Bas nods back at Mordecai and starts tapping on the dataslate.
--Can you fly this thing?--
--- Just about. I may need guidance from the navy. ---
To the left you see objects flying past at great speed... it seems the ships turrets are firing on you.
"Not to point out the obvious but maybe we should move out of range of the ships guns, dead men tell no tales and we do have an important tale to tell"
"Forward first!"
Bas gestures at his 'cellmates' before making the sign of aquila.
Fr. Tunt nods and taps the left shoulder pauldron of his armour where the Prayer of Faith his regiment used is inscribed in high gothic.
Mordecai knows the drift will be minimal if he just leaves the controls as they are. Rounds fly past but are more spread out this time... hopefully you'll be out of weapons range soon.
In the distance the Mailed Fist adjusts position and starts coming towards you.
--- Let us plan a message. How can we best use our trump card of Bas' voice? ---
---The Lieutenant that acted as our babysitter when we were on the ship, only we would know his name.---
--- Yes. I will attempt to broadcast to the Mailed Fist. ---
Mordecai attempts to raise the Mailed Fist on the standard vox.
Mordecai realises someone is actively trying to block any transmissions from the shuttle.
Fr. Tunt will look about the controls to see if anything is labeled as 'Distress Signal' or anything similar, he continues praying.
Mordecai breaths, and prays quietly as he implores the machine spirits to cooperate.
"Mailed Fist, this is Mordecai. Be advised that a hostile heretical entity has proven itself capable of copying my voice and subverting machine spirits. The real team, including our team leader whom the heretic has not copied, or the name of our officer liason, is in the shuttle on the following bearing. *Anything* else from the Harbinger of Hope is not to be trusted. Respond, over."
<Please hold.>
<In one minute both you and the other transmission identifying itself as Mordecai will be asked to put Agent Bas on the line. You will both transmit on my mark. Do you understand?>
"Acknowledged, Mailed Fist."
"Mailed Fist, this is Specialist Bas. Do you wish to challenge me for confirmation?"
<We request that you confirm the status of the situation without delay.>
"Understood, the Harbinger of Hope is under the control of a malicious actor. This actor is control of the mechanical functions of the ship including large number of different grades of servitors. It has copied the voices of my team mates and is attempting to use them to impersonate us. We do not know the nature of this actor but it has made references to wiping out our kind. We need to return to the Mailed Fist as the threat is beyond the expertise of our team. Any communications from the Harbinger of Hope should be considered attempts at manipulation."
Bas will give the exact time he offered his medical expertise on board the Mailed Fist as further confirmation of his identify.
Mordecai prays silently while he does his best to ensure that the vox is not compromised during this crucial conversation.
But it is difficult to keep a particular thought from his mind.
If we fail, if *my* errors lead to our deaths, that would be a waste. But to allow that, that, *thing*, to escape and wreak havoc, using my voice? That would be unforgivable."
<Guidance request. Permission to destroy Harbinger of Hope? Loading torpedoes in anticipation of your response.>
"You have my permission to destroy the Harbinger of Hope. Contain the threat."
Mordecai prays out loud at this, tension starting to fade a little from his frame.
"May your weapon be guarded against malfunction,
As your soul is guarded from impurity.
The Machine God watches over you.
Unleash the weapons of war.
Unleash the Deathdealer."
He resumes monitoring the shuttle's operations and flight path.
Fr Tunt considers the prayers and incantations of faith he learned during his time of study in the Ecclisiarchy and which one would suit this situation the best. 'The one that sergant would intone when we took danger close fire from our own arty I think suits us best right now'
"Dear God Emperor don't let them frag up and hit us"
With your bare eyes you do not see the torpedoes fire... but you see stars winking out as they draw closer, obscured by their presence. They pass close enough to see them, their hunter machine spirits uninterested in such small quarry. The Harbinger of Hope moves to avoid them but they veer towards it.
As the plasma torpedoes find they mark it twists and burns, a single volley more than enough for the simple transport vessel. Your shuttle's Vox recieves a message as you watch the vessel burn.
A vox transmission from the Mailed Fist comes in. <Your flight pattern is irregular. Our records show you had a servitor pilot. Would you like us to send out some small craft to fly you back to the ship?>
Mordecai is clearly relieved when the Harbinger is torn to pieces.
And then he grows a little paler when he hears the message, thoughts of victory gone. He raises the vox to the Mailed Fist.
"Mailed Fist, be advised. If that shuttle still exists, it may be contaminated, along with the servitor pilot in it. We will try to ascertain whether this shuttle has been likewise contaminated. If we cannot safely cleanse it, do *not* let it spread further."
Mordecai desperately tries to find the source of the contamination.
"Where might a thing which contaminates machine spirits lurk? Think!"
Mordecai is very much unsure but it would occur to him that this shuttle was on the Harbinger of Hope for a long time and should possibly be destroyed soon enough just in case.
To the others:
"This shuttle was left in a contaminated voidship for an indefinite time. It should be destroyed soon. Perhaps we can disable it and exit via voidsuit."
Fr Tunt taps his plate and looks at Mordecai with a questioning eyebrow raised.
--- We will need to find a solution. At worst, you can take my suit. But perhaps the navy can drop off suits ---
Bas jumps back on the line.
"This is Bas speaking, can I request we a pick up. Otherwise we might be floundering out here for a while. The actor does not appear to have had any control of this shuttle. It can be dealt with later."
In short order you are extracted from the shuttle and brought back to the Mailed Fist. The threat is seemingly over.
300xp and 3 Influence
Fr Tunt looks out the shuttle view port towards the mass of broken wreckage he can probably only see in his minds eye due to the distance and sighs. Coming away from the port hole he looks at the other two and shrugs a bit.
"It's an awful loss you know, it means a lot but it's gone now and more's the pity." He sits down on the floor looking tired and dejected. "I had that haversack from my first days in the Guard and now it's in a million pieces, but in the long run of things it's a small price to pay for the protection of the Imperium."
Mordecai actually grins when Tunt speaks up.
"I am sorry, Father, but I am in a strange mood after that giant stress. Relieved, elated even. Despite seemingly impossible odds, we managed to escape that deathtrap with our lives *and* complete our mission."
"sigh It had my spare commbead in it too, and all my spare magazines for the flamer. At least you have my auspex"
A second volley of torpedoes is sent for good measure and the tale of the Harbinger of Hope comes to an end.
The journey on the Mailed Fist is uneventful, the crew maintains a respectful distance during transit.
Mordecai's elation wore off quickly. He turns to his companions.
"I apologise. I was too quick to try to gain information from an unknown party via vox, and even if they had turned out to be genuine, the channel was not secure. I gave that thing the means to fool the Mailed Fist. It is only by the grace of the Throne that we survived at all, let alone completed our mission."
"The Emperor has given us a chance to use this newly won wisdom, next time we'll prepare better like using a code phrase so our allies cannot be fooled with something so simple. To be honest no one spotted that this friendly actor thing was leading us on and if we're to start playing the self blame game I should have thought of using an identifing code phrase, it's not like I didn't have to use them before.....well, it's also true that I have forgotten them too which let me tell you did not go too well this one time when I got separated in no mans land and the section of trenches I was about to climb back into had a bunch of raw recruits with" , Fr. Tunt makes air quotes, " 'orders' and I had to turn on my charm, and by that I mean my Brazier, so someone could recognise me. Luckily they did, unluckily so did the enemy and now I have a burn mark along my foot as a memento of diving headlong into a 2.5 meter deep trench. Still another example of being alive to learn, thank the Emperor."
Mordecai quietly absorbs Tunt's words.
"That makes sense. It is difficult to shake off the idea that I can could have done better, but it is done and we succeeded. So I will learn and endeavour to not repeat that mistake. And as the proverb goes, 'the wise man learns from the deaths of others'."
"Loose lips sink ships." Bas says before grinning.
"We have the chance to do better. For now we rest."
"Indeed. The debriefing will be detailed."
Mordecai will not deliberately omit anything he witnessed personally, or is reasonably certain occurred outside his ability to confirm. He will put more emphasis on his own mistakes, particularly risking a name in order to gather intelligence. He will mention the highly unusual nature of the enemy, the exact nature of which is still a mystery to him, but sounded utterly heretical, regarding humanity as vermin. He will also emphasise his determination to not repeat such a basic error, and that the cell appears of a like mind.
He will also note an increase in dreams of emptiness and the void. He will openly ask in the report if this is normal in void journeys.
No influence tests on route.
300 xp to purchase Psychic Null.
During the course of the journey on the Mailed Fist, Mordecai finds that more often when he awakes, he has dreamed of emptiness, nothingness, the void.
He brings this up in conversation with the cell in private.
"Have either of you experienced a series of dreams lately on this trip? Of nothingness, the void? Is this normal for warp travel?"