NationStates Jolt Archive

Tyargos, Tyrao System, Kyshan Sub Sector
Date: 5007123M.43

"Stop!" Rula said. She looked at the figure, he was tall, bulky and wore a Robe of White and Green. At his waist Hung a sword Hilt, which was an art form, she looked back, the rest of her group stood with her. Twenty of them stood with rifles up.

The Figure had stopped, and he stood there. She spoke again. "Turn around" she said. The Figure ignored her, and its arms moved slighty. She swore. "Hands up and Turn AROUND!" She said, "Or I will shoot, get moving!" The reply. When it came, was chilling.

-No-

The figure pivotted, she didn't even have time to react before A Bolt of blue and a bullet both impacted into the two around her, Joyl melted, while Kiua's upper body vaporized. The Figure fired, again, this time the group had returned back, but it did nothing to the armour he wore. Shot after shot rung out, until only Rula Stood.

-Run-

And she did. She sprinted, fearing her life, fearing for her soul. The man stood almost Twenty meters away from them, yet he missed not once, surely there must be something about him. She gasped, feeling the bolt Penertrate her back a moment before it exploded, tearing a crater out of her Back, her last thoughts where wondering exactly what had happened...

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Cypher looked at the bodies around him, shrugging before moving on. He had left the town several hours ago, he knew the Inquisitor had seen him, so he had decided to leave, he considered how to get off the world, his ship was further away, and...

Crack

The Bolt Impacted on the tree next to him. He rolled, comming up to see the Bounty Hunter looking at him with a rifle held high. He rose the rifle again, ready to fire, but Cypher moved quickly, running forward as his pistols fired. He pitted the poor creature as the marines bullets impacted, killing him. But the Hunter had reminded Cypher of something...the shot was chest hight armour piecing, and a tranqulizer had been installed. Who ever controled these people wanted him alive. It was with this thought in mind he began to move off.

+-+-+

"The Hunter failed" the Inquisitor Said, looking at the man before him. "You said a Bounty Hunter would work!"

"Never said one would, you might have to make the search wider...get them all hooked in." the man said calmly. "Once you got the right amount they will come swarming...and you got yourself the man you want"

"Ah...Good" the man before him looked pained, before he collapsed, his heart forcibly stopped beating in his chest. "Your service to the Emperor will not be forgotten, pitty you choose not to heed his word...now...to attract a Swarm."

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+++Commit to: Intergaltic Communications/News+++
+++Crossfile to: Kyshan Sub-Sector+++
+++Xenos/text: Heretic+++
+++Input Date: 123.M43+++
+++Input Clearance: Inquisitor Malaki+++
+++Authors: Inquisitor Malaki+++
+++Thought for the Day: Blessed are the Ignorant+++

ATTENTION: BOUNTY HUNTERS!

The Imperium has recently discovered one of its own in the Kyshan Sub-Sector, on the world of Tyargos. This Individual is vital to us, our reasoning is our own. He could have moved offworld, however, the Price on his head, Alive, is almost 10,000,000,000 Standered Galatic Credits, while dead only 1,000,000. Ten Billion alive, One million Dead, please try and keep him alive for us.

Payment is delivered when he is presented to us, Not before, not after, I hope to see you soon.

Inquisitor Malaki Jarias

Taggies.

Vector shall ride again!

"Interesting; most interesting. Cypher; alive? After all this time? What news do you bring, servant?"

"My Lord; reports from the outer reaches, the Imperium itself asks for those willing to hunt him; to bring him to them. The False Emperor seeks the Fallen, but for what purpose we have as of yet been unable to assertain."

"I want a team formed; my finest called to arms. We shall leave at once"

"But my Lord-"

"Enough; I will not be stopped by idle words. Our Emperor demands we serve him truely and fully; we are all men of good fortune now; each free to serve the Imperium. The Empire will burn itself out, and we shall prevail; glorious against the abyss, against the ravages of time itself. Now; assemble my finest. We have work to do..."

"Aye, Lord Ezekial..."

The Emperor stared down from his throne upon the three automatons who stood before him. Droids might not be the best option, but generally they were more capable in hunts than the standard human. Tireless, determined, and unwavering, the droid didn't have to think of other things.

"You know what your duty to the Empire is?" the Emperor inquired of the three bronze droid units.
"Yes, master...we assure you that we shall get the organic alive."
"This is critical that you get him alive. The money on the line could be a big boost to the government."
"You have our word, master. The organic shall not escape our grasp."
"Than be gone, and find him."
"Yes master."

The three bronze droids left the Imperial council room quietly, the best assassin droid of the Dominion. Now they were off to hunt.

Reality Tore and broke around the craft, as the Strike Cruiser Exited from the Warp, back into Reality. It struck outwards, entering the small fleet of ships that had been massed around this world. The Stike Crusier was a varient in Design, a Grey Knights Crusier of the Ordo Malleus, rather then the ships surrounding them which held the seal of the Ordo Hereticus.

On the Command Deck of the Craft, Inquisitor Sophia stood. Tall and lithe, she wore Grey Armour upon her body. Her eyes, they looked vacently outwards, before she finds the mind of Malaki.

-Fool- her mental projection said, harshly. -Your Mistake means that Chronosia is likely to hear of this, now you require me to waste my time here.-

=Hello Dear,= the reply came, softly. =Yes Lady Grey Knight...I know of that. But this will mean less stress on our own movments, plus it will take the Chronosians time to get here, time we can find him in.=

-Very well...but if we fail his capture, you shall be the one to suffer-

=Yes Sophia, I know=.

The ship put itself into the planets orbit, now, they waited for their Hunters arrival.

The brawl had been going for about twenty minutes now, and still showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Vector stood in a corner, pleased with the unexpected ferocity of the brawl that he had started with a seemingly innocently placed foot in the path of a stumbling drunkard, leading to an impromptu meeting between the drunkard, a local pirate captain, his drink, and the drunkard's vomit.

Thinking back on it, Vector admitted that it was a suitable start. However, he could not afford to gaze upon his handiwork, he was too busy paying attention to the people who weren't participating.

Namely the well-dressed fellow at the far end of the bar, with three similarly well dressed and also well armed bodyguards. The brawlers meleeing in the bar had thus far completely avoided them, so it only stood to reason that they were rather heartily feared in the general area.

"Master," piped in a small voice that seemingly drifted directly into his head. "Shall I get the ship ready? Authorities are en route to your location."

"Yeh, rev that sucker up. And get the brig prepped. I'll be heavy one when I get there."

"Yes master."

Without further fanfare, Vector waded into the melee, dodging kicks and ducking punches with ease despite his large frame, until he arrived at a spot where a good entrance would be made, and punched a nearby brawler in the face. It was a weak punch, only dazing the scruffy smuggler slightly. The man recovered and smacked Vector with a haymaker that would likely have sent ogres flying, but Vector anticipated the attack and rather convincingly threw himself backwards, making it look as if the man had hit him full on.

He landed directly on his targets table. They were startled. They were also somewhat surprised when two extra arms surged out from under his poncho, grabbed the lot of them by their necks, and introduced their foreheads to each other at high velocity. He tossed the three bodyguards into the chaotic melee, tucked his presently unconscious charge under his upper right arm, and surreptitiously charged from the fighting.

As the local authorities roared by, one looked at him speculatively.

Vector grinned slightly. "Poor bastard caught a chair with his face. Bringin' 'im back to the ship so I can have the infirmary look at 'im."

More important things to worry about than conked out boozers, the security guard accompanied his cohorts into the bar without a second thought.

Vector grinned and kept walking.

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

"Another five mill in the ol' coffers," Vector said with a sigh, sitting down in the captain's chair of the Sirocco, as its registration had named it for the month. The red, angular face of one of the multiple disturbingly agile droids turned in response to his comment.

"Indeed master, I believe that I shall expand my numerical presence again with my share."

"An army of one, that's you fer sure."

"Indeed, though I do not desire to perform such upgrades out of simple whimsy, master. There is a mission that I believe you will be interested in, and like all high-paying jobs I suspect it will require my occasional death."

Vector perked up at the words 'high-paying' and called up the communique.

"Ten bill alive, eh? Makes it harder, but I've done it before. It'll be just like third grade! Only... less explosions. Yargh, plot a course. We ride!"

Marlin tapped away at the virtual controls of the Dirty Girl, scanning the comms for a job. He sighed. Nothing interesting at all since the Heinrich gig. Wonder how that turned out?

Clicking through the spam and general idiocy of the Network, Jake's intuition caught something, a single word, blazing like a headlight to his gland-enhanced senses:

WANTED.

Oh hell yes. Been too goddamn long since my last gig like this, and the Boss has been a bit lax with the checkies lately... What the hell, may as well go for it. After all, what are the chances that Zeeky will show at a gig like this?

Stretching, Marlin brought up a vid-window to the ship's sepulchre.

"Oy, David, you awake? Altair, I'm talking to you..."

With a groan, the rather hung over face of the Dirty Girl's resident Necroscope swung into view.

"Jeey-ZUS! Could you talk any louder? My head is killing me, and between you and the Great Majority, it's getting hard to get some much-needed sleep around here."

"Might want to lay off the bottle a bit, we've got a gig. You might like it, the Imperium is throwing money at us."

"Chronosians?"

"Nah, the Old Ones. Looks like they want us to track down a Renegade."

"You know Zeeky will get pissed at you if he finds out you're freelancing."

"C'mon, Davey, what are the chances that we'll run into a Chronosian High Inquisitor on this sort of gig? We'll be fine, trust me! So, when do we get to the coordinates? They've been sitting on the screen for the last few seconds."

"You didn't notice? We're already there."

SHIT!

Marlin swirled around in his chair, frantically dialing up the viewscreen and comms. A full armada of the Imperium's gargantuan vessels flooded the viewscreen, bearing the brilliant colors and emblems of the Inquisition.

All with their flak trained squarely on the Dirty Girl.

The Inquisitor looked at the ship, studying it, before her words spoke.

"Its one of Malaki's toys," she said, sighing. "tell it to dock with one of the Cruisers, we will send him down on a Thunderhawk with the Rest of them when they arrive." she sighed, turning to the Grey Knight beside her. "Let the crew know, it one of them is a Xeno, leave him be, if he fails to catch the man, we will loose him." she gritted her teeth. "If a Xeno Catchs him...the least we can do is let them leave alive..."

+++Vox Transmission+++

To the Unidentified Ship,

If you are one of our bounty hunters, you are hereby given the warning to start moving towards the Cruiser Imperial Retribution, if you do not send a reply transmission as well as begin moving in this direction within the next 30 Seconds you will be fired upon.

Another Note, you will not have the use of your ship in this endevor. We have gone to great lengths to remove our Prey's Ability to get off the Planet, so we will not have him with the ability to get off, you will dock with our carrier and be transported by our craft.

Inquisitor Sophia.

((I would be insanely impressed if someone managed to bring in Cypher from the 40k universe... If that is even possible. It is almost a god mode to bring in someone like him.))

"Crap-dammit crappity crap crap! Davie, which one is the Imperial Retribution?! Feth feth FETH!"

Queuing up a secretion from his gland, his senses hurled into overdrive. He could feel the emotions of the people in all the ships, feel their histories. A flurry of images assaulted his senses, ships being constructed, the thousands that died in their building, in their launch, their christening, their cre-

The christenings!

Steering the psychometric vision, he concentrated on the names of the ships. There.

Flipping virtual switches, Marlin brushed a bead of sweat off his forehead. The hangover from his gland was already kicking in, and it would be a doozy. Steering the Dirty Girl towards the Imperial Retribution, he noted the window to David was still up, and the Necroscope was chuckling softly.

"What's so funny? I nearly gave myself an aneurism trying to save our asses, and you're down there in hysterics?"

The hung over Psyker's grin widened.

"That's just it. You busted your own balls trying to find out where to go. Did you ever think of asking for directions?

Face red, Marlin flipped off the feed to the ex-Guilder and flipped on the vox system.

"Imperial Retribution, this is Dirty Girl. We're here for the bounty, and are requesting clearance to dock."

"Clearance granted, erm... Dirty Girl, you may dock at will... Is someone laughing in there?"

His face beet red, Marlin slammed the vox feed off, the echoes of the Necroscope's laughter spreading throughout the ship.

A shadow darted across the stars. While not in itself worthy of notice at first glance, a slight amount of knowledge would reveal that this shadow was very important indeed. "Computer? Deactivate phase-shield and take us in." A shimmer of energy, and then a long daggerlike ship appeared.

The pilot considered the transmission. One of his fellow rogues, a certain Captain Kazonov, had provided him with it. 'Imperium of Man.' He had heard of this organisation in the past, thought it had never been a major focus of his studies. He pressed his hand on one of the control panels and the screen that indicated he was online appeared.

'Attention, Imperial'

He paused. He hated that word. While he knew that this Imperium was a far cry from the Divine Imperium, he also knew that by all accounts it was worse. Still, best to be polite. It would help him in his long-term goals, after all...

'Attention Imperial Vessel. I desire to board and make contact on the matter of your missing citizen. You may refer to me as Talon.'

Vox Transmission

Attention 'Talon'. By the Grace of the Emperor, you are cleared to dock upon the Imperial Retribution.

'Faith and Duty, Imperial. May the Blessing of the Light Guide You and Keep You.'

Talon (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/Roania/Talon.jpg) kicked his ship into its docking manouvers. Once connection was made, he freed himself from his harness. The door opened and he stepped down the ramp into the Imperial Retribution. 'I have to say, they can make a serviceable ship.'

The hanger they moved into was larger then would be standered on this design. It allowed those of the Adepta Sororitas' thunderhawks to dock, to allow troops on the ship to move from their craft to the planet below.

But now, they where being used to house the Bounty Hunters craft. The Sororitas stood, ready to meet those who came, Wearing White and Red Power Armour. In their Hands they held Bolters, and looked at those who entered the room through their eyes.

"If would follow these here" he said, pointing towards Servitors who stood there. "THey shal lead you to where you need to where you need to go."

The abyss seemed to quiver, the stars themselves shaking in the disrupted tapestry of existence, the shuddering fabric of space tearing, rending itself asunder as the mighty prows of the vessels of Chaos began to emerge; their weapons howling to life as soon as they appeared. Mighty battlecruisers pitted their weapons against the blasphemous venerations of the Emperor; missles and torpedoes rained into the midst of the enemy, as assault pods screamed amongst them; packed full of hungering Chaos Space Marines...

It had begun.

Fire rained across the heavens, the cleansing flame of the warp sent forth against the hated blood-enemy; the kin who worshipped still the False Emperor. The legions of Chronosia raged as though they were the outcast and betrayed Legions of Horus themselves; perhaps they were greater; stronger; a dark and more terrible army come to take its revenge upon their mortal foes.

"ONWARDS BROTHERS! BLOOD AND SKULLS FOR KHORNE!" The mighty blond figure of Cabot towered over his men, cackling with a sadistic glee before he turned to Ezekial. "Ready yourself, Inquisitor; you, your team, and my men will be deployed presently. I trust all arrangements are in order."

"Aye, exalted Primarch. Soon; soon what we seek will be in our grasp. Simply make sure these Imperial fools do not interfere too much."

"You have my word...We shall make them bleed as though they opposed fabled Angron himself!"

'Typical.' Talon growled wordlessly, his eyes glowing blue. As a hit rocked the ship, he remained perfectly steady and kept striding forward. Then he reached the servitor, and paused. All his training told him to smash the foul thing, but instead he gave it a mocking salute. "Lead on, good skull."

The Servitor led him onwards, mindlessly knowing only what its destination was. It drove mindlessly on wheels, taking Talon to the Inquisitor. As he entered, the Inqusitor had a far away look. His mind fizzeled with Psychic energy, as he finished speaking with Sophia, as Talon entered the room, he snapped out of it.

"Hello," he said, sighing. "We have a slight situation, please, sit, I shall tell you of your mission soon, but at present, several of my plans exist."

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One of the Craft Buckled under the assult, Ice forms blasting out into space along side bodies, forms floating into the void. The Ships returned fire, against the Traitors who had betrayed with Horus Mellenia ago.

But the Ships survived, and their return fire was a brillient slavo, Torpedos and Lance Batteries tore through space. But one of the Ships stood alone, Combat not a priority. As Boarding pods ripped through space, this ship stood alone.

Sophia looked at the ships before her, looking at it on a two plane scale, both Through the Warp and at the material plane, she was looking for what they would unleash.

"Their planning something...I know it" she said...looking down. "Watch them."

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And Below, the Form hid, deep in shadows, he was hidden, he knew they where growing...more where comming for him, but he stood.

Soon they would come down for him. Soon...

Shooting in-system came the cloaked freighter that the three assassin droids were using, merely for transportation, carrying every supply they would need to hunt this prey to exhaustion. Decloaking, the ship materialized in a sheet of grey hull, engines burning blue against the black backdrop of space.

The first droid stepped up to the comm in the main bridge and hailed the Imperial Retribution.

"Attention, Imperial starcraft, we're looking for a bounty. Show us the right way to go. This is the combatant, requesting boarding."

The ship was sent the same message as everyone else, but given a small warning not to get itself destroyed by the Chronosian attack. Once they arrived a Servitor would take them to the Inquisitor.

[OOC: A Bump, Come on Chron/Otagia]

The droid ship passed smoothly into a small hanger of the Imperial Retribution. Docking hatch open, the three droids exited the ship once atmosphere was set, leaving their external guns on board their ship.

Vector's ship, the Sirocco (until next week, at least), materialized some distance from the battle and complied with all the formalities, if somewhat hastily and with evasive maneuvers. After the rather uniquely designed ship had settled into the Imperial Retribution's docking bay, Vector and no less than four Yarghs tromped out. Vector had in each visible hand a suitcase that seemed to bulge in the middle slightly.

They allowed the servitor to escort them to wherever the hell it was they were supposed to be going.

Ships broke and bent under the onslaught of the enemy; keeping up their own withering volleys of fire; pounding against their foe with Chaotic zeal. For a moment it seemed as though the entire galaxy burned and split like the very throes of the Heresy reborn. The void sundered and shattered under the constant ministrations of glorious Chaos.

"We are ready" Ezekial hissed softly; his team assembled in the vast chamber, flanked by three full squads of Marines. As the bombardment continued, they flickered, crackling in a wave of Warp Fire as they were torn from existence, only to rematerialise elsewhere. This was accompanied by a wave of assault Pods hurtling earthwards; hopefully unnoticed amongst the fire and conflagration of the orbital war that had erupted.

The ships engaged, and slid forth into the warp; retreating; their work was done...It was down to Ezekial and his men now...

"Where did they go?" one of the crew said. The Bridge became silent...everyone was waiting for something...for them to come back. But nothing would happen, the crew where shaken, one ship down and another damaged, the people wondered what was happening. Malaki felt around, looking for the enemy he knew was out there.

Sophia however, was already moving.

-Malaki...brief those bloody hunters of your and get them DOWN there. Tell them there is a high probability of Chronosian Involvement.-

It was once she sent that she instantly began to ready her Knights. The Fighters on this craft where ready...now they just needed to know where to go.

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Malaki came out of his trance, looking at the people surrounding him. He nodded, standing as in the middle of the room, a Holo-Plate came up, showing the Power Armoured figure, robed in white.

"Greetings. Your here, from across many worlds, to assist the Imperium. For this...I thank you" he smiled, and gestured towards the Holo-Plate. "Our Most Holy Emperor has decided that the Character known as Cypher must be caught, alive, and presented before The Emperor, alive." he looked at the faces around him. "This is the Target, he is known to be armed, two pistols. He is known..." a target came up, a small continent, part of the continent turned red. "To be in this area, as he is traveling on foot and was last seen here..." A spot came up on the map, from the point, roughly 100kilometers extended. "16 Hours ago. This will be your deployment for now, the search shall widen as time moves on. The only other point is we suspect Chronosian troops may or may not be on the planet, these are our enemies, you are not to bargin with them, at all." He nodded. "Emperor Guide you...and now get to it."

"Roger that, messiur Inquisitor. Want any souveniers?"

Dodging the daggerlike glare, Marlin nodded at his pet necroscope.

"Well, might as well get a move on. Got the coordinates?"

The necroscope smiled and nodded, still giggling slightly.

"Good. Well then, all the rest of you, see you on the surface."

And with that, the pair was gone.

One incredibly brief and equally massive head-ache later, Marlin was standing on the planet's surface, alone. Tapping his foot, he looked at his watch.

"Three... two... one...... zero....... negative one?"

With a slight pop from the rapidly displaced air, a rather heavily armed hover truck sprang into existance, David sitting in the drivers seat. Jake rolled his eyes, and jumped into the turret mounted in the bed. Leaning forward, he opened the window to the cab, and stuck his head in.

"What took you so long?"

"One question. Do we have permittion to engage any and all Chronosians on sight?" the third droid of the three asked inquisitively. The other two were already on the way back to the ship to retrieve supplies.

Vector nodded slightly at the end of the briefing.

"Snag the man, Frag the Chrons, Slag anything else that gets in the way. Ten four good buddy, now get me down there."

He looked at the driod and nodded. "You have permission, and are requested when you think it possible to Remove Chronosian's, do so." He nodded. "The ships are ready, you may command them at your will."

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They where here.

He could feel the ground tremble, the world above lit up with the flashes of battle, and he saw streeks in the sky he saw the Drop Pods entering the Atmosphere and then their landing. They where close. He felt the treds, a machine was near, maybe a kilometer. He knew they would find him eventually. He smiled, cocking his pistols, and then he felt the Hilt of the sword...

-Not Yet-

He thought this to himself, no, not yet, soon, once the Sign was given. He didn't know what the sign was...but he knew he had to wait. The Blade was only to be used then. Not before. There was one other thing he knew as well.

There would be no escape this time, his protection wanted him to be tested...he would die...or he would live.

The three droids stepped out of the drop pod bringing them here. Each one was fundamentaly different.
The leader, HA-20, was deep brown in color and wielded a large, brutish gun with three barrels. A flamethrower was built into his wrist, a laser-defelctor in his left palm. In his right shoulder was a flechette launcher, and in his hips, a poison-dart thrower. Finally, his left arm was fined down on the edge into a deadly, simple metal blade.
HA-21 stood to his left. Painted a dark gray, with streaks of light gray blotches, HA-21 seemed relativiey lightly armed...on the outside. Externally, HA-21 was only armed with a single static energy repeating rifle. But built into his body, concealed, were a host of other deadly weapons. Carrying the same laser deflector as HA-20, 21 also had a plasma cutter in his right fingers. His right lower arm concealed a carbonite freezing sprayer to incapacitate targets. A neuronic cannon was mounted in his right arm. In 21's hips were four plasma needler throwers, armed with a horde of micro-needles designed to shred flesh. He carried a retractable energy blade in his lower right wrist. As a final gift, 21 contained a spray-net cannon to successfully capture targets and confine them in a shocking net.
HA-22 stood to 20's right. Painted a deep brown with bits of black and green intermixed, 22 was outwordly armed like a gladiator. One arm single-handedly carried a moddifyable DC-22 rifle equipped to exchange into a sniping configuration. In the left arm was a savage, long blade with an energy matrix affixed to the hilt. A grenade launcher with several canister grenades was constructed into the right shoulder, while the left shoulder concealed a poison gas canister launcher. Notably visible on 22's hips were a repeating laser gun on each side. Two plasma bullet cannons were deployed on either side of the chest.
HA-20 looked out on the landscape in front of him, scanning and scoping in on different features to get a better read on what would be ahead. After a few seconds of observation, he turned to the other two droids.

"After observation, the terrain does not likely pose significant threat to the extermination of the organic."

Not me he thought, lookng down at the three droids. He smiled...his power armour, plus the Terrain, worked sufficiently to keep him hidden. Mostly. Any scanning the driods did would pick him up, but general visuals wouldn't.

Nott hat it mattered, since in an instant, he jumped and fired both Pistols at the HA-20. A Blast of Plasma and a single Bolt-Pistol round. They headed on a corse that would lead them right into the machines chest.

As soon as the shots where fired, Cypher was moving, running with incredible speed, sprinting away from the driods.