40K Dark Heresy: The Danse Macabre

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-02-14 06:54pm

The violent shaking tore through the landing craft for several minutes before the ride approached some semblance of stability. Captain Greis just smiled and settled into his seat, not showing any response to the quips of the Acolytes before him.

Before too long, the pilots gave notice of their final approach to the port's military zone. The landing was remarkably smooth compared to the rest of the trip and Greis grunted in satisfaction as he unbuckled himself. He motioned to the others to get up as he pressed the button to open the loading ramp. As he did, a blazing light bored into the cabin, blinding any not prepared for it. A wind tore through shortly after, its howling leading to a dull roar that would mute any but the loudest conversation. Greis's former severe look had returned as he looked out onto the top of the Hive and the group that was already there to welcome them.

He strode out of the landing craft with his head held high as he saluted the assembled men standing around the landing craft. "Lieutenant, I was told Colonel Harkin was to meet me upon my arrival!"

The Lieutenant returned the salute sharply. "Sorry sir! The Colonel had an urgent matter come up at the last moment. He sends his apologies and hopes you'll forgive him at dinner tonight. He says he's very interested in hearing about your campaigns against the Eldar, sir!" Greis frowned at the mention of the aliens, but let it go no further.

"Very well. Let's not waste any more time up here, Lieutenant, I'm eager to eat as much of your Colonel's private stock before I head back to the front."

The Lieutenant nodded and motioned to the set of Chimeras not far from the pad. Greis got into one and let the others pile in. Two other chimeras took up positions in front and behind, and before long, the convoy had reached their destination. Without waiting for his entourage, Captain Greis muscled his way out of the cramped troop transport. The light this time was muted from before, still brilliant, but not the raging incandescance of a star. No winds tore through the area, at best, it was a mild breeze. The Captain stood at attention upon exiting the Chimera. "Colonel Harkin, sir!"

The Colonel, dressed in a much finer dress uniform than Greis, gave a lazy salute. "At ease, Captain. You're here at my request, so I can learn from you."

"Of course sir, thank you."

"Think nothing of it. Now then, who are these? Your men?"

"Sir, yes and no. My Commander is from Lacusta. During the campaign, he and I shared many things, and this is a gift from him, a sort of Honor Guard to protect me while I am away. It was a direct order that I take them with me wherever I go, and I obey my orders," He looked back at them with a slight bit of annoyance. "Still, they needn't be privy to every thing I do here. Once I touch down I find some place for them to sleep and try to forget that they're with me every minute of the day in space. I need my distance from them, I'm sure you can understand."

Colonel Harkin laughed confidentially, "Of course. I'll set aside a barrack for them," He motioned the Lieutenant over and whispered a few things in his ear before continuing the conversation with Greis. "Now then, let's talk, shall we?"

"Of course," He waved dismissively at the acolytes as the Lieutenant came up to them. "So I notice you've still got the multilaser turrets on your Chimeras. Are you having trouble finding a good supply of bolter ammunition?"

The conversation trailed off as the two officers walked further into the base. The Lieutenant shook his head and motioned to the acolytes. "Right then, there's an empty barracks this way. It's not in the best condition, but it should do. Feel free to leave the base, but I wouldn't go too far. The hive can be nasty to outsiders, and the Adeptus Arbites don't get along with our unit that well."

The barracks was in poor condition, but at least it had mattresses and blankets. A map of the base was hung from a wall, including the building's current location in it, though it was beginning to peel from age. The Lieutenant nodded to the group and turned to leave. "If you have any questions or need anything, just ask me and I'll see what I can do."

RIPP_n_WIPE · Post by **RIPP_n_WIPE** » 2008-02-14 07:01pm

Octavius chuckled inwardly at the lieutenants last statement. Of course consecrated servants of the Emperors Will would not wish to mingle with frak grunts.

"I do beg to ask though. As an Arbites, where is the location of the nearest Precinct?"

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-02-14 07:28pm

Verum shakes his head at the last and looks at his surroundings. Picking the cleanest looking bunk he tosses his sleeping gear on it and asks the Lieutenant, "Anywhere in specific we should avoid? And out of curiosity, have you ever heard the name Sylvanus before?"

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-02-14 07:33pm

Urge to kill... rising

Quickly quashing the urge to strangle Verum for being an idiot, Quintos instead tries to cover up the stupidity by asking, "Is that that bar thing you were talking about on the ship?"

Hopefully the moron will be smart enough to play along

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2008-02-14 07:36pm

Xerxes staked a claim on one of the bunks close to the entrance, mentally cursing the pale Hiver for blurting that out so carelessly, though he was careful not to let any reaction play on his face. He pretended to ignore the question entirely, and instead went over to the worn map to get an idea of the base's layout.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2008-02-14 07:39pm

Zakary likewise finds a bunk, stashing his meager possessions atop the mattress. He watches the others with a growing frown and looks for his volunteered escort from earlier.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-02-14 07:43pm

Verum sees the others reactions and attempts to surpress a grin, watching the Guard officer's reaction to the name.

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-02-14 07:47pm

"Is that that bar thing you were talking about on the ship?" Quintos said.

Yelizaveta half-turned to the bounty hunter Verum. "I told you before, I don't care if you have the Emperor's Own Penis, you can't buy me a drink. Leave it, pigfucker."

That ought to solve that, until a few of us can thrash the stupid out of him.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-02-14 07:57pm

Feil wrote:"Is that that bar thing you were talking about on the ship?" Quintos said.

Yelizaveta half-turned to the bounty hunter Verum. "I told you before, I don't care if you have the Emperor's Own Penis, you can't buy me a drink. Leave it, pigfucker."

That ought to solve that, until a few of us can thrash the stupid out of him.

"No, I said I wanted to find a bar. I was told by my parents that if I were ever on this planet I should look up a fellow by the name of Sylvanus to try to establish contact for a business opportunity."

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-02-14 07:58pm

The Lieutenant paused, whispering a short prayer to the Emperor. Those with especially fine hearing might hear a few words about patience. "The Adeptus Arbites have a precinct not far from here. I'm sure once you leave the base you'll be able to find your brethren there. Odd, though, that an Arbitrator would travel with a Captain of the Imperial Guard. As far as Sylvanus, can't say I've heard of a bar named that, but Emperor knows what you'll find in the Underhive," He turned to Verum, his eyes belying very little humor in the man at all. "I would ask, however, that you not use this excursion to our fair hive as an excuse to let your frailties get the better of you while your superior is not watching. I would hate to have to inform Captain Greis that his honor guard was found in pieces because they wandered into the underhive drunk," he spun to Yelizaveta and scowled, his hand on his pistol. "And honor guard or not, you will keep blasphemes from your lips here, especially in my presence. Your Captain may not care of your tongue, but I will kill you if you speak such filth again! Do you understand me?"

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2008-02-14 08:03pm

Zakary shuts his eyes and recites a mantra under his breath, praying to the Emperor the situation doesn't explode around him. Cursing human stupidity in general, he turns to his equipment and very pointedly sets about appearing to organize what little of it there is.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-02-14 08:04pm

Damn, Verum has no subtlety to him at all.

Lazarus engaged the Lt. in conversation in an attempt to distract him with the sorts of questions grunts would ask. In fact Lazarus was curious about the questions he was asking.

"Sir, what are our acomodations for food, ammunition, time on the range and other such matters?"

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-02-14 08:05pm

"My sincere apologies, sir. It will not happen again."

Well, that was a stronger reaction than I was hoping for. At least it seemed to work.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-02-14 08:07pm

Brother-Captain Gaius wrote:Zakary shuts his eyes and recites a mantra under his breath, praying to the Emperor the situation doesn't explode around him. Cursing human stupidity in general, he turns to his equipment and very pointedly sets about appearing to organize what little of it there is.

"Scribe Knapping, you wished to find the local Administratum office didn't you? And Preacher, you wished to find a new flock to minister to? I'm headed off base for a bit, and I could use some company and you could use an escort. Lady Camillia? Care to join me for that drink? Anyone else?"

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-02-14 08:08pm

Thank the Emperor for grunts...

Giving Lazarus a thankful look, Quintos then glares at Verum with a "We'll talk later" look, trying to make it look like he was annoyed with him for other reasons than mentioning Sylvanus.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-02-14 08:09pm

The Lieutenant glared at Liza and relaxed his stance slightly. "See that it doesn't. Food can be found at the mess hall, you'll have to talk to the Quartermaster about ammunition, though I doubt he has much to spare at the moment. As to the rest, you can find out on your own. I have other matters to attend to." With that, the Lieutenant turned on his heel and marched out of the barracks quickly, a scowl attached to his face.

RIPP_n_WIPE · Post by **RIPP_n_WIPE** » 2008-02-14 08:13pm

"Thank you Lieutenant. I will head to the Precincts immediately. I would like to know more about this world from those who enforce His Law."

Turning to Officer Gelt Octavius said quickly. "I am going to the precinct now. If the lieutenants words are true it should not be hard to find. I suggest sir, that you do the same. Hopefully they will not be too unkind in assisting us. I do think we should approach separately so as not to arouse suspicion of two arbites from two unknown precincts arriving at the same time."

With that he left the barracks hoping to learn more about this new hive.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-02-14 08:17pm

Seeing the Lieutenant leave Verum's smile breaks and he fixes the group with a cold stare. "Do NOT do that again. I know I was being unsubtle, I was doing it on purpose. First off I was watching for a reaction, second I WANT the attention. If you had waited, I was going to bring up the bit about my parents business regardless. If our target knows I'm looking for him, he's going to send someone to see why. You talk of information brokers, going to them is going to be passing the information in both directions, and instead of a single man, who may even be friendly if he thinks there's a chance for some profit, it will be an ambush." Verum sighs, muttering about fools, and continues, "Look, I know how to find people, it's something I've been doing for years. The best way to find someone is to make them come to you, in a place of your choosing, and in such a manner that they do not feel threatened, otherwise we will run into a lot of trouble," the smile slowly coming back to his face Verum turned to Camillia, "now shall we go Lady?"

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2008-02-14 08:18pm

Zakary lets out a breath, relieved the situation seems to have defused. He fixes Verum with a quizzical frown.

"Ahem, well, with respect sir. After that display I'm not entirely sure I want to associate myself with you. To be perfectly frank, ahem, yes."

The scholar then nods and turns to Lazarus. "You, however, seem to be of excellent caliber and clearly have your wits about you. There is no sense in delaying further, shall we attempt to locate what information we can regarding, ahem, the local sports data? Being cooped up in this barracks would be terribly dull and I like to see who the top local players are. Bit of a hobby of mine, you see."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-02-14 08:22pm

"Look. Let's try not to say what the fuck we are doing when strange officers are in the same room, alright? We are probably well on the way towards having a rep as blasphemous drunkards as it is."

That stuck up arbite left already? Throne! So much for any fucking coordination. We don't have voxes or even a meeting schedule yet.

"We are proably all eager to do something now that we're of the ship, but lets get a schedule together first."

Lowering his voice, Lazarus continued,
"We may also want to discuss such matters outside, as I would apreciate some fresh air."

Fuck knows if this place is bugged. Wouldn't put it past a Commisar to listen in to everyones conversations.

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-02-14 08:23pm

Yelizaveta waited until the Lieutenant had left before she moved, already regretting having spoken. It probably hadn't worked anyway, and she had blasphemed, and she had made an enemy. She picked an empty bunk and laid her autogun on it carefully, refusing to let herself take out her anger on the guiltless machine. When it spoke, its only words were holy rage.

There was a knife in her sleeve. She could make amends that way. A little pain to win purity back...

She drove away the thought, made the sign of the aquila, and knelt, whispering the litany of field-stripping as she disassembled the weapon, checking every piece for damage incurred during the rattling landing.

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2008-02-14 08:26pm

Zakary nods to Lazarus. "Ah, you're probably right, friend. A proper schedule and a little planning would do us good. I, too, could use some fresh air though. Recirculated air always has this terrible tang to it..."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-02-14 08:30pm

Now outside, Lazarus continued once a few more people had gathered around.
"I wouldn't trust anyone at this base. We don' know anything about them, or how they operate. The rooms might also have ears"

Not that I know anything about all of you, but that is not the damn point.

"Basically I think all we need is some sort of check in system so we know if somebody goes missing and we can share information. If the Quartermaster is kind we might even be able to get a vox or two, and perhaps some ammo as well."

Doubt it though. They don't give up anything.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2008-02-14 08:32pm

Once he had settled himself in, Nixios turned to address the guardsmen. "I am going to see their Quartermaster. One of you should accompany me, as I am not experienced at dealing with his ilk, nor the sort of equipment we may find necessary."

Brother-Captain Gaius · Post by **Brother-Captain Gaius** » 2008-02-14 08:33pm

Following Lazarus, Zakary quickly nods his agreement. "I quite agree. A suspicious mind is a healthy mind, after all."

He then taps the micro-bead vox affixed to his neck, looking a little smug. "Don't tell me I'm the only one who's come prepared?"