[Just getting the in character thread started. Good time to introduce your characters and discuss your plans. No rush here. I'm not going to move forward until all characters are ready. Also hoping to get some new folks to join!]


Chapter 1: The Safehouse

Hive Gallows, Reach of St. Boniface: Level 34

Some years after Governor Loisy's Rescue...

The street of this corner of the hive was crowded. Pilgrims and other pedestrians pressed in close to each other while merchants in tattered clothing hwaked their wares loudly. Like much of the hive, the adjacent buildings appeared to be fashioned from stone and adorned the gothic architecture of many Imperial worlds, coupled with the tell tale signs of arcane technology like neon signs and flying sevo skulls. Like many days, it was overcast, cold and raining. Regardless of the weather, pedestrians kept their hoods over their heads and their faces down, lest they draw the attention of the PDF Soldiers or servo surveillance drones, ever watchful for any sign of deviance...

Even though level 34 was part of the middle upper hive, it was easiest to see that the hive had seen better days. If the rumors were true, trade had dried up the last few years while military tithes remained sky high.

Up ahead a ragged street preacher can be heard shouting from atop a crate some of his shouting can be heard as you pass him by.

"The great beast, Leviathon, the great devourer of worlds has cast its shadow across all the sector. Repent of your sins and pray that you be deemed worthy to join the Holy Crusade. Join the righteous Primarch Guillemon. Drive the unclean xenos back into the void!"

Despite his rantings, what the preacher said was likely true. Rumors were running rampant that Hive Fleet Leviathon was pushing across the segmentum, leaving thousands of worlds cold and lifeless. This world was currently in the process of mustering the full might of a fleet of warships, and several regiments of Astra Militarum soldiers to join in the counter attack. If the rumors were true, in less than a weeks time, all of these mightly ships and regiments would depart from this world, leaving it depleted of resources and nearly defenseless.

And in the wake of their departure... chaos would follow.

Which is exactly why you were recruited by Inquisitor Erikson of the Ordo Xenos. You were going to prevent that dark fate from happening.

You duck down a narrow dark ally and find a simple metal door. You knock three times and a servo skull embedded in the wall scans your iris. Satisfied that you are who you are suppsoed to be, the door unlocks, and you enter the safehouse.

The safehouse was no larger than a two bedroom apartment. It indeed had two simple bedrooms, electricity, running water, and a simple kitchen.

In the middle of the common area stood a simple cogitation terminal. This was your only means to communicate with the Inquisition. When you access it, you would receive the following message.


Operation CONTINUITY is a go.

All agents, report to the countryside manor of the noblemen Strausberg in 48 standard hours time. Assist the noble with obtaining his political objectives. Your cover is that you are a mercenary or disaffected patriot. Strausberg CAN NOT know that the Inquisition is assisting him. Officially, the Inquisition is NOT operating on this world. Should the operation fail, memory purges of all agents will ensure all traces of the Ordos involvement is purged.


Getting to the manor would be no simple task. The journey would be about a week on foot, or several hours by ground car or train. The two latter options would mean circumventing tremendous security measures...and not all the local security forces could be trusted.

Going by foot would give you the option to leave the Hive via the sewer system, but that would present its own dangers. Though much diminished from years past, cult activity was still very much present beneath the bustling streets of the hive. Once outside the hive you would still need to secure a ground car or reach a train station to reach the manor in time though. Security outside the hive would not be as intense.

The first to arrive at the location is an old veteran of an off-world Astra Militarum regiment, huddling into a red and blue colored cape to keep warm. He had arrived on planet on a troop ship transporting the usual rabble of officers, overseers and specialists as well as rerouted bobs and bits of other regiments that find their way to the largest staging ground of a combat zone sooner or later to try and get ordered into an at least basically functioning amalgation of a working army - usually an futile attempt. While he did get along splendidly on the ship, finding lots of friends to spend his time with, none of the the basic troopers actually got to know which unit he was from - not an uncommon thing on a troop carrier transporting tens of thousands. The hand full of officers who did enquire and showed a certain tenacity at it only found an entry denoting him as "detailed to special operations" and knew better then to further question it.

On world he didn't have much trouble blending into the chaos and disappearing, taking his time to make sure he had nobody following him before making his way towards the meeting point. After scouting it out for an hour - you did not live to reach his age if you weren't careful - he goes to the door, needing a moment to figure out the iris scanner and enter.
Inside he first takes a look around, noticing that he seems to be the first to arrive and sets up a kettle to brew some tea, the fresh aroma of some spicy leafs filling the room soon enough, while he waits for his would be compatriots to arive.

"H" knew the routines of subterfuge like a baby knows his way to mother's milk. From the marketplace, he cased the place out for a hours as he mingled with the throng of people. He matched them by wearing his cloak hod high and deep, collar pulled up tight against the drizzle.

He bought some Starfruit and nibbled at it as he scouted the area. He had enjoyed playing the role of customer as he barked back and forth with the merchant, driving a deal he did not care about.

After watching an obvious off-worlder enter the compound H waited several beats, and then followed. No need to startle the man and take a face full of las. He leaned casually next to the entryway for a moment, enjoying the tangy taste of the fruit, and triple checking his route. No tails. He stepped into the building as a big crowd of teens stumbled by making a scene of themselves.

He scanned his iris at the scanner for entry. He wrinkled his nose at the device. Such informal ways of recognition were second-hand at best. However, his employers were working at a great distance, and familiarity was not their calling card.

He entered the room and quickly scanned it. The scent of tea leaves greeted him, and he took note of it. The off-worlder he had seen was all ready there.

H took measure of the man, and decided to forward with him. He made the sign of the Aquila and nodded.

"The Emperor be with you. My name is..... Harlowe. There was a brief pause as H settled on his name. He took in the smell of the tea leaves, knowing this man would reek of them. A good way to know him in the future.

The veteran returns the sign of the Aquila with a friendly smile "May the Skyfather protect you... You can call me Tambo." He was sitting in front of a partly dissembled long las, being in the process of meticulously cleaning, checking and ajusting its parts, as it was common for snipers. The model fitted it's user, a standard guard issue, Gryphonne pattern, so a bit on the older side as those weren't produced for the last 20 somewhat years. But lovingly taken care of, so it would do. While harlow took his measure of him, Tambo did the same.

There was no denying that the body of the veteran himself was past his prime, his statue lean and sinewy, but the fact that he had reached into his 60s in his occupation implied that he knew his trade well. And in a sense he might synergize well with H, both being sneaky types, the one adept at disappearing in crowds, the other in the wilderness.

With a gesture he invites "Harlowe" to a cup of tea and fixes him a mug from the kettle. After the newcomer had his time with the cogitator her starts "Going by train sounds like a sound and fast approach, as long as we can hope to not already be looked for. Do you have any idea if this Strausberg is already being watched by the higher ups? Or can you find that out?" he asks, falling into a tone you would expect of craftsmen chatting about which type of piping to use for a plumbing project.
Taking a sip of the fragrent brew he continues "I would trust myself to lead us through the land if needs be, but I would prefer to not waste a week just to approach a contact that we could use far better to set up on our final target."

Tambo definitly WAS interested to get to know his opposite better, also personally, but given that this task has been assigned from one of the ordos, he knew better then to ask too many questions before knowing if the other had a rather... final approach on keeping secrets.

"Patience was one of the Emperor's Graces.

Perhaps, we need to see who else our employer has assigned to this task before we get too far ahead. They may have a skillset or resources that would point to a clear path."

H gladly took the tea and sipped it gingerly. Bitter with an earthy flavor, served warm to bring life to weary limbs. He did not think it was a native brew, as he had not tasted its like in the spires and Guild halls. He savored it as he drank, the little pleasures.

As a local Harlowe would know a bit of the local power structure.

Governor Loisy and the Cardinal are still the most powerful men on the planet, controlling the local PDF and the Church (with a sizable military force of its own) respectively. The two men had been feuding bitterly for the last few years but had kept it quiet for the most part.

However both men had become increasingly paranoid of each other and the terroristic cults that continued to plague the planet. As a result, you could reasonably and safely assume that the Governor and Cardinal have a vast network of spies and surveillance.

Strausberg on the other hand was a young and up and comer. A minor noble with a knack for creating wealth from the interstellar grox herding trade, a small miracle in and of itself when so many of this world's neighbors had "gone dark" after Hive Fleet Leviathon showed up. But Strausberg wasn't making any big political moves to upstage the powers that be...at least that was known publicly.

H relayed the information he knew to the off-worlder. Chances are Tambo had only read the file. H had lived it.

It was likely that H had worked with Strausberg or his organization in the past, but he could not put his finger on it. Of course, his work would have been indirect; likely through some ciphers and cut-outs. His mind swirled as he tried to recall the details, and he latched onto the idea that the nobleman Strausberg was a Grox rancher with contacts off-world.

Hervé Lachanal was painfully moving his carcass through the hive's streets. he needed no hiding whatsoever - he was one of Loisy's foremost intendants, and would regularly be seen, walking painfully, through the streets amongst the merchants, nbuying whatever food, or most importantly, working material the Colonel and Governor would require of him.

Hervé was not a pureblood kallenese - that is, he was naturally of kallenese descent, but he was of a latter generation of settlers, and thus quite young still -only 34. But he had been crippled quite early on in his career, in fact, no he had been crippled police operation in the sector, as part of a Saint Bonifatius Sabotage Regiment. Since the warzone was nearby, and he was definitly too crippled to fight on, he was sent back to his home. There, he was charged with serving the Governor himself because of his remarkable valour and unquestionnable loyalty thus far...

Except... Said loyalty had been far from unquestionned. When the Chaos invasion was repelled, and Loisy's room sank into the dark of the underhive, he was their, and was retrieved from the rubbles, badly burned. Second injury, after that damn leg that this stupid pirate smashed...

He had seen the colonel for so long, admired and loved him as a fatherly figure. But since he had been returned, things were different. He was not the same man he knew. He had lost part of his humanity, it seemed. All because of that cursed implant, better he never got that! How did he know? He knew, he simply was thta close. But it was no longer the colonel he respected and loved. It had become a monster of calculus and statistics, throwing carelessly soldiers, farmers and workers into the fray to pay sky high tiths regardless of the cost. The vision he had had for this world was beginning to twist into a hellish place about stats rather than human courage and dedication. Hervé felt that, to let Loisy's vision come to pass, Loisy himslef had to be taken out... But the Cardinal was a worst choice even. He loathed that man, he did...

Herve stopped for a second to make up the price of a set of pencils he pretended to need for the governor's office. Then he turned tail and went further along the streets to a small metal door, with iris recognition - exactly where Strausberg had said a friend had a small apartment. He leand a bit towards the door, ever so discretly, and listened. Sounds like there was somebaody inside muttering. Two, three maybe? Whatever. He groaned, unbuckled his laspistol holster, and painfully lept forward into the room.

"Gentlemen. Adjudant-chef Lachanal, a pleasure to meet you."

(I'll let you react to my entry first as the text is a bit long, i've caugth up on motivation and the like in one go)

H raised his eyebrow at the sudden appearance of the Kallanese soldier. He quickly noted that the las-pistol holster was unlatched.

H snapped a quick salute, "Greetings Adjunct-Chef Lachanal. I am Hawk,,,,er,,,, known as Harlow. This is our associate Tambo," he gave a smooth and fluid gesture to the man who smelled like Tea leaves.

Lachanal gave a quick look to both. He immediatly recognised Tambo as a guardsman, and this made him somewhat already more comfortable. However, regarding that man who was adressing him right now... Something about him was strange. At least, he was fully certain that he never ever saw him around here or in the higher spheres. Whoever they were, rule number one applied here as well: look confident and show you're not impressed. Which he was, a little bit. After all, who could say what kind of maniacs Strausberg could have hired himself with all of his grox mongering trades and dark market... "I mean no insult, but I will sit on this couch, if I may. These bionics help a lot compensate for that war injury, but they do hurt in return." His strong accent gave him away as an ethnic kallenese no doubt.

He made it proudly across the room, displaying his injuries and his bulky stature and let himself look nonchalent. These were skills he had been learning in dealing with higher ups of all organisations on the world for years at this point. While he took his seat, he carefully read the faces of his counter parts, trying to find anything of value. A twitch of nervosity, maybe. Or a mocking grin. But he found nothing. Too early to say, he thought, but maybe Strausberg did find some truly stealthy people... "May I enquire where the both of you originate from"?

Tambo had nodded to Harlowes comment that further accomplices might bring in skills and ressources that made their way towards Strausberg easier, when both of them were interrupted.

As the newcomer had entered rather rapidly, Tambo (who was sitting sipping tea and cleaning his longlas) instinctively crouched down a little, ready to duck into cover and his hand was at his own laspistol in the fraction of a second. He might be a bit on the older side, but his reflexes were still on top of things as it looked. As the veteran introduced himself, he relaxed somewhat, filling another mug of tea and offering it to him. "May Skyfather smile upon you, Lachanal." he greets with his hands crossed accross the chest in some kind of traditional gesture. "My name is Tambo, born and raised on Thoth, but that was... quite a while ago." his look scans across Lachanals injuries and augmetics - as far as he can see them - trying to get a measure of his abilities. The other way around it is easy to see that Tambo is not a young man anymore, but still fit in a sinewy kind of way.

Looking between his two compatriots he mentiones "We were just starting to talk about how to best approach our next destination. I'm quite familiar with traversing the wilderness and optimistic that my skills won't let me down in this environment, but I am weary of the time it would take to get there on foot. Do you have contacts or means to get us there faster without raising attention? Maybe some freight train or a good persona to just take the local commute?"

H heard the Kallanese officers question about origin and opted to ignore it. Technically, the less they knew about each other the better, that is what he told himself. However, if he looked deeper the answer was simpler, he was not sure.

Now, Tambo's question was worth his time. He figured he could acquire the proper identity papers, disguise himself appropriately, and get there by train undetected. However, that might take as long as moving through the wilderness or sewers. He was hoping the old soldier could make all of their lives easier.

Lachanal smiled and slightly chuckled. "You know, I have access to whereever I please on that world... And I doubt anyone will question me. I 'm..." he paused, not willing to say who he truly worked for exactly"... a logistical NCO. I need grox meat. I'm entitled to requisition any citizen I want. There you go, by the train, to our good friend Strausberg... You'll just have to dress as workers and behave."

Of course he could unlock all he wanted. he was entitled by none other than the governor himself after all, and did enjoy free roam all across the world. He was besides pretty sure that the inquisition had contacted him exactly because of this. however, how they came to know of his deepest thoughts about his beloved colonel was a concerning mystery to him...

He stood, painfully as ever, and asked tambo for some tea as well.

Rain pouring down. Again. This forsaken planet had nothing to offer outside the coziness of Parsen's luxurious penthouse. His goons were used to this environment, but even when accompanied, danger was lurking at every corner. Every shadow, another pit of darkness bound to swallow you the very moment you lose focus.

"Almost 'ere boss. Imma drop ya next corna, ye? the driver shouted to cover the sound of the rain
-Good. Wait for me here, I'll be back in an hour. If not, get back to base or something. I don't care, Parsen replied coldly."

Parsen stepped out of the old smoking, battered car, barely shutting the door and walking away. He knew his goons would come back to try and uncover the mystery that their boss attended. But he knew how to cover his rear: of course he wouldn't come back. And of course, he did not want to arrive directly at the location. One hand clinging firmly on Mirage, the other grabbing the half consumed cheap cigar, he advanced through these abandoned, dark and cold alley. The air was reeking of foul drugs, and gangsters could come flying from any corner.

After a solid five minutes of paranoid walk through this abandoned alley, a falling dumpster was heard coming from the right corner. A drunk, drugs-ravaged, stinking and emaciated man staggered in his general direction. He stopped, raised his head and started insulting Parsen.

"The feth you lookin' at you son of a Ratlin'? Get fething lost!"

The angered man approaches Parsen, and clumsily grabs him by the collar. Unimpressed, the old man take his cigar and sticks it in the ravaged man's face. Under shock, he shouts and stumbles backwards, his face in his hands. Before he could take his hands off and look around, Mirage sings loudly in the dark of the night, echoes of the blast running across the streets. The disfigured victim falls straight to the ground, bathing in its own blood.

"For feths' sake, I didn't expect to have to use it this soon... Tch, I better hurry before I'm discovered."

Throwing his cigar away and hiding Mirage again, Parsen presses on. A few hundred meters later, he arrives at yet another dark alley, where he was supposed to arrive in the first place. He stands in front of the scanner, and a red light shines for a quick second.

"You are not allowed in this room. Please go away.", says a synthetic voice.

"Machine "Spirit" my ass, why are you not working, you piece of junk?!"

Smashing the scanner and showing his eye again, a green light finally flickers, and the door unlocks. Mumbling to himself, Parsen lights another cigar, then opens the small rusty metal door to enter the room. Expecting to be the first one and seeing three people already in the room makes him freeze in place. He once again hold Mirage tightly under his raincoat, and takes a deep, fakely warming voice:

"Gentlemen... Why don't you introduce yourselves and tell me what you're doing here?", he says, fingers still on his favorite shotgun.

Tambo hands Lachanal his mug of tea as another person appears. This one does leave kind of a bad feeling in his stomach, but while he usually trusts his instincts on that, he also relies on the Inquisition having made serious precaucions regarding who can and who cannot enter this safehouse. So for now, he replies in a similarly friendly (and maybe less faked friendly) voice "I'm Tambo and I'm... taking my assigned rifle, as every loyal soldier of the Skyfather should. Drinking a cup of tea with some associates. And what about you, good sir?"

He already assumes that "Harlowe" gave him a wrong name, but that doesn't matter that much to him. If he gave his true or a false first name seems kind of pointless. Either he can vanish in between the millions of people around here or someone was so close on his track, that the correct name wouldn't change that much. Besides, "soldier Tambo from off world, being sent here, waiting for orders and not questioning things" is always a good cover story.

H gave the smallest head nod of acknowledgement. He had worked with the newcomers type before, so many times before. However, he looked a little old in the tooth to be in that line-of-work still, he must have climbed the ranks a bit.

H puffed his chest out a bit and stood straight, his tone of voice taking on a deeper tone. "Maybe we should be the ones asking the question around here? You get me?" H was confident that the newcomer would respond better to aggressive posturing, the man was measuring out who he was dealing with; and who he could assert authority over.

H made note of the smell of the man's cigars. Those were the details that you had to keep straight in your head. It could tell you who was who, and who was not as they appeared.

Lachanal just gripped on his cup of tea and thanked his fellow soldier, when the door slammed open, and a grizzly man in a trenchcoat appeared, visibly holding to something under his coat. Lachanal, before rising up to his feet, making sure to keep a hand on his pocket for good measure and near his lasgun looked at him carefully, eyebrow raised.

He could swear he knew that guy, unlike the two other members of the now quartet in the room. He couldn't seem to fish out his name from the back of his memory, but he could swear he had struck commercial deals with him prior... anyhow, he knew half the merchants on Saint Bonifatius' Reach, if indeed not even more.

Before anything, Lachanal wanted to make sure that he was indeed a merchant, though, and asked the newcomer "Greetings, Adjudant-chef Lachanal, logisitcal NCO, who have I got the pleasure to meet?". And, a hand still in his pocket, sipped some tea in a relaxed gesture.

The tension in the room falls as Parsen scans it. Everyone seemed to feel comfortable, or at least faked it. As to not sour the mood, the old man bursts into laughter and approaches Harlowe hand out.

"I see you fine people really mean business! Don't go playing the tough guy if you can't back it up though. Still strange none of you know me. You must not be from around here aren't y'all?"

The "Skyfather"? What is this bs, he thinks as he shakes everyone's hands.

"There is not need to deny who I am. I am... how do I put it... either the "bad guy" people in the streets talk about, the "bastard who built this gak hellscape we call a city", or "the boss who gives meh sumthin' ta eat'", he said in a strong accent depicting the poor classes living in the wretched street.

"The manufactorums? Basically mine. I got connections everywhere, and my face is even more present on posters. The name's Parsen, I hope our collaboration ends quickly, and good."

Drying his hat and hanging it on a coat hanger, Parsen makes his way to the screen on which the indications were written.

"Strausberg?!", he said, hiding his surprise. "The manor is close from here in train. I'm pretty sure I could get guys to hijack one if we need it. I can't really afford being seen in public. Pretty sure one of my haters is just waiting to slit my throat open the moment they see me, he chuckled."

"I'll get there through a driver. If you need it, I'll find someone to drive you there too."

Parsen's plan was simple: gain everyone's trust to ensure they would be more willing to help him in the future. Straight out lying would be useless: due to his fame, they would sooner or later learn the truth. And from his experience, you better get rid of anyone who felt betrayed before they had a chance to retaliate. Eliminating the Inquisition's agents however, would be his inevitable downfall. Better work together than against each other.

Lachanal faked to think nothin gof it all. Of course the manufactorum and such where not his, Lachanal was after all high enough to know who owned what, and what's more, he was more often than not the one to go out and make the deals for Loisy. But it was no use speaking up against his exagerations right here and there.

He sipped again, and said, with his clear cut kallenese accent, not very resemblant to what Parsen tried to fake.

"We can easily go by train, Parsen. I'm entitled to take with me whoever I fancy, as a logistical NCO. With a tycoon of your greatness aboard, easy to play the "this is a business trip" card. You maybe already had business with Strausberg, don't you?"

Lachanal, having never actually dealt with Parsen -although maybe with some associate at some point- didn't know of his past felonies and how he was pointed at by the ecclesiarchy as a public sinner. Indeed, St Bonifatius society was not quite a porous one, and contacts between various casts of the world's populace would not be plenty, if only because of the now regimented, guard heavy nature of the worlds and its institutions. Not to mention that Parsen, not being kallenese under Loisy's government, was not quite put forward.

[You all can keep talking but when you are ready to move forward here is the next scene]

Train Station: Hive Gallows, Level 34

The nearest train station was only about two miles from the safehouse. It wasn't so much a building as it was a simple rockcrete platform which stood adjacent to a rail line. A light passenger train was parked there, awaiting to be boarded. However before you could even get to the platform you run into a massive queue of people lined up around the nearest street.

A nearby loudspeaker repeatedly announced instructions in the voice of the Governor:

"This is your Governor: All citizens must submit themselves for mandatory security screening prior to boarding. Submit yourselves to the Emperor's judgment."

It's hard to see how many soldiers are manning the check point up ahead as it is quite far away, but you make out at least two PDF Troopers and a tech adept standing around a large scanning machine.

Alongside the line, you see a Ministorum Priest chanting and spreading incense through the air with one hand and holding onto a large collection basket with his other hand.

"Donations, donations. In the Emperor's name, Donate to the cause of security. Donate to the cause of charity."

Up ahead, you keenly notice that someone ahead of you, a well off young woman in a flowing scarlet red robe make a large donation in the form of local currency. When she stepped up to the detection machine, the machine announced "Subject clean" after scanning the woman's eyes with a focused laser like beam.

Next up, a well dressed older man dressed in the attire of the merchant's guild and carrying a large briefcase stepped up to the machine and submitted to a scan of his eye. The machine let out an irritated growl. "Mutation Detected," it growled. Immediately soldiers ushered him off to a screened off area away from the security sight. A few minutes later, the man was escorted from the screening area and boarded the train...this time without his briefcase.

The man had notably...not made a donation.

Looking around, you also see a brick wall which could give you the perfect opportunity to sneak onto the train undetected.

Options: (You can act as individuals or collaborate on a single approach here)

Make a large donation. (Each character donating loses 1 wealth. Keep in mind you only start with 1 wealth so not easy to make that up though you are going to visit a rich noble so making some money is definitely a possibility)

Try to talk your way through the checkpoint. Any social roll (persuasion, intimidation, subterfuge could all work, will be Difficulty 3 for any character without the scum keyword in their character sheet. Difficulty 5 for any character with the scum keyword.

Do things stealthy: Strength + athletics DN 2 to climb the wall, then stealth + agility DN 3 to board the train without being noticed. [I'll do the rolls unless you want to roll, just need to know the choice]

at the safehouse

Tambo seems rather uninvolved in the exchange of the other three and only mentions "I think we are all clear on what kind of service our employer expects from me, so I trust you figure something out. When in doubt, I will just pose as simple soldier following orders to go somewhere without questioning it. My garments, accent and playing a bit dumb usually helps too. And the Longlas is easier to explain than to hide. But I could use a good reason why and from whom I was ordered to take that train or car, maybe you can help me out there, Lachanal?"

Lachanal sipped one last time and put his mug onto the couch, and shoved his now free hand in his other pocket. He felt that, as Tambo asked, all eyes more or less fell on him -or maybe not, he wasn't sure about Parsen who seemed not too interested in actually boarding the train.

"Well, in fact, I can. As I said, this is all a business trip we take on behalf of the PDF logistics, and i'm entitled to submit anyone into my service as helpers or retailers. I mean, there's a procedure and all that, but in fact, Iv'e got so much leeway in my position that I am virtually free to enroll anyone I see fit. Just remember, Tambo, that you are my attaché from the off worlders. Since any complaints will likely land into the inquisition's mailbix anyhow, that shouldn't be a problem. Harlowe, if they ask, you or a humble worker I took along to help, Parsen, you are with me as a negotiator. Sounds right to all of you?"

For now, that means Lachanal would likely take the lead. All he needed was to craft some temporary ID or mission orders, and get rolling... He kept silent, waiting for the others to comment and agree on this proposal. He couldn't quite yet tell their natures right now, although it was clear that Harlowe was trying to look other than who he was. And, probably, that Parsen was... unsettling.

H thought..... a humble worker. He rubbed his hands along his pants, and realized they were far too smooth for a humble worker. He would need to spend some time roughing them up before the trip. His current attire was also not appropriate, so he would change into something more suitable for his role.

He humbly travelled along with the group, assume his new role as a servile worker for the Lachanal. At the station, he humbly carried all the baggage, observing how the other servants managed the task.

H watched and listened to see how the others wanted to handle the checkpoint. He was certain he could finesse his way if needed, but it would do no good to get onto the train alone.

He kept his hood up, his eyes down, and his other senses open. It was not his place to speak to his "master" out of turn.

As much as Parsen hated having to rely on someone else to execute a plan, sticking together was most likely the most intelligent course of action.

"Very well, Lachanal. Let's call this a "business trip", then. Doesn't require me to change attire, and even allows me to smoke good cigars", he chuckled.

"Give me one second, though." Pulling out a walkie-talkie, Parsen heads out of the safehouse and calls one of his subordinates.

"Markov?...", he asks in the device as a light sound is heard and a red light turns on.
"Markov, you hear me?, he says while muffling iimpatience. Good. you're in charge until further notice. I trust you'll do as good of a job as the other times", he says in the machine. "Over."

He then steps back in the safehouse, and suggests to leave.

"Gentlemen, I believe it is due time to leave. Lachanal, you lead the way."

The Train Station [See earlier post for the description of the scene]



As you approach the train station and the long queue, a PDF Trooper motions for you all to skip the queue and come to the check point immediately.

An exhausted looking older man with wrinkled skin and a wicked scar down his cheek inspects the paperwork Lachenal submits. "I see..and you have papers for the rest as well." He eyes the rest of the motley crew suspiciously, then turns back to the papers.

After a moment he returns them to Lachenal. "Alright then, go ahead. Have a good trip sir." He snaps a salute and turns back to the checkpoint and the crowd.

Just then you hear an elderly hunchbacked crone (very old female) call out from the crowd. "If you're an officer, then why don't you do something to help the people? These so called PDF soldiers are robbing us blind just to get a ride on the train. In the name of the Emperor do something!"

Murmurs of discontent start to echo throughout the crowd. The sergeant bellows out. "Shut up yah blasted crone. Get back in line!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tambo catches a glimpse of movement on one of the rooftops overlooking the station. Just a blur of movement though.

The train is ready for you to board...it's up to you to decide whether to get involved further.

Lachanal saluted back at the sergeant, and gestured to the crew to get aboard. Now was not the time to get stuck in any argument that put them at risk of losing their cover, besides, the train station was a chaotic and noisy place and it was absolutely possible that they didn't hear anything. As painfully as ever, and asking a bit of help from Parsen who was the last one not occupied to either watch out nor carry luggage, Lachanal boarded the train,.further pretending not to ear anything to to him and his colleagues being extremely busy right now...

Tambo had fallen into the good old "I'm a soldier, I'm here to obey, not to think" routine, mixed with a sprinkle of puzzled "no habla gothico!" attitude when someone talks to him paired with lots of smiling, nodding and pointing to his superior officer. Usually that worked quite well for him. When he notices something out of the corner of his eye though, old instincts let him look over, and fumble for a spare monocular he keeps in his breast pocket, putting it up as if to look through if it is clean or in need of some care, trying to make out what was moving up there.

After a few moments of intense focus, Tambo sees some movement from a window on the upper level of the building he was observing.

He sees the barrel of a scoped rifle start to jut out from the window.

Behind the rifle, the sniper quickly tries to re-acquire his target...however Lachanal had acted too quickly in boarding the train and as a result, she couldn't get the officer in her sights.

The sniper lingered a little longer, looking for another target of opportunity.

Meanwhile, the PDF soldiers were completely pre-occupied with dealing with the restless crowd, some of whom were trying to surge past the check point to board the train.

"Back...back you maggots. Anyone that hasn't cleared the checkpoint will have to wait for the next train. back!" The PDF Sergeant yelled out.

[Edit]

Tambos instinct urge him to shout a warning to the PDF soldiers abd civilians and try to find a spot to countersnipe, but he realises how much attention that would draw to him. Considering the fallout of falling out of favor with their illustrous employer he opts instead to take care to be out of line of sight as soon as possible and ushers anyone else of their little team to do the same. "Into the train... NOW!" With an urgent look on his face

Inside he takes care that his companions don't seat themselves near windows towards the shooter and wispers to Lachanal "sniper in the building over there... was aiming for you, but quick enough to change targets..."

Anticipating that the shooting would go down soon and that he as a security attachee to Lachanal would be expected to fight, he hurries over to the far end of their cart, looking for a way to drop down in between carts to find a spot to countersnipe

"You say what?" Asked Lachanal in a voice way more surprised filled than he would have liked. He was not longer used to having folks try to take his head... And also, it was deeply concerning that anyone would consider it. Unless his true allegeance had been brought to light, he could not fathom how anyone could want his head... But maybe it was more widespread knowledge than he believed, after, the inquisition knew. After all, he did open to a very few sympathisers - those few in the ecclesiarchy than were against the Cardinal as much as Loisy and pledged themselves to whoever would be poised to replace them. Could he have trusted unwisely? Anyhow, he would not let this show through and immediately assumed commande of sorts.

"Bathazar, he called, looking at Harlowe, according to his new ID, would you come with me and help me walk, I'd like to have a word with the train officer?"

He needed to have a random talk to reassure himself the mission was not in danger from the get go.

"Parsen... I suppose you'll happily stay here? You may wander off in the train I mean, after all, there's only so much room in a train and we will easily find you if need be... See if anything funny or INTERESTING catches your playful mind..."... As in, look around whether no one looks suspicious. You look dishonest enough yourself to find someone with suspicious intents...

H hastened to his "master's" call. He quickly offered an arm for support. Carefully, he threaded the old man through the crowded train car towards the engine.

Whisphering in his ear, Lachanal asked H "You see anything strange?"

H tried to open their senses to the world around them. The smell of a women's perfume used to cover up her body odor. The sound of the electricity buzzing through the cables powering the train. The body language of a nearby adept who was fidgeting through his notes, memorizing and preparing for some future task. The thin veil of age old grime clinging to the small window wells and distorting the natural light into a twisted greyish haze. Lachanal's weight pressing on his arm, indicating that he favored his dominant leg while walking.

H let their intuition and senses guide them to anything amiss in the close by surroundings as they proceeded towards the front of the train.

"You're letting me roam freely in the train? How generous of you!" joked Parsen.

He waited for Lachanal to turn around and dropped his fake smile. As much as he didn't like being given orders or directives, looking around the train for potential threats was indeed a good move. That being said, with his eternal paranoia and his rivals wanting him dead, any wagon could turn into a murder scene very quickly. Going alone was dangerous.

"Tch. I'll show these weaklings what Parsen is capable of", he mumbled to himself.

Lighting an actually good cigar he kept for outside the streets, he opens the door and goes through it, blowing a thick yet subtle smelling smoke out of his mouth and nose. Grabbing Mirage under his raincoat, Parsen presses on.

Chapter 2: Out of the Fire, Into the Frying Pan

As the train starts to depart, you hear the zip zip sound of a long las ring out, followed by the sound of many zip zip sounds...likely return fire from the PDF guards. You see panicked civilians running in every direction for a few seconds. But then the train picks up speed and you lose sight of it all. Into a tunnel...into blackness. Down into the lower levels of the hive and the lands beyond.


Despite your chaotic escape, the train ride goes smoothly and un-eventfully. The passengers all seem like perfectly normal Imperial citizens, though many are nervous and rattled about a lot of the troubles that have plagued this world as of late (though none will speak too openly about this) .. the collapse of interstellar trade, high military tithes, another influx of refugees fleeing the approaching Hive Fleets, the persistent threat of the cults, and the paranoia of the ruling authorities in ruthlessly dealing with anyone perceived to be an enemy.

Lachanal is able to speak to a train officer, a short young lady and gets some general information on the security situation.

"There have been a few scattered attacks of late, mostly in and around the hive. Sniper attacks on officers, bombings, active shooters, that sort of thing. The cults know they can't seriously threaten the Government, but they're still trying to sting us whenever they can. Some of the Intel people think that the recent activity has something to do with the Hive Fleets moving into the sector but no one knows for sure. Who can understand the madness of heretics eh?"


A few hours later, you arrive at an idyllic small town in the country. You board a bus and then another hour later with some common men and women who appeared to be Strausberg's servants.

Finally, just before evening you arrive at the estate of Strausberg.

At Strausberg's Estate

It was a lavish home built in an architectural style comprised of wide arches and white walls, reminscent of ancient Terra's "Mediterranean region."

The home sat near a large artificial lake on one side, while all around one could see large fenced in fields, barns, and grox herds.

Once you arrive, you are greeted by a man you quickly identify Strausberg himself. He was a tall man with dark hair and a deep flowing dark beard, and he was in a suit of fine navy blue. He wore a decorative sword at his side and wore a strange arcane device around his wrist, likely a refractor field.

Strausberg was flanked on either side by two of his trusted advisors (you would have known this from the files the Inquisition provided you in advance):

Lady Ankara was an ancient woman that had lived well over a hunder years but looked to only be in her 60s thanks to rejuvenation treatments. She wore a longflowing purple dress extravagent jewelry, and long flowing white hair. She rose to prominence through marriage but was a widow now, and had seemingly forged an alliance with the young and ambitious Strausberg.

The other man was in fact more machine than man. He was also old...but unlike Ankara, also older looking, had a hunched back and had numerous augmetics. Large bulging augmetic eyes, and augmetic limbs. He covered it all up in a long brown robe and always looked down. This man's name was Tezzle. A disgraced former Tech Adept that was rumored to have been slated for conversion into a servitor after he displeased his masters but somehow ended up part of Strausberg's retinue instead.

"Greetings friends. Welcome, welcome!" Strausberg called out pleasantly. I hope you had a pleasant ride coming here, and I apologize for such short notice, but as you know, these are trying times and the hour is getting late my friends."

He motioned his his servants to approach.

"Please make yourselves at home. My servants will show you to your rooms. You can wash up, and we can all meet in the dining room for supper in say a standard hour or so."

Tambo was quite relieved as they left the train station without getting involved into the shooting, still wondering a bit of how targeted that whole ordeal really had been. A thought he shares with Lachanal and the others during their ride. Apart from that he enjoyed the view from the windows, chatting a bit of small talk now and then, if the situation arises. Overall the others would get the impression of... an old soldier who was just following his orders as they came, not expecting answers to the bigger "why?"s as he wouldn't get any thruths to that from his superiors anyway. If that is indeed true, it makes him kind of predictable as he would likely not question the necessity to kill somebody or hesitate to do so, if it was necessary for the job. Meanwhile every one of his companions would have enough empathy to come to the conclusion that he wouldn't hesitate to try and kill one of them if ordered by the inquisitor either - nice chats or budding friendships having no place in that decision.


As they arrive at Strausbergs estate, he stickts to the "foreign primitive soldier, who doesn't understand too much" routine, smiling and nodding alot and bowing deeply to Strausberg and his consorts, looking to Lachanal for potential orders. He tries to get at least a rough impression of the wereabouts of potential exits and entries of the estate and the surroundings to have two or three promising escape routes, should things go sour unexpectedly and otherwise just settles in, while the others do the talking.

"Aaaaaand here is the man himself. Strausberg, you rat...", thought Parsen. "He doesn't seem to recognise me. That's for the better, it's not like I would be welcomed if he did. Well, better blend in for now."

After Strausberg's introduction, Parsen follows a servant to his room. He decides to keep all of his gear on him before entering the bathroom, leaving Mirage right outside the shower, and entering it.

During all this time, Parsen checks the rooms. Fine aesthetics: it looks like Strausberg's ambition led him far. Further than expected, and he wouldn't be as weak and vulnerable as he once was.
It also means he survived his "baptism of fire" of business, and life as a whole. He would be very much aware of his surroundings, and would consider everyone as a foe, or at least a rival.

"Hell, was the shower the first of a series of traps? What if he kills me during me sleep? I won't let you have that pleasure you bloody Ogryn brain!"

He storms out of the bathroom, wiping himself and dressing in an instant, and makes his way into the lobby, expecting the others to arrive any second now. Hand firmly on Mirage under his raincoat, he waits in a corner, scouting his surroundings. To relieve stress, he lights another fine cigar, having finished one whole during the train trip.

After the introductions and time to settle in, the group is treated to a lavish dinner in a massive dining room.

The room and table could easily seat upwards of 50 people, however this time around it is just your group, Strausberg, his advisors, and the myuriad servants, both human and servitor moving back and forth to bring ever more exotic dishes to the table...not to mention Amasec which would have a very sweet and rich taste if you chose to indulge in that oldest of vices.

Strausberg and Lady Ankara each pepper you with small talk throughout the meal, questions about your homes, your mundane business dealings, past exploits and battles. They feign interest in what you say but it is clear that this is all for show.

Tezzle meanwhile remained silent at his seat at the table and looked down, his long cowl concealing as much of his face as possible. He neither ate nor drank anything.

Eventually, once everyone had had their fill, Strausberg beckoned for the servants to shut and lock the doors of the dining room and bid them good eve.

Strausberg. "Ahh now that we've all had our fill, it is time to get down to business." He looks to Tezzle.

"I trust this room is free of recording devices?"

Tezzle looks up and moves his head, focusing his large bonocular looking augmetic eyes on the room and each of you. Then he looks to Strausberg.

"One of your confederates...the officer has a recording device embedded in his eye. However, apart from that the room is clean."

Strausberg nods. "Well...Lachanal is it? I trust you will keep your recording function turned off now. It is afterall, as much for your protection as it is for mine."

He stands up.

"Now gentleman. For those of you not of this world, I will tell you a little of our history. Politically speaking, there are only two men on this world that matter. Governor Louisy and Cardinal Richmond. They've been here since the beginning...built this world up from nothing. But over the years they came to suspect eachother, and eventually..to hate eachother. Only one man could balance them out and keep the peace, the renowned Gaussenberg of the Administratum. Gaussenberg was a mutual friend of both men, and did a lot to smooth things over in the early years. But alas, Gaussenberg did not survive the heretic incursion that we suffered through so many years ago.

After that, the suspicions and the hatreds returned, and deepened. In truth, I will say this. The only reason why our world has not desceneded into full scale civil strife is because of Admiral Summers and the Imperial Navy Fleet she commands being stationed here. But alas...you all know what is coming. The fleet and many of our world's best fighters will soon be departing to join in the counter attack against Leviathan. And once that happens, Loisy and Richmond will have free reign to wreck this world in bloody civil war.

And that is why I have brought you hear today. I have a different proposal. It is simple...you will complete a challenging task for me within the next two nights. And after that I assure you that Loisy and Richmond will be comfortably removed from our world, with their lives AND their honor intact. Then when that happens, I will ready to step in and accept an appointment as the new governor of this world. A world that will steafastly implement the reforms of the Primarch Guilleman, and ensure peace and propserity for all our citizens.

Now what is this task that I ask you to complete?

He beckons to Tezzle who activates a holographic projector embedded in the table. A green light emits from the projector and you all immediately see a 3D projection of a compound of interlinked buildings each emblazoned with the symbol of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Then the image zooms in past a large steel blast door, narrow winding corridors, up an elevator shaft, down another hallway, and into a small room with a massive room sized cogitator bank.

"This is a high security Adeptus Mechanicus facility not far from here. Within it is a cogitator bank that controls many important things on this world. I need you to bring Tezzle to this cogitator so that he may access to it for a short time."

"The facility is well guarded by a compliment of combat servitors and skitarri rangers, and it is highly unlikely that you would be able to bribe them, so I am prepared to help disguise you all as cultists so that it will simply appear as a random attack.

"However, you each have your talents, and your resources. So I am giving you full operational control to plan and execute this mission as you see fit. As long as the mission is completed within the next two nights, then our mission will be a success, and our world will be able to save itself from a civil war...and you all will be WELL COMPENSATED by my new administration.

Lachanal had indeed turned the device in his bionics off. If anyone could ever access this, then he would be finished. He knew full well what he was doing thanks to an old trick of his: no amasec due to injuries, allowing him to remain both polite and fully operational while his vis a vis speak their hearts.

He leaned a little back on his seat to listen, and suddenly stiffend and gripped to the table when he heard that they where supposed to basically hijack a mecanicum cogitator.

He was thinking of a joke for a moment, and was full of doubt, questions, and anxiety. This was no combat crew they where. himself, though skilled, was crippled. As he was not a mecanicum official, he would need to get some form of order...

As the de facto leader of this motley crew, he felt he was the one who had to ask the questions:

"Strausberg... Even at my position I've got absolutly no idea what those things they control could be, I need to know what they are."

He left a little silence, but felt like he needed to convince strauberg it was important and a thought sparked as his brain was churning mad to find some sort of plan.

"If you can tell me, I might be able to take get some access or acquaintances through either the mecanicum or people linked to the services that are linked to these "important things". Otherwise, have you actually ever visited a mecanicum compound? These are only second to the Governor's own chamber in terms of security.

Besides, in terms of fighting force, what do you offer? Maybe at least a distraction?".

Lachanal immediatly turned to his comrades "Feel free to comment or ask questions gentlemen, it is now or never, in two nights time, we won't have any surplus of time to ponder or reconsider what we do..."

He noticed a shark's grin on Parsen's face, and a thoughtful face on the Tambo and Harlowe...

Lachanal didn't get enough time to both wrap his head around what he heard just now and think of his past - or present - loyalties, but a faint sense of "that Strausberg could very well be a wolf in a sheep's skin" screamed at the back of his head...

Just as Lachanal, Tambo had a bit of an odd feeling in the back of his had. Infiltrating and potentially sabotaging a Mechanicum node that might as well control the whole defense network of the planet right in front of a Tyranid invasion with cults running around on the planet - and "cultists" as cover up proposed by Strausberg - sounded an awful lot like exactly the thing a cultist leader would try. But he was called here by the Inquisition, so much was true at least for Tambo. So he was willing to take the risk and trust that the Inquisitor knew what he was doing and that Strausberg was just an "ambitious" noble. He scanned their host and his friends with a questioning look, than got up to closer inspect the 3D image of the compound adressing Tezzle "Can you zoom out again... turn it 45 degrees east... close in on this crevice... back to total... highlight this corridor..." and so on, starting to get a grip on the layout of the compound, potential access and exit routes and so on. Of course it was very different from his usual terrain, but in the end the tunnels and walkways were just another labyrinth like a jungle or swampland, with the advantage that the walls likely won't shift every so often.

"How many skitarii and combat servitors are present? And if they manage to sound an alarm, how long till the defenders can expect reinforcements? And can you provide further equipment? Combat Servitors are tough, I doubt that we have the firepower to handle more than one should it come to that. A krak grenade or two or some hot-shot rifles might help wonders. Also breathing equipment would give us a lot more flexibility with the access route as we could go through shafts that are not ventilated.

Lachanal listened to Tambo's questions. They were wise, but Strausberg, apparently, still wouldn't answer. He would wait a bit more, but something was off. To be fair, Lachanal would have to try and learn a bit more from Strausberg latest whereabouts... While tambo was still talking, he leaned towards Parsen "Parsen, would you be able to contact friends of yours who'd have delt with Strausberg as of recently? He seems... odd."

He then leaned towards Harlowe and passed a paper with a message disguised as a plan of what was showin on the holographics "we all now who we work for I suppose... Do you think we can contact them? Something's off"

As carefully as possible, he was trying to get everybody to ask the most acute and hard pressing question they could.

"I hate that guy's guts. If it were only up to me, he'd be dead by now, replies Parsen to Lachanal. I'll contact Markov to see if recent deals have been concluded with me in recent times, I'm not aware of everything."

Hijack a Mechanicum complex? That's more a death sentence than a mission. Especially for an old man like Parsen: he was cunning and mischievious, but nothing of a fighter himself. He could call his goons for support, for sure, but what about his reputation? If they failed, Parsen would die to the Inquisition, and if they succeeded, his name would be sullied for all eternity. Surely it would be his downfall.

Or... He could somehow start a gang fight around the manufactorum. He had plenty of rivals and making sure the building would be mistaken for a base of his own would be no small task, but still possible. And it would be easier to disguise it, compared to a full on attack.

Time was of the essence though. Markov would have to act quickly, and well. Not having things in control was a gamble, but it was the best thing Parsen could provide for the mission.

He briefly lets Lachanal know of his intention to call Markov, then gets up.

"Tch. I hope they know what they're doing. That bastard might as well be the end of this Emperor forsaken world, he thought."

"Give me a second. I will come back in a few minutes, he says, pointing to the corridor leading to the bathroom. You know how these sicknesses hit you, he winks at Strausberg."

"I hope he lets me leave and contact Markov. Otherwise, we're screwed."

H read the note and shook his head. He was confident the Inquisitor would want to keep his hands clean. That was why they contacted them, to be disposable pawns. It wasn't the first time, or the second, or.....

"Do we know the personnel who can legitimately access this site? We may need their assistance, willing or unwilling, to access the site?

Is there regular resupply or other in and out-activity? How far can do they penetrate the installation?"

How is the station powered? Is it an internal or external power source?

Where do the loyalties of the residence lie? With Richmond, Loisy, or some other planetary figure? Are there any exploitable members of the staff with dark secrets best left uncovered?

As an Infiltraitor, his primary process was to locate someone with access to the site. Then, acquire their assistance as an inside man, or simply replace them; and then go from there.

However, this complex was hardened much more than most Guild Trading Houses or Noble Compound. Plus, the "non-human" nature of the Machine Cult made impersonation much more difficult. He was certain that firepower would be ineffective in their mission, it would require subtlety, discretion, and stealth.

Strausberg's expression faultered as the questions and doubts poured in.

For a moment he didn't know what to say, and then the Lady Ankara stood up. "Dearest Strausberg, perhaps I could assuage these doubts if you would but allow me to reveal the full depth of your ignominous plan."


Strausberg paused a moment longer but then finally relented. "Fine...I suppose, if you think it would help."

Lady Ankara makes a motion with her hand and the image of a Sky Class transport shuttle materializes.

"In two days time, Loisy and Richmond will board a servitor piloted shuttlecraft to embark on a tour of the fleet before its departure."

"By implanting a viral code graph into that cogitator, we will take control of this shuttle prior to their boarding. We will overide the communication system and force it to change course, so that the shuttle will instead rendezvous with the fleet at the mandeville point at the edge of the system. Indeed to the outside world it will appear as if Louise and Cardinal are literally leading the fleet out of the system!"

Strausberg pipes up a broad smile sweeping his face. "And at that time we will broadcast a message from the shuttle indicating their intent to join the Crusade fleet and lead our soldiers in the front line against the ravenous tyrranid hordes that have invaded the sector and will implore the ruling council to begin the succession process."

Lady Ankara interjects. "Of course, they could always return home after they finally reach the fleet."

Strausberg nods. "But by then the entire populace will be hailing them as heroes. So no matter what they said, they would look like cowards if they tried to come home. It would be political suicide."

At this point Tezzler finally speaks, in a hollow mechanic voice. "I agree with Lachanal. Our friends here should be invited to explore alternatives to a direct attack. It may increase success by significant margins."

Strausberg nods again.

"Yes of course, I was just getting to that point!" He exclaims with a bit of frustration.

Let's see now...the other questions.

To Lachanal: "As I said before, you are men of many and varied talents. I trust you to plan and execute this operation on your own. If you could somehow persuade the Adeptus Mechanicus to give you all some kind of access to the facility, perhaps a last minute educational tour? If that could be arranged that would undoubtedly make your job easier."


Turning to Tambo: My spies tell me there are usually about ten skitaari on duty and 5 combat servitors with an unknown number of reinforcements that could arrive if an alarm sounds. I would guess quite a bit.

Turning to H: Excellent questions! I'll have Tezzle forward some potential leads that you could seek to exploit, as well as additional information about the facility.

Replying to the question about the Adeptus Mechanicus political loyalties: "As with all things related to the Adeptus Mechanicus, it's not clear where their motivations lie. They've enjoyed close relations with Louisy the last few years though have expressed frustrations of late with the demands of the latest tithe and it's drain on local security resources while insurgent cult activities persist."

At that he claps his hands together.

In any case, I am here to assist in any humble way I can, whether it be disguises as I previously suggested, or simply weapons and equipment. Whatever items you require, please make a list and I will make every effort to attain for you. Though, with such a short time frame, I can not guarantee it can all be provided."

He takes a deep breathe.

"And with that gentlemen, I believe our business has concluded. I will leave you in peace to enjoy the remainder of this evening and begin to plan your operation. The Emperor Protects."

The noble signaled and began to depart from the room with his advisors.

Later some additional information is forwarded to your data slates:


The facility is surrounded by thick ferrocrete 14 foot walls with walkways. The immediate surrounding area and inside the compound is under constant surveilance via servo skulls.

A single fortified gate is the only entrance to and from the compound. The gate however is automated and only requires a successful biometric scan to get it to open. Anyone or vehicle passing through however is subject to a host of additional scans. The gate is usually manned by servitors, at least one of which is a combat servitor.

The facility has about 30 tech adepts working there, however they all live at the compound and rarely depart from it.

The manager of the compound, a Tech Priest known as Logico 7 however regularly makes trips to Gallows Hive via the same passenger train that you took to get to Strausberg's estate. He usually takes the train into the hive, and then reports to the Administratum's Office of Transportation of Logistics. It is unknown however when his next appointment will be...

Every week, a ground truck departs from a logistics hub run by the Merchant's Guild. The ground truck contains all the usual supplies (food, spare parts, etc) and is driven by a normal human with a security clearance. The truck drives up to the gate, goes through the gate, parks the truck, and then servitors unload the supplies into a nearby storage shed, then the truck departs the same way.

The compound itself is a simple arrangement of four tall, 24 story high rectangular ferrocrete slabs on each side of the compound with an open plaza in the center. None of the buildings have any external markings, however Strasberg has identified the building on the north side as containing the cogitator bank, which itself is housed on 22nd floor of that building.

A generatorium a few miles away appears to provide the power needs of the compound. It is under control of the local PDF as the facility services many nearby installations, many of which are not part of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The compound however, does have a backup power source in a building on the south side of the compound.

And one final datapoint. There does appear to be a large out of service sewage tunnel that runs under the compound, with an aboveground connection that could take someone directly into the open plaza. It is unknown however if that route is guarded, and if so, by what.

While Parsen was still absent, Lachanal left Harlowe and Tambo to prepare the infiltration itself and the make a list of all necessary gear they could foresee already. Lachanal's role was to get info and insider help due to his rank, and it was what he left them to tackle.


While they Tambo and harlowe where discussing with elan all parameters of the infiltration proper, he listened carefully, hands in his pockets, ans every few minutes made a few steps, sat down, got up, to relieve the pain of his bionics somewhat.

Lachanal was quite reassured that it wasn't truly about defence networks, but that he needed to make sure of. He knew his crippled leg meant that the infiltration proper was probably not the part he was selected with... And even with bionics, there's no impersonating a mecanicum drone whatsoever for those are no longer truly human to begin with, which would instantly give him away.

He could, however, aptly set the scene for tambo and harlowe, and together with Parsen, schedule events that should help a lot draw atttention outside the cogitator room proper. Parsen and his minions could very well make up the necessary manpower..

As his colleagues were still talking, and Lachanal had lost track of what they where saying, too deep into his own thoughts, he rose, painfully, and interrupted them.

"People, I will need to go back to the governor's palace to sort stuff out. Get in touch with all the necessary offciers.

I'll first enquire if any transport is truly scheduled via shuttles for Loisy and Richmond.

If there is, then I can tell you when Logico 7 makes his appointment, when the next delivery truck is meant to supply the compound, and its route.

Tell parsen, when he comes back, to transfer all information and entry authorisations he need to set up a diversion with his gang. Especially, forward me his answer to whether or not he believes we could tackle the power source outside the compound.

Also, Make up my own excus, I must not be discorvered. I'll make contact with you as soon as I can and report on the points I just mentionned, so you can add in additional details. There's an hotel next to the governor's palace, Saint's Bonifatius Pilgrim's Abode. Go there, and hatch your plans there, and I'll meet you when i'm done. I'll depart this very hour. Emperor protects "

Parsen managed to exit the room and head to the toilets. He closes the door, rolls a towel to cover the gap under the door, and gets as far as possible from it to avoid being heard by servitors or advisors.

Pushing a button on his walkie-talkie, a red light glows and a small beep is heard. Parsen had his hand placed on top of the emitter to muffle the sound. He then speaks in the device, with a low voice.

"Markov, you hear me? Over."

Nothing.

"Markov, you there? Over".

Still nothing.

"Tch. Either I'm too far, or nothing goes out of this stupid building. *Sigh*. Whatever. I'll call him later. Let's see what the others are up to."

Parsen flushes the toilet, takes the towel he rolled before and folds it back to its original spot, and proceeds to exit the bathroom.
Heading to the room where his acolytes were supposedly still in, he lights yet another cigar.

As he opens the richly decorated door, he notices that Lachanal is absent from the room.

"And where'd our logistics NCO go?"

The others explain the situation, and tell him about Lachanal's plan to take on the power source outside the compound.

After a brief moment of rubbing his chin and thinking, Parsen answers, letting a slight note of excitement in his voice.

"That... is an interesting idea. I wasn't able to contact Markov yet, but I'll keep him in touch about this.
I don't think I'll need any authorisations. Although..." He stops for a second.

"I'll talk about this to Lachanal himself. Let's meet at the hotel and we'll talk about this. I am taking the next train for the city right now, and we'll see each other at the hotel. Have a great evening, gentlemen."

Parsen wave his hat in the direction of his allies, and leaves the manor.

The heat difference strikes the old man hard, but he needs to leave. There is no way he would stay at Strausberg's house, and the only safe place to rest was his very own home.

Fatigue was starting to kick in tough: to stay awake, Parsen resumes smoking his unfinished cigar, and waits for the train. In the mean time, he calls Markov to keep him in touch of the new plan: start to spread rumors about a large reserve of "Sky candies", a very popular drug amongst the lower classes of the hive, hidden by the "corrupt PDF" in the power plant. Hopefully, this will be enough to light the interest of gangs and create a diversion.

@ PDF Headquarters

[Lachanal gets 4 successes with an investigation role]

After an uneventful train ride back to the city, Lachanal finds a short time to rest and then returns to the sprawling PDF HQ building.

While uploading his "official" reports about grox provision contracts for the PDF and Crusade fleet to a cogitator, he manages to access quite a bit of useful data, summarized as follows.

-It is confirmed that the Governor and the Cardinal are scheduled to take an automated shuttle to visit the Lunar Class Cruiser Righteous for a tour and to rally the Imperial Guard soldiers onboard there. The boarding is scheduled to occur in two days (Just like what Strausberg said). The shuttle itself is selected at random by an Adeptus Mechanicus cogitator immediately prior to departure. (This explains why Strausberg couldn't just sabotage a transport directly. Only by taking control of the cogitator that controls ALL servitor shuttles, could he hope to make this plan work.

-Lachanal confirms that the next supply shipment to the Ad Mech compound will occur in one night, just before midnight. He uncovers the identity of the driver, a simple indentured servant of the Merchant Guild named Lenny McHenry. Lachanel also realizes that he can attempt to change the driver to another person, (like someone in his party like Parson, H, or Tambo). However, that would require a bit of arcane technical manipulation that could risk detection if he fumbled it.

-Finally, Lachanel stumbles upon a Vermilion level clearance file dubbed: "Operation, Final Solution." Lachenal realizes that it would be very difficult to access the file, but he gets an idea that it might be an indication of what the Governor has planned for this world's future...

Just then a cold uncaring voice cuts through the air behind you. You knew it unmistakenly as Commissar Gendy Helmler.

"Back so soon Lachenal. I'm surprised. I take it you fetched a good price on the grox?"

"Tell me, did you speak to that Strausberg fellow? He is an interesting one now. Young, ambitious, successful, exactly the kind of person we need to keep an eye on."

"Tell me, what treachery does Strausberg have planned? Surely you must have gleaned something from your conversation with him?"

She was toying with him, trying to get him to betray something. If she had any real evidence Lachanal knew he would likely already be dead.

The slums, Gallows Hive Sublevel B-45

[Parson burns 1 wrath to gain 2 successes to plant the rumors]

Parson's "friend" Markov doesn't sound that convinced when he speaks to him over the vox about the rumor, but says he will pass it along to the people he knows.

"Maybe a good set up for our rivals eh boss? Especially if it's bad information, wot you think about that eh, let em get chewed up and spit out by the ol PDFs?"

Parson is also able to go to his secret stash to uncover that very special thing he's been saving for a very long time. The UBER thing.

[Parson scores 6 successes on his influence roll and also earns the party one glory which can be used later by anyone. Parson can now obtain one of the following items]


Chainsword
Bolt pistol
Boltgun
Combat Shotgun
Heavy Stubber
Autocannon
Flamer
3 Frag Grenades
Flak Coat (armor)

Lachanal was genuinely surprised when the voice erupted behind him, and turned on an instant, despite his leg being crippled.

He instinctevily saluted. "My respect, Commissar".

He leans backwards on the desk to rest, and anwmswered the question in a calm, practiced tone:

"The whole affair was way easier than I expected. He is willing to make relatively good prices, I suspect he wants to get somewhat closer to the government and intends to play nice... The deal is not struck fully yet - so I'll have got some more travelling and meetings with negociators from the concurrents attached. But it is, I believe, well underway.

I must say that Strausberg himself is just as insufferable as he ever was, full of self confidence, but you hardly meet a rich merchant that is not, nowadays. Besides, I already had smaller deals with him in the past so I knew what to expect."

There he went, justified in his leaving of the palace soon. He would have loved to take a read of the Vermilion tagged file, but with the commissar at his tail now, there was no chance he wouldn't get caught red handed. However, having the trucks pilot changed to a random guardsman that would trust him as an NCO from the very imperial palace should be possible to do, arguing that the merchant guild could not be trusted, and that he feared cult activity could well be already undermining the woder society - as amply proven by the scene at the train station.

But first, he'll have to get rid of that sticky commissar... By giving him away something

"I believe that Strausberg is not completely fair in his trades, hence why he can afford to cut the prices to such a degree... He talked to me about trying to get cuts on mecanicum-deliveries by sharing one truck fleet to both their multiple compounds and us, the palace, although he would need to reroute almost everything for that. I, of course, refused, but I am worried that, with the influence he holds over the guilds, truckers couldn't get bad instructions to save money, of you see what I mean. He talked about a truck delivery that he was interested in, one to a highly secured mecanicum compound he said. I think we should swapp the guild pilots to PDF pilots just to make sure, unfortunately that is somewhat out of my reach... I wish we could do something about it.

As you rightly said, while his prices are interesting, we definitely should not let him go too far. Disrupting this could probably make him realise that maybe... His not as smart as he believes."

The lie was absolute, but as they say - the bigger the lie, the better it works.

Tambo has to accept that he is somewhat out of his element when it comes to getting access to that facility, as his compatriots seem to have much more influence and better contacts that might be of use. What he could provide would be mostly useful if things went REALLY bad and one could only hope that it never came to that. Nonetheless he won't just iddle his thumps while Parson and Lachanal got to work and would instead try to get to the entrance of that old sewage system that was mentioned in the report and have a look at that. Their time schedule was far to tight to scout it out and it was also a bit risky to do it alone, but he wants to have at least a rough feeling of the size of the tubes, what might lurk down there and maybe even have an idea which route to take should they be forced to leave the Mechanicum compound through this route.

H had been part of these attempts before. The easiest thing would be to get scan shielded crates, secure them at the pick-up facility, and then ride in those into the compound. Most "secure facilities" put their emphasis on keeping people out, once you were in the security dropped markedly. Afterall, the people inside still had jobs to do.

The trick would be infiltrating the pick-up point with the merchandise. H's approach would be simple. He, Parsen, and Tambo would use oxygen tanks, supplies, and simple red-robed disguises, and basic lock breaking gear to hide-out in some scan shielded crates. Lachanal would arrange to have them put at the pick-up. The people at the pick-up location would load them onto the truck and the driver would be none the wiser either. Once inside, the three of them could emerge from the boxes in relative safety.

From there, they could make their way to the Cogitator banks inside the facility. Tambo would get to a location to cover, Parsen's could go locate the sewage tunnel for ex-fil, and H could get to the Cogitator bank using his tools and disguises.

Once complete, they could Ex-fil via the sewage grate. A distraction could be made at the power station, cutting power, with the small break when the back-up kicks in enough time to ex-fil through the tunnel in the courtyard.

Simple in practice, but simple did not mean easy.

PDF HQ

The Commissar studies Lachanal as he provides an answer, searching for any sign of deception or unusual nervousness. Finding none, she turns around, suddenly losing interest in the conversation and starts to walk off.

"I'll add that to the file I have on Strausberg....and the file I have on you. Carry on then Officer." She remarks dryly before opening a door to another room within the vast complex and disappearing from sight.




Outside the sewer pipe



Tambo studies the outside of the sewer pipe. The pipe drains into an artificial pond filled with some kind of toxic waste, but...apart from the horrific smell, it seems to be traversable and looks like it would take him all the way in.

Tambo does however notice a neon glyph sketched into the side of the outside of the pipe. Tambo remembers seeing this very same glyph before on another distant world. It was a symbol associated with a genestealer cult. It was impossible to tell though whether the glyph was old or new...but at some point, the cult had been here.

Strausberg's Manor

At H's request Strausberg is able to secure the "scan proof crates" and red robe disguises as requested. He is also provided with a "Code draft device." A small detachable hard drive that Tezzler instructs H on how to use.

Tezzler agrees that it would be better for him to stay back and that H could be trusted to attach the device to the cogitator.

Lachanal remained unchanged, not showing any sign of his relief for fear he might be watched over and betray he had something to hide all along. Deceiving the commissar was easy job. He had been recieving every one here for so long now, and had learnt so much from the ecclesiarchy and the pdf decidving one another, or the clerks, or frankly, everyone lying to everyone, that he was kind of a master in that field by now. Sadly, he thought, the Governor himself is now puppetted and steered - by the mecanicus and a few power hungry civilians
.. This needs to stop so that the world was ready to stand in face of the Tyranids and that Loisy's vision would truly come to pass - even without his beloved master.

With the commissar's unspoken agreement to him changing the driver to a pdf trooper he can easily manipulate into picking up Tambo and Harlowe, he then proceeds to make the change, justifying it by the necessity to avoid any disruption to this highly crucial coumpound's supply.

He keeps an eye around by stopping to chew on bars, pretending to make breaks, or walking a few circles around him in the corridors, as if to relieve the pain from being static.

"Just need to do that" He thought "And then I'll go to the hotel room".

The Vermilion file was watching him right in the eyes, as if it were actively calling on Lachanal to read it. But the arcanes it would need to do this would take to long - and this time, he would not be able to just outright lie to the commissar.

"Right, the deed is done, he mumbled to himself. Now, filing in my next food related trip... There I go. Alright, work to do, supply to deliver" he chuckled a little, and left, towards the hotel, hoping none would raise and eyebrow. Or at least, do it while it was already too late.

Parsen arrives at the city to get some rest, before joining the others at the hotel. He didn't want to get noticed by any close member of his, wanting to avoid questions, so he stopped at the safehouse where he met the crew. This time, the scanner worked well.

After some agitated sleep, Parsen leaves the safehouse and calls a driver.

"Send me someone with a truck. Enough to carry long and heavy material. And send four people, I'll need hands."

Before the interlocutor could express their surprise, Parsen holsters his walkie-talkie and sets the volume to zero. He then goes to the rendezvous spot and waits for a bit. About twenty minutes later, a battered and slightly rusty truck comes from around the corner. The black vehicle stops as they recognize the boss' posture.

"Sorry for the delay, boss, we...
-I don't want to know. Let's move."

Parsen leads the scared goons to the location of his secret stash of his. Upon arrival, Parsen gets Mirage out, ready for potential opponents.

After watching their surroundings for three minutes, the five men advance towards the stash. Parsen pushes two dumpsters aside, and struggles a bit to lift a sewer plate. Underneath it lies the famous stash.

"Well, well, well... Looks like this little baby will finally come in handy, Parsen smiles.

Alright boys, that's where you come into play. Get this autocannon in the trunk, and fast. I'll take the ammunition myself.

-Boss, what are we...
-Stop asking questions and move it. Quick."

The four men manage to get the heavy weapon out, and with a bit of help from Parsen, it's quickly set in the truck. Less than ten minutes after the arrival, the weapon and its ammunitions are all ready and set in the truck.

"Good job. Get me to Saint's Bonifatius Pilgrim's Abode, and give me the truck. I'll call you a car to get out."

Parsen proceeds to do so, allowing the goons to get out without asking further questions. Before they depart, Parsen adresses them one last time:

"Tell Markov to give you 15% more this month. You earnt it. You too, driver."

Right. I'm not getting inside myself. Do I look like some kind of petty robber? I'm not agile enough, and too old for this. No, I'll provide the marksman, what was his name aleady? Tanto? Manto? Tambo, yeah, that's it. Tambo will probably know how to use this to break through weak walls, or something. Let's hope he's useful, because I can't do everything here. Tch.

Parsen enters the hotel, and greets the lady at the reception. She recognises him, and as her faces shifts into fear, he just opens his wallet and lays money in front of her.

"Get someone to watch my car. It's not the in the best condition, but I enjoy using an old model from time to time. I trust you'll do it for me, right pretty lady?"

Faking his smile as he's accustomed to, he goes to sit in the lobby, waiting for the others to arrive.

The Hotel

The group was able to meet up at a pre-arranged location, a modest hotel tucked away in a less traversed area of the middle upper hive.

For his part, Strausberg had managed to come through and by this time the group has access to all of the items that were asked for...along with Parson's "Little Friend" that was brought out for the special occasion

Once the group has some privacy they now have a last chance to finalize their plan...tomorrow night was the night before the Governor and the Cardinal were scheduled to get on that transport. So the time to finalize a plan is now...

Lachanal left the Palace and went off to the hotel. On his way their, while making sure to show clearly his portfolio as a proof that he was again on a mission, he started to wonder how on this world the inquisition managed to figure out the truth in his heart, his rebellious intents, and reach to him. He was dead certain he never spoke of it ever, he wrote it nowhere, and took part in no rebellious. That is, he had not, until now.

Lost in his thoughts, he wandered a bit too far, and had to come back a street to actually arrive a the hotel - that he paid with his own cash not to get tracked. A truck was parked in front of it, in quite poor condition to be honest.

Grunting every now and then under the pain and strain of his bionics, he made it to the private lobby that they had booked, where he found Parsen already there and smoking on an obviously poor quality contraband cigar. Lachanal had smoked in the past, but due to the medicines to treat his injuries and relief the paai' from the bionics when it got to strong, he could not anymore.

"Good evening, friend! How was the trip to here?"

Asked Lachanal in a plain, clear cut voice that said nothing of fear, doubt, trust, or confidence.

He sat on a sofa opposite that on which Parsen was already at ease, and, yet again assuming the role of the de facto brain of the raid, started hatching plans... After checking that no device where planted on the room, that is.

"Look, I changed the truck's driver to a young pdf trooper I know will be easy to intimidate into letting Tambo and Harlowe board the truck in a crate. This will allow them to get into the compound and reach for the cogitators.

Don't worry, I made sure the governor actually has got a planned shuttle trip - it is the case.

As for the power source outside to draw attention and cut lights off - I believe it is correctly guarded. But it is such an important objective that any frontal assault will put all forces inside the compound on alert... To look outside. What we probably will need you to do to let Harlowe and Tambo do their job is to simply direct your goons to set up a good diversion. Of course, if you do manage to shut it down, that'll be all the better."

He paused to let Parsen Take His grasp of it, and moved on "When this all starts, I'll probably be at work. What I will be able to do is to risk my head disrupting reinforcements to the compound in some way or another... But not much else. If you have got any idea of what I might do to further help closer to the ground, go ahead, and I'll see with Tambo and Harlowe what they would need."

As Tambo enters the hotel suite too, he goes about his usual routine of setting up a brew - the distinctive smell H had noticed earlier filling the room. Then he goes about unpacking the equipment Strausberg had provided and lets out an sppreciating whistle. "nice... looks like I should have asked for more shinies, if our benefactor provides so perfectly..." While he staches away the stun grenade in an equipment pouch, he pulls out the duelling laspistol - an ornamental dream of fine craftsmanship - familiarizing himself with the reload mechanism, sights and handle with the practice of an experienced marksman. Satisfied he holsteres it before continueing to the comm beads. "You guys are familiar with those?" he askes around and hands them out, demonstrating how they work if necessary. "They should be encrypted enough to not get immediatly picked up by the AdMech personell, but I expect some of the cogboys will get curious when we use them. So employ them sparsely, only when necessary.

I stalked out the sewer shaft a little bit. Might be an exit route, but it looks like the cults have been active there in the past. Can't rule out they still sneak around down there. So if we have another way of getting out, we should prefer it. We might still get lucky, especially as we don't intend to overstay our welcome and just cross through, but I can think of nicer past times then shooting through a horde of mutants..."

When Parson mentions the Autocannon the old soldier nods "Not my prefered weapon, but I know how to handle them. Not too different from a heavy anti-materielle rifle. Question is what we want to achive with it. Just a diversion or do you think we should knock someone out?"

As Lachanal explains the role intended for Parsen, he stands up to continue listening, and as the diversion is mentionned, his distinctive shark grin appears on his face.

"Listen there, Lachanal, he says in a soothing voice. I have the perfect tools to carry out this task. If Markov did his job well, there should be a rival gang arriving some time tomorrow to attack the power plant, thinking it's mine. When they do, we'll let the PDFs soften their forces a bit, then we'll come in. Preferably from another side. Or, if it's even possible... Through a wall."

Before he could finish his explanation, Tambo arrives and explains how the beads worked. Not accustomed to this kind of high-end tech, Parsen struggles a bit to understand at first, but ends up making them work. He resumes his explanation with the newly arrived marksman, still smiling and enjoying his cigar, even though it wasn't a top quality one.

"Tambo, you'll love that one. I've got an autocannon out of my... spoils of war, we'll say. If you can use it, we'll maybe be able to breach through the walls of the power plant while the PDFs are occupied with our rivals. Or, even better yet, if there is an advantageous position available, you could just fire straight at one of the power units, and see what it does. Maybe it'll shut the power down just like that. That would spare us the trouble of entering the plant itself."

He then drops his smile for the first time in the last ten minutes, and continues in a more worried voice.

"That being said, the diversion will most likely attract the entire complex we try to infiltrate. As Lachanal explained to me earlier, Harlowe and you will infiltrate the complex in a truck. To be honest, I don't even know how you could simultaneously fire on the power plant or the outer walls, and be inside the truck at the same time. And even if we manage to do it, the inside of the manufactorum itself will be more active than an ant nest... Any idea about the logistical part, Lachanal?"

Lachanal rubs his chin. That's a turn he didn't foresee. He would need to actually leave his workplace to be present on the spot and use the autocanon, but then, he would not be able to pull strings at the back to reroute, delay, or hinder pdf and mecanicum reinforcements.

"That's a shame... I would need to use it, I think I can figure it out. But on the other hand, that need I won't be able to support you blurring reports or sowing mayhem in some way or another... Tambo, and Harlowe, is there something I could dom from the backlines to disrupt potential threats to you or gain time? Or...

Lachanal pauses.

I'm not as stealthy as you are, but I could let you outside with the autocannon to boot, and I would enter with Harlowe... In fact, I could then use my own uniform to try and divert attention as well or unlock something... Yeah, I mean, I'm in charge of palace and thus governor supplies... I think I can arrange that... "

Lachanal was thoughtful, and sounded way less at ease than he would have wished to. But the swap was a dangerous one, seeing as he was himself crippled. However, their wouldn't be enough of their quartet if Tambo had to both infiltrate and service the autocannon.

"Do you think you could use the autoccanon to create a critical breach into the power plant, and then, if it is crippled enough, lead Parsen's boys down trhough the sewers with you? In whcih case, Parsen, the getaway will rest on your shoulders as well, as you will be the one to be outside.

Once inside, I'll try my best to sow mayhem and confusion and most importantly, direct all efforts towards the outside, rahter than the inside. I'll even tell the governor himself that there is a supply shuttle affair I would need to investigate so I can get access to the site in the first place and only be mildly suspicious. And I'll tell the commissars I'm wathcing over Strausberg boys that I suspect are trying to play around with me and traffic grox meat through the place. Yeah, sounds like an excuse... What do you people think?"

H was happy to let them talk about what was happening on the outside of the compound. His concern was inside.

Their actions would provide the cover he needed to ex-fil, but by then his job should have been complete. To him, the most crucial components of the mission was the infiltration.

Therefore, as the others talked he inspected and made himself familiar with the gear he was provided. It was technical and more advanced than what he was use to, but the same basic principles applied.

He turned, and made the sign of the Omnissiah to Tambo, "Brother Tambo, are you planning on infiltrating with me, or being part of the ex-filtration party?

Tambo scratches his chin in thought. "Hmm... I think my talents would be of most use if I take care of the autocannon to take a shot at taking out the main energy transmitter. Then I hop on a bike or something, head over to the sewer entrance to meet up with some of Parsons henchmen and lead them through. Hopefully you won't need it as extraxtion route, but better safe than sorry."

Lachanal nos to the both of them talking.

"I'll do my best to be in the compound myself as well Harlowe, and make my own secondary distraction and lend help in any way or form I can. The infiltration is arranged, you'll be able to get into the truck and into a crate, the driver is now a young pdf trooper that'll be easily afraid to speak against me and let you in. I picked one that owes me a debt of sorts.

The rest I leave to you, use the bead wisely to ask what you'll need of me while I'm inside on a faked supply trip. I'll try to stay in there and meet the governor when he arrives, or depending on circumstances, to leave alongside you all. "

Lachanal stood up to relieve the pain of his bionics as all were starting to get accustomed to. And in a grave voice, both hands in his pockets, he asked "is there anything that needs settling fellows, or do we call it ready?"

"Besides Parsen, as a potentially dead man, may I puff once or twice on this cigar you've got?"

Parsen looks at Lachanal for a second and bursts into laughter.

"My, my! I didn't expect you to be appreciate cigars, my friend. I'm not going to let you puff on this cigar. You may get your own, I'm not a savage."

He then reaches into his black raincoat and opens a little container, showing two high quality cigars. He takes one and cuts it for Lachanal before giving him.

"So, let us go over the plan one last time. Harlowe will enter the facility hidden in a crate. Meanwhile, Lachanal will fake a supply trip and enter the complex independently.

Outside, Tambo and I will wait for the rivals and my gang to arrive. When they're here, Tambo will try to shoot the power plant: if it doesn't do anything, he'll break open a wall for my gang to infiltrate the plant.

Once this is done, he'll leave his position and lead a bunch of my gangsters inside the sewers to attack the manufactorum from a different angle. I will be coordinating my men and acting as the getaway driver in the van containing the autocannon. By the way, Tambo, I suggest we mount the autocannon at the back or the van to make the getaway quicker. You'll shoot from the inside and get off when your job is done.

Gentlemen, if you have any objection, it is now or never. If all is set, I'll call Markov for the last details."

Parsen quickly thinks about all the information he needs to ask Markov: the time of arrival of his men, the walkie-talkie frequency to get in contact with their field leader, and more precise details on the rivals' forces. Before exiting the hotel and making his call, he glances one last time at Lachanal:

"Are you enjoying yourself, my friend? We're no dying tonight, I can assure you as much."

Even though he wanted to keep the spirit high, he knew he had one of the easiest jobs in this operation. But unbeknownst to him, he was growing attached to this ragtag group that the Inquisition had created. Maybe, after all this is over, they'll make great assets in his business...

Lachanal puffed on the cigar and smiled "You have got good tastes in cigars Parsen, appreciate that!"

He shakes hand with his three accomplices, and parts with them. "Fellows, make ready, we will see us again soon... Best of luck, the Emperor protects."

Lachanal then exits the hotel, and goes back to his cell in the Palace, laying some elements he'll have to use tomorrow to book and fake his business trip, also reporting on alleged further strange behaviours from Strausberg that he will need to investigate not to get crooked. Lachanal makes a quick prayer and goes to sleep a sleepless night,.his brain playing scenarii of the whole operation all night long, over and over again...

The Next Night

The plan was set...everything was in place, the appointed time was now.

The supply truck roles through the security gate and is subjected to the scans of two combat servitors. After a moment, the truck is allowed through and the gate closes behind it. The truck is parked in the drop off area and the loyal solider driver offloads the crates one by one.

H is able to emerge from the crate disguised as a tech adept, undetected and hops out the backside of the truck.

He sees the wide open plaza and the various buildings of the compouds. A few tech adepts can be seen moving from building to building while servo skulls fly overhead.

H sees the target building about 100 yards away. He sees a Tech Adept scan a security card to unlock a thick metal door and then enter the building.

To gain access, he will either try to conn his way into the building or attempt to hack the security card reader.


Parson and Tambo, and hanger ons, find an abandoned storage shed with good line of site to the compound and the power station.

Lachanal...if he wanted to gain entry to the compound would also be able to do so through his diplomatic contacts, and would find himself in the plaza with H.

In short everything was proceeding without incident...so far.

Tambo instructs Parsons men how to set up and brace the autocannon, before inspecting the Mechanicus installation through his Longlas-scope one last time. He checks all likely targets at the power station, measures or rather "educatedly guesses" ranges, wind and likely drop of the projectiles, preparing as good as he could for the moment. Afterwards he asks Parson "Any signal when I should take the shot? Just wait until the shooting of your business competitors start?"

Meanwhile he also checks out the henchmen Parson brought. How many are they, how are they armed etc. to get a measure of them and how much use they would be if the sewer tunnels should be occupied - as he fully expects because nothing was ever easy. Then again, loosing some of them would not be the worst possible outcome as Tambo had the slight feeling the Inquistion would like to keep the number of persons knowing about this little adventure to a minimum anyway...

Depending on Parsons answer, Tambo would get ready to take a shot, aiming for the three most likely targets he assumes would take out the powerstation.

The autocannon let's loose a short burst into what looks to be generatorium nodes, and moments later electrical power goes out as far as the eye can see, descending the entire surrounding countryside into near pitch blackness, save for the stars in the sky.

Tambo hears loud shouting and cursing from the power facility.

Meanwhile in the compound, lumens flicker throughout the plaza and from within the buildings but eventually come back on and stay on as a local backup generatorum comes online. A few minutes later, he sees a couple of red robed tech adepts emerge from the building he was standing just outside, carrying tool boxes.

This gives H an opening to try to get through the locked door and into the building containing the cogitator... if he wants to take it

Lachanal was entering the compound through his connections just as the generatorium flickered off grid. "Curses, they didn't wait for me to get in position enough" he thought. Now, he had his card to play. Running though the compound, relying on the protection offered by his uniform, he made it straight towards the mecanicum soldiery and started directing them towards the outside, over alleged reports that the PDF garrison was at risk of being overrun. As the Palace intendant, he also claimed to have to speak to logica 7 this hour, as if the cult was to breach the compound, then the governor safety was at risk and measures had to be taken. He, of course, intended to comfort logica 7 into doing the shuffle tour nonetheless, but, if possible, avoid selecting a shuffle at random, or on the contrary do it. All in the name of sowing confusion and preventing Logica 7 from effectively direct any efforts that could make Harlowe go noticed.

Tambo takes his eye from the Autocannon sight with a satisfied grin rubbing his hands on a job well done. "OK, so far so good. Now lets get moving to that sewer tunnel. Make sure your boss has another escape route should he need it. Keep on your toes, we can't be sure if the Cogboys have put some traps down there or if not, if any critters have made it their home." he warns his compatriots before leaving for the tunnel entrance.

H had studied the way the Ad-Mech. It was curious as they walked with stiff backs and very little to no arm swings. Often times, the lower level Machine-cultists kept their eyes averted downward as they moved.

H folded his arms into his robes, concealing his cogitator, and took the chance when the door opened and cult members streamed out. He made sure to mimic the walk of the usual lower-level tech-cultists. Once inside, he did not look up. He had memorized the lay-out of the building using Strausberg's models and had walked his route in the Noble's courtyard dozens of times prior to tonight.

H walked as if he knew where he was going, where he intended to be, and like a cultists with a purpose. He moved hurriedly, but in that strange Ad-Mech way.

Lachanal: Deception DN 3

Success: Burns 1 glory but spends the glory.

The Mechanica Administrator doesn't register a response immediately but judging by the hums and clicks coming from behind the iron mask it wore on its face it seemed to be communicating with others of its kind through the Noosphere (wireless internet).

"You are correct. The machine spirits of electrical generation node 45G34 scream out in pain. We will relieve them."

He starts to walkaway but then pauses before speaking again. "You should leave here at once." He says.

Soon he is joined by several other skitarri. Not likely all the ones stationed here but at least 7 of the 10. And together they leave through the front gate, presumably on there way to the power station.


H: Hacking past final security door to access the cogitator.

DN 4

Result: Success.

H slips into the building then up a flight of stairs and then down another hallway. Using one of the hacking devices provided to him, he hacks through the last remaining security code door to the cogitator room.

The computer inside is truly massive, taking up to 20 square feet and supported by massive cooling unit.

Once inside, he finds that the machine is being tended to by two lowly enginseers. They immediately look up at him.

"Something is wrong, he is not connected to the Noosphere. One of them says in a mechanical voice."

The tech adept peers at H with a suspicious look. "Adept..identify yourself and explain why you are not preperly augmented."


Parson and Tambo:

The group makes entry into the sewer way and assisted by hand held lumens, they are able to see their way through the dark.

The group stops when they encounter a ragged looking hunchbacked elderly man. In the glint of the light he appears to bear the tell tale signs of purplish skin on the right side of his face, marking him out to be a mutant of some kind or another.

"Going to see the red robes mates? Yah might want to be a bit careful. They got traps a plenty all the way up this pipe. Of course...I might be willing to help you get aroudn them if yah willing to deal with an old man."

Lachanal bows thankfully "thanks for heeding me, firend, I'll go at once". He runs downstairs and while running is extremely painful, his bionics make him way faster than normal humans and on par with skitarii soldier. He runs headlong towards the supply trucks, manages to start one of them, and drives it to the sewer exit, a bit further, just at the angle where it should hide Tambo's coming through. In a hurry, he then leaves the trucks, blasts the tyres with his laspitol, on the side that the garrison can't possibly see.

"Time to look a bit battered" Lachanal started ripping off parts of his clothes to pretend he had to make a difficult and nearly failed escape. "That should do. Onto the cogitator room, let's freak these adepts a bit out".

As he smashes the building's door, looking panicked and ragged, he screams at the adepts "we're being attacked, something had at me right a minute before, you're not safe here, leave!"

The whole scene took maybe three to four minutes at most, and even if they didn't actually leave, he hoped to make them pose, tick and give even more time for Harlowe to succeed and Tambo to make it here.

Down in the sewers


"Yeah, sounds good. What do you have in mind?" Tambo asks in a friendly voice, taking a look around to see if there is some kind of ambush lurking around here and waiting to hear the price for the old mans cooperation

Lost in his thought and fatigued due to a short night, Parsen didn't have the time to properly assess the situation. In the blink of an eye, shots were fired, the power plant was going down, and the entirety of his goons were now in the sewers with Tambo, and no signs of his oh-so awaited rivals on the horizon. To combat exhaustion and avoid getting pushed around like a rag doll, Parsen chews on an sugar bar to give himself a boost.

As the crew makes its way in the dark, horrid smelling sewers, Parsen holds tight on Mirage. He's surrounded by his men who are acting like meat shields in case of an ambush, but retaliation would need to be as swift as possible to avoid multiple casualties.

After some time, an old man, looking mutated, proposes his help to deal with traps laid here and there by the Mechanicus.

"Hold on there friend, how do we know you're not lying to us? You could very well be creating the very trap you want us to avoid so dearly. Here, let's check, shall we?"

He then taps on the shoulder of one of his acolytes.

"You there, Martin. You up for an instant promotion and an entire year of paid vacations in the nicest place of the hive? Make your choice quickly because anyone might take that offer before you. And you know what? If the pipe is indeed rigged, I'll give every survivor here a ten percent increase on this year's salary. That means you too: all the previous benefits plus a ten percent increase could very well slip by if you don't take this offer. All you have to do is walk up that pipe and prove that mutant wrong. You wouldn't want to miss this one time opportunity to help everyone around you?"

Most of the time, Parsen manages to keep his cool and easily deceives people. He knows exactly how to talk to his men: they're greedy, and have nothing for them in their life. Sometimes, alluring for some kind of sacrifice for the greater good is the right way to go. And of course, promise moutains of luxury.
Still, he didn't nail it with the purple looking guy. It was no people. It was a mutant. A filthy abomination who could very much lead them to its lair and tear every single one of them to minced meat. Hell, even bullets might not kill this monstrosity. He couldn't control all of his words here. Thus, he tried to correct himself.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I hurt you, my friend. People similar to you caused me harm in the past and I'm having a hard time believing you now. Nothing personal, I barely know you."

At this point, everyone was basically shoving Martin forwards, eager to get their share of the loot. All that was left to do was hang on tight on everyone's weapons, and wait for either the mutant to jump on them, traps to spring open, other monsters coming from the dark, or... who even knows? Parsen is in full concentration mode, ready to make Mirage roar.

The Sewers:

Martin gets up a few feet and then hears a clicking sound as he steps onto some kind of device.

He tries to stand still but is pushed by two of his friends...once his foot steps off the anti-personnel landmine, the device detonates and in a moment Martin and his two friends are shredded by a swirl of projectiles. All three hit the ground dead.

Fortunately Tambo and Parsen were far enough way to avoid being hit directly by the blast.

"Mines...mines. I told you this place was trapped. Me and my brothers have been trying to scout this tunnel for a time now but the red robes and very tricksy. I know it well enough. Can guide you through the rest of the way yes?"

He eyes the ornamental las pistol adorned by Tambo. "That looks like it's worth something. That gun is my price."

[/b]Lachanal[b]

A full force of skitariri rangers are seen traversing the road en route to the power plant via some type of hover car. At first it doesn't look like they are interested in stopping. But then the mine goes off and they stop immediately and dismount.

The head ranger approaches Lachanal. "Request for assistance acknowledged. Contacting PDF to arrange for your transport." He motions to the sewer and five or so skitariri start to move quietly in that direction.

"Officer, have you seen any persons attempting to enter this pipeline?" He asks in that cold robotic voice.

Lachanal had a split second to make up an excuse, entangled in his own lies: of course, as he told the adepts in the room, there was supposed to be an attack... But a staged one! That the mine exploded made his lie become way too real...

And as there was a chance that some camero saw him park the truck there, making up an excuse was not easy. To gain a split second more, he answered simply: "No, I saw no one there"

"I'll go and direct pdf forces to you". He has, naturally, no authority what so ever to do that, but he could well thwart attempts... "Emperor, he thought, help us..."

H made the sign of the Omnissiah to the Techseer.

"Forgive my intrusion. I am not as elevated in the Omnissiah's light. Please, do not let me interrupt your work, I am only here to clean per the devotional duties assigned to me."

H kept himself bowed low and obsequiously. He kept his breathing steady, his eyes still and on the floor. He guessed these two could detect his internal body tells, he focused on maintaining his heart rate, his breathing rate, and his focus.

Parsen watches as the three henchmen blow up into pieces in a loud noise. It wasn't his first time seeing such thing, but it was the first time he directly sent men to their doom in less than a minute. Even though he felt immense guilt, he quickly composed himself, as it was not a vain sacrifice. He now had a reason to trust the monster in front of them.

The price he asked for wasn't even his to pay. To Parsen, it was an interesting deal. He didn't forget that maybe it was *still* a ruse to get them to its lair. After all, upon giving the gun, nothing would guarantee that the mutant wouldn't turn on them. But first, he had more pressing matters to attend.

"Goodness gracious! He yells, feigning being impressed. I... Look boys, I didn't believe this dude. You know what? Their share won't be of any use to them now... We'll pick at random who gets his promotion once all of this is settled. Of course, I have to be alive to deliver this boon..."

With that, he hoped he had both regained and consolidated the loyalty of his men. He couldn't afford them scattering around or fleeing from the sewers now. He could even less afford one of them turning against him. By stating he needed to be alive, he made sure they'd stick to him until death.

He then whispered to Tambo: "You decide if you want to give the gun. I still don't really trust him, but we don't have a choice. Who knows? Maybe his mutant eyes give him better eyesight?"

By the way, he thought, how are Harlowe and Lachanal doing? Let's call Lachanal quickly through the beads to get some news, and perhaps, a bit of enlightenment on what to do next...

Well that was... unfortunate... Tambo thought to himself his ears still ringing from the mines explosion. To be frank, he had fully intended to get rid of the old geezer silently in rather final, knife involving matter. But now the cat was out of the bag and they had to count on the Cogboys noticing the explosion through some technomancy. At least he would have put at least some listening devices down here.

The mines also meant that they would have a hard time navigating around them and still keep to their tight time schedule. Which left rather few options...
"... fine, but you get the gun once we are back here. Until then I'll give you this as a token of good faith" he answers and hands over his normal laspistol.

To Parson he answers under his breath "I'll try to keep track if he really leads us towards the exit. Keep your eyes open for further traps... and signs that we left the mine perimeter behind us..."


Following that Tambo will try to use all his skill to keep track if the route they take to be able to find his way back without their guide and also look out for further traps in an effort to evaluate how much they depended on him

Lachanal makes a step backward as the beads sliglthy vibrates, and answers "Adjudant-chef Lachanal, who have I've got the honour to speak to?"

This was standard military politness, and he hoped it would fool the cogboys into believing he was getting urgent news from the PDF. But as he did so, and listened to what Parsen's -he recognised the rattling voice of the old man- had to say, he kept an eye on what the skitarii were now up to...

"Sir, he said, fakingly adressing a superior, I'm currently in the compound next to the cogitator room. Explosion heard from the sewers. Skitarii team deployed to check for potential threat. I require additional PDF troopers to backup and protect adepts in cogitator room. Do you copy?"

Widening his eyes when hearing about the Skitarii coming to the sewers, he turns to Tambo:

"Well, looks like we've got new friends coming... We have to either press on, or setup an ambush on the Skitarii. And I don't believe we could have the upper hand on the machines even like this...

Look: how about we kill the mutant right now, set his corpse on a mine to make it blow up, and run to hide? We won't have a guide anymore, but maybe the tin cans will just think it's only the mutant dwelling in there... They're really fast, we won't be able to outspeed them. And they most likely are going to see all the mines way better than us. I say we have to somehow disguise our presence and lure them into something else."

H in Cogitator Room



The adepts seem hesitant at first but eventually seem to accept H's explanation.

"Avert your eyes of this blessed machine spirit then and do as you are told. He is given a simple dust remover device."

"Intone the appropriate hymms as you clean the sacred cogitator of particulate dust matter. Then when you are done...leave."

The adepts turn back to their work, affording H a moment to try and insert the encoding device while they look elsewhere.

In the sewers


Tambo answers rather graphically by pulling out his duelling laspistol and shooting the mutant in the head from point blank "Yup... sounds like our best bet. I was hoping we could get further first, but there's not really a point to that now."



"Watch your step... we need to find another mine, fast. Put our little friend close by and blow it up. Also look for a good hideout closeby, so that we can see from where the Skitarii come from. With a bit of luck we can follow them on a relatively safe route. If we don't find a mine within the next 5 minutes, we track back, leave him on the mine that exploded and hope for the best."
He would do as he ordered the others and start looking for a mine or explosive device nearby, treading carefully to not run into a trap himself (and keeping his distance to the other guys around him, while he was at it, knowing that if they triggered another mine, that would work for them too.)

"Do we really have the five minutes you were just talking about? asks Parsen, one eyebrow raised in the dark. For all we know, they could very well be already on their way. Plus, backtracking is way safer than going forward. Look, Stefan, take your machete and cut its head. We're going to use the... leftovers of our brave bastards to make it like it is his body parts. Get going, we don't have much time."

After giving his directions, he thinks for a second.

"No hold on. Its head has a bullet hole in it now. The Mechanicus will likely not stop there if they believe there's been fighting. Ok: the plan stays the same: try to reconfigure what's left into some kind of a severed body. Luckily, it was a mutant, so disproportionate body parts could do the trick. Now get going, we don't have much time."

He then begins thinking again. After all, maybe he could let some of his men behind to buy some time, and continue alone with Tambo. The camouflage part goes down the drain, but the raw amount of time bought could actually save them... Or not, Skitarii are fast, night-seeing, reckless machines.

"Tambo, he asks while tapping on his comrade's shoulder, we have to help them out. It's a race against the clock right now, and tip-toeing in the dark for five minutes will lead us nowhere. We'd better concentrate on the camouflage tactic. It's double or nothing now. You seem to be much more aware of your surroundings than any of us here. Look out for traps that we could have missed on our way there and alert us if you do see one."

By "us", he of course meant "them". He wasn't going to risk stepping on a mine himself. His life was too valuable for that.

H made the sign of Machine-God and bowed. He took the device, and did as he was instructed.... like a good little servant. No one ever looked that closely at the help if the help was obedient and obsequious.

H carefullly did his job, and bided his time. As the tech-adepts busied themselves with their own tasks, H took the time to insert the encoding device.

He remembered the instructions he was given and followed them. He had practiced these movements over the weekend repeatedly, so they would require no thought. His body instinctively knew what to do from recent repetition.

This obsessiveness had cost him. He had an excellent task memory for routes, plans, motions, and scripts. In exchange, he could not even remember his true name anymore, where he was born, or the faces of his family growing up. Off-mission, things were different.

However, H was not off-mission. Everything for the op was stored fresh in his mind. It was easy to retrieve and the mission details loomed large in his head. There were no thoughts outside of the mission parameters and steps needed to complete them.

The Cogitator Room

H was able to install the device on the cogitator without notice and leave the room without incident. His part of the mission was going flawlessly. Now all he needed was to figure out a way to extract himself from the situation.

H didn't have access to get through the front gate...not without some serious hacking of the gate locking mechanism. Possible...but potentially very difficult. Then there was the sewers. They could be easily accessed from the compound's open plaza, but weren't Tambo and Parson supposed to be securing that for him to make his exit?


The Sewers

A group of five Skitariri Rangers started to move into the sewer system, while the rest stayed back and covered the exit. They were roughly about 300 meters away from Parson's group...out of normal hearing range and eyesight. However the skitarii had a lot more to make use of.

+++Rangers, switch to thermal lenses+++ The captain said silently through the Noosphere.

+++Multiple heat signatures detected. 95% probability humanoid. Do we have a kill order? +++

One second pause

+++KILL ORDER CONFIRMED. COMMENCING SWEEP AND CLEAR+++

Tambo...being the trained scout that he was, could sense the rangers moving up slowly and quietly toward their position. He knew their time was running out. A decision had to be made quickly. In a near panic he surveyed the area. He noticed something that he had missed before...a side access tunnel. They'd have to crawl through it, and he had no idea where it would lead, but it represented a new opportunity. The question was...would they take it?


Options for Tambo and Parson

Turn toward the skitari and fight your way back to where you came.

Navigate the mine field and head through the main tunnel toward the entrance to the compound and the place where H would likely extract to if he goes that route?

Start crawling through the newly discovered third tunnel and hope for the best?


Lachanal

He was alone now...off the hook and able to do as he pleased. Some vox traffic over the PDF channel indicated that there had been an attack on the power plant, and some reinforcements were on the way but nothing else so far...

Well frag... that was really bad. And their option weren't nice either. Going through the mines made little sense, as the Skitarii most likely had a way to find their way through them somehow and where much faster at that. And fighting through them seemed not a very attractive option either. Tambo was optimistic that they could pull it off to kill them - under heavy losses on their own side - but that would most likely just pull more reinforcements towards them.
Which left the third option which was the most unclear one - going through the side tunnel. But an unclear doom still seemed more attractive then a certain one, so he gestures towards the tunnel and hurries the others into it "Through here, now!" before they snake their way through. Immediatly he activates his combeat sending a short message "Extraction route compromised, find another way."
While they slither along, he keeps his eyes open for a place to jam his grenade into and maybe set up a little surprise for their pursuers, other wise he would set up an ambush as soon as they find a stretch that leaves cover and open space for them, while the skitarii have to come out one by one, if they follow them. He himself positions in a way, that he can sight down the tunnel at their pursuers through his Longlas scope.

His whole aging body aching, Parsen clumsily follows Tambo in the stinking tunnel. His maimed left hand didn't make anything easier...

Suddenly, he thinks: hold on a minute... Lachanal is an official, could he have some kind of authority to arrest criminals? My gang is somewhat reknown, maybe we could just get away by surrendering us to him? It would be feasible to erase all traces of the alleged criminal case once extracted. The 'bots most likely wouldn't be really interested in keeping this kind of record, would they?

Not having much room to move while crawling, Parsen still manages to activate the comm-beads and he contacts the Adjudant-Chef.

"Listen there, the Adeptus is on our tail, and we have at most five minutes before they catch up to us. Do you think you could fake some kind of arrest to extract us from there alive? I don't think the robots will go easy on us if they catch us with no further notice...

I still have a few goons left, we're currently crawling through some kind of tunnel. Maybe they could soak up the damage for a minute or so, if it can buy you some time. Make it quick though."

Tch, I'd very much like to puff on a cigar right now...

H clicked his ear piece as he moved across the courtyard. The plan was to Ex-fil via the sewer exit, and he moved to follow the plan.

"Aquila landed. Primaris achieved. Moving to Ex-fil."

With that, he moved towards the ex-fil site. He moved with purpose, but not rushing. Now was not the time to draw undue attention.

Lachanal heard the bead take life everso slightly and paid attention. It was Parsen, and he and Tambo were about to be culled by the skitarii. He cursed, mumbling and the words dying on his lips to not be overheard. How come that mine came off? Tambo didn't say that there were mines in there.

Lachanal was considering his options. He could maybe try to stage something at list to get some time. The best to do in that case was to have Tambo pretend to fight againt Parsen? But the skitarii would probably not even twitch and kill them all just in case.

He had no idea either what H was up to or if he could help in one way or another. God Emperor have mercy.

Lachanal was truly at lost, though his image of focused NCO didn't leave his face. He needed to stay alive himself for the operation to continue a bit switfly afterwards.

But if there was no exfil, they would be lost as well. Because there is no way they won't be caught once the mayhem calms down. He decided to make it to the sewers and try to see the skitarii. On his way, he breifly contacted Harlowe for a heads up. The problem being: there was no way he could stop the skitarii... but Logica could.

Once more faking a talk with a subordonates, he ordered "take them prisonner, report". Which, to answer Parsen, meant: make up a scene where Tambo's taking you prisonner now!".

"Yes sergeant, meeting with Cogboy Head in shortest order, wait for further orders, out."

As he speeded towards Logica 7, he hoped he could deliver the message in time: friendly in the sewers, arresting the criminal that was responsible for this mess!

Lachanal was now running, as if to make sure he gave off the impression what he bore was of the essence, and racing to get in touch before the skitarii take the head from his associates torn remains...

The Sewers

Parson and Tambo, and the seven men begin to crawl through the closely cramped side access tunnel.

Eventually the tunnel leads to an opening in the floor, which leads to a somewhat large, and open room about four feet below.

Parson, Tambo, and the other men are able to lower themselves to the lower level without incident, though the process makes quite a bit of noise as a few of the man take a bad tumble on the way down.

A single lumen hangs from the ceiling of the room, and you see other tunnels reaching out in a few different directions. You also see that same graffiti mark on the walls...the one Tambo identified as the mark of a genestealer cult.

Tambo figures that from this point, it might be possible to get back to the outside world...though likely not without some degree of risk.

Still, the group seemed to have evaded the Skitari for the time being at least...

However, since they had gone further underground, they realized their combeads were no longer functioning.

The compound

H makes his way to the center of the compound where the entrance to the sewers lies. However, before he can do anything, a flying Server skull with a laspistol confronts him.

"UNIDENTIFIED SUBJECT. SUBMIT TO RETINAL SCAN FOR CLEARANCE"

Lachanel

[Another successful deception roll. More glory attained!]

Eventually Lachanel was able to open a direct vox channel to Logica 7 in the Hive. [Reaching the Hive would take far too long for him to be of much immediate use, but thankfully he was able to get the Vox traffic through]

"Friendly PDF forces in the sewers? Doing..what exactly? A lone criminal?" "I'll take that under advisement and modify rules of engagement accordingly then."

Lachanal confirms in the communication:

"Yes, amongst the criminals responsible for this mess were a group of friendlies that were infiltrated. I am able to go and have the man arrested for good. Over".

Having technically saved the day, Lachanal rushed to the sewers, eager to make his escape.

With that done, they could all leave, making sure that he would pass Tambo and the ganger as infiltrated agents and pull some stunt to let Parsen flee. Since he was playing a game of deception towards the imperial authorities, Lachanal would need to regulate these as soon as possible because if the situation dragged on, it would all be noticed and he'd pay for it in his own blood. But other matters were more pressing.

As he stepped in the sewers, Lachanal carefully treaded, using his recording device as a source of light for now, wary not to step on some mine and shouted regularly "This is Adjudant chef Lachanal of the Governor's forces. All guardsmen in the area, submit to my authority and bring me the prisoner.". He also hoped to catch up with the skitaeii to be guided further down there... Hopefully, in the tunnels, echo made sure his message bore way ahead of him.

Parson and Tambo...

You originally thought that the combeads had stopped working all together...but suddenly through a burst of static you hear part of Lachanal's transmission.

You are able to piece together that he was getting control of the situation with the Mechanicum...but you weren't exactly sure what that entailed.

It was Tambo and Parson's call to make now. Take the tunnel back to where you came from and HOPE to avoid a confrontation with the Rangers, or Ex-Fil via this alternate route and face whatever unknown dangers await you...

Parson and Tambo

Tambo considered their options, specifically taking into account what he pieced together from Lachanals crackling comm-message and a rough husk of a plan formed inside his head. He made a show of kneeling down, sampling some dirt between his thumb and fingers and feeling the roughness of the walls. Then he adresses Parsons henchmen and points into one of the sewer tunnels that looked the most like it was leading deeper into the tunnels and away from the exit. "OK, here's the plan: From the layout of the sewers, the slight current around here, the dirt and so on this tunnel there should ultimately lead you back towards the exit. Might be you have to walk a while though. At least it is unlikely that the cogboys have mined it, as it doesn't lead towards their installation. Me and Parson stay back and buy you some time. We have an ally that might get us through without a firefight, but that ticket is only valid for the supposed leader of this incursion as my prisoner." with which he implies Parson and all his henchmen, hoping that they would swallow his lie, that he picked Parson for being the most likely he could pull off as bounty.
"We will hold them off on technicalities as long as possible, that should be enough to buy you the time you need." with that he hopes to send them on their way, relying on Parson to do the rest.

As soon as they are at least a bit out of earshot, Tambo confers with Parson "Here's the plan: You are a criminial that was up to some shady business down here. I was infiltrated into your group, betrayed you and took you prisoner. When the Skitarii come, we play this off as good as we can, so feel free to curse me and prepare to get some beating. Soon as they buy it, we send as many of them as we can after your goons and hope they run into some more muties and blow each other up nicely."
It wasn't a good plan, but at least it had a sliver of hope to it, compared with trying to navigate this labyrinth blindly, with mutants lurking in the shadows and augmented soldiers breathing down your neck

H bowed his head in submission to the floating skull. This was not the first Servo-skull he had run across in his days, but it was the first one he had seen armed before.

"Of course" He raised his head just enough so the Servo-skull would need to fly down and get close to his to get a clean read past his red hood.

With his hands crossed in his sleeves, he gripped the gun strapped to his forearm, and prepared to blow the thing apart. H was a good liar, but not good enough to fool a Retina scan.

The plan was simple, let the Servo-skull hover down close for its scan, then shoot it from underneath. It would be noisy, but everything right now was awash in alarms and other distractions. He just needed to make it to the tunnels, and find that Callenese officer.....

Parsen chuckled when hearing Tambo's plan. Almost laughing despite the dire situation they were in, he lays his dirty hand on Tambo's shoulder and shows his left hand.

"You see this? That's our ticket out. When they see the state of my hand, they'll easily buy into our plan. By the way, I'm happy we had the same plan all along. Now, for the whole... 'Dramatic' part..."

He takes a deep breath and starts shouting like a madlad. He splashes in the shallow water and shoots in the air to make as much ruckus as possible. In between two slurs, he grins at his partner and tells in a lower voice:

"Come on, if this plan fails, this is our last dance. Show me what you've got!"

And with that, he keeps yelling at the top of his lungs to be noticed by Lachanal.

H:

With one swift motion H draws and fires his massive hand cannon at the skull, destroying it completely with a single ear splitting shot.

Lachanal:

It takes a bit more talking and persuading, but eventually, the perimeter Skitari guards at the outside entrance to the sewer duct, allow him to enter the sewers and a few minutes later he meets up with the main scouting force comprised of 5 rangers, all sporting gravitic rifles and some seriously powerful augmetics. The scouting group ignores him and instead appear to be focused on the dead mutant and the side tunnel that Tambo and friends had crawled through.

Upon hearing the shouting from Parsen, one of the rangers lets out a loud amplified voice. "Intruders. Return to the main tunnel. Throw your weapons down and emerge with your hands in the air. You have 20 seconds to comply."

Parson and Tamnbo

Parson's gang doesn't seem eager at all to stick around. Some of them curse and mutter. "Last job I'm taking for you" and "Good luck rotting in a penal colony mate," but soon enough they are off, anxious to make good an escape from a job that had seen three of their own die and not a shred of loot to show for it.

Lachanal knew that there was now a narrow line he needed to walk on. He was the one that needed to be in charge of the prisoners, not the skitarii as this would raise serious questions during any interrogation as to what in the Emperor's good will those people where doing here....and possibly track all of it upwards to Lachanal, and Strausberg...

He shouted once again "You heard the ultimatum. Guardsmen, submit to my authority this instant, and follow the skitarii instructions.

Prisoner, you are now in the hands of our beloved Governor's militias. Cooperate, and you shall be let alive and well. Refuse, and this ranger group will be your shooting squad, in the name of the emperor I swear on it!"

All recording that for later proof of need be, he continued advancing, laspistol drawn for.good measure... When they step out into the main tunnel, he'll be there to escort them outside towards the Pdf. Well. Supposedly. That's when he'll be attacked by Parsen's minion who will free him (apparently), thus allowing everyone to make his escape... Apart from Harlowe who was lagging behind, only just leaving the room...

Parsen didn't really mind his goons leaving. Their work here was done. If they ever managed to actually get out, tracking them down and making sure they had a life-threatening accident was very easy. If they died in there, he wouldn't care.

He then hears the ultimatum from the other side of the wall. He grunts and whispers to Tambo: "let's pretend you beat me, and that I'm too out of breath to fight. You do the whole "No worries, I gottem" thing."

He then takes a second to catch his breath.

"Truth be told, I actually am a bit exhausted, he chuckled. Now, the real coin flip begins. Do the Skitarii execute us without Lachanal's order, or do they comply? There's only one way to know..."

He then raises his voice, so to be heard by everyone on the other side of the small tunnel:

"Alright, you son of a Ratlin', you won, happy? I wonder how long you'll survive after puttin' me behind bars! Think you'll be safe? I know everyone 'round 'ere! You won't even be safe when in your toilets! Hear me? You won this battle, but I'll track you down every single day of your miserable life!"

The duo then begins crawling back to the main entrance, Parsen head first so as to ensure he "wouldn't flee".

Tambo does his part before the Skitarii arrive, making some noise to try and make it sound like there was a struggle between Parson and himself.

As they are called out he shouts back "we comply!" but crawling back he announces: "I might desecrate the machine spirit of my Longlas if I throw it. I will throw my clip first and then surrender it to the ground" hoping the Skitarii would accept that. There was no way anyway he could shoot his way out of this, but no Guardsmen would just throw down htheir weapon.

Upon exiting he complies to every order the Skitarii give - for now - but specifically makes eyecontact with Lachanal. After adressing the Skitarii "Tambo, private second class, ID 72635 T 79219B" and only if the movement doesn't get him killed he salutes Lachanal stating urgently "Sir, infiltration was partly successful, sir. There are another seven suspects in the tunnels, but I couldn't establish were they are headed. Seemed to know where they were going though, right down there and through the northern tunnel. I will fully cooperate, but I must insist of warning that danger for the mechanicus installation might be imminent if they are not followed and stopped immediatly!"

With his cover most likely blown, H didn't bother to look around. He re-holstered his hand cannon and made a beeline for the extraction point.

Based on the Comms traffic, events were quickly getting out of hand.

Lachanal pointed his pistol towards Parsen and acknowledged Tambo's report.

"You have done well guardsman. Pick up your weapon at once and keep the prisoner in sight."

He then turns towards the skitarii:

"What does Logica say about the assaulting force that scattered down in the subsidiary tunnels? Are you hunting them down? Of so, me and Tambo will Escort this prisoner out towards the PDF compound at the power generator. We should be able to keep him in custody long enough there for the arbites to show up. Make this report to Logica 7. The situation is under control now. "

So far, the bluff had worked as intended, and while Parsen kept cursing and threatening to look like an enraged lion in a cage, Lachanal felt confidence rise again in his heart, so close to salvaging what had been seconds away from being a critical failure.

The Skitari ignore Lachanal but do nothing to impede Parson and Tambo. The lead Ranger instead makes a motion in the direction of the minefield. The part of the tunnel that eventually connected to the compound above and slowly but surely the five Rangers start to carefully make their way down that main tunnel.

For now at least Lachanal, Tambo and Parson seem to have escaped danger. If they choose to exit the sewer way, the Skitari guards at the entrance will allow them to do so.

H

H's options were limited. He could choose to open the manhole cover and climb a ladder down the sewer system. However Tambo had warned him that the route through the sewer system was compromised.

Alternative options included trying to exit out through the front gate. This would entail a bit of hacking at the very least and a potentially more hostile encounters with security servitors.

He could also try climbing a flight of stairs to a walk way and then jump down off of a 20 foot wall. However that would inevitably lead to serious injury or death.

Finally, he could try hiding in the compound until the situation improved. Which it might...or it could keep getting worse.

H considered his options. The main Ex-fil was compromised. HIs best option was to go to ground and wait for his team.

He decided to make his way back to the infil point, hole up in the crate he came in on, and wait for the Team to figure out how to extract him.

He tapped his comm-bead, "This is Rook. Aborting Exfil. Going to ground at point Alpha. Awaiting extract."

He was careful to adjust his route to the outskirts and back routes to minimize exposure to others. H resumed his disguise to make his way back to the scan-proof crate.

@The compound:

H manages to get into a crate without attracting attention. Apart from the buzz of other servo drones, there doesn't appear to be anyone else around.

Then the cover leading to the sewer opens from the bottom and 5 skitari rangers emerge. They slowly climb out into the sewer. One of them picks up the damaged servo skull drone. After that they begin to walk around the compound slowly but surely assessing every inch of the perimeter. Finding nothing of interest they disappear from sight into one of the large ferrocrete buildings.

The lumens however have changed to a dim red color, indicating that the compound is on some kind of alert status now.

The sewer exit:

The others find the somewhat damaged truck that Lachanal had come here on and no one else. The other skitari have no doubt moved on to another objective...maybe securing the power station?

As they get out of the sewers and rally, the trio made up of Lachanal, Parsen and Tambo now has got to figure out what to do, and, mostly, how to exfil Harlowe. The thing was, as far as Lachanal was concerned, that although Harlowe was indeed an infiltrator extraordinaire, there was no certainty in his ability to not speak under torture, should he be caught. To that extend, leaving him behind was a great risk.

Lachanal believed he would have got the easiest time doing it, but there was an accumulation of bizarre facts already due to his previous scrambling to rearrange the flow of events. He would need to fix that in short order before anyone notices too much. Like a commissar, for example.

"Right, Parsen. That's your part now. Get us a getaway care quickly. I'll arrange Harlowe's escape. Tambo, stay with Parsen. If I am to retrieve our good friend, it'll be stealthier alone yet again. Besides, I'll have stuff to arrange before someone catches notice. I'm heading to the PDF coumpond now. See you at Strausberg estate."

After checking nobody would be seeing him, Parsen dropped the act and went towards the shed where they fired the autocanon before. Maybe the van they came in with was still here? If not, he'd just call his men to get them an escape vehicle.

"Tambo, can you come with me? After having fired, the PDFs might be investigating the shed. If they are, we won't be able to get the van back easily. I'll also need a hand lifting the autocanon in it, we may need to use it again at some point. Or, you know, I may need to use it again at some point."

Tambo saluted towards Lachanal - all the good little soldier- "ayeaye, sir, we'll keep an eye on eachother." Before heading out with Parsen amongst the Chaos. Should they be stopped by Skitarii or the like he mimes the "just following orders" routine hoping for the best.

To Parsens question he replies "sure, I'll come with you. At least PDF are less of a problem then the cogboys. Those tinmen always give me the creeps..."

 SkepticAllosaurus wrote:
After checking nobody would be seeing him, Parsen dropped the act and went towards the shed where they fired the autocanon before. Maybe the van they came in with was still here? If not, he'd just call his men to get them an escape vehicle.

"Tambo, can you come with me? After having fired, the PDFs might be investigating the shed. If they are, we won't be able to get the van back easily. I'll also need a hand lifting the autocanon in it, we may need to use it again at some point. Or, you know, I may need to use it again at some point."

Outside the shed.

Just as Parsen had predicted, a group of around 5 PDF soldiers were in the process of searching the van. Tambo and Parsen managed to spot them from a distance as the terrain had just enough trees rocks and sloping hills to observe them without being observed.

Even worse, Parsen recognized that they had detained one of Parsen's men that had come along with him. The thug was sitting on the ground in hand cuffs under close watch by two of the PDF soldiers while the rest of the squad were set up in a perimeter around the van.

Inside the compound

Barely an hour had passed when H noticed that two lowly tech adepts had approached the loading area, accompanied by a servitor. Together, the adepts and the servitor began to pick up the crates and carry them into a nearby building. H realized that within moments someone would pick up his crate...would they notice something odd about it then?

H noticed activity going on around him. He estimated a couple of adepts or servitors moving around. It sounded like they were processing the cargo.

He had no idea what was on the manifest and what was "supposed" to be in this box. He was pretty confident, that he did not match the "signature" of whatever it was supposed to be.

However, if the adepts and servitors weren't actively looking for anomalies, then he had to trust in his cover. It would not pay to blow it early. Best case, this WAS his extraction. Worst case, well he still had the hand cannon.

He decided to keep radio silent at the moment. No need to potentially tip off the adepts if they picked up any unregistered vox waves coming from a crate of spare parts. A gamble for sure, but one he needed to make.

Outside the shed

"Frak it... we don't have time for this. Emperors mercy for those poor bastards. Parsen, get ready for some company!" Tambo mutters to his companion, before crouching down into cover and carefully setting up his longlas. 2 vs. 5... not really odds he liked that much. But he would have the element of surprise on his side, range working in his favor and by any luck Parsen would deal with at least one of them, when they rushed closer. Through his scope, he carefully picks out his targets, anticipating the direction they will likely dive into when the first shots are fired and deciding on an order he would try to bring them down. His breathing gets slower and monotonous, his whole body almost freezes to a standstill... Just 0as Parson might question if the sniper has fallen asleep, 5 shots ring out in fast sucession, their bolts racing towards their targets. Moments later they punch into all 5 of the PDF soldiers around Parsons detained goon. "Poor bastards... May they feast at the skyfathers table..." Tambo mutters again to himself, but it seems the Emperor is not in a mood to make it that easy for them, as the soldiers return fire in his direction and one of the wounded protectors of the realm lands a very lucky hit right on Tambos arm. The veteran inhales sharply, fighting down pain and shock to stay in the fight - which he does for now, but barely holding on.

Tambo, Parsen


The long las shots punch through the five guards and they all drop immediately. From the shouting and groans, all appear to have taken some injury, but they remain very much in the fight.

Meanwhile the captured man that had run with Parsen's crew starts making a run for it in a random direction, away from the PDF Soldiers but also away from you.

Moments later the troopers all return fire in Tambo's direction, firing in a haphazard manner, but not afraid to empty out entire magazines in a matter of moments.

While almost all of the return fire misses compeltely, one unfortunate lasbolt strikes Tambo across his right arm burning him badly.



H

One of the adepts picks up the box but then puts it down after a couple of steps. H can hear the adepts whispering to eachother.

"Weight distribution is off. I'll need to perform the rite of inspection."

"You need permission to do that. It is a special create. Go to the Chief Maintenancer. Only he knows the necessary prayers."

H hears the sounds of footsteps and then silence.

Lachanal:

Over the Com Net, Lachanel receives a heavily encrypted high level message from an unidentified source informing me to return to PDF HQ at once. No further information is provided.

H quickly opens the box and glances around for a few moments. It is a warehouse, and it is obvious there are other hiding places he can sneak away into. He quickly starts "moving house" to a new, secure location along with the gear from the box. H also glances around for anything that he could replace his weight with in the original hiding place. Things were getting complicated, and he did not like complicated.

He quickly tapped his comm-bead, "This is Rook. Potentially compromised. Requesting imminent ex-fil."

H had to count on his fellows to get him out of here. There was no way he could shoot himself out, so a complicated game of cat-and-mouse was on the cards. He just had to avoid detection for another few hours.... or so he hoped.....

Lachanal's blood froze in his veins. What could potentially have him summoned to the HQ? Well, in fact, lots of things. But could it be, that he could be compromised? Maybe someone noted the inconsistencies of what happened here, as he played around with Logica 7 who would no doubt have sent forth reports to the PDF as well.

Should he really go? Or could he get information from someone else to get a preview of what was at hand... Besides, nothing stopped his superiors or even the commissar from making up an excuse to cover up the ambush or cease-and-decease order that would surely play.

While he was entering the PDF bunker outside the compound, he heard Harlowe's warning over the net. Sadly, there was nothing he could do right now. Or maybe...

"I need to talk to your commander, incompréhensible stuff has been going around here for the last couple hours."

While they went tonget their commander - Lachanal was probably not none in persona, but the sigil of palace intendant was something to reckon with - he emitted twice more: once to Harlowe, begging him to wait some more while he desperately tried to find some way out.
Then to the HQ. He started making a detailed report about everything that transpired, and tried to look confused rather than guilty. He pledged to come back sooner than later nonetheless, after his talk with the pdf base leader... That he hoped he'd have exfil Harlowe more or less knowingly...

H

H finds himself in a very dimly lit warehouse, likely still within the walls of the compound. Other than a few inert servitors, he appears to be alone.

Frantically he tries to find something in another crate that could substitute the weight, but he isn't able to figure anything out in time, as within a matter of minutes, the sounds of footsteps indicate the the Tech Adepts...and maybe others are about to return to the warehouse.

H noticed a stairwell that leads to the rooftop of the warehouse. It was either that or find another place to hide within the warehouse.

Would he be able to run up all those stairs and get to the rooftop without being noticed though? It seemed unlikely. But then again, the risk of being detected while remaining in the warehouse also seemed high.

H was in a no win situation...but he still had to make a choice. [Sprint up the stairs to the rooftop...try to sneak up the stairs to the rooftop, hide in the warehouse, or...something else!]

Lachanal:

There was initially some confusion among the soldiery at the PDF Headquarters, but eventually a fresh faced young man with the rank of Lieutenant by the name of P. Krosinki appeared by the gate entrance his eyes portraying excessive tiredness.

"Right...Lachanal. You're to report to Commissar Gendy Helmlar's office. That's office #35, 16th floor."

This was the same Commissar Lachanal had spoken with earlier. Cause for concern certainly, but at least the Commissar's hadn't arrested him as soon as he had appeared at the base. Maybe the situation wasn't so dire?

H did not fancy running to the roof top, there was no place to go there but down. That would make flight more difficult and not less. On the roof, his only ex-fil would have to be by air, and that seemed very unlikely at this point.

His best chance was to try to find a new hiding place in the warehouse, then skirt around the Tech-adepts, and sneak past them back into the compound. As a last resort, he still had his adept disguise and might be able to bluff, but the Adepts seemed to be on high alert.

 Easy E wrote:
H did not fancy running to the roof top, there was no place to go there but down. That would make flight more difficult and not less. On the roof, his only ex-fil would have to be by air, and that seemed very unlikely at this point.

His best chance was to try to find a new hiding place in the warehouse, then skirt around the Tech-adepts, and sneak past them back into the compound. As a last resort, he still had his adept disguise and might be able to bluff, but the Adepts seemed to be on high alert.

H managed to find a suitable hiding place behind a stack of crates that were marked as radiation hazards. H figured the residual radiation might be able to throw off any advanced sensors used by the tech adepts.

And sure enough the Tech Adepts returned...only this time a lone Skitariri Ranger arrived with them. Upon seeing the crate, the Ranger opens it up and observes its contents. Then motions for the adepts to leave.

Slowly, the Ranger starts to walk through each aisle of the vast warehouse. He even walks past the crates that H is hiding behind, then moves to make another pass through the warehouse.

H surmises that given enough time, the Ranger will likely find him...but he seems to have an opening now to head out a nearby door and back out to the compound.

Lachanal was tensed. Ye was probably about to be court martial. But if he wasn't, it was time to make up the best excuses he could and find a mean to ex fil Harlowe who was still stuck there. He had been stuck for the better part of the day now. Emperor protect him. Besides, he had no idea what Tambo and Parsen were up too and if they had been able.to make their escape while he used a PDF car to rush to the HQ, no having been able to convince anyone to get Harlowe out and understanding that any further delay would only raise more eyebrows and, perhaps, end with his superiors starting to piece the events together. He entered, after checking his margin was there just in case he would indeed be court martial. I .that case, he'd put up a good fight and go down without giving any clue of his involvement in the compound raid...

"Adjudant-chef Lachanal, palace intendant, at your orders commissar's" he saluted, and waited for the order to go at ease...

As Tambo opens fire and panic runs amock in the shed, Parsen notices his goon running away for his life. The worst course of action would've been to get his criminal affiliation uncovered: he could very much get in trouble. Nothing money couldn't fix, but it would still not be an optimal situation to be in. With him running away, the whole ordeal was beginning to become less and less worthy of their time.

Just as he came to that conclusion, Tambo got shot in the shoulder. Parsen's first reflex was to tackle Tambo to the ground to avoid more counter sniping fire.

"You alright partner? He asked. I'll get ya out of 'ere but first I need to buy some time... I wish I had some kind of alcohol though..."

He unstraps the last EMP grenade Tambo has and throws it as hard as possible left of the shed. Hopefully, the noise will distract them from their current location, simulating and attack from multiple fronts. Then, he lights a cigar, digs a few centimeters through it to attach some tissue he had on it, and tie it firmly. As the cigar-bound tissue starts catching fire, he throws it on the other side of the shed, in an attempt to set fire to the surrounding grass.

Now, it was time to pray for the distractions to work, and to start dragging Tambo away from where he was shot. One hand grabbing his comrade, the other one struggling to call for some emergency exfil from Markov through the radio, he hopes the confusion caused by Tambo, along with his own makeshift decoys, buy enough time for them and the fugitive mercenary to get away. Hopefully, unscathed.

the shed

Tambo is obviously hurt pretty bad, but still running on Adrenalin "No way we get out in time with five soldiers behind us and no vehicle. And no good to have that many witnesses. Frak it Parsen, we have to finish what we started." meanwhile he shakes away Parsens hand as soon as he is in cover to take aim at the PDF soldiers again, estimating his chances of hitting the ammo stock of the Autocannon. "If you want to run, run. I'll take my chances here."

H waits for his moment, and then carefully pads to the exit and tries to slip out undetected and back to the courtyard. There was only so long he could keep up this game of cat and mouse. Eventually, they would close in on him.

He needed another plan to get out of here. The original ex-fil through the sewers was a no go. He couldn't get over the wall and across no-man's land undetected. His best chance was to hitch a ride out, but he was unsure when the next vehicle would be departing.

In the meantime, he tried to make himself look busy and that he belonged there by taking his duster and cleaning various keypads, control boxes, and utility boxes on the outsides of the buildings around the courtyard. The disguise of a lowly Tech-serf was still his best bet to stay hidden in plain sight until an opportunity presented itself.

The shed.

The stun grenade diverted the return fire from the PDF guards but the lasfire provided just enough light for Tambo to get a bead on the auto gun's ammunition supply.

It was a difficult shot, but Tambo was able to successfully make it...one shot hit, the second shot, it started to catch fire..the third shot. Boom! A wail went out from the PDF soldiers and then all was quiet, except for the wailing cries coming from Parson's man that had been detained and ran off, but obviously hadn't gotten very far.

PDF Headquarters

Lachanal is greeted by the cold female commissar he had spoken with the day before, Gendy Helmlar and an older burley faced male commisar with a wicked scar running down the right side of his face. Lachanal recognzized him as Commissar Bane, an exceptionally ruthless man on occassion but not all the time. A lot depended on his mood on any given day/

"Good evening Lachanal, please sit down, we have some questions to ask you." Helmlar said, and gestured to a plain chair in front of her desk...

What follows was a long series of questions about a missing Vermillion Classified File dubbed "Final Solution" that had been breached earlier that day. The Commissars are careful not to give too much information away, but Lachanal is also able to surmise that the contents of the file had been trasnmitted to an astropath via heavy encryption and been broadcast off world within the last hour...the timing of which seemed to coincide with H's infiltration of the ad mech compound.

Of course, Lachanal had never attempted to even access that file, so he knew he was going to be innocent, but the process holds him up at least two hours.

When Lachanal is ultimately released...he may be starting to question if the entire mission had been a lie. That everything they had done up to this point had simply been part of some elaborate ruse orchestrated by the Inquisition.

Lachanal saluted, and exited the room. He was in full disarray. There was nothing he could do to retrieve Harlowe now, because he would be under tough surveillance. Lucky he didn't mess with this file... Although he would now pay anything for an idea of what it contained. Mostly to know to what extend he had been played. He was used to being a pawn, this is the essence of being a soldier. But usually, insight was given to at least make him believe in some rightful reason to obey. In this case, he hadn't got a reason any longer. Or maybe, was the inquisition not at all involved. Besides, once again, if that was indeed the inquisition, how would they have known he would like to see his most admired commander retire? He never spoke of it, neither publicly nor in private...

Lachanal tried to get a hold of himself and partly soothe his disarray by making himself a mug of recaf, and then, decided that he, as an intendant, could very well try to see the governor. And make his own opinion of the situation, maybe. At least, he would pretend that this is a normal, not so busy day for him, just as so many had gone by since he was put there due to his crippling injuries...

"Bullseye!" Laughs Parsen as the ammunition blows up.

"You really make one fantastic sniper, Tambo. Consider yourself one of mine from now on. If you need anything: shelter, food, ammo, contacts, you know who to call. I mean, we could even start working together right now! The van looks alright enough to be driven away. I'll go and take a look at the autocannon, with some kind of super luck it's still usable. Or, at the very least, fixable."

He goes up to the van and opens the back doors after having looked inside to ensure there were no survivors.

"You coming with me or not partner? Our work here is finished."

PDF HQ

The attendant at the front desk of the "Office of the Governor" is a young lady dressed in a PDF Uniform. She looks bleary eyed as she nurses a hot cup of re-caf while scrolling through the contents of a data-slate.

"Meeting with the Governor. Umm, I suppose I could put you on the list. You must know though that he will be off world today, visiting the soldiers stationed with the Crusade fleet before they depart the system. You'll probably see a press release on that later this evening."

After that meeting though something strange happens. Lachanal sees a message scroll across his eyes from out of no-where. A psychic message perhaps?

+++Primary Mission Accomplished. Return to the safehouse in 18 hours+++

Indeed, the same message scrolled across the eyes of Tambo, H, and Parson at around the same time.

H

H could see the light of dawn approaching, and with it. An announcement came over the loudspeaker.

"Compound lockdown status lifted Night shift, 1 hour notice. Day shift to commence in 1 hour"


The change in work shifts promised to present an opportunity for H to escape through the front gate, but security would undoubtedly be tight. Even now, H could see a servitor sweeping up the remains of the servo skull he had shot earlier. Did the Ad Mech know that an intruder was inside their compound? Or was the additional security merely stemming from what had happened earlier in the sewers?

H got a sense that he was running out of time to escape the compound...absent a daring rescue, the shift change appeared to be his last chance to make something happen.

Lachanal was tensed and could feel in his guts that bad things were bound to happen. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to play along from the get go. 18 hours left him way enough in the way of time to do an actual work day however, on which he cracked on.

His subordinates and superior's alike didn't miss his tired look. Lachanal was extremely good at concealing emotions and thoughts, but he could do nothing to hide the stretched traits of his face and the black lines under his eyes. Questions obviously followed, to which he took care to answer the same thing with the same details so that no amount of recaf machine gospels would spark suspicious regarding a poorly coherent speech.

That day, he went back and forth, making mundane tasks he usually performed. In the meantime, he was thinking about how to get Harlowe out... And the he had an idea. One of his tasks could well be to retrieve go figure out what happened on the compound as he was there. After he completed his most usual tasks and report, catching up on his late work, he borrowed a service car, and set off to the compound.

He tried to see if the beads would work regularly on the journey, asking Harlowe in the calmest of voices if he copied: help was coming his way at long last. Lachanal also tried to make contact with Tambo and Parsen, who, unbeknownst to him, had been in trouble in the time he had been away. But Lachanal knew nothing of that. He assumed they would have fled, but believed that they could not possibly have retrieved Harlowe yet...

Speeding though the dimming light to arrive before the governor would, Lachanal kept tryin hand trying to reach his erstwhile comrades...

edit - erased double post

Tambo stands back up, looking at his wound and then back towards the direction of the mechanicum facility deep in thought. "... I'll take you back on that offer, but we aren't finished here yet." he makes his way over to the PDF soldiers, picking up the laspistol of one of them on the way. "If the job is really done..." BLAM BLAM "we have to tie of loose ends." BLAM BLAM "H has seen our faces, he knows the safehouse..." BLAM BLAM "And even if he is dead, the Cogboys know their way around with brains..." BLAM BLAM

After he put a lasbolt in each of the soldiers heads and hearts he adds "We need to extract H... or at least get a clear enough shot to vaporize his whole head. Preferably the former as you wouldn't want to anger an Inquisitor." he taps his combead, listens in for some seconds, then wispers "H, you copy? Where are you?"

With the primary mission complete he could breath a small sigh of relief. That just left the personal business of surviving for another day. Afterall, there was always more work to do.

H heard Tambo's welcome voice in his comm-bead. Things had been ominously quiet for too long.

"I'm here, at the location. Will attempt to Ex-fil via main in 1 hour. Be ready."

H had a very simple plan. He would mingle with the workers as they left, and try to slink out with them. Then, he would rendezvous with the team. However, he had a feeling it would not be that easy.

As Parsen closes the van's rear door, now containing the Autocannon and a single intact shell, he steps into the vehicle, half listening to Tambo as he already made his mind about going home.

Then, as he was about to turn on the ignition, Tambo's words resonate in his head: "they know their way around with brains". Tch, the boy was right, not retrieving Harlowe would only delay the inevitable. The last thing he wanted was to get official beef with the tin cans.

"Hey partner, since you're finishing the business here... Why don't you take care of that cockroach running 'round there?" he nods in the general direction of the staggering last of his goons. That would be something less I'd have to take care of later."

He pauses for a quick second, takes note of the mysterious notification, holds a fatigued sigh and carries on:

"Look, I think you're right. We have to get him outta here. There's a single round left with Big Bertha in the back. Any idea on what to do with it? Otherwise, maybe we could try to extract Harlowe via the sewers? Maybe the way is clear by now."

He thinks for a second. Maybe they could tinker the shell and make it a bomb instead? Strapping some kind of fuse to it to cause a distraction? Or use it as a weight to place on the accelerator of the van and make it run through the compound or at least ram it before leaving? Or maybe a combination of the two, like some kind of explosive vehicle?

They would have to get back to the safehouse some other way, and time was of the essence but... Maybe Markov would actually prove useful for once? Tch, Parsen swore he'd have this guy's head when he gets back.

He exposes the different ideas he came up with to Tambo, waiting to see if he had anything smarter to suggest, or if they'd have to go with the tinker's way. Suddenly, he gets another idea: how about they somehow traded his last goon with Tambo? He quickly jumps on Tambo to stop him from shooting the deadly shot and exposes his nasty plot:

"New idea, tell me what you think about this. I can't go myself as I've already been identified as the "bad guy" of the sewers. But you could very well take neutralise that guy, and bring him there, I'm sure they'd enjoy some sacrifice to turn into a servitor or something. If I remember correctly, Harlowe blew a Servo Skull earlier, right? You offer the guy to replace it, and this creates a distraction for Harlowe to use. Hopefully, we can all make it out alive.
After all, the... "offering" was also a criminal in the eyes of the machine dudes, they saw him before. You can always say you caught him trying to run away and he was convicted to a death sentence or something, right? How does it sound?"

The Compound Daybreak

A loud alarm like sound signaled the end of the night shift just as the sun began to creep up over the horizon.

Slowly but surely the main ferrocrete metal gate door opened itself up and a small number of vehicles began to queue up in front of a much flimsier "road gate" that was used to control the flow of vehicles. The occupants of all the vehicles were being scanned carefully by gun toting servo skulls. Once scanned thoroughly, the gate opened up and then the next vehicle was scanned.

H noticed that the vehicles all appeared to be Adept maintenance crews...likely dispatched to the power generatorium that had been damaged the night before and were now returning to the compound.

In the distance, H can spot at least three Skitariri Rangers keeping watch from distance parts of the compound walls with their long range gravitic rifles.

Tambo had obviously no Problem with also gunning down Parsens last Goon, but using him sounds better. He weighs Parsens idea, but chips in "An autocannon shell doesn't have enough juice in it for a nice makeshift bomb, but it might deal enough damage for some distraction..."

He scratches his chin. "Okay, here is what we do. First we switch places before anyone else gets here to look for the PDF goons. Then we set up the autocannon and line it up for some target in the Admech compound. We rig the truck so that it drives towards the compound without a driver and start it up.
After last night, a truck rolling towards the main gate and not responding should get their attention, even if it is just in first gear. Your associate will stay at the autocannon and pull the triggern when the truck is some 100 yards from the gate, then he can f**k of. That should get the cogboys boiling. He should know though that I will have him in my sight, so he better not ditch his job prematurely. The two of us will get a little head start and go to ground. Hopefully that's enough for H to sneak out."


_____________

After they hopefully prepared this, Tambo takes a look through his periscope and notices the procession at the gate "perfect, doesn't get better than that." He activates bis combead "H, distraction at main gate in 10 minutes. Rest is up to you..."

Parsen notes, that Tambo checks for his goon through the scope. "By the way... you said this Markov was in charge of organizing your enemies to attack the facility as orginal distraction? Might be good old Markov got a taste for a change in your companies leadership? Something we might take care of later?"

Tambo uses last remaining Wrath to re-roll fails to get an improvised explosive device rigged up with some assistance from Parsen and his goon

10 Minutes Later The Compound

The sounds of an approaching vehicle are heard followed by several servo skulls firing into the distance. Moments later the skitarii add their gravitic rifles to the hum and then a loud explosion is heard outside the gate as the "dummy" vehicle detonates.

Almost immediately the large heavy ferrocrete gate door begins to close in response.

If H engages in an all out sprint he might make it out before the gate closes...

H knew that it was now of never, and he might just catch a Grav-rifle shot on the way. He gathered up the hem of his robe to avoid tripping and full-out ran for the exit.

The gate was closing fast. He whispered a prayer to the Omnissiah and dove forward and tucked to try to roll under the fast closing gate....

"You're the cunning type aren't you? chuckles Parsen. Yeah... Lately Markov's been less and less responsive and useful. I'm pretty sure he's plotting something against me. If you're up for the job once we get out of this one, I'd be more than happy to have you by my side. To pull out the rotten roots. Starting with Markov himself. I don't know the magnitude of the coup, but I don't want to take risks."

He reaches for a cigar in his pocket and remembers they still have to play it safe one last time. Instead, he contacts Lachanal with the comm-beads:

"Hervé, we're gonna need your help for the exfil. We just used the old van as a distraction. We'll also lose the Autocannon in the process. Hopefully Harlowe will be able to get away with us. If not... Tell us when you're 5 minutes away from us. Be quick partner."

--------------------------------

Once the explosion happened, Parsen kept and eye on the compound, while Tambo was waiting for the Autocannon to fire its last shell and take care of the gunner-goon.

"I'm afraid I don't have anything to pull off some wacky distraction now, I truly hope the plan works" he tells Tambo, with a glimmer of tension showing through his otherwise serene voice.

While he was speeding towards the compound, Lachanal heard the beads ring, and answered.

"Copied, over". He slammed the pedal and went full speed. He didn't catch Harlowe's bold attempt at an escape, but he did get from Parsen's eagerness that serious stuff was going to go down, and he needed to show up in time for it. When he reached the 2 kilometers sign in front of the compound that cut its form from the black, foggy background of the hive's surroundings, he voxed yet again: "intendant, coming in, 5 minutes."

Ranger 05 stood at his post on the wall furthest from the gate scanning the interior of the compound. After a servo skull drone had been shot down from within the compound earlier in the night, they had good reason to believe that an intruder may still be present. It was just a question of snuffing him out at the right time.

Right around the time of the gate shift, he heard a cacophony of las fire and galvanic rifles take aim at an approaching vehicle, which was met by an explosion. It seemed like another futile attack from the cults. As he sifted through the Noosphere, he kept an eye on the compound. That's when he noticed a lowly adept running toward the gate. This seemed out of place, because all other personnel were decidedly moving AWAY from the gate and away from the explosion.

+++05. Potential target in sight. Calculate 75% confidence it is the intruder. Kill order authorized?+++

+++Authorized++++

The communication took about 0.05 seconds. After which he took aim and fired at the fleeing adept.

Rolled a MISS!

H narrowly felt a powerful blast from an energy weapon single the side of his cloak just as he ducked under the closing gate.

In the distance, H can see the burning wreck of a vehicle, still belching smoke and the vague outlines of Tambo and Parsons.

He is not out of danger yet though as there are likely at least two other rangers looking outwards on the outside perimeter.

H tapped his comm-bead, "Ex-fil Complete. Cover Needed. Taking fire."

The infil-traitor kept moving, ducking and weaving, and trying make his movements as unpredictable as possible to avoid taking a shot to the head. The last shot had been far too close for comfort!

C'mon tough guy, now's the time for the run of the century! Parsen thought as the energy ray passed right next to Harlowe.

"Oi Gregory, shoot that thing on the cogboys will ya? shouts Parsen to the guy manning the Autocannon. Then quickly run for your life! If you make it out alive, come and meet me tomorrow morning at Saint's Bonifatius Pilgrim's Abode. You'll be greatly rewarded."

He knew Tambo would have to concentrate everything on the Rangers aiming at Harlowe to maximise the odds of everyone getting out alive.

Then, Parsen heard tires burning as Lachanal broke as hard as he could near Harlowe's position. Getting up, Parsen tells Tambo in a hurry:

"I'm going to the van, give them hell partner! I'll provide suppressive fire with Mirage once I'm close enough to them and defend Lachanal!"

Sprinting as quickly as his old body allows him to, Parsen goes down the hill where the shed was located and runs towards the vehicle, Mirage in his right hand, and his wounded left arm out to help him balance himself while running.

Upon arriving at the vehicle, he takes cover behind it and starts shooting in the general direction of the Ranger furthest from Harlowe to offer some kind of suppressive fire.

Lachanal was horrified to understand he rolled in in the midst of a firefight. Auto canon shells where zooming in the general direction of the walls, and shotgun fired could be heard. And... Was the man running and jumping left and right Harlowe?

Lachanal processed everything in a fraction of a panicked second and elected to blare his horn, and drifted against the best and closest cover to harlowe he could find, then blared anew, he refrained from shouting: some might recognise his voice. He was praying as hard as he could that no energy bolt blow him out while he greeted his teeth waiting for Harlowe to jump in. He nearly battered the car against the cover, he did. As soon as Harlowe was in, he was ready to stomp on the gas pedal and leg it like there was no tomorrow... Then, on the return home trip, he'd get rid of harlowe and burn the car before making it to the safehouse in earnest, hoping to arrive in due time still..
May no roadblock occur. If so, he'll have to push through and make with the arbites or law inforcements that would probably chase. And how in the world would he explain that the car was destroyed? And will the governor actually make the trip after all this happy mess? Nevermind.

One of the Rangers ducked down beyond the wall as the autocannon opened up his position, keeping him suppressed for the time being.

Around this same time, Parsons shotgun, still hopelessly out of range to hit anything also added to the frenzy.

The sole remaining Ranger was about to open fire on the advancing vehicle, thinking it was another car bomb, but instead takes aim at Parson and pulls the trigger.



The weapon blasts a hole right through Parson, and the Ranger sees him go down, he then turns toward his next target.

Meanwhile, a full swarm of servo skulls with lasguns fly over the walled compound and begins to descend toward the group.

For the moment, it seems that Parson has bought H and Lachanal a moment's grace to attempt flight.

H dives into the vehicle with Lachanal. "Drive!" he shouts.

As they squeal away, H pulls off his Tech robes, revealing his simple laborers clothing beneath. He bunched the robes up and tossed them into the back. H assumed that they would eventually ditch the car and burn-it to destroy any evidence.

He grabbed his pistol and glanced over his shoulder to see if they were being pursued.

"Frak it..." Tambo thinks, seeing the servoskulls rise and takes aim at one of the Rangers. They would have a hard time getting away with those long range guns still firing. He lines up his shot, steadies his breathing and pulls the trigger, but just that moment, the cogboy ducks in cover from the autoshell blast, throwing Tambos lasbolt off-target.



For the time being, Tambo mainly tries to estimate the right time to either hop on the getaway car or disappear into the wilderness, hoping to find his way back without any company

Lachanal drove like a madman, only giving a quick "exfil complete. To safehouse." as he darted away. He hadn't been able to see Tambo nor Parsen ans hoped the both of them would now manage to make there escape. But that, was far out of his reach, and he contented with driving towards a gangster rife garage he knew, the closest he could find to the safehouse.

"Alright, end of the right, cover me while I set that piece of scrap on fire. Hope they'll believe it got munched in a gang fight." He took a match, ignited it, and dumped it into the fuel tank before backing of quickly.

"Let us go now. I'll make my report, rendezvous where it all started right. Make a prayer for Tambo and Parsen as you go".

Without even waiting for an answer, Lachanal bulky, crippled silhouette walked painfully off in the dimming light...

The Servo skull swarm concentrated a hail of lasgun fire toward the vehicle as it fled causing various windows to shatter as the vehicle reeled under relentless lasfire, but moments later the vehicle pulled out of range and the hail of lasfire stopped.

Meanwhile the remaining Rangers stayed hidden under cover, giving the remaining survivors time to withdraw under the cover of the smoky haze emanating from the destroyed vehicle.

The Safehouse...

And so, eventually, the group finds its way back to the same place where they started, the safehouse tucked away in a back alley ina forgotten corner of Hive Gallows.

Upon entering, you would see the back head of a bald man, dressed in long flowing robes, a bolt pistol strapped to his holster and possessing the unique gothic ornamentation that would only befit a man of high stature. The man was sitting in front of the sole cogitation terminal pouring through the contents of some unknown data slate. Without looking the man remarks in a cold stern voice.

"That was a terrible exfiltration. The correct course of action would have been for the operative known as H to commit suicide to evade capture. Perhaps jump off the wall and hope for the best. So much un-necessary exposure... So much so that I was tempted to put a bomb in this cogitation terminal and rig it to detonate when you arrived today."

"However you did help get me what I wanted...the contents of that Vermilion file broadcast offworld and back to my Ordo. So perhaps there is something of your lives that can be salvaged."

"And no...there won't be a coup today either. The Governor and the Bishop will address the troops and return home today as normal. You couldn't possibly have believed that Strausberg's plan was going to work did you? That was all a cover to help me get the Governor's OH SO INTERESTING plans offworld to the Ordo Xenos. And if you failed, plausible deniability. Everything is tied back to Strausberg..a failed coup attempt to mask the theft of valuable data."

"You see, that is how the Inquisition often operates. Layers upon layers of deception."

"And yet...today I am allowing you to peel back the onion a little, and see the truth for yourself. So I surmise, you have figured out the next part of what I am going to say."

"Gentlemen, welcome to the Inquisition. You've passed your first test and are now invited to join my warband."

Tambo nods an affirmation regarding how terrible the extraction went, relieved that they somehow managed to not botch it completely.

When the inquisitor asks, if they really believed Strausbergs plan could have worked he shrugs "It wasn't my place to speculate about it back then, it isn't my place now. I got an order and tried to fulfill it to the best of my abilities." From his tone it is pretty clear that he didn't really care for who ruled this planet anyway. "To be honest, I was a bit afraid we might have been tricked and would unknowingly play into the cults hands." a certain paranoid part in the back of his brain told him, that possibility was still on the table.


As the offer is made, he looks over to his ernstwhile compatriots and then nods "It will be an honor to serve. But while I fully expect you to already know about this and have accounted for it, I believe there are still a couple of loose ends to tie up here, aren't there?"

Lachanal almost choked as he heard all of this. That's not what he had signed for... Most importantly... What will he of this world? And of the governor? Well, it was too late. He was in it chest deep.

His deeds would not go unnoticed forever. In the end, someone would piece together all that had transpired, notice the inconsistencies he left behind in a hurry, and track him down. As the governor was not to be removed, he would not enjoy the protection a change of leadership would have carried with it. The clock was ticking for him before he was labelled a traitor and cut down accordingly in ignominy. Lachanal's only chance was to accept the offer and make good on the inquisition's proposal.

But there was still one thing he was willing to ask:

"Inquisitor. I never spoke my mind to anyone. How have you known that I was willing to plot against the governor in an attempt to safeguard this world and the governor as is my duty, even against the established authorities?"

"Besides, count me in, Inquisitor. It is my duty to serve the imperium however the Emperor demands of me."

H frowned. As if he had not thought of that himself.

He made the sign of he aquila and bowed low, "That was the back-up plan. However, the Adeptus Mechanicus knows their way around a dead body, even leaving a corpse could have compromised the mission. Respectfully."

H knew that when he got involved, that service or death were possible outcomes. He looked around the room, took in the scent, tried to feel the dry air on his face, strained to hear the crowd noise outside. He knew this moment would be a turning point in his life, and he wanted to recall it later; but he was unsure if he would be able too.

"My duty is to serve, and service is my life."

The operative known as H, as Harlowe, as Hawke, as Harryson, as so many names and faces looked at the floor. Onto the next mission he supposed.

Parsen could barely walk by himself after the terrible injury he sustained at the compound. He was happy to be alive, sure, but that also meant even more problems were sure to arrive... After painfully sitting on one of the available chairs and letting out a groan of discomfort, Parsen takes out the finest cigar he still had on him and enjoys a long, refreshing puff on it. He then slowly exhales while thinking of what just happened.

"First, I'm not messing with the cogboys ever again. These bastards have comically mean boomsticks... Second, now I have to deal with Markov. I just need to overlook the Saint Bonifatius Pilgrim's Abode to see what Gregory is up to... And third..." He stopped thinking for a second, an empty gaze staring at the floor. After some time, as all the others already pledged alliegeance to the "Inquisitor", he looked up, in the direction of the bald man.

"And you, who ARE you? How can we trust you? For all I know, I could get an exact copy of all your ornaments and trinkets for a few bucks down the hallway!

Then, you claim the "Inquisition" uses so much deception, just for you to somehow let us in on some secret group people would kill their parents to learn about, or be a part of. Yeah, how the hell do we know it's not yet another layer huh?" Parsen had used this strategy more than once in his "career" to know how persuasion worked. He wouldn't fall for this one.

"Lastly, what happens if I accept? You strip me of all my relations, all my empire, take me to a planet far far away, where I'll be nothing more than an old sack of bones barely able to walk. I don't see what I GAIN, and even worse, I can't even see what YOU gain. Looks like a gakky deal to me, pal. Try revising the terms of the contract: I'm already on death's door, threatening to kill me will not be enough to make me accept it as of right now."

He then uses the chair he was sitting on to get up, steadies his breath for a second, and resumes, the "Inquisitor" still browsing through the data.

"If you want your new acolytes to take me down, tell them now. I'm done playing the puppet games. You better give me clear explanation, or leave without me."

Parsen knew that he was essentially flipping a coin. If the creature in front of them was indeed an imposter and they were able to see it, it could avoid some major trouble in the future. If it was an actual Inquisitor however, either he would kill him outright for such disrespect, or he could sentence him to something even worse. Parsen could sense his grip on this world was diminishing fast: with Markov's threat and possibly no one to turn to, it would be incredibly difficult to even make it through the night anyways. His physical state was also worse than it had been in ages, perhaps since he lost his damned left hand. He didn't have much to lose, nor to offer. All he wanted, right here and right now, was the truth. Or some lie elaborate enough that even a master manipulator like him would buy. At least, he would have met his soul brother.

"Ahh Lachanal. The answer to that question is simple. I have a few sanctioned psykers in my keep. Your very thoughts betrayed you."

"But those thoughts of yours...those doubts about Governor Louisy were of interest to me because they were valid. And it's also why I knew I chose correctly when I selected you to join my warband."

"You see although I have no need to depose Louisy at the current moment, something indeed is very wrong with the current Governor. He has embarked on a very dangerous path you see. His final solution comes down to..."

At that moment, Parsen interrupted the old bald man with his tirade.

In response, the bald man immediately drew his bolt pistol and leveled it at Parsen.

"You on the other hand were selected for one reason and one reason only."

"For some inexplicable reason EVERY projectile shot at you...every blade that stabs out at you has a tendency to bypass all the critical organs of the human body. In short. You get shot, you get stabbed...repeatedly, but you still don't die. As far as I can tell it's some matter of bizarre luck. Do you want to test that theory today Parson?"

After a moment the bald man holstered the bolt pistol once more though he really did seem to be mulling over taking a shot at the old gangster just to see what would happen.

"If not, then shut your mouth for a few minutes and let me finish talking."

"Know that I am indeed an Inquisitor. If you can shut up for a moment longer, you might even come to know my name, just like I already know yours...and maybe, just maybe, you'll gain a better understanding of the 'deal' you are being offered today."

Lachanal lets out a dissatisfied groan as Parsen stopped the Inquisitor in his tracks. He almost, almost had his all answer and was a avidly waiting for the full truth of what he had been living lastly...
The NCO was in shock. Was that all so simple? Sanctioned psykers... Lachanal was making a list of people who might be psykers in his former Entourage, but quickly abandoned, as it could have been anyone. That was almost disappointing that it was all so plain. But the real deal, the one that was about to make Lachanal burst into tears, was to hear, yet again, that the governor he has served and loved all this time was on the brink of destroying his own creation. Tears of pain, and tears of joy, that maybe, he succeeded in stopping him and preserving his legacy? Maybe that at long last, somehow, the inquisition would set the old man aside to the rest he deserved before madness and ignominious death claimed him?


He raised a hand towards Parsen and said in a voice full of emotions he was now sick of hiding : "Pal. Wait before rebelling. You don't even know the full terms. And we surely don't know yet what was bound to happen if we hadn't succeeded. You may have your doubts and I'm okay with that, you've been hit hard in this adventure. But I have answers I've been waiting for a lifetime and fought these last days, risking my life, for. Now, stay still an instant more... And Inquisitor, I plea to you, tell us what was the Vermilion plan about?"

Lachanal was eager to know. Even more so that he did see this file and had been seconds away from actually reading it but lacking time to make up any good covering up of his traces he ultimately changed his mind.

H's ears perked up, even if he kept his body language submissive and his eyes downcast.

Hearing no further objection, the strange man continued speaking.

"Now where was I? Yes the Governor Louisy. It was just a few years ago, when the tithes were being worked out for this world to contribute to the counter attack against Leviathan. When the tithes were finalizes, Louisy realized that he was being deprived of the resources that he needed to utterly crush the traitorous cults running amock. It was an acceptable risk, he was told by the bureaucrats of the Adeptus Terra, that the cults had been so weakened already that they could never seriously threaten the planet and the fight against Leviathan had to take precedence."

"It was then that Louisy realized that he would never have his perfect world, that it all had been ruined not only by the taint of the genestealer, the mutant, the heretic, but by the ineptitude of the Imperium itself. And so he lost hope."

"Of course, he covered it all up very well. Attacking the Cardinal was an easy ploy to shift attention toward an old rival, and for a while it worked. But eventually....the threads of the conspiracy came back to me."

"You see, the Governor is convinced that sooner or later Leviathan will come and the world will fall. And so he has turned to some of the more eccentric Tech Priests and seeks to acquire ultimate victory through technology. Indeed, at this very moment Loisy is sending men to scour the system to search for an ancient artifact of terrible power."

"It is referred to in ancient scrolls as the Signal-Arity. By all accounts it appears to have been a monstrous creation dating back to the Dark Age of Technology and if the legends are true, the artifact could destroy EVERYTHING within an entire stellar system, perhaps even within a light year of the system's core star."

"If Louisy acquires it, I don't know what he would use it for. Perhaps it is simply a safeguard for if the system falls. Perhaps he just wants to end it all now? Whatever his intentions though, needless to say, acquiring and wielding such a weapon is outside the scope of any Governor's authority. Only the Holy Inquisition can be trusted to safeguard such a relic."

"Which...for those of you who choose to join me, will be our next mission. We are to seek out the Signal-Arity and find it before anyone else does. Once we find it, we will ensure it is turned over to the Ordo Xenos for safekeeping."

"Of course Parson, if you wish to decline you're welcome to go back to your old life. You'll be administered a memory virus and will wake up having forgotten the last few days of your life, but with a few extra gold bars to show for it. Of course, the PDF may be looking to apprehend you...and also Strausberg may not be happy that his coup failed. That's a lot of enemies to contend with, but it's your choice."

H did not lift his head, but glanced sideways at the old man. He could hear his breath rattling in his chest, his injuries were severe.

He had no idea if anything the Inquisitor said was true, and in truth it did not matter. The fact he thought it was true was enough. H had little say in the matter, and knew that he needed to flow through the river of time. It was not the moment to fight the current.

After having fallen straight on his chair minutes earlier, Parsen manages to get back up to once again speak. His voice was slow yet purposefuly kept steady. He put out his cigar, stashing it away in an inside pocket of his now battered raincoat. He straightens his posture as much as physically possible and engages in one final gambit:

"I see you're willing to put the price to get my services. I am going to accept, but under three separate conditions. Or, truth be told, two mandatory ones, and an optional one.

First, I do not need gold. I need strength. If you're willing to turn these "gold bars" into Juvenat... Then count me in. Think of it as an improvement to what you are looking from me: some kind a mystic machine who can survive blows. Sure, I can. But for how much longer? A clear body is sure to be able to withstand more injuries, and recover quicker than this husk I am now inhabiting.

Second: the truth of my role. You seem fascinated by my resilience. If you can tell me exactly what you intend to do with me and it seems acceptable to me, count me in. That is, being used as a lab rat to reverse-engineer my body is not a fate I'd choose willingly.

Third, just for fun: Get Markov's head. I don't care how. I know that scrub is plotting against me, but I won't be able to crush his head to a pulp if I'm following you, am I?

If this deal fulfills what you want... You know what to do." He then extends his maimed left hand out in the direction of the Inquisitor, waiting for him to shake it.

The Inquisitor nodded his head and grinned ever so slightly. "It is as you say. A deal then. And offers his hand a shake."

"By the way, the name is Erickson. Inquisitor Erickson."

"As I said, your job is to help me find the artifact. There will likely be other missions after that. However, I don't anticipate needing to perform an autopsy on your body, unless of course you die in the course of duty."