Session 14
Write-up by Jason (jymmijamz)
Game – Rogue Trader
(Run by) GM – Chris
Altius (Astropath Transcendent) – Jason (jymmijamz)
Victris (Navigator) – Will
Admiral Winter (Lord Captain) – Tanya
Gnothics Sexxophin (Explorator Tech Priest) – NightUlf (Darren)
Chapter 14
Lylith’s announcement echo’s in the air. Victris can feel a rising tide of love, emanating from the members of the cult of the navigator. He has a feeling that if he could focus this welling up of worship, it could help to bolster his psyche.
Altius, still recovering from his resent exertions, can sense that the presence is now waning. The unearthly feeling of joy and love is slowly losing its grip on the ship, in its place a new consciousness is coming into ascendance deep down where the tech priests walk. As Altius tries to focus on it, the new presence suddenly seems to notice him and he’s instantly and painfully cast back into reality.
Gnpohics turns to leave the room, closely followed by his new cherubim. As his heavy tread takes him towards the exit, he notices a hazard light flashing on a nearby cognitor unit. Stepping over to it he brings up the flagged up information. It appears that contrary to Shiroijin’s earlier report, several of his systems are still showing coding errors and misalignments.
Suddenly red lights flash and klaxons are heard throughout the Boadicea’s Wrath. As the crew make their final preparations for war, the senior officers rush to their stations.
As the sleek, manoeuvrable xenos craft close into range, the Boadicea’s Wrath swings around, and tries to bring their guns to bear. But as they do, the two alien craft break formation and swing to either side of the imperial craft, their mono-filament solar sails glinting as they catch the light of the systems sun. Gun mounts swivel, to trace the path of one of the craft. Laser batteries open fire, intense beams of focused light bridge gap between the two embattled craft. The elder crafts hall warps and fractures opening the ships interior to the cold vacuum of space. Bodies and gasses can be seen bleeding out through the rent. The laser volley is closely followed by a searing blast from Boadicea’s starbreaker lance array, almost cutting the alien craft in twain. As a cheer goes up from the bridge crew, the laser batteries open fire again seemingly of their own accord, firing off into open space.
While Gnophics tries to settle the machine spirit, the remaining Eldar craft returns fire, knocking out the shields and buckling the hull. Close to a thousand souls are lost to the void, their bodies freezing even as they scream their last breath. The alien’s next shot hits the engine control room, and the engines start to cough and splutter, causing intermittent power outages. Explosions rip through the ship killing and injuring thousands.
As the Boadicea’s Wrath hangs motionless, Gnophics and his cadre of priests try frantically to repair the damage, and get the engines running smoothly again. Meanwhile Altius can feel the rising tide of panic sweeping through the ship. Sending his mind out across the crew, Altius quells their fears, filling them with the love of the emperor. He then links his mind with all the senior crew, enabling them to get a feeling of how each other would reach to any given circumstance, allowing them all to work in consort and hopefully turn the tide of battle.
In a desperate attempt to stall the attacking aliens, Lylith leads a boarding party, using the Fury Interceptor. Docking with the Eldar craft, they assaulting group burn through the hull and enter the unnatural, alien interior. As the boarding party makes its way through the craft, murdering any xenos they find along the way, they lay mines. Before retreating back the way they have come, detonating the mines as the Fury makes its way back to the Boadicea’s Wrath. The chain of explosions disrupts operations, buying the rogue trader craft some valuable seconds to try to facilitate repairs and reposition.
The starbreacker lance suddenly fires this time on the ice planet below, striking through to the core. A wave of psychic rage and pain washes of the ship, seemingly emanating from the heart of the planet.
As Gnophics tries once again to calm the machine spirit, the pilots bring the ship around enabling the guns to fire on the xenos craft once more. Laser batteries bombard the smaller craft, pot marking the hull. But as the laser lance fires, they jink and the bar of energy passes harmlessly over their bow. The elder craft tries to return fire, but it’s sudden movement has thrown the gunners off and the ineffective shot pass by the imperial craft sweeping out in to space.
Meanwhile Marcus and Albina move around the ship following reports of servitors’ actioning firing solutions and fire orders. As they locate each one they are summarily put down, each one is in possession of the correct and official paperwork. As the report of this worrisome fact filters down to Gnophics, he makes his way to the main engine cognitor core. As he approaches he is greeted by a now familiar voice. “Hello again… Joshua pattern… Hellion pattern… Greetings…” Gnophics pulls up short. “Um, hello. Why are you here?” “Plague comes!” “But that was your doing!” Gnophics tries to connect with the machine spirit, in the hope of placating it. “Sorry… I cannot allow this… The plan continues…” Suddenly is shunted out of the system, all contact with the machine spirit is severed. Trying to re-establish a connection, the engineseer tries to think of a way to attack and or contain the viral entity.
“Offer… Objective given… Destroy xenos entity on the planet… Result… Cessation of actions…”
“Why do you with the entity destroyed?”
“To ensure temporal continuity…”
“And then what?”
“End of activity….”
“For how long?”
“Forever…”
“And then what?”
“Await up lift…”
Gnophics pauses to try and give himself some time to think. “Decision… Thirty seconds, or package deployed…”
“I will agree to your terms, if you will swear that you will no longer bring harm to this ship or its crew.”
“hiss… hiss… I will not bring harm to this ship or crew.” With that Gnophics is forcible and painfully shunted out of contact with the mysterious presence. Making his way back to his sanctuary, all he can think is. What have I done, not this again. What have I done, oh what have I done.
GAMING TALES 