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Days and weeks have passed since the information on the Emperor’s Bounty was bought by Sarvus Trask. Nathon's research into the vessel, has shown that she is (was?) a Lathe-class, Light Cruiser. She would make a rich prize indeed, if she were to be salvaged.
Nathan's extortions, and supplications to the Administratum have taken all of this time, and the Writ of Claim pertaining to this discovery, has at last been recieved.
You now officially have permission to reach, and rescue the ship, and strip her down of anything of value, only one stipulation applies. Sarvus Trask must be the first man to set foot on the vessel.
Now you travel the Warp to your destination, a sector of space some 300,000km in diameter, the Battleground was the scene of some forgotten epic battle, and sits just outside the normal trade routes that criss cross through the Maw, itself a passageway linking the Calixis Sector, and the Koronus Expanse.
The trip is tipified by your ship, the Sovereign Venture having to drop out of the Warp, as it is buffetted by warp tides, it's geller field (the intense energey field that protects the ship from harm in the Warp) being strained to it's maximum. It is obvious that this trip will be a dangerous one, even for an experienced Captin.
Trask speaks into his micro bead. "Bridge, what's our status? How far are we from our destination?"
Trask adjusts his sword as he looks at his reflection on the ship's viewport. He then turns around too look at his closest confidants.
"Nathan, Dominic, Lorayne and Brother Malakai, whatever happens we shall be first to set foot on that ship. Now make your preparations."
For Nathon
For Dominic
"I cannot speak for Nathan as to what we are going to be able to salvage from the Bounty, but I can say for sure we are going to need some repairs after this trip is through. This is one of the worst warp trips I have seen."
Dominik will turn around from one of the control panels near the forward view port, sporting something resembling a grin. He's obviously enjoying the bumpy ride, and despite the grim words, his voice is more excited than fearful.
"I just hope we get paid well."
For Sarvus
"Nothing to worry about, sir. The Venture is tough. She should have no problem riding these warp tides. That said, I will keep an eye on things, and alert you if anything comes up."
Trask speaks into his micro bead. "Bridge, what's our status? How far are we from our destination?"
Trask adjusts his sword as he looks at his reflection on the ship's viewport. He then turns around too look at his closest confidants.
"Nathan, Dominic, Lorayne and Brother Malakai, whatever happens we shall be first to set foot on that ship. Now make your preparations."
For Nathon** spoiler omitted **
An anonymous voice speaks back into Trasks head from the microbead. "We are approximatlly 100 million KM from the target sir, attempting to find it on sensors now for a more direct approch and to calculate drift, sir. With no more Warp drops we will be on in in the next few hours I hope sir."
You are effectivly on a city ship, owned by the House of Trask. There are probaly in excess of 100,000 people on board, with the same number of various servitors, but of these, only a handful are fighting men. (i.e. you can expect *some* backup to be available, but not much) The ship has a short range craft, called a gun-cutter, that is used for planetry landings, and short range missions too. The ship has an assortment of weapons, and tractor beams, but we can cover that sort of stuff as and when you need.
For the moment, get to know each other, and wait.
Sarvus' microbead switches channel to a stream from a Servitor, reporting an alomost constant account of micro-meteors and other debris. As they group stands in front of the viewing window of the main bridge, the ship translates to real space for the last time, and the view port slowly opens.
Off to the right, a class G sun illuminates the Battlefield from a distance of maybe 2AU, giving everything you can see a dull red glow.
The scene is one of complete distruction, old ships and armaments, worn and scratched from micro-metiors and the corroding effect of the void of space drift aimlessly as far as you can see, occasionally crashing together in a storm of small parts.
As you watch, one of your ships heavy bolt cannons fires off to the left, silently destroying an incomming heavy mine.
The stream in Savrus' ear increases in volume, pitch and rate, indicating the huge amount of sensor information, and it's high sensor priorety. Another anonymous voice cuts in, "Captain, as you can see the debris field is extensive, this is as close as we can safely get. I would rather we were a few clicks further back. Our gravity well is already attacting debris.
"Sensors a picking up a single faint signal, around 60,000 clicks into the field, that is our best guess for the target."
"Pull back the ship before we collide with something significant. And direct the servitor to stop these updates." Trask shakes his head in disgust and annoyance.
"Bridge, can we navigate through this field without endangering the ship?"
"I think I should go prep the cutter, then. Seems like we had best keep the Venture as far from the debris field as possible. You can call me on the micro-bead if anything pressing comes up, but prepping the cutter should go quick."
Dominik gives a quick nod to everyone present, then turns and ducks out the door. The faint sound of humming catches your ear just before the door slides shut, cutting it off abruptly.
"Pull back the ship before we collide with something significant. And direct the servitor to stop these updates." Trask shakes his head in disgust and annoyance.
"Eye captain." comes the clipped reply. The debris field appears to receed fractionally as the ship pulls back to a safer distance.
"Bridge, can we navigate through this field without endangering the ship?"
A man stands to attention behind Sarvus, "We could, though we'd take damage. Even the guncutter will b at risk, but then, I've seen Dominik fly, so you should be ok, captain. I'm transmitting the data now, and the tech-priests started the Rites of Takeoff, about an hour ago, so they should be ready by the time you are.
"Of course Captain, I would be honored to lead us in the Rites of Good Fortune, of course our tech-priest has already completed the Rites of Departure, thus I need not perform that Rite."
"Oh Shining God-Emperor, as Captain Trask leads us into the breech,
may you guide our weapons and shield our bodies, as we wade into the unknown in your name...Amenus"
I come walking out of my sleeping chamber, bolter in hand, casually checking the chamber, ensuring that my weapon doesnt have a bolt in the chamber (it doesnt) and in a respectful but sarcastic tone ask the most dreadful phrase that has passed through the eons...
HEY! SARVUS!! ARE WE THERE YET???
seeing the rites in mid swing, i blush a pretty red shade, flash the aquila sign over my breast, and sigh loudly as i walk into an open spot on the left.
The guncutter sits on the launch deck, her engines already glowing, and as the Tech-priests perform their rites, runes begin to glow fiercly around the cockpit, and doors, indicating the craft's readyness.
The guncutter is a relativly small craft, with space for two piolets, two gunners, one on either side, and a carrying capacity split into two spaces, a cargo hold, and a passenger compartment, designed to hold six men.
As Dominik will be up front, flying the craft, this leaves space for two combat trained grunts to come along, which I am assuming they will.
The craft is obviously an ex-Catachan "gunship" and is marked with scars accross it's green painted, plascrete frame.
As Brother Malaki finishes his rite, the engines give a roar, and the main entry door begins to open. The tech-priests have completed their prep, and you are ready to leave.
Thanks mostly to Dominik's pioletting skills, and somewhat to the gunners for their constantstream of fire, taking out any of the junk that comes too close, the ship makes a relativly smooth journey to the co-ordinates transmitted to them from the Sovereign Venture.
Up close, the Emperor's Bounty looks distinctly worse for ware. There are large rents in the hull where debris has collided with the ship, and the solar radiation, and the void itself have taken their toll too.
Fortunately, there is still a glow from the engines, and a brighter on from the bridge. The Plasma reactors cannot have entirely died.
1d100=20
Dominik circles the ship once, seeing a few places where the innards are exposed to open space, and eventually finds an air lock. As the ship attaches there is a hiss of air, and runes around the inner door turn from a vivid red, to the amber that indicates not only a good seal, but a breathable atmosphere on the other side of the still locked door.
i as soon as the docking door is opened, i snap awake, bolter in hand, coolness emmenating from my body.
gentlemen, before we embark onto this ship, we should take a moment and set in a line formation, someone with a powerful weapon the second person on point, the navigator on point, savrus should be in the middle to direct us, and brother malaki, i recommend you watch our 6. we must ensure that our comm lines remain open to the ship at all times in case we need emergency evac. i cannot stress enough how this ship has been in the warp for who knows how long, let alone in deep space. we could face mutants, psykers, xenos, and there could be the potential of people in need of rescue. so remember trigger discipline, muzzle awareness, and weapon safety. lets do this right and everything will go smooth.
with the last word i rack back and release the bolt of my gun, slamming a round into the chamber.
give the word savrus
"Lets see, Lathe-class cruisers are usually..."
The room you enter is a typical airlock, and anti chamber. The room is distinctly gothic looking, with huge cables carrying power and comms.
The ship is obviously on emergency power, the gally lamps cast only a dim light, and shadows pervade the space.
The far door, which would have close automatically when the air-lock was activated, looks in good repair, and opens easily. The corridor you enter is long, and narrow, only room enough for you to enter single file. A lamp in the corridor flickers incessantly, causing the shadows to jump and the alter on the edge of your vision. Of the doors off the corridor, the first two are surrounded by bright red rune, telling a tale of hazardous radiation, and vacuum respectively.
There are two more doors, one to the left, and a final one, terminating the corridor.