Zakalwe said:

Kilgrim's motivations are a little more complex than that. He is, at heart, a simple fighter, who has known nothing but war and combat all his life, right from his abandonment as a baby in the gutters and underground of Footfall. He took an oath, when he signed on with House Dureen, to protect and serve the dynasty, not the individual rogue trader. That's the only reason he accepted the fiction that let him replace the late unlamented Rico Dureen - for the good of the House. He also knows that for there to be a dynasty, there has to be an heir, which is why he wants to find others of his kind, especially breedable females. Seriously, he's genuinely that dedicated to his oath to the House. If he does find a suitable partner, he'll probably even shout "For House Dureen!" at the *ahem* climactic moment.

Now if he ever finds himself a hot Tau-girl pile, then it's big-ole freaky-deaky time for Kilgrim!!!! Till then he's got plenty of other vices to indulge in.

A Squat for duty, a Tau for pleasure, but a Hartek Fruit for ecstasy.

Howdy all, psb the latest installment of our game.

FYI we will have another session and then the game will be on hold for 2 weeks as one of the players takes a holiday.

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: HIS UNDYING WILL, UNIDENTIFIED SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

The two Dureen warships advanced deeper into the system, scanning the void ahead for threats, and were quickly able to plot the locations of the enemy vessels that were attacking the Squat world. It was fortunate that the sensorium crew were focussed on their task in hand; they spotted the two retreating Infidel class torpedo Raiders that had been patrolling the outer system disappeared from the auger array. They had dropped from the scans in an area of the void midway between the edge of the system and the target planet, obviously planning to ambush the forces of House Dureen. Rogue Trader Regent Hartek ordered the Furnace of Redemption to close up with His Undying Will, hoping to disguise the signature of the Frigate within the larger, more powerful signature of the Grand Cruiser.

The scans had produced enough information to allow the identification of the enemy vessels; the Hellbringer class planetary assault Light Cruiser was tagged as the Eater of Worlds, and was continuing to bombard planetary targets. In a higher orbit, the Devastation class Cruiser was identified as Soul Bane, and two more Infidel class torpedo Raiders were escorting her, the Relentless Pain and the Seduction of Tortured. The more accurate and targeted scans allowed a re-designation of the four remaining contacts; they were identified as Soul Cage class Transports and were named as the Crimson Lord, the Futile Hope, the Overwhelming Dark, and the Scream Dragon. The two Infidel class torpedo Raiders that had disappeared from the scans were identified as the Adamant of Fire, and Ocelot Damnation.

The days passed, and as two Dureen ships closed on the potential ambush location, they increased their scans, and identified the location of the Raiders. It was decided to use His Undying Will to trigger the ambush, on favourable terms, while the Furnace of Redemption went silent herself and attempted to flank the enemy. Once the ambush was trigged, the Grand Cruiser would launch her bomber and fighter squadrons and attempt to quickly overwhelm the heretics.

The plan worked well; as His Undying Will approached the "hidden" enemy ships the first volleys of torpedoes were launched at the Grand Cruiser. She turned into the attack, easily evading or destroying the enemy munitions with her turrets and the fighters that had been launched on combat air patrol.

The Furnace of Redemption unseen by the enemy then arced in on the closest Raider, the Ocelot Damnation devastating it with the opening salvo; both macro-cannon and lances striking true. The Grand Cruiser closed on the same enemy, blasting more holes into the hull of the enemy with her laser batteries before the bomber squadrons closed in and dropped their payloads leaving a slowly expanding cloud of debris in their wake as the ship broke apart. The remaining Chaos ship, realising that it had little chance of escape came about, and attempted to ram His Undying Will. It angled in on the Grand Cruiser, but misjudged the angle of attack; although it hit the flank of the Dureen ship, all it did was scrape along the armour of the larger vessel doing more damage to its own hull.

Seeing an opportunity to close on the now damaged Adamant of Fire, Ivanov ordered the Furnace of Redemption into close range, and once again accurate lance fire pierced the enemy vessel, setting sections of the ship on fire. His Undying Will pulled away from the damaged Raider, and turned to bring the enemy into the arc of her port weapons batteries which once again blasted chunks from the enemy ship. In return, the Raider fired a last, desperate salvo of torpedoes at the Grand Cruiser; it was fortunate, despite the turrets and fighters flying combat air patrol, one punched through, inflicted minor damage, but incinerating thousands of loyal crew in the explosion of the plasma warhead. The heretics did not survive long to celebrate their minor victory as the Furnace of Redemption brought her weapons to bear, and cut them into scrap.

The two House Dureen ships slipped back into formation once more, and continued their run towards the centre of the system.

The crew of His Undying Will busied themselves repairing whatever damage they could, although it was clear that the ship would require several days dedicated work to completely undo the damage that had been inflicted on her, and with the devastation being unleashed on the Squat world, the Rogue Trader decided that this was time that could not be afforded. He broadcast a message of thanks to the crew, praising their efforts in the fight so far, and stressing the desperate situation that the Squats found themselves in, suggesting that they may also be able to provide the weaponry that the House was searching for to aid the fight against the threat to the Calixis Sector. His words seemed to hit the right tone, and the crew responded well, returning to their duties with renewed vigour.

Brother Castagir requested that one of the unused areas of the ships have the environmental controls modified to match the arid conditions on the Squat world, and once this had been done, he ran the troops through drills and exercises in this area, attempting to acclimatise them to the harsher conditions. He also approached Bishop Arint asking him to focus on the spiritual needs of the soldiers, something that he was more than happy to do.

The Astartes requested a viewing of the Relic of St Drusus that was being held in the Temple-Shrine, and although the Bishop seemed reluctant initially, after the two had conversed for a while he became convinced of Castagir's righteousness and agreed to a private viewing. The Bishop led Castagir through the Shrine; it was a cavernous area, capable of seating thousands, and a wondrous example of Imperial Gothic architecture with huge fluted columns supporting high arches that reached the ceiling. Huge statues of Imperial Saints were placed in specially built alcoves, and the walls were decorated with hangings depicting the Emperor and Saint Drusus, braziers burned incense and cherubim fluttered high above the heads of the people there, yet still Castagir was conscious of the looks he was getting from the faithful present, many of whom were encountering a Space Marine for the first time. Even the normally impassive Shrine Custodians who had accompanied the Bishop aboard nodded respectfully, and the Bishop seemed to enjoy the reflected glory.

They reached the private alcove where the casket containing the relic was held and singing a hymn, the Bishop leaned forward to a control panel on the side of the casket, and screening his actions so no other could see, punched a code into the panel. After a minute the shutter on the casket began to rise, stopping after moving a few millimetres. From the crack that had been opened a bluish-green light radiated, bathing the area in a holy light. The Custodians bowed their heads, and Bishop Arint turned to Castagir and spoke, reverence evident in his voice.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Castagir nodded slowly. "It is Bishop, it is. As are all works of the Emperor."

"Who can doubt the power of Saint Drusus and the Emperor when you see works such as this?" The Bishop's gaze remained fixed on the relic as the shutter closed, and the radiated light was contained once more.

Castagir remained silent for a few moments before speaking; "Thank you for sharing this with me Bishop; it does the soul good to witness such wonders."

The Rogue Trader Regent was sitting in his study, looking over the readiness reports of the troops, and the damage reports from the Enginseer Prime with his aide, Antonia Fenducci, when Major Kimenth knock on this door.

Hartek invited her in, and spoke; "Major Kimenth. What can I do for you today?"

"Trader Regent. You seemed quite taken with my sword..." Iaris met Hartek's gaze. "I thought you might like to know the tale of how I came by it?"

With a smile on his face, the Rogue Trader Regent grunted. "Is there any way that I'm not going to hear it now, seeing as you came here specifically to tell me?"

"A direct order telling me to leave would do it!" Iaris struggled to suppress a smile herself.

Kilgrim leaned back. "Ah, sit down Major. The fact that you're here tells me that you probably want to get something off your chest."

"Fair enough!" The Major agreed. "I was entouraged to a noble, of sorts, and he took us to a... Well... Auction of questionable items, I suppose. There was a man there who decided to buy a daemon in a bottle, as you do. Said daemon got free, ate half the people there and set off the local volcano, as they tend to do..."

Hartek, despite himself, found his interest piqued by the revelations.

Iaris smiled again, and continued her story. "Well, after we'd killed all the heretics, and left the island burning behind us, and I'd personally found the heretic who'd freed the daemon and smashed his brain into the floor, in a very satisfying manner, I had a nice new sword. So the weapon was now in the hands of someone that knew how to use it, knew its worth, and honestly didn't mind its origins, no matter how cloudy they may have been... I mean, there may be better weapons out there, but this one will always be sharp and deadly, and she won't cut the hand that wields her, as long as she's held right! This also makes me quite good at cutting down heretics, which might make me useful very soon..."

"Well." Hartek grunted again. "I don't think your mysterious origins are going to be a problem for you here in House Dureen, as long as everyone does their duty, and fights as well as they can, that'll do for me." He paused, a little twinkle in his eye, then continued. "Besides, do you think Hartek was the name on the forms at the orphanage where I was found...?"

Kimenth suddenly looked serious. "Well, that depends. With the name you've got, will people from the name you had come looking for you?"

Hartek smiled one of his feral, toothy grins. "I rather suspect it's going to be the other way around..."

"In that case, Sir, I wish you good hunting...!" Iaris nodded. " But my concern is that those that I left behind, well it won't be me hunting. This far out, it won't be a problem, but I think it only fair to warn you that when we return to civilisation, it may be best if I stay on the ship, for the good of the House."

"You're in house Dureen now; we look after our own Major..."

Iaris nodded. "My thanks Trader Regent, it has always been my philosophy that if people don't try to get me killed unnecessarily, I will always back them up in a fight."

"Rest assured Major, I will never try to get you killed unnecessarily!" Hartek grinned again. "Was there anything else?"

"No Sir. Not unless you require anything else."

"Good. All I require is that your troops are ready to face whatever awaits us on this world."

Major Kimenth stood. "In that case I will return to my duties. My thanks Trader Regent."

"Carry on, Major." Hartek paused as Iaris left, and turned to Fenducci. "What a strange woman, have her watched!"

Fenducci nodded, and followed her out of the office.

By the end of the week, the Dureen ships had reached the inner system, and found the enemy forces arrayed ahead of them; the Eater of Worlds continued to bombard the planet, while the other ships formed a battle line, with two of the Soul Cage Transports on each flank, the Cruiser in the centre and the two remaining Infidel class torpedo Raiders positioned on either side of the enemy flagship. Hartek ordered detailed scans of the enemies, and launch bays were detected on both the Cruiser and Light Cruiser so the Dureen forces could expect enemy fighters and bombers to be present around the system.

The enemy ships were well armed, the Cruiser being armed with Banefire lance broadsides, and it was clear that the coming battle had the potential to be both bloody and brutal, but it was also clear that as the attacker, the Rogue Trader Regent had no choice other than to push the issue. Initially the plan was to draw the enemy out of formation in an attempt to defeat them in details, however, unusually for Heretics, the formation held together with surprising discipline, and despite a number of feints and taunts over the vox channels, they remained firm.

Suddenly, the communicatorium Officer called for the attention of the Rogue Trader Regent; "Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the enemy flagship!"

Conscious that exposing the crew to the machinations of the great enemy was not a conducive to their good health, Hartek ordered the message be transferred into the briefing room, and invited Brother Castagir to join him to listen. The Astartes followed Hartek into the chamber, and positioned himself to one side, out of the angle of the camera, because as he phrased it, "The enemy do not need to know that I am here."

Hartek took a seat, and activated the holo-projection.

The image flickered and distorted before coalescing into a steady picture, and Hartek was faced by a huge, black and gold armoured figure seated on a throne that appeared to be constructed from bones. Its armour was sparsely decorated, but the sigils were disturbing to look at, and although not the same, reminded him of the symbols he'd seen previously on Saphirus. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Brother Castagir tense slightly, the Deathwatch Marine unconsciously gripping the edge of the massive adamantium table that filled the room.

The figure spoke, a deep voice seeming to echo from its helmet; "I am Warmaster Viatax. Who dares intrude upon my campaign?"

Hartek paused, before muttering almost to himself. "Warmaster Viatax eh?" Then he spoke up, addressing his adversary directly. "I am Kilgrim Hartek, Warmaster of House Dureen. This world is under my protection. You will take your fleet, and depart at once, while I've a mind to let you."

As the laughter boomed from the giant figure, again, out of the corner of his eye, the Rogue Trader Regent noticed Castagir leaning forward, seemingly studying parts of the armour that the Warmaster was clad in. His own attention drawn to the areas Castagir was looking at with such intensity, he was able to see the paint of the armour had been scraped away and scarred by battle, revealing a different colour scheme underneath. The revealed colours were predominantly yellow, but there were patches of orange, deep reds and browns, and it reminded Hartek of gazing into the flames of a furnace. He was unsure what that meant but stored the information away as useful, simply because of the reaction it had provoked in the Space Marine.

The laughter faded away, and the Warmaster's voice hardened. "You dare order me worm? I found this world wanting and I have taken it for my own. The population are my slaves now! Find your own world and conquer it!" The figure leaned forward on its throne, peering at the screen more closely. "You are one of those creatures, like those on this world!"

It was Hartek's turn to laugh. "Very observant Warmaster. I have come to free my people, so unless you have a wish to face my wrath I would advise you to leave. I have faced powers that defy description on Saphirus. I have fought the greenskin horde on Damaris. Your fleet of despoilers does not impress me..."

Warmaster Viatax leaned back, laughing again. "You have put on a good show, but those dogs you have already killed were not worthy of survival. Your two ships will be no match for the remains of my fleet...!"

Hartek smiled tightly. "Then send your best hounds, we will despatch them just as easily..."

"We will wait here for you, Warmaster. We still have business on the planet..." Viatax growled, pointedly.

A grim expression appeared on Hartek's face. "Then count the remaining hours of your life. Dureen is coming."

Hartek slapped the button on the control panel that ended the transmission, and turned to Brother Castagir. "Well he was a charming fellow wasn't..." His voice trailed away as he saw that the edge of the massive slab that formed the table had been twisted and bent out of shape. Despite himself he was shocked, recognising the immense strength that would be required to do that amount of damage to the adamantium. Then he noticed that Brother Castagir seemed unaware of what he had done, and realised that the encounter had meant more to the Astartes than simply witnessing the verbal sparring of the two leaders. "There's something concerning you, Brother Castagir?"

With an effort, Castagir kept his voice level and carefully modulated, suppressing his anger. "The Warmaster is a fallen Marine." The Astartes paused again. "I have sworn an oath to destroy those of his kind. Do not under-estimate him. I have stood before those traitors before, and they are possibly the most dangerous enemies you have ever faced. That one..." Castagir seemed unable to speak Warmaster Viatax's name, "...is wearing tactical dreadnought armour, which means he has fallen further than most. He was once an elite veteran of the First Company of... his Chapter, he is centuries old, and has centuries of battle experience, and will be very good at what he does..."

Hartek nodded slowly. "And that was before he received the dubious gifts of the ruinous pow..."

Castagir interrupted; '"Before he betrayed all of his kind, and humanity."

"Hurmph." Hartek cleared his throat. "A dangerous foe, Brother Castagir. And your sworn enemy."

"That he is." Castagir agreed.

Hartek nodded and continued; "And the people on the world below may be the last of my kind still alive in this sector. Perhaps in the whole universe as far as I know..."

Castagir nodded. "At the end of this, either Viatax, or I will leave this world alive, but both of us will not."

"Then let all of the might of House Dureen be your sword, and your shield, Brother." Hartek held out his hand, which as Hartek glanced at the damage to the table, Castagir grasped, gently.

"And may your people be freed Rogue Trader Regent." The Astartes responded.

Hartek nodded. "Let's go and steal ourselves a world!"

The ships of House Dureen closed up, and closed to maximum range of their weapons, preparing to open fire on the enemy, however, there was shock on the bridges of His Undying Will and the Furnace of Redemption as lance beams flashed out from the enemy Cruiser before they were able to get into range; the Banefire lance broadsides on the Cruiser outranged even the Sunsear batteries on His Undying Will.

Initially, the enemy targeted the Furnace of Redemption, however, Ivanov ordered her into evasive manoeuvres and spoiled the enemy's aim, but it was as if the lance fire was a signal, and the Infidel class torpedo Raiders moved forwards attempting to bring their weapons to bear too, firing, but the salvoes of torpedoes either missed their targets, or were shot down. His Undying Will returned fire, however, her attacks were also ineffective, the beams of light flashing past the heretics ships.

Each group of ships jockeyed, and shifted position, attempting to find the optimal position to do the most harm to their enemies.

End of Segment

http://fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=123&efcid=3&efidt=540111#540523

I will try to make your friend that is sending out is own endeavor!

DrVesuvius said:

"FOR THE GREATER GOOD!" hehehe....

A while back I posted that I was in the process of compiling all the write-ups into .pdf documents, and I promised that I would make them available here.

Well, I've finally managed to get the first couple of volumes complete, and as I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks, so the reports will stop while gthe game is paused, I thought it'd be an ideal time to post the links for those who are interested; they're stored in my Dropbox folder so you should be able to save them if you want to.

There are two volumes so far, covering the story from the start of the game until the end of the Damaris story arc and the death of Enginseer Nicander (so be warned, the second volume does include reports of the first published Frozen Reaches adventure, so there'll be spoilers in there, and if you intend to play the game, be careful how far in you read...)

As well as the write-ups that have been posted on here (some have been subject to minor modifications where I spotted errors), there are PC, and NPC profiles, ship profiles, and outlines of the military units of House Dureen.

Anyway, I hope they'll be interesting for you.

Volume 1: From the start of our gaming sessions, to the end of the battle against the ruinous powers on Saphirus;
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16025092/The%20History%20of%20House%20Dureen%20Vol%201%20%28Personal%20Record%20of%20Nikander%20Hak%2C%20Part%201%29.pdf

Volume 2: From Saphirus to Damaris and the death of Enginseer Nicander
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16025092/The%20History%20of%20House%20Dureen%20Vol%202%20%28Personal%20Record%20of%20Nikander%20Hak%2C%20Part%202%29.pdf

In the future additional volumes will be created to continue the story...

Hi all!!

crisaron, nice fluff

Thrantor, the only good tau is a dead tau

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: HIS UNDYING WILL, UNIDENTIFIED SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

The two Infidel Class Torpedo Raiders advanced, attempting to pin the House Dureen ships, with the enemy Cruiser following up behind them, and bringing up the rear were the slow Soul Cage Transports. As the enemy closed the range the Furnace of Redemption continued to draw their fire, however, piloted by Ivanov himself, her evasive manoeuvring meant that any shots targeted on her tended to miss, and the few impacts that she suffered failed to penetrate her armour. The space between the opposing forces was teeming with fighters and bombers, each of the squadrons fighting their individual battles, but the heroic House Dureen pilots more than held their own, keeping the enemy small craft at arms length, and generally unable to engage the capital ships. In return, His Undying Will targeted the Infidel Raiders in an attempt to remove the number of enemy gun platforms, and her volleys of Sunsear laser fire repeatedly smashed into the hapless enemy forcing both ships to turn tail and flee, venting atmosphere, and trailing wreckage, fire, and bodies into the void from their wrecked hulls. Scans indicated that neither Raider was in any shape to offer much resistance for the foreseeable future.

It seemed like momentum was swinging the way of House Dureen, but then the enemy Cruiser, Soul Bane launched a flight of small attack craft at the Furnace of Redemption. Although suffering losses as they approached the Frigate, they managed to secure themselves to her hull and hundreds of heretics attempted to board. They pushed themselves through the breaches, but found themselves trapped by Dureen troops, and were slaughtered in their hundreds, and after the last of the enemy were dispatched, the hull breaches were sealed. Just when it seemed that the threat was over, reports started flowing in to the bridge of small areas of the ship going silent, and eventually a pattern was discerned; a number of paths from various points around the hull seemed to be leading towards the void shield generators.

Finally, the source of the unknown attacks were identified; six fallen Astartes had fought their way aboard, hidden amongst the larger assaults, and they were cutting their way through the brave crew of the Furnace of Redemption en route to their target. Ivanov called for help from His Undying Will, and made the tough decision to vent the areas the Chaos Marines were detected in to the void. Unfortunately, this action only slowed the attack and did not remove the threat. As a gun-cutter from His Undying Will arrived, with Rogue Trader Regent Hartek and Brother Castagir aboard, Ivanov made the decision to pull the crew back, and let the attackers into the void shield genertorium, and then surround the chamber with numbers, and pen them in. Although, the lack of a void shield would make the ship vulnerable, it could be repaired reasonably quickly, and the evasive techniques that Ivanov had been employing had been effective to this point, so it was a gamble worth taking, and Hartek approved.

Now, however, a plan was required to remove the Chaos Marines from the genertorium. Although fearsome opponents, they were now out of ammunition, and had limited manoeuvre capability, so plans were drawn up to teleport an attack force, led by Brother Castagir and Hartek himself, directly into the chamber. It would be a bloody fight, but one that would ultimately be successful as sheer numbers would eventually overwhelm the enemy.

Moments before the plan was to be put into action, Hartek received a message from his aide, Antonio Fenducci; he was receiving a message from the enemy commander, who was threatening to kill all the prisoners aboard one of the Soul Cage Transports. Hartek paused, and ordered that it be transferred to a nearby office where he would receive it in private.

The connection was made, and the distinctive image of Warmaster Viatax appeared before Hartek. "Well met, Warmaster! It seemed the skirmish has whittled out the chaff...! Anyway, I tire of this pointless exercise..."

"Well, leave then." Hartek suggested. "We'll let you go unharmed!"

Viatax's laughter boomed out. "Spirit! Spirit! Your kind has much spirit! They will make good servants, good warriors, but possibly not good slaves... But everyone breaks in the end. Everyone. I am willing to take this battle elsewhere! Enough pointless sparring has been conducted in the void, true warriors face each other on the ground."

"Continue..." Hartek spoke slowly.

"I suggest a contest. I will let you contest the fate of the final Stronghold on the planet." Viatax offered.

Hartek nodded. "And the prisoners you have in the hold of your vessel?"

"They are mine. I won them before you arrived. I will keep them."

"That cannot stand." Hartek protested. "I am here to take them off you."

"Before you could take them off me they would all die!" Viatax pointed out.

Hartek nodded again. "A kinder fate than living in servitude to such as you... But I understand if you are too afraid to take a chance on your own competence..."

Viatax laughed again. "And what would I have to gain? What would you put against these prisoners?"

Hartek paused. "All in. My ships, my Dynasty. All would be yours should you win."

This seemed to take Chaos Marine by surprise. "Bold! A bold move indeed! I come to despise your people less!"

"You say the sweetest things!" Kilgrim said coldly.

"How do you suggest we settle this then?" Viatax asked.

Negotiations continued, until it was agreed that a trial by combat would occur, a set piece battle with a thousand combatants on either side. They would meet in a precisely defined zone on the planet, and the ships in orbit would pull away and stand off under the terms of the agreement, effectively declaring a cease fire. It was clear that Warmaster Viatax was bored with the ongoing conquest of the world and welcomed the diversion, even agreeing to allow Hartek to visit the surface of the world, and speak with the surviving inhabitants. Viatax demanded the return of the Chaos Marines aboard the Furnace of Redemption, as a "Sign of good faith". A Dreadclaw assault shuttle was sent from the Soul Bane and docked with the nearest airlock, from which the enemy were ushered out quickly. Castagir was kept out of sight as this was going on, and found himself frustrated that some of his sworn enemy had slipped through his fingers.

After this, Warmaster Viatax actually passed on some details of the conquest to date. From the information he released, it seemed that of the three Strongholds that had been on the world, as Viatax had early hinted, only one still stood, the other two had been destroyed; the first in the opening salvoes of the invasion, the second after a protracted siege. It was estimated that over a hundred and fifty thousand Squats had been taken prisoner. The Warmaster had landed over a million soldiers in support of his attacks, clearly intending to rapidly overwhelming the defences by sheer weight of numbers. It appeared that the formalised battle was the best solution for House Dureen; it would be difficult to pit the several thousand troops serving under the House colours against such a vast tide of heretics, unfortunately, it also meant that the House Dureen troops would face the best troops that the enemy could muster.

It truly seemed that the enemy commander was bored with the whole situation, and saw the arrival of Hartek and the Dynasty as a welcome diversion.

After a planning meeting, where Hartek announced the trial by combat, but not the consequences of losing, it was decided to deploy the Orks, and the Armoured Cohort, the 8th, with their infantry support. Hartek reasoned that it was time the Orks had another fight, and any losses to their number would not be a problem, as he was already considering how best to rid himself of them, as they were a difficult ally to justify in many circles.

Hartek, accompanied by Brother Castagir, Lieutenant Commander Ivanov, and Major Kimenth descended to the surface of the world to meet with the defenders; the surface was scarred with huge craters, and the evidence of huge battles, and after initial contact they were directed to a landing zone near the last surviving Stronghold.

Hartek emerged from the gun-cutter on his own, the others hanging back until first contact had been made; the Rogue Trader Regent found himself feeling shocked, but full of joy as he recognised the world from the visions he had seen repeatedly over the last few months. More than that his heart leapt as he saw his welcoming party; a small group of Squats, the first of his own race he had ever encountered.

A male stepped forward, obviously a warrior from his manner of dress; he was clad in a form of power armour, similar, yet different to that available from Imperial sources. He was wearing a red flowing cape, and was armed with a power axe of similar design to Kilgrim's own, and with a boltgun. The others were armed, and armoured in a similar manner of with equipment more familiar to Imperial eyes, and at the back stood a young looking Squat holding a large banner of a blue background with red, runic symbols overlaying it.

Hartek seemed hesitant, and stepped through the gusts of wind that blew the dust around obscuring everyone's vision for a moment, and so when Hartek stepped forward through the dust, it was a surprise for the Squats to be confronted with a member of their own race.

Hartek reached out, almost disbelievingly, and touched the face of the red-robed Squat. "You, you're real! You're really here!"

"Of course I'm bloody here!" Came the gruff response. "I'm sodding well stood in front of you!" And he slapped Kilgrim's hand away. "Is your mind all boggled? That's what comes of living with tall folk!" He inspected Kilgrim before speaking again. "Where do you hail from, sonny?"

"I... I errr... I was found on Footfall..." Hartek looked at the red-robed Squat for any sign of recognition of that name, but there was none, so he continued. "A world of rocks floating in the void." There was still no recognition, so Hartek changed tack. "How is it that you're here?"

"How do you bloody think?" Came the impatient response. "We came here on vessels...! Pah! How did you escape the slaughter? Are there more of you?"

Hartek paused. "I don't know. I thought I was the only one left!"

The red-robed Squat shook his head. "I tell you what lad, you don't know a lot, do you?" He paused, as though something had just occurred to him. "You're not simple are you?" An amused expression crossed his face. "Come here lad. We'll look after you, you're with your people now!" He put his arm around Hartek's shoulders and began to lead him away.

Suddenly Hartek stopped, and turned to look at the other Squat. "Wait! The attackers! How many of our people are left?"

"Where? Here?" Red cloak asked.

"Well where else do you think, you daft apeth!" Hartek looked surprised at the words that he had just spoken, as though unable to quite believe that he had spoken them himself. "I mean... Wow... Errr... Where did that come from?"

The other looked at him sharply. "In our culture son, we respect our elders, you just remember that! There are about two-hundred thousand of us left."

Hartek nodded, a serious expression on his face. "We've challenged the invaders, for the freedom of your world, and to secure the release of the captives..."

"Aye, we've been fighting a battle for months." Red cloaks expression turned grim. "The cowards have been bombarding us from orbit and sending their lackeys down to do their work. They're not true warriors, but there're just so many of them. And their war machines; it's as though they are driven by some unholy power..."

Kilgrim nodded. "We need to talk, we need a conference. We need to confer with your war leaders to gain as much intelligence about the enemy as possible..."

"Aye sonny, we do." Red cloak nodded, "But first you must speak to the Ancestor. He makes all the decisions. I'm Gartek, Gartek Fiendhammer." He indicated a heavy warhammer that was slung across his back.

Hartek asked whether he could bring his command staff along, and after Gartek agreed he introduced them all, before the headed into the Stronghold. The new arrivals showed as much interest in the home of the Squats as the Squats showed in the humans; each seemed intrigued by the others. As usual Castagir drew surprised looks; he was a giant compared to humans, but towered over the Squats, and most of them hurried to get out of his way, unsure what to make of him.

The Stronghold looked well engineered, with solid walls of rock, ceramite and adamantium, and there were a number of well placed defensive positions, which guarded the entrances of large tunnels. These tunnels led deep underground, and there were huge forges and workshops, and numerous blocky buildings that covered large areas of the available space; almost every surface was engraved with runes of unknown meaning.

Soon, they group arrived at a building of exceptional craftsmanship, with blocky columns and a side staircase inlaid with gold; it was almost impossible to see the joins where one block of stone had been laid on another, something that was evident throughout the Stronghold. There were numerous statues, depicting Squats in a variety of heroic poses, and there were displays of banners and weapons. The impression gained was that some of these were very old indeed, and several seemed to originate from out side of the current Stronghold. The group were led deeper inside this building and into a large room that seemed to serve as an audience chamber.

A frail, elderly looking squat was making his way across the stone floor, his staff clicking every time it touched the floor. Surround him were three figures, wearing the strange Squat power armour and carrying ceremonial, but deadly looking halberds. The elderly Squat and his guard made their way to a throne located in the centre of the chamber; it was huge and would have accommodated Castagir's bulk, but the squat hauled himself into the seat, and then indicated that the visitors should approach.

Led by Gartek, the four newcomers approached to within ten metres, and then Gartek bowed, before going down on to one knee in a display of respect. Strangely, of the four visitors, it was Brother Castagir who reacted first, mirroring the gesture, and then the others followed his lead.

Gartek spoke, his voice breaking the silence in the chamber. "Ancient Ancestor, I have found one of the missing kin, and bring him before you." He indicated Hartek.

"Yes! He is!" The old squat croaked out, his voice cracking. "A lost pup finally returned to his people."

Kilgrim glanced up as he felt a wave of psychic energy wash over him, and could feel a presence, at the edge of his consciousness.

"Ancestor." Kilgrim spoke in a hushed tone. "I have been searching for you for a long time. I have brought my forces to try to free you from the invaders." He paused for a second and met the old Squats gaze. "I thought my people were no more..."

A look of reminiscence washed over the face of the old Squat, as though he was remembering times past, and then he spoke again. "Aye lad! It has been a long time since one of the lost found us. For all were know, we are the last of our proud and great people. I can feel the terrible gap in your life from missing your kin, and the shock at finding us again. Do not worry though; we take all our kin in. This must be overwhelming for you. Let us walk and talk of our people..." The old Squat slid from the throne, and indicated that Hartek follow him.

Hartek spent the next few hours learning of his heritage; he learned of the great Ancestors, and the worlds they had fled from, in the face of the Tyranid menace. Most had fallen, and been consumed, their race had been left in the cold by the Imperium which had not come to their aid when it was needed, despite promises of mutual protection, and of the hundreds of Leagues, Guilds, and thousands of Strongholds, the one they were currently standing in could very well be the last one.

The Ancestor told Kilgrim that it had been part of a small League, the Emberg League, but it had outlived all the others, taking on refugees from where they could. In total perhaps half a million Squats had escaped the Great Devourer, fleeing in a huge ship known as the Ark, defended by another ancient ship that had been a gift from the humans in better times. The trauma was not over, however; caught in a warp storm the vessels were thrown across the galaxy, and emerged in the current system. They were so relieved to be out of the warp, and the last of the human Navigators had died on the journey anyway, so they decided to settle this world. It was a harsh environment by most standards, but not for Squats, and it was rich in mineral resources, so they hid the ships in the outer system, and ferried all the survivors to the planet.

As the Ancestor spoke, Hartek learned of the hated enemies of the Squats, particularly the Orks, and he learned of the book of Grudges where the names of all those who had slighted the Squats in one way or another. He learned that the population had grown over the years, and occasionally did business with human traders, and life seemed good, at least until several months ago and the invasion of their world.

Hartek drank all the information in, and then showed his axe to the Ancestor, describing how he had found it, and telling him the story that was attached to it; that it was a relic of lost Squat Empire somewhere on the fringe of the Koronus Expanse. The Ancestor inspected the weapon, and declared that it was an axe that had originated in one of the destroyed strongholds. It appeared that the Squat Empire the rumours had spoken of consisted of the world on which he currently stood.

The remaining three did not waste their time, meetings had been arranged with the Squat military leaders and they did their best to glean as much information about the enemy as they could, attempting to learn tactics, force disposition, and any other useful titbits of intelligence. The Squats reported that the huge enemy army consisted mostly of barely equipped, barely trained cannon fodder, built around a core of warriors, something that had already be gleaned from other sources, however, at the start of every battle, a giant warrior in black and red armour, described by the Squats as being "like our exo-armour" which the three took to mean power armour presented himself, challenging anyone from amongst the defenders to fight him in single combat. So far no one had managed to come close to defeating him. Castagir suggested that in all likelihood this warrior was another fallen Astartes, and the other two nodded, in agreement grim expressions on their faces, and this seemed to be confirmed when the Squats said that this warrior led the enemy army.

One of the Squat officers spoke in a hushed voice, "This... warrior... is a monster! It is even said that he killed a number of his own men when they tried to interfere in one of the fights, bellowing at them that he had specified one on one combat! We have never seen anything like it..."

The enemy also made use of war machines, and these seemed to be on a par with the armoured vehicles and tanks that House Dureen possessed.

As the discussions were continuing, Hartek was shown into the briefing room, and then all four were taken to see the Squats secret weapon; it was a huge vehicle known as the Cyclops, larger than even super-heavy Imperial tanks and on the chassis was mounted what appeared to be a single defence laser. Gartek confirmed that although inaccurate, it was capable of hitting targets in low orbit, but they had not dared deploy the vehicle because the enemy controlled the skies, and it would be quickly destroyed by the enemy ship bombarding the planet. Hartek considered requesting its use in the ritual battle, but was informed that it had a crew of several hundred, and he judged that it would eat too heavily into the manpower allocation, so he moved on. The squats also showed three heavily armoured ore-miner vehicles that were being modified as weapon characters, Gartek called the Leviathans, but once again they were crewed by hundreds and not really of much use currently.

Intelligence gathering, and social niceties dealt with the two groups parted, now firm allies, the Squats to shore up their defences in case the needed to fight again, and the Command Staff of House Dureen to complete their plans.

Back aboard His Undying Will, Hartek visited Kolonel Shakgul in the xenos containment quarters that he had had installed when the vessel was being refitted. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, and explaining the situation on the world below, Hartek posed a question. One that he thought he already knew the answer to.

"So Kolonel, are your boyz 'ard enough to take on them spiky boyz? Coz if they're too scared..." Hartek paused, as he saw the look of anger on the Kolonels face, and then continued, "...well, if you really wants to fight along wiv us, coz I'm only takin' the best..."

Shakgul growled, "I want me one ov dem spiky boy beaky helmets, I needs me a piss cup!"

Hartek smiled. "Good. In that case youse got a fight!"

The Kolonel turned to his boyz, and shouted "Get yer gear! There's gonna be fightin' done!"

The roars of hundreds of Ork voices split the air, and a number of the smaller ones were kicked around out of sheer exuberance!

Hartek nodded, and returned to his office. After a few seconds thought he signed off Special Order 66; the Orks had reached the end of their usefulness, and any that survived the fight on the planet surface were to be destroyed by the remaining House Dureen troops, and while that was going on, their habitat on the vessel was to be completely purged and cleansed. It would be as though they had never existed. When he saw the order Ivanov was the happiest he had been since the Orks came aboard.

The next day, the House Dureen troops deployed to their designated zone, and Hartek strode forward and spoke over the noise of the advancing enemy, doing his best to prepare his men for the upcoming fight.

"We have come to this world to fight a great evil, but more than that, this is my people these are my ancestors, my brothers, my sisters, my cousins. And as we have stood in battle before that makes them your ancestors, your brothers, your sisters, your cousins too. We stand here today to keep their light shining in the galaxy. If we don't, then you bastards will have to answer to me! For the glory of House Dureen!"

Then another voice broke into the vox transmission; "For the survival of a race!", and Hartek glanced with some surprise at Brother Castagir, but nodded approvingly. It seemed, however, that the waiting for the enemy was playing on the soldier’s nerves, and Hartek's words were not met with the usual enthusiasm, however, they prepared to meet the onslaught with their customary professionalism.

The enemy force consisted of infantry, which seemed disciplined, and well drilled, backed up by around a dozen vehicles of a variety of types. Castagir was able to make out twelve Fallen Astartes in the ranks, and passed on their locations to the heavy weapons teams and vehicle commanders. In the middle of the army the commander in black and red armour could be seen. As the army formed up, it was noticeable that the ground was trembling and shaking, but it was unclear what the cause of this was, until suddenly the enemy army began to chant "Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak! Chak!" and a Warhound Class Titan hove into view. There was a sudden silence amongst the Dureen Troops, and a ripple of fear ran through the lines as the Titan blared out a roar over its external speakers.

Suddenly, a familiar deep, rumbling voice spoke over the vox, steadying the nerves of the troops. "That one is mine..." Hundreds of heads turned to see Brother Castagir shifting his position in the line to match that of the Titan.

From the opposing ranks, a voice bellowed for silence, and the Chaos Marine clad in the black and red armour strode forwards, and thrust down with his sword embedding it in the ground.

"I challenge..." He shouted "...an enemy champion to honourable one on one combat!" He stood there waiting. "Do you have a champion brave enough to face me?"

Brother Castagir began to move forwards, nodding at the Rogue Trader Regent, but before he had taken more than a step another voice bellowed; "Oi, humie! What are you doin' there! I has already said I wants his 'elmet! I woz promised!"

Castagir paused, and then in the guttural language of the Orks, spoke to the Kolonel. "In that case Kolonel, make sure you collect..."

Shakgul strode forwards, to the sound of cheering from his boyz, and Hartek leaned over to Castagir; "By the way, your Orkish accent's terrible..."

Castagir laughed. "The language was learned via hypno-casque, to help understand a foe, and gain intelligence, it is not often an Ork survives long enough for me to converse with it, and allow me to improve my conversational abilities!"

Hartek conceded the point.

The two warriors approached each other, Shakgul playing up to his boyz; in contrast the Chaos Marine bowed his head respectfully to his opponent before dropping into a fighting stance. Both armies began to work themselves up shouting for their own champion.

Suddenly several of the senior staff noticed that several of the soldiers had edged forward and had drawn weapons, crazed looks on their faces. Kilgrim could sense there was a strange presence on the battlefield; he could feel the anger and rage boiling off people, and for an instant it seemed to him that there were huge, spike collared, hounds standing on the periphery of the armies. Suddenly as quickly as it had arrived, the strange presence passed.

Castagir turned to the Rogue Trader Regent. "We must calm the men, if they forget their training, and rush blindly into battle, we are all lost!"

Hartek agreed, and ordered the men to fall back twenty or thirty metres and face away from the fight, and Major Kimenth began to recite litanies to bring their focus back to the Emperor's Grace. Quickly, the uncontrolled anger drained away and the soldiers got control of themselves once more. The Orks remained where they were shouting at their Warboss.

With a roar Shakgul sprang forward striking down with his power-claw, and at the last moment the Chaos Marine stepped to one side, avoiding a blow that looked like it would penetrate the armour of a tank. He riposted with a couple of quick cuts from his sword, one of which was blocked, but the second left Shakgul bleeding from a gash to his ribs, forcing the massive Ork backwards, shouting with pain. The fallen Astartes leapt forward, thrusting his blade through Shakgul's defences, and impaling the Ork's torso, but when he tried to withdraw the blade, Shakgul grabbed his arm, and drew him closer before unleashing a massive head butt that crumpled the armour on the front of the helmet, staggering the Chaos Marine backwards, and crumpling him to the floor. As he fell, he held on to his sword, pulling it clear of the Ork's body, and then he attempted to parry Shakgul's next attack as the Ork leapt at the prone figure, using his power-claw to try to pin the man to the ground. The fallen Astartes was forced to use both hands to withstand the ferocity of the attack, and scrambled clear, spinning in a semi-circle, smashing the hilt into Shakgul's face, smashing a tusk-like tooth. The Ork grabbed the Chaos Marine again, driving his knee into his midriff, crushing and cracking the power armour with the force of the impact; blood began to ooze from the cracks in the armour. The Chaos Marine forced himself clear, thrusting his sword out as Shakgul charged again, and the Ork ran right onto the blade, grunting with pain. Using the momentum of the attack, the enemy commander flicked the Ork from his blade, and staggered clear, before advancing on the prone Ork. The enemy army cheered and hooted in victory, but the battle was not over; Shakgul drew another blade, and slashed out at his enemy's legs. The Chaos Marine rolled clear before swinging his blade in a huge arc, beheading the unfortunate Kolonel.

This time the enemy ranks roars of triumph were justified as their obviously wounded commander picked up Shakgul's head, and slowly limped back to his lines. There was a stunned silence for the rest of the Orks, and they looked at each other, with what passed for calculating expressions on their faces. Suddenly Shakgul's aides and his pet squig exploded into gobbets of gore, as the other Orks paid them back for years of torment.

Realising what was about to happen, Castagir shouted in Orkish "Whoever kills the spiky humie is the new Boss!"

But it was too late, the Orks began to fight each other, and a dozen different voices could be heard claiming to be the Boss. Hartek realised that there was no chance of gaining control of the mob, and after a suggestion from Major Kimenth ordered the humans to withdraw another twenty to thirty metres, following the reasoning that the enemy forces would need to advance through the fighting Orks, who would not be overly choosy about who they fought, so they might still prove useful in the coming battle.

Over the sound of the Orks bickering and fighting the humans heard the enemy commander bellow "To battle!" and his army began a rumbling advance towards the waiting forces of House Dureen.

Suddenly, the ground shook as the titan took a step forward, and Castagir prepared to respond spinning up the turbines on his jump pack.

End of Segment

Wow, You guys in in for a tough scrap. I'd be shitting bricks right now if I was there!

I say shoot the champion with a las cannon.

Fingers crossed for Castagar.

So Castagar failed?

I recall Marvin saying they were having a couple of weeks off. I'm looking forward to the next installment and finding out how Castagar's attempt to peel a titan goes.

Hi Guys!

Our first session after the break is tomorrow (14/09/2011) so expect the write up within a week of that.

Castagir has been working through his options in the break

As requested!!!

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: SQUAT WORLD, UNIDENTIFIED SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

The assault began with an exchange of vehicle fire, and wicked green lightning reached across the battlefield, coalescing on friendly vehicles and infantry units, scorching and burning them. Ammunition cooked off as armour, and people died adding to the carnage; the screams of the wounded and dying punctuated the smoke that began to cloud the battlefield. The fighting soon reached the bickering Orks, who had been preoccupied with their own squabble; dozens of greenskins lay dead, but they were still screening House Dureen troops from the worst ravages of heavy weapons fire at that point in the line, however, this was ended by a massive, oversized shell which impacted in the midst of the xenos killing dozens more, but even then the survivors continued to fight amongst themselves; more than one Ork was seen beating another with its own severed limb.

As more of the Orks were cut down, some turned and ran, looking to get clear of the battlefield, and one of Kolonel Shakgul's aides, Private Snitch, was seen to reach safety; he turned and gesticulated at the human soldiers, before turning to run again. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge, spike collared red daemonic beast, all claws and teeth ripped through reality, grabbed the unfortunate Private Snitch, and disappeared once again, dragging the screaming greenskin into the warp. It soon became clear as other Orks ran, that any that broke the defined boundaries of the battlefield met a similar fate.

The artillery and armour of House Dureen continued to rain explosive death on the heretical hordes, and the enemy continued to return fire; vehicles exploded and men and women died, but as the enemy advanced, the professional and well disciplined troops held their positions steadied by the calm voice of the Rogue Trader Regent. Suddenly the titan leapt forward, moving with surprising grace and elegance for a machine of such size. It swerved around incoming fire, ducking to avoid a salvo from the Basilisk battery and began to advance at some speed, carefully stepping around the infantry concentrations. Its movements sent a strange vibration through the House Dureen troops, as waves of nausea swept over people, but a void shield flared and collapsed as the Basilisks finally locked its movement and hit it with concentrated fire. The return fire from the war machine shredded vehicles and infantry in return.

Brother Castagir burst from the House Dureen lines, activating his jump pack in short bursts, hopping in short random jumps, and he rapidly closed the distance between himself and his massive target. Small groups of heretics tried to block his route, but were cut down by bolt pistol and lightning claw, and soon the enemy learned to give the Deathwatch Marine a wide berth.

The surviving enemy armour and infantry poured forward, taking severe punishment from accurate fire, but some survived to reach close range, and a brutal short range fight ensued with the heroic House Dureen troops finally throwing them back and destroying them, but suffering heavy casualties themselves. All through the fight, the enemy General stood impassively, surrounded by his Chaos Marine bodyguards and standard bearer. When it seemed that the majority of the enemy force was destroyed, this small knot of enemy began to advance slowly cutting down any that tried to stand before them. The training and dedication of the House Dureen fighting forces shone the brightest here; first one, and then another of the renegade Astartes fell to their guns, and others were overwhelmed by units of men that swarmed over them and cut them to pieces, often at the cost of their own lives. Even so, the enemy survivors continued their advance towards the slope where Rogue Trader Regent Hartek was directing the battle, obviously intent on killing the Dureen Command Staff.

Major Kimenth turned to Lieutenant Commander Ivanov; "Sir, how do you feel about taking out their standard bearer. It might just piss them off..." She raised her Blackhammer shotgun, shrugged and continued. "Mine's a little too much up close and personal for that sort of work!"

Ivanov sighed, and then agreed. "At least we can make a hole for the Rogue Trader Regent to get to the enemy general! We'll have to gang up on the renegade Astartes though..."

The two officers edged forwards, using craters, rocks, and the noise and confusion of the battle to cover their advance. The soon found themselves within a few dozen metres of their target, and hunkered down in a rocky outcrop, as they discussed their next move.

Finally, Ivanov stood, and took a deliberate duellists stance and raised his pistol. He took careful aim and squeezed off a round at his target, and the standard bearer crumpled to the ground, a hole the size of a fist punched through his torso. As the standard fell, the surviving House Dureen troops roared their approval from their positions, but a huge, blue armoured figure spun towards Ivanov, and raised a heavy weapon, opening fire at the Lieutenant Commander who ducked back into cover as the rock splintered around him.

"I think we got their attention, Sir!" Iaris shouted above the sound of the incoming rounds.

Ivanov glared at her, and then turned his attention back towards his attacker, who had set himself up behind some cover. Ivanov groaned when he saw another huge figure emerge from the smoke, clearly heading for their position. This renegade Astartes was wearing power armour of an earlier variant, which was predominantly yellow, but there were patches of orange, deep reds and browns, giving the impression that it was constructed out of the flames of a furnace. He was armed with a bolt pistol and chain sword, and was laughing as he approached.

Castagir had closed to within a hundred metres of the enemy titan, when suddenly it accelerated towards the surviving House Dureen armour; he ignited his jump pack once again, and launched himself into a huge arc, attempting to pilot himself to land on the head of the machine. Suddenly, the titan reversed direction and changed its stance appearing to look directly at the airborne Space Marine. Shocked, Castagir immediately adjusted his flight, and taking evasive action at precisely the right time to avoid the hail of fire from the Vulcan Mega-bolters mounted on the massive war machine. The Marine then dodged back on target, attempting to touch down on the titan, but once again it shifted, and he found himself landing on the carapace just beyond the head of the machine, sliding as he did so. Immediately he activated the magboots in his armour to lock himself in position.

As he steadied himself, there was another flash of light as a second void shield collapsed having been hit hard again, and Castagir could feel the static energy roiling over his armour, which shut down for a brief second before whirring back to life. He immediately put all his superhuman strength, augmented by the power of his battle plate, and punched down with his lightning claws into the thick armour at his feet. Incredibly he punched through the ceramite and adamantium plate, and into the compartment beneath, however the holes that he tore were not big enough for him to gain entry, so he again used his super-human strength to peel back the damaged edges, enlarging the hole enough so he could drop through the gap and into the interior of the huge machine.

He found himself standing in the command chamber of the titan. The cabin was a rusted mess of controls and cogitators which seem flickering and sparking on and off, there was a sulphurous smell which even permeated the seals of his armour. The atmosphere was clammy and oppressive, and he could almost feel the corruption that had infected the might machine. As he looked around, Castagir could make out a wispy, green mist that settled in the corner of the chamber and five desiccated, cybernetically augmented corpses were sprawled in seats. Behind him was a ladder leading down, and on either side of the chamber were doors that seemed to lead to the weapon mounts in the arms of the titan, the passages clogged with the wasted, decayed remains of servitors. Finally, on the floor, he could see strange blasphemous runes etched into the metal; he tore his gaze from them as they hurt if he looked at them for too long. He resolved to use a krak grenade to disrupt the ring of runes, and was about to place and activate the grenade when he was interrupted.

A new figure appeared seemingly from nowhere, it had a ghostly pale pallor, and seemed to fade and flicker as though it was partially incorporeal, but it lunged at Brother Castagir with a combat blade screaming curses and insults Closer, Brother Castagir could make out the symbols of the ruinous powers carved into the creatures flesh.

The Astartes swayed to one side and evaded the wild attack, before rapidly striking back, but each time, the blades of the lightning claws passed through the figure as though it was not there, smashing the machinery behind his target. Cackling, the heretic attacked again, and Brother Castagir parried the attack, but the blade passed through the parry, and his battle plate, only solidifying when it made contact with his flesh, slashing across the Marine's ribs.

Realising that he could not hurt his enemy, Castagir twisted away, activating the krak grenade he had placed on the runic circle, and dove at the ladder at the back of the cabin, before sliding down the outer frame onto the level below.

Ivanov warned Iaris of the new threat rapidly closing on them, and was surprised to hear her muttering and banging the pommel of her Lathe blade against her shield; he quickly realised she was working herself into a battle rage preparing for the fight that was imminent.

Rocks began to slide and bounce around the two officers as the chainsword armed renegade Astartes jumped onto the pile behind which they were sheltering. The heard his laughter, distorted by the speakers on his helmet, and then he growled "Come out and die, weaklings!"

Ivanov rolled to one side and shifted his position, and then raised both his pistols and snapped off shots at the Chaos Marine as he came into sight; both rounds impacted on the approaching traitor, but the giant appeared not to even realise he had been hit. Major Kimenth screamed a challenge and threw herself from behind the rocks at the huge figure, evading the fire from the heavy weapons Chaos Marine which arced towards her as she moved. Suddenly her target turned to his companion and bellowed "My kill!" and the incoming fire stopped. The renegade in the flame coloured armour turned his attention back to Kimenth, and spoke again; "Goooooood!" She could almost see the smile, even though his face was hidden by a helmet.

Iaris closed the range and used the momentum of her attack and brought her Lathe blade around in an arc towards the traitors' body, but with inhuman speed he parried with his chainsword, forcing her backwards, and then he laughed at her efforts. Quickly the renegade followed up, bringing his chainsword in a flurry of chopping downward blows, underscoring the attack with his angry, taunting voice as he hissed "Die, worm!"

Desperately the Major got her blade between the strikes and her body, the first hit pushing her further back, and she ducked beneath his follow up. Ivanov realised that Kimenth was in trouble, and carefully raised on of his pistols shooting the giant in the head, but laughing, the renegade side-stepped the round and continued to prosecute his assault on the stumbling Major. A squad of infantry seeing the two officers being forced backwards turned and began to engage the heavy weapons Marine that had been tracking the hand to hand fighting with his weapon, forcing his attention away.

Suddenly, over the tactical vox channel, Rogue Trader Regent Hartek's voice could be heard; "That's it! Well done, keep them busy!" Hartek and a number of other infantry ran through the gap that had been forced in the wide defensive ring around the enemy general by the two officers and the infantry squad and made to engage the enemy commander.

Gritting her teeth, Iaris flung herself at the Marine again, and Ivanov realised that his shooting was having little impact on the giant, so, sighing, drew his power blade and joined Major Kimenth in the melee. For the next several minutes the three figures fought, exchanging blows; both Dureen officers took wounds, but midway through the fight the renegades chainsword was shattered by a desperate parry from Ivanov's power sword, and buoyed by this minor success the two heroic officers pressed their own attacks, landing numerous blows on their enemy, and soon the fallen Astartes was bleeding from a series of wounds. Finally Iaris stepped to one side and with an accurately placed blow decapitated their massive foe.

Roaring in anger, the heavy weapons Marine who had already dispatched the Dureen troopers that had attacked him, turned his heavy bolter on the Dureen officers, but Ivanov had anticipated this, and dived back into cover, dragging Kimenth with him. Unfortunately, he was not quite quick enough, and Major Kimenth's shield and armour on her left side were destroyed by the heavy impacts, and she was flung backwards, unconscious. Ivanov leaned out and pulled her back into the cover, leaving her protected in a crevice between two of the larger boulders. He took a deep breath, and rolled out of the cover once more and power blade drawn, began to charge, as fast as he could towards the heavy weapons Marine.

As Brother Castagir slid to the bottom of the ladder he found himself in a small room; in front of him was a rusted door, with a small window, through which he could see the sickly blue-green glow of the poorly maintained plasma reactor powering the titan. Overhead he heard the sharp report of the detonation of his placed krak grenade, and dust and flakes of rust fell from the ceiling. He glanced back at the ladder, and saw that his descent had effectively destroyed it; making a mental note that he would have to find a different method to escape from this new level, he threw his armoured bulk against the door in front of him, and it burst off its mounting and scattered across the floor under the power of his assault. Straining all his senses Castagir advanced towards the reactor.

As he moved, he took his last two krak grenades and set the timers for ten seconds, but as he was about to place them a large sphere of green mist coalesced next to the reactor, seemingly streaming out of the reactor itself. He immediately recognised the sphere as a more concentrated mass of the wispy green mist he had encountered in the chamber above, and fighting the strange oppressive sensation of waves of nausea that he had encountered in the room above, he did not pause, and darted forward, ignoring a strange whispered command to "Ssstopppp" that seemed to originate from within his own mind, he slapped both grenades onto the containment vessel before jumping back towards the ruined ladder. Ignoring another command to "Ssstopppp" he quickly activated his jump pack, allowing a short burst of power to take him back into the command chamber above.

As he landed in the room he bounded forwards and leapt for the hole he had torn in the carapace and used to enter the titan. Waiting for him was the ghostly figure that had attacked him previously; however, it had been joined by another, garbed in the manner of a Tech-Priest. Both attempted to stop him, and although Castagir managed to evade their grasping hands they did land blows with their strange weapons as he was dragging himself through the hole.

Suddenly from the reactor chamber there were two sharp reports as Castagir's grenades detonated, followed by a deeper, larger secondary explosion as the plasma reactor itself began to detonate, and the titan lurched to one side as the Deathwatch Marine pulled himself clear of the hole and activated the magboots in his armour.

Across the battlefield all eyes were drawn towards the staggering titan; the heavy weapons Marine that had been aiming at Ivanov as he charged glanced upwards as the shadow cast by the huge war machine settled over him. Ivanov saw the same and immediately changed the direction of his run attempting to get clear of the now falling titan as the scream of tortured metal and scrap-code binary screeched over the battlefield. He could see a crouching figure on top of the carapace, attempting to arrest a slide, and apparently riding the falling machine, and then with growing horror, he realised that the machine would also crash down on the area where Rogue Trader Hartek and the enemy general were trading blows.

End of Segment

MARVIN THE ARVN said:

AKA: Burn a Fate Point

Hi all,

Major Kilmenth, fate points are for those who plan to fail

All in all I think 4 fate points got burnt in that fight

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: SQUAT WORLD, UNIDENTIFIED SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

Rogue Trader Regent Hartek had been controlling the forces of House Dureen from his vantage point on the ridgeline. He was justifiably proud of the men and women under his command, but felt the losses they were suffering keenly; he kept reminding himself that they were sacrificing themselves to free the last of his people. Suddenly, his attention was drawn back to the present as one of the soldiers acting as his bodyguard spoke.

"Sir! Lieutenant Commander Ivanov and Major Kimenth have engaged the traitor Marines that project the enemy general! They've forced a hole in the defensive lines!"

Hartek nodded, and then grunted an order; "Watch my flank, keep the enemy off my back..."

As the man acknowledged the order Hartek set off at a run; angling through the smoke towards the huge traitor at the centre of the surviving enemy forces. He ducked as las-blasts and bolt rounds flew overhead, and rapidly closed the distance to his target, then he clambered onto a large rock, raised both his axes and bellowed a challenge at the heretic; "Your tyranny over this world ends today!"

The enemy general had seen Kilgrim approaching and had moved to intercept clearly relishing the thought of a new challenge. Closer, the Rogue Trader Regent could see the black and red of the Chaos Marine's armour was coated with layers of blood and gore, but beneath both the gore and the paint, he could make out other colours; as with Warmaster Viatax, these were predominantly yellow, with patches of orange, deep reds and browns, but he soon put this to the back of his mind as his enemy raised a huge, ornate chainsword, engraved with strange glyphs and sigils, that seemed to writhe and twist under his gaze.

The armoured figure gave off an aura of power and corruption, and as the two figures faced each other separated by perhaps twenty metres, and the distorted, amplified voice of the enemy warrior boomed across the space between them; "Well met, mutant!" He crashed his armoured gauntlet against his chest. "It is time I met a worthy foe on this damned blasted world!"

"The only thing you're going to meet on this world now is your death!" Hartek retorted. "Come and face the wrath of House Dureen!"

"Ahhh... The blood flows! This will be a fine battle indeed!" The figure seemed to be enjoying the confrontation.

Suddenly, the traitor dropped to one knee, plunging his chainsword into the ground, and began to mutter words that Hartek could not make out, but their tenor was unmistakably blasphemous. None the less the Rogue Trader Regent waited for his enemy to finish before leaping into the attack, bringing his Squat war-axe down in a devastating blow. The heretic blocked the blow with the chainsword, and with shock Hartek realised that rather than the chainsword struggling to withstand the power of his axe as was usually the case, the reverse was true; the power seemed to fluctuate and stutter over the axe blade, and a sulphurous smell permeated the air. Worse, the axe appeared heavily damaged with burns and gouges criss-crossing the blade, and an unnatural oily smoke curling from the marks.

Hartek carefully circled his opponent, who quickly attacked, shouting "Blood for the blood god! Kaxasius will take your skull and present it as a gift to the Skull Throne!"

The Rogue Trader Regent noted the name his enemy had called himself, and dodged and blocked the flurry of blows that his enemy aimed his way, giving the same in return, but both warriors were obviously skilled and neither landed a clean blow. Suddenly, Hartek spotted an opportunity, and brought his Squat war-axe round in a disembowelling arc, but watched with horror as his enemy blocked the attack and then saw his weapon shatter into shards of broken metal.

"You'll pay for that, scum!" Kilgrim growled.

He leapt back, dropping the smoking, broken haft of the axe, and swapped his power-axe from his off-hand to his main one before defending himself from the enemies counter blows. The combat seemed to settle into a rhythm of attack and counter attack, neither fighter gaining the upper hand. Suddenly, as the ground seemed to shake underfoot, Hartek penetrated his enemy's defences crashing his remaining power axe down on the Chaos Marine's head, shattering his helm and driving him backwards and onto the ground. His helmet gone, a snarling face was revealed; the flesh old, and leathery, traced with ancient scars and a blasphemous rune that seemed to be carved into the skin itself. His teeth were pointed and sharpened, and rapidly coagulating blood sheeted down one side of his head, and poured over the gorget an over his armour.

The corrupted Astartes roared, leapt onto his feet again and struck again, and as Kilgrim was forced backwards the ground shook under foot once more, and he noticed a shadow that was cast over the immediate area and seemed to be growing. Distracted, Hartek allowed Kaxasius to strike home, cutting into his side, and then he gasped as he felt his life force being absorbed by the blade of his foe. He sagged, his vision dimming, and then he saw the broken haft of the Squat war-axe on the ground; he focussed on that and visions of his ancestors burst into his consciousness. Hartek bellowed his defiance, and he leapt at the enemy general, repeatedly stabbing at him with the broken haft that had found its way into his hand, finally thrusting it through his throat. The Chaos Commander, gurgled, and fell backwards, and as he hit the floor and his armour produced a ringing crash as Hartek jumped clear. Holding his injured side, Hartek gasped for breath, and then with a start saw the previously still form of Kaxasius begin to move, and begin to drag himself to his feet. Ignoring a strange roaring noise, and the ever expanding and darkening shadow that spread over him, Hartek screamed his defiance, and leapt at the slowly moving form splitting it open from neck to crotch, and the traitor fell still again.

Lieutenant Commander Ivanov saw the Rogue Trader Regent's final blow on the prone enemy general, and then saw the titan stumble and begin its final fall towards Hartek. At a loss of how to warn his commander as the vox transmissions seemed to be jammed in some way, he raised his pistol and snapped off a quick shot at the Rogue Trader Regent, the round ricocheting from his heavily armoured target, but it being a battlefield, it seemed that Kilgrim ignored it think it little more than a stray shot.

Realising that there was little else he could do, he turned and began to run clear of the impact area. The Heavy bolter armed renegade Astartes seemed taken aback by Ivanov's strange actions, and was distracted; it was not until it was too late that he noticed the staggering titan's descending foot, which crushed him into the ground.

Riding on the carapace of the titan, Brother Castagir attempted to time the triggering his jump pack so it would match the erratic movements of his gigantic mount, but just as it activated the titan lurched sideways and the Deathwatch Marine was thrown off course, impacting the ground fifty metres away and his form carved an impact channel into the earth and rocks. He lay still for a few seconds, before dragging himself slowly to his feet, gasping for breath. Turning back towards the falling war machine and saw Ivanov dragging Major Kimenth from the crevice she had been hidden in, and then saw the Rogue Trader Regent still standing over the prone enemy general. He grunted in satisfaction at the death of another traitor, but then he realised that Hartek may not get clear in time so he steeled himself, and activated his jump pack once more, and leapt towards the diminutive figure.

It was a wasted effort; Kilgrim had realised his danger, and had flung himself behind a rocky outcrop hoping for some cover as the titan finally succumbed and crashed to the ground. As wreckage tore clear of the huge machine Hartek's armour took the brunt of the impact; the ceramite plates cracked and shattered but apart from being bruised and battered his body suffered no ill effects. He was luckier than the enemy general who had survived the Rogue Trader Regent's final blow, and once again was attempting to get to his feet but as he raised himself to his elbows was crushed by the immense falling weight. Hartek rolled clear and ran to catch up with Ivanov and Kimenth. Ivanov heard the distinctive sounds of a plasma reactor overloading, something all voidsmen had learned to recognise and fear and he and Hartek redoubled their efforts to drag Kimenth clear, shouting warnings to any left alive to hear them.

As Brother Castagir jumped towards the trio plasma began to vent from the destroyed titan, and then the hull seemed to expand and burst like a huge balloon as an explosion rumbled through the fallen Warhound. Chunks of wreckage spiralled out from the blast, and Castagir made a desperate effort to avoid them, but was caught by a piece that smashed him to the ground beyond the ridge from which the Rogue Trader Regent had initially watched the battle. He lay motionless where he impacted.

Hartek and Ivanov dragging the still unconscious Kimenth saw Brother Castagir's uncontrolled flight overhead as they struggled to the high ground to avoid the roiling plasma. As they surveyed the blasted battlefield they watched the plasma scour it clear of many of the bodies that had fallen, and a number of the few still living, before it began to drain into the earth.

Hartek began to laugh quietly, a laugh that touched on the edge of hysteria, which then became a full bodied roar of laughter, and Ivanov, seemingly unable to help himself joined him. As they did so Hartek noticed a large chainsword embedded into the ground at the foot of the ridge, he recognised it as the one being wielded by General Kaxasius. Spotting a rapidly draining plasma pool, he picked it up, raising it high to throw it into the plasma when he heard a whispering voice in his head;

"Weeee caaaan leeeead yooour peeeeople baaaack toooo glooory! Baaaack toooo their riiiightful plaaaaace iiin the gaaalaaaaxy! Togetheeeer weeee caaaan conqueeeer the otheeeer raaaaccccesss. The bloooood willlll flowwwww!"

He could feel the blade purring, and the power it gave him. He paused, and spoke, quietly. "Who says I need you to help me do that?" Then he hurled the weapon into the shrinking pool of plasma and watched it dissolve.

As he tore his eyes away from the blasphemous weapon, he saw Castagir join the others on the ridge, his armour was battered and cracked, and the Marine was moving carefully, but Hartek knew that no one else could have survived the damage the Astartes had taken; he now knew firsthand how difficult a Space Marine was to kill. As he looked round, he saw a number of figures emerging from cover, and eventually twelve surviving soldiers of House Dureen joined their leaders on the ridgeline. Suddenly, as though a switch had been flicked, the oppressive force that had been felt by all on the battlefield seemed to drift away, but all the survivors thought that they could hear a quiet laughter...

Major Kimenth's eyes fluttered open, and she carefully sat up, took in her surroundings and asked, "Did we win?" Hartek and Ivanov started to laugh again, before Ivanov summoned gun-cutters from the ships in orbit.

The survivors returned to His Undying Will, and Castagir took Major Kimenth, and the surviving troops to the medicae chambers, and once he was satisfied that all were being properly cared for, he allowed himself to be treated too. As he entered the chambers, Major Kimenth was laying in a bed, a number of medicae technicians monitoring her carefully. She glanced over at the taciturn Marine, now out of his armour, shocked at the amount of damage he had taken, then quietly she began to speak;

"I never thought I'd ever see anything that truly challenged a Space Marine..."

Castagir shrugged, and Iaris attempted a shrug by way of reply, but winced as daggers of pain lanced through her body, and continued to speak; "I once saw a Battle Brother stand against a horde of warp beasts bare handed... Granted he was bare handed because they had eaten all his weapons, but he still won..."

Castagir finally spoke; "We tend to do that..."

Major Kimenth nodded, thoughtfully. "He was one of the few men who I can genuinely say saved my life!"

"It is our calling. Our duty. To stand where others cannot." The Astartes voice was strangely soft. "Did this Battle Brother share his name with you?"

"Brother Sergeant Agamoor."

Iaris was surprised by Castagir's reaction; he smiled a smile of genuine warmth. "A fine warrior. I know him well and have fought alongside him for several years. He is an example for us all to follow."

"He was certainly far better than the idiots I got landed with..." Iaris muttered.

"We do not always get to choose those that we have to fight alongside..." Mused Brother Castagir, and then he fell silent once more.

Hartek and Ivanov had headed to the bridge, and within half an hour the enemy contacted Hartek confirming that all prisoners would be released within twelve standard hours; they kept their word, and dozens of huge saviour pods packed with the released Squats were dropped into the void for the vessels of House Dureen to retrieve.

The Rogue Trader Regent opened a vox channel to the enemy flagship; "This is Rogue Trader Regent of House Dureen. You have met the terms of our agreement. Now leave my system!"

There was a pause, and then a familiar figure appeared; "This is Warmaster Viatax, a good battle indeed! Until next time. I will enjoy our next battle!"

The connection was cut, and the eight surviving ships of the enemy fleet began to transit to their jump point.

The battle had be won; all enemy forces had been destroyed, including a dozen fallen Astartes, a daemon weapon, and a titan, and a world had been freed, but at a huge cost. Kilgrim knew that hundreds more names would need to be added to the wall of heroes when he returned to the Footfall system and Asteroid Base Alpha.

After ensuring the safety of the rescued Squats, Hartek allowed the chirurgeons to treat his own wounds, and then he returned to the planet to meet the Squats once more, accompanying the first of the released prisoners. He was greeted at the landing field by Gartek Feindhammer; the Squat roared with delight when Kilgrim disembarked from the first gun-cutter and embraced him, slapping him on his back. He led him away into the stronghold taking him to meet the Council of Ancestors, and as they walked past the population cheered for the Rogue Trader Regent, calling out his name and wanting to shake his hand. Songs to the Ancestors were ringing out in the streets and Kilgrim advanced slowly and imperiously between the masses of squats thronging the thoroughfares. When they reached the sector of the strong hold that held the Palace his bodyguards were instructed to wait outside; they looked about to protest, until Kilgrim gave a small shake of his head, so they took positions by the door, and Gartek and Kilgrim entered the council wonderfully constructed building.

The oldest of the Living Ancestors was sitting on the huge throne in the centre of the council chamber, and this time the room was filled with other elderly Squats; family, Guild, and Stronghold leaders, and the watched Hartek with expressionless eyes. Gartek stopped in front of the throne and kneeled, as did the other Squats in the chamber. Hartek, seeing himself as the leader of the Dureen Dynasty, rather than a subservient returning prodigal son, remained standing much to the displeasure of some of the more conservative Squats present.

"Kneel for the Ancestor!" Gartek hissed. "It's law!"

Hartek smiled and approached the throne, and greeted the Ancestor politely and with respect. The ancient abhuman chuckled, and motioned for all the others to rise, and Hartek was aware of the murmurs of disapproval spreading throughout the others in the chamber. The Ancestor himself did not seem to mind, and chuckled again, before speaking.

"Fiery this one! Much fire! I remember those days, young and proud...!" He chuckled again, before continuing. "Our hold owes you a great debt. Your actions will be written into the Book of Deeds, and your name remembered for ever by our people. We have much to talk about. Walk with me..."

The Ancestor struggled down out of the throne, and using his staff to support himself, led Kilgrim around the Stronghold again, sometimes revisiting the places they had been before, sometimes Kilgrim found himself in an area he had not visited previously. He did notice, however, that the Ancestors guards were standing closer than they had previously done. A number of other Lords and leaders followed at a distance.

"What do you plan to do now?" The Ancestor questioned

Kilgrim paused before answering and then gestured at the statues and stone surrounding them. "This you see around us, it's not enough. I came to this world to find the last of our people all but crushed into the dirt. Can we allow the light of our people to go out in the Universe? It is not enough, I say!"

The Ancestor looked amused. "And what do you think we should do?"

"Rebuild." Hartek shrugged. "I have the beginnings of a force that will be a reckoning in this sector of space. If my people would join with me we can rebuild, spread out onto different worlds, to find security in numbers. If I leave this place as I found it, the same thing that has just happened will happen again..."

The Ancestor agreed, and added "We all heard them threatening to come back."

"And when they do, we must be ready for them, or have gone elsewhere." Interjected the Rogue Trader Regent. "I can provide the resources of my house, but I need skilled manpower..."

The Ancestor laughed again. "Loyal to who?"

Hartek simply raised an eyebrow, and the Ancestor laughed again, before agreeing that for the sake of their race they needed to relocate to somewhere new, somewhere safer. "Many of the people will not want to go. They are stubborn, and stuck in their ways..." He cautioned.

"Then it is for great men to show them the way forward!"

"I don't actually rule here..." The Ancestor chuckled again. "They listen to me, but it is the Council that makes the decisions..." He paused. "You must join me for a meeting with them."

The Council seemed to consist of eleven of the disapproving elderly Squats that had been at the first meeting, and was chaired by the Ancestor. They discussed the options available to them, and argued as only Squats can. The Rogue Trader Regent was kept at the fringe of the room with Gartek, who whispered introductions as each of the council members spoke, keeping Kilgrim informed of their affiliations and personality traits. The meeting broke up with not much having been decided, although Hartek felt that he had learned much about the characters of those involved. There was a spare seat on the Council, and Hartek learned that its occupant had been killed during the assault on one of the other strongholds and his kin had been unable to agree as to who should take his place; he eyed that seat thoughtfully.

Further meetings took place, and it was agreed to retrieve the ancient vessels that had brought the Squats to their current world, and prepare them for future use. When pressed, the council members identified the vessels as Lodin's Path, a massive Universe Class Mass Conveyor that required a crew of 60,000, but could transfer up to half a million passengers and Titan class vehicles, and Grifner's Hammer a Conquest Class Star Galleon, a Cruiser class ship that required a crew of 65,000. After further research, it was discovered that these unfamiliar classes of vessel were ancient; their keels were probably laid down at the start of the Imperium, indeed legend suggested that the two classes were created on the orders of the Emperor himself.

After several days and weeks of council meetings, and a concerted diplomatic effort from both House Dureen and the Ancestor, it was decided that Hartek be offered the vacant seat on the Council, but only if he swore oaths and became a member of the Stronghold, something he readily agreed to. Slowly, the differing factions began to see the sense of the proposed movement plan, and Hartek passed on the data of the harsh mining world they had removed the humans from in the Saphirus System; this seemed to pique the interest of the hardy Squats. All the while, a census was being taken, and taking into consideration the surviving inhabitants of the world and the released prisoners, there were over 350,000 Squats to relocate. Hartek immediately set his recruiters to work, calling many to the banner of House Dureen, a few to serve as crew, and more to form their own military formations. Overall, the recruits were very technically competent.

The time was not wasted by the other members of House Dureen, and they began to dispense aid to those in need, and vid-casts depicting the work of the Dynasty on Damaris and elsewhere were broadcast. Brother Castagir continued to train the House troops, taking advantage of the harsh conditions, and a number of the Squat formations accepted the invitations to train alongside the human soldiers. Brother Castagir himself was met with simple, honest, interest rather than the awe that Imperial citizens usually showed him. He was somewhat relieved that this was the case as he was uncomfortable with the mindless devotion that he sometimes received.

Lieutenant Commander Ivanov oversaw the repairs to the damaged Dureen ships, and involved himself in the refit of the two Squat vessels, giving himself the opportunity to familiarise himself with their classes and capabilities, never having encountered their like before. Once the refits were completed, the Squats began to dismantle everything of value on the planet, and load them onto the ships and prepare them for the coming journey. Finally, he instigated a mass training session to make the Squats competent voidsmen, giving them the capabilities to crew their own vessels, and serve aboard the ships of House Dureen.

As the gun-cutters and shuttles began to ferry people and equipment to the waiting ships, Hartek could not help but keep an eye open for the female he had seen in the vid-broadcast from the slaver raid, but so far he had been unable to identify her. With a heavy heart he returned his focus to the job at hand.

End of Segment

Hi all,

The story continues

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: ASTEROID BASE ALPHA, FOOTFALL SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

As negotiations and discussions with the Squats concluded, Ivanov used the time to purge any sign of the Orks from the xenos containment chambers aboard the Grand Cruiser, and after several hours of work, it was as though they had never been there; the few remaining bodies, and signs of habitation were dumped into the void. Pleased to finally be rid of the xenos that he clearly hated, Ivanov returned to the Furnace of Redemption like a man renewed.

The return trip through the warp was somewhat less eventful than the journey out some six months previously; the ships detected and bypassed a massive space-hulk adrift in the warp; its location was plotted for future reference and the vessels moved on. The significant difference on this trip was in addition to His Undying Will and the Furnace of Redemption, the ancient Squat vessels, Grifner's Hammer and Lodin's Path along with their hastily retrained abhuman crews followed on.

Although not natural voidsmen, it surprised Ivanov and his training teams just how quickly the Squats adapted to the technicalities of crewing star-ships, and he was confident that they would perform their duties more than adequately; indeed, several thousand of the Squats opted to transfer directly to House Dureen and found berths on the Grand Cruiser and Frigate. Their gruff, no-nonsense approach won them friends quickly amongst the human crew.

The two Squat vessels were even more impressive internally than they were externally; they were crammed with artefacts and the history of the Squat people, all that had been retrieved during their initial run when their civilisations had been destroyed was aboard, and were again being transported to safety.

Hartek, somewhat disappointed by some of the reactions of the pragmatic Squats to the heroics of House Dureen in securing their future had taken to his cabin, and left the running of the exodus to the command staff. Brother Castagir, similarly seeing the journey as something best left to the representatives of House Dureen continued to run his training sessions for the military forces of the house, and any of the Squats who wished to join, but otherwise spent much of his time in the Temple Shrine on the Grand Cruiser.

Also noticeable was the flurry of encrypted astropathic messages that the Astartes sent to a number of different recipients. Although, despite the best efforts of this Adept to investigate further, the contents of the majority of the messages remained secret, the destination headers were recognised as an Inquisitor, a Deathwatch Watch Commander, and an Adeptus Astartes Chapter Master.

Editorial note: I am unsure what such high level communiqués might portend, however, I cannot help but worry somewhat. However, during my investigations I was able to discover another message which Brother Castagir seemed unconcerned whether outsiders saw, and had sent with minimal encryption.

The text of this message read;

+++ Inquisitorial Report of Deathwatch Kill-Marine Castagir Arl, currently on detachment to House Dureen in the Koronus Expanse.

Report 769-Alpha-87-Bravo-Victor-3.

I had high hopes for the faithful on the ship when the Missionary arrived; however, it appears that the lowest bilge rats spend more time in the temple-shrine than she does. Having uncovered additional information with regards to her true identity and background, I believe that the history of the subject will require further examination by the Adepts based at Footfall. I would recommend no further action be taken, at least for the moment, as she exhibits training commonly experienced in the Adeptus Arbites, and has proved loyal to humanity and the God-Emperor. Further, she seems driven to make up for mistakes in her previous identity; however, to relax vigilance is to invite disaster as we all know to our cost. +++

I can only assume that the missionary that the Brother refers to is Major Iaris Kimenth, and interestingly this message raises as many questions about the presence of the Astartes as it does Major Kimenth's origins. M.H.

End of editorial note.

The convey of ships arrived in the Saphirus System, with the intention of leaving a team of the Squats on the ice world which the intention was for them to settle and mine, and to re-establish links with the xenos and House Dureen representatives that inhabited Dropas. The Squats seemed very interested by their potential new home, and agreed to settle in large numbers there, as well as seeing the sense in the Rogue Trader Regent's suggestion that significant but small colonies of their people be sent to settle on each of the worlds in that made up the Dureen Trading Federation. As there were regular trading and supply runs between the worlds, with Footfall at the core, the abhumans would be able to travel easily between each of their colonies.

On Dropas Word Bringer Korvak had brought almost all the city states under central control and as a result, the gem collecting and farming industries had become more effective, however, three of the smaller cities still held out and were running an insurgency against the central control. Having no patience for this Hartek dealt with the obstruction by way of orbital bombardment, and the insurgency was quickly ended with two of the settlements destroyed and the third surrendered. Pleased by the rapid ending to the threat to her authority, Korvak rapidly agreed to become a full member of the Dureen Federation, and received additional arms and vehicles in return. A number of the Squats, attracted by the plentiful gemstones and ores on the world requested and received permission to settle and exploit the resources here.

Pleased with the outcome of the brief visit Hartek ordered the ships to return to Footfall, and the four vessels continued their journey.

The returned Dureen vessels were received with much fanfare at the Asteroid Base in Footfall, and the Squats were met with some interest even from the jaded, wider population of Footfall. The Squats themselves spent the next few months in wonder, discovering more about the Koronus Expanse and the Imperium as a whole, and indeed investigating House Dureen before they would consider becoming more involved with the Dynasty. House Dureen itself completed the recruitment process to completely crew the Grand Cruiser, and to replace those personnel lost in battle. Brother Castagir disappeared into the collection of asteroids stating that he would return once he had completed his "Chapter business" Ivanov and Kimenth focussed their time on training, recruiting and re-equipping their forces, something that took on a new urgency when the refitted Light Cruiser, the Scourge of Tyrants was delivered, ready for service, and resplendent in House Dureen colours.

Interestingly enough, Major Kimenth who was still being watched by operatives under the direct command of the Rogue Trader Regent, was seen in talks with another Rogue Trader, a man named Andreas Marsheck. The prevailing opinion of Marsheck was that he was best described as a big game and xenos hunter who just happened to run a dynasty too. Perhaps of more interest was the fact that it was this Rogue Trader who reported the death of a certain Phoebea Kelter to the Inquisition, after his ship was in the vicinity of a world that was infested by daemons and then sucked into the warp. Several months later, Iaris Kimenth arrived in Footfall aboard that very same ship, and joined the Dureen Dynasty.

It appeared that she was using her contacts to recruit trained voidsmen; however, Hartek observed that the more he found out about the Major, the less he felt he actually knew.

The Rogue Trader Regent busied himself with getting himself up to date with the comings of goings of his rivals, and going through wider intelligence reports from both the Koronus Expanse and the Calixis Sector. He had a number of meetings with his contacts and colleagues in Footfall. While he had been away, the members of the Chorda and Winterscale Dynasties had had their first open military engagement, with Winterscale coming out on top, although he suffered serious casualties himself, and more Rogue Traders were signing up to support one side or the other; each Dynasty now had forces positioned in half a dozen systems. Rumours had begun to surface that Baron Djanko Scourge was still alive, and had been spotted with a new vessel in the sub-sector of the Koronus Expanse known as the Accursed Demesne. Hartek grunted in surprise at this, and made a mental note to make sure the man was actually dead next time their paths crossed. Hadarek Fel was currently in Footfall, at his base, the Gates of Fel. He had stayed clear of the Chorda, Winterscale conflict, and had generally kept a low profile.

Worryingly, the major rumours from the Malfian Sub-Sector of the Calixis Sector seemed to centre on a story that a xenos fleet had attacked and completely over-run a world called Cindar after several weeks of fierce fighting. On his return, Brother Castagir was able to confirm this; obviously he had his own sources of information. His simple phrase that the "Leading edge of a Tyranid Hive Fleet made contact with the world, and stripped it of all life in less than ten standard weeks. It will not be the last planet lost..." chilled the blood of the command staff. When he was prompted by one disbelieving Adept as to what evidence he could provide, the pict- and vid-captures he played back into the holo-tank silenced all further questioning.

Captain Perez of The Revenge reported that all the worlds signed up to the Dureen Federation appeared to be stable, and that trade was continuing well, so it looked as though things were going well for the Dynasty. Rather than sitting idle, Hartek finally arranged to meet the representative of the Chorda Rogue Trader Dynasty and continue the discussions that had been begun prior to him leaving for Orrema, over ten months previously.

Hartek invited Lady Chorda's Ambassadorial representative onto Asteroid Base Alpha, and the man looked knowledgeable and wise, but also had the dangerous gleam in his eyes that Hartek remembered from the initial meeting with Lady Chorda herself. He watched his arrival in the docking bay and could not help but smile when he saw the man had surrounded himself with a six cybernetically enhanced bodyguards who looked like they were combat veterans. The man was obviously looking to intimidate those that greeted him, and possibly even Hartek himself. Shaking his head, the Rogue Trader Regent made a quick call on the internal vox-network and settled down into his seat in the formal grand chamber of the base to await the arrivals.

By the time the visitors were shown into the chamber, the recipient of the short vox-call was already there; Brother Castagir dressed in full battle plate was standing to one side in the shadows. As the formal greetings were being exchanged, Castagir stepped to Hartek's side and the Rogue Trader Regent struggled to suppress the smile that threatened to crease his features at the looks of shock, awe and fear that flashed onto his visitors faces. The Space Marine simply nodded politely.

Hartek apologised for the fact that he had been forced to delay this meeting for so long; citing the needs of running the Dynasty, and the Chorda representative smiled ingratiatingly indicating that it was understood that powerful people tend to be busy people.

Small talk dealt with, they got on with the business at hand. Hartek proposed an alliance with House Chorda; Chorda would supply manpower to crew The Scourge of Tyrants, who would transfer to the Dureen Dynasty, and House Dureen would support House Chorda in the upcoming conflict. However, Hartek made it clear that "House Dureen will not be a cats-paw or a pawn. We enter this agreement as partners and as nothing less."

The Ambassador smiled again. "As my Lady has already said, she expects you to be a partner; we already have assets in place to act as the others. We need the real partners to be involved now, and that is where you come in..."

Between them they ironed out the details, and it was agreed that the forces of House Dureen would begin strikes against the assets of Winterscale and his allies in the next few months.

An astropathic message arrived for Brother Castagir who disappeared into Footfall once more, and Hartek who was ready to move after the alliance with Lady Chorda was finally agreed, was left frustrated. Castagir would not divulge the nature of his duty that took him away, but promised intelligence that would prove beneficial in the upcoming conflict.

The Rogue Trader Regent spent some time with his abhuman brethren. He discovered that they had finished their investigations into House Dureen, the past actions of the Dynasty, and the worlds which the Rogue Trader Regent had signed into the Federation of Planets. They evidently liked what they saw as even those Elders who had not immediately warmed to Kilgrim agreed to his plan for them to settle the ice world in the Saphirus System, and to place significant colonies on the other planets where House Dureen had influence; they were even welcomed on Lele, to enable them to undertake the process of technology transfers which the old Enginseer Prime, Nicander Hak had began on his only visit to that world. The obvious mistrust seemed to have faded and all involved looked forward to a successful and profitable future.

Just as it appeared that House Dureen was ready to move against Winterscale, Brother Castagir returned to the asteroid base, however, he had an unwelcome shadow; Inquisitor Atellus, flanked by a squad of Imperial Stormtroopers.

The Inquisitor went before Hartek, who did little to mask his displeasure, and spoke briefly;

"Greetings Rogue Trader. It's been a long time..."

"Indeed." Hartek agreed, a sarcastic tone to his voice. "It seems like, oooh, days at least... To what do we owe this... This?"

Atellus shrugged. "I am afraid I am here on business. I have been sent to inform you that the Governor has called in all outlying forces to Malfi to defend against the new xenos threat... And that includes you."

"We were to have ten years to locate weapons and forces to defend the Sector." Hartek pointed out. "We have not had half that..."

The Inquisitor nodded slowly. "Perhaps the Tyranids did not get the message." He withdrew a dataslate from his robes. "The xenos fleet is significant, and is heading towards Malfi, and..." Here he glanced at Brother Castagir, "The Meltorn system."

The Deathwatch Marine acknowledged the statement with a shrug. "My home system. But we go beyond trivialities such as that when we become Astartes."

"I have three effective warships, what use will they be against such a foe?" Hartek interjected.

Atellus shrugged. "Yes. Your three. Plus another three, plus another three, plus another three, plus another three, plus another three... It all adds up... Anyway, I thought you had more than three?"

"I do. But they're not really combat worthy." Hartek paused. "Were I to commit my major warships, I would need to leave Captain Perez and The Revenge here to protect the assets of the House. A single raider would not make a huge difference to our fleet." The Rogue Trader paused again. "It's not as if I have much choice is it?"

"We all have choices!" Atellus laughed.

"Yes. But if I were to make the "wrong" one, you, or the Inquisition would not likely let me forget such an action would you?"

Again, Atellus laughed. "But I knew you would do your duty, so I did not feel that I would need to make such a point..."

Hartek nodded slowly. "One condition..."

"I'm listening." Atellus smiled.

"The House. There may have been some irregularities in the line of succession. I would like the full Warrant to be signed over to my name, officially and incontrovertibly. With the option of me naming my own successor to the post."

"Done!" The Inquisitor waved the condition away.

"Then I shall prepare my House for war!"

As three House Dureen ships prepared to leave Footfall again, His Undying Will, The Scourge of Tyrants, and the Furnace of Redemption were joined by the Squat warship, Grifner's Hammer; the abhumans were hungry for revenge against the foul xenos that had nearly destroyed their race those centuries previously.

End of Segment

WTF? Here I am finally expecting Hartek to get some 'quality personal time' and what, half a year is narrated and we're going to war to save Calixis while supposedly engaging in a secret war on the side!

Way to shake it up.

Marvin, I've been looking for more Rogue Traders to populate my universe with. Mind if I steal Hartek and House Dureen?

Zakalwe - Thanks for the kind words and as you might remember the original reason for the issue of the warrant of trade was to create forces or find a weapon that could help against the nids. I think it did take a couple of the pc's off guard and they dont want to face the nids but Hartek made the decision to go back to secure his line and grip on the dynasty. In my game Squat woman have life partners and courting can take decades so it waits to be seen if Hartek decides if its worth the effort.

Thrantor - Although he is Dr V's creation I cant imagine he would have any issues with you using him so go ahead an try to keep that little devil under control. If you need stats send me a pm and i'll dig them out.

MARVIN THE ARVN said:

Might be hard to do. My players so far aren't very snap up every opportunity for profit that they can be. I think Hartek might just run rings around them.

Thrantor said:

Dont worry, he only has little legs so they should be able to out run him

Everyone moves slower than Hartek after he lops their legs off..

Zebuxoruk - Very true, hence the reason why they need more legs.

All,

PFA our latest writeup.

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE EXTRACTION ADVENTURE IN THE DEATHWATCH RULEBOOK

Segment taken from the official history of the Dureen Rogue Trader Dynasty

CURRENT LOCATION: ASTEROID BASE ALPHA, FOOTFALL SYSTEM, THE CAULDRON

Preliminary note: The following information has been attained by a combination of first hand observation, after action reports and official intelligence sources. It is my honour to record the following events for the official record of House Dureen.

Glory be to the God-Emperor of the Imperium of Mankind, and to House Dureen. My Lords, I am in perpetuity your faithful servant. Adept Michaelus Helix

As the last of the new members of crew came aboard the ships and final preparations were made to depart the system, Rogue Trader Regent Hartek broadcast a stirring speech to all members of House Dureen. It was received well, but Hartek had saved the biggest surprise to the end; he announced that he had liquidated a significant proportion of the holdings of the Dynasty in order to purchase additional warships. These would be arriving at Asteroid Base Alpha in the next few days, and the Rogue Trader Regent asked that all made their crews welcome. The announcement was met with some celebration; those who served the House recognised it of a statement of intent, and a sign of how seriously the Rogue Trader Regent was taking his oath to aid the Calixis Sector.

Even though they had been warned to expect the new vessels, people were still shocked when a full Squadron of Cobra Class Destroyers arrived in system. The four vessels, named the Aelinos Eternus, the Ex Caelum, the Flamma Odii and the Vindicta Caeli formed up along the flank of the Grand Cruiser, and their Captains and command staff came aboard to be sworn into the Dynasty. Such was the impact of the new arrivals that the voidsmen began to call the group of four destroyers Cobra Squadron Hartek.

Rogue Trader Hartek had taken some time to speak Bishop Arint, who had been lobbying to remove the Holy Artefact in his care from His Undying Will, and place it in safe keeping on Asteroid Base Alpha. He made it perfectly clear to the Bishop that he would not prevent him from relocating the Relic of Saint Drusus, and the Bishop looked relieved, however Hartek then added something more to the conversation;

"I will make it quite clear to the servants of this House and to the Imperial authorities generally that it was at your specific request that I removed the Relic."

The Bishop began to look nervous, and the Rogue Trader Regent continued. "They will know that you did not want a Relic of Holy Saint Drusus put at the head of a mighty Crusade to defend the Imperium of Man..."

Bishop Arint swallowed nervously. "Actually, now I've thought about it, I can't think of a better place for it to be than on the ship..."

"I suppose you have to ask yourself one thing..." Hartek smiled, "What would Saint Drusus do in such a circumstance? Would he stand proud and..."

"I think there's been a misunderstanding!" Arint hastily interrupted. "When I said leave it on the base, I only meant in the mean time. Only until we leave!"

Hartek smiled again. "Well, if you're sure that that's what the blessed Saint would have wanted..."

The Bishop spoke quickly. "Oh yes! Yes! I'm sure! And it's the least I can do to accompany you and the Relic on this Holy Crusade against the foul xenos!"

"I trust that that will be the basis of the sermons that will be broadcast to the fleet?" Hartek asked pointedly.

"Of course! Have faith in the Emperor, and the justice of the cause!" Bishop Arint smiled widely, and then looked relieved as Hartek nodded at him and walked away.

Several days later ship traffic around Footfall stopped to watch as the impressive fleet of eight warships slipped dock, and headed for the jump point at the edge of the system. Several of the more loyal organisations and individuals sent messages of goodwill to the flagship as the Dureen fleet passed by.

The Navigators reported that the Astronomicon was burning brightly, almost as though the Emperor had turned his attention to the Koronus Expanse and was personally guiding House Dureen on their journey. Indeed, the trip through the warp was both fast and uneventful; even the warp storms seemed subdued and two weeks later, the ships dropped out of orbit at Port Wander, the massive Imperial Star-Fortress that acted as the gateway between the Expanse and the Calixis Sector.

There were already a large number of ships waiting in holding patterns around the Star-Fortress, but the forces of House Dureen were by far the most powerful. Inquisitor Atellus contacted the Fortress command centre and quickly received clearance for the ships to approach and dock with the station.

The docks were a hive of activity, packed with a mass of people and war materiel, far busier than it had been when the Furnace of Redemption had passed through on the way into the Expanse some five years previously. It was clear that all were moving with a single aim; to equip for war before heading for the Calixis Sector. Brother Castagir joined the Rogue Trader Regent as he disembarked to arrange for final resupplies, and watched with some amusement as the over worked Adepts that were in charge of the docks struggled to keep control of the chaos that surrounded them. He had been at many similar staging areas prior to deploying into battle and enjoyed the familiar sensations of anticipation that were flowing through him.

Suddenly the Astartes noticed a woman in the uniform of a Precept-Marshall arguing animatedly with an Adept and a group of what looked to be some senior crew of a ship. He recognised her as one of the Imperial authorities present and decided to offer her any support he could. Hartek sighed, recognising the woman as Precept-Marshall Kyra Valkyran whom he had encountered on the way into the Expanse, remembering that the then Rogue Trader had been somewhat abrupt with her. He paused, sighed again, and then set off in pursuit of the Space Marine, finding the going surprisingly easy as people had already cleared a path for the seemingly oblivious Castagir. Hartek could not help but notice the looks of awe, fear and devotion on the faces of the Imperial citizenry that thronged the area; several people made the sign of the Aquila, and a number even fell to their knees as he passed by.

The Precept-Marshall had her back to the approaching Astartes but knew something unusual was happening as those she was arguing with fell silent and watched him warily, and the Adept even began to tremble slightly. She turned around and paused as her glare reached Castagir's power-armoured chest, and then she readjusted, slowly tilting her head upwards to look at his face.

Castagir had done his homework and studied the key personnel on Port Wander before disembarking, and quickly retrieved the name of the woman from his memory, before speaking in his deep voice; "Precept-Marshall Valkyran, is there some trouble here? Is there anything I may help with?"

She grunted, and looked about to answer when one of the voidsmen she had been arguing with looked at her and spoke. "You know what... It doesn't matter...!" With a last look at the Battle Brother he and his men shuffled away into the throng.

Valkyran snorted in apparent humour before responding; "It appears, Astartes, that you have already helped!"

"So it would seem. It cannot have been that important..." Castagir nodded. "I am pleased to meet you Precept-Marshall."

"And I you, Lord Asta..." Valkyran nodded her head as she spoke, but the Marine interrupted her before she could complete the honorific.

"Brother Castagir." He gave his name.

Valkyran nodded again, before speaking, her tiredness obvious. "And what can I do for you Lord... Brother Castagir?"

"I do not believe that I need waste your time Precept-Marshall. I saw a representative of the Imperial authorities in an argument, and it was my natural inclination to aid you in your discussions."

The woman looked surprised, and appeared to be taking a second, appraising look at the Astartes, before thanking him for his help, and then Castagir spoke again. "May I introduce you to Rogue Trader Regent Kilgrim Hartek?"

She turned her attention to the Squat standing almost in the shadow of the Space Marine, and a look of recognition flashed across her face. "Ah. Where's the other Rogue Trader?"

"He is no longer with us!" Hartek shrugged.

Valkyran raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a shame, isn't it...?"

Hartek chuckled.

"So what brings you here?" Valkyran asked.

Castagir spoke again. "We are transiting back to the Calixis Sector to do what we can against the xenos threat."

"Ah!" She exclaimed. "You travel with Inquisitor Atellus?"

"'With' is a very broad term!" Hartek protested. "We are alongside him, kind of. He travels on my ship... So I wouldn't go so far as to say 'with' per se..." He glanced round to see Inquisitor Atellus watching him with interest.

"Carry on Rogue Trader!" Atellus smiled. "They have answered the call from the Sector Governor, and are bringing their forces to battle."

Castagir fixed his gaze on the Inquisitor; "I did not need a call from the Governor to do my duty..." His voice had taken on a more threatening tone.

"Brother Castagir, I was not including you in that..." Atellus clarified. "Your loyalty to the Imperium is beyond doubt."

Castagir held his gaze for a few seconds longer, before nodding; however, it was Hartek's turn to look disgruntled, feeling that by extension of that logic, his own loyalty could be doubted.

Atellus perhaps sensed the annoyance, and spoke again, quickly. "I have business on the station. Don't leave without me!" Then he hurried away.

Hartek and Castagir bade farewell to the now smiling Precept-Marshall who hurried away to deal with further problems of her own. As they turned to move away themselves, Hartek gave another start of recognition, and then a broad smile split his face. Walking through the crowds was a tall figure, looking resplendent in the uniform of an Imperial Navy Captain, a stern look on her face as she observed the chaos around her. She paused to give orders to another Naval Officer, and then looked over as Kilgrim shouted "Captain Locke!"

She spent a few seconds looking for the source of the call, and then a smile flashed across her face and she strode towards Hartek. "Rogue Trader! A pleasure to see you again!"

"Captain Locke." Hartek was still smiling. "So they haven't thrown you out of any airlocks yet?"

Locke smiled again, this time it was more forced. Well, let's just say they weren't particularly happy, and I think it's fair to say that I won't be in command of a fleet any time soon... But they decided not to get rid of me in the end."

"Well, not having you in command of a fleet is the Imperium's loss." Hartek stated, in a tone that suggested he firmly believed it.

Locke nodded at the compliment, and spoke again. "It's probably for the best. I'd only go and do something else that they didn't want me to do. Again. And probably at the prompting of some dastardly Rogue Trader." The warmth returned to her smile, and she continued. "So, what brings you here?"

Serious again, Hartek answered. Probably the same as you. We're off to battle the Tyranids, and face certain death. Again."

"Yes, that is the same as me." She agreed. "But what is this mere Tyranid threat when compared to what we faced before? Eh!"

"Ah... The green tide!" Hartek chuckled. He then paused, and spoke again. "Might I introduce my current war-leader; Brother Castagir of the Deathwatch Astartes."

Locke turned to face the Space Marine, and bowed politely, a gesture that Brother Castagir returned.

"Captain Locke." The Captain formally introduced herself.

"Captain, Locke. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." Castagir replied. "I have read the after action reports from Damaris, the forces there fought well, and fought nobly against the xenos scum, I fear however, as formidable as they were, the Tyranids will prove a far more remorseless foe..."

Locke nodded her agreement. "If only we had more time..."

"That is always the way of war, is it not?" Castagir asked.

"Aye. With so much already going on, they choose now to strike." Locke sighed.

Castagir shrugged. "It is uncanny how they do that is it not?"

Locke smiled again. "But with the Rogue Trader with us, how can we lose?"

"Do you know where you have been assigned?" Castagir asked.

"I am travelling back with an Inquisitor Atellus." Locke answered.

"Ah. For our sins, and there are many, many indeed! We too are with Inquisitor Atellus!" Hartek laughed.

Locke nodded. "He has been busy recruiting in the Expanse. I hear he even has Blitz onboard!"

"That lunatic?" Hartek laughed "Excellent, Jeremiah is always interesting company!"

"Yes, I believe he left for Malfi a couple of weeks ago."

"Well, as we seem to be travelling together..." Hartek paused, and spoke again. "I was planning to hold a dinner for my Captains aboard my new flag ship. You are most welcome to join us Captain Locke."

Captain Locke nodded again. "Thank you Rogue Trader, I will look forward to it. Please send the details over to the Aegis, at least they let me keep command of the old girl!" She clicked her heels together and turned to leave as Brother Castagir crashed his armoured gauntlet to his chest in salute, making several nearby people jump in alarm.

The dinner that evening was superb, and a great success, a real esprit de corps was developing, and the presence of Captain Locke as a representative of the Imperial Navy seemed to impress on the newer Captains the reach and influence of the Dynasty they had just joined.

Locke's ship joined the Dureen fleet, as did half a dozen of the other ships that were waiting at Port Wander, and the fleet jumped together on the final leg of the journey to Malfi. Once again the Navigators reported that the Astronomicon was burning brightly and that the route was clear, clearly, the Emperor was still watching over the fleet of the righteous.

Major Kimenth had been doing her best to avoid Inquisitor Atellus, clearly uncomfortable in his presence, however, returning from the barracks where Kilgrim's Killers were housed she bumped into him in the corridor. She bowed her head, and quickly mumbled her apologies before trying to scramble away, and the Inquisitor paid little attention to her initially, but as she rounded a corner she glanced backwards to see Atellus watching her with a thoughtful, musing, look on his face. Her heart in her mouth she almost ran to the Rogue Traders office and barged straight in, without even pausing to knock.

Without pausing she shut the door and as Hartek looked up she began to speak quickly, an edge of hysteria to her voice. "Morning Sir! I'm originally from the Calixis Sector, I was born as Phoebea Kelter, I served as an Arbites and was later recruited into the Inquisition, but after the spectacular failing of a mission that led to a planet being sucked into the warp I decided not to return, and called in a favour from a Rogue Trader who reported me KIA and transported me to Footfall where I joined House Dureen. I thank you for the opportunity, and I want you to know that I've been loyal to you. I thought you should know the truth as it looks like we're all going to die!" She saluted, and spoke again quickly, "Thank you very much Sir!" and span on a heel and left the office.

Hartek, looking somewhat bemused, reached up and removed the in-ear headphones he was wearing, and the faint, tinny, sound of traditional Squat music could be heard in his office. He muttered to himself. "Sorry! What was that? Ah well... Very odd. I wonder if that was important..." Then he shrugged, replaced the headphones and leaned back in his chair again and closed his eyes, listening to the music of his people once more.

Brother Castagir was practicing attack routines in the ranges when a chime sounded in his helmet. He paused, realising that it signified an incoming message on the secure Deathwatch frequencies, so he stopped what he was doing and accepted the communication starting the decryption routines; he was informed that a complete message was being sent to the Astropathic Choir aboard the vessel. He immediately deactivated the hostile servitors he was training against, and made his way to the chambers of the Choir.

He was greeted by Choir Master Kevil Stasys, and stood before the semi-circle of Astropaths who were swaying in the incense filled room. No matter how many times he had dealt with Astropaths he still felt a chill of unease at being so close to those that were so closely linked to the warp, but he stood still and listened as the message was delivered in the typically strange and disjointed manner as the words were spoken almost randomly through the mouths of the different Astropaths; it began with Deathwatch level encryption codes and was followed by the main body of the message;

"Attention Deathwatch... This is Magos Biologis Zardos Vyakai... My conveyance has been... fatally damaged and forced to crash land... en route to the rendezvous zone... I have survived and the datacore has survived... I require immediate extraction from this... location. The swarm approaches. I will... seek shelter nearby until your arrival... The datacore must survive and be retrieved. Location Encarta follows. I will set... this message to repeat as long as the anima endures. Message ends... Attention Deathwatch... This is Magos Biologis Zardos Vyakai... My conveyance has been..."

Castagir spoke. "Message acknowledged", and the Astropaths fell silent as one.

The Choir-Master handed Castagir a data-slate which had a transcription of the message, and further data that had been included in a sub-carrier band. Even though the message had routed through a relay station, the origin point was clearly identified as a small mining moon named Tantalus on the outer edges of the Aryus One System of the Malfian Subsector of the Calixis Sector. The Battle Brother thanked the Astropaths for relaying the message and immediately headed for the main briefing rooming, putting vox calls out to Rogue Trader Hartek and Inquisitor Atellus to join him there.

Castagir outlined the contents of the message, and Atellus looked immediately interested; "The Magos, I know of him. He was researching into the Tyranid threat..."

"I can only assume that him calling from so close to Malfi, that some precursor organisms are involved, or the leading edge of the Hive Splinter." Castagir mused.

Atellus paused, as though thinking, then spoke. "Yes. The Magos was undertaking top level research into the origins of this Splinter. It's of vital importance that we retrieve him."

Castagir turned to the Rogue Trader Regent and explained; "Each hive fleet is subtly different, and each is vulnerable to different toxins and methods of attack. If the origin Hive Fleet can be identified then it gives us a huge tactical advantage in combating the xenos."

"Indeed..." Atellus mused. "It would also aid us immeasurably in some of our proj-" he stopped suddenly, as though remembering that others were present.

Hartek nodded his understanding at the information he was hearing and spoke. "Then we had better detach forces and retrieve the Magos and his datacore."

"We had." Castagir agreed. "But it is a large enemy force that is present, and the data indicates that the majority of the system has been consumed, and that the moon itself has very little time left. We must act quickly or all will be lost. This is not a mission to fight the xenos, this is a rapid retrieval mission, with the datacore as the primary goal, the Magos as a secondary, and any other considerations classed as tertiary. We cannot waste time attempting to rescue others, unless they get themselves to our extraction point in time. With that in mind we need a small, mobile force and must put our faith in the Emperor that we can achieve our goals before the xenos can react."

The others nodded sombrely at this and the discussions continued. It was decided to take the Furnace of Redemption to the moon itself, leaving Cobra Squadron Hartek to protect the jump point and prepare for a rapid exfiltration from Aryus One. The rest of the fleet would continue to Malfi and the detached ships would link up with them there. The strike-team itself would consist of Brother Castagir and Rogue Trader Hartek who decided he wanted to learn more of the Tyranids in preparation for fighting their main force in the near future. Hartek decided that a small squad of House Dureen troops from the Squat Cohort would accompany him. He smiled as he described a plan that would mean that he would go incognito as an officer of the Squats called Captain Cain, to stop any members of his command team attempting to stop him risking himself when the main battle was still to come. He also decided that Major Kimenth would lead a squad of her troops onto a moon too; both they and the Squat troopers would act as a cadre of instructors and pass their experiences on to the other soldiers on their return to the fleet.

A few hours after the decisions were made the five chosen vessels detached from the main fleet, and arced towards Aryus One.

As the warships approached the target system, Brother Castagir received another data-burst, this time it included planetary data and an image of the crash site of Magos Biologis Vyakai's shuttle. It appeared to have crashed near some sort of industrial facility and refinery named Pyroclast-Gamma-9 in the extreme north of the moon. The moon itself was about two-thirds the mass of Holy Terra, and was in a stable orbit around a Class 3 gas giant, with polar ice-caps covering 32% of the surface. It had once held a population of some seventy-nine million people, and its geography consisted of open plains dotted with similar industrial buildings. The ground was criss-crossed with the tracks of heavy vehicles, and the air was cold, and thick with the stench of burning chemicals and plumes of black smoke. Light levels were low; the brightest part of the day had equivalence with dusk on most standards worlds. In the area around Pyroclast-Gamma-9 the terrain was harsher; riven with spars of broken granite, steep hills, and crags, and muddy sink holes, and generally consisted of sub-arctic tundra.

There was a final message appended to the data-burst, codified as Omega-Black; "Tantalus is overrun by Tyranids. Imperial resistance has been crushed. The primary starports and habitations zones have been lost, mainline Imperial Guard garrison effectively destroyed. Lunar governance destroyed. Estimated population casualties 89% and rising. Catalytic organisations now entering environmental conversion stages. Estimate twenty to seventy standard hours until biospheric conversion begins. Fragmented resistance holding out in the Polar regions for the moment. However, armament and size of remaining forces totally inadequate to prevent the Tyranid swarm systematically advancing to scour the world of all life. Tantalus is lost. May the God-Emperor cherish the souls of its defenders."

Shortly after the arrival of the message, the five warships dropped out of the warp, and the Furnace of Redemption made best speed for Tantalus, leaving the four Cobra Class Destroyers guarding the path to safety. The Navigators and Astropaths of all vessels reported that there was a huge amount of interference making it difficult for them to focus on their duties.

Lieutenant Commander Ivanov immediately ordered a scan of the system, and a dozen hostile bio-ships were detected; three orbited the main world, and all but one of the rest appeared to be patrolling the system, but there was no discernable pattern to their flight-paths. The final bio-ship was cruiser sized and in orbit above Tantalus, but did not appear to be doing anything. Setting all systems to silent running, Ivanov piloted the Furnace of Redemption carefully to an orbital position opposite the bio-ship dumping bio-matter onto the moon.

The strike-team prepared to depart, but the initial plan to use the teleportarium was shelved after the operators reported that they could not get a lock on anything on the moon to allow them to activate it safely. Instead a pair of guncutters were readied, one to transport the team, the other to fly as a backup.

The guncutters dropped almost ballistically through the atmosphere; conditions were rough, and Brother Castagir muttered that outside of dropping into orbit using drop-pods, this was one of the worst drops he had experienced. Several of the Dureen troopers were pale, obviously suffering from the extreme violence and turbulence of the descent. The closer to the surface they got, the rougher the descent became, and the flight crew began to report that the atmosphere was full of spores; they could be seen streaming from the bio-ship in orbit. Soon, impacts could be felt against the hull as the spores could not be avoided, and then the chatter of the defensive turrets firing could be heard over the sound of the atmosphere rushing by, and the strained voice of the pilot reported that much larger, winged Tyranid organisms were approaching the dropping guncutters.

The pilot came onto the vox; "Three minutes to deployment. Stand-"

Suddenly there was a huge impact and the guncutter lurched, and only silence could be heard on the flight crew vox channel. Castagir forced himself forward, and opened to door to the cockpit; the canopy was shattered, and the area splattered with gore and chunks of flesh; obviously the remains of the flight crew. The Astartes leapt into one of the now vacant seats and began to pull back on the control column in an attempt to slow the descent, and then put a vox call to Captain Cain; "Kilgr- I mean Cain, get forward, we need your piloting skills..."

The Squat Captain fought his way forward, took the pilots couch, and began to wrestle with the controls, slowing the descent, and getting the guncutter back on course for the designated drop zone. As he steered the crippled shuttle on as safe a course as he could, another of the winged Tyranid organisms flew directly into one of the engines which detonated, twisted the guncutter on its axis, until finally, trailing smoke it hit the ground in a semi-controlled crash landing. The guncutter came to a stop at the end of a three hundred metre channel cut into the surface by its impact, less than half a kilometre south of the Magos's crash site. Castagir wasted no time kicking himself from the wreckage and making a defensive circuit around the wreckage looking for ground threats, of which he saw none. As he looked up the second guncutter roared overhead, several of the winged Tyranid creatures attached to its hull, and he immediately voxed the pilot.

"You have organisms attached to your hull. Get clear, return to orbit and decontaminate, affect repairs and await a call for retrieval."

The static distorted voice of the pilot came back "Yes Sir!" and the guncutter stood on its tail, and powered out of the atmosphere, and before it passed from sight Castagir was able to see at least one of the Tyranid creatures fall clear of the craft.

As Brother Castagir had been checking the crash site, the other troops began to struggle clear of the wreckage, and after a quick headcount it was realised that three of the soldiers had been badly injured in the crash. Major Kimenth attempted some medicae treatment on the injured, but to little positive effect. As speed was of the essence, and they would slow down the rescue team, the decision was made for the injured to remain at the crashed guncutter and hold the position; they would be retrieved during exfiltration.

The Astartes switched channels and contacted the Furnace of Redemption; "Deployment successful. Craft intercepted and destroyed. Casualties suffered. Moving to Point Alpha."

The message was acknowledged, and the voice of Lieutenant Commander Ivanov came on the vox. "Latest assessments indicate you have five standard hours before your area is overrun." There was a pause, and Castagir was sure he heard Ivanov sighing in satisfaction as he sipped a drink, before he spoke again. "We will keep you apprised of the situation. Good luck! Ivanov out." and the communication was cut.

The small group left the wrecked guncutter and moved into a loose formation, and at speed, in the direction of Point Alpha, the Magos's crashed vessel. The ground was partially frozen and coated with a thin layer of snow, and as they looked around them they could make out the dim shapes of refinery buildings in the near distance. Castagir lead the way, with an easy ground eating stride, and the team quickly arrived at Point Alpha, the Magos's crashed shuttle.

There was a jagged scar, very similar to the one left by their own guncutter, and they followed this to the wrecked shuttle itself. Once a mighty machine, the spearhead shaped lighter lay shattered against a rutted bank of earth ramped up by its crash landing, its back broken and its hull plating torn apart like paper. Despite the ruin of the wreckage it was apparent that the ships fuel lines and reactor did not rupture on impact, as otherwise there would have been nothing left but a glowing crater. The doors in the rear of the armoured prow compartment hung open where the emergency explosive bolts were loosed allowing the occupants to escape, but there was no sign of them, or any other life.

Major Kimenth and her team secured the perimeter to ensure that no attacker could surprise the group, and Captain Cain and the Squat troopers investigated the wreckage. They found the bodies of four crewmen, including the pilot, and the remains of several servitors, all of whom had perished on impact. The technically minded Squats were able to identify various post crash modifications to the shuttle systems, clearly done to boost the signal strength of the Magos's last transmissions, although the systems had been burnt out by the transmissions themselves.

Castagir spent a few minutes casting around looking for a trail to follow, and although there were a number of footprints around the crash site, they quickly faded as the loose snow had blown over them, and he was unable to find a clear direction of travel. He jogged back to the rest of the team and reported as such, and a discussion ensued as to the best course of action. It was agreed that as the Magos was injured he would probably have sought shelter, and the two most likely locations were identified as a security bunker approximately three kilometres to the south east and what looked to be a headquarters complex roughly the same distance to the north west.

Conscious of the time pressures, Castagir suggested that he head to the bunker, while the Squats and humans head to the other complex arguing that he could cover the ground more quickly on his own. Major Kimenth, as the ranking officer in charge of the other ground troops reluctantly agreed to the splitting of the rescue team; Castagir set off at speed, and was quickly lost in the low light and flurries of snow as the others headed in the opposite direction.

Perhaps ten minutes later, the vox crackled to life as Castagir called the other team; near a pile of rocks he had spotted the still sparking and juddering body of a wrecked combat servitor, and the corpses of two Naval crewmen and a ruined servo-skull. There were also the bodies of two Tyranid organisms; one had been turned partly to fused ash by a melta-blast, but he was quickly able to classify the creatures as Hormagaunts, the basic Tyranid troop type that specialised in melee combat. He also spotted a few splatters of blackish blood, typical of the augmented servants of the Omnissiah, leading to the south east, however, these quickly stopped. Castagir grunted, recognising the work of the specialised healing systems that the augmented Tech-Priests often took advantage of from his previous contacts with the Techmarines of his Chapter. He passed on the co-ordinates of his find, suggesting that he had discovered definitive evidence that the Magos had passed this way, and the others agreed and reversed their direction. The Astartes slowed his pace, advancing with more care now he knew he was on the right track, and pushed on to his intended target; the bunker.

The Squats and humans stepped their pace up in an attempt to catch Brother Castagir, and reached the pile of rocks and bodies about half an hour later, by which time the Astartes had reached the bunker itself. It was surrounded by a razor-wire fence on which several notices were hung warning that trespassers faced death should they approach. Littering the ground around it were the shredded remains of Tyranid organisms, similar to the ones that had attacked the guncutters during the insertion; at this range Castagir was able to identify them as Shrikes, the winged version of the Tyranid Warrior. They had been cut down by automated heavy bolters that sat on top of the bunker's roof, however these now hung silent, damaged and deactivated, however the bunker and its armoured door were still intact. Castagir approached the door which was locked from the inside, and looked to see if it were being monitored by a camera. It had been, but the device was also destroyed, so he did a quick circuit of the structure to see if there were other entry points or monitoring systems. There were none so he returned to the door, and banged on it with his armoured gauntlet. There was no response, and he considered forcing the door open, but reasoned that they may need the bunker intact if a mass of Tyranids attacked, so he returned to the outer perimeter to await the arrival of his comrades reasoning that one of them may be able to override the door locks.

As he waited his enhanced vision was attracted by movement in the sky to the north; six Tyranid Shrikes were moving in the direction of the pile of rocks and the bodies he had discovered earlier. Knowing that they would only be attracted by prey, and that meant the other members of the rescue team, Brother Castagir began to run in the direction of the rest of his team, calling warnings over the vox. He activated his jump pack in short bursts, considerably increasing the speed of his movement.

He need not have worried; Major Kimenth had seen the same movement. She alerted her comrades with a single word; "Company!" and pointed in the direction of the Shrikes, and the team turned and ran towards the bunker as quickly as they could, however it was still more than a kilometre and a half away.

In orbit above Tantalus, Lieutenant Commander Ivanov received a report from the Sensorium officer; "Sir! One of the bio-ships has shifted position, it will cross close to us, but I don't think it will intercept us. So far it has given no indication that it has detected us..."

Ivanov nodded. "Thank-you. Silent running protocols will apply"

End of Segment

Oh my. My my my. I haven't even finished reading the first few pages of your tale and my jaw is just on the floor reading how this campaign's players are treating the Iron Men. And I'm only up to the point where the Iron Men ask for access to the rest of the ship. It appears that your players are actually going to grant that request.

Well, my players from the start would have set melta-bomb charges to each and every stasis container without even a single word of encouragement from me. And that's even considering that my group's RT is an unreasonably nice guy by 40k standards.

I mean really, it's like that Explorator is conducting an experiment to see how much time is left on the timebomb.

Don't get me wrong, this whole thread is great fun to read and looking forward to more. But wow. Just wow. And as far as your group's RT who had to "leave due to work," that sounds like the typical weak player's excuse, you don't commit to something and then just not show at all. Even if it is a game.

Cavgunner - call it a learning process...!

As the player of the Tech-Priest, who was very precious, and diasterously curious about any tech-related discovery, I reasoned that although it was only a metter of time before it went horribly wrong (as it is with everything in this universe), it was only a matter of how it went wrong, and how entertaining it was!

As the character however, how could anything possibly go wrong when the Omnissiah has seen fit to bless us with such marvels...

And we all know that it'll end in tears eventually. Read on to see just how many!

Just wait an see what they do with the next 'prescribed' individuals they meet.

LordSpatula- glad you're having fun. It's just surprising that your Tech-Priest, since he otherwise seems quite sensible, isn't even more attuned to the dangers of a rogue AI than the other PCs are. But hey, have fun with it.