in the valley below a crude fortress perched on the side of a mountainous ridge. "Based upon the data the reconnaissance teams have returned it is now evident to me that the warboss in control of this fortress is on the verge of uniting the planet. The gathering of space hulks proves it. Once the planet is united it is highly likely they will begin a 'WAAGH!!!', something we are simply not prepared for." Another wave of her hand and the continent shrank until the world appeared, then the system and finally it pulled out until the entire sector of space was visible. P3X887c blazed a steady red and five others nearby began to blink in red. "If a 'WAAGH!!!" begins it will undoubtedly pick up these additional feral ork populations. Imperial forces in this sector are stretched thin. Much of the guard and space marines in the area are dealing with a chaos incursion in the Lysinian Way. The remainder of the Guard are on the border with the Tau. We do not have the resources in the sector to deal with a 'WAAGH!!!' of this size. Dozens of worlds and almost half a trillion Imperial citizens will be in danger from this horde. Obviously, this cannot come to pass."
The hololith returned to the view of the fortress. "Our mission is simple, infiltrate the fortress during the meeting between the warbosses, assassinate all three along with their lieutenants. If we decapitate the upper levels of their leadership the remaining mobs will likely devolve into infighting over a new leader. At the least this will buy us time to organize a defense. At best they will collapse back into bar... greater barbarism and no longer pose a threat. Questions?"
The briefing room of the light cruiserBulwarkis dark as you enter. There are no seats, no benches, the only thing standing is a hololith in the very center of the circular room. Around the perimeter a handful of adepts and tech priests monitor the dozens of vid screens and data terminals that line the walls from a platform raised a meter up. Their heads nearly brush the ceiling of the claustrophobic room as yours does even from your lower vantage point. Only the glow of the repeaters and the pale green light of the hololith illuminate the room.
Standing beside the hololith is the person who summoned you here. Tall for a human the young woman barely comes up to the middle of your chest. Her dark skin barely reflects the light of the hololith and it makes the sharp lines of her face harsher. She doesn't acknowledge your entrance, deeply focused on the report the hololith is displaying. Her thin small lips are pursed in deep concentration as she finishes reading. She waved her hand in front of the display and the report dissolved into static. As the last of your number walks in she flicks a gauntleted hand across one of the many stray braids of her hair to get it out of her face, the silver skull charm entwined in it clinking as it strikes other such symbols and decorations in her other braids. Each strand is pulled tight against her bare scalp but she lets them dangle freely behind her. Her dress is a combination of the practical and the ornate. She wears a red and black skirt inlaid with golden thread and filigree but her bodice is a polished cermite affair. It's rivets and buckles are golden but for all the finery it is obviously armor first and decoration second. her arms disappear into voluminous red and black silk sleeves that match her dress but two armored pads to match the bodice cover her shoulders. As she moves to stand beside the hololith you can notice that the dress is split over her legs allowing it to move freely and revealing her legs to be encased in the same type of armor her torso is, right down to the thick heeled boots she wears. Around her waist is a golden chain with the gothic I of the Inquisition dangling from it. Around her waist are various pouches and electronic devices. On her left hip rests a simple but excellently made sword and on the right worn low is a tastefully decorated las pistol.
She pauses for a moment, waiting for the last of your number to enter before beginning. "Welcome," she begins in a pleasing soprano. "My name is Inquisitor Antonia of the Ordo Xenos. I apologize for the suddenness of our meeting. Ones such as yourselves would usually be given time to integrate fully as a team before being given an assignment. You were diverted here to the Bulwark though because of a pressing threat and our resources in this sector are stretched perilously thin." She tapped a few keys on the hololith and a meter in diameter image of a planet appeared in mid air. It was plain and simple, an unassuming little rock. It appeared to be temperate, with a wide green belt slowly giving way to large snow caps. There was quite a bit of land but it was broken up into many small continents of a few million kilometers each. "This is P3X887c," she said with a gesture towards the planet. "A relatively unassuming planet on the fringes of the galaxy, right at the edge of the Astronomicon's reach. It was first charted in the thirty third millennium. It has few natural resources and at the time of its discovery it was just coming out of an ice age. It had little to offer at the time, especially given that it is also infested with orks. The Imperium has had little reason to muster the resources necessary to purge the world of the orks and then station there to keep it free of them. Instead it was noted, cataloged, and the orks put under surveillance. So it has remained, for over seven thousand years. The orks themselves have never proven to be a threat, too busy killing each other to group up enough to be a real threat. They've never even progressed past killing each other with clubs and stone weapons, at least until now."
The surface of the planet split open, peeling apart to lay flat above the hololith. The display quickly zoomed into one particular continent with a large mountain range where a red beacon glowed. "On the latest reconnaissance mission it was noted that not only had the orks suddenly advanced in sophistication, there was evidence they were forming larger war bands. This was unprecedented. Not only had they advanced beyond stone tools for the first time in seven millenia, they had done it in less than three decades. The anomaly was noted and further study was ordered." Antonia frowned and annoyance tinged her voice, "Five years later the follow on group arrived. The orks had unified under three separate leaders. There is evidence that the most powerful of them is attempting to coerce the others into joining is war band. The orks were employing their crude bolt weapons, ground craft and even sea going vessels. Also it was noted that several space hulks were moving through the systems on course to arrive at P3X887c within the next month. That was six weeks ago."
Antonia worked the controls again and the red beacon expanded. It had marked a large ork encampment, a tent city of vast size in the valley below a crude fortress perched on the side of a mountainous ridge. "Based upon the data the reconnaissance teams have returned it is now evident to me that the warboss in control of this fortress is on the verge of uniting the planet. The gathering of space hulks proves it. Once the planet is united it is highly likely they will begin a 'WAAGH!!!', something we are simply not prepared for." Another wave of her hand and the continent shrank until the world appeared, then the system and finally it pulled out until the entire sector of space was visible. P3X887c blazed a steady red and five others nearby began to blink in red. "If a 'WAAGH!!!" begins it will undoubtedly pick up these additional feral ork populations. Imperial forces in this sector are stretched thin. Much of the guard and space marines in the area are dealing with a chaos incursion in the Lysinian Way. The remainder of the Guard are on the border with the Tau. We do not have the resources in the sector to deal with a 'WAAGH!!!' of this size. Dozens of worlds and almost half a trillion Imperial citizens will be in danger from this horde. Obviously, this cannot come to pass."
The hololith returned to the view of the fortress. "Our mission is simple, infiltrate the fortress during the meeting between the warbosses, assassinate all three along with their lieutenants. If we decapitate the upper levels of their leadership the remaining mobs will likely devolve into infighting over a new leader. At the least this will buy us time to organize a defense. At best they will collapse back into bar... greater barbarism and no longer pose a threat. Questions?"