Distopus: 2nd INQ28 Inqvitational The Requiem of Inquisitrix Madine

A catalyst

Autarchical and often fractious, Ordos of the Dalthan Conclave are not well known for their harmonious assemblage. It requires a great deal of charisma and power to influence so many respected Inquisitor/Inqusistrix to pay fealty at the requiem of the former Helios Cabal leader, Madine. Not many within the Dhaltan sub hold such command.

Inquisitor Guidonis is one such individual. A long and glittering career behind him, Guidonis now officially retired to the chapel planetoid Ecclissia where he writes his Magnum Opus , Practica Inquisitionis Haereticae.

The Bythonian Synod asked Guidonis to witness the Succession, acting to serve the Ecclesiarchy's interests insofar as possible. After Madines death , the synod arranged a reliquary shrine in the halls of Brythonis . The devout Guidonis making all necessary arrangements for transportation.

Whilst many Inquisitors despised Madine personally, and many more apathetic towards her political aims ( Including Guidonis ). Refusing a personal invite from the revered Inquisitor, to the requiem was tantamount to Heresy . As such it came as little surprise that so many representatives from the Ordo's diligently arrived on board Admirals Faust's Cruiser before it departed from Dhaltus Prime.

Admiral Faust is a stringent man .. a man who knows procedure .. a survivor of countless Naval confrontations ..His tactical nounce is as ingrained as a servitors binary code. On occasion and when necessary, it is said of his Captain's that he can interpret a lingua technis combat analysis Vox, quicker than a techpriest.

Which would explain how he ordered his ship “Abaft the beam “ whilst still in the immaterium , seconds before pair of boarding torpedoes hit his flank .

A Single ship wide vox communicae rattled out of a thousands identical of plasteel lattice orbs .

“Make ready to receive boarding actions gentlemen , we are dropping out of warp, have your Lieutenants do their jobs well and we may survive.”

Klaxon's wailed cacophonous as Captains yelled orders down vox tubes to the lower decks. Lieutenants yelled orders at their ensigns and eighty thousand indentured souls moved as one..Respect for the Admiral In their minds , fear of the buffers cat o nine on the flesh and devotion to the God Emperor the lubrication in the heart.

The first salvo of explosions rocked the cruiser leeward on its gyro stabilisers .

“ Damage report watch Captain , if you please!”

We have lost the geller field Admiral , all port side macro canons are disabled .

Void shields down.. warp engines down..plasma drive intact , starboard macro lance batteries intact, Nova cannon intact.. torpedo tubes intact. Aft launch bays intact.

Power loss on decks 39 to 123..

The battle deck bristled with static energy as rasping orders rang out.

Bring her about and ready the lance batteries , launch all starhawk fighters, and someone contact Inquisitor Guidonis ,

You could call it a sixth sense if you were of a superstitious nature .. Faust called it too long in the warp.. sometimes the crew just knew something bad was going to happen, you didn’t have to be an astropath to sense these things ..

A small flotilla of chaos frigates and reavers sporting the heretical "Word bearer" iconography, had happened upon the ageing Dictator class Cruiser. Even with its frigate outriders the Admiral was outmatched , and he knew it. Tactics could take you far and faith further , but not today . This battle was lost before it started .. His only recourse was to fight through or pull back.

“Praise the Emperor , we fight on”

STRATUM deck 144

Imperial guard barracks “Axiom”

The battle had raged for hours, emergency red light filled the stratum with a disconcerting glow .

The barrack had lost power several times as localised plasma cores imploded under fluctuating energy surges .

The aptly named cruiser was on it's last legs. A final push by the Admiral had seen the ancient ships armoured prow plunge through its enemies, scattering its foes like leaves in the wind. But the price was too high . A barrage of superheated lances had rupture the coolant tubes that fed its venerable plasma core, several decks and most aft launch bays had been instantly snap frozen. A winter ice palace reflecting a contrary myriad of boiling plasma and lance ordinance.

Faust had suggested Guidonis inter Madine in one of the barrack reliquary's, for the transit to Loidis. The barracks could easily cater for any needs the Inquisitors may have . With its own array of flight decks transporting Madine on and off ship wouldn’t be a problem ..Which in hindsight proved a welcome move. But also kept them together and off of the Admirals command deck. The last thing he wanted was a dozen or so inquisitors wandering around his ship with time on their hands.

When the repel Boarders on stratum 144 order came through the Inquisitors took direct command of the barracks. Skilfully coordinating the troops to defend key locations ,until Guidonis ordered all to return to Madines sarcophagus .

“ Our priority is to transfer Madines body to Brythonis , we must move now to secure a ship before its too late”

The assembled Inquisitors along with their commandeered troops , began the desperate battle to push through the tight renegade filled corridors to he nearest vacant cargo hold.

Guidonis greets The inquisitors of Dalthus

Madines antigravitic suspensor sarcophagus is moved slowly towards the docking bay

under the watchful eye of Guidonis

Vendrake Commandeers Troops and joins Guidonis behind Madine

Renegade troops pour into the ship

Velk slips away unseen into the shadows

Cassar Valiantly leads troops into the enemies midst

Benadice rallies the shaken crew

Cordatus leaps into battle slaying cultist after cultist whilst heading towards the captured navy provost's

After a desperate battle the Inquisitors had pushed into the centre of the ship..half way towards the docking bay, when a second wave of cultists burst forth blocking their exit. The ship crumbling around them they were running out of time .

Requiem Act : -][- -][-

As the fighting intensified, the dauntless inquisitors split into three distinct groups , Cordatus ,Vendrake, Benadice , Cassar, Guidonis, Adorno and the Meretrix Auphid fought through the tightly packed eastern corridors on the right flank. Whilst Helsmarck , Tybalt, and Balthier .Skirmished through the spartan central the corridors , leaving Velk , Bell and Wroth to contest the discommodious western maintenance corridors on the left flank.

East Corridor

The battle grew blood fierce.. Las and bolt shot replaced by the slash and stab of fixed bayonet and power sword. The right flank had slowed to a crawl. The sheer numbers of guardsmen that had flocked to protect the sarcophagus (as directed by Guidonis and Vendrake) had hobbled and constricted its advance. The haughty, yet dour visage of Inquisitor Cassar expressed little emotion as he elegantly strode, sabre in hand towards the seething ranks of chaos, ahead of the sarcophagus and a throng of bristling flak roughnecks. Agent Auphid bound impatient forward, cutting a tempestuous swathe through the cultist. Eager to impress Guidonis, the young Inquisitor Cordatus saw his chance. Ducking out of the constricted north-east corridor and sprinting hard to the brig. Skewering a renegade guardsman and freeing his naval provost captives in one fell swoop. Not to be outdone Executrix Benadice and the Malleusificant Adorno jostled through the fractious fraternity. Inspiring and terrorising in equal measure, to join the Meretrix on the front-line.

Adorno Intercepts a drove of recreant dissenters

Cordatus frees the Naval Provosts and leads the south east charge

Central Corridors

Inquisitor Alaric Balthier had forged headway into the dimly lit central passage, His sword ran a crimson viscous artery through a bevy of wailing rancorous scum, Ogryn and man alike fell to plasma and plasteel. The Veteran Hoth, unable to keep speed with the more agile Inquisitor, seconded a group of standing cadets, forking west through an open door and overwhelming its heterodox occupants. Tybalt had dealt with the first wave of cultists with some ease, His mighty malleus hammer denting, then demolishing foe by foe. He now swept forward towards Hoth and Alaric, followed closely by a circumspect Helsmarck, who had accrued a sizeable retinue of conscripts.

Helsmarck precedes Tybalt into the central west xxii generatum

Villem Hoth Breaks the right flank into the central corridor

Alaric Balthier cuts down his foe next to generatum xxi

West Maintenance Corridors

The fighting had began in earnest, A quintet of fervent grim faced men, formed a formidable human shield around the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. Bell battling brute after brute. Bodies of the fallen, imperial and Chaos alike, now slumped into a hematic pile. The guardsman whittled like wood, until Bell stood all but alone. Corralled into a corner, facing a triptych mammoth of miscreation. His wingman the skilled swordsman Maccabeus Wroth dexterous and facile, fought the oncoming obdurate hoard with tenacity. Unlike the evanescent errant Velk who eluded the combat entirely, when he shrouded from the throng into the adumbral west cargo bay passage.

Inquisitor Bell is pommelled

The onslaught reaches critical mass within cramped bulkheads

of the the central and west flank splintered asunder by the implacable hoard

Maccabeus Wroth gives all for his fellow Inquisitors. His heroic death a seething contortion

of ferment ruination. A wonder of resonant blade and reaping telekenesis. The diversion buying the coadjute ordos precious time to hasten Madine uncontested towards the Cargo bay.

Velk emerges unseen from the western cargo access tunnel. Using the death of Inquistor Wroth as a distraction. He cannily appropriates the the waiting Arvus Lighter and decamps the Sealed Fate

Leaving His fellow Inquisitors and subordinate crewmen with no certain means of escape.

Wroth lay dead. Velk's shuttle departed.But still a hoard of cultists stood between the Inquisitors and supposed freedom. The Death of Wroth had bought them time to breath. A moment of quietus repose. But as they drew the arid recycled air into their lungs the silence was broken...

The dissident sea ahead them, rippled with commotion. the ground underfoot rumbled tumult

trepidation. The inquisitor Bathier steeled himself. And there he was... a behemoth of a man ..no not man .. this had long since given up any claim of humanity.. The blackest of black..An Astartes who had embraced the lure of the warp.

Balthier did not falter.. a battle cry emitted his lips uncontested ..his sword in hand he powered towards the ceremite colossal. For the Emperor !

Guidonis Commands all Inquisitors to assail the apostate Astartes.

As more Cultists burst forth from the cargo lift , Madine is Manoeuvred behind the Chaos marine

towards a back entrance of the cargo bay.

Cordatus is held back to protect the sarcophagus. Much to his vexation

While Balthier, Hoth, Benadice, Tybalt, The Meretrix and Cassar deal with the Astartes Bell and Hellsmarck barrage through the remaining cultists with a victorious final push to secure the cargo bay.