Havelock will join the armsmen as they head for the bridge, the servo skull hovering obediently over his left shoulder, while he walks he is in deep thought, trying to rationalizing what he saw Praetia, and in some respects the others as well do. They are not enhanced like him, but the one who shone the brightest in Havelock's eyes was still Praetia.
"This must be meditated upon..."
'Did you see that place? And they didn't break and they didn't run.'
'There must have been hordes of the mutants that they killed.'
'I heard the Trader himself was in the front lines right next to the biggest of all the mutants with his guard of the Mish and Arms right beside him. I'd never have left the barrier to go out in that mess.'
'See how all those bodies are burned. I heard it was the eye of the Navigator that done it. Broke the back of them he did.'
'Nah, I heard it was the Mish with her flamer that done all that.'
'You got it all wrong, she's the one with the chainsword that chopped up half of the mutants.'
'The real hero was the Exporator, I heard. You find pieces of a body that have been blown apart that's the Exportator and his boltgun. Nothing left but bloody chunks. They say they saw the Ommish in his eyes and broke and ran, the mutates did.'
Jerol lets loose a few shots at the fleeing mutants, hitting one in the shoulder. He watched it tumble to the floor and nodded in satisfaction. He stowed his long las and set about picking up his various weapons up from the floor.
He turned to one of the crew while stripping off his void suit.
Take this back to my quaters, and if I find a single speck of blood on it, you'll be on cleaning duty for the next month to learn how to do it properly dammit.
The frightened crew member nodded quickly and scarpered off back towards the void wolf.
Jerol slammed a new clip into his long las and hung it across his shoulder, best not to head back into combat with half a clip left.
He looked around at the rest of the crew members, the deck hands cleaning up the remains of the mutants, and the rest of them recovering from the intense combat. He decided it would be best to head to the bridge to make sure it was done right, he didn't want to see them blow a hole in the hull, it had happened before and it wasn't pretty.
As soon as the huge mutant dropped, Praetia recited a prayer to the Emperor, wiped the remnants of mutant off her void suit and opened the throttle on her sanctified chainsword to spray the last bits of heretic out of the teeth. As the boarding crew rushed in, she walked over to Lion to check his vitals and make sure he was stable before they moved him back to the Void Wolf.
She kneeled down to inspect Lion, but couldn't determine the psyker's condition. 'Damn navigators are almost as mutant as these creatures,' she said through her void-suit, gesturing to the bodies around the room. 'You four, take him back to the sick bay and keep the litter steady. He will be in good hands with Doctor Hastus.'
Once Lion was strapped to the litter, she conferred with Thale and the others. 'Well, the faithful hath prevailed and the faithless have fallen. Shall we proceed to the bridge? The sooner we leave here, the better. Has anyone checked the cargo hold?'
"To be fair, I am not the only one armed with a weapon using bolt ammunition."
'Well, the faithful hath prevailed and the faithless have fallen. Shall we proceed to the bridge? The sooner we leave here, the better. Has anyone checked the cargo hold?'
Its shot to bits Madam. The life support chamber is probably the most intact room left on the whole cruiser. The men are reporting strange, pulsing machinery throughout the vessel; likely Dark Mechanicus taint. We... We don't think the ship is salvageable. The lads reckon the Chaos scum left the cruiser here to get taken back into Imperium space and corrupt others... The Casmirre's Pride is a cursed vessel...
You are escorted to the bridge, where a team are about to cut open the door. Preparing for trouble, the door falls away from the hinges, revealing a bridge full of corpses. A quick inspection reveals that the bridge's reserves of oxygen were somehow sabotaged through the ship's systems from the outside. Sat atop the throne, looking somehow regal despite an obviously painful death; is the head of the Dynasty, Tristan Casmirre. His ancient archeotech laspistol sits comfortably on his lap, along with a few dataslates. One of them appears to be some kind of map to a planet in the Koronus Expanse...
Havelock walks over to the throne, gingerly picking up the pistol and slates, examining them for obvious signs of taint, assuming there is none he will then begin to make a cursory glance through the contents of the slates, as well as see if the pistol's machine spirit is still functioning.
"It seems likely they sealed the bridge in hopes of holding out for reinforcements, one would assume they died soon after sending the distress call that we picked up. Had we not been near enough to intercept them, who can know what evil trickery, they would have used this once noble ship for?"
Havelock begins to recite a prayer for the Casmirre's Pride, knowing that the ship must be scuttled so it cannot be used as a weapon against the imperium.
"Let this be a lesson to all crewmembers of the Void's Wolf, the crew of the Casmirre's Pride was undoubtedly taken by surprise, otherwise they would not have fallen to these scum, we as true servants of the empire must never be lacking in our vigilance or we can go the same way. But I have confidence in the crew; they will see this lesson and take it to heart well.
Havelocks voice rises with pride and with a confidence that begins to well up from within him.
We shall never be taken unawares, we shall never be caught unprepared, if the universe sees fit to test us, then we shall rise to the challenge. Every one of us has the potential for greatness, and if we work hard then we shall realize it. The Void wolf shall never fall! We shall stand strong, take heart in this knowledge, and take pride in being a part of something so grand!"
'Well said, Havelock. What is showing on the dataslates? If there is any evidence of how this corruption started, we should learn from it. I wonder if there was a missionary or member of the ecclesiarchy on board.' She looks around the bridge to see if she can spot any members of the Imperial Cult.
Lion rests comfortably on a day couch in his private rooms. A nice wine fortified with a bit brandy in his right hand while he holds the drumstick of some type of large fowl in his left.
Having taken time to fortify his spirit, Lion started to work to turn this cursed load stone of a ship to financial advantage.
He started to take a data slate and consider the people that he knew amongst the nobility, military, and administrum. He had friends amongst all such powerful groups and could make inquiries amongst them all if he needed.
First, he needed to contact the supporters of Tristan Casmirre. If it was true that he was the last Scion of the Casmirre then his death would leave large number of resources to various creditors for sale.
Normally, these resources would be sold at a premium netting the benefactors a fair premium on their money. If word returned that Tristan's ship had been taken by the Dark Mechanicus then much of these assets would plummet in value as fear of what the Ordo Inquistorium would do. There would be much fear that assets would be seized with no return to the creditors. Many could be left financially broken if they were too heavily invested in Casmirre Trader's Warrant.
Such people would pay well for an advance warning to find others to sell their assets to prior to general word reaching the public.
Lion briefly considered trying to convince Praetia to not report to her superiors of the taint of the Dark Mechanicus to the ship. A quiet sale of the Cassmirre's assets to the Demetrius holdings at a substantial discount could make for an exceptional profit to the Rogue Trader. Lion though remembered the fierce zeal in Praetia and discarded the idea. It was better odds to expect the God-Emperor to step forth from his golden throne then for Praetia to delay her duty in reporting the taint of the Cassmirre's Pride.
Still, a bit of financial blackmail would pay the Rogue Trader well enough as there were plenty who would pay for any advance word of the crumbling of a Rogue Trader's Warrant.
Lion began to type notes into the data slate and prepared messages to send to the choir for broadcasting back to the core worlds.
Havelock, you determine that the archeotech laspistol is a truly amazing piece, as is befitting the leader of a mighty Rogue Trader Dynasty. It is a best craftsmanship Archeotech Laspistol, in such good condition that the machine spirit inside shall never allow the gun to jam or overheat. The main systems of the ship seem to be almost totally corrupted by Dark Mechanicus, and you fear what might happen to your own blessed systems if you were to interface with it.
The dataslates map is detailed, but without knowledge of Navigation or the Koronux Expanse, there is little to be gained from it. The focus of the map is a planet called 'Orb', which seems to be surrounded by purple clouds.
The other data slate seems to be a set of notes scribbled down, likely by Tristan Casmirre himself. The dataslate seems to have taken a shot from a las weapon, but several parts are still readable.
... a small gap in the storms on the side facing away from Port Wander, must have opened up recently; we would never have noticed it if our accursed Navigator hadn't been so badly off course...
... evidence of an incredibly advanced artificial intelligence on the planet; lance batteries locked onto us the moment we entered range, but merely tracked us, as though waiting for...
... lances must be archeotech from the Dark Age. Explorator Marthen believes they are superior to anything the Imperium can field in the Calixis sector, and therefore worth a fortune...
... planet inhabited by many different factions. None of them can match the technology of the Imperium, but the 'System' appears to be controlling and manipulating three large kingdoms, making them compete for the honour of feeding it daily sacrifices...
... met the 'Iron Kin', seeking an audience with their leader... Knowledge of the System...
... returning to Calixis to re-supply and negotiate... Missionary Rooke believes we should form an alliance with... distribute lasguns...
After seeing Lion back to the Void Wolf, Praetia called for two groups of Acolytes. One to assist with the final cleansing of the cruiser and another to inspect the crew who returned to the Void Wolf. 'Watch them carefully for any sign of heresy. Do not let the crew take any objects from this ship back to the Void Wolf, the risk of contamination is too great.' Praetia then lead Magdela and the other group of Acolytes (equipped with censers of incense, aspergilliae, holy scripts and seals of purification) to the bridge.
Once at the bridge, the Acolytes quickly set up the items necessary for the Rite of Purification. One lit and hung censers of incense to ward off the creeping corruption of the Dark Mechanicus, while two others prepared the corpses of the Casmirre's Pride's bridge crew for their final journey. Magdela patched several vox-casters into the ship's general vox to broadcast their litanies through the decrepit hulk. Once the bodies were arranged and the preparations complete, Praetia addressed her Acolytes, 'This cleansing will be thorough. When the Void Wolf's canon destroy this ship, these souls must reach the Emperor for judgement. Recite your responses to Magdela's words with clarity and accurate timing.' She turned to Magdela, 'Once the litanies are done, return to the Void Wolf and wait for me. I am going to the Navigator's quarters to find the source of this heresy.'
Praetia left the bridge and summoned a group of armsmen to escort her. Loading a fresh canister of promethium into her flamer, she readied her own censer and led the contingent deeper below decks. Magdela and the Acolytes had begun their litanies, which echoed eerily through the empty corridors. Praetia answered Magdela's calls in unison with the others and the group moved along in a quiet haze of incense, lit by the flickering glow of her flamer. Occasionally, one of the armsmen would open up with their stubbers, shooting at real and imaginary shadows. As they moved closer to the Navigator's quarters, the machinery grew more twisted and malformed. Rounding the last corner, they saw the door to the Navigator's chambers and Praetia gasped aloud and one of the armsmen doubled over and wretched...
'Magdela, once you have completed the litanies, search for any sign of the Missionary Rooke. I would like to recover his body and see to its purification myself.'
Rounding the last corner, they saw the door to the Navigator's chambers and Praetia gasped aloud and one of the armsmen doubled over and wretched...
The Navigator's bloated, disgusting form was pinned to the wall of his bedchambers. Blood covered the floors of the once-fine chamber, and the heretic's face contorted in sheer agony. His skin had been stretched further than any could think humanly possible, nailed to the wall with gruesome, rusting metal spikes. Chaos sigils and runes lay embedded in his naked flesh, cut into the body and painted with his own blood...
Jerol seized the data slats. He knew a little bit about the kronus expanse, perhaps he could glean a small bit of knowledge from these maps?
Jerol thinks he almost remembers something for a second, but as he tries to grab the memory it drifts away.
He then tries to look at it from a navigators point of view, what was in the way? Any asteroid fields they should know about?
Jerol, the planet your looking at is one you've never heard of in the Koronus Expanse. The dense purple around the planet is clearly a potent warp storm, but the author of the map noted a very small passage through the warp storms. The planet itself seems to be within an area of the Koronus Expanse known as Winterscale's Realm; not particularily deep into the Expanse itself. You think between you and Lion you could find the area the map is referring to, and you estimate that the ship could reach it within a month after resupplying at Port Wander (although warp travel is always fickle...)
Havelock stands together with Jerol as they peruse the data slates.
"Interesting information don't you agree void master Soul? An unchartered planet, the possibility of a so called "mother lode" of archeotech, an AI, and many more things. What do you think our Rouge Trader captain will make of this?"
Havelock pockets the Archeotech pistol for now, it was indeed a fine piece of weaponry, whoever would end up using it would be doubly blessed by such a reliable weapon, not to mention the statues it would confer to its wielder. Havelock was sure that he himself was not worthy of such an honour. Still, such things were under the preview of the Mechanicus adepts, so he must make sure to choose wisely.
A thought suddenly strikes Havelock, if the ship was taken by Dark mechanicus, what would have happened to the blessed servants of the Omnisiah? At best they would have been ripped apart so that the dark mechanicus could seize their blessed components, and at worst they would have been corrupted into joining their ranks.
Havelock snaps around, leaving the data slates with Jerol and points to a number of armsmen. "You, accompany me, we must ascertain the status of the blessed servants of the Omnisiah on this ship, I must witness their fates by my own eyes!"
The Navigator's bloated, disgusting form was pinned to the wall of his bedchambers. Blood covered the floors of the once-fine chamber, and the heretic's face contorted in sheer agony. His skin had been stretched further than any could think humanly possible, nailed to the wall with gruesome, rusting metal spikes. Chaos sigils and runes lay embedded in his naked flesh, cut into the body and painted with his own blood...
The Acolytes litany increases in tempo and volume as Praetia walks up to the doorway and calmly washes the entire chamber with her flamer, exhausting her canister of promethium. The contents of the room (including the former Navigator) are quickly consumed and thick smoke begins to billow out of the doorway. 'If anyone has any meltabombs, toss one in for good measure. We're done here.' Praetia moves quickly down the corridor towards the bridge and the Acolytes cease their chanting. 'Let's see if Magdela has found Rooke.'
Havelock, you are unable to find any trace of technical crew or servants of the Omnissiah aboard the vessel, or clues to who the boarders were other than Dark Mechanicus. Praetia, you find no sign of a missionary among the dead, but a thorough search of the ship's makeshift temple reveals corpses charred to the bone.
Havelock keeps a tight grip on the emotions surging through him like wildfire. He then orders one of the armsmen to inform the captain that apparently all the servants of the Omnisiah have been "Harvested" from the Cassmires Pride for reasons unknown, but that he suspects they may have been taken to be broken by the Dark Mechanicus, or have their blessed systems stripped from them.
After that he returns to the Void's Wolf, retires to his cabin and after making sure none of the crew are within earshot he gives vent to a loud howl of rage, grief and frustration. He falls to his knees, pounding the floor until his knuckles bleed and his voice box is hoarse.
"By the Omnisiah, such a travesty...this sacrilege will be remembered and avenged!"
With Lion safe in his quarters, Hand strips off his soiled Void suit and steps in the refresher.
A while later he realizes that he is sitting on the edge of his bed loading and unloading his Autoloader.
He isn't sure how long he's been doing it or how he got from the refresher to his bed.
On their return Minerva moves through the cavernous ship to her quaters, stripping off her carapace armour she moves into the refresher, carefully washing away all trace of the vile creatures from her hair, face and body.
That done she checkes her weapons, carefully cleaning them and checking the ammunition.
In silence she kneels on the floor, still naked from the refresher. She had shamed herself, letting her memories of Persephone control her. Silently she takes out a small knife and begins slowley cutting the skin on her arm, slowely repeating under her breath...
"I will be strong in spirit, I will be strong of heart, I will protect my lord, I will not succumb to the darkness, I will be strong for my lord. I will show no weakness, I will know not fear, I will serve."
With each repetition she adds a new scar, a penance to remind herself of her purpose.
Seeing Havelock walk off, Jerol decided that it would be best to take these slats to lion, perhaps he would have regained conciousness by now? He first had to clean himself from the mutant filth anyway.
He stepped into the refresher, even though he had almost no mutant blood on him, he wanted to make sure every drop was completely gone, the very thought of the mutants filled him with disgust. The abominations.
After stepping out of the refresher, he re-clothed and set about cleaning his various weapons. He spent the longest on the long las, stipping it down to its various components and making sure they were clean and in full working order. Whilst the craftsmanship of the long las was very good, he had always been taught to triple check. With an enemy running at you, having a malfunctioning gun was not something you wanted.
Finishing making sure everything was put in its right place, he left his quaters and made for Lions, with the data slides in hand. After walking for a while he reached Lions door.
He knocked.
Hand stiffened at the knock. His senses went up and he buckled on his weapons as he checked the door.
Intruders bent on murder did not often knock but there were people that used a knock to draw their prey close to a door before firing into the door and the walls to either side of the door.
It was a sad fact that while many doors were armoured, the walls beside them were often quite porous to weapon fire. People also instinctively hid to either side of their armoured doors when threatened making them easy prey to the experienced gunslinger.
Hand checks the door and sees that it is the Void Master Soeul, a person that has the almost exclusive right to go anywhere on his ship. Void Master Soeul could even enter the quarters of the Rogue Trader if the Void Master felt the ship was in peril and access to the quarters was a requirement. A Void Master that did such without good reason would soon find themselves assigned to a new vessel or left beached.
Knocking was strictly a courtesy.
Hand opened the door and escorted Void Master Soeul to where Lion was finishing his 'fortification meal' while making notes on data slates to send as messages to the choir.
The command crew having returned to the Void Wolf, the crew follow, returning to the Void Wolf in small packs over the course of an hour- carrying what they could salvage from the once mighty cruiser. While the command crew cleaned themselves of mutant filth, Thale stood on the bridge.
Blast it to a hulk... came his command, spoken softly but with every syllabyl emphasised. The master of ordnance began the Litany of Bombardment, the gun crew devoutly speaking the words as they prepared the strange, xenos shard cannon batteries for a point blank blast.
With a blast that shook the Void Wolf, the shard batteries began firing. Within a few moments, what was left of the tainted ship was blasted, its hull finally giving way and shattering, leaving two chunks of space hulk.
Lion looked at the Void Master and waved him to a chair.
The material looked like Earth tree but was actually from another world with plants similar but distinctly more dangerous to human life.
If Lion remembered correctly, the plant used in the chair was from a plant that liked to spray clouds of 4" long needles at various 'prey' in the hopes that the dead creatures would fertilize the plant's roots. The people of the world called it the 'Widow's Pine'.
Lion sipped his wine and summoned his steward Kilbert to see to Void Master Soeul's taste in refreshments.
Jerol sat down on the chair, and nodded to Kilbert to get his usual drink of fortified wine from the great vineyards of Ueoeup.
As the steward promptly returned with his glass, he took a sip from the elaborately adorned cup. He let out a sigh of satisfaction, after that scramble for survival he definitely needed a drink.
He turned to Lion and pulled out the data slats.
Right, we made it to the command bridge after you fell unconscious, and this is what the Rogue trader had on 'im
He passed the data slats to lion.
We got a map and a few bits 'o written stuff, reckon we can make it through the void storms? I think we can do it.
Lion looks at the data slate and makes an estimate based upon his years of training.
Lion humms and haas as he studies the scribbles written in Navigator notes and tries to figure the odds of him interpreting such a narrow path through a shifting warp storm.
'Maybe. Maybe it is there and maybe it isn't. Several fortunes have been won and lost on such charts. Places that might be there for a day, a month or a year and then gone again for a decade or more.'
'I don't like betting the life of the ship on such skimpy charts. A standard course has much value to the Beneteks. We've made our fortunes over repeat business that we've guided for milenium.'
'Flash and dash mythical treasures? Decks below are full of such fanciful tales. If you want to believe in Russ and his kin are somewhere still chasing across the stars then you'll have more luck finding him then this turning into anything more then hunks of coal not fit to stuff a stocking.'
'Still, if anyone can follow this chart to some promised land then let it not be said that a Benetek was not at the helm charting the course.'
'If the Rogue Trader approves Void-Master Soeul then I'll find your wayward star and planet. Mind you, I doubt it will be the jewel in the crown then these tales paint. Probably a nest for Xenos needing to be cleansed if not a haven for pirates.'
Praetia steps out of her quarters in a clean set of robes, rested and refreshed from the trials on board the Casmirre's Pride. She heads to the shrine to lead the first Mass of the day, she sees that Magdela and the other Acolytes look haggard and drawn, obviously recovering from their first taste of a heretical mutiny.
Once the liturgy was finished, Praetia summoned Magdela to her quarters. 'Has there been any word on the source for the Xenos-charms? As you saw, anything less than complete faith and devotion to our benevolent Emperor can lead to the dark nest of Heresy. From now on, all Masses should drive this fact home. Any interactions we have with the crew will reiterate that there is only one God-Emperor, and they exist only because He wills it!' Magdela nods in obedience and makes her way to the door.
Praetia follows her out and retreives her chainsword, still bloody from the encounter only hours ago. 'If anyone comes looking for me, I will be walking the lower decks, attempting to learn what I can from the crew. No doubt, the entire ship is buzzing with rumors. I will bring this with me,' hefting the sword and hanging it from a frog on her belt. 'A little reminder of the fate that awaits those who turn from the Emperor's light.'
Havelock stays in his room, while his faith in the Omnisiah is unshakable, what he saw on the Cassmire's pride had affected him greatly. Once the first wave of despair fades away he pulls out the Archeotech las pistol and studies it carefully. It becomes almost like a meditation, slowly calming him down. The mechandrite slowly folds back over his shoulders as his mood settles.
Once he is sufficiently calm, he cleans himself of, changes into a new robe and heads to the bridge for a quick inspection. Observing the scattered parts of the Cassmier's pride, knowing that despite the death of the ship, a great corruption has been stopped puts him in a slightly better mood.
After that he heads down into the bowels of the ship, he orders Jactor to gather the support crew together.
"This ship is out pride and joy, the Void wolf is as fine a vessel as any you can name. It's machine spirit is resolute and strong. We are the heart that pumps blood through its systems. The Cassmier's pride fell to chaos, the lungs of the ship were corrupted and the crew was killed. "
Havelock pauses for dramatic effect. The he speaks with more passion.
"But we cleansed it! We stripped corruption from its flesh and showed the mutant scum that before the holy light they cannot stand."
Calming down a little again, Havelock pulls out the Archeo tech pistol and shows it cleary to the crew.
"Behold! The Omnisiahs bounty, these feel into or laps because the Omnisiah saw fit to reward us for cleansing such an affront to him from this system. The Omnisiah see's us always, we must work hard to make him proud of our efforts. And we shall be rewarded, in this life and in the next. Look around you, the Void wolf is a testament to this work. We have liberated the machine spirits of the xeno's and now they do the Omnisiahs work just as we do. Reveal in his blessing."
Havelock pauses again then bows his head solemnly.
"All praise the Omnisiah" Jactor follows suit, glancing up with a harsh eye as if daring anyone to not follow suit.
We have not yet found the source of these xenos charms, but I am confident a righteous witness will come forward in time. Magdela says before leaving.
You are a popular figure with the crew, and every crewman you speak to gives you the respect you are due, and a little fear at the questions you ask, attempting to seek out heresy. You eventually leave the lower decks, confident the crew have learnt the right lessons from the Casmirre's Pride.
The engineering teams rally around Havelock, applauding his speech politely.
Not gleaning much from the crew, she returns to the bridge to find out what has become of the dataslates Havelock recovered.
'Interesting... I don't know what an "artificial intelligence" might be, I doubt if the primitive factions on the planet know the light of the Emperor. We should investigate. In Port Wander, we could make some inquiries about the planet Orb to try and glean more information.'
Jerol listened to Lion and nodded, whilst Lion did make logical sense and it probably WAS a bad idea to explore the planet, he couldn't help wanting to go anyway. Perhaps it was just to find out what really happened to the crew of the Cassmire's pride, or maybe it was the thrill of exploration, either way he had made his mind up, he was going to try as hard as he could to convince the rouge trader to go this mysterious planet.
He could see there was no way to convince Lion however, Beneteks were known to be stubborn as it is and Lion was certainly no exception to the rule. No person other than the rouge trader would be able to sway him, of that he was certain.
He drained his glass, enjoying the delicate sweet taste accompanied by the slightly tangy after taste that he so very much enjoyed. He passed the empty glass to the awaiting Kilbert and stood up.
Well, I do see your point Lion, it would probably be a stupid idea, but hell what else are we doing up here apart from to do the stupid things that no-one else'll do eh?
He straightened out his long leather trench coat and made to leave, Kilbert opened the door for him and he stepped outside. He stood there for a second and thought to himself.
Hell we've never fallen into a void storm before, it'll be fine
He turned in the direction of the Rogue traders quaters and started walking.
Well, I do see your point Lion, it would probably be a stupid idea, but hell what else are we doing up here apart from to do the stupid things that no-one else'll do eh?
Remembering all too well his near death experience aboard the Cassmire's Pride, Lion said, 'I try to limit myself to one stupid idea a day. It saves on the dry cleaning after-wards.'
Having seen to his dispatches and been fortified by a meal and good wine, Lion decided it was time to return to the bridge.
He could hear the guns rumble through the ship as Void Wolf but an end to the Cassmire's Pride.
The ship was gone and with it the Rogue Trader's legacy.
Their own ship now had a destiny that hopefully was just waxing.
With the finishing of the guns, it would be soon time to prepare the ship for its journey to Port Wanderer. There they would be able to take on supplies and make deals for the items they would need to fulfill the opportunity that had been presented to them.
Even if the opportunity proved beyond the Void Wolf, the lasguns and troops would have a usage in a dozen conflicts within the sector.
Having done his best to raise the morale of the crew, Havelock heads back to the bridge. Nothing needed maintaining at the moment, and the bridge was the place where most things would start anyhow.
As he enters the bridge he notices Praetia, he decides to walk over to her, overhearing her talking.
"We should not be too quick to underestimate the tribes of the planet, They may not know the light of the emperor, but the data talked about a mother lode of archeotech, it is possible that some of it works on automated systems, and it is even possible that some of that tech may be functioning in the hands of the "primitives", as always, forewarned is forearmed."
Havelock considers for a moment, trying to remember what he knows of AI's. This was knowledge that might help the mission, but he must not reveal too much, it was after all lore that was forbidden to those outside the Machine cult.
Hand seeing his master prepare himself with his Navigator's Coat, took his place to escort Lion to the bridge.
Hand made sure his weapons were loaded and prepared.
While it was unlikely that Lion would meet any enemies on the way to the bridge, it was thinking that there was no danger that could cost Hand his principle.
An Oath-sworn never took the lack of danger as meaning the same as no danger.
Lion with staff in hand stepped on to the bridge. He then moved to ascend the stairs to the choir loft and then forward past the rood screen.
The rood screen was necessary to protect those without the Navigator's eye losing their mind as the warp was revealed.
Lion took his place at a prayer desk and opened the great book 'Galactica' that gave the positions and charts for all of God-Emperor's Dominion.
He started to consult the great listings for Port Wanderer and prepare the litany that would be used.
Lion began to plan and break down the Litany into the parts that would need to be handled by each of the Navigators.
Solar, as was usual, would get the second watch and Theodore the third watch. Lion would sleep during the third watch so he could keep an eye on Solar to make sure he wasn't plotting behind his back.
Theodore being kept busy on the bridge would prevent him from writing in his secret diaries when Lion was asleep.
Thale Demetrius gives the order to continue on to Port Wander, and in a discussion with Jerol is convinced that attempting to find this 'Orb' planet is too good an opportunity to pass up. Planning the journey, Lion is confident the journey to Port Wander will only take five days, assuming the Warp doesn't do anything too shifty...