Adeptus Astartes: Deathwatch

[Tyyr]

1455 Day 1

The briefing room of the light cruiserBulwarkis dark as you enter. There are no seats, no benches, the only thing standing is a hololith in the very center of the circular room. Around the perimeter a handful of adepts and tech priests monitor the dozens of vid screens and data terminals that line the walls from a platform raised a meter up. Their heads nearly brush the ceiling of the claustrophobic room as yours does even from your lower vantage point. Only the glow of the repeaters and the pale green light of the hololith illuminate the room.

Standing beside the hololith is the person who summoned you here. Tall for a human the young woman barely comes up to the middle of your chest. Her dark skin barely reflects the light of the hololith and it makes the sharp lines of her face harsher. She doesn't acknowledge your entrance, deeply focused on the report the hololith is displaying. Her thin small lips are pursed in deep concentration as she finishes reading. She waved her hand in front of the display and the report dissolved into static. As the last of your number walks in she flicks a gauntleted hand across one of the many stray braids of her hair to get it out of her face, the silver skull charm entwined in it clinking as it strikes other such symbols and decorations in her other braids. Each strand is pulled tight against her bare scalp but she lets them dangle freely behind her. Her dress is a combination of the practical and the ornate. She wears a red and black skirt inlaid with golden thread and filigree but her bodice is a polished cermite affair. It's rivets and buckles are golden but for all the finery it is obviously armor first and decoration second. her arms disappear into voluminous red and black silk sleeves that match her dress but two armored pads to match the bodice cover her shoulders. As she moves to stand beside the hololith you can notice that the dress is split over her legs allowing it to move freely and revealing her legs to be encased in the same type of armor her torso is, right down to the thick heeled boots she wears. Around her waist is a golden chain with the gothic I of the Inquisition dangling from it. Around her waist are various pouches and electronic devices. On her left hip rests a simple but excellently made sword and on the right worn low is a tastefully decorated las pistol.

She pauses for a moment, waiting for the last of your number to enter before beginning. "Welcome," she begins in a pleasing soprano. "My name is Inquisitor Antonia of the Ordo Xenos. I apologize for the suddenness of our meeting. Ones such as yourselves would usually be given time to integrate fully as a team before being given an assignment. You were diverted here to the Bulwark though because of a pressing threat and our resources in this sector are stretched perilously thin." She tapped a few keys on the hololith and a meter in diameter image of a planet appeared in mid air. It was plain and simple, an unassuming little rock. It appeared to be temperate, with a wide green belt slowly giving way to large snow caps. There was quite a bit of land but it was broken up into many small continents of a few million kilometers each. "This is P3X887c," she said with a gesture towards the planet. "A relatively unassuming planet on the fringes of the galaxy, right at the edge of the Astronomicon's reach. It was first charted in the thirty third millennium. It has few natural resources and at the time of its discovery it was just coming out of an ice age. It had little to offer at the time, especially given that it is also infested with orks. The Imperium has had little reason to muster the resources necessary to purge the world of the orks and then station there to keep it free of them. Instead it was noted, cataloged, and the orks put under surveillance. So it has remained, for over seven thousand years. The orks themselves have never proven to be a threat, too busy killing each other to group up enough to be a real threat. They've never even progressed past killing each other with clubs and stone weapons, at least until now."

The surface of the planet split open, peeling apart to lay flat above the hololith. The display quickly zoomed into one particular continent with a large mountain range where a red beacon glowed. "On the latest reconnaissance mission it was noted that not only had the orks suddenly advanced in sophistication, there was evidence they were forming larger war bands. This was unprecedented. Not only had they advanced beyond stone tools for the first time in seven millenia, they had done it in less than three decades. The anomaly was noted and further study was ordered." Antonia frowned and annoyance tinged her voice, "Five years later the follow on group arrived. The orks had unified under three separate leaders. There is evidence that the most powerful of them is attempting to coerce the others into joining is war band. The orks were employing their crude bolt weapons, ground craft and even sea going vessels. Also it was noted that several space hulks were moving through the systems on course to arrive at P3X887c within the next month. That was six weeks ago."

Antonia worked the controls again and the red beacon expanded. It had marked a large ork encampment, a tent city of vast size in the valley below a crude fortress perched on the side of a mountainous ridge. "Based upon the data the reconnaissance teams have returned it is now evident to me that the warboss in control of this fortress is on the verge of uniting the planet. The gathering of space hulks proves it. Once the planet is united it is highly likely they will begin a 'WAAGH!!!', something we are simply not prepared for." Another wave of her hand and the continent shrank until the world appeared, then the system and finally it pulled out until the entire sector of space was visible. P3X887c blazed a steady red and five others nearby began to blink in red. "If a 'WAAGH!!!" begins it will undoubtedly pick up these additional feral ork populations. Imperial forces in this sector are stretched thin. Much of the guard and space marines in the area are dealing with a chaos incursion in the Lysinian Way. The remainder of the Guard are on the border with the Tau. We do not have the resources in the sector to deal with a 'WAAGH!!!' of this size. Dozens of worlds and almost half a trillion Imperial citizens will be in danger from this horde. Obviously, this cannot come to pass."

The hololith returned to the view of the fortress. "Our mission is simple, infiltrate the fortress during the meeting between the warbosses, assassinate all three along with their lieutenants. If we decapitate the upper levels of their leadership the remaining mobs will likely devolve into infighting over a new leader. At the least this will buy us time to organize a defense. At best they will collapse back into bar... greater barbarism and no longer pose a threat. Questions?"

[Deepcrush]

Cyrus Sully stood quietly. His form, rather odd for an Astartes. Thick built from a high gravity world. His shorter but bulky form took an almost humorous shape in his armor. It was plain to see that the armor was meant for someone who would be slightly taller then Cyrus. Thinking about the mission at hand. "Those who endanger the Emperor's holdings must be destroyed. I ask only, when do we depart?" Cyrus pumped his fist into his hand. Armor clashing into armor.

[Aaron]

Bjor grinned ferally at the mention of Orks, the Old Foe was always good for a fight. He leaned forward to examine the hololoth, the light casting his wolfish features a greenish tinge. He turns his gaze to the Inquisitor, his eyes reflecting the light of the holo like those of a wolf.

"Aye lass, where do we insert?"

[Tyyr]

1455 Day 1 Antonia

"My specialty is investigation, not combat. I would suggest here," she stabbed a finger at a plateau above and behind the fortress. "This would drop us on the far side of the fortress, away from the main mob. It's isolated and far enough away that the orks won't be able to spot us immediately but close enough to reach the fortress quickly."

[Aaron]

1455 Day 1 Bjor:

The Space Wolf arches an eyebrow and regards Antonia with curiosity, before asking; "us?"

[Tyyr]

1455 Day 1 Antonia

Antonia nodded. "After seven millenia of beating each other's heads in with sticks and stones these beasts have suddenly decided to band together and in twenty five years go from stone axes to bolters. Even for orks that's amazing. We need to know what triggered such a revolution and why." She looked about the room at the marines. "And not to be unkind, but your specialty is warfare, not investigation."

[Aaron]

1456 Day I

Bjor shrugs, "let us hope the Allfather watches over us a little more carefully this time then. When do we leave?"

[Tyyr]

1456 Day 1 Antonia

Antonia looked down at her wrist chrono and bobbed her head. The sickening lurch of transition to the immaterium washed over them. "Now, actually. It will only take a few hours to reach the system."

[Sionnach Glic]

1457 Day 1

"This fortress," Hati said quietly, watching the hololith from a corner of the room. "What can you tell us about it? What numbers will we be facing? What composition? Will they have armour? Air support?" He paused, then waved a hand vaguely. "And so on."

[Tyyr]

1457 Day 1 Antonia

"It's crude, large, and sitting above an extensive cave network. The real meat of the fortress is actually buried in the mountains. There are exterior walls, which if we approach from above we should be able to avoid. The central keep is more of a gatehouse to the cave network. It will have to be breached and the caves entered to locate our targets."

Antonia gestured to the hololith. "As you can see the fortress is located up on the ridgeline. The only access is this narrow switchback road. The main ork encampment is in the valley below. Estimate is over a hundred thousand orks in this encampment, several million more in the surrounding countryside. Total population of the planet is roughly three billion orks. Obviously, we don't want to fight them all. The fortress itself is guarded by the warboss...," her face screwed up in a grimace, "Drakka Bizzkral Big'Gunnah's personal guard. There will be some boyz but mostly the larger forms of ork. Unknown precisely how many but its suspected between three and five hundred. The two visiting bosses will not have any guards aside from their lieutenants."

"The fortress is positioned in such a way that armor can't reach it, and there is none inside, purely infantry. Air support is expected to be minimal. The orks have begun to create aircraft and some small orbital shuttles but by the time they advanced to that stage most of the major fighting died down."

[Sionnach Glic]

1457

Hati nodded at the Inquisitor's words, mentally visualising the area. A brief thought occurred to him, which he decided to voice.

"The majority of the Orks are in the valley below, right? As soon as word gets out of a scrap up at the fortress, the entire population of the encampment is going to make a bee-line straight for us. Depending on how long it takes for us to reach the targets and kill them off, we could very well end up neck-deep in greenskins. Does this ship have weapons? If so, I'd suggest blasting the camp from orbit if it looks as though they're mobilising against us."

[Tyyr]

1457

Anotonia nodded. "The path to the fortress is narrow, steep, and difficult. The reconnaissance team estimates that it takes half an hour to ascend the path and the orks will be limited to two or three wide coming up it. They have a warning system, several bonfires that are soaked in oil and lit if there's trouble. Provided we prevent them from being lit we should be able to prevent the general mobilization of the camp for a time. Also, if we can keep the outer wall gate sealed it will take the orks some time to get through it."

[Sionnach Glic]

1458

"Would there be any way to block off the path up? We have access to explosives, I presume. Is the terrain suitable enough to allow us to rig an avalanche?"

[Tyyr]

1458 Day 1 Antonia

"It's a rocky cliff, I would assume so though someone more versed in the use of explosives would be better to consult."

[Sionnach Glic]

1459

"Right." Hati nodded, looking around at the rest of the group. "Alright, which of you knows how to blow stuff up?"