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The warp, the gateway to the stars, and a realm of untold terrors and horror.
Coursing through the immaterial waves is an imperial ship, The Rising Sun, on course for the Carsis sector of known space.
At the bridge, everything is quiet currently, the crewmember in charge at the moment might as well be a faceless entity.
His current level of power is as unwelcome as the rash on his neck, but thankfully, neither is likely to troulbe him much further.
Leaning back against one of the cogitators, he takes a sip from his mug of lukewarm recaff and sighs.
I could be in bed by now, but noooo, someone had to be in charge, and it just HAD to be me...
Suddenly, he is roused from his irritated musings by a call from the forward consol.
"Sir, we've arrived at our destination!"
That was unexpected, looking at the chrono on the wall, it seemed like they were almost a month ahead of schedule, which while not a bad ting, might not mean much
back in real space, since the warp can play tricks on you.
Either way, things were about to get a bit more exciting around here.
"Well then, prepare for transition! Sound the alarm! And send out a call to the Lord-Captain and the senior officers!"
Moments later, lights began to flash, and the horn let out a low, long wail, signaling everyone to get into position.
Lord Captain Thunderblossom is reclining in his second atrium adjoining his private bedchambers eating a cluster of red grapes when the alarm sounds and the first bell tolls for Warp Transit.
What in the name of the Emperor? he mutters. He rolls off the couch and brushes some imaginary wrinkles out of his Blue and gold uniform. This better not be one of Iota's experiments... He grumbles. He genuinely liked the Magos, but if this was his doing words would need to be had. Entering Realspace at a Mandeville point was stressful enough. Doing so in the black between stars called for drastic action lest one be marooned there for... ever, essentially.
Out the door of his quarters he flies, clearing the halls before him by the force of his presence alone. Praise be the Machine Spirits enduring the strain put upon them and shielding our bodies. intones the crew as he passes.
In the pilot quarters, the Rising Sun's CAG, a truly anachronistic title at this point (there is no AIR in space, so can hardly have an air wing to command), Heinrich von Bastillion is looking up from the dataslate he was reading.
It is overflowing with organizational schematics, deployment orders, war game scores and AARs, Patrolling schedules, maintenance reports and other minutiae.
All of which are so much less exciting than actual piloting a fighter craft let alone a pitched dogfight (or even bombing run a next to defenseless raider) - but also so very, very important. Without those, there simply is no way to keep the attack craft aboard the Rising Sun in optimal fighting condition.
Warp exit? We're not scheduled for a week at least! Bloody warp...
He jumps up, along with all five present squadron commanders. They turn to him with the very question written on their faces.
"Bloody warp fooling us again.
Hawk Three and Four.", and he points at the leaders of the third, respectively fourth fighter squadron,
"You're on CVP duty the moment we've safely transitioned and Lady DeVier confirms we hit the target system.
I'll head up to the bridge and get a good auspex scan going. You better be out there when I start the augury. Look alive, hawks."
He waits for the usual round of acknowledgements and easy salutes to come in, then make for the rather lengthy trip up to the bridge.
As he gets out the bulkhead, he absentmindedly mutters-along the second part of the warp-exit praise:
"Praise the Gellar Field for protecting the souls of the crew from the beyond."
As the Captains quarters are the closest to the bridge (and why wouldn't it be?), it's Archibald who arrives first of the senior officers.
Or perhaps propriety makes the others delay so that the Captain can be the first to arrive.
As the Captain enters the bridge, the nameless senior crewman that had been in charge calls out, "Captain on the bridge! The Lord Captain has the command!", with barely disguised relief.
Archibald nods his acknowledgement of the transfer of operational command. His voice cuts through the low murmur of activity, Report!
"Yes lord captain!
According to all instruments, we have arrived at our destination. Once transition back into real space have been achieved, we should be two days out from..ah...Porto Royal...
It seems we hit some form of warp current at some point, pushing us forward and cutting out trip short by more or less a week."
The Emperor's favor is upon us then. He takes a moment to let attention drift back to himself. Very well. We shall not squander what the Emperor provides. Continue preparations for Translation. Set Condition 2 throughout the ship.
As if to punctuate his statement, the third bell tolls. Praise be to the Navigator for finding us a short and safe passage. he recites with the crew.
Heinrich makes it onto the bridge in time for the fourth bell and as a form of welcome, speaks along the crew:
"Praise the Lord-Captain for his leadership and watchful eye."
He steps into the raised platform of the flight operations center, an area with a lot of medium distance vox arrays, small scale data screens and control stations. With practiced eye he takes in the situation then smartly turns to Rogue Trader Thunderblossom, saluting.
"I've got two flights ready for standard practice Void Patrol, Sir. Are we in the right system, Sir?
I'll send them on their way if Lady DeVier has already confirmed."
She has not yet confirmed, Commander. Standard protocols for now. Archibald says. He is standing in the center of the room on the raised dais that holds the Command Throne for the ship. He rarely sits though. Helm, bring main engines to standby.
Just then a young woman with short cut hair and bob in her step that drilling just can't squash enters the room and comes to stand beside Heinrich. Chief Helmsman Asu Yeager is a living spark of energy wrapped in military discipline. She doesn't take immediate command, instead letting her charges go through the routine of warp transit.
Heinrich nods, then turns to one of the consoles, intones a shirt whisper to the machine Spirits and flips two switches.
Seconds later a series of very slight tremors shake the deck. A few minutes later he nods and announces:
"CVP well under way, captain."
He spots the dedicated helmswoman and gives her a short nod. Their relationship was still a bit ... strained? For his part, she makes him always becoming acutely aware of the three-way split between his personal fighter the "Red Hawk", the Wing command station and the helm - her assigned position.
Still pondering this, he wanders over to the augurs.
"I shall commence an active system scan then, Captain.
Let's see what we got here."
Two distinctive scents appears in the recycled air of the bridge, first is the unmistakable stench of burnt electrical components, as the cogitator responsible for system scanning auspex lets out a big puff of black smoke, then the heavy fragranc of lady Aurelia Safarina Madonna Letifa Sonam De Vier as she enters the bridge.
"The warp currents are calm, with a heady crimson undertone.
Tis' a positive sign, if one considers great profits earned through great danger a good thing." Her soft voice whispers, yet stil carrying clearly through the bridge.
My Lady! Welcome. We are but two bells from translation! Archibald offers a hand to welcome her up to the Command Dais. Wallet appears from a side compartment with a crystal goblet upon a silver serving tray. It holds a purple liquid that bubbles slightly. He presents it to Lady De Vier.
Archibald continues, I must say, my lady, your work is nearly as exquisite as yourself. We have arrived nearly a week ahead of schedule, if the ships chrono is to be believed!
The lady takes the glass with one delicate hand, but does not yet drink from it, instead she favours the captain with a small half smile.
"There is a scent of green, foreboding, yet only through great strife can something of worth be born. All things strive, all things struggle.
The warp in this area is...old...and more steady, or staid perhaps. It makes it easier to travel along old forgotten paths, cutting new ones however will be a challenge."
A challenge for you means an impossibility for lesser Navigators. I look forward to witnessing your prowess. Archibald declares. If we are to succeed in this time and this region, we must not do as others have done.
Before the lady can offer any meaningful answer, a commotion can be heard outside of the bridge door, a loud roar full of expletives reveals who is about to enter the bridge better than an official announcer could possibly do.
The doors flies open, and the grizzled old navy officer Solonium Merkham 3rd enters, muttering a foul tirade against...pretty much everything, but especially faithless governors, incompetent junior officers, witches in general and, for some reason, horses.
"Such lax discipline! It doesn't matter if we are head of schedule! The men cannot allow themselves to get complacent! Things like this happens! We need to be ready to move AT ALL TIMES!"
Archibald can't help but smirk just a little bit at the old officer's entrance. Honestly, it's partly because of amusement and also partly because Solonius intimidates him just as much if not more than his father does. I take it I can expect to see more drills in the coming weeks then, Commander? It sounds like our forces aren't up to your impeccable standards quite yet.
Heinrich is busy organizing a quick repair team to make good his ober-enthusiaatic attempt to start the augurs early - and frying the embedded safety circuits preventing scanning of the warp in too much detail - never a good idea...
Hearing Solonius coming, he makes the team hurry upin earnest - not that they would need any extra reminder that being seen fiddling with something obviously broken was bound to raise the eye and ire of the old warhorse...
The piercing eyes of Solonius glares at the captain, and his fury seems to increase in scope (and volume) as he rants on.
"Drills? DRILLS!? If it was up to me, I'd FLOGG THE LOT OF THEM UNTIL THEY CRIED FOR THEIR MOTHERS!!"
And just like that, he composes himself, takes a breath and offers a crisp salute at Archiblad.
"HOWEVER, as per the Lord Captain Militants orders, I shall refrain from doing so and limit myself to drilling these buckets of puke using only the limited amount of beatings allowed by the ships regulations."
Your restraint is appreciated, Commander. Hopefully we'll be able to get you and your forces dirtside for some more spacious training soon. I know life aboard a ship can rub men raw if they are not born to it as I was.
He spares a glance over to Heinrich's smoking station. They were all fresh. New to this. None of the officers could be called Green, but he felt that everyone was still finding their place. All save maybe Lady De Veir. She stood above all this, as Navigators typically did. They needed a mission, and, hopefully, arriving a full week ahead of schedule would provide a few opportunities.
Lady De Veir raises the glass and points it in a direction vaguely.
"There is a strong warp current running towards what is most likely a small planet not far from where we are.
I sense...something there, something undefined."
Taking a small sip from the glass, she smiles that half smile again.
"It could be an opportunity, it could be a trap, it could be nothing at all.
with one week to spare, we could investigate, or we could travel to our destination and spend the extra time learning important things, and make connections.
Decisions, decisions...
Sometimes I appreciate being spared the burden of making them."
A burden I bear gladly, Lady De Veir. Let's complete this translation and at least take a look. The Magos should be chiming in with the last Bell soon. I sense opportunity. Let us at least see the cost.
Iota strides onto the bridge purposefully with his trusty servo skull in tow. He gives Archibald a nodded greeting as he passes him but pretty much ignores everyone else at the moment. That is until he reaches the smoking system auspex console.
Then his servo skull starts getting all up in Heinrichs face, chirping in binary and making him take several steps back. Of course you have no idea what it is actually saying and Iota does not offer any explanation. Instead he gets to work ministring to the console. Apparantly he already knew what's wrong with it because the moment he lifts out a smoking wreck of a console part a new one - looking much better - is delivered via a servitor entering the bridge. Which happens 3 times before he is finished with the repair.
Halfway through the repair a bridge speaker comes alive with a distorted version of Iotas voice.
"The Established timeframe was undercut significantly. This hints at success of the latest tuning of the warp engine. I require more data about the surrounding travel conditions to ensure variance is caused by tuning rather than external interferrance."
Would an interview with Lady De Veir be sufficient, Magos, or should we use other means? Archibald asks as the last bells begin to ring.
Once again the speaker answers in Iotas place:
"As much as I loath such imprecise measurements I am afraid unless I have time for some new experiments regarding warp distance measurement I'll have to take Lady De Veirs subjective feeling on the matter as facts"
Lady De Vier slowly swirls the content of her glass and favours the Explorator with a winning smile.
"It is my understanding that science is a very exacting discipline, and that a good scientist makes their theories fit the facts, and a bad one makes the fact fits their theories.
Dismissing something because you do not understand it...is not the sign of a mind seeking truth."
Archibalds grin returns at the witty repartee, but the bells are concluding and the ship is about to break into reality so he refocuses on the task at hand. He would love to sit in on that conversation, but he doubts he'll be able to. Or maybe he can? So much is unknown about what was coming. An undefined signature, the Lady had said! The idea was invigorating. Time to see what the Emperor had provided for him in which to temper this newly forged crew.
The ship transitions into real space with a rush, and suddenly you are assaulted by a feeling of everything around you becoming more...real, more focused.
It takes most of you a moment to refocus your will as everything is cast in sharp relief around you.
At the same time, the cogitator on the fritz is back online and ready for a second attempt at scanning.
Iota finishes the repairs in a calm and professional manner. Like they aren't just crossing from a nightmare hell dimension into real space, passing a weird half dimensional state inbetween.
He turns towards Lady De Vier and approaches for the talk, using his own voice this time: "I do not believe I have dismissed anything. The fact that I am asking you about your opinion on what caused the decrease in traveltime is, in fact, proof that I am not. But as you say science needs to be done in an exacting manner and your opinion good lady is while highly valued, still subjective and not exact."
Heinrich steps aside as the Magos arrives and starts fixing the station. Some may later say he had a sheepish grin on his face as he was watching and otherwise preparing himself for translation by pronouncing the last line of the ships Litany of Translation:
"Praise the God Emperor for safely delivering us through and out of the Warp!"
And then, as the moment comes, his mind is well prepared and he immediately gets to work on the good-as-new station.
His fingers fly over the controls and he already gets and announces the first readings before some even get their bearings back.
"Perhaps so Magos, but you need to realise and take into account that for all your technological prowess, what you are asking for is akin to try and explain to someone that has been blind since birth what colours are.
only, that is not quite an adequate explanation, as in this case it relies on a sense that is not "normal" at all.
Tis'...a difficult thing to explain. It might be possible to explain colours as a visual comparison to sounds, but this is more akin to try and explain the difference between ultraviolet light and infrared...
Still, I shall endeavour to at least try."
It does not take too long for the auspex scanner to return a reading to Heinrich.
It is indeed a planet perhaps ten or so hours out, or more like a micro planet.
But the scan reveals something interesting.
It's faint, and also quite old, but there appears to be some kind of imperial signal below the surface.
It's so old as to be completely degraded and thus impossible to read, but it's there, you are sure of it.
"I got the first readings here, Sir.
Looks like a planet, ten hours costing sun-side.
On the tiny side of small though.
And it is sending an ancient imperial signal.
Even more curious: the source seems to be located subterranean..."
Iota seems to slowly gain interest in this conversation
"The color of red to a blind person is the comforting warmth they feel when close to a plasma coil providing energy. It is not easy to find such comparisons but they do exist.
Also I believe my inquire was much simpler than that - I was just gouging whether the tuning I did on the warp drive was successfull or if the ship was sent forward by the famously fickle 'winds' of the warp.
Still you have cought my attention Lady de Vier. I am very interested in your explanations at this point.
Mind you thought that infrared and ultra violet specturms of 'vision' is just different wavelength of the light we see anyway so it is even easier to explain than colors to a blind person. Not that this will help you explain the nature of the warp to me but this might help"
He pulls out a dataslate with a small projector unit. It fizzes a litlte before projecting a three dimensional image. Or to be more precise two images with dashed lines connecting eachother.
On the left side is a simple two dimensional circle
On the right side there is an hourglas figure. The dashed lines connect the top of the hoursglas - being a simple circle - with the 2d circle on the left.
"This is a simplification on how a two dimensional projection can hide the important details of an object which is actualy three dimensional.
Interpolating from this into the real world I believe we exist in more than three dimensions and thus incredible things can happen when we look past the third dimesion into the fourth.
Of course I am not sure if this is helpful in your explanations but you may use this analogy if it is helpful"
"The most logical explanation for the particular "push" or "nudge" we experienced this time is a multilayered one.
But to truly take all factors into account, we would need to consult with the astropathic choir, as they hold the last piece of the puzzle.
Suffice to say is that ONE of the reasons that contributed to our swift arrival more than likely IS your "tuning" of the warp drive, but another one i suspect is from outside influence.
THIS is why we need the astropaths, to confirm my suspicions."
The leans in a little closer, allowing Iota the opportunity to get a stronger whiff of her perfume mixed with her natural pheromones, enough that even a techpriest might be distracted for a fraction of a second before picking up her soft voice, now speaking so only he can hear.
"I suspect we were caught in the wake of an entity passing us by, and it is a good thing we have transitioned into real space, lest we risk it turning it's attention towards us."
"I got the first readings here, Sir.
Looks like a planet, ten hours costing sun-side.
On the tiny side of small though.
And it is sending an ancient imperial signal.
Even more curious: the source seems to be located subterranean..."
Imperial, you say? Well that at least brings it into the realm of things we are familiar with in a broad sense.
Commander Merkham, prepare a scouting and survey mission while we continue scans.Helm, bring us into high anchor over the source of the signal.
Let's see what we've stumbled upon.
For now come down to Condition 3, then back up to Condition 2 once we're within 24VU. This could still be a trap.
Master At Arms Merkham immediately snaps into a parade ground worthy salute.
"Sir!" Before performing an equally crisp about face and marches out to perform his task.
Meanwhile, the bridge becomes a frenzy of activity as the crew jumps to perform their duties.
Of course, the ship is fairly new, and about half the crew are also fairly inexperienced, so there are bound to be SOME problems.
Overall though, there is a feeling of ambition and eagerness in the area.
Being back in real space after a long warp journey tends to make things feel more...real as well.
Iota is still quite human enough to enjoy the scent of a beautiful woman. Not to mention the closeness. And he himself is strange enough to not care quite as much about the air of strangeness about the Lady. Not that he is in the habit of showing emotions thought. The rest of the priesthood react strangely to the very natural and entirely logical concept of human emotions and so he has taken to hiding them.
He does not lean in closer but he does lower his voice appropriatly
"Why thank you m'lady that is the information I require for my work. And just a little bit more. So I understand you will only tell this to Lord Archibald once it is confirmed?"
"We have far reaching and somewhat...nebulous powers granted to us in the course of performing our duties.
If there was a problem with the plasma drives, I have no doubt you would mention it to the lord captain, but only if you decided it was worthy of his attention, no?
I would rather not remind anyone needlessly about just how...fragile our existence is in the warp.
Besides, if no-one knows, then no rumours will be started.
And as you say, I still require confirmation at any rate."
Archibald stands tall in front of his command throne as the bridge springs to action. They were no battlefleet crew, that was certain, but they could be. He notices an assistant adept to the Vox officer walking against the flow of traffic to his right and bumping into just about everything as he went. Archibald scowls and barks, With the flow, Adept!
Mentally he musses if he'll decide to stay on the bridge. There was still time, a while shift, in fact, before they approached the... planet? Plenty of time to prepare.
With the adept corrected, he issues another set of orders. Vox, begin recording and analyzing that signal. Send what you get down to our Remembrancers and to the AdMech Vox adepts. I want a report in eight hours.
Auspex, do the same, but I also want at least one active scan every half hour. Let's not have anything sneaking up on us.
Helm, keep our speed under wraps. 6, maybe 7 at most. I don't want to tip our hand in case someone's watching.
Asu Yeager huffs over near the Auspex station. Archibald looks over to her. Caution and ambition, Helmsman. Let's not jump before we've looked.
Archibald waits for a break in the low conversation between the Magos and Lady De Veis before he interrupts. Magos Iota Signus. Your help in deciphering this signal would be greatly appreciated, at your leisure, of course.
Iota nods an acknowledgement towards Archibalds, then excuses himself with Lady de Vier: "I would as you say. Still it is an interesting yet terrifing encounter which can and should spark new theories in how we can influence such encounters on our side. I would speak with you more about them when my duties permit."
He then walks over to his own station on the bridge and interfaces with the MIU port there, downloading the captured signal into his own personal cogitator banks and cross references it with known codes and basic coded language deciphering algorithms.
"General origin of both code and coded language confirmed. Finding the exact cipher and language of the decoded data pending. I estimate a decoded and translated stream will be available in 20 to 30 minutes."
Excellent. Thank you, Magos.
Archibald turs back to watching his bridge in general and allows himself to take some small satisfaction in the work put in thus far. The journey was only beginning, certainly, but they had managed to get this ship space worthy and through its first major warp voyage in probably millennia without anything going immediately, catastrophically wrong. He marks that as an achievement.
The signal is indeed BADLY degraded but by employing the old Admech secret of shutting down every other routine running in the background and then praying really REALLY hard, you managed to improve the runtime of the code breaker enough to piece together one old fragment of the signal.
It appears to be in high gothic.
"Mortem tuam celebra, moriendo, Eius voluntati servis"
Archibald's eyebrows furrow. "Celebrate your death by dying, serving His will." Well, that's ominous. Do we have any idea how old the signal is?
The crewman giving Archibald the report squirms a little at the question.
"Erm...only an estimation, even with the Magos helping, it's impossible to be sure.
Best guess, around 8000 years old."
Heinrich also winces as the translates cones through.
"Battlestations, Sir?
I shall start another two Fighter squadrons to add to our CVP screen at least."
Archibald considers. 9 hours is a long time to be at battle stations. Bring us back up to Condition 2. Ready all stations with the current shift crew and launch the Alert wings, but rotate them regularly. I don't want our fighters exhausted if something comes at us.
The clock runs down to two hours. Archibald retries to his quarters for a few hours before returning to the bridge and receiving the report that nothing much has happened. That's a relief, in a way.
Helm, proceed to high orbital synchronous anchor over the signal. I want the best scans you can get before we send down men. he orders.
"Very good, Captain."
Heinrich returns over to the Wing Command station and relays the orders for expanded CVP operations according to today's schedule.
He then sits down on a well-worn chair at the station, kicks it back into a perilous-looking balance with the back propped against a metal panel containing who-knows-what, folds his arms and enters a light sleep.
His sleep is very light and continuous, unintelligible muttering can be heard from the wing command station for the next six hours 30 minutes.
Just before Archibald returns, his eyes open and he gets up in one motion. He quickly scans the cogitators of the command station, then heads over to the Augury prepare the machines for a close proximity scan.
Just as Archibald enters and he routinely calls out:
"Captain on the bridge!", and salutes him.
Once in a stable orbit, Heinrich plugs his MIU (a standard neck port) into the augur station and begins a scan.
The signal takes a while to locate, but it's there, as degraded and difficult to understand as before, but you manage to pinpoint it, mostly.
The scan reveals no unusual dangers ont he microplanet, nor does it reveal anything of note, except the subterranean signal itself.
To find it, it seems you need to go dirt-side.
Curiously, there IS atmosphere, if quite faint. You'll not need voidsuits it seems, but you probably wouldn't want to remain on the ground for too long nonetheless.