Preparations

[MorioMortis]

Procel wants access to the Enginarium, and asks the Captain for authorization.

[BVrtis]

If possible, Fuegus would like to see if it is possible to get access to te library. His time will be spent training and in the Library, studying up on the history of the Reach.

[How do you wish to try accessing it?]

I would like to petition the Inquisitor for access, I think it was her word that restricted the area. Basically put it to her that a research into history of the area would be helpful, especially if she would want another pair of eyes researching further on this lost keep.

[Steve Trustrum]

[How do you wish to approach her?]

[BVrtis]

[When I can, I'd like to request a meeting.]

"Madame Inquisitor, I have two questions to ask. First would be to ask for access to the Ship's Librarium. I believe any further research would be useful on the Reach, particularly in regards to the Keep. May be that there was something that was missed with the research, and that looking at it with a fresh set of eyes might note what had been hidden.
"Should you like, I would also be willing to perform an augury regarding this mission, see what else might be gleaned from the cards."

[Steve Trustrum]

She acknowledged your request for a meeting and had you attend her in her quarters. Large by the confined standards of life aboard a ship, they are also opulently and lavishly decorated. A servant brings you into her study, a simple affair compared to what else you see of her quarters, with books lining the bulkheads. She is seated at a rosewood desk, reading what is clearly an ancient, wood-paneled tome . She closes it as you enter and looks up, motioning for you to stand before the desk with a silent wave of her arm. She listens to your queries and stands to reply, first replacing the book upon the shelf.

"I have heard of your thirst for knowledge, Master Salamander, and I'm afraid I have to deny your request. Despite your training, even your mind is not sufficiently strong to resist some of the knowledge contained within my library. It is sealed with seals and wards as strong as you're likely to find anywhere else, and yet some of the secrets guarded within would undoubtedly crack your mind like a weakened Gellar Field within the Warp. As for your augury, by all means, do as you wish. I just ask that you do so in your quarters. There are certain ship components and areas in an Inquisition vessel that would not, I'm sure you understand, respond well to active psychic energies."

[BVrtis]

She acknowledged your request for a meeting and had you attend her in her quarters. Large by the confined standards of life aboard a ship, they are also opulently and lavishly decorated. A servant brings you into her study, a simple affair compared to what else you see of her quarters, with books lining the bulkheads. She is seated at a rosewood desk, reading what is clearly an ancient, wood-paneled tome . She closes it as you enter and looks up, motioning for you to stand before the desk with a silent wave of her arm. She listens to your queries and stands to reply, first replacing the book upon the shelf.

"I have heard of your thirst for knowledge, Master Salamander, and I'm afraid I have to deny your request. Despite your training, even your mind is not sufficiently strong to resist some of the knowledge contained within my library. It is sealed with seals and wards as strong as you're likely to find anywhere else, and yet some of the secrets guarded within would undoubtedly crack your mind like a weakened Gellar Field within the Warp. As for your augury, by all means, do as you wish. I just ask that you do so in your quarters. There are certain ship components and areas in an Inquisition vessel that would not, I'm sure you understand, respond well to active psychic energies."

Inwardly gritting his teeth is disappointment, Fuegus bows. "Understood Madame. I wil share with you what I may have found."
Returning to his cell, he clears a space on the table and empties his mind of clutter. Anything that would detract from his question, "What is the nature of those that have taken the Keep?" is set to the side as he lays the cars in the classic "Hammer and Anvil: pattern that he learned during his training.

[Kai Tave]

I don't really have much else in particular that I can think of to do. Unless new information comes to light, Nero will be operating under the assumption that the enemy is either Orks or some Ork-like force and will be consulting with the Codex Astartes to help devise training regimens to help prepare the Killteam for a ground assault of that nature.

[Steve Trustrum]

The ship enters the Warp on its way to the gate, and you spend several weeks training with each other, getting used to your combat styles and learning what to expect from the rest of the kill team in a fight. When you exit the Warp, you are all summoned to the command deck by the Captain.

[By the way, I still haven't head from the player who was controlling the Space Wolf. If any of you know someone who wants to take it over let me know before I throw it out to an open call.]

[jimmythand]

Ramiel heads to the command deck as soon as the call goes out. It has been several weeks, and his anxiety to fight a worthy enemy is almost visible.

[Retias]

Kerr likewise makes a straight beeline for it, being resigned to just training and no chance of a true battle having made him eager for the chance at last.

[Steve Trustrum]

As you all enter the command deck, you see the Captain sitting upon the command throne at its center, elevated above the crew and servitors, data sockets snaking out from the back of his head and into his seat. He turns his head to you and then indicates the expansive viewport ahead, now sealed by a blast shield.

"We are about to exit the Warp, and I thought you may want to have a look at the Gate."

A crewman then comes up and hands the Captain a dataslate, to which he nods and hands back. "Alright, translate when ready, helm."

Moments later you feel a shift and a queasiness that momentarily affects even your superhuman minds and constitutions. Among the mortals, you notice some seem close to openly retching, but all ultimately keep their composure. With another nod of his head at a different crewman, the blast shield slides apart, revealing the void of space. The normal twinkling darkness is broken by what appears to be a three-quarters crescent suspended in the black. About it are the twinkling of countless vessels and several star forts. A pulsating field of energy rests in the crescent's expanse. Its Xenos nature is obvious, even from this great a distance.

"That, lords, is the Gate that will transit us to the Reach."

[BVrtis]

Maybe another would have given an appearance more dignified and befitting one of the Emperor's finest. But the look of amazement is plain on Fuegus' face as he takes an involuntary step forward.
"Anvil of Nocturne," he breathes. "Who could have made this?"

[MorioMortis]

"No man, not even from the Dark Ages of Technology, could have built this. It also does not seem to be of Eldar manufacture, and I theorize it predates even them, or at least their current space faring nature." Procel adds, carefully analyzing it's structure for any indication of its origin or of it's workings.

[Steve Trustrum]

The Captain sweeps his hand towards the viewport.

"No one, save perhaps the Emperor himself, knows who made it. Personally, it rankles to place my ship in the hands of anything Xenos made, but I follow my orders. If I'm told to use the Gate, that's what I'll do."

[Kai Tave]

The Captain sweeps his hand towards the viewport.

"No one, save perhaps the Emperor himself, knows who made it. Personally, it rankles to place my ship in the hands of anything Xenos made, but I follow my orders. If I'm told to use the Gate, that's what I'll do."

"You feelings on the matter mirror my own, Lord-Captain," Nero said as he stood at ease, eying the gate warily. To travel through the Immaterium was one thing...fraught with peril though it may have been, it was still the product of mankind's ingenuity that made it possible. This gate was clearly not, and sanctioned by the Inquisition or not, to rely upon the work of xenos rankled the Ultramarine's pride.

The last several weeks had been ones of constant training and preparation, of squad drills and mock battles and fire-team exercises all designed to give the newly assembled Killteam a decisive tactical edge when it came time to reclaim the fortress-monastery upon whatever world it happened to be. The Inquisitor had been no more forthcoming over the time spent traveling through the Warp than she had been when they'd first embarked upon their journey, and Nero had simply had to make do as best he could (with the invaluable assistance of the Codex Astartes) to prepare both himself and his now Battle-Brothers for the mission ahead.

[I'm okay with you putting out an open call for a new Space Wolf player, by the way.]

[Steve Trustrum]

The Captain acknowledges Nero's words with a grim smile and nod before returning his attention to his crew.

"Helm, take us through. The Emperor's works await us in the Jericho Reach."

The ship picks up speed and steers towards the energy field in the gate's curvature. It seems the Inquisition has pulled some strings to jump the ship to the front of the queue as you notice the many other ships waiting their turn as they sit motionless in the vacuum beyond the protective skin of your vessel. The minutes pass by and the gate looms ever larger until even its curving expanse passes beyond the scope of the viewport, leaving only the crackling waves of energy of the portal itself. Eventually, you watch as the ship's nose presses through the energy field and you feel the ship accelerate beneath your feet, like something was pulling it forward. In moments the field is to the glass, and then in the command deck, and then right in front of you. Seconds later, you pass through it as well.

Time seems to hang for both an infinity and less than a second before you snap back into the coldness of space, an entirely new set of stars expanding before you.

[Steve Trustrum]

You hear vox chatter begin to ring through the various consoles around the command deck, ranging from sections of the ship reporting in that everything is okay or if they have problems following the transition, as well as traffic passing between the ships hanging beyond the glass in space, indicated by the black smudges passing before the stars.

Presently, a challenge comes through the vox.

"Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Jeremiah Klauss of the picket vessel Lancing Fire. Your heraldry marks you as a vessel of the Emperor's Inquisition, Blessed-Be-His-Name, but we are not receiving any IFF signal. Identify or you will be fired upon."

Gathering himself, the Captain leans forward in his command throne and switches on his vox, his eyes ranging across you all as if to tell you to keep quiet."

"This is Captain Gildar of the Inquisitorial cruiser Throne's Glory. We are in the Reach on important business."

"We have nothing on our docket indicating we should expect you, Throne's Glory. What is your business in the Reach?"

"No business of yours, Lancing Fire. I am transmitting my Inquisitorial authorization on the secure channel. I expect no further delays."

A moment passes in silence before the vox clicks and the voice returns. "Authorization received, Throne's Glory. You may proceed. Welcome to Jericho's Reach."

Switching off the vox, the captain swivels his command throne to face you after giving the command to proceed.

[Retias]

Kerr steps forward, eyes alight and fixed on the new stars in front of him. "It's been some time.." He glances to either side at the rest of the kill team. "We'll have no shortage of enemies here brothers." His lips curled in a grin. "And I'm quite eager to get started."

[MorioMortis]

"Let us only hope that our mysterious mission does not make enemies of our allies." Procel adds somberly, glancing at the Captain's Throne.

[jimmythand]

"My thoughts exactly, Brother." Ramiel turns toward the Captain, "How long before planetfall?"

[BVrtis]

Fuegus gazed out at the new stars and the worlds that they held. "It will be good to get into the fray again, to serve the Imperium, even this far away from Terra."

[Steve Trustrum]

The Captain turns in his throne to address your varied comments but is interrupted by a vox squawk. He presses a button upon his armrest console. "Yes, Inquisitor?" he inquires.

As the vox is directional, to allow the Captain to hear messages without alerting the rest of the command crew, her words are muffled but your advanced senses make out her words clearly.

"Captain, I just received a coded transmission on my private channel from an agent operating in the area. He has notified me that one of the items of intelligence we seek is currently being sought by the forces of the Great Enemy using the guise of His Emperor's loyal legions. Apparently they used some sort of vox transmission to influence the ship carrying our first goal, corrupting some of the vessel's crew and inciting a mutiny. The Enemy is now escorting the vessel away for their own purposes. We cannot allow either ship to get away under any circumstances, Captain. I am sending the coordinates to you now. Make all speed to intercept, if you would."

"Acknowledged, Inquisitor."

The message over, the Captain studies a dataslate a rating hands him before nodding and handing it back.

"At full speed we should intercept in 18 hours. We ..."

"KILL TEAM SCOURGE, REPORT TO THE STRATEGIUM FOR MISSION BRIEFING, REPEAT, SCOURGE TO THE STRATEGIUM FOR DEBRIEFING" suddenly hails over the ship-wide vox."

"... all seem to have our duties. Good luck, lords" the Captain finishes before swiveling back towards the forward port to manage his ship as it makes preparations to alter its course.

[MorioMortis]

"May the light of the Emperor guide your way, and the Omnissiah's blessing give you haste, Captain." Procel adds as he swiftly departs towards the Strategium.

[barkman]

Roland salutes the Captain on his throne, before heading to the Strategium.

[BVrtis]

Fuegus salutes the captain, "Good luck in your duties, may your hammer strike true."
Turning from the command throne, He sets off for the Enginarium at a jog. Activating a comm along the wahy, he contacts his cell, "Aktur, we may be seeing action soon. Have my bolter prepared."

[Retias]

Kerr snarls quietly at the note of the Great Enemy. Some enemies were worthy of respect in battle, despite the need for their destruction. but the Ruinous Powers deserved nothing other then destruction itself. "Fight well Captain." Confident the kill team would be have their own battle to play in the upcoming conflict, he turned to follow the rest of his brothers to the Strategium.

[Steve Trustrum]

The Inquisitor welcomes your return to the strategium, motioning you all to gather around so that she can begin her briefing.

"I have received word from a forward agent that the Great Enemy is also working against our goals here in the Reach. A piece of intelligence vital to our cause was traveling, hidden, aboard a pilgrim vessel when it was ordered to heave to by what appeared to be a ship of the Dark Angels. In truth, the vessel was commanded by Space Marines fallen to Chaos. Their transmission to the pilgrim vessel included some manner of chaos sorcery that first subdued and then corrupted the crew. We have reason to believe the entire ship's compliment of crew and pilgrims have now come under the sway of the Dark Powers."

The Inquisitor pauses to let her words sink in before continuing.

"The vessel is now powering in-system, escorted by the traitors in what, I can only imagine, a craft captured from the Dark Angels Chapter. Your mission will be to intercept the pilgrim vessel, board it, and recover the intelligence we need. Your first objective is to destroy the communications and life support, rendering most of the corrupt pilgrims dead and unable to resist. That done, you will find my agent where he has hidden in the engine room and extract him and his data."

"As I am not certain of how the corruption was spread, before the mission begins you shall each receive an experimental booster created by the Ordos Malleus that has been reported to boost resistance to Chaos sorcery."

"Questions?"

[BVrtis]

The Inquisitor welcomes your return to the strategium, motioning you all to gather around so that she can begin her briefing.

"I have received word from a forward agent that the Great Enemy is also working against our goals here in the Reach. A piece of intelligence vital to our cause was traveling, hidden, aboard a pilgrim vessel when it was ordered to heave to by what appeared to be a ship of the Dark Angels. In truth, the vessel was commanded by Space Marines fallen to Chaos. Their transmission to the pilgrim vessel included some manner of chaos sorcery that first subdued and then corrupted the crew. We have reason to believe the entire ship's compliment of crew and pilgrims have now come under the sway of the Dark Powers."

The Inquisitor pauses to let her words sink in before continuing.

"The vessel is now powering in-system, escorted by the traitors in what, I can only imagine, a craft captured from the Dark Angels Chapter. Your mission will be to intercept the pilgrim vessel, board it, and recover the intelligence we need. Your first objective is to destroy the communications and life support, rendering most of the corrupt pilgrims dead and unable to resist. That done, you will find my agent where he has hidden in the engine room and extract him and his data."

"As I am not certain of how the corruption was spread, before the mission begins you shall each receive an experimental booster created by the Ordos Malleus that has been reported to boost resistance to Chaos sorcery."

"Questions?"

"How will we be inserted to the ship?"

[Steve Trustrum]

"How will we be inserted to the ship?"

"We will not know until we can assess the situation on-site. We carry both Thunderhawks and boarding torpedoes" she answers.

[Steve Trustrum]

[Anyone else have anything to say to her?]