Another great session report wrote up by LordSpatula.

SPOILER WARNING - We are now playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.
 

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

Our campaign to unite the different factions on Damaris continued apace as we each tapped the various sources of information that we felt may prove fruitful, and suitable forearmed with the additional intelligence further meetings were arranged.

Ivanov arranged to meet Commander Reynolds, the leader of the Damaris space forces, on The Bulwark, already aware that the man had aligned himself with General Dante, however, he hoped that creating a favourable impression with Reynolds would result in smoother Naval operations, and potentially a more cordial relationship with the General himself. The two men shook hands, and exchanged small talk each letting the other know that they were no-nonsense and professional, and eventually they warmed to each other enough so that they developed and understanding, and a feasible working relationship having discovered that they were quite similar in attitude.

Having paid he respects to Commander Reynolds, Ivanov then visited Captain Locke, aboard the Aegis as he had promised to do at the Gala Banquet of a few nights previously. He was greeted by Lieutenant Kass, who he had also been introduced to at the Gala, and shown into the Captain's office, and the two officers review the latest iteration of the space defence plans. Locke seemed to be both genuinely surprised and perhaps even slightly impressed that we had managed to gain the commitment of all involved to pledge their star ships to the upcoming fight, with her in overall command, added to the fact that Hartek had managed to have a conversation with General Dante without the two shouting at each other.

"It seems your Rogue Trader has been busy!" She commented.

"Yes Ma'am!" Ivanov nodded.

After a brief, thoughtful pause she continued; "We can do something here. I will have a closer look, tell me the specifications of your ship, and the others..."

The next few hours were lost in a detailed planning session as Locke and Ivanov reviewed the dispositions, and it became increasingly obvious that she had committed herself to the defence of Damaris, with one proviso; Ivanov would be her liaison with all other parties, something he readily agreed to (I'm fairly sure he did that so he could stay close to the good Captain; he always seems to get unduly excited where the Imperial Navy is involved). Shortly after, he received a message from Marshal Thrace, the commander of the local Magistratum and Law Enforcement units, pledging herself to work with us in the defence. It seemed that our influence, and our grasp of the situation were getting stronger.

During this time I visited Tech-Priest Shard at the Forge to continue our plasma drive discussions, and to take operational command of Tribune Alpha-Quad-One-Alpha and his Skitarii Cohort. The transition went smoothly and I arranged for him to interface with the leader of my own Skitarii unit, Tribune Goethe. I found that it was easier to designate my own troops with more human names as it made it easier for the normal soldiers to interact with them, whereas Shard's Skitarii almost exclusively kept their contact to within the Adeptus Mechanicus. I know it is strange that I have to make such behavioural modifications, but I find that people generally are strange themselves...

Rogue Trader Regent Hartek was left to deal with possibly the most critical meeting; the attempt to bring General Dante round to our combined command. The pre-arranged joint training exercises seemed to be progressing well, and Hartek joined the General on an inspection tour. Dante was obviously a hard leader, but as he was almost universally liked and respected by those he commanded he was obviously fair, and he held himself to the same high standards as he did his soldiers; Hartek began to develop a grudging respect for the man, particularly when he recognised the sharp intelligence underneath gruff military exterior. His army were well drilled and trained although untested in battle, and the men listed eagerly to our veterans who had fought the Orks previously, so it seemed that we may have a good solid base to build from.

Although suspicious of our motives, the general did apologise for his frosty reception of us initially, he admitted to being wary of people who had no real stake in the defence of the planet, but acknowledged that Hartek, and by extension House Dureen, did seem to be doing all that we promised we would, and have the best interests of Damaris at heart.

Hartek steered the conversation towards Captain Locke, and asked why the General felt that she did not really care about Damaris, after all has the Rogue Trader Regent phrased it, "She's putting her life on the line too..."

Dante smiled, offering a glass of amasec to the Rogue Trader Regent before replying; "Perhaps I was a little harsh. I have nothing against the woman personally, it's just who she works for; she's nothing more than a small cog in the machinery of the Imperium. I'm sure she's very competent at what she does, I just don't believe she has the best interests of the planet at heart, she listens to her masters - to them we're nothing, I don't see any Imperial fleets rushing to save us..."

"If she was obeying the orders of her masters do you think she'd still be here?" Hartek asked. "Do you think they would so casually sacrifice a Light Cruiser?"

Dante's interest was obviously piqued. "Why? What have you heard?" he asked bluntly.

"Well. She is still here. If I were a naval planner, sitting comfortable in the rear, I wouldn't be wasting a single hull on a world that we intended to sacrifice to the xenos. The fact that she's still here, and there are no reinforcements does seem to indicate her will to defend Damaris, despite what her masters say..."

"I concede the point" Dante spoke slowly. "But even so, what do the Imperium give us? We pay these tithes, and get nothing in return, and I cannot see them rushing to help us in our hour of need. The Governor is a fool for pretending to be part of the Imperium, and one measly light cruiser is not a fair return for our efforts!"

Kilgrim smiled. "Perhaps the problem is which part of the Imperium you pay the tithes to! A Rogue Trader has a wide remit with what he does outside of the Imperium. Including taking worlds under his protection..."

"I can see what you're thinking..." The General sipped his drink.

"We have invested a significant portion of our assets in Damaris..." Hartek pointed out.

Dante nodded. "A defence pact then?"

"More a loose affiliation. Of course defence is included in that! We are in need of a home in the Expanse. Somewhere we can be safe." The Rogue Trader Regent continued.

"Allies?" General Dante pointedly asked.

"Allies." Hartek confirmed. "I know Lady Orleans has considerable investment in this world, and I see no reason why this should change..."

Dante snorted. "She has limited interests! And if they were to disappear she would quickly follow. The woman is little more than a pirate!"

Hartek shrugged his shoulders. "She is easy to work with. Anyway, after a crisis like this, this world would need a strong hand to guide it. One not hindered by chemical reliance."

"Someone with the strength to do what needs to be done." Dante stated.

"Indeed." agreed the Rogue Trader as the General refilled their glasses. "Obviously, when the Orks arrive you'll be declaring a military emergency and martial law?"

"I will." The General confirmed. "I think it's time to stop the dance, and both spoke frankly. I will give you my complete support on the understanding that you will act as my patron in a run for Governorship. Happy?"

Hartek nodded, and they raised their glasses. Dante continued; "To future business. And some direction in this damn war!" Both men smiled, and downed their amasec in single gulps.

Navigator Proscesu had decided to visit the Shrine of St Drusus located in the centre of the capital city of Damaris, to offer his devotions to the Saint, and the Emperor, and seek guidance for the coming conflict. Located on the opposite side of some well tended parkland to the Governors Palace, it was an imposing building, appearing to be more a bastion than a place of worship, but then Drusus is a martial Saint. Many of the worshippers were members of the Damaris military, obviously seeking the same guidance as the Navigator.

As he was preparing to leave the shrine several of the guards intercepted him, and directed him to a sickly looking scholar standing off to one side. Proscesu recognised the man from our briefings; it was Bishop Arint.

"I am sorry for interrupting you like this, but you would be doing a great service to the Emperor if you would walk with me and listen to my words..."

The Bishop turned and walked away, and after a few seconds Navigator Proscesu followed. It emerged that Bishop Arint wanted a favour from House Dureen; the shrine was home to a holy relic of Saint Drusus, and he was keen to ensure its safety during the inevitable fighting that was about to engulf Damaris. Proscesu promised to relay his meeting request to Rogue Trader Hartek, and after a number of further minutes of discussion of the meaning of certain articles of faith, took his leave.

On his return to the Furnace of Redemption Proscesu passed on the Bishops request, and after a briefly considering his options, Hartek realised that taking responsibility for the protection of such a Holy item could only reflect well on the Dynasty, so agreed to meet with Arint, "For the greater good of the sector", as it had been phrased to him by Proscesu. Having already arranged a meeting with Astropath Stasys anyway, Hartek saw little reason to delay meeting Arint, and immediately ordered a guncutter to transport him, and the Navigator back to the planet's surface.

Hartek listened patiently to the Bishops request for a guncutter to be placed on standby at the star port, ready to retrieve the relic and its guards, and then shocked the man by refusing!

"Bishop, I am afraid that is out of the question. If the situation becomes so dire that the city falls and an evacuation is required, it will happen quickly, and I very much doubt that we would have time to waste waiting for the retrieval of a small craft. If the city falls, all will be lost, and your relic will be in the hands of the xenos."

Once he had finished spluttering in shock, the Bishop listened to Hartek's counter offer; he would move the relic and its guard onto an armoured chamber in the chapel on the Furnace of Redemption immediately, that way there would be no delay should it need to be removed to safety rapidly. The Bishop needed some convincing, probably, I am sure because he was not used to people refusing his requests, but was finally reassured with Hartek's arguments that a mobile target would be more difficult to hurt, and that a relic of Saint Drusus would be of great use inspiring the men and women in the frontlines to fight that much harder in the battle, after all, where would Saint Drusus himself be? No doubt the Bishop himself would gain status by projecting the will of Saint Drusus in such a martial and dynamic manner.

The relic itself took the form of a small closed and shuttered, casket; once a year, it was shown to the masses to inspire the faith of the people, however the protective shutter on the container itself only opened a fraction of an inch so the contents could not be seen properly. The Bishop was of the opinion that the box held one of the hands of Saint Drusus, however, he could not fully open the shutter he stated that this was only his own thoughts on the subject. No matter what it actually was, it was a holy relic of the Saint himself, and that was enough to swell the faith of the people.

The casket accompanied by several dozen of the highly trained custodians that protected the Relic were conveyed to an armoured chamber within the onboard chapel, and Archbishop Shepherd, the Confessor on the Furnace of Redemption was beside himself with excitement that his Chapel was being used for such a holy purpose.

Hartek's next move was to make contact with Marshall Solaria Thrace. Obviously having spoken to Captain Locke, the Marshall was happy to speak to the Rogue Trader Regent, and listen to his offer to take any of the hardened criminals she may have locked in gaol, and use them to reconstitute our Penal Cohorts. She agreed that this would be a possibility, and she would consider it, however she did not believe that it would be necessary at the moment.

That dealt with, Hartek headed for the Astropathic Choir chambers to arrange for a message to be sent. As he left, I noticed an evil little smile on his face, so, my interest piqued, while he was away I searched though the data buffers of his message preparation logs and found the following missive;

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To Haderak Fel, Footfall.

Author; Kilgrim Hartek, Trader Regent and bonded Warmaster of the Dureen Dynasty.

Encryption Level, Traders' Cant.

Message Begins: Dear Hadsy. Having a lovely time saving Damaris from the raving savage barbarian xenos horde, which made me think of you. Obviously you're far too busy to serve humanity and the Emperor in this way, but you're obviously busy stealing someone else's honest salvage claim again. Obviously you've also been too busy to protect your clients on Orrema, if what that Scourge chap is saying. I wouldn't take that if I were you, people will get all sorts of ideas about your fitness to command. Must go, ravening horde of drooling beasts approaching to rape and despoil every living thing in the system. Wish you were here. Kilgrim.

Message Ends.

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Perhaps I should clarify the contents. We had received word from Orrema that a Rogue Trader names Djanko Scourge had attempted to claim the world for himself, and had in fact bombarded the planet destroying at least one of the floating cities. The Coam Federation had responded with atomics, severely damaging his ship and forcing him away. Hartek had been livid when he heard, and had every attention of punishing the man when our business here was complete...

Now, as the years have passed, and I have become more machine than man, excising the weaker, fleshy, parts of my body, I am not unaware that I have become freer of some of the more pointless emotions that humans suffer from. I read this message, however, and laughed for the first time in over three standard years; I of course knew of the bad blood between Hartek and Fel, but it amused me how far my friend would go to taunt his fellow Rogue Trader, and potentially set him against a third, who had enraged him so, particularly as we had been working against Fel ourselves at every opportunity. I admired the base cunning of Hartek, and hoped that his ploy of setting our two rivals against each other would work...

Having dealt with the required diplomacy to make all involved actually work together, we turned our attention to the physical defence of the Capital City.

The city was surrounded by a huge wall, and split into distinct areas which were garrisoned with their own troops. In conversation with the General, and others involved in the defence we looked to reinforce the areas that we felt would be most critical to the defence, using every resource that we had available to us. Our holds were stripped of weapon and ammunition stores which were used to equip additionally levied troops, we recruited additional forces from amongst the mercenaries and household troops aboard the ships that had been unlucky enough to be in system when the emergency was declared, and were now in the process of leaving. Overall we were able to bulk up the capabilities of the majority of the units arrayed in the defence and even able to boost the output from the Adeptus Mechanicus Forge by supplying raw materials to allow production to be set to a war footing.

Finally we seeded large swathes of orbital space with mines, to make any attempt by the greenskin forces to land on the planet as difficult and costly as we possibly could. As always, given enough time, and more resources we could have made the world an impregnable fortress, however, experience has proved that things are never that easy, and so it proved to be this time.

The estimated time of the arrival of the enemy was almost upon us; at best we had two standard days left, but the hard work and planning that had gone into the defence seemed to be paying off as the disparate forces were now working well together. The off-worlders were distracted by a meteor shower that evening, but the locals paid little attention to it, such displays were common as a result of the proximity of the Frozen Reaches, however, I suggested that such a common occurrence would logically be a perfect cover for a covert landing of advance forces, and I said as much to the Rogue Trader Regent. He agreed and put the ground forces on alert. It seems our caution was justified; one of the Manticore anti-aircraft batteries based in the mountains to the east had stopped communicating with Headquarters, leaving a hole in the air defence net.

I elected to remain on the Furnace of Redemption to provide orbital cover if necessary while Hartek led his Housecarls and 1st Cohort, and the Damarian 1st Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment led by Captain Meyers, in a joint operation to forge the first bond of combat between the defending forces. Navigator Proscesu joined him, and Ivanov flew reconnaissance and air support in the Fury interceptor. General Dante chose to stay at the Headquarters in case this was a landing, and just the tip of the attack, so he would be free to co-ordinate. As the ground troops prepared, I used the shipboard cogitators to calculate the reverse trajectory of the meteor shower and the in-system ships were dispatched to investigate the origins, with strict instructions not to engage any enemy they detected; this was purely a "see and not be seen" scouting mission.

Although not present for the patrol, as usual I managed to gain an understanding of how it progressed from the after-action reports.

Ivanov overflew the anti-aircraft position but was not able to detect anything, however, his defensive sensor suite picked up active radiation from the Manticore; the Fury was being tracked, but whether this was an automated system, the human crew who had perhaps lost vox-comms, or something else, it was impossible to tell. The guncutters that were following behind at low level, moved as close to the mountain position as possible before deploying the troops, and powering away out of range of the potentially hostile missile platform.

The troops formed up, and led off in battle formation with the Damarians taking the lead, and they cleared the landing zone without incident. As they advanced over the rocky ground they caught sight of two buildings on the edge of the Manticore position, one of which had obviously been on fire, and indeed was still smoking. Immediately alert, the troops began a more deliberate advance, when suddenly the crack of a single shot rang out, rapidly followed by a storm of gunfire. The lead soldiers hit the ground quickly, and began to return fire, but it soon became clear that a number had been hit. The Dureen troops immediately began to lay down suppressive fire, aimed at the buildings where the enemy had taken refuge, and in support of the ambushed Damarians, and Hartek called for his Housecarls to follow him, and the power-armoured troops rushed forwards towards the greenskins, as it was obvious that that is who the enemy were.

Bolstered by the supporting fire, the local troops began to push forwards in an attempt to fight through the ambush, and quickly cleared the killing ground and found some cover. Hartek and his bodyguard powered around the flank of Damarian forces, and the Navigator Proscesu followed closely behind, anxious to lend his firepower to the battle. 1st Cohort advanced to more favourable positions and continued to pour fire onto the enemy positions.

As the Rogue Trader Regent and his Housecarls pushed on they were greeted with a roar, and a group of Orks charged down the slope crashing into hand-to-hand combat with them. The melee was brutal, but it is in melee that Hartek excels, and he cut the greenskins down with his battleaxe, even smashing the Ork leader's chain-axe into a mess of spinning, whirling teeth and fractured metal, with a single blow. The foul xenos turned tail and ran at this, leaving his fellows to their fate. Inspired by the example of the Rogue Trader Regent, the other troops pushed forwards, and the battle was quickly won.

Overhead, Ivanov spotted three Orks running from the Manticore position and wheeled the Fury interceptor in pursuit, strafing them and cutting at least one down. He whipped the craft round in a tight turn to track any survivors, but could only a single, mangled body bleeding into the ground.

The ground troops continued a cautious advance up the mountain, when suddenly a huge explosion rocked the ground, just over the ridge. Hartek ordered Ivanov to return to investigate, and once he had ridden the blast wave he was able to see a huge crater where the Manticore position had once been. True to form the Orks were destroying anything they could.

Overall casualties were remarkably light; four of the Housecarls were damaged, two of whom I was able to save when they were returned to the Furnace of Redemption, the other two are now standing at the side of the Omnissiah, may He watch over their souls. The Damarians suffered a number of minor injuries, with only a couple of troopers killed in action. For this cost the Ork advance force was destroyed, and the hole in the air-defences plugged, and, more importantly the local forces and those of the off-worlders had performed well in combat, and learned to trust each other.

We had just finished analysing the fight on the planet surface when a vox-transmission was received from the in-system ships that had been on the reconnaissance sweep along the route of the meteor shower; they had detected several Ork ships heading from the Frozen Reaches towards Damaris, and had obeyed orders by immediately reversing their course, and returning to The Bulwark at full power. Immediately our larger warships powered their systems up, and led by the Aegis and Captain Locke, began to move to intercept the closest of the xenos. We split into two groups with the Aegis, ourselves, and the Starweaver taking the lead in the intercept. The Ordained Destiny and the in-system craft were left as a second line to intercept any enemy that got past us, or managed to find another route towards Damaris.

A few hours into our advance, the Furnace of Redemption had detected fifteen hostile vessels, split into four groups, and as we closed with the closest one, we were able to identify the composition of the detachment; two Roks and two raider class vessels that appeared to be scrap built. If the other detachments consisted of the same ships we would be facing a large number of greenskins over the next few days, and possibly weeks.

We received a message from Captain Locke and the Aegis; "I am told they are coming within range gentlemen. Good hunting! The Emperor protects."

The three Imperial vessels turned in and began their attack run, initiating the first naval engagement in the war to save Damaris.

++ End of record ++

SPOILER WARNING - We are now playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

As we advanced on the enemy I connected myself into the tactical cogitators of the Furnace of Redemption and analysed the movements of the both our ships, and more particularly the enemy. Taken as whole, there was a pattern behind the seemingly straight forward manoeuvring of the Ork vessels, and tracking back I was able to deduce that theoretically there should be some form of base at the origins of the convergent tracks. I passed the information to the command staff, and Ivanov ordered an auger sweep of the area I suggested in the Frozen Reaches; we detected another group of ships, including one that gave returns suggesting a vessel of Cruiser size.

We informed Captain Locke and the Aegis of our findings.

"Gentlemen, this changes the situation significantly! Stand by." Locke stated flatly. A few seconds later she returned to the holo-screen; "Congratulations Mister Ivanov, well spotted. I will attempt to intercept the new targets, and have called for the in-system ship the Enforcer to support you in your attack. Good hunting!"

As if Ivanov had spotted it! I noticed he took the credit for my deductions. Fleshbags! Pah!

Hartek stepped in and took over the communication; "Same to you Captain. We should all do what we can, and then rendezvous on the defensive line at the planet."

"Agreed!" Locke acknowledged and then cut communication.

With no time to lose, the Aegis powered away, and the Starweaver and ourselves turned to engage the approaching Ork ships.

The decision was made to hit the Raider class vessels first, as they seemed to be the greatest threat in space combat. Ivanov had now identified the Raiders as Onslaught class, and we scanned the first one in detail to get an indication of what we were facing. I worked on the boosting the power of our auger array and targeting systems to give us the best possible chance to hit the enemy ship, and at maximum range we opened fire with our lance battery, missing by a matter of a few hundred metres.

The Starweaver arced away from us, before closing and firing on the same Raider that we had targeted, now identified as the Smak 'em. Although she managed to bracket it with a storm of macrocannon shots, the effect was equally disappointing. The Ork Raiders attempted to manoeuvre and draw us away from the Roks which simply continued straight towards Damaris, and all the enemy craft pounded us with the Ork equivalent of macrocannon shells; fortunately we were protected by our void shields and suffered no real damage.

The fight continued and effectively turned into an attritional slugging match, and inevitably the superiority of the human crews, and effectiveness of our Omnissiah blessed ships meant that we slowly gained the upper hand, slicing chunks from the enemy Raiders, and smashing components leaving burning hulks drifting in the void. Only once did we suffer a hit that penetrated our void-shield, causing damage to our hull and dropping its integrity to 80%. Then, as though hitting a specific tipping point, we managed to destroy both of the raiders, one quickly after the other. The Furnace of Redemption, the Starweaver, and the freshly arrived Enforcer then turned their attentions to the lead Rok; although effectively an asteroid with an engine attacked, we pummelled the target for several hours, blasting lumps of rock from its surface until it finally collapsed in on itself, destroyed. We chased down the second one, and finally managed to do the same after sending some of the more recalcitrant Travellers we had captured on the island of Home on Orrema on a one way teleportarium assault.

As Hartek phrased it; "I did everything I could to persuade them of the benefits of joining the Dynasty, but they were downright hostile. May as well make 'em work for us, and free up some barrack space at the same time!"

To be fair, I had questioned the efficiency of keeping the hard core of the Travellers that had stood against us on Orrema on board ship, and those that had agreed to join us did not seem to disappointed to see the back of their more militant kin.

The small Ork force finally destroyed, the three human ships turned and headed with all speed to our rendezvous point close to Damaris.

Even before we got close we could detect the massive energy discharges characteristic of space combat, and rushed to join and add our own weight of fire. A battered Aegis joined us twelve hours later, with Captain Locke reporting that she had engaged a flotilla of Ork vessels centred on a large Ork Kruiser. She managed to damage the Kruiser enough that it was forced to disengage and withdraw, in additional, a number of smaller vessels were destroyed. It was clear however, that the Aegis had suffered from the return fire and was in need of repair, however as Locke stated, the strategic advantage we had gained by driving off the large Ork vessel was worth it.

The battle was fierce, and seemed to be following the pattern of our earlier engagement, with the more skilled human crews more efficiently applying damage to the enemy. The Orks themselves seemed fearless, in fact I would say that reckless would be a better description of their actions; some of their ships even attempted to attack The Bulwark, and got remarkably close to ramming the space station before being reduced to little more than space dust by the concentrated weight of fire that was aimed in their direction. After several days of fighting we managed to drive off, or destroy the Ork warships; however during the confusion of battle three Ork Roks manage to slip through our defences and impact on the surface of Damaris. We were incredibly lucky; we did not lose a single ship to the xenos, however, conversely, no ship remained unscathed.

It was now the turn of the ground troops to do their share of the fighting to do to secure the safety of the planet.

Hartek and Ivanov used the time available preparing the defence plans, while I deployed to the surface of Damaris, and working with the local Tech-Priests began setting up automated defence turrets at key locations in and around the city in an attempt to make it as impregnable as possible. Naturally, my focus centred on the Forge on the island to the north of the capital city, after all, this also provided the main power supply to the city, and was vital to keeping the defensive positions active.

The Rogue Trader Regent and General Dante worked hard at co-ordinating the defence forces, using the intelligence gleaned from their control of the planetary sensor grid, and the Generals local knowledge. Units were transferred to meet threats, real or suspected, and the defences coped admirably with the initial attacks. They were in the middle of when of their planning sessions when the city wide air-raid sirens sounded; one of the Roks that had slipped through the orbital defences was close to impacting in the city. The men rushed to the roof of the Governors Palace and looked to the sky as it cleared the ridgeline of nearby mountains streaked towards the city itself.

Dante spoke, "That doesn't look safe!"

Several people on the roof began to back away, and then the Rok fired huge thrusters slowing its descent a few kilometres away, and crunched into the ground, the shock of the impact being felt by the observers, even so far away.

"Well, the Orks are here then!" Hartek shrugged, and he and the general headed back to the bunker to plan a mission to deal with this new threat.

Aerial reconnaissance revealed that the Rok was resting in a crater, with smoke pouring of its surface. Scans revealed it to be out of range of the defences on the city walls, whoever those same images revealed hatches being blown clear, and dozens of greenskins pouring out of the ruined vessel. Scattered along the trail of the crashed Rok was a trail of dead Orks.

"Well, that's a start!" Hartek grunted.

Dante smiled. "It is. But a threat this close to the city must be dealt with... I think it's about time the Levy got into the fight, we've let the Navy have all the fun to date!"

"Perhaps the armoured contingent would be suitable?" Hartek asked.

"You're reading my mind Rouge Trader!"

Hartek readied the 8th (Armoured) Cohort, minus the Basilisks batteries which would stay behind in the city to offer fire support from there, and the 7th (Reconnaissance) Cohort, while Dante ordered the 1st Company of the Sphinx Heavy Guard, the 1st Battalion of the 1st Damarian Highlanders, and the 1st Company of the Highland Wardens to form up, and the combined force advanced from the mustering grounds, westwards, over the plains towards the Ork positions, with Hartek in tactical control. It was a stirring sight which must have stiffened the resolve of the forces positioned on the city walls.
The human forces moved to engagement range and began to pound the crashed Rok and the surrounding Ork positions. The attack had been pressed so quickly that the Orks were caught still setting up their heavy defences, but lighter units made up of infantry, war-bikes, and light vehicles were mobile. 7th Cohort were ordered in on a hit and run raid, designed to sow confusion and add further complications to them setting up their defences, and destroy the enemies mobile units. The Orks were forced to withdraw behind the power field that had sprung up to envelop the Rok, and the human armoured infantry pushed after them, cutting them down as they ran, and soon the massed human forces had overwhelmed the uncoordinated xenos and were fighting their way into the crashed vessel. Hartek's instinctive grasp of the tactics required laid the foundations for an overwhelming victory, which culminated with the Hellhounds burning the infestation from the wreckage and the surrounding area. Demolition charges were placed around the huge ship which when detonated cracked it open and then fractured it into small parts, destroying it.

Overall, it was a stunning victory in the first major land campaign of the defence, and the morale of the human troops was significantly raised. I must admit that the battle went better than I expected, truly the Omnissiah was watching us this day.

Back on the Furnace of Redemption, however, Navigator Proscesu was somewhat distracted by the internal politics of his Navigator House. His cousin, Aurelius, previously a junior member of the family had usurped his position, and Patronius was determined to win his position at the apex of the Proscesu clan with the Dureen Dynasty. Although aware of the intense familial rivalries present within the Navigator Houses, I had no real firsthand experience, so, in the name of research, I detailed a number of my surveillance servo skulls to monitor Patronius, keen to discover some of the inner workings and politics.

Patronius was attempting to gather key people to his camp, and after a number of meetings was told of a man who had been watching the familial conflict with interest, and would be interested in helping him; he simply had to meet the man in "Joe's", one of the semi-legal bars in the bowels of the ship. The Navigator thought the offer over, and then agreed to the meet the mysterious Mister Blake.

The Navigator arrived at "Joe's" early, finding a shadowed corner to sit in, directing his bodyguards to an alcove a couple of tables away, and attempted to drink some of the homebrew grog. Exactly on time another figure entered the bar; the man was well dressed, wearing a smart suit and polished shoes. He was wiry, with slicked back dark hair, and a pale skin. He glanced over at the two bodyguards and smiled wryly, before approaching Proscesu, presenting his hand for the Navigator to shake.

"Mister Blake." he introduced himself.

"I believe you wanted to see me Mister Blake?" the Navigator asked.

Blake nodded, and asked "What do you want?"

"Depending on how well you have done you research, I think you probably know..." Patronius smiled, refusing to be drawn.

Blake nodded again. "I hear you have a... problem. What would you like doing about this problem?"

The Navigator paused, "That depends. How would you propose to assist with it?"

"I have associates who can help."

"Would you care to elaborate Mister Blake? I cannot afford to be caught up in any embarrassment..."

Blake paused. "I cannot reveal my associates, they wouldn't be happy with me if I did. But just let's say that I, and my associates, deal with problems that people have. We would deal with this for you, and in return, my associates would call for something from you in the future. I cannot say what that is now, although of course it would only be reasonable and commensurate with what you are asking for now."

'"How long does this offer stand for, Mister Blake?" Proscesu asked.

"Not long I'm afraid... Particularly when family is involved. Let me know in the next twenty-four hours." Blake smiled widely. "If you wish to proceed you can contact me through the proprietor here."

Blake stood to leave, and smiled at the Navigator again; "You have a good day now!" Then he walked from the bar.

Unsurprisingly, the Navigator did contact Mister Blake. He specified that he did not want to harm his cousin, merely scare him into stepping down from his senior position, leaving Patronius to step into his rightful place leading House Proscesu in the Dureen Dynasty.

"Perhaps we will scare him, then...?" Blake left the question hanging.

Patronius was almost dismissive, "There is very little that scares our type Mister Blake, you understand..."

"Oh, I understand!" Blake smiled in a sinister way. "My associates have ways of doing things... Ways you do not want to know...!"

The Navigator nodded. He had made up his mind. "Make him grovel to me for help!"

"This can be done. Give us twenty-four hours. A pleasure doing business Navigator, I will see you around."

Almost twenty-four standard hours later, the Patronius was walking towards his quarters when a panicked figure came running down the corridor towards him. It was stumbling, dishevelled and wide-eyed; the Navigator was surprised to see Aurelius, his cousin.

Aurelius flung himself at the feet of Patronius, "Please! Please tell them to stop! Please!" he shrieked. "You can have it! You can have whatever you want! You're the boss! I never wanted it!" He looked nervously over his shoulder.

Patronius smiled, and spoke calmly. "Is there a problem, cousin?"

"Please! I'm sorry, you can have it all back! Please!" The terrified man pleaded. "Just call them off! We'll go right up now, and we'll tell him you're in charge again! Right now!"

Patronius smiled, and a puzzled command staff were informed of the change. When asked for an explanation, all Patronius offered was, "He's clearly not as developed as I thought..."' before heading for his own quarters to "meditate".

As he walked into his room, he saw Mister Blake sitting on one of his chairs.

"Ah, Mister Blake. I believe we can stop now."

Blake smiled. "Yes, I believe our business is concluded. Although my associates will be in touch."

"I'm sure they will..." the Navigator agreed.

As Blake left the room, he turned back "You really should lock this door you know..."

On reviewing the recording I am sure that I saw some distortion around Blake's figure as he moved. I am uncertain whether it was real, or a glitch on the recording itself, but if it was, that was the only time throughout the entire recording that it happened.

I knew two things now. Firstly, the political machinations of the Navigator houses were if anything more brutal and devious than those of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Secondly, this Mister Blake would stand watching closely...

++ End of record ++

MARVIN THE ARVN said:

Nice play on Mr Morden. Well done. There are many things to learn from Babylon 5.

Thanks Thrantor, I thought Mr Morden was a good character.

SPOILER WARNING - We are now playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++ ++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

I had been spending my time in Shard's Forge, re-siting some of the automated weapons turrets, and plugging some of the holes in the defences that seemed glaringly obvious to me; Shard himself had continued with his research which he deemed too important to interrupt, so I assumed de facto command of the military defence of this haven of the Omnisssiah's will. I would allow no greenskin to defile the sacred Forge. Once I had set teams to work, I was recalled to the Furnace of Redemption with the rest of the command staff for a strategic planning session, and Hartek reported that he had spoken to Kolonel Shakgul with regard to the composition of the Ork forces. Worryingly it appeared that the enemy were not from a single tribe, and it appeared that this was a major campaign, known in the Ork tongue as a Waaagh! ; this was no simple warband spoiling for a fight and some salvage, and that their origin was 'Undred 'Undred Teef.

On digesting this information, the movements of the Orks seemed somewhat illogical to me, and I voiced my concerns; there were a number of targets that should have drawn the Orks attention far closer to 'Undred 'Undred Teef which appeared to have been bypassed so why had the Orks come to Damaris? There was a pause as everyone digested that thought, and the obvious question was raised; what did the Orks want with Damaris? What had drawn them here?

Any further musing on the matter was interrupted as Commander Reynolds on The Bulwark hailed us; "Sir! Our augers have picked up echoes in the immaterium, the wakes of several ships. They are close! Strangely close! By the Emperor..."

Suddenly space around us tore and four Ork Raiders appeared around our ship, transitioning from the warp insanely close not only to the Furnace of Redemption, but to the planet itself. The sheer lunacy of this move was demonstrated as one of the enemy ships flared briefly with energy, and then tore itself apart.

"All hands, Battle Stations!" Hartek bellowed into the vox, and the Furnace of Redemption turned towards the newly arrived enemy, followed a few minutes later by two of the Damaris system ships, the Serbol and the Tidepool.

Hartek and I took control of the gunnery stations, whilst Ivanov took the helm and Proscesu used his strange powers to read the potential manoeuvring of the enemy vessels, and we quickly engaged the enemy. Our first barrage of fire smashed into an Ork Raider, the macrocannons shells collapsing the shields on xenos vessel, and the lance battery carving into its hull, severely damaging the craft, however the system ships were less effective, hitting, but unable to match the sheer destructive power of our attack. We managed to keep the Furnace of Redemption manoeuvred so that we always had at least one of the Ork warships in our arcs of fire, and in a position that would receive minimal return fire. Unfortunately the Tidepool found herself bracketed by shots from two of the Raiders and suffered greatly, and was forced to attempt to break free of the fight and run in order to preserve herself, however, Orks being Orks, they seemed keen to prevent her escape and chased after her. Seeing her sister ship in such trouble, the Serbol barrelled towards the most severely damaged Raider, hitting it square on with a full volley of fire from both weapons systems, and destroying the xenos scum.

We caught one of the two remaining Raiders in pursuit of the Tidepool, hitting it with both or weapons batteries, again severely damaging the enemy, but not quite able to destroy the tough ship. Fortunately however, once again the Serbol was able to close the range on the xenos, and finish them with one of her own volleys, narrowly avoiding an attempt to ram her by the crippled Ork. At the last moment, the desperate xenos, knowing their own ship was doomed, attempted to board the Serbol however were utterly destroyed by a well planned defence that prevented them getting beyond their initial incursion points.

Seeing that the Tidepool was now effectively safe both the Furnace of Redemption and the Serbol turned in to face the last of the enemy ships, and Hartek led a telportarium raid onto the enemy ship, sowing confusion and damaging its heavy guns battery, thus significantly reducing the Orks combat effectiveness; amazingly, the Rogue Trader Regent returned from his successful foray having suffered a number of wounded, but remarkably few fatalities to his attacking force. The Orks fired their remaining weapons batteries at the Furnace of Redemption and the ship bucked and twisted under the impacts from a single devastating volley of macro-cannon shells, which we suffered significant damaged the hull, but fortunately did no deeper damage. We closed the range and infused by the fury of the injured machine spirits returned fire, finally destroyed the Orks.

Damaris orbital space was now clear of enemy warships, so our small flotilla turned to The Bulwark to make good the damage we had suffered, and replace the lost crew. Over the period of the week, each of the other ships engaged in the defence of the system took advantage of the superb facilities on the space station to make their own repairs, and keep the fighting capabilities as high as possible. Without those repair bays we would have definitely suffered an attrition of effectiveness at the hands of the enemy, and Damaris would have fallen. The spirit of the Omnissiah was strong in the structure of the mighty base, a fact which we all should be grateful for.

Our unexpected battle in orbit completed, we each had to return to our defensive posts in Damaris City to prepare for the inevitable ground assault that would be launched from the Roks that had survived the plunge to the planet's surface.

Two days later, we were once again summoned to a meeting, this time in the Daedelus Command Bunker, in the centre of the city. One of the Roks that had landed on the planet had been observed by some advanced elements of the Levy, and General Dante had proposed a plan to deal with this threat before it could disgorge the vast numbers of Orks it had most likely been transporting. He could provide seismic charges to a team that could attempt an infiltration of the enemy position, and these could be used to destroy the Rok and its cargo in a single pinpoint strike. Hartek's interest was noticeably piqued, and he quickly took responsibility for the mission; the Rogue Trader Regent would lead, and much to Calldia's disgust, (I might even say terror), I agreed to accompany him, as did Ivanov and the Navigator, whose Psychic powers could be vital to the success of the attack. We would be accompanied by a small team of twelve of the ship-boarding specialists that Hartek had fought with during his boarding action on the Raider two days previously.

Scans indicated that we would need to place the seismic charges in four separate locations to allow us to totally destroy the grounded Rok, so I downloaded as much information as we had into my personal cogitators to make it easier to access during the mission. We would be deployed a few hundred metres from our target by one of the guncutters from the Furnace of Redemption, and would approach under the cover of darkness on foot. A Stormtrooper Valkyrie assault lander would extract us from the surface of the Rok when we summoned it after completing the mission when stealth was less important. Local units would engage nearby Ork positions in an attempt to draw as much attention away from the Rok as possible as we deployed.

The mission went perfectly; it appeared that many of the systems on the Rok had been looted from Imperial sources, and I was able to interface with them with the minimum of fuss, indeed it seemed that the machine spirits were relieved by the contact of one chosen by the Omnissiah and freely gave me the information I needed to plot a course to the four target locations, and then to the extraction point. The only thing they demanded from me in return was the assurance that I would ensure that they were all released from their servitude to the xenos scum. I knew that the only way I could make this happen was by the destruction of the Rok, and although this would be a blessing for them, it was with a heavy heart that I agreed.

We laid the charges and made the extraction point without any interference from the xenos, and as the Valkyrie powered away, we watched from the viewports as the charges detonated; the Rok fractured, crumbled, and then blasted apart, and for hundreds of metres around we could see trees being blown flat by the shockwave. If only everything went so smoothly, life in service to the Omnissiah would be far easier!

The next day, it appeared that the Orks had been stung into action, and intelligence reports showed vast numbers of the xenos advancing on the city. Rather than attacking in a single green wave, the Orks seemed to be focussing their assaults on individual sectors, which fortunately we were able to divine by analysing the movements of the enemy, and garrison those areas with more than sufficient troops, mixing their origins and capabilities to suit the situation. I chose to stay in the Forge, as it seemed logical to do so; I had spent several days analysing and upgrading the fortifications, and, moreover, the Forge provided the power for the defensive positions and bunkers throughout the city, and I felt that my talents would be best suited to keeping it active.

The Rogue Trader Regent attached himself to several House Dureen units on the south wall of the city, the only place where intelligence had been unable to get a clear picture of the enemy we were facing, so as is his wont, he placed himself where he expected the hardest fight to occur.

Ivanov stayed aboard the Furnace of Redemption, using the augers to scan the surface and feed real time intelligence to the units we had dedicated to taking the fight to the enemy by leaving the fortifications in an attempt to destroy the Roks where they had crashed, an action that if successful should significantly reduce the forces the Orks had available.

Finally, the Navigator elected to support the units dug into the bunkers surrounding the city, using his talents to produce exceptionally accurate charts of the killing zones of each bunker, allowing for far more effective fire to be poured onto the attackers. However, as Proscesu surveyed the ground, he found his attention drawn to the sky. As he reported later, the guiding light of the Astronomicon suddenly flickered out. His vox suddenly crackled to life as the other Navigators on the Furnace of Redemption called him in panic; they had felt the same sudden loss.

No-one in the fleet had ever experienced anything like this before, moreover, nobody had ever heard of anything like this happening before. Warpstorms often interfered with the light of the Astronomicon, but nothing, as far as he was aware had ever cut the light off so completely...

Navigator Proscesu did his best to reassure the junior Navigators on the ship, and then spoke with the senior Navigators on the other vessels, but nobody was really able to explain the strange occurrence away, and as it was, time was short with the greenskins on their way, so all attention, by necessity, was focussed back on to the upcoming battle, although the sense of unease remained amongst the Navigators.

The first shots of the full on ground offensive were fired by the forces we had dedicated to offensive operations, fittingly, it was one of the Damarian units, the 1st Company of the Sphinx Heavy Guards that were first into action, and the attacks were completely successful severely weakening the enemy even before they fell under the guns of the defensive fortifications around the city. When the Ork hordes smashed into the defences they were in fewer numbers than expected, and although we did suffer some losses, this first wave of attacks were disastrous for the Orks; every attack was crushed by overwhelming force, and utterly destroyed. As the attacks petered out we easily remained in control of all areas of the city and its environs, and thousands upon thousands of greenskins lay dead.

All we needed to do now was keep the momentum going...

++ End of record ++

A double helping of our RT game this week, enjoy!!!

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

Morale was high throughout the defensive forces, the Orks having suffered badly throughout the campaign so far, however, Hartek and the command staff, myself included found ourselves increasingly having to spend our time among the defenders of Damaris City, or in orbit and patrolling the space around the planet; as usual there were never enough hours in the day, and I found myself feeling somewhat sorry for my fleshy companions who seemed to feel the physical stresses more than those of us blessed with the gifts of the Omnissiah, however, admirably nobody let their levels of professionalism drop.

Not that we really had much chance to let this happen, the city was coming under attack constantly, although nothing like on the scale of the assaults of the end of the previous week, and the ground forces quickly slipped in to an easy routine of standing-to in their positions and slaughtering the Orks with their well sited heavy weapons. The Governor seemed to have flourished in the time of crisis, and was spending a lot of time with the people, doing what he could for the population and was a very different man to the one we had first met on our arrival. As Captain Locke phrased it, "This turn of events is indeed surprising! Maybe it's the beast in us all, conflict brings out the best in some people..."

Two days later, as the ground attacks had dwindled to minor skirmishes, Lieutenant Commander Ivanov was onboard the Furnace of Redemption, preparing to depart on another patrol sweep with Captain Locke and the Aegis when the duty officer, Orbest Dray spoke up.

"Sir, you might be interested in this; we've just picked up an Imperial signal from the outer regions of the system! The Bulwark is transmitting the information to us now, I will transfer it to your station..."

Ivanov looked over the data, and found that an Imperial Navy Firestorm Class Frigate designated the Adamant was fleeing three Ork Onslaught Class Raiders that were in pursuit. He immediately contacted both myself and the Rogue Trader Regent, and I agreed to meet Hartek at the bunker and we took advantage of our teleportarium, and found ourselves on the bridge forty standard minutes later as the Furnace of Redemption gathered speed on an intercept course with the new arrivals.

Ivanov relayed a conversation he had had with the Captain Locke, who had appeared quite tense. I reviewed the logs and recordings of the conversation later, and was able to confirm that the Captain did appear to be worried by the arrival of the Frigate, as it turned out, with good reason. Our two ships closed on the Adamant and her pursuers quickly, and slightly under six hours later we were in a position to engage the xenos vessels.

The Adamant had not been trying anything clever; she had simply been running at full power towards Damaris with the Orks close behind. As she got within vox-range Hartek hailed the Imperial ship;

"Imperial ship, identified as the Adamant, I am Rogue Trader Regent Kilgrim Hartek of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty. The defence of this system falls under my command, please state your business!"

An answer was quickly forthcoming, and on screen a tall, thin man appeared, "I am Commander DuRanes, Captain of the Adamant, a Frigate of the glorious Imperial Navy. I am here under orders to speak to Captain Locke, of the Aegis."

"Captain Locke is a little busy at the moment." Hartek grunted. "She is currently operating under my overall command, so if you pass on your communication to me, I will be happy to transfer it at my earliest convenience..."

DuRanes frowned. "These are military orders for Captain Locke's eyes only, and no authority save that of the Imperial Navy can stand in the way of them!"

A smile briefly flashed across the face of the Rogue Trader Regent. "I can't help but notice that you have brought some friends with you. Shall we deal with those before we continue this conversation?"

"Yes, this conversation can wait until the greenskin filth are dealt with. Out." DuRanes cut the contact.

The battle was over in a couple of hours, and although all three human vessels had taken hits on their void shields and their armour, neither the Aegis of the Furnace of Redemption suffered any damage, and once she had linked up with us, neither did the Adamant. Two of the Ork Raiders were severely damaged and set on fire early in the engagement, and all three turned in an attempt to run for the Frozen Reaches at the edge of the system, however, reluctant to let the greenskins escape and add their numbers back into their fleet we closed on them, utterly destroying the two damaged ships while the last one, using its compatriots demise as cover, managed to escape our wrath. Still, we had ensured the survival of the Adamant, destroyed two of the attackers and driven off the third; all in all a successful engagement.

As we turned, and made best speed towards the planet, the Rogue Trader Regent requested a private conversation with Captain Locke, and retired to his state room. Of course, the data-traps I had put in place on all the vox-feeds captured the conversation, which was illuminating in its content.

Hartek spoke first; "Good work with those raiders Captain!" Locke simply nodded, so the Rogue Trader continued. "It appears our visitor has a message for you..."

The naval Captain looked uncomfortable before speaking. "Yes. We had better meet with DuRanes..."

Hartek continued; "It's a funny thing, duty, isn't it? One can never be quite sure where ones true duty lies..."

"What are you trying to say?" Locke asked, bluntly.

Hartek smiled. "I'm trying to say that it would have been a shame if you'd taken a hit in the fighting so far, damaging say... uh, your warp engines... Obviously we'd do our best to prioritise your repairs, but we would have to focus on the defence of the system first, wouldn't we? I hope you understand me, Captain...?"

Locke allowed herself the brief flicker of a smile. "I understand you Rogue Trader; however I think such subterfuge should not be used at this time. I think we would be better simply approaching the Captain with the truth... We should do so at the earliest opportunity."

"Aye!" Hartek sighed. "Such things are best done quickly..."

Hartek, Ivanov, Captain Locke, Governor Kapak and Commander Reynolds met Captain DuRanes in one of the VIP suites aboard The Bulwark; there was a tension in the air that suggested hidden agendas and it proved to be an enlightening time, particularly when I reviewed the vid-capture and was able to pick up on things that I had missed when I was actually sitting in the room.

DuRanes immediately turned to Captain Locke; "Captain Locke! Your orders tell you to immediately return to the fleet! Why do you tarry here?"

The Damarians in the room looked shocked, thinking that the Adamant was the first of the naval reinforcements to arrive, although Reynolds seemed to have a wry smile on his face.

Locke met DuRanes glare with a steady gaze. "My original orders were to be a presence here, and defend the people of the system against all threats. I could not, in good conscience leave these people to their fate."

DuRanes sighed. "You knew your new orders Captain, and you disobeyed them. Have you learned nothing?"

Locked took a deep breath, and paused as though weighing her next words carefully. "To hell with orders. I have had enough of this! The people here need my protection, and the protection of my ship!"

DuRanes sighed, and surprisingly seemed sympathetic. However, before he could respond I spoke. "Commander DuRanes, the most logical course of action, if you wish for Captain Locke and her vessel to return to your fleet would be to deal with this xenos incursion quickly. For that to be achieved we would require additional firepower. If you were to lend your ship to this battle, then the Orks will be defeated more quickly, and both of you can return to the fleet together." I looked around the table at a number of surprised faces. "It is the most logical and efficient way to progress!"

Tech-Priest Calldia agreed with me whole-heartedly, which was nice.

"Tech-Priest..." DuRanes answered, "If only things were so simple. Unfortunately, I have orders." He glanced at Locke, "And I obey my orders! We will be on our way soon enough. Locke's orders came in weeks ago..."

Governor Kapak looked shocked at this news. "You would abandon us?"

DuRanes looked at the Governor, and seemed genuinely sympathetic. "It is not my decision; my orders come from higher up..."

"You are the Captain of a starship in the Imperial Navy, are you not?" Hartek addressed DuRanes. "Or are you simply a messenger boy?"

Rising to the bait somewhat, the Commander looked at Hartek. "Unlike you, duty is what I signed up for. I obey orders. Sometimes I do not like those orders, but they must be obeyed. Now it is time for both of us to return to the fleet Captain Locke. Staying here would be career suicide!" He paused before turning his attention to the rest of us in the room. "Do not get me wrong, the plight of the people here - I would like to help... But we have orders to be elsewhere, and there are others to help... We cannot be in two places at once, and our orders are given by those that have a firm grasp of the strategic situation for the thin resources of the fleet as a whole..."

"When do your orders have to be enacted?" I asked

DuRanes responded; "As soon as possible."

"So, if you were forced to delay for a week, for repairs say, and then move to the fleet, would that not be categorised as "soon as possible"?" I countered.

DuRanes looked thoughtful.

It was at this point that on reviewing the recording I noticed that Commander Reynolds left the room, quickly followed by Ivanov went after him. When asked, the First Officer later reported that Reynolds had dispatched a messenger to General Dante, with an almost grim satisfaction. He argued that they "knew the Imperials would abandon us" but after some discussion did grudgingly agree that Locke had been honourable and had risked her own career by staying as long as she already had, but she would have to follow orders. Lieutenant Commander Ivanov then pointed out that that might be the case, but whatever happened, House Dureen would be staying. The discussion ended there and the two men returned to the room.

Throughout this time, Hartek had launched into a speech outlining the nature of duty, and defending those unable to defend themselves. He later admitted that this was as much aimed at Captain Locke, encouraging her to stay, as much as an attempt to get DuRanes onside, but as time passed, and the discussion progressed, it appeared that DuRanes was softening his stance.

Eventually DuRanes sighed, before speaking again; "It looks like none of you are going to give up on this insane venture!" He looked at Locke, "Maybe your warp engine got damaged; maybe you're undertaking repairs... How long would that take?"

Locked smiled. "A few weeks at least, I would say!"

"Fine." DuRanes sighed again. "I will return to the fleet to report that you are making repairs... Make sure you don't get killed otherwise it'll be me that gets left hanging...! Perhaps I stayed for a week to offer some help to you but decided that the repairs were too time consuming and I couldn't stay for such a long time... I cannot stay longer than that though - I have to report, and return to my patrol station then!"

"Thank you Captain DuRanes" Hartek nodded, "Your flexibility is appreciated!"

It appeared the defence of Damaris had received some reinforcements, if only on a temporary basis.

The Rogue Trader Regent and I had returned to the planet to continue our preparations there, however, Hartek had asked for a servo-skull with recording capabilities to be detached for his use; I readily agreed and detached one from my ever growing squadron of such devices. I did not have the heart to tell him that there is usually at least one method of recording his conversations available to me at most times...

After one of his planning meetings, General Dante approached Hartek and asked for a private word, something that the rogue Trader readily agreed too, as the servo-skull had concealed itself in a location close enough to record the meeting, but hopefully remain undetected.

The recording was much distorted as though an attempt had been made to interfere with any possible eavesdropping, and as a result it was difficult to discern who was actually speaking, but with a little cleaning of the data it was possible to make out the words that were being spoken. The conversation made passing comment about the orders which Captain DuRanes had brought with him, and after a brief discussion the two men agreed to keep the near-withdrawal of naval assets a secret so as not to unduly impact the morale of the populace.

The conversation then switched to the real reason that Dante had approached Hartek; it appeared that the General was beginning to feel threatened by the resurgence in popularity of Governor Kapak as the crisis had deepened, and indeed by his growing competence. The General had decided to do something about it, by arresting the Governor on a number of unspecified charges, probably including incompetence. The Rogue Trader was shocked, but other than questioning the charges said little. Kapak would be touring a number of refugee and garrison locations the next day, and on his return to his mansion at the end of that tour General Dante would have men in place to make the arrest, he was only telling Hartek as he knew that the Governor would be inviting him to accompany his retinue on the inspection tour.

"Are you sure that this is the time for it General?" Hartek asked. "We need to present a united front in the midst of conflict!"

Dante shrugged, "Now is as good as any time, his removal with have no impact on our defensive capabilities, and the public have no need to know the exact reasons behind his detention, they will simply know that he is being kept safely away from the fighting for his own good."

Although somewhat surprised by the suggested course of action and putting forward a number of counter proposals it was clear that the General had made up his mind, and would not be deflected from his plan. Hartek kept his own council and thanked Dante for giving him the heads up, and then returned to his post with a thoughtful expression on his face; it was clear that he had a difficult choice to make, and he quickly called a command meeting to discuss the problem.

It is fair to say that we were all shocked by the revelations, even myself, and Calldia who are usually unsurprised by the machinations of the fleshbags were dumbfounded, and it was at this point that I reviewed the recording in the hope that we could use it should we decide to stand in the way of the General's plans, however, although damning, it was not really clear cut enough to stand up legally.

The discussions lasted several hours, and although we had no real strong feelings about who was in power at the end of the conflict, it seemed that the major problem was that we were letting the General gain momentum, and the worry was that he may feel strong enough to go it alone at the end of the conflict. However, after analysing the data, it seemed that this would be unlikely as he would still need off world support. We were minded to let things fall as they might, as distasteful as that may be, and although Hartek did not like the lack of control he had over the situation, he reluctantly agreed.

Personally, I could not quite shake the feeling that he had grown to quite like Kapak (even though he had admitted that he had already a plan in mind to assassinate the man at the end of the conflict if necessary) and may decide to act unilaterally when Dante's men made their move, and if I am honest, illogical though my feeling was, I could not really fault him for that...

Sure enough, the next day Rogue Trader Regent Hartek received an invitation from Governor Kapak to accompany him on the inspection tour, and he accepted the invitation with mixed feelings. The defence of the planet required integrated and coordinated planning, which if the General were to withdraw his troops from Hartek's command would be far more difficult, however, this needed to be weighed against the positive changes that were increasingly apparent in Governor Kapak, and the potential he was beginning to show.

The Governor and Rogue Trader Regent were met by smiling crowds and their speeches were well received, and Kapak was as animated as Hartek had ever seen him on their journey back to the Governor's mansion, and as the two men left the ground car the Governor smiled widely and warmly shook Hartek's hand. Then from behind him a gruff voice spoke up.

"Excuse me Sir, I have been ordered to place you under house arrest. Please come with me!" A tough looking carapace armoured officer, flanked by four other soldiers had stepped from inside the mansion.

A shocked Kapak looked at Hartek, and then in a quiet voice he said "Rogue Trader...? What's happening?" The colour drained from his face. "But I thought we were..."

"Sir, I'm afraid you must come with me now!" The officer interrupted as the other soldiers stepped forward.

"...friends!" The Governor finished as Hartek turned and walked away.

++ End of record ++
 

The latest writeup!!! Enjoy!!!

SPOILER WARNING - We are now playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

The fight against the marauding orks continued apace, and I took my position on the front lines with the other defenders of Shard's Forge. It was clear that the formidable defences were not going to be breached, at least yet, and we held off increasingly weak waves of greenskin attackers. Strangely, as the days passed I found myself feeling more at ease with the carnage, and I noticed how handling the various devastating weaponry began to feel more natural to me, indeed, amongst the non-Mechanicus defenders who cared about such things, I began to gain a reputation of always being where the fighting was heaviest. To me, it simply seemed the most effective, and logical approach to defeat a determined enemy. Tech Priest Calldia was remarkably silent on the matter.

Towards the end of the week, and the defenders having driven the enemy back once more, I stood down and returned to the forge to continue monitoring the power levels supplied to the City and ensure that the defences remained active. I arrived in the generatorium chamber and turned to place my melta-gun into the weapon racks next to station from which I intended to work, but with a shock realised that I could not let go of the weapon! I looked down and, amazed, could see that my armour and hands appeared to have... joined with… to have melded... with the weapon!

Horrified, I made my excuses and hurried to my own chamber in an attempt to analyse what was happening to me; I had already concluded that anything that changed my body from the holy image of the Omnissiah could not be good, so I checked my systems, and replayed the events of the battle, and with yet another shock realised that not once, over the last few days had I ever needed to stop to reload my melta-gun! With that additional piece of information, I rechecked my systems, and saw that my core power unit had suffered small drains of power regularly over the battle, before rapidly returning to optimal strength. I was quickly able to discern that these power drops coincided with the need to reload the weapon.

Once again, Calldia was silent on the matter, even though I prompted him for his opinion and advice. There was however, a small, nagging, voice that kept reminding me how efficient this method of destroying my enemies could be...

After much thought on the matter I resolved to visit my fellow Tech-Priest, and commander of this Forge, Shard. Strangely, as I stood, I realised that I could now release my melta-gun; it was no longer attached to me directly, although relieved, I was now more confused...

Shard, at first was reluctant to spend any time with me; he was exceptionally busy working on the projects we had previously discussed, however, I quickly outlined what was happening to me and his interest piqued, he delegated the current testing to a junior Tech-Priest and we headed to his private laboratory. We spent several days closeted, diagnosing and analysing both my fleshy, and machine parts, and discovered that I was infected with some form of virus that was changing my very structure.

My thoughts immediately turned to the events of a few months previously, and I spoke a single word; "Saphirus!"

Shard demanded I explain, and I described our encounter with the servants of the ruinous powers, and our work for the Inquisition, and fight alongside the Grey Knights. A shocked Shard told me that he had been about to order his servitors to restrain me, and deposit me into one of the forges great furnaces to destroy all taint, but my description of battling alongside the Adeptus Astartes, and the Inquisition, in the name of the Omnissiah and Emperor had convinced him that our cause had been Holy. I could not fault the man for his initial reaction, and thanked him for his restraint. At this point, I expected a sarcastic comment from Calldia, however, unusually, he was still silent.

We turned our attention to attempting to identify the virus, and find a way to halt and reverse its effects, but as usual the orks were no respecters of decency and priority, and chose this moment to renew their attacks on the city. Unable to turn my back on my duty, I returned to the defensive positions to face them again. Shard promised to continue his research, and wished me well in the fight; this was the first time he had even acknowledged that the Forge was under assault, so I nodded my thanks, and left my fate in the hands of the Omnissiah.

Once again, the vessels in orbit had fought heroically, devastating the xenos forces as they attacked, and the majority never made it into the atmosphere, however, three Roks did survive, more or less intact, to crash-land onto the surface of the planet.

Our scout forces were active, identifying the most probable attack paths that the enemy would use, thus allowing us shuffle our defences round and reinforce those areas that looked as though they would be hit hardest. Once again, we dispatched our armour on an offensive raid to destroy the crashed Roks before they could disgorge the entirety of their foul cargo. This time Hartek led from the front, and although it was a close run battle, his leadership meant that the orks were destroyed with surprisingly few casualties amongst our own troops.

As a result of this successful sally-forth, the resulting attacks on the city were noticeably weakened, and we had positioned the defenders perfectly; once again the ork main force was slaughtered, and our troops suffered minimal casualties. The most worrying aspect was the sheer amount of ammunition we were burning through, but while the Forge stood, resupplies though difficult and dangerous, ensured that the fighting forces were as effective as they could be.

After the massed attacks, the number of orks attacking the fortifications significantly reduced, so I left my position, once again melded to my melta-gun, and returned to Shard, so we could continue our attempts to cure me.

Wrapped up in our work, I missed several command meetings reviewing the defence of the city, and conscious that this would raise concerns, Shard agreed to attend one as the Adeptus Mechanicus representative, stating that he "had an issue to raise with Rogue Trader Hartek in any case..." I thanked him for doing so, asking that he be accompanied by one of my servo-skulls to record the meeting for my records, and returned to analysing the infected cell samples in front of me.

It appeared that my comrades were missing me!

They questioned Shard closely with regard to my location and wellbeing, and although Shard assured them that I was fine, and simply detained by my duties, knowing them as I do I could see that they were not entirely convinced by his answers. Bless the little fleshbags; they were concerned about me!

More important, however, was Shard's business with Hartek; he reported that a small force of orks was active, separate from the main horde, and were conducting hit and run attacks on a number of mines and facilities to the north of the forge, and were impacting on the ability to supply the defenders properly. In addition, a number of the guilds involved with the running of the industry had approached Shard concerned of the long term impact on the economy of the world.

The Tech-Priest paused; "We have sent larger forces against these pests, however, they always evade them, I believe that a small more agile force will be more effective, and I have heard that you are the man to mount such an operation..."

Hartek nodded, so Shard continued. "The last place hit was a refinery designated Alpha-Six. We have discerned no pattern to the attacks, but although they are cunning creatures, so far attacks have been limited to a relative small geographical area, so we believe they must have a base of operations there." He called a map up onto the holo-display, and indicated a fifty kilometre square area in the low hills and forests of the northern quadrant.

Hartek agreed to undertake the mission, and Shard placed two squad sized detachments of Skitarii at his disposal, including one of mine (I would use the recordings taken from their systems to later get a picture of the mission, combined with the after action reports), under the command of Tribune Lazur Four-Two. Thinking that stealth and scouting capabilities would be of prime importance to the mission, Hartek asked Ivanov to petition Captain Locke for the release of some of the Stormtrooper unit, and was able to gain the services of a fireteam of four of the elite troopers. The Naval Armsmen that Ivanov had trained up for brutal close-up ship boarding actions were placed on standby in a series of guncutters ready for a rapid deployment and extraction of the force should that become necessary.

The small, elite force was deployed into the area by guncutter; Hartek was accompanied by his Housecarls and Ivanov, in addition to the Stormtroopers and Shard's Skitarii. On touchdown, the Stormtroopers quickly moved into a skirmish line and joined by the other troops searched the refinery for survivors. There were none. The next order of business was an attempt to discern which way the marauding xenos had heading having caused so much devastation at the refinery. Moving out from the wrecked refinery, the elite Imperial soldiers quickly picked up a trail made by the force of ork raiders. Hartek and his force followed the tracks into the wilderness area tracking the xenos for six standard hours, before the Stormtrooper Sergeant reported that they had discovered a ramshackle base, surrounded by a timber wall and with two guard towers at the single entrance.

The Rogue Trader Regent studied the pict captures the scouts had secured and noticed that one of the huts formed part of the outer wall. He grunted to himself, and quickly outlined a plan.

"That is our point of entry. Sergeant..." He nodded at the Stormtrooper Sergeant, "You and your team will approach and breach the wall with explosives, and then drop back while I and my Housecarls enter through the breach. We will deal with any xenos within the building then advance into the rest of the compound from there. You will then take out any escapees from that breach."

The Stormtroopers nodded, and Hartek continued. "Tribune, you and Mister Ivanov will wait for that explosion, and lead one unit of Skitarii through the front entrance, having first neutralised the threat of the guard towers. We will meet in the centre of the compound and mop up any remaining enemy. The final Skitarii unit will form a loose perimeter in the tree line and, together with the Stormtrooper will kill any greenskin that escapes the compound. There will be no survivors. Any questions?"

There were none, so the briefing completed, everyone moved to their designated start positions.

The plan worked well; at the rear of the compound the Stormtroopers breached the wall and Hartek led the charge in, and he and his Housecarls cleared the first building of all the xenos filth, by the time they had finished there were nearly thirty dead orks and gretchin, at the cost of one dead Housecarl and one wounded. Hartek himself had been involved in an epic battle with the enemy warboss, and although bloodied and injured, he finally slew the giant beast with a devastating blow from his power axe. The Rogue Trader Regent would require extensive medical treatment when he returned to the city; however, his reputation as a warrior was further enhanced in the eyes of the defenders. Seeing the battle won, Hartek spoke; "Tell Ivanov to get the Governor out..." and slipped into unconsciousness.

At the front of the compound, events were less spectacular; the Skitarii and Ivanov kept the defenders engaged at ranged, cutting several of them down, and the one mob of orks that did make it clear of the compound suffered a number of dead before they got close to the attackers. Tribune Lazur Four-Two cut the survivors down in short order, and the any threat from the greenskins was effectively over. Of the remaining Orks, less than five survived long enough to be intercepted and killed by the Skitarii and Stormtroopers forming the cordon; as the Rogue Trader had ordered, there were no survivors.

The Ork bodies and their ramshackle fortifications were then put to the torch to remove any xenos taint from the area.

The attacking force returned to the city, receiving the approval of Tech-Priest Shard who insisted that Hartek remain and avail himself of the high quality medicae facilities at the forge, along with his injured Housecarl. Three of the Skitarii had been killed, and another three suffered minor wounds, but after treatment they were well enough to return to duty within forty-eight hours. I resolved to ensure that the Hartek and his injured Housecarl were healed as quickly as was possible, and split my time between tending to them, and working on my own recovery with Shard.

I fear that ultimately I will be more effective in their treatment than I will be with my own.

++ End of record ++
 

Slacking are we? This morning? Hurrmmm?

I was slacking and have been instructed to attend my nearest penitent centre and subject myself to a six day renewal of faith course .

SPOILER WARNING - We are still playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

I had very little to do with the valiant defence of the system, and the city itself over the next week; my time had been taken up with my ministrations to the Rogue Trader Regent, who was spending his time unconscious in a treatment vat in the medicae centre at the Forge, and with Tech Priest Shard with whom I was researching the mysterious virus that had so afflicted me. For this record I had to piece together the events that took place from after action reports, and my ubiquitous recording devices.

The population of Damaris City were in their streets in their thousands, mourning the injuries to Hartek; he was developing a heroic reputation amongst the civilians, and I am sure that as soon as he is mobile again, he'll do little to disparage them of this, after all, a popular following of the head of the Dynasty cannot be something that harms our influence here. And throughout this, Lieutenant Commander Ivanov had set Adept Alexander to collecting intelligence with regard to the wellbeing and location of the Governor, and the disposition of any troops guarding him.

Ivanov took Hartek’s place on the War Council, and I think managed to antagonise the General a little in a min-power struggle. As I reviewed the records I have to admit that I found the political manoeuvrings amusing, however, the most interesting point in the meetings took place when Marshall Thrace, the leader of Damaris's Magistratum forces posed a seemingly innocuous question to General Dante.

"General, I had a report that you had cleared the civilians from the palace grounds?"

Dante looked towards the Marshall coldly, and she returned his gaze evenly; "You would be correct Marshall, we decided that we needed to move the people away from the Governor for his security and safety."

Thrace nodded, accepting this. "Will the Governor be joining us?"

"The Governor will not be joining us for the rest of the meetings." Dante spoke firmly. "Let us just say that that the Governor hasn't been completing his duties satisfactorily, and is under house arrest. For his own protection of course."

"I thought I was responsible for law and order?" Thrace smiled.

Dante grinned in return; "Martial law, my dear Marshall. Martial law!" and he ended the conversation.

Once the Council finished its reports, Ivanov approached Captain Locke, and joined her on the shuttle ride from planet to the warships in orbit. During the journey they discussed the position of the Governor, and Hartek's order to "get the Governor out". Although surprised, thinking that the Rogue Trader Regent had backed the General, Locke agreed that a retrieval mission may be a necessity, and with that in mind agreed to arrange a meeting between Marshall Thrace and Ivanov. She suggested that Bishop Arint, as the representative of the Imperial Cult on the planet would be interested in such a meeting too, and so it was agreed, and arranged for that evening.

Later in the day as Ivanov was aboard the Furnace of Redemption preparing to transfer to the Aegis when she returned from a patrol, to meet the others when and alarm sounded, and a warning was shouted by the commander of the vox crew.

"Sir, reports from The Bulwark! Ork vessels have rounded the nearest moon and are moving into range. They're on a direct intercept with The Bulwark itself!"

Ivanov responded instantly. "Mister Dray, beat us to Action Stations!"

"Aye aye Sir!" Orbest Dray sounded the alert, and spoke into the ship wide vox; "All crew to their posts, combat imminent. Be ready to engage in fifteen minutes!"

Ivanov transmitted warnings to the few remaining civilian ships ordering them clear, and sent a message to Captain Locke, informing her of the incursion.

Analysis of the attacking Orks indicated that the force consisted of a Rok, a Kruiser, and a Raider. Immediately deciding that the Rok, as a troop carrier, was the most significant threat, Ivanov ordered the ship to make a direct assault on this craft, and quickly closed to range, battering the Ork vessel with a full barrage from the melta-cannons and lance battery. The Rok was severely damaged, but kept on course towards The Bulwark, and engaged by the Raider, Ivanov was forced to turn away and deal with the new threat. The Kruiser loosed some ineffective shots at the Furnace of Redemption, and then bypassed her, heading for the space station. It was clear that the Orks were intending to board, and destroy, The Bulwark, and this would significantly hinder our defences should we lose the repair facilities there.

As the Rok and the Kruiser closed on The Bulwark, they were bracketed and then hit by the impressive firepower the station could bring to bear, and before the Rok could ram her, The Bulwark finished it off, smashing it into pieces. Stung by the loss of the majority of the attacking troops, the Kruiser turned towards space station, and impacted against her. Although breaking the back of the Kruiser, effectively ending the life of the warship, it meant that the Orks on board were able to swarm aboard the beleaguered station.

Ivanov had been exchanging fire with the raider, and had inflicted some damage, when, inspired by their larger sister ship, the raider came alongside, grappling the Furnace of Redemption, and Ork infantry began to force their way aboard. They were quickly met, and pushed back by Ivanov's stormtroopers, and Kolonel Shakgul took his Orks on a counter raid into the enemy vessel, confronting the enemy Warboss, and trading blows before both were forced to disengage; Shakgul to get back on board the Furnace of Redemption as she attempted to separate from the Ork vessel, and the enemy leader to try and rally his troops as they had been thoroughly confused by the unexpected hostile forces within their own ship.

As the fight between the two crews tailed off, Ivanov received a message from Commander Reynolds on The Bulwark. "We are being boarded! By Drusus there are too many of them! We need your help!"

Ivanov, far calmer than Reynolds replied; "Commander Reynolds. We will be there as soon as we possibly can. We have some issues here too..."

"Please hurry! There are so many of them! You can enter through one of the docking masts - please hurry..." and Reynolds desperate plea was cut off.

The Furnace of Redemption broke clear of the Raider, and powered towards the space station, and with some excellent piloting docked at one of the masts, as suggested by Reynolds. Ivanov led his stormtroopers and a significant proportion of the crew aboard, and cleverly manoeuvred the Orks into isolated regions of the space station before venting them to the void. Although the remaining ork ship, the Raider, managed to close with the space station, it was severely damaged, and was largely ineffective by the time it managed to offload its xenos cargo. The unfortunate greenskins met the same fate as their brethren, and the few remaining ork survivors were quickly mopped up, and the threat to The Bulwark ended.

Once again, through decisive action by members of the Dureen Dynasty another threat to Damaris had been neutralised, and those that had fought alongside Ivanov discovered a new respect for the man, having seen him in action against the hated xenos.

Ivanov turned his attention back to the problem of the detention of the Governor, and a short hour after the last of the greenskins had been despatched, met Captain Locke, Marshall Thrace, and Bishop Arint on the freshly returned Aegis. Locke congratulated him for his successful defence of The Bulwark, and then they got down to the business at hand.

The Bishop would make a speech to the masses about the glory of the Imperium, and the importance of loyalty to it, whilst Thrace and Locke agreed that more direct action may be required. They agreed to provide some handpicked troops from the Magistratum cadres and Locke's Stormtrooper unit who would begin to train Ivanov's Stormtroopers and prepare for a potential raid, and all present promised to share any intelligence they should come across with regard to the Governor's situation.

Fresh from his successful defence of The Bulwark, Ivanov's attention turned to the war on the ground; he passed information to the command centre, and tracked Ork formations as they advanced on Damaris City. This aid was invaluable as other intelligence reports were patchier this time than they had been over the previous weeks, however, combined they were good enough for the defending troops to strengthen the fortified areas that looked under threat with high confidence that the forces had been deployed correctly.

Once again, the armoured columns found and destroyed the Roks that had managed planet fall, weakening the forces that were besieging the city, yet there were still large numbers of attackers. The well disciplined and now experienced troops took their positions once again, and, again the green tide broke against the stubborn defences. Thousands of Orks were killed, and defenders of Damaris City stood proudly in their positions knowing that their homes remained safe still. Even so, men and women died, and once again ammunition and fuel supplies dwindled to dangerously low levels.

Ivanov took the decision to escort a vital resupply convoy in from the Forge to the city, and found himself harried by Ork bikes and buggies for the entire journey. Eventually the enemy closed on the convoy, and he was forced to make the difficult decision to sacrifice some of the supplies, leaving them behind for the Orks. As they closed on their prize, they allowed the rest of the land train to get clear; Ivanov smiled a small smile, and pushed a button on his command transmitter, and in the distance the Orks were immolated as the sacrificed stores, booby trapped by one of the soldiers before it had been cut free from the convoy, detonated. The remaining twenty kilometres of the run to the city was uneventful, and the supplies desperately needed by the frontline troops were distributed.

Elated by the resupply, morale soared once more, however, it was clear to anyone with the full strategic picture, or to someone like me, who was able to review the data after the fact, that with the levels of attrition that were evident, it would be unlikely that the city would be able to hold for much more than two or three standard weeks...

Adept Alexander reported back with regard to the information he had uncovered about Governor Kapak. He was being held in his private rooms in the palace, "protected" by a platoon of the local levy and was always escorted by two tough looking guards. It did appear that he was being drugged to keep him compliant, or to give the impression of the incompetence that General Dante was accusing him of. At least we had confirmation that the man was still alive, and of his location...

The reports of Bishop Arint's speech were not so positive however, apparently he got carried away, and the population was not particularly impressed with his fire and brimstone performance extolling the virtues of the Imperium when General Dante had been emphasising in his addresses how Damaris had been abandoned by the Imperium, and left to their own devices. Interestingly, Dante had been quite clear how important the Dureen Dynasty had been in the defence of the world, calling us the "true allies of the world" so, it seems that the man is not all bad...

It appeared that Lady Orleans had been meeting with General Dante more regularly, so it looked as though she had decided that after the xenos threat had been neutralised, it would be Dante in power rather than Kapak, and at this moment in time I could not fault her logic.

Finally, at the start of the week, we had despatched the four system defence ships on scouting missions; we had been attempting to locate the source of the Roks that kept bombarding Damaris. They had not been able to find those, but, had tracked a number of Ork raider class vessels into a segment of the Frozen Reaches, but, obeying their orders had not closed with them, instead turned back to report their findings. Combined with the other intelligence we had gained over our time in system, we had at least narrowed down the possible location of the Ork headquarters to a mere two million square kilometres somewhere within the belt of asteroids and ice... If we were to have any chance of victory, we would need to find and destroy this before they defeated us through simple attrition.

Unfortunately a dedicated search through that volume of space, cluttered as it was with debris and asteroids would take at least two weeks, and that would take the planet to the limit of its endurance, and possibly beyond.

The final interesting piece of information came from The Bulwark, which later in the day had warned of a solar flare that would interfere with short range vox communications and the satellites in orbit, and the population was ordered to take cover indoors. Afterwards, it was reflected that such a flare would provide perfect cover for a raid if necessary.

In Shard's Forge, I was summoned to the medicae chamber; Hartek had been showing signs of returning strength. Once again, he awoke from unconsciousness to see me leaning over him. As reassurance I had once again selected the smiling mask to attach to my respirator grill to signify that all was well. After his initial surprise, and a brief conversation during which I related all I knew of the strategic situation, and any changes that had occurred in his absence, I realised that Ivanov would probably be better placed to update him, and arranged a vox link to the Furnace of Redemption. As Ivanov updated Hartek, I sent a servitor to retrieve his clothes, as I am sure that Ivanov was slightly uncomfortable conversing with a naked Rogue Trader, even at a distance and in the form of a holo-projection...

Afterwards, Hartek had requested a record be made of his return to the front lines, so I dispatched a vid team to accompany him. The finished recording was impressive; he stood on the city walls, cheered by hundreds of soldiers, both House Dureen, and local, a spectacular sunset behind him. He stood there, proud, his battle axe in one hand, and huge Damarian standard in the other, the fact that he was still wounded evident, and his battle scarred armour testament to the efforts he had been making in the defence of the world. I had instructed the vid crew to capture the whole vista (which Hartek had outlined to me after he had woken), and then for them to focus on his face and upper torso, where the sigil of House Dureen was clearly visible on his armour. This would clearly link our Rogue Trader House with Damaris in the minds of those that saw the broadcast. Apparently this was very effective, and it became one of the signature shots in the media coverage of the defence of the world, usually bearing the title "The Defender of Damaris".

All we needed to do now was survive long enough to exploit the benefits that this would give us.

The following day Hartek was back aboard the Furnace of Redemption getting himself re-familiarised with the minutiae of running the campaign when he was interrupted by a report from the sensorium crew.

"Sir! We've detected a contact! It's an unusual profile... I think it's a craft of some type...!"

Ivanov walked over to the sensorium station and attempted to clean up the return that was being received. It was difficult, but he finally managed a relatively clean contact, and then he grunted in surprise; "Rogue Trader, I have identified the craft as xenos, classified as an Eldar Aconite Class Frigate. They're heading in-system!"

Hartek looked up. "Vox, hail them!"

The crew could did as instructed, and one crewman reported back, "Sir! They're responding."

The holo-tank was activated, and the face of an Eldar female appeared, her eyes were piercing grey, and a tear like marking surrounded her right eye. She wore the green hooded robes of an Eldar Ranger, similar to those we had encountered in the strange pyramid several months previously, with Inquisitor Atellus and the Astartes Castagir. The Eldar spoke, in the unearthly tone common to her kind, however, differing from those we had encountered previously, she seemed less hostile and certainly less arrogant.

"Greetings humans! I am Jahanna Bhalroth, the Scorpion's Wrath. We are the noble children of Isha."

Hartek grunted. "I am Trader Regent of House Dureen."

The female nodded a greeting, before speaking again. "We know of the plight you face. The battle against the greenskins. Even now they cower at the edge of the system. We offer you a gift so that you may attain victory over these beasts, and wish to parley on the planet below. What say you?"

Somewhat stunned by the request, and the polite manner in which it had been made Hartek paused for a second, and then nodded. "Well then, come ahead Eldar ship, and be welcomed as friends!"

The Ranger thanked Hartek, and we received data packets embedded in the transmission, giving the coordinates for the meeting; an area on the far side of the planet to the major settlements, and one that had yet to be fully explored.

She spoke again. "I shall be bringing a few of my trusted advisers. You should do the same. May your journey be safe." And she broke contact.

The bridge crew was left wondering what other surprises our time on Damaris would bring.

++ End of record ++
 

 We managed to scrape in an extra session this bank holiday weekend, so Lord Spatula is slogging his way through a double-plus helping of write-ups at the moment.

So while you're waiting and so that Marvin doesn't have to flagellate himself with birch twigs again, here's a little cinematic teaser trailer for the finale of the Frozen Reaches storyline to keep you going.  Enjoy. 

[MUSIC: Gregorian chanting]

[FADE IN to opening SFX shot of Damaris system in space. A ship, the FURNACE OF REDEMPTION flies from behind and to the left of camera, in towards the planet of Damaris, where we can see three other ships already in orbit. FADE TO black title card with bold white text]

TITLE: They came for gold

[FADE TO shot of the Governor's Palace on Damaris, in the middle of the Grand Ball... I mean Gala Banquet, welcoming the planet's defenders. The place is opulently decorated, all the attendants are in their most redonkulous finery littered with gold braid and shin baubles. FADE TO title card again]

TITLE: They came for glory

[FADE TO shot of a battlefield, with a wave of human troops sweeping forward over Orky defensive positions that look like something out of World War One. An explosion demolishes a small dugout bunker, sending bodies scattering in all directions Quick cut to shot of Leman Russ tank leading the charge, with Kilgrim riding on the turret. His right hand holds his Squat Power Battleaxe, his left a standard bearing the flag of Damaris. In slow motion he screams defiance at the orks, framed by a billowing, fiery explosion behind him. FADE TO title card again]

TITLE: They came to bring hope to a doomed world

[FADE TO SFX shot of two Orky Roks plummeting through the Damaris atmosphere, wreathed in the fires of re-entry. CUT TO shot of a battlefield as the greenskins goe over the top heading towards the camera with a mighty WAAAAAAAGH. The Green Tide fills the screen from side to side and is clearly a mighty horde. CUT TO to shot of RANDOM PEASANT WOMAN with CINEMATICALLY GRUBBY CRYING CHILD clutching DOLLY who are cowering in the doorway of a rubble-strewn street. FADE TO title]

TITLE: Now they must learn the terrible truth

[FADE TO series of 1-2 second close-up shots of command crew on Furnace Of Redemption bridge, by the glow reflected onto their faces it looks like they're looking at a big viewscreen display somewhere behind the camera. First focus on the inhuman visage of Enginseer Nikander Hak, who although devoid of emotion, is clearly disturbed by what he's seeing. Next we cut to Lt Commander Victrix Ivanov, in naval uniform, whose eyes are wide in terror. Finally back to Trader Regent Kilgrim Hartek, standing before his command throne reaching his bionic right hand forwards, as if to grab something off the viewscreen. He's shouting something that might be "Noooooooo" but we can't hear it, and his eyes hold a look of shock. FADE TO Title]

TITLE: You can't have it all.

[MUSIC CUE: chanting interrupted by massive Taiko Drum hit, a beat of silence follwed by European style military drums beating out a fast tattoo to match the montage of images. It builds up in intensity towards the end.] 

[MONTAGE: We FAST FADE through a series of short 2-3 second shots with a voice over from Kilgrim Hartek]

[SHOT: Ship Interior, recognisable as a corridor in the Furnace of Redemption. Kilgrim in Power Armour with his Squat Power Battleaxe in hand striding purposefully forward in slight slow motion leading the Housecarls, his power-armoured bodyguards who are close behind him.]

KILGRIM VOICE OVER: (in an oratorial voice, as if he's giving a speech to troops) Sometimes in the course of history..

[SHOT: Exterior Space, in the middle of an asteroid field, a dark mass is slowly revealed to be the form of a Gas Giant planet nestled amongst the Asteroids, as sunlight illuminates a crescent of the Gas Giant, and any players with real-world astronomy or physics knowledge all die a little inside. Hell, why don't we just throw a gratuitous lens flare in there for good measure?]

KILGRIM VO: ..all the workings of the great powers..

[SHOT: Enginseer Hak, apparently melting into a bank of machinery]

KILGRIM VO: ..come down to the deeds of a handful of ordinary men and women..

[SHOT: Ship Interior, focus on Kilgrim's Killers, the all-female Stormtrooper unit, in desperate close-quarter combat with a greenskin horde. Girls are dying horribly]

KILGRIM VO: ..who just happen to be in the wrong place at the right time.

[SHOT: A huge Ork Warboss on the throne in what looks like an orky ship interior, he bounds to his feet and lets out a bestial roar]

KILGRIM VO: But if those ordinary souls at the point of the spear..

[SHOT: An Imperial Frigate, slowly pinwheeling out of control as explosions ripple down its length]

KILGRIM VO: ..stand fast and do their duty..

[SHOT: Ship Interior, a firing line of the power-armoured Housecarls giving volley-fire with their custom double-barrelled Hellguns]

KILGRIM VO: ..they can change the universe.

[SHOT: Exterior Space, the Furnace Of Redemption pivots on its long axis as it slides between two Ork vessels, macrocannon batteries blazing at close visual range. As the explosions hit, the ship turns hard over to starboard and heads towards camera leaving the Ork ship wreathed in flames]

KILGRIM VO: (shouting) This is our moment!

[SHOT: Ship Interior, in the midst of a melee of Kilgrims Killers and Greenskins, we zoom in on Victrix Ivanov who almost looms in the camera shot. In a determined but fluid motion and heedless of the chaos around him he brings down his Naval Pistol in a classic duellist stance, aiming at a target behind and slightly to the right of the camera. We see the muscles on his hand tighten, but cut before he fires]

KILGRIM VO: (shouting) This is where we make our final stand!

[SHOT: Ship Interior, Kilgrim Hartek in Power Armour, Squat Power Battleaxe in his bionic right hand, lighter Power Axe in his other, going one-on-one with an Ork Warboss who towers over him. Both are fighting in a whirling, two-weapon hail of blows style. They are evenly matched, neither landing a blow on the other.]

KILGRIM VO: (shouting) This is when we shake the pillars of heaven and cry fury at the abyss.

[SHOT: Two of Nikander Hak's Battle Servitors facing camera, guarding a doorway. Firing at full auto towards us as greenskin horde pours towards them from behind the camera, lots of carnage among the orks but they're slowly closing on the servitors]

[PAUSE for a beat]

[CUT TO SHOT: Kilgrim on a raised platform, addressing a mixed assembly of troops in what might be recognisable as the Furnace of Redemption's Teleportarium]

KILGRIM: (Shouting and raising his battleaxe overhead defiantly) For Damaris and the glory of House Dureen!

[Crowd cheers wildly, then all are encompassed by a Teleportarium SFX field]

[MUSIC CUE: The Drum tattoo reaches a climax and then stops abruptly] synced with [CUT TO black screen]

[PAUSE for a beat]

[SLOW FADE TO very, very tight close-up of Rogue Trader Kilgrim Hartek's face, so tight we can only from just above his eyebrows to just below his mouth. He's heavily bruised and bloodied with grime covering his face, obviously having been in the fight of his life. His jaw is slack, his eyes are wide with a mixture of fear and grief. His expression looks uncharacteristically vulnerable, with his normal hard edge and bluster nowhere to be seen.]

KILGRIM: (voice broken and barely above a whisper) Emperor, what have I done?

[MUSIC CUE: Taiko drum hit] synced with [CUT TO BLACK]

[SLOW FADE IN to title screen]

Rogue Trader: For Profit And Plunder

Mid-season two-part finale event
25/05/2010 at 19:30z
29/05/2010 at 14:00z

[HOLD for 7-8secs, then FADE TO final title]

TITLE: Nothing will ever be the same again.
 

Oh you tease...

The talent in this group is excellent, I'm very much looking forward to the next installment, even more so now.

Thanks

Zakalwe, I agree, so far as the GM its been a blast to run and I hope to continue tormenting them for a few more sessions.

SPOILER WARNING - We are still playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

As another meeting with xenos held little interest for me, they're just another form of fleshbag, after all, I remained in Shards Forge working on my own problem while Hartek and Ivanov went to meet the Eldar at the designated coordinates; as usual, I dispatched a flotilla of servo-skulls to monitor and record the meeting.

The far side of Damaris had been little explored, and the two men and their bodyguards were forced to use a guncutter to deploy themselves as the teleportarium on the Furnace of Redemption was unable to gain a clean lock on the designated location due to interference from a strange energy vortex. They were deposited in a clearing around five kilometres from their target, and looking around they found themselves in primordial forest that seemed full of animal life. As they approached their destination, they came across a series of strange ruins; these were stark white in colour, however, the harshness of this was ameliorated by a variety of green and natural colours that were also present. The designated coordinates corresponded with a small clearing; within this was an ancient central construction, seemingly some sort of xenos temple. The structure of the ruins was elegant; odd arches with strangely rounded and smoothed edges, and studded with large, smooth gemstones that were as black as night, as if any colour they once held had somehow drained away.

Ivanov stepped forward into the silence to investigate, nervously looking around, and then he spoke; "Lady Bhalroth, we are here!" His breath misted in front of his face, and silence fell again.

Several seconds later that silence was broken again, this time by the arrival of an Eldar male dressed in flowing purple robes, a featureless helm tucked under his arm and a long blade strapped to his back. Flanking him were two others, dressed as Eldar Corsairs, in long coats adorned with talismen and trinkets, and they both carried shuriken catapults. Beyond these was the Eldar Captain, wearing the robes of a Ranger. As she stepped lightly forward she let her hood fall, and revealed a mane of white hair, and a delicate face with strangely stormy grey eyes. Her grace was animalistic, and she gave the impression that to face her in battle would be a dangerous thing to do.

Ivanov turned towards Hartek, and spoke; "Sir, the Eldar are here. It is safe to approach!"

Now, I feel that that phrase was particularly wasted, as Hartek had been watching events, and I doubt he needed coddling in such a way. It seems that he felt the same way; the recording clearly shows that he when stepped forward, he glanced at his first officer with some disappointment, coloured with a tinge of annoyance. I suspect there may have been words passed between the two men on their return to the ship!

Anyway, enough of that.

Hartek strode towards the xenos, and as he came to a halt, the male Eldar spoke in fluent Low Gothic, with a lilting voice; "I am Bhaine Dhun of the Craftworld Kaelor. We have come a long way to see you, and bring you information of great importance. Several months ago I received a vision of this place. In the vision I saw two groups going to war with one another; orks and humans."

This in itself was no real prophecy, and could be applied to thousands of worlds across the galaxy, and everyone knew it. I could see the twitches on Hartek's face that meant he was about to make a sarcastic comment, but then he seemed to restrain himself. Calldia believes that this was probably for the best, and I am inclined to agree with his assessment.

The Eldar continued to speak, one eyebrow raised, as if he too had guessed the Rogue Trader Regent's thoughts; "I saw premonitions of the future. If the orks won the war it would herald a greater doom, ushering in events that could prove disastrous for my Craftworld, and perhaps some of my race. However, should the humans prevail you might go on to avert this doom. Hence our presence here to aid you."

No-one around the clearing reacted at this, although I am sure I could detect a slight movement as Ivanov looked towards Hartek.

The sing-song sound of the Eldar broke the silence once more, as Bhaine Dhun spoke again. "Now, I have a gift for you."

He produced a crystal wafer (this, unlike the xenos themselves, I was interested in), he activated it, and an image of the entire star system appeared above it, glowing ethereally in the twilight.

"This shows where the hidden giant will appear next, in six times ten of your hours." Bhaine Dhun looked at Hartek, before continuing. "Use it well human, for you have no other chance. The greenskin warlord has spread his fleet wide over the system leaving his heart vulnerable..."

Fortunately, the information regarding the "hidden giant" tied in with everything we had already discovered, however, had removed the need for us to search the arc of space we had divined the orks to be based in. The Eldar handed the crystal wafer to Ivanov, who stepped forward to take it. It was noticeable that the Eldar flinched slightly as Ivanov approached, and he dropped the wafer into Ivanovs' hand, apparently keen on avoiding physical contact.

The transfer complete, the Eldar composed himself, and spoke again. "I must warn you of one final matter. The greenskin warlord will not be slain unless you witness his severed head with your own eyes. This I have foreseen..."

Hartek grunted, hefted his axe, and spoke for the first time. "Doable."

The female Eldar nodded, amusement in her eyes, and then shockingly Bhaine Dhun bowed towards Hartek. "Until fate brings us together again!"

The Rogue Trader Regent returned the bow and all the Eldar turned on their heels and silently left the clearing.

Ivanov arranged a vid conference with Captain Locke, General Dante, Lady Orleans and Jeremiah Blitz. Hartek outlining the new data we had received from the Eldar. All those present expressed shock that the xenos would want to help, and this quickly turned to suspicion, but once Hartek had explained that their helpfulness was spawned from self interest, the boon was accepted for what it was; useful intelligence. Plans were quickly made to use the new information to launch a strike at the ork holding area, and destroy the threat at source. Hartek requested the return of a small number of troops to the Furnace of Redemption, and for Captain Locke's Stromtroopers to be returned to the Aegis. This was agreed, and it was agreed that the system defence vessels would be left defending the planet in the event that the orks launched an unfortunately timed strike at Damaris, or The Bulwark again.

Hartek paid me a surprise visit in Shards Forge, expressing concern for my wellbeing. I paused, about to dissemble, and then decided to take the risk and told him all that I and Shard had discovered with regard to the virus. Barely missing a beat, Hartek grasped my hand, promising that once we had dealt with the orks, all the resources of House Dureen would be made available to me to help me defeat this virus.

Which was nice.

He then asked me to return to the Furnace of Redemption and take my place for the coming battle. Once I had left further samples for Shard, I readily agreed to this, and returned with him.

The small fleet, consisting of the Aegis, the Furnace of Redemption, Lady Orleans' Stormweaver, and Blitz's Ordained Destiny, made good time out to the Frozen Reaches; however, navigation through the asteroid belt would prove difficult if a route had not been plotted. Ivanov took the Fury interceptor, and I joined him to run the sensors and operate the technical apparatus.

Waiting at the edge of the belt of debris, Hartek arranged to speak to Lady Orleans. He had noticed that she had been spending some time with the General, and was keen to find out where she stood with regard to the situation with the Governor. After some verbal fencing, they both decided that the they should speak frankly; her position was that she would have to do business with whoever was in charge, as she could not neglect her interests on Damaris simply because of a regime change.

She phrased it succinctly; "It's unfortunate, but we have to move with the ebb and flow of business...!"

Hartek agreed, but expressed concern whether General Dante would honour any previous arrangements. Lady Orleans felt that there was no reason why Dante would not do so, particularly for the highly thought of "Defender of Damaris", and although not totally reassured, it is obvious from Hartek's comments that he felt a little more relaxed haven spoken to his fellow Rogue Trader. The meeting broke up with a toast to "Mutually enriching profit!"

Ivanov and I were struggling to find a clear route through the asteroid belt, but eventually we did so, and found a strange pocket of empty space centred on the gas giant. For the first time we were able to gain a clear picture of the ork dispositions. It had taken us almost nine hours to find the xenos base of operations, so I quickly locked the location into both my own, and the interceptors cogitators, and we headed back into the asteroid field, before sending a tight beam communication to the waiting flotilla, before we moved to intercept the advancing force, and dock with the Furnace of Redemption. Our plotted route did allow the warships to advance more quickly, but even so they took multiple hits on their void shields and armour, fortunately without doing any serious damage to any of the ships; it would have been unfortunate to lose one before battle was joined.

I reviewed the reconnaissance recordings I had used the interceptors systems to make, and was somewhat shocked by the scale of operations that the orks had undertaken. They had turned one of the moonlets into a construction facility. Strange protrusions had been added, and as I watched the recording I saw one of them spit forth a bolt of energy which struck a nearby asteroid and began to drag it into a cavern on the surface of the moonlet. The orks were about to start the construction of another Rok.

The actual act of locating the hidden gas giant was important in its own right; Skadi was listed as one of the fables of the Expanse and few had ever seen her and survived long enough to report the fact. Still, we had managed the first half; there was only the simple matter of a sizeable ork fleet preventing us from doing the second. I fed the information into the tactical cogitators on the Furnace of Redemption and we were presented with a display on the holo-table; at the centre of the projection was the gas giant and the ork base that was producing the Roks that had been bombarding Damaris. Two more were almost ready for launch, and another three were in the early stages of construction. Nearby was a huge ork warship that the cogitators labelled as a Kroozer, and identified as Da Rippa, but it was bigger than any ork vessel we had previously seen, and knowing what we now did about the greenskins, it was on here that the ork warlord would mostly likely base itself. There was another, smaller Kroozer, eight Raiders, and suddenly I was able to tag another vessel; this one was covered in strange symbols and sigils that were unpleasant to look at, but with which we were unhappily familiar. Servants of the ruinous powers were present too.

It seemed that our excursion to Damaris would continue to throw surprises at us; unfortunately they all seemed to be unpleasant.

A battle plan was formulated; the Aegis and Furnace of Redemption would team up and attempt to destroy, or at least cripple the smaller Kroozer, and then head directly at our target ship, while the Stormweaver and Ordained Destiny would attempt to keep the smaller raiders of our backs. It would be difficult to do but it seemed the best plan available to us.

The orks were taken by surprise, as we drifted in under silent running protocols, and our opening salvoes severely damaged the smaller Kroozer, leaving it burning, and with shattered weapons batteries, but from that point the battle went badly.

The Aegis found herself separated and was forced to run for the cover of the asteroid belt as she was battered by several of the Raider class vessels. She did manage to destroy one by way of payback, but it was unknown whether the proud ship would see the day out. Similarly, the Starweaver found herself out-gunned by the orks, and the chaos vessel, and although she was able to do some minor damage to her attackers, she was quickly forced to go on the defensive to avoid the withering fire from the enemy. Blitz aboard the Ordained Destiny fared better, but seemed strangely reluctant to commit his ship to the aid of his comrades, perhaps deciding that all was already lost. As successfully as the campaign had been going to date, this critical battle seemed to be going equally as badly.

Seeing this Hartek ordered a close pass on Da Rippa, and in a last desperate throw of the dice he ordered his Housecarls, Ivanov and his dedicated boarding troops, and myself to the teleportarium chamber, I elected to bring my three Charron pattern Battle servitors with me to boost our firepower.

As we prepared to make the telportarium jump the gunnery crews out-did themselves, hitting Da Rippa with salvoes from both weapon systems, then a vox channel from the bridge opened on the speakers in the chamber, and we heard the voice of Orbest Dray; "Sir! You need to see this!"

Dray had redirected the auger feeds to the small holo-display in the control chamber, and as we watched as our fire impacted on the vile xenos craft, then suddenly the display was distorted by strange readings that coalesced into false returns and disappeared, only to reappear elsewhere, then the lights in the chamber flickered, and my servitors lurched as though they had just suffered from an electrical surge. I could hear a high-pitched wailing scream, and when I looked around the room I could see everyone else could hear the same thing. Suddenly my attention snapped back to the holo-display; a massive return steadied itself and resolved into an ancient Eldar ship. Strangely, it looked as though it had seen thousands of battles; the hull was scored and pitted, and its sails were tattered.

I heard a sudden intake of breath from Dray, then, shocked, he spoke; "The Whisper! It's the Whisper of Anaris!"

The Officer of the Watch explained that the strange Eldar vessel was a ghost ship, famed throughout the Expanse, but with an ominous reputation; a sighting could portend fortune or calamity in equal measure. It had been recorded aiding vessels, only to attack them in later encounters. We watched the display as the strange new arrival turned in on us, and the Ork Kroozer unsure of her intent. My attention was snapped back to more immediate concerns by Hartek, who barked a command, ordering us to get into the teleportarium chamber itself and to prepare for transit onto the bridge of the greenskin vessel.

"Death or glory" is an oft-used phrase in the entertainment vid casts that the masses consume with such eagerness, but in this case, a situation as desperate as any we had ever experienced, I believe that it was an apt phrase. The next half hour would go down in the history of Damaris and the Dureen Dynasty, or would seal the destruction of both.

++ End of record ++
 

Below is the concluding session of the Frozen Reaches.....

Also, im away for the next two weeks so those who like the writeups will have to wait for their fix

SPOILER WARNING - We are still playing through the Frozen Reaches so dont read on if you dont want to know what happens.

++ Excerpt taken from the personal record of Enginseer Prime Nicander Hak ++

++ LOCATION: DAMARIS, THE FORCILLIAS SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON ++

++ File retrieved from the carrier wave of the final vox transmission from ork Kroozer, Da Rippa, previously designated as the Imperial Cruiser Remorseless declared lost 119.M32; added to this personal record by Enginseer Prime Marcellus as instructed in encrypted subtext.

Glory be to House Dureen, and in the name of the Omnissiah ++

I do not have long, but, it seems have long enough to complete the record I have been keeping since I was assigned to my role with the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty; after all, it has been eventful, and it would be a shame to leave the record unfinished after all that has happened. For no logical reason I can discern, as I doubt that anyone will ever read these words, I feel that I must record the events of the last hour, and hope that the transmission makes it through to the Furnace of Redemption...

As the Whisper of Anaris continued its run towards us and the enemy Kroozer it swatted an ork Raider that had turned to engage it, lashing it briefly with a volley of pulse laser energy, and leaving tumbling wreckage where the undamaged enemy vessel had been moments before. Although my attention was focussed on the demonstration of power being shown on the holo-display I heard Hartek rousing the nervous troops around us;

"Sometimes in the course of history all the workings of the great powers come down to the deeds of a handful of ordinary men and women who just happen to be in the wrong place at the right time. But if those ordinary souls at the point of the spear stand fast and do their duty, they can change the universe. This is our moment! This is where we make our final stand! This is when we shake the pillars of heaven and cry fury at the abyss. For Damaris and the glory of House Dureen!"

The nervousness in the troops was replaced by a roaring of approval from the assembled fighting men and women. I could hear cries of "For the Dynasty", "For House Dureen", and "For Damaris" punctuating the cheering, and as I turned towards the Rogue Trader Regent to nod my approval I felt the familiar cold energies of the teleportarium wash over me. Quickly I snapped my ocular implants closed; I had no desire to gaze into the warp as we transited from one ship to another.

Just as quickly, the chill disappeared, and was replaced by the dry air of a starship, and the stench of generations of orks. I opened my ocular implants again to assess our position; we had arrived on the ork bridge, and amass of surprised greenskins looked at us with beady red eyes. Dominating the enemy chamber, sitting in a huge command throne was a massive ork, larger even than Kernal Shakgul, with half its jaw consisting of a metal replacement - a crude approximation of a cybernetic implant - and seemingly petting a furry white squig; this creature must be Snotgritz himself. Ivanov rapidly barked commands to his troops, ordering them to form a screen for the Rogue Trader Regent and his Housecarls, and they sprang into action firing volley after volley of gunfire into the startled orks. The power-armoured Housecarls, Hartek's bodyguard, formed a wedge, cutting down orks with discipline and precision fire allowing the Rogue Trader Regent to take his place at the tip, and begin to fight his way towards the massive ork Warlord, who seemed to be looking on with amusement.

I immediately turned towards the bridge doors, which were just behind our point of arrival, and ordered two of my servitors outside them into the corridor beyond, with instructions to hold the position until either the enemy, or they themselves were destroyed. I received confirmation of the orders and the men-machines stepped forward to do their duty. Almost immediately I heard the chattering of heavy bolter fire and explosion of plasma cannon blasts followed by the whine of the weapon recharging mixed with the screams and cries of orks as they died in large numbers. Satisfied that the servitors would buy us the time we needed, I struggled to close the heavy adamantium doors, and then began to seal them, isolating the bridge from outside interference.

As I worked I was able to take the time to survey the bridge, and heard the deep base rumbling laugh of Snotgritz, as he turned to the twelve large orks standing near him; he gestured at them, and with roars they charged towards Hartek and his Housecarls accompanied by Snotgritz bellowing, in Low Gothic, of all languages, "The tide is coming!"

I can only assume he meant the "green tide" as I have often heard ork armies referred to by veteran warriors who have faced them previously.

I sent my remaining combat servitor to aid the Rogue Trader and his men as dozens of orks, men and women were locked in brutal close quarters fighting; dozens of dead and wounded already littered the deck. I saw numerous acts of heroism, where the troops of House Dureen surpassed themselves, and I am sure there were many more that I missed in the chaos of the melee. I saw several of Snotgritz's chosen orks cut down before they smashed into the powered armoured wedge, cutting down at least one unfortunate Housecarl. In the midst of it all, I could see Hartek's blood axe rising and falling, and hear the crack of Ivanov's pistols as the two men reaped a heavy toll on the xenos. Outside the doors the heavy bolter fell silent and I realised one of my servitors had fallen. It soon became obvious that I would have to find further delaying tactics to slow any reinforcements that were on their way to the bridge.

I noticed that near the doors were a number of data-ports, and they appeared of Imperial design. Before Calldia could object I connected myself to the ports, and quickly found myself conversing with the machine-spirit of the warship.

Initially responses were slow as it had been several millennia since anyone had deigned to talk to the powerful spirits; however they seemed to welcome my presence, grateful for the chance to converse with someone who could understand them. They soon flooded me with information; shockingly it seemed that the vessel had begun life as an Imperial ship, originally designated the Remorseless, and had fallen to xenos control, some time thousands of years ago. The creatures had done foul injuries to her over the years, but now we began to form plans of revenge.

Once I had outlined my intentions, the mighty spirits seemed almost gleeful, welcoming the chance to extract a toll of vengeance on the vermin that now infested the corridors of the ship. Working together we began to turn life support off in vital areas, to open the regions of the ship surrounding the bridge to the void, to close off areas of the ship denying the orks access; thousands of greenskins died, and I could feel the Remorseless exalt in their death. We turned off artificial gravity in some areas, and increased its strength in others, we cut off power supplies in some areas, and caused conduits in others to overload, electrocuting anything unfortunate enough to be nearby. We flooded chambers with vented plasma, immolating numerous orks; we flooded corridors and rooms with water, drowning countless others. Between us, the Remorseless and I made the orks fear their own home, and they quickly became more concerned with the simple act of survival than doing anything to counter House Dureen's offensive strike. Satisfied, we turned our attention to the orks on the bridge, and began to overload terminals and power conduits there sending sparking arcs of energy around the chamber frying any greenskin too slow to get out of the way.

As the minutes passed, I became more and more aware of the precariousness of our position as the battle on the bridge developed; the fight was worryingly even, and in such circumstances it would have but one conclusion; the orks would find some way to reinforce their numbers and we would fall to their blades or their guns. Hartek had obviously come to the same conclusion, and decided to force the issue, and bellowing in the manner of the orks themselves, charged into the hand to hand combat with Snotgritz, closing with the monster, and shaking him with a massive blow from his battle-axe.

The fight between the two leaders was as mesmerising as it was brutal; both were masters of the art of fighting with blades, and both held weapons in both hands; however, it seemed that the inhuman tenacity of the ork would swing the balance. Snotgritz seemed able to ignore blows that would kill any normal opponent, and Hartek, already injured in the fighting on Damaris itself was on the receiving end of some crushing hits. I was not the only one to see this, and as the Housecarls were winning their battle against their orkish counterparts by a narrow margin, three of the brave men finished their own opponents and, one after the other, rushed forwards to protect their leader.

As it became clear that Ivanov's troops were effectively tying down the remaining orks on the bridge, the Lieutenant Commander took the opportunity to step calmly to one side and aim shots at Snotgritz, hitting the huge ork repeatedly, but seemingly unable to find a vulnerable location.

Snotgritz swatted away the three Housecarls that had intervened on their masters' behalf, but their sacrifice was not in vain. Hartek seemed to take strength from their self-sacrifice, he redoubled his attacks, and this time found gaps in the overstretched Warlord's defences. Seeing the opportunity to decisively swing the battle in the favour of the forces of House Dureen, Ivanov charged forwards and joined Hartek in hand to hand combat with the ork leader, leaving his surviving troops to finish the few remaining orks on the bridge.

Suddenly, I realised that other than the clash of blades, and swapping of insults between Snotgritz, Hartek and Ivanov, there was a strange silence on the bridge, and as I turned my attention to the scene of carnage, I could see only eight of Ivanovs troopers still standing, all of whom were wounded, and all of Hartek's Housecarls had fallen; the last man had his hands locked in a grip around a huge orks throat, taking his killer to its own grave with him. The bridge had been cleared of orks, and there were well over a hundred dead greenskins scattered over the deck, and victory looked close.

Then I heard a low moan from Calldia, and found my attention drawn to the air vents in the extremes of the bridge; armed orks were beginning to drop out of the conduits and crawl spaces, having obviously found a way passed the obstacles the Remorseless and I had attempted to put in their paths.

Assessing the situation using the pure logic that the Omnissiah had gifted me with, it was clear what needed to be done to ensure the safety of Damaris, to secure the future of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty, and by extension to ensure that our original mission to the Koronus Expanse had a chance of success.

Once again I communed with the machine spirits, and with an almost feral glee, they agreed to my plan. Surprisingly Calldia did not voice any objections either, although I'm not sure whether he agreed with my plan, or was too shocked to object.

As I turned to watch the denouement of the epic battle between the ork leader, Hartek and Ivanov, I felt myself lifted from my feet; hundreds of cables and flexible pipes detached themselves from the hull plating, seemingly under their own power and volition, and secured me to the bulkhead. I connected as many of my mechadendrites and probes as I could into the ports connecting me to the ship, and suddenly felt as though I was a component of the vessel itself. I, or the Remorseless, I am not certain where one began, and the other finished, sent a narrow beam data stream to the Furnace of Redemption. Down this beam I connected to the teleportarium, and began to begin the procedure to invoke a transfer, and at the same time lock out any external interference.

I watched as the eight surviving troopers edged close to their leaders who were still battling the Warlord, all the time keeping a wary eye on the orks freshly arrived on the bridge. As I watched, I saw the exact moment that Snotgritz died. Ivanov took a grievous wound from the Warlords blade, but that was the opening Kilgrim needed; he hit the greenskin with an impressive combination of blows, and I am certain I saw the look of triumph on the face of the ork change to one of consternation, and then one of shock as Ivanov thrust his power blade through the xenos throat. As the huge body crashed to the deck, Hartek neatly side stepped and beheaded him with a final blow from his axe. He reached down, holding the severed head aloft shouting in victory, shocking the newly arrived orks and leaving them stunned and rocking on their heels.

Ivanov turned to call his surviving troops towards him, but his attention was caught by one of the fallen Housecarls, who in his final moments had seemed to be reaching out for something; he saw a small, corroded metal box, and quickly picked it up. I heard Hartek on his vox calling for extraction, but before he could complete the order, I triggered the teleportarium myself; safely transporting the survivors back to the Furnace of Redemption.

Alone on the bridge, I put the final part of my plan into action; the Remorseless was an ancient vessel, and as a result she had far more automation built into her than the warships currently in use in the Imperium, in fact, I am sure that certain elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus would consider her technology heretical now, but that was the least of my concerns. In fact without this ancient technology, my plan would not have been possible.

I have long since lost most of the frailties of the flesh, and so began to vent the bridge to the void, as I had done with many other parts of the vessel earlier. The newly arrived orks were quickly no longer a threat, so, focussed on the task in hand, the machine spirits and I turned the vessel, and put her on a collision course with the small moon that the orks were using as the Rok production facility. We paused slightly as the huge ship moved around her own axis and then pushed the plasma drives to full power. The Remorseless confirmed the trajectory and I returned my focus to defending the bridge from any further interference as the orks desperately tried to find a way in.

Notification chimes sounded and I picked up a broadcast from the Furnace of Redemption; Hartek appeared on the distorted display on the shattered bridge, holding aloft Snotgritz's severed head.

"Attention ork horde! I have in my hand the head of your leader, Warlord Snotgritz. His skull will make a fine drinking cup for my trophy cabinet. Leave this system while I have a mind to let you..."

I smiled to myself, appreciating the dramatic flourish, and realised that I needed to speak to my friends and explain my actions. I opened a channel to the Furnace of Redemption, and once it had been accepted, spoke.

"Kilgrim, my friend, you know what is happening with me... The virus... And I realised that there was only one way we could save Damaris... It seemed logical, and it serves all our needs."

I saw the Rogue Trader Regent look towards the helm crew, and heard him begin to bark orders. "Bring us alongside that Kroozer! Teleportarium, lock on target bring the Enginseer back aboard!"

I heard the familiar crackle of the Furnace of Redemption's internal vox, and smiled to myself as I knew what the Enginseer Secundi would say.

"Sir. The Teleportarium has been locked out. The source is external. I am attempting to break the coding now."

"Unlock it, damn your blood!" Hartek snapped

I could see the look of sorrow on the Rogue Traders face, and for the first time in a long while, I felt a wave of emotion wash over me, and the ship seemed to tremble along with me. Still I knew that he was pragmatic, and would take the events of the day in his stride and push on to meet our overall goals.

Another voice broke the unusual silence on the bridge. "Helm, bring us about. Engines full power. Get us away from that base!" Ivanov had realised that the Furnace of Redemption should not be anywhere near the moon when the ork ship impacted.

I cut the connection, and switched the view to the one being picked up by the external sensorium array. I was able to see the Imperial ships break clear, and even though the Starweaver and the Aegis were severely damaged I was confident they would survive. I watched as the mysterious Whisper of Anaris effortlessly destroyed two more ork vessels before fading from view, and then watched the surviving greenskin raiders scatter, breaking in disarray.

The bridge door suddenly rang to the sound of an immense blow, and I was able to detect that the orks had unleashed a number of their walker mechanised units, and after several minutes the heavy doors collapsed under the sustained assault. I made a number of quick calculations and smiled; I knew that they were already too late. I quickly prepared a final transmission to the Furnace of Redemption, set to transmit five seconds prior to impact; "Farewell my friends!"

I will encrypt this file, and attach it to the carrier wave in the hope that Enginseer Secundi... No, Enginseer Prime Marcellus as he is now will detect and retrieve it. I left him enough hints in the lock out of the teleportarium, so hopefully he will do his job as well as I know he can...

Calldia finally spoke to me; "I knew you would be the death of me!"

He was so calm that I could not help but laugh before I replied; "But what a way to go..."

++ Appendum: Added by Enginseer Prime Marcellus in the interest that all records regarding the events on Damaris are complete and accurate.

Following the events detailed earlier in these records, the Furnace of Redemption returned victorious to Damaris, and was able to replace her losses to both crew and soldiers by recruiting willing volunteers from the population of the world. Astropath Kevil Stasys, who had previously spoken to the Rogue Trader Regent agreed to join the ship as her new Choir Master Telepathica to replace Golgotha, whose mind was still shattered by the strange events on the journey to Damaris. Furthermore, it appeared that the Dureen Dynasty and Damaris had forged strong links that would last well into the future; Rogue Trader Regent Hartek reconnected with General Dante, and was able to secure the release of the old Governor into the custody of House Dureen. I understand that once the man has recovered from chemical cocktail that his guards used to control him and keep him compliant Hartek has plans to use the administrative talents of the man to further the influence of the Dynasty.

Hartek and Ivanov used the time of the journey to inspect the small box recovered from the ork Kroozer; it seemed to contain what passed for the diary of the ork Warlord, and confirmed much of the information uncovered during our time in the Forcillias system. Further to that, it did indicate that the Chaos raiders were led by Karrad Val, a follow of whose, Sendak Voltrasse, we had previously encountered in the Saphirus system when we battled the Promise of Sedition. The heretics were interested in the Relic of Saint Drusus that we had taken into safe custody aboard our ship, and had guided the orks on their invasion as a mere distraction. With this in mind Bishop Arint agreed to accompany the relic which we would install in a purpose built Temple-shrine on the Grand Cruiser, His Undying Will on our return to Footfall, feeling that this would be safer for Damaris, and a more secure location for the relic.

Finally, Hartek, with the aid of Magos Shard, purged a small number of crew infected with a mystery virus of unusual potency, and inoculated a number of others. From the information garnered from the earlier records of Enginseer Hak, it is logical to assume that this was the same infection that ailed him.

I have also uncovered a small gift Nicander left me; a small Churubim that appears to be similarly featured to the late Enginseer. It has been programmed with sub-routines that reflect the core of his profile, and seems to exert a small degree of control over many of the servo-skulls that inhabit this vessel. Oddly, it roams freely around the vessel, and makes a point of delivering reports to me on a regular basis, appraising me of any event it considers relevant; I am not sure what to make of this, however, it could prove useful in the long term.

Appendum complete.

Glory be to House Dureen, and in the name of the Omnissiah ++

++ End of record ++

My deepest reespect for such an innovative and surely memorable character death.

I dont know if ill ever be able to play this adventure without this scene forever etched into my mind.

Nicander Hak, you shall forever remain as an important cog in the great design of the Omnissiah.

I am in the process of collating all the write-ups into a single .pdf file, with a few other details such as character, ship, and NPC overviews... It's going to be a fairly hefty volume, but if people are interested I'll post a link and make itavailable once it's done?

Just got to start planning Volume 2 now...

..."shiiffle"...

Now look what you've made me do, I've gone and got my keyboard all wet.

...sniff....

The late great enginseer will be missed by many I'm sure.  What a way to go.  My thanks for sharing his journey.  That's all I've got right now...