Edge of the Void - Campaign Turn 8

Chapter 8 - A New Pursuit

It had been a week since the lavish feast at Ryant Manor, and Tareefa had spent the time comparatively relaxed. Most days she spent her time at her terminal directing trade in and out of her voidship’s hold. In another life The Glorious Endeavour had been a Navy warship, now under the possession of a Rogue Trader it had been extensively modified for ranging beyond the Imperium’s borders. As such she had expanded cargo holds and increased manufacturing capacity to make her as self-sufficient as possible. And while she was sat idle in close orbit around Mehara waiting for local traffic to clear the Lord-Captain was able to negotiate the sale of Xenos artifacts to some collectors within the nobility, and to take on a consignment of pasteel that the ship’s manufactora were able to turn into prefab domiciles. It was through a combination of these two ventures that Tareefa came into contact with Actus-165, a Technoarchaeologist from the Forge World of Ryza.

Actus had come to Mehara searching for remnants of whatever terraforming technology had transformed the planet from an airless rock to its barely hospitable state. Said technology, if it still existed, would date from before the founding of the Imperium. Tareefa was sceptical that anything worth salvaging would have survived the intervening ten plus millennia, but the Technoarchaeologist was prepared to pay good money for her assistance. While Actus and his combat servitor bodyguard, Rho-139.RX, moved into the manor’s basement, Tareefa kindly asked Lady Yasmin if there was anything in the Administratum’s vast archives that might be of assistance. Yasmin Ryant was overjoyed to be involved in what she called a “treasure hunt” and left the manor the next day with a train of adepts and scribes.

She returned several days later with some promising leads. The first of which was the Archivum of the old Archaelogical Guild. The Guild had been disbanded some two millennia previously and it’s Archivum had been forgotten and slowly swallowed by Mehara’s urban sprawl. The first step therefore was to find the Archivum, and to do that required a data query inload near to it’s supposed location. By the end of the explanation, Lady Yasmin was practically giddy at the prospect of finding a “lost library”. Actus-165 let out a binharic sigh.

The data-terminal, located deep in the territory of a violent street-gang.

Unfortunately, the terminal that the team needed to access was deep into the territory of the Jorvik Street Rippers gang. Stim addicts that fancied themselves tougher than the Astra Militarum, they would not take kindly to the Rogue Trader invading their turf.

Battle 8 - Jorvik Street Rippers

Wasting no time in deploying from the gun-cutter, Tareefa and her team make for the data terminal. Following their usual engagement patterns, the Tech-Adept Gluvico along with Armsmen Finn and Bron make for the higher ground of the walkway. The Lord-Captain, Actus-165 and his servitor Rho-139.RX meanwhile, advance towards the terminal using a pile of rubble as cover.

A guttural roar from the other side of the stack tells the team at the Rippers are already alerted to their presence. Actus lets out a panicked shrill, vaults over the rubble and makes a beeline for the data terminal. Tareefa follows suit, scrabbling around the rubble to a stack of crates. As he runs, Actus barks out an order.

“Rho: assistance required.”

Rho-139.RX clears the way for his master.

The gun-servitor rumbles in compliance and a moment later a series of booms shake the square as it lets loose a burst from its heavy bolter. Tareefa takes a cautious glance around the crates to see what Rho is shooting at. At the other end of the street, beyond the walkway, three gangers have made themselves known. Two have been reduced to meat chunks thanks to Rho’s salvo. On the walkway Gluvico and the others get into position to provide covering fire for those below.

Rho-139.RX continues their onslaught, unleashing a hail of bullets at the gangers that have appeared on the other side of the stack. Two rounds strike their hulking leader, although the ganger is pumped so full of stims the high calibre rounds only seem to make him angry. In his blind rage he lashes out at the closest threat, which happens to be Actus-139, peppering him with a spray of bullets. There’s a loud pop of electrical discharge and the Technoarchaeologist collapses in a shower of sparks. The two gangers with the leader vent their frustration upon Rho, but the servitor’s reinforced frame absorbs the impacts with ease. From the walkway, Gluvico and the Armsmen shower the gangers in sniper fire but don’t manage to bring any of the brutes down.

Actus-165 leaves himself out in the open as he scrambles for the objective.

The small square becomes a killing field as the gangers and Rho-138.RX trade fire. The autoguns of the former doing little against the combat-servitor’s bulked up defences, while Rho’s heavy bolter turns the gang’s leader into a red cloud. The sniper team meanwhile redouble their efforts. Gluvico’s shots with the needle rifle go wide, but Finn’s hunting rifle manages to blow a fist-sized chunk out of one of the ganger’s legs. Initially this does little to slow them down, until a well-placed shot from Bron blows a ragged hole through their neck.

From behind the crates the Rogue Trader takes a moment to assess the situation. There are two gangers left, one under the walkway and one near the corner of the stack. Actus is lying supine between her and the second ganger; aside from some scorch marks Tareefa can’t see any obvious damage to the Technoarchaeologist but with their level of bionics it can be hard to tell what’s superficial and what isn’t. Fearing more for the lack of payment than the life of the latest member of her retinue, the Rogue Trader darts from cover and over to Actus. She puts a bullet through the skull of one of the gangers and in one fluid motion, turns and shoots the other one through the eye.

Aftermath

Even with all the gangers dead the crew aren’t safe, they’ve kicked a hornet’s nest and soon enough these streets will be flooded with the rest of the Rippers gang. Thinking quickly, Tareefa tears the data-interrogator from Actus’s belt and after a quick prayer that it still works, jams it into the data terminal. Only then does she turn back to the Technoarchaeologist and give him a gentle kick in the side.

“Lux iterum! Are we still alive Tech Priest?” the Lord-Captain asks.

Actus lets out an electronic groan and props himself up. The hand that was holding the destructor pistol now ends in a blackened stump of twisted metal. Thankfully, the arm is completely bionic and there doesn’t appear to be any flesh damage to Actus himself.

“Perhaps now we will think twice before charging into gunfire?

Actus-165 pulls himself to his feet and shrugs.

“Counterpoint, you’d be surprised how often it works.”

The comment draws a few laughs as the crew nervously wait for the data-interrogator to finish its query. While they wait, they investigate the stack of crates that Tareefa had been using for cover. It’s mostly stims and junk, but they do find an odd-looking pistol and a cache of frag grenades.

The data-interrogator chimes in completion just as sounds of roaring engines and occasional gunfire come from the opposite end of the street. The crew don’t wait to find out what’s in store for them, Tareefa rips the interrogator from the terminal and they quickly make their way back to the gun-cutter.