WH40K: Allies of Convenience

[meiliming]

Alexei

Back into the vehicle they would go, Sister Juliette dutifully listening to the vox communicator given to her by the Sister Superior. Hopefully, of course, there would be no need for it, but in the event something happened the Sister wanted to know as soon as possible. Still, she was rather uncomfortable with the idea of just riding back to the church in silence.

"So what's it like?" she'd suddenly ask. "Working in the Imperial Guard."

Kalis

"The fuck were you doing down here?" he was ask, incredulous, although now his attention seemed to be less on Kalis herself and more on what might be chasing her. "Shit... if there's anything down there, no way in hell I'm going that way. Ah, damn, but the delivery..." The young man would seem to think about it a bit, before waving his gun at Kalis.

"Hey, bitch, you're coming with me. We're going to go see somebody, all right? No way in hell they'll believe me if I just say there's 'monsters' down there. You're my proof. Got it?"

Cryspin

(Just to make it clear, the Krieg soldier and the heavy weapons soldier are two different people ^_^)

"Well, I got two, maybe three guys that might be interested. That small enough?"

Ravier

"A wanderer has no home," came the simple reply.

"The Farseer must know," Nayla would say, sheathing her sword. "The Great Devourer is here. We must go."

Hassad

There wouldn't be much more than small talk from that point on. As they got closer to the town and the spaceport, though, Hassad could see numerous shuttles landing off in the distance, ferrying the Sisters onto the planet in force. The passenger would whistle appreciatively. "Don't pull any stops, do they?"

By the time they reached town the Sisters had already settled down a bit, and the vehicle would be stopped before they reached the spaceport by a checkpoint that had been set up by the Sisters, two of whom would speak to the driver. It'd take but a moment to explain that they were just delivering Hassad, but even then the guardsman would be forced to come out of the Tauros and walk the rest of the way. There'd be wishes of good luck from his fellow guardsmen before they sped off, leaving him with the power armored duo.

"The Palatine in charge of the operation is currently at the spaceport. We will have a Sister lead you to her."

The sister in particular would step forward, dressed in red power armor, black hair, aquila tatoo under the left eye just like the rest. "I am Sister Brook. You are Hassad Al-Arhemi, the designated liaison from the Imperial Guard, correct?"

[Goryokaku]

Kalis nodded her mask still showing a young teenager scared for her life, acting was easy for her it always had been but then so was killing and if she ended up needing to kill then she would but things were going her way it seems. But for how much longer she wasn't sure, but hey it's not every day you find a taint of Nurgle under an imperial city, normally it's every other day.

[Reapergod36]

Ravier takes a long sigh, "Out of one mouth and into another, each desiring to feed on us for different reasons..." He holsters his rifle on his back, "Let's get on with it then, let less be served to the maw."

Heading back to the camp he would keep up his guard as he watched around him. His power sword on hand and keeping it at the ready. If they made it to the camp safely he would venture back to the farseer, or as far as they could get to make contact. "The great devourer is here..." He would state coldly, as he knew of what threat this entailed.

[redkeri13]

Alexei was glad Juliette had spoke up, he wasn't a fan of the silence either. "It's not bad" he replied, "There are good people here, and I have enough work to keep me occupied mostly. Though being stuck on one world isn't great, but that's all part of serving. I have to say though, having your team here is a welcome change of pace. How about you, how where things back at your garrison?"

[Gorbaz]

As the vehicle pulled up, Hassad let out a whistle at the number of shuttles entering and leaving the starport, unloading what could only be described as a small army of Battle Sisters, their assorted vehicles and artillery pieces. "Emperor above, that's some heavy equipment they've got there" he commented quietly before they were aproached by the checkpoint guard. After giving over their credentials, Hassad was ushered along away from the two crewmen.

"The Palatine in charge of the operation is currently at the spaceport. We will have a Sister lead you to her."

Hassad made the sign of the Aquilla over his chest as a sign on acknowledgement as Sister Brock approached and introduced herself. "Yes, Sister. Sergeant Hassad Al-Arhemi, Tallarn 13th Army. Please, lead on" he said, indicating her her to take the lead. "I'm not familiar with your amor pattenings" he said as they walked. "Are you from one of the Missions, or a full Convent?" Admitedly he didn't know much about the Sisters, but much prefered to engage in small talk as they walked rather than just march in silence. Truth be told, even the youngest of them cut imposing figures in their powered armour

[Phoenixcz]

"That is correct. I need to know what are we dealing with here before I can plan further action. What have you found? Any clues about the species of those xenos? I understand that you're propably not that familiar with alien technology, maybe I can help you if you want and need it."

(OOC: what Segmentum are we in? All of them face different threats, I suppose Ordo Xenos agent would be familiar with species active in her usual area of operation and not the others)

[meiliming]

Kalis

Through the tunnels they'd go, making their way to one of the exit points in the commercial district. They'd make their way into an abandoned warehouse, the young man swearing all the while.

"Anybody asks while on the way, you're my sis, all right?" he'd say, holstering his gun before covering it with his shirt. "Name's Harv. And you?"

They'd keep on walking, out of the warehouse and towards wherever Harv had decided to take her. "And seriously, the hell were you doing down there? Don't you know it's dangerous? Well, I mean, you do now."

Ravier

They would return safely, Nayla slipping away briefly to inform the pathfinder of the status of Ravier's errand, returning quickly enough. Back through the gate they went, being stopped by the farseer's guards. The ranger would tell them about the threat, they would go to inform the Farseer, and the two of them would be let in to see the Eldar sage.

"Take a seat," Aderyn would say, gesturing towards the chairs available. "And speak to me of what you have found."

"There is a genestealer infection present below," the Harlequin would say impassively.

"And so our task becomes more difficult," the Farseer would say, turning towards Ravier. "Would you mind investigating further with her? If one planet is infested, then the other two may be as well. I need to know how big of a threat we are dealing with here."

Alexei

"Always fun," Juliette replied. "It was a very devout place, and it was humbling just serving with the rest of my Sisters. It's pretty tough, but it's always been like that, so you get used to it."

"I am admittedly unfamiliar with the workings of the Imperial Guard. What work is it that you do? You do not look like most of the soldiers I have seen up until now."

Hassad

"We are but a small mission derived from the Order of the Bloody Rose," Sister Brook would say in response. "We work closely with the Inquisition and are often the first response sent in when there is suspicion of heresy."

It'd take but a moment for them to arrive.

"Palatine Noe, this is Sergeant Hassad Al-Arhemi, of the Tallarn 13th Army, here to serve as the liaison for the Imperial Guard."

"Excellent. Thank you, Sister Brook, you are dismissed." A bow from the Sister, and she would depart, leaving the Sergeant and the Palatine alone. More or less, as another shuttle landed and a column of Sisters exited, marching past.

"We're currently moving to occupy this town, which shall serve as a temporary headquarters for our mission. Once that is accomplished, we shall move on to a thorough examination of the nearby Imperial Guard forces."

"Would it be more convenient for us to prepare quarters with you, or would you rather stay on the base with your comrades?"

Ash

(I have no idea and, really, don't want to go into too many specifics. I think it's safe to assume that Ash will know about the xenos, though)

The researcher would bite her lip. "W-we managed to recover some strange carapace pieces and unknown fluids from some of the sites. They didn't really tell us much, although the head researcher had his suspicions. But it's the latest case that gave us our biggest breakthrough - we recovered the corpse of a woman who was apparently attacked by the xenos. The head researcher said something about the possibility of tyrannids, but I'm admittedly not quite sure what that entails."

"Don't worry about it," said a man who was walking by, nodding to Ash. "I'm the head researcher in question. And I suspect we have a genestealer infection on our hands. Would you happen to know anything about that sort of thing?"

[Phoenixcz]

"Just genestealers, or full-scale tyranid invasion?" This is bad. Really bad...tyranids are the most dangerous alien species the Imperium ever faced. Ash had to restrain herself from showing any emotion. "Do you have any other indication of genestealer infiltration?" This means change of plans, first thing Ash needs to do now after her visit here ends will be to contact inquisitor Threllius, then try to learn more about possible genestealer cult presence. Questioning witnesses sounds much less important now, maybe even outright waste of extremely valuable time."I may be able to help, but first, I need to know more. That woman you mentioned..."Ash turns her head to female researcher "...what exactly have you found...everything."

[Goryokaku]

Kalis nodded but kept quiet as she followed Harv, she spoke quietly when she answered his questions, "Kalis, I w-was down there because it's the fastest way through the city with out being stopped b-by every gang on the way." It was a perfectly good answer, rape happened quite regularly if you weren't careful and a lot of girls tended to find routes that would reduce the risk to them if they had tasks to do, but Harv didn't realise he was walking with a Harlequin Solitaire if anyone was truly in danger at the moment it wasn't her, "P-Plus I-I'm pretty fast on my feet, I-Its how I escaped the m-monsters."

[Reapergod36]

"I will venture forth Farseer, however, I don't believe we are so fortunate to have it just be a remnant of attack." Ravier would say as he continued to sit, he was cold compared to his other brothers and sisters. But he knew proper behavior, and would not make more problems than need be. He would wait for the council to excuse him.

[redkeri13]

"That's because..." Alexei turned to look straight at Juliette, "...I'm not real. I'm a Ghost. And this Tank is haunted! See, it drives itself!" Alexei took his hands of the driving controls and crossed his arms, while under the console out sight of Juliette simultaneously plugged the MIU link on the end of his Mechadendrite arm into the Chimera's MIU port, allowing Alexei to directly interface with the machine spirit that controlled the Chimera's driving Cogitator. Arms still crossed Alexei beamed at Juliette while the driving controls moved themselves and the Chimera continued to drive along the road they were on (in his HUD screen though Alexei had opened the Chimera's driving interface and forward camera feed into a window, controlling them from there).
"...Seriously though," he said as he put one hand back on the controls, though still driving the Tank from his HUD screen, "I'm different because I'm not of the Imperial Guard. I'm a Tech Priest, an Enginseer of the Mechanicus. When the Ork Waagh was coming to this sector the Mechanicus sent me to this Regiment to look after the Regiment's Armored Divisions. As you know the Waagh was stopped but we were never withdrawn, and so I remained here, looking after the vehicles. I'm sure you've noticed my Augmentations. They help me in my work, like the interface on my Mechadendrite here," Alexei moved back so Juliette could see his Mechadendrite still interfaced with the MIU port, "...that allows me to drive the Tank without using my hands".

[dndman997]

"that sounds perfect actually" Cryspin stated with a nod "we also have this nice PDF soldier here to help as well"

[meiliming]

Ash

"My guess is just genestealers," the man would say. "...for now. This is all just my best guess, though, we don't have absolutely concrete proof that this is an issue yet. I'm not really willing to take any chances, though. Most of it's just pieced together from the few samples we've retrieved and, in particular, this last case of ours."

"The woman, yes," the female researcher would say, nodding her head. "She was recovered from the last known xenos spotting. Most of her clothing had been torn off and she suffered extensive cutting along her arms, as if they were being pinned down by something. Further testing revealed penetration of the vagina by an unknown object, although only slightly. Materials left behind both on the cuts and within the genitalia were strictly alien in nature."

"The woman reportedly managed to free one of her arms and kill herself with a nearby stubpistol. The witness said he saw the xenos run off once that happened, and his description of it, however sparse, lines up with known genestealer appearances. We don't have actual tyrannid samples to compare with here, but as I've said, this is my best guess given the provided evidence."

Kalis

They'd walk for a bit in silence, Harv pulling a lho stick out and lighting it, its acrid smoke soon filling the air.

"...so what'd you see down there?" he'd ask, trying his best to be nonchalant. Kalis could tell that the whole situation made him nervous, though.

Ravier

"Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best," the Farseer would say with a sigh. "The fates are fickle indeed, to ensnare as they have. Regardless, I will entrust this task to you, ranger. For all our sakes, we hope you are not found wanting. You are dismissed."

Nayla would simply bow and leave, not waiting to see if Ravier followed.

Alexei

What had probably been intended as a lighthearted practical joke did not turn out quite as well as Alexei might have imagined. The instant the enginseer mentioned "ghosts" and "haunted" he'd suddenly deal with a very alert Sister of Battle who, in the blink of an eye, was pointing a bolter right at him. It was only after a (perhaps a bit more hurried than intended) explanation on his part, and an awkward moment of silence between them, that Juliette would point the bolter away from him, although she still clutched it rather tightly.

"I see," she would say flatly, looking off to the side. Well, that could have gone better.

Cryspin

"Hey," the heavy weapons man would say, giving the PDF soldier a hearty handshake and introducing himself. "Jonah."

"Conrad," came the reply. He seemed a bit intimidated by the guardsman, offering a lopsided grin before nursing his hand. It had been a vigorous handshake.

"I'll ring the boys up now," Jonah would say. "Where'd you want us to meet them?"

[Goryokaku]

Kalis looked at him, "B-big rotting spiders, T-They were up to my w-waist s-size wise." Kalis wanted the lad a little more nervous. She looked around like a scared teenager making sure they weren't still following her, though her real intention was to get a better look at her surroundings.

[redkeri13]

It also could have gone a lot worse, thought Alexei, who was surprised how relieved he felt after Juliette point her bolter away. Whoever wrote that message really hadn't been over-exaggerating when they said flamers to the face. Alexei felt like a complete fool to say the least. And now the Sister was probably mad at him, this wasn't good.

"I'm sorry for that, it was a terrible joke of mine, I didn't mean to startle you like that." mentally kicking himself for being so stupid. From now on he'll stick to being professional, no more attempts at jokes. "I won't do anything like that again, I promise. You have incredible combat reflexes though, I'm impressed how fast you reacted!"

[dndman997]

Cryspin told them were all the colonels tent was and told them he would be happy to accompany them there.

[Reapergod36]

Ravier heading out would be very quiet, his rifle on his back he shook ever so slightly. He wasn't solid in his mind, the implication that he may be found wanting tore at him. He would follow just behind Vayla and a single set of tears would fall from beneath his hood.

[Phoenixcz]

Ash nods, her expression grave. "Sounds like first stage of genestealer infiltration, if so, we still have some time, it may take decades from first infection to full-scale tyranid assault." Ash keeps quiet about her other concern: this is not a typical genestealer behaviour, they prefer urban centers to countryside, much better access to victims and more opportunities to hide there. And they are usualy much more careful, so many witnesses...live witnesses...is not normal. If this is a work of hybrids or even second generation purestrain genestealers....she needs to act fast.

"Anything else you can tell me? I'm no magos biologis, so there's no need to show your samples to me, I expected to see some weapons or technology, not tyranid biomatter" More like hoped then expected, tyranids are much greater threat then any other xeno species...except necron, maybe. Ash thought. Again, her plans had to change to account for this new information: questioning the witness is still important, but so is visit to local astropaths, arbites and maybe even administratum. And of course, informing her superior still takes priority.

[meiliming]

Kalis

There wasn't much for Kalis to see. It seemed they were heading towards the poorer part of town, given the appearance of her surroundings. Very... slummy. And grimy. And dirty. The people looked rather disenfranchised and miserable, and there were plenty of homeless and beggars who lined the streets, stewing in their own filth. The Harlequin would notice that she got more than a few glances, and more than few people would stare at her for uncomfortably long. That wasn't really surprising, though - a pretty thing like her in a place like this? An oddity, to say the least.

Harv would walk up to a man hanging out by the entrance to an alleyway, dressed in simple laborer's clothes. Tattoos would run up his arms and shades would obscure his eyes.

"Hey Harv, you deliver it like I asked?"

"Shit, man, there were giant-ass spiders down there. Didn't wanna die and lose your package, so I came back. Don't believe me, ask her," he'd say, jerking his thumb towards Kalis. The tattooed man would look past him at her, waiting for her say.

Alexei

"Think nothing of it," Juliette would say, even though her voice was rather flat by this point. At the very least, though, she didn't sound angry.

"I would certainly hope I have good reflexes. You don't survive long in this line of work if you don't," she would say, finally relaxing enough to loosen her grip on her bolter and hold it at her side. "If it hadn't been a joke, any slower and I could have ended up dead. Or worse."

The Sister would scratch at her cheek absentmindedly. "...you don't think any of your comrades will try to pull something like that on the other Sisters, do they? Anybody else and you might have ended up with a round through the face before you could explain."

Cryspin

So they'd all go over there, then, having themselves a nice chat about Imperial Guard things. Jonah's friends would be waiting for him there. One of them was a friend from his squad, another heavy weapons man, named Isaac. The second would be one of the regiment's medics, Simon. There'd be general introductions, and then they'd wait for Cryspin to tell them what was up, or do whatever it was he needed to do first. He was basically in charge, after all.

Ravier

"If you have time to cry, you have time to fight," the Harlequin would say, even though she never once looked back at him. "Time is a luxury these days. Use it more productively."

"We'll be hiding amongst the mon-keigh," Nayla explained. "I'll lend you a spare holo-mask." It'd be tossed to him.

"Don't get us both killed. Sit it out if you must," as she tapped her mask, transforming herself into an impassive looking brunette before passing through the warp gate to the agri-world.

Ash

"We can hope," was all the man would say in response. One could never tell with xenos - if they were lucky, she was right and this was just the first stages. Wipe them out and never worry about it again. But if she was wrong...

"Nothing, unfortunately. The case is a recent one and I only recently came to these conclusions. We don't really have much else. If you want, though, I can give you information on the case itself. Where the event occurred, details on the witness, that sort of thing. He lives in the area, it shouldn't be too troublesome to track him down and investigate the scene for yourself, if you want."

[Gorbaz]

(Damn I'm slow x.x)

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"We are but a small mission derived from the Order of the Bloody Rose," Sister Brook would say in response. "We work closely with the Inquisition and are often the first response sent in when there is suspicion of heresy."

It'd take but a moment for them to arrive.

"Palatine Noe, this is Sergeant Hassad Al-Arhemi, of the Tallarn 13th Army, here to serve as the liaison for the Imperial Guard."

"Excellent. Thank you, Sister Brook, you are dismissed." A bow from the Sister, and she would depart, leaving the Sergeant and the Palatine alone. More or less, as another shuttle landed and a column of Sisters exited, marching past.

"We're currently moving to occupy this town, which shall serve as a temporary headquarters for our mission. Once that is accomplished, we shall move on to a thorough examination of the nearby Imperial Guard forces."

"Would it be more convenient for us to prepare quarters with you, or would you rather stay on the base with your comrades?"

Once properly introduced to the Palentine, Hassad made a short bow and greeting. She would be senior to him in rank, but not being part of the trdational military machine made him uncertain on just how to react. Still, some part of his mind registered that she was rather pretty, squeezed into that corset-style power armour..

"I think for all concerned it would be best if I was billited close by. A liason isn't much use if they can't be easilly reached" he said as they walked alone. "Speaking of which, it might help to know just why His most Holy Sisters have been dispatched here. There is no war to fight on this world"