A Decade on the Edge (Game Thread: Closed, Dead)

[Sithmorack]

Jack - Group 2 - Shaft

As the three of them moved forward, Jack had to turn off his night vision. The increasing light was making it impossible to see with it on. He scanned the corridor once more as they neared what looked like a shaft. It was only then that he noticed that the Kroot was following them. Jack tensed for a moment but relaxed once he realized who it was.

The voice hadn?t completely stopped but it had gotten at least more tolerable. He heard the whispering and attempted to shove it in the back of his mind with some success. The mission was priority and Jack hadn?t failed one yet. ?Of course I haven?t really dealt with any difficult missions.? Jack mused as they approached the shaft. Jack had always been more of a second rate mercenary. Taking missions that didn?t get him much attention as to keep his pursuers off him.

Once Jack looked up and down the shaft, he said. ?So I realize we?re supposed to secure at least some area of the ship but I think we might be stretching ourselves thin here. Can we even say that first room we entered is secure?? He glanced back up at the blood coating the ceiling and said. ?If we do keep going though, my vote is down.?

 

[Outcast107]

Kurt saluted when Maarku gave the orders. Looking at his men as some seem to cringe at the thought of being order by the Kurt. Giving out orders to the men as they gave him a half salute. 'Cowards' Kurt thought as he see the looks in their eye, for at least some. Watching his soldiers go off to head for closest scavenging teams.

Now Kurt waited for the reply back from his teams. Ready to order them to put up the beacons once they reach their destination. While Kurt was train to have no fear, he still didn't feel like being on this ship. It was off putting even for his nerves.

 

[Dogmatic99]

Doors after doors after doors. This place was like a rotten tomb. No, a charnal house, as every fresh corpse and room made coffin was crammed next to each other. Hulk was the right word for this ship. This Mon-Keigh contraption lacked any of the organic elegance of an Eldar design. To Kalgard this thing felt like a floating scrapyard, straining to stay together. 'What defenses could it possible bring to bear against the horrors of She Who Thirsts?'

Still they carried on, quickly being joined by one of the Kroot as it scuttled along behind them on clawed feet. It could hold its own as far as stealth was concerned. Kalgard had heard of its kind and their affinity for becoming one with their surroundings. Respectable. Unlike the machine thing that trailed after them, leaning on the crutch of its crude Mon-Keigh technology. A crude imitation of superior ways.

"So I realize we're supposed to secure at least some area of the ship but I think we might be stretching ourselves thin here. Can we even say that first room we entered is secure? If we do keep going though, my vote is down."

Ice and blood. Far more concentrated than anywhere else they'd seen so far. This whole place stunk of something's hunting grounds.

"Agreed." Kalgard nodded. "Contact the others. Best to be careful, back trace our steps and make sure nothing can ambush them along the way. I will hold this ground." Kalgard didn't look at them as he said this, his eyes didn't stop scanning the ice and blood. There were places in the nearby area he could disappear into easily, there was potential for ambush grounds here.
===================================================================

Eva just watched and listened as the Astartes and the sister gave out their own ideas of a strategy for what to do next. She didn't give her own idea, mostly cus she didn't have one. This wasn't her area of expertise. Sure, no Cadian worth their salt didn't have at least some experience fighting warp born scum but Eva was more used to playing her small scale part of a larger battle. With plans and stratagems already laid out, with a clear objective in mind, if someone had to change things fast then it was her CO. The only times Eva had to improvise fast was when she had to get creative with a grenade and how she could separate something's limbs from its body. Thankfully her enemies were usually simple creatures, infernal sure, but they were happy to charge at her with swords and guns. A solider knew where she stood with that.

Let the thousand year old experts match wits with the sinister tricksters in the depths of space.

Brother Hulic, you and Trooper Stroud cover our rear.

"Aye, Sir!" Eva stood to attention and readied her Hellgun for whatever fight might come. They had a location, now they just had to find their target. Things were getting back on course.

 

[ShardAura]

Cha'Chak, Undesirables Group

Cha'Chak had noticed she was treading deeper and deeper into the ship getting further and further away from the group. Khauch stayed by her side, alert to everything happening around them.
With her quills quivering her tall body hunched in the hallway.

Looking forward she noticed there was a broken door, stuck between opening and closing. Looking down there was a dead body on the ground between the big doors. Having it open and close on the body, just a regular frozen human body. Looking up with its dead eyes.

Moving closer to it, Cha'Chak lowered herself closer to the dead body, starting to drag it out from the door. Checking to make sure it wasnt bad, she started on eating the dead body. Undressing it first then eat.

Khauch started on eating the other end. They haven't had a proper meal in a long time, knawing on the frozen corpse.
Keeping a sense out for any danger, Cha'Chak couldnt help but feel the pull into the ship.

I wonder if Smoke is nearby?



Sending out her senses, she looked for another life form.
Feeling the a body not to far from her, unsure what it was. She cautiously ate her meal.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

The Travel To and Through the shaft was uneventful. As the group of five climbed it and reached the floor marked as their destination they would notice some things. Aside from the usual frost a few flares here and there along the hallway were burning as well as frozen specks of blood and the occasional bit that would be a pool were it not for the cold.

Rooms similar to the previous floor dotted the halls, though strangely or not so strangely depending on ones point of view they were missing corpses. Stockpiles of food and ash covered barrels appearing in a few of the rooms.

After a few minutes of searching and tracking on the floor the source of the signal was found. A room with a melted open door, that appeared to have been an armoury at one point. Inside the room was a corpse with a fire axe left in its chest. The corpse appeared to be relatively fresh, while frozen it wasn't in the degraded state of the other corpses yet. Next to it was a vox kit and on his head was the headpiece for it. In his right hand was a laspistol with an empty charge pack. The man was wearing a uniform that would suggest he was at one point a member of Cadia's Battlefleet. In the center of the room was a knocked over barrel filled with wood that was mostly ash at this point and fading embers that were now spilled onto the cold floor.

On the wall was a series of smears of blood in the shape of some sort of sigil.

[hr]

The "Undesirables" group had two paths. One up the shaft into an area of flickering lumen globes and blood covered walls and one down the shaft into darkness.

The path up, the path of blood and light led to a series of dorm rooms. The lights making a path through the hallway that eventually led to a room of hacked up corpses in imperial carapace armour with scattered lasguns around them. On the walls were a series of sigils painted on with blood. Outside of the room were oddly tripmines that had been disarmed.

The path down, the path of madness and darkness led to rooms that were coated in ice formed from... It wasn't water, the colour was blue under light. Tunnels were carved through the ice leading to a series of strange, what almost looked like dens. With frozen corpses lying on the ground.

 

[Athol]

Entering the room that contained the source of the signal, both Maarku and Skoll sniffed the air and growled. "This is an unclean place." He said quietly. Approaching the body, he sniffed it a few times before touching a finger to the chest wound, and then to his tongue. "Be on guard all, who or whatever did this might not be too far." He stated grimly, his eye's fixing on the bloody sigil scrawled on the wall; after a moment, he vox'd the ship. "Maarku to Divine Light. Found the individual we'd been in contact with; deceased. Somebody killed him, then drew a sigil of some sort near the body; I'll send a pict."

"Sister Solomon, send a pic of that back to the ship...then torch it." He said, pointing at the sigil with his axe. "Lieutenant Cooper, gather that man's Ident tag. We'll take it with us. Brother Hulic, do you have a fix on either the other boarding team or any of the secondary teams?"

 

[sage42]

"Sister Solomon, send a pic of that back to the ship...then torch it."

Natasha nodded to Maarku as she stepped forward, glaring at the sigil on the wall. She didn't recognize it, and she didn't want too. But part of her felt she needed to. To know it's meaning so she could prepare for what may lie ahead. No matter, heresy is heresy and all who embrace it shall burn. She thought having her helmet mounted camera take a shot of the sigil. She pressed a button n her forearm. "Photo away sir." She said before leveling her Flamer at the wall. With a grim smile she torched the blood, watched as it melted, then boiled, then dissolved away under the heat. When she was done, all that remained was a black spot on the wall.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Grimmfang - Undesirables Group

It didn't surprise Grimm that he wasn't getting a response out of the Shadowseer, Eldar weren't the most sociable of races to what they perceived as 'lesser races' even at the best at times; still it was worth a shot. The dancing shadows meanwhile appeared to have backed off for now having had their fun. What was left of the group was still positioned close by to the torpedo tube they had come into, occupying a hallway of lumen-globes that flickered in and out constantly.

Speaking of the others, Grimm had the remarkably clever idea, well clever for an Ork that is, to radio those of their party that had gone ahead to do some scouting in one of the corridors that had split off from the main path. But before he could that though, another presence entered his head. However this one was different, darker should we say than the last.

It started poking about in Grimm's mind; perplexed as to what it had gotten itself into. When whatever it was realised that it found itself inside and Ork's mind, it felt repulsed by the thought and quickly ran away. The action actually made Grimm smirk.

"Heh heh heh... sum one don't like me. Den ahgen, most don't like Orks." He told himself before he began tuning in his Vox. At first there was a bunch of static as he tried to reach the Humie who had all the shiny bitz stuffed in him, resulting in Grimm having to repeatedly slap the Vox unit a couple of times before the static cleared.

"Oi, Cybork Humie! Haz u or any of the others fownd sumthink yet? Gettin' a bit boring back 'ere."

 

[Sithmorack]

Jack ? Huge Ship ? shaft

Jack began to head back and get more people so they could ?secure the area.? Jack scoffed at the thought. Nothing so far had really been secure. Anyone could still be affected in the area they first set up in. None of the rooms were truly safe and he expected the salvaging crew would experience odd things happening once they got on board. Jack was beginning to doubt there was anything of worth on board anyways. Dead bodies and ice seemed to be the only things covering the halls. That was when he heard.

?Oi, Cybork Humie! Haz u or any of the others fownd sumthink yet? Gettin' a bit boring back 'ere.?

It took a second for Jack to process what the Ork had said but he eventually pushed a button on the side of his helmet and said. ?We went through a couple of halls and rooms and found a shaft leading up and down. Up leads to a corridor and a lot of blood.? Jack glanced back at the shaft and said. ?Down leads to, from what I can tell, eternal darkness and insanity. In all seriousness though it?s really dark and I can hear some screams coming from the bottom path.? He paused for a moment looking back the way the trio had come before saying. ?I could come back and guide you guys here if you wanted. I don?t think we really left a trail to follow.?

Jack stopped talking for a few moments as he realized something important. ?We?re the scouting team that sets up a safe parameter so that the salvage crews can come in unharmed right?? Jack shook his head at his own forgetfulness before saying. ?We should probably at least try to set a safe area up or at least a trail for the salvage crew to follow. Not like it really matters though, the ice, the cold, and shadows trying to murder us. Whatever is on this ship is trying to kill us and drive us crazy.?

Jack tilted his head back to try to ease the whispering inside his head. It was starting to give him a real headache. The cold was also starting to really creep through his suit. Though the less human parts of him weren?t as affected as the rest of his body, he was still getting cold. Jack rubbed his shoulders in an attempt to keep warm as he waited for the Ork to respond.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"We're the scouting team that sets up a safe parameter so that the salvage crews can come in unharmed right?" Asked the Cybork Humie after his status report.

"We should probably at least try to set a safe area up or at least a trail for the salvage crew to follow. Not like it really matters though, the ice, the cold, and shadows trying to murder us. Whatever is on this ship is trying to kill us and drive us crazy."

"Heh heh, welcome to securing Kroozas Humie. If there ain't sumthink afta ya, it ain't the same. Usually though it's dem 'Nids. Dey need a good stomping those damn bugs." Grimmfang remarked with a short chuckle. He then went silent for a few moments as the metaphorical gears in his Orky brain tried to come up with a plan of action.

"You're rite Humie. We shuld probably clear out our initial entry point, then get in contact with the Valiant and summon dah salvage Humies. And as much as you won't like it Humie, chances are we'll have to venture down those paths you talked about. If at all possible, we shuld try and contact dah uva' group, see ow dey getting on. Though this 'ere Hulk may try and stop us."

"Once this 'ere first zone is gud, we move forward."

 

[thatsnozaku]

Brother Hulic, Group One

"Brother Hulic, do you have a fix on either the other boarding team or any of the secondary teams?"

The Astartes hesitated briefly before responding, a note of distraction in his voice suggesting this was not the first time he'd encountered the specific sort of mark that was being being burnt away by the Sister. "Negative, Brother Maarku. They appear to be either unable or unwilling to acknowledge attempts to reach them.. furthermore, all contact with the Valiant Light ceased as soon as we came aboard. Given the relative ease in which the broadcast that led us here was traced to this location despite our own difficulty communicating with anyone else, I believe our efforts to learn what took place prior to our arrival have amounted to little more than following the breadcrumbs intentionally left by whatever entity thinks itself clever by taunting us with such foul sigils."

Another pause followed, the crimson lenses of Hulic's helmet highlighting the discrepancy of the corpse's uniform compared to what the nearby crew of the Valiant Light wore as realization rose above the questions in his mind. While the chances of retired Cadian naval personnel serving the rogue trader weren't so low as to warrant immediate questioning, the disparity in attire only served to support Hulic's previous suspicions that the Warp's chaotic flow of time lent little credence to the voice's claims of Kurtz' personnel supposedly boarding the ship long before the present mission had begun. "Did any of you hail the Valiant Light before or after we were warned about this hulk? How else would a member of the Imperial Navy have already known the name of our ship?"

 

[booksv2]

Smoke - Huge Ship - shaft

Following Jack up to a shaft and sticking his head into it Smoke scents up then down and pulls back to sit in the hall and think about it. Semi ignoring the not really scared human next to him and pulling out the hand from before Smoke starts to snack on it one finger at a time as he moves back into the shaft and works his way up towards the blood, scenting every few steps and his head turning this way and that watching.

Sticking his head out and feeling his quills quiver as they give off a scent that any other Kroot close by that the way behind was safe and the way ahead was unsure. The scent his quills give off settles into the metal around him and stays there as he moves forward and reaches out to touch the blood ahead of himself, dragging his claws through it to feel it before pulling back and scenting it closely.

 

[Athol]

"Negative, Brother Maarku. They appear to be either unable or unwilling to acknowledge attempts to reach them.. furthermore, all contact with the Valiant Light ceased as soon as we came aboard. Given the relative ease in which the broadcast that led us here was traced to this location despite our own difficulty communicating with anyone else, I believe our efforts to learn what took place prior to our arrival have amounted to little more than following the breadcrumbs intentionally left by whatever entity thinks itself clever by taunting us with such foul sigils."

"I dislike being toyed with." Maarku grumbled in response. While Skoll sniffed about, Maarku knocked over the burn barrel, and began sifting through the ashes, to see if any fragments of whatever had been burned had survived, but to no avail.

"Did any of you hail the Valiant Light before or after we were warned about this hulk? How else would a member of the Imperial Navy have already known the name of our ship?"

"I did. Standard procedure once a boarding team has landed, and I vox'd the ship again after we were contacted." He added finishing his search, and letting out a frustrated sigh; this was why he preferred fighting Orks or traitors who'd fallen to Khorne, they both preferred a nice simple straight up fight to all this misdirection shit. He muttered in Fenrisian.

 

[Sithmorack]

Jack ? Huge Ship ? Shaft

?If there ain't sumthink afta ya, it ain't the same. Usually though it's dem 'Nids.?

?What?s a Nid?? Jack thought as he listened to the Ork continue speaking. Once the Ork had finished talking, he pressed the button on his helmet again and said. ?I?m not sure if it?s safe to call in the salvage teams at all but not my call. I think the three of us are probably going to head further in. See if this ship has anything to offer.? It was only then that Jack noticed that the Kroot had already taken off. ?I?m going to have to call you back.? Jack said as he stopped putting pressure on the button and stepped towards the Eldar. ?I?ll bring you up to speed if you didn?t hear what I was saying earlier. Basically, the rest of the crew is setting up a ?safe zone? for the salvage crew to enter. We?re going to head further in and see if there?s anything further in. It?d be a waste to not find anything since we already boarded.? Jack paused for a minute as he felt a chill creep up his spine. He turned around and once he was sure nothing was creeping up behind him he turned back to the Eldar.

?Personally I don?t think we can really set up a safe zone without stopping whatever is causing this creepy shit to happen.? He looked up the shaft and spotted the Kroot entering the upper part of the shaft. ?Hey Smoke! I?m gonna go ahead and head down. If you need me, just head down and hopefully I won?t be dead!? Jack shouted to the Kroot as he stood at the edge of the walkway. As the Eldar and the ?Metal Man? (as so many of his crewmates said now) stood on the walkway, Jack turned to the Eldar and asked ?You coming?? Jack then proceeded to lightly jump off the edge and land on solid ice three floors down, the less human parts of human parts of him keeping him from getting damaged. He slowly stood up and stretched out any soreness he had from the fall before he looked up at the Eldar expectantly.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

As the sigils were torched an odd sensation filled the room. Nothing happened. Nothing went wrong. The sigils didn't explode, nothing was summoned, no one died.

However one thing of note occurred. As the Space wolf muttered, the ship seemed to groan as he spoke Tzeentch.

As time went on eventually a report came back. The crew sent out looking for the other parties reported. "Damaged Boarding torpedo located. Scouts are dead. Hacked to bits. Vox units destroyed." The voiced paused briefly before continuing "We're going to attempt vox contact."

[hr]

As smoke smelled the blood, he would realize that it was familiar. Human. Though the cold distorted it somewhat it appeared to be a few days old now.

Below Jack would see caves of blue coloured ice. He could hear a shuffling sound in the distance and occasionally the voice worming its way into his head felt like it was trying to pull him forwards. Though most of the time it seemed to be trying to pull him towards the lights above.

After a few minutes the vox units of the group went off. Slightly distorted a voice went "This is a wide band transmission from Boarding team nineteen. Does anyone read?"

 

[thatsnozaku]

Brother Hulic, Group One

"I did. Standard procedure once a boarding team has landed, and I vox'd the ship again after we were contacted. Fucking Tzeentch."

Hulic nodded, as much to acknowledge his fellow Astartes' response as to privately agree with the final sentiment on the matter, though the movement was subtle even without accounting for the space marine's heavy warplate tending to obscure minor gestures. Khornate forces were typically more direct and brutal in their efforts, so to have been so boldly led like vermin in a maze suggested the vain motivations of one who thought themselves beyond the the Emperor's divine retribution. Someone who hoped to prove to the Changer of Ways that they were nearly clever enough to be worth his attention.

"Then how much.. whatever is here knows remains, for now, limited to the boundaries of this vessel and the words of those within it. I suggest we perhaps consider where we are not being led as we move forward, and do our best to keep our quarry as in the dark as ourselves until we find what we came for.. and purify whatever foul entity thinks us mere pawns in its foolish game. We should not linger in this place much longer."

 

[Athol]

Even as he said the name, Maarku flinched; hearing the ship groan only confirmed it. ?Stupid pup?? He muttered, chastising himself. ?Have you really been away from your brothers so long that you forgot that names can have power?? Especially THEIR names? To prove the point that he?d made a mistake, he looked up to find Skoll giving him a rather disapproving glare; after an annoyed ?huff?, the wolf continued to sniff about. Suddenly, the vox crackled to life.

"Damaged Boarding torpedo located. Scouts are dead. Hacked to bits. Vox units destroyed?We're going to attempt vox contact."

?Copy that.? He replied. ?Be aware, vox contact with the ship seems to be blocked. Maintain encrypted vox contact with ourselves, and any other boarding teams you encounter. Do not respond to any broad channel vox contacts without prior authorization from either myself or Brother Hulic. Be warned, possible Chaos involvement suspected, do not separate your party under any circumstance.?

"Then how much? whatever is here knows remains, for now, limited to the boundaries of this vessel and the words of those within it. I suggest we perhaps consider where we are not being led as we move forward, and do our best to keep our quarry as in the dark as ourselves until we find what we came for? and purify whatever foul entity thinks us mere pawns in its foolish game. We should not linger in this place much longer."

?Agreed.? He replied. Seeing as there was nothing else of interest, he took the Ident. tag from the dead sailor, and made ready to head out. ?Alright, let?s move out.?

 

[Dogmatic99]

Kalgard listened in silence as the cyborg gave his own simplistic run down of their situation, his mask staring blankly into the middle distance, or so it looked. He had to agree though, there could be no safe haven while they were haunted by unseen predators beyond the reach of their weapons. And such creatures often preferred the depths for fear of seeing how pitiful they were before the light.

"You coming?"

Kalgard nodded, peering over the edge just a moment as Jack leaped blindly into the dark. The Eldar would take a more rational approach and nimbly slid down the shaft sides, using his superior agility to hop from one hand and foot hold to another before lightly reaching the ground. Surprisingly, Jack had not been crippled by the fall, which in this situation was probably a good thing. The blue ice was back, it seemed they were getting closer to their quarry.

Kalgard raised his rifle, using the scope to scan the darkness as the two of them advanced further into the potential nightmare for the source of the gibbering. "We are not alone." He stated bluntly. "Can your false eye see in this light?"
======================================================

Eva listened as the higher ups talked strategy and the ship rumbled around them. So much of this was beyond her, she had never fought creatures like this on their own ground. She was more at home holding and striking the line on firm Cadian soil, scorching the skulls of their mortal servants and lesser minions. 'Emperor give me strength.'

"Alright, let's move out."

"All for that." Eva grunted, getting ready to move out. "Give me something I can actually shoot any day." All this creeping and spooking didn't sit well with Eva at all.

 

[Sithmorack]

Jack ? Huge Ship ? Lower Shaft/Abyssal Halls

Jack glanced up towards where Smoke had gone. His mind had gone blank for a moment as he tried to process the voices pulling at him. Least to say he was slightly startled when the Eldar dropped down next to him. This had also pulled Jack out of his mindless state. Jack shoved the whispering to the back of his mind as he turned towards the Kalgard and was about to say something but was cut off as the Eldar said.

"We are not alone."

He looked towards the darkness, his night vision allowing him to see a good distance away in the dark.

"Can your false eye see in this light?"

?Even if my eye couldn?t the helmet has built in night vision although it?s sometimes shotty.? Jack said as he heard a slight mechanical sound coming from his helmet. He quickly tapped the side of it a few times and the sound stopped. ?I also have a few of those flares we used on entry just in case.? He stated as he raised his weapon and took a few steps forward. The voices had begun creeping back into his head pulling him further into the darkened halls. ?I think I remember something about you can?t remove your helmet and I doubt it has night vision built in so here.? Jack handed two of his flares to the Eldar. ?Just in case.? Jack finished as he turned mostly invisible and stalked forward into darkness, his night vision enabling him to see where he was going.

 

[booksv2]

Smoke - Huge Ship - shaft

Sniffing the blood again Smoke slowly moves forward searching the shaft ahead of him as well as he can. Random blips in his ear making him twitch he keeps himself quiet as he listens to the chatter of others but even they were crackly and speratic. Making his way higher and farther up he keeps his body low to the ground and makes sure the blade on his chest is loose for quick grab in case something comes out. The frost on the floor and walls growing thicker the deeper he goes he shakes his head slightly as he half hears something. Saying into the thing on his ear as quietly as he can while still being heard.
"Others hear not voices also?"

His claws scratching at the frost to get under it and move forward. Scenting the air as he moves forward and glancing back every few seconds to make sure his senses are working right and nothing is coming up behind him.