Sterbelicht - One Sacrifice At A Time Against The Galaxy (40K)
- Thread starter HeroCooky
- Start date
- Mature Sci-Fi
031.M42 - Fist. Darkness.
HeroCooky
Unverified Monstergirl
Twenty-one years.
Twenty. One. God-Emperor damned years.
All of them spent on that frozen hell with its too-large trees and too-weak gravity, trying to survive against the worst that the damned planet could throw at them, from the weather to the animals to even a carnivorous plant!
Had it been under any other circumstance he had been forced to live on that frozen rock, he would have gladly welcomed this test and duty to the God-Emperor. As a Commissar, he knew, above all else, that challenges were meant to be overcome and that He On Holy Terra did not give battles to his soldiers that could not be won in one way or another. Had it been under any other circumstance, he would have cherished living on that karking planet, claiming another world for Humanity in the name of the Hallowed Sun, pushing back its nature to make way for his regiment (or what had remained after crash-landing) and their descendants to bring forth more soldiers to fight and die in His Holy Name.
Were it not for the karking Xenos!
Had they just died before the crash, had they just succumbed to the temperatures like so many good men had in those first few years, had they been eaten and swallowed by the very stones they walked upon, had they, had they, had they...
He let out a breath, leaning back into the rumbling metal seat of the large shuttle as he let go of his anger from his incompetence in vanquishing the Xenos and failing to save more of his charges. But that was of no matter now. The Inquisitor had dispatched a force to grab his regiment after he somehow found out they were still alive and fighting that good fight (probably the karking nobles on Droma III had deigned to actually look at what was happening outside their world and found them). They would finish what he couldn't. Even if it meant he would likely end up in front of a firing squad for general incompetence. Yet most of his people would be let go with nothing more than a slap on the wrist...or a mandate to return and start an actual colony.
A giggle caught his attention; one of the younger children born on that moon had apparently discovered that, yes, Ogryns, even those serving the Inquisition, were very dumb. Still, it brought some semblance of a smile to his lips and soothed his mind. They had been a mixed regiment when they crashed, in a stressful situation, without the right medicine after a year, and lacked a lot of other entertainment options usually available, so the children and young teens now filling the shuttles flying from ground to orbit weren't a surprise to him, nor would they be to anyone who thought for a moment about it.
A loud blaring horn suddenly announced, a slight warble telling of the age of the system and that not even the Inquisition was save from the ponderous nature of Tech-Priests. He settled in to wait.
A shock ran through the shuttle, rattling everyone and everything within, though the Inquisitorial troops remained unfazed. Blessed routine would do that for everything, even latrine duty.
And with a mighty "THUNK" heard, yet mostly felt in one's bones, the shuttle sat down. What tension had remained within his frame left him, and he felt like nothing more than a sack of meat on a scaffolding of bones. They were safe now. He had done his duty; now, it was only a trial and an execution, and he would leave to aid the God-Emperor as all loyal servants ought to do once they are dead.
He barely even noticed walking out of the shuttle and into the large shuttle bay, too occupied with his thoughts, until a small hand tugged at his heavy coat, followed by the reedy voice of a young pre-teen child asking him: "What's that under the eagle?" while pointing at what she meant.
Looking up, the Commissar did indeed find the Aquila adorning the wall, as was proper, but there was another symbol underneath. A star with five points resting in a half-circle of a gear beneath and a radiant halo above.
In any other time, any other place, he would have dismissed it as some local signifier, maybe a stamp or mark of a noble House that had lent this ship.
But when he looked at that symbol this time, he realized three things.
The calm and peace he felt emanating from it was not natural. Psyker!
The Ogryn at that wall did not have black skin; it was black scales! Mutant!
Not once had he asked if the troopers were from the Inquisition. He had assumed, and they had not spoken about it before disarming him and the others until they could be assured no Xeno-taint had been brought aboard. LIES!
Old instincts roused themselves; paranoid eyes that had once been under the spell of foul sorcery grabbed past memories and reviewed them, finding all utterly lacking in reason. He had been ensorcelled, he had told his people to disarm without a fight, and now they were aboard a ship filled with traitors at best and heretics at worst.
A hand had already half-drawn his (not present) pistol from muscle memory alone as he realized with a deep burning shame and rage what had been done and what he had allowed to happen, and he opened his mouth to scream a warning to the others. Maybe they would be able to kill at least some of these bastards!
"No, bad!" A rumbling voice mumbled, and an Ogryn stepped to him, raising his arm as the first words had left his mouth. Then...Fist. Darkness.
Aside from one incident, the evacuation and scouting mission to the Frozen Moon (identified as Lady Ghiselle's Heart) went nearly as perfectly as hoped! With information, people, some resources, and a situation in tow, SM-001-A, SM-001-B, and SM-001-C returned to the station, giving over the people to be inducted into the Cult of the Star Child, while the resources went to the forges and the information and situation went to the Council.
Starting at the start: the current year (or best estimate) in the galaxy is around ~040.M42, though that is of no greater interest to us. What is, is the state of the universe. Apparently, some back-alley third-grade planet decided to blow up near the Eye of Terror, and that allowed, for some reason, Chaos to split the galaxy in two. We are currently located in the North-East of the Milky Way, the Ultima Segmentum, and no longer the western-most part of the Segmentum Solar, above the warp storm splitting us from Holy Terra, within what is referred to as the Imperium Nihilus. Specifically somewhere "in a sector near Formund." What Formund is beyond a "holy bastion of the faithful" has yet to be determined.
Aside from that, the local history is of far more interest to us, particularly the reason for the multiple Exterminati' executed in the system, which is closely linked to the situation at hand.
Around ~40-50 years ago, a Xenos fleet arrived within the system and, promptly, began to settle down onto the 13 planets subjected to orbital bombardment, establishing mines, forges, industry, and harvesting chemicals and fuel from the local gas giants, while also not engaging the local population of humans in combat despite having more ships than them. That wasn't why these Xenos were here.
The Kil'drabi (also called "We who yet wander" once translated into Gothic) were here to build ships and continue onward. If we believe their speaker's words, they were even preparing 50.000.000 Standard Imperial Tons of various processed metals as payment for utilizing the local resources to be used by local rulers as they saw fit. (This was cross-checked thanks to the survivors, who told us that there were indeed large quantities of metal being mentioned as one reason for the attack.)
This peaceful trade, after long co-existence...did not come to pass.
Instead, a task force of an Inquisitor holding down the fort in the local sector arrived and began to fight and kill every Kil'drabi they could get their hands on, which meant the vast majority of them.
Organized in Grand Pathfinding Fleets after their home system was destroyed nine millennia ago (Not by humans. Their star just died naturally.), the Kil'drabi made a habit of settling down for some time to build ships and repair those they had before continuing onward in two fleets flying separate paths whenever their populations got too high and couldn't be reasonably sustained by one fleet alone anymore.
The Inquisitorial Task Force and the local SDF caught them with their metaphorical pants down, most of their civilians on planets, and ships tied up in various tasks. What followed was a slaughter only barely kept from being one-sided thanks to the utter ineptitude of the SDF and the Kil'drabi's larger ships scoring several lucky hits early on. The result was the massacre we had seen, with nearly 99% of the Kil'drabi in the system wiped out, except for a single ship. The ship that had crashed on the Frozen Moon with the Imperial ship. Both of the surviving crew and passengers had proceeded to fight a defensive war against each other, lasting long after the war in the heavens was over, terrified miners and technicians on one side and injured and furious soldiers on the other. However, the Kil'drabi had a few key advantages that helped them stay alive long enough to reconstruct some semblance of functional industry while the humans slowly turned into feral worldlers.
Looking like a ~2-3 meter long grey conduit tube, with three legs on each side of the "tube," and a ~40-60cm long, very dextrous, maw filled with sharp teeth at one end, the Kil'drabi do not look like adept tool users, but that only lasts until they unfold their four "arms" from the sides of their maw, each far weaker than a human arm but able to manipulate objects in far better detail than a human could. Added to that is a biology well-adapted to cold climates and an aversion to prolonged conflict due to their herbivorous-prey nature, with an education level far outstripping their human counterparts on the planet.
Meaning that you had technicians who knew how their machines worked and could replicate them and didn't mind the cold on one side, and humans greatly hindered by the cold and a lack of any industry at all on the other.
The fact that the soldiers lasted that long is a testament to their skills and determination.
But all of that brings us back to the situation at hand.
There are Xenos in the system.
The Xenos killed a great deal of humans.
The Humans fired first.
The last survivors of the Xenos are on a single planet that we can subject to ortillery.
They are not hostile.
They are Xenos.
What do?
[] Leave Them Be
They are no threat to us now, and they have openly stated their desire to leave after building a ship within the next three centuries. Let them be, and let them leave. Better not tie ourselves so blatantly to something that will make the Imperial forces here try to kill us at first sight.
[] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
Though these Xenos fought against and killed humans, they did not do so out of malice or aggression but in defense. If the local rulers had merely attempted to communicate with them, they would have been more prosperous than before, and the Kil'drabi would have gone away on their own. Forty years is a long time to spend without aggressive moves if you wish to conquer or despoil a system, long enough that not talking to them before attacking becomes a malicious act in itself. These survivors now hide underneath the Frozen Moon and try to rebuild their industry, hoping that a few centuries are enough to build a ship and peacefully leave. But we can offer them another choice. Stay, live under our protection, accept our machines as aid, and help us help everyone by supplying us with metals now and ships far later. The universe is a dark place; will you light another candle by the flame of ours?
(Gain: The Kil'drabi Protectorate, the effects of one Heavy Industry action.)
[] Commence Orbital Bombardment.
Wipe this filth from the face of the galaxy!
(Warning: x0.2 Voting Weight attached due to [Iconoclast] traits!)
Twenty. One. God-Emperor damned years.
All of them spent on that frozen hell with its too-large trees and too-weak gravity, trying to survive against the worst that the damned planet could throw at them, from the weather to the animals to even a carnivorous plant!
Had it been under any other circumstance he had been forced to live on that frozen rock, he would have gladly welcomed this test and duty to the God-Emperor. As a Commissar, he knew, above all else, that challenges were meant to be overcome and that He On Holy Terra did not give battles to his soldiers that could not be won in one way or another. Had it been under any other circumstance, he would have cherished living on that karking planet, claiming another world for Humanity in the name of the Hallowed Sun, pushing back its nature to make way for his regiment (or what had remained after crash-landing) and their descendants to bring forth more soldiers to fight and die in His Holy Name.
Were it not for the karking Xenos!
Had they just died before the crash, had they just succumbed to the temperatures like so many good men had in those first few years, had they been eaten and swallowed by the very stones they walked upon, had they, had they, had they...
He let out a breath, leaning back into the rumbling metal seat of the large shuttle as he let go of his anger from his incompetence in vanquishing the Xenos and failing to save more of his charges. But that was of no matter now. The Inquisitor had dispatched a force to grab his regiment after he somehow found out they were still alive and fighting that good fight (probably the karking nobles on Droma III had deigned to actually look at what was happening outside their world and found them). They would finish what he couldn't. Even if it meant he would likely end up in front of a firing squad for general incompetence. Yet most of his people would be let go with nothing more than a slap on the wrist...or a mandate to return and start an actual colony.
A giggle caught his attention; one of the younger children born on that moon had apparently discovered that, yes, Ogryns, even those serving the Inquisition, were very dumb. Still, it brought some semblance of a smile to his lips and soothed his mind. They had been a mixed regiment when they crashed, in a stressful situation, without the right medicine after a year, and lacked a lot of other entertainment options usually available, so the children and young teens now filling the shuttles flying from ground to orbit weren't a surprise to him, nor would they be to anyone who thought for a moment about it.
LANDING PROCEDURES WILL COMMENCE IN 60 SECONDS.A loud blaring horn suddenly announced, a slight warble telling of the age of the system and that not even the Inquisition was save from the ponderous nature of Tech-Priests. He settled in to wait.
LANDING PROCEDURES WILL COMMENCE IN 20 SECONDS.A shock ran through the shuttle, rattling everyone and everything within, though the Inquisitorial troops remained unfazed. Blessed routine would do that for everything, even latrine duty.
LANDING PROCEDURES WILL COMMENCE IN 01 SECOND.And with a mighty "THUNK" heard, yet mostly felt in one's bones, the shuttle sat down. What tension had remained within his frame left him, and he felt like nothing more than a sack of meat on a scaffolding of bones. They were safe now. He had done his duty; now, it was only a trial and an execution, and he would leave to aid the God-Emperor as all loyal servants ought to do once they are dead.
He barely even noticed walking out of the shuttle and into the large shuttle bay, too occupied with his thoughts, until a small hand tugged at his heavy coat, followed by the reedy voice of a young pre-teen child asking him: "What's that under the eagle?" while pointing at what she meant.
Looking up, the Commissar did indeed find the Aquila adorning the wall, as was proper, but there was another symbol underneath. A star with five points resting in a half-circle of a gear beneath and a radiant halo above.
In any other time, any other place, he would have dismissed it as some local signifier, maybe a stamp or mark of a noble House that had lent this ship.
But when he looked at that symbol this time, he realized three things.
The calm and peace he felt emanating from it was not natural. Psyker!
The Ogryn at that wall did not have black skin; it was black scales! Mutant!
Not once had he asked if the troopers were from the Inquisition. He had assumed, and they had not spoken about it before disarming him and the others until they could be assured no Xeno-taint had been brought aboard. LIES!
Old instincts roused themselves; paranoid eyes that had once been under the spell of foul sorcery grabbed past memories and reviewed them, finding all utterly lacking in reason. He had been ensorcelled, he had told his people to disarm without a fight, and now they were aboard a ship filled with traitors at best and heretics at worst.
A hand had already half-drawn his (not present) pistol from muscle memory alone as he realized with a deep burning shame and rage what had been done and what he had allowed to happen, and he opened his mouth to scream a warning to the others. Maybe they would be able to kill at least some of these bastards!
"No, bad!" A rumbling voice mumbled, and an Ogryn stepped to him, raising his arm as the first words had left his mouth. Then...Fist. Darkness.
Aside from one incident, the evacuation and scouting mission to the Frozen Moon (identified as Lady Ghiselle's Heart) went nearly as perfectly as hoped! With information, people, some resources, and a situation in tow, SM-001-A, SM-001-B, and SM-001-C returned to the station, giving over the people to be inducted into the Cult of the Star Child, while the resources went to the forges and the information and situation went to the Council.
Starting at the start: the current year (or best estimate) in the galaxy is around ~040.M42, though that is of no greater interest to us. What is, is the state of the universe. Apparently, some back-alley third-grade planet decided to blow up near the Eye of Terror, and that allowed, for some reason, Chaos to split the galaxy in two. We are currently located in the North-East of the Milky Way, the Ultima Segmentum, and no longer the western-most part of the Segmentum Solar, above the warp storm splitting us from Holy Terra, within what is referred to as the Imperium Nihilus. Specifically somewhere "in a sector near Formund." What Formund is beyond a "holy bastion of the faithful" has yet to be determined.
Aside from that, the local history is of far more interest to us, particularly the reason for the multiple Exterminati' executed in the system, which is closely linked to the situation at hand.
Around ~40-50 years ago, a Xenos fleet arrived within the system and, promptly, began to settle down onto the 13 planets subjected to orbital bombardment, establishing mines, forges, industry, and harvesting chemicals and fuel from the local gas giants, while also not engaging the local population of humans in combat despite having more ships than them. That wasn't why these Xenos were here.
The Kil'drabi (also called "We who yet wander" once translated into Gothic) were here to build ships and continue onward. If we believe their speaker's words, they were even preparing 50.000.000 Standard Imperial Tons of various processed metals as payment for utilizing the local resources to be used by local rulers as they saw fit. (This was cross-checked thanks to the survivors, who told us that there were indeed large quantities of metal being mentioned as one reason for the attack.)
This peaceful trade, after long co-existence...did not come to pass.
Instead, a task force of an Inquisitor holding down the fort in the local sector arrived and began to fight and kill every Kil'drabi they could get their hands on, which meant the vast majority of them.
Organized in Grand Pathfinding Fleets after their home system was destroyed nine millennia ago (Not by humans. Their star just died naturally.), the Kil'drabi made a habit of settling down for some time to build ships and repair those they had before continuing onward in two fleets flying separate paths whenever their populations got too high and couldn't be reasonably sustained by one fleet alone anymore.
The Inquisitorial Task Force and the local SDF caught them with their metaphorical pants down, most of their civilians on planets, and ships tied up in various tasks. What followed was a slaughter only barely kept from being one-sided thanks to the utter ineptitude of the SDF and the Kil'drabi's larger ships scoring several lucky hits early on. The result was the massacre we had seen, with nearly 99% of the Kil'drabi in the system wiped out, except for a single ship. The ship that had crashed on the Frozen Moon with the Imperial ship. Both of the surviving crew and passengers had proceeded to fight a defensive war against each other, lasting long after the war in the heavens was over, terrified miners and technicians on one side and injured and furious soldiers on the other. However, the Kil'drabi had a few key advantages that helped them stay alive long enough to reconstruct some semblance of functional industry while the humans slowly turned into feral worldlers.
Looking like a ~2-3 meter long grey conduit tube, with three legs on each side of the "tube," and a ~40-60cm long, very dextrous, maw filled with sharp teeth at one end, the Kil'drabi do not look like adept tool users, but that only lasts until they unfold their four "arms" from the sides of their maw, each far weaker than a human arm but able to manipulate objects in far better detail than a human could. Added to that is a biology well-adapted to cold climates and an aversion to prolonged conflict due to their herbivorous-prey nature, with an education level far outstripping their human counterparts on the planet.
Meaning that you had technicians who knew how their machines worked and could replicate them and didn't mind the cold on one side, and humans greatly hindered by the cold and a lack of any industry at all on the other.
The fact that the soldiers lasted that long is a testament to their skills and determination.
But all of that brings us back to the situation at hand.
There are Xenos in the system.
The Xenos killed a great deal of humans.
The Humans fired first.
The last survivors of the Xenos are on a single planet that we can subject to ortillery.
They are not hostile.
They are Xenos.
What do?
[] Leave Them Be
They are no threat to us now, and they have openly stated their desire to leave after building a ship within the next three centuries. Let them be, and let them leave. Better not tie ourselves so blatantly to something that will make the Imperial forces here try to kill us at first sight.
[] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
Though these Xenos fought against and killed humans, they did not do so out of malice or aggression but in defense. If the local rulers had merely attempted to communicate with them, they would have been more prosperous than before, and the Kil'drabi would have gone away on their own. Forty years is a long time to spend without aggressive moves if you wish to conquer or despoil a system, long enough that not talking to them before attacking becomes a malicious act in itself. These survivors now hide underneath the Frozen Moon and try to rebuild their industry, hoping that a few centuries are enough to build a ship and peacefully leave. But we can offer them another choice. Stay, live under our protection, accept our machines as aid, and help us help everyone by supplying us with metals now and ships far later. The universe is a dark place; will you light another candle by the flame of ours?
(Gain: The Kil'drabi Protectorate, the effects of one Heavy Industry action.)
[] Commence Orbital Bombardment.
Wipe this filth from the face of the galaxy!
(Warning: x0.2 Voting Weight attached due to [Iconoclast] traits!)
One action (if head awakens next turn) +heavy industy brings them to 20 neophytes+equipment, making them elegible to count as "heavy support" equivalent to 2 infantry units.
So same value but also gets us heavy industy for other uses.
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
[X] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
They're already going to kill us on sight, as we just saw. In for a penny, in for a pound. By all indications, they got absolutely fucked. We can't undo that, but we can help them get back up.
"I don't feel hate and fear at this unknown symbol? EVIL PSYKER MUST DESTROY!"
Even the latter seems more "Honest humanity and being fucking exhausted from this shit" until his Programming kicked in with seeing an Unapproved Signal and he fabricated a billion excuses on the spot to suddenly go into a killfest. We shouldn't have even known enough about the Imperium to realize we needed to do a ruse cruise on this guy.
They're already going to kill us on sight, as we just saw. In for a penny, in for a pound. By all indications, they got absolutely fucked. We can't undo that, but we can help them get back up.
"I don't feel hate and fear at this unknown symbol? EVIL PSYKER MUST DESTROY!"
Even the latter seems more "Honest humanity and being fucking exhausted from this shit" until his Programming kicked in with seeing an Unapproved Signal and he fabricated a billion excuses on the spot to suddenly go into a killfest. We shouldn't have even known enough about the Imperium to realize we needed to do a ruse cruise on this guy.
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- Location
- France
[X] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
- Pronouns
- They/Them
And to be fair, if they don't like how we're doing things, they can still take the time to gather resources so that they can Hit Da Bricks later, I'm pretty sure?
Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
He's not wrong, the issue is that he just saw Unfamiliar Sign (That notably doesn't cotton on to any known Cult Signs), noticed he didn't feel any bad vibes from it, and then immediately launched into a chain of "Sudden Realizations" that let him justify go on a killing spree because of course it had to be the Work of Evil Psykers.
Again, none of our people should have known enough to try to Ruse Cruise him, and we don't have enough Psykers to spare some on something like this, so presumably he just made up all those justifications on the spot at the first sight of something he didn't recognize.
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It outright says it was emanating a calm feeling, as in he can feel it exerting some form of spiritual influence over him despite it having no prior meaning to him.
[X] Leave Them Be
[X] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
40-50 years of peacefull co-existance and fair trade seems like both great people to have praying to our god and great envoys.
Even better, if we can bring them into the starchild faith they can live, build their ship, and once there are enough yearning for the voyage to crew a ship they can split off and spread starchild vibes to everyone who wants to listen.
40-50 years of peacefull co-existance and fair trade seems like both great people to have praying to our god and great envoys.
HeroCooky
Unverified Monstergirl
If they do wish to leave/are leaving after becoming your protectorate, you will be given a choice to let them or stop them from doing so.
Actually, he felt very good vibes from it!
Que Commissar and Imperial Citizen paranoia after his brain going: "Hold on a karking minute! What The DEVILRIY IS THIS?!"
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
Yep
Sadly. "If it looks too good to be true, it definitely is" usually really is the case. Though in this case, it was absolutely Institutionalized Paranoia rather than any rational decision.
- Location
- Sweden
[X] Leave Them Be
They are no threat to us now, and they have openly stated their desire to leave after building a ship within the next three centuries. Let them be, and let them leave. Better not tie ourselves so blatantly to something that will make the Imperial forces here try to kill us at first sight.
They are no threat to us now, and they have openly stated their desire to leave after building a ship within the next three centuries. Let them be, and let them leave. Better not tie ourselves so blatantly to something that will make the Imperial forces here try to kill us at first sight.
- Pronouns
- Zack
[X] Offer Protection And Aid For Loyalty And Tithes
-[X] Leave them alone if they say no and agree falsify evidence they don't exist and fake papers explaining the minerals they'll give us upon leaving.
-[X] Give them as much knowledge in what worlds to avoid as you are aware.
-[X] Leave them alone if they say no and agree falsify evidence they don't exist and fake papers explaining the minerals they'll give us upon leaving.
-[X] Give them as much knowledge in what worlds to avoid as you are aware.
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
I mean, they're already going to kill us at first sight? That ship has long ago sailed.
yah if people didn't want the imperium to kill us on sight that sailed sometime between turn 1-3
Travler66
Let her name echo in song!
- Location
- Beyond
I think it's a bit late for that.