WH40k: A Doctor visits

[Eternal_Freedom]

After finishing his report and replenishing his ammunition, Cromwell ventured back out into the ship, hunting down the metal warriors. They might have been devastating to the common crew, but to an Astartes they were merely irksome.

He had finished clearing one of the main corridors when he checked the tac-net and heard that the Astropath choir had gone silent, the bridge was largely unresponsive and the ship was still in the Warp. So he changed his plans, return tot he bridge, investigate the choir, and get the ship back into realspace as quickly as possible.

His planning was interrupted briefly as three metal warriors emerged from a side corridor with guns blazing. His instincts kicked in; without conscious thought his power axe flashed out and decapitated one enemy whilst his bolter came up in his off hand and fired just two armour-piercing rounds. They smashed through the metal warrior's chests and exploded, scattering shrapnel and fragments across the corridor.

The entire skirmish lasted four seconds and barely impeded Cromwell as he raced for the bridge.

[Elheru Aran]

Orcus looks down coldly at the Doctor and answers his query in flat tones, "You board our craft without permission. You then bring a new species of xeno invader through the Gellar field, in the midst of the immaterium, through metres of armour, onto this ship. And daemon activity becomes involved. I think it is you who needs to talk first, and considering neither you nor your mate are fully human, I am not required to display the courtesy I give humans. Whether you are xeno or mutant, I could terminate you here and now. That is my duty. I am granting you the opportunity to save your lives. Take it, quickly."

Before the Doctor can answer, turbolift doors nearby swish open and a rapid flutter of red and black robes comes down the corridor. Three tech-priests, Inquisition sigils among the numerous objects bedecking them, hasten between the Marine and the other two to descend upon the remains of the mechanical man-cum-daemon creatures, lingua technis clicking vociferously between them. Orcus grunts in irritation, reaches down and grabs one of them by his servo-arm-- a couple of servo-skulls back away hastily as they focus upon his presence-- and hauls the techpriest up bodily. He growls, "I thought I gave you orders to investigate the box on the bridge?"

The techpriest-- Adept Jarov, Orcus thinks, though he can hardly tell the three of them apart sometimes-- shrugs feebly and tries to contort his face into something resembling an appealing grin but fails miserably, not that Orcus cares. Then his ocular implants focus upon the Doctor and his mouth falls open in amazement, mirroring the Doctor's perplexed expression... Orcus is now extremely irritated and out of patience. He sets down the techpriest roughly and stands up, crossing his arms and bringing the grim stare of his helmet down upon the Doctor. He will have an answer from this xeno. One way or another.

[HMS Sophia]

The Doctor looks between Miranda and the large armoured man next to him, as if calculating. Then he slowly takes in the three red robed men.
"Daemon? Oh the cybermen! I didn't bring them with me. They followed, I suppose. I was busy getting the TARDIS to punch us out of one of their stupid containment fields they keep trying to trap me with and I'm assuming they followed our signals. Must have got scattered through your ship when we touched down. As for the tentacles..." He shrugs, and walks up to Orcus, pulling out the wand like object again "But how about you eh?" He switches into a false deep voice "Puny humans, tiny humans- but you are one, aren't you?" he shakes the wand and it begins buzzing finally "Sure, your genes have been massaged a little, you've got a few new organs... a trunkal exoskeleton... Well, maybe not so human after all. Sorry about that. And who are they?" he says, pointing at the tech priests "Engineers? This is all getting a little too religious for my comfort levels, I have to say. It's the robes..."

--------------------------------------------

On the bridge, the captain and the Interrogator are in the middle of a heated argument. The Captain is insistent they continue to their destination, that their mission is more important and that on-board soldiers can deal with any incursions on the way there. The Interrogator, of course, believes that stopping will halt the incursions. There doesn't seem to be an end to the argument in sight.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Captain Cromwell burst onto the bridge at a full run, startling most of those there. In the course of his run he'd had to engage a good dozen metal monsters and another daemon. As a result the adrenalin was flowing through his veins and he was not in a mood to argue with others.

"Captain! Drop this ship into realspace right now
!" This was bellowed whilst Cromwell continued running towards the rear of the bridge to investigate the astropath choir.

[Elheru Aran]

Orcus is past annoyance and descending rapidly into anger, but he manages to hold back the salty savour of blood for the moment and growls gutturally. He beckons the stormtroopers close and passes a series of rapid gestures through his hands. They nod, pull out bindings and pinion the xeno male and his companion, pulling the odd instrument from his hands and throwing it to Orcus.

The Marine snatches it out of the air and peers at it. It is nothing he can make sense of, and popping a compartment in his thigh-plate open, he slips the little thing in there before he turns around and strides down the corridor. A peremptory wave causes the stormtroopers to prod the two prisoners forward. Unbeknownst to them (although Orcus notices it floating in the edge of his peripheral vision) one of the techpriests' servo-skulls follows them.

They manage to make their way to the tertiary-class guest quarters, and when the prisoners make to enter Orcus' quarters after him, the stormtroopers bar the door. Orcus turns around and snaps, "Let them in! We'll lock them in for the moment. There's no point trying to get to the nearest brig deck right now."

As the two enter, he kneels before a long steel case that stretches across the room, heavily reinforced and utilitarian to the point of blandness. Pulling off his gauntlet to reveal a dark grey-skinned hand, he slips it into an opening in the side of the box. A moment later, it whirs and clicks, and he muscles open the heavy lid. A strange fetor with a tang of iron seeps into the room as he reaches into its depths, coming out with a massive axe and a rough but serviceable buckler-pattern storm shield.

He carefully lays the axe down upon its side as he disconnects charging leads from the storm shield and attachs it to his forearm, checking the charge as he goes and preparing the activation rite. The two prisoners get a good look at the axe as he does so. It is a clean weapon, obviously well maintained with a deep beard. The haft is wrapped in a dark grey skin, somewhat darker than Orcus' hand and rough-textured. It does not possess an ordinary cutting edge but clearly has some mechanism for rotating the chain links around the edge that bear large, off-white polished teeth. Literally-- they appear to be the teeth of some predator, nearly the size of a human hand.



Orcus finishes with his storm shield, closes the locker and turns to face the prisoners as he stands up, looming over them. He has about had it with these two and their lack of willingness to reveal anything actually useful. Previously his bulk and the sheer fact that he is a battle-brother of the Adeptus Astartes were generally enough to make even hardened heretics and obstreperous xenos start babbling. Well, perhaps not the Slaaneshi, and certainly not Orks-- there's always that guy.

He reaches up to the collar of his helmet and pauses a moment. He hasn't done this in... when was the last time? Three years, eight months, and four days. Well, no time like the present, and besides, his nose itched. He twists the helmet around, the collar clicks and disconnects with a gentle hiss, and he lifts it upward and off.

The xeno "Doctor" and the woman's eyes open in surprise (or shock? Fear?) at his appearance. Dark grey skin, short cropped stark white hair above a stubbly white beard, solid black lidless eyes flanking a flat, broad but short nose. A black tattoo swirls up the side of his neck and jaw. He speaks in a low rumble, "I am Orcus of the Deathwatch. I am Astartes. You will remain here, and when I return, we will discuss this further. You have the word of a Space Marine upon that."

A brusque gesture to the gawking stormtroopers later, he claps his helmet back on, picks up the axe and slides his gauntlet back on his hand as he strides out of his chambers.

His teeth had looked just like the ones on the axe.

[HMS Sophia]

The Doctor waits until the small bunk room is quiet before speaking again.
"Well... That was different... I'm saying that a lot today aren't I." He says. He doesn't even seem nervous at being captured.

--------------------------------------------

The door to the Astropathic Choir clanks open slowly, letting out a wave of stink as it does so. The air is thick with the sharp tang of iron, and the reason why becomes clear as the door finally slides fully open. The galleries are awash with blood, and it seems the entire choir has been slaughtered. The source of the butchery stands in the middle of the room, a trio of cybermen, arms with extra joints still inside their armoured carapace but ending in vicious claws instead of hands. As the space marine enters, the three turn as one, and intone "You will be eliminated."

---------------------------------------------

(Where is Orcus headed?)

[Eternal_Freedom]

Cromwell quickly analysed the situation: the dead choir meant there was no reason to stand his ground, the apparent close-combat weapons of the hostiles meant he could engage them at range while withdrawing, and that the most expedient method would be to use explosives.

This thought took about half a second to form. In another second, a krak grenade had flown across the room and affixed itself to the lead hostile's torso. Whilst the grenade was in flight, Cromwell's bolter came up, his thumb switched the fire selector to Vengeance rounds and a pair of the unstable yet potent bolts flew at the two flanking targets, penetrating deep into their heads before detonating. Two seconds later, the grenade timer expired and the central target simply exploded, the blast also scattering what remained of the two flankers and leaving a horrible smell of burned flesh in the room.

Cromwell stepped back out of the Astropath choir and sealed the door. He returned to the bridge, walked directly the the Captain (noticing that the strange blue box was still there) and began talking, heedless of the lesser oficers who were also speaking.

"Captain, the Astropath choir is dead. You must drop us to realspace in the nearest Imperial system so we may restore communications and report these occurrences."