After Hadronia

Post whatever your Char.s are doing after the mission. MC, you can post those details you were talking about.

why can I never keep myself out of trouble? I must have some kind of deathwish. Silas ran his hand over the bandage on his upper chest. He had seen the savage red wound that had resulted from his foolish attempt to fight a Banisher wielding a power sword. That fight had cost him his chainblade, and by all rights should have cost him his life. It had also resulted in his precious shemagh being ripped almost clean in half. For some reason the little bit of fabric's wounds had been more bothersome to him than his own. Silas resolved to repair the scarf as soon as he could find some decent string to bind it back together. He also resolved to stop picking unwinnable fights. A resolution he knew he would break before the month was out. Why did I think I had a chance against that man? It was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever seen, this angry kid running at him. But I was just so angry. That entire world was nothing but backwards, frothing, illogical, "I art holier than thou" morons. First the festival-goers, then the instructors at the scholla, then those pompous banishers. Too stupid to do simple math and decide that two more people up and fighting would only help us kill that thing. What had he said? "We don't need our sacrifices to fight for us"? Human sacrifices. If they had seen any other holy man from any other faith even insinuate the idea of what they were about to do... He exhaled. Let his pointless rage at what had passed drift from his mind. At least I'm alive. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Whoever said that should try getting HIS ass skewered by a fracking Daemon Prince. Silas ran his hand farther down, to the patch of cloth that covered what was probably the worst wound he would ever live through. A flaming sword longer than he was tall had been thrown through is body, pinning him to the wall. He didn't remember the pain, and he thought that was odd. Every other scar on his body was a reminder of pain. But this? The blow that had filled his eyes with an image of death waiting for him at the end of a long dark tunnel? All he remembered was the thought that death looked a lot like his middle finger. Silas chuckled, remembering the act of defiance that had caused that sword to be thrown at him. Again, me picking impossible fights. That thing had me running out of my own skull. Hell, I spent half the fight trying to get as far away from it as I could. And when it's finally brought down by Aksai and that Brave, baddass, beautiful fracking servitor, I think I'm the big man agian. I flip it the finger and profane in triumph. I would have thrown a flaming sword at me too. But how many people can actually say they've flipped off a daemon and lived? That's got to mean something right? Silas thought about it. Then he thought about all his other narrow escapes. The Gadtson, Pearalix, Ceazerus II, the Fjordes, 624-VL, [more on that coming whenever I get around to writing it down] When Silas actually thought about it, it hadn't been any skill on his part that kept him alive. It had been someone else's help, or the mistakes of his enemies, or just plain fracking luck. And sooner or later that luck would run out. Silas couldn't take it any more. He had been stuck in this bed in the medical wing for days now with no one to talk to but the preacher, and it was driving him mad. He recalled the old spacer legend about the freighter Ishimura whose crew had gone insane and killed each other, and decided that the story probably started something like this. He jumped off his cot, ignoring the protestations of the medical staff, and awkwardly walked through the ship to the hanger deck. He climbed into a one man utility flyer and powered it up. He didn't intend to run. He knew he would never get far. He just wanted to fly. He pulled the pod out of the hanger and used the maneuvering thrusters to put him into a parallel course with the Inquisitor's massive ship. He shut off the meager artificial gravity, cut power to the inertial dampeners and gyros and just drifted. It felt good to be in space again, back in the arms of his friend, his mistress, his mother. In the black, everything felt right. In the black nothing could reach him. In the black nothing could hurt him. In the black, he was safe. So what if my luck is finite? I lived today, I'll live tomorrow, and I'll stretch my luck as far as I can.

The importance of tech had never been hidden from Barbosa, even before he slipped into the folds of the mechanicus, he had grown up on a forge world, even if it was in the dregs underneath it. However the repair servitor who had shown (Willing or not) no fear in the face of great adversity and under no particular command been instrumental in the events of Hadronia. Barbosa had named it Leo after his long dead brother. Barbosa spent the next few days fully analyzing and repairing Leo capabilities. The name Leo had been burned into the breast chassis and the words Nullius in Verba across his back. ((Leo as an official subordinate)) Barbosa was due several upgrades, the world did not have a massive array of implants available, however Barbosa was able to source some essential parts to further his ascension through the machine cult, a MIU to directly interface with Leo, an Interface port to better commune with the machine spirits, and a Manipulator mechadendrite to augment his strength. ((Gained all of my req augmentations)) Aksai must of taken note of Mordicais ability to dodge in the fight against the demon as he requested his help in learning such combat manouvers. Mordicai took Aksai through his agility training, however it appeared that Aksai was more accustomed to it than himself, certainly he tried harder. ((Attempted in road to bro status with Aksai)) Once back on the Pillar of Penitence Mordicai set to improving his weaponry and combat effectiveness, while on Hadronia he had acquired several items to help him in this task. Slaving over his workbench in his quarters for weeks he eventually designed and created a weapon suite ideal for his style to mount on his left arm, it included a modified las pistol with laser sight and auto-loader, coupled with a modified chainsword, all grafted together on a forearm mount and linked to his MIU, allowing him to keep his hands free. ((Creation of the left Ark Jaws)) ((The Ark jaws: Mordicai using 2 forearm mounts, a modified las pistol and chainsword has created his own weapon mechanism perfectly suited to his needs, keeping his hands free. The las pistols grip, trigger guard and trigger are removed. The las pistol is then mounted on its side, the exhaust chamber is adjusted to allow for the excess heat to be expelled upwards and the charge pack entered from the outward facing side, a laser sight mounted on the top of the pistol increased its aiming function. Further up the bracing towards the elbow is an elaborate, home-made, custom auto-loader that holds 2 spare las pistol charge packs and is able unload the current pack and to load a fresh one on the command of the MIU. On The underside of the bracing a chainsword has been reduced in length and housed inside the bracing, with a command from his MIU Mordicai can extend/retract either of the weapons and also fire and eject the mag without any movement. Las Pistol clip is reduced to 20 and loses the reliable quality Chainsword loses its balanced quality))

Haunting of Hadronia - postscript Stronger. With a grimace Aksai kicked the training dummy in the yard of the Schola, sending another jolt of pain through his bruised legs. Stronger! He followed up with a swift punch onto the doll's head, sending it flying. "I must be stronger." He grunted, only pausing to wipe off the sweat from his eyes before moving onto a set of weights he had been training on. The heavy chains now almost constantly wrapped around his body clinked dully as he wrapped two of makeshift weights onto his shoulders and started doing squats. The strength of the possessed tech-priest still fresh in his memory, he trained his muscles so he would not lose to any monster of his ilk. (+5 Str) The few Progenii still allowed to wander the grounds of the Schola, either because they had been sheltered somewhere else or had been proven pure by tests were often challenged by the feral warrior, telling them to swing at him, to try and hit him. The confused Progenii often did, but he was getting better at anticipating the blow and avoiding it. (Dodge 1) What time he didn't spend training his body, Aksai spent in meditation, forcing himself to live through the memory of the spawned monstrosity that had so easily smashed his allies, forcing his mind to actively reject such a thing from his own world. Just a monster. Just a beast to be killed by the hunter. Hearing it scream as it was banished brought a feral grin onto the warrior's face. (Psychic Null) -- "You were weak." the big man proclaimed to the four confused cadets he had coaxed, intimidated and corralled to the training grounds "Fight." "Uhhh. Why?" one of them asked fearfully, but mostly in utter confusion. They had no idea what the man had brought them to the yard for, but they had heard of his actions during the happening. Plus, the guy felt wrong, somehow. Like if you looked at him, you couldn't really see *him* there, but like a cardboard cutout of him. Aksai snarled, and grabbed the young cadet by the front of his tunic, bringing his face mere inches from his own "To not think." the feral warrior then clipped the cadet's legs from under him, and threw him onto his back on the ground, punching all air out of the youngster. "Fight! And you stop thinking. Fight! And stop remembering!" Aksai proclaimed, staring down the cowering cadets "Make the body think! The head is stupid, full of think, but the body know!" The feral then stepped into the middle of the training circle, his bare feet thudding on the hard ground, and turned to face the cadets "Come! Show me that you not think! Come and show me you no coward!" The cadets were clearly in no hurry to do anything like that, looking at each other and possible routes of escape. It was starting to make Aksai angry. "You cheveks." Aksai rumbled out the word his teacher had often used, the acerbic tone unmistakable "You let monsters play you like ushehks, but do not want to prove courage? I spit you, you khekking zadniks!" The cadet on the ground had had enough. What had they done to earn this idiotic feral's lectures? Sure, there had been bad stuff happening in the Schola, but it was hardly their fault! With a yell, the cadet charged at the warrior, earning a fleeting grin and a spot on the ground where to lie unconscious for a few minutes. Seeing their friend fall was enough to goad the other three into action, bringing a vicious grin onto Aksai's face. Just like back in the good old days.

In the days that followed, much had been uncovered in the wake of the Sanguinala. While the festivities passed without further incident, the Schola Progenium was screened for purity and and heavily scrutinized by both the trained adepts under the auspices of Inquisitor Mengsk as well as those of the Ecclesiarchy under the High Banisher of Hecuba, Ars Lacuna. The insidious plans of the Cryptos had been thwarted, and while their nefarious purposes were not fully understood in their complexity it was deemed that they had managed to escape further retribution - for the time being. With their 'Oracle' bound to the human-host of Aeris Evangeline, now in custody of the Pillar of Penitence, the leverage the Inquisition held over the species could be used at a later time. As for the daemon, little was known how or when the entity had slipped into the novitiates body, forcing three minds to exist as one. The only evidence was the testimony of the xenos - who remained in comatose condition, and the scribblings found in the novitiates sanctum-penitentiary. The mad words written throughout her cell was nonsensical, repetitive, and incomprehensible. While recorded nonetheless, it held no clues for the Acolytes, and 'it is not the place of right-minded men to pay heedance to the mind of the insane' their Inquisitor would warn.

Weeks later, when the Pillar of Penitence was void-bound to the outer reaches of the Hadronia system in preparation to enter warp transit, a peculiar man draped in a blue cloak managed to work his way to the medicae facilities where Silas was being given extended treatment. He had required the implantation of a bionic kidney, flesh grafts, and arterial and tendon replacements. The man was fast asleep, aided by drug induced stupor. He stood looking at the man for a brief moment before he placed a dataslate at the desk beside his bed. Without a word, he passed into the din of the ship, unnoticed by the shipboard churirgeons and mendicant servitors. When he would awake, SIlas would find the Dataslate, primed with but one message stored in it's archive.... <a href="http://www.darkreign.org/sites/default/files/trans" rel="nofollow">http://www.darkreign.org/sites/default/files/trans</a>...

I thought I was done making stupid decisions. Silas lay in his cot, roused from sleep by pain. Instead I get up, walk the length of the ship and go for a joyride in a voidpod, stitches still fresh from surgery. And why hadn't they told me I have a frakking Mechanicus cobbled kidney? Gods of the Black! The thought of my life hinging on some Cogboy's handiwork. Frakker who built it probably didn't know which end of a screwdriver to use on the machine and which end to use on his girlfriend! With my luck the thing will fall apart or corrode or burst into flames or Stars know what the first time I get near a frakking magnet. As his internal tirade continued, Silas turned and saw the dataslate lying by his head....