[M] Kaleidoscope IC

[kardar233]

Alley felt in high spirits as she entered the briefing room. Ten days of catching up with a nearly-hyperactive Ky had brightened her considerably, as had the thought of finally re-entering real service; the fact that it was likely a suicide mission didn't really seem pertinent. Outside of the quarter-ton mass of myomer-enabled ceramic and metal that was her Nebula Corps armour, she looked much less intimidating, though the NC insignia on her off-duty fatigues and the slight glow emitted from her eyes served as a warning for those knowledgeable. Feeling sociable, she took a seat in the centre of the assorted chairs and arranged herself with a relaxation contrasting her usual, somewhat starched manner.

When not trawling through what databanks he could access on his current allies, Arcolin explored through the small freighter; mostly to satisfy his curiosity but also in the vain hope that one of the armed murderers on the ship would try to take revenge for whatever he happened to do to them. Sadly (from his perspective), no one dared to try, but he found some of what he hoped to find in the archives. By the time the tenth day came around and word spread as to the briefing, he was somewhat bored; having done all the things he could think of apart from working on Marc, which didn't seem to get old. He swaggered into the room wearing one of his usual blue bodygloves, augmented by a black top hat he had "found" on one of his expeditions. He languidly picked a chair notably on the perimeter, not too far from Marc and his lady friend, and sat in a exaggeratedly relaxed fashion. Noting that the briefing hadn't started yet, he reached into a pouch and began crunching on something small, circular and yellowish.

[SandQueen]

Lawrence rubbed his jaw as people and other beings began to file into briefing hall. His metallic fingers mashed the skin of his mouth and cheeks as he looked down at his dataslate and then back up to the Agents and Soldiers that were gathering. "Alright." He said with a slight yawn. "As some of you may have guessed we've come out of Warp and we're nearing on Saros Station. That means it's time for us to move on the rest of Emerald's cohorts which the Rogue Trader has been polite enough to identify for us. McKenzie here has worked up some information on the names."

McKenzie blew a ring of smoke from her dark lips before running a diminutive finger over the screen of her cogitator. The wall behind them flashed to life, bathed in the light of an unseen projector. An image appeared portraying a woman with a fiercely athletic build. Her head was dominated by a scalp of golden curls that were just beginning to fade to an aluminum grey. She wore a tight leather uniform that fit her body like a glove, showing off a midsection that could have been sculpted from marble. McKenzie coughed and said "This is Michele Voorhees, current Captain of Saros' Gnosis Guard. She used to be in the same squad as Emerald back when he was in the service. As part of his, well.... Malfallax's current scheme... she went by 'Yellow' for their correspondence. Her current duties within the Gnosis Guard are mostly Executive now and she both works and resides at their HQ. As for her credentials she's a an extremely adept telepath and is known to be able to read the surface thoughts of people within thirty feet with virtually no exertion on her part. She's also an extremely skilled swordswoman. To the point that she's opened a fencing academy here on Saros and uses admission fees to pad out her income."

McKenzie took another drag on her lho stick as the image shifted to a frightfully muscled man. He was bare chested and his chest, arms where smeared with an array of tattoos and decorative scarifications. McKenzie continued "This is Gustavo Narlow, Voorhees' second in command. He's the proverbial gate keeper between travelers, civilians, and other officials and the Captain. Basically unless you're a Mechanicum Magos, an Inquisitor, or a Governor you need to check in with him before you ever see her. Privileges of the rank. As for him personally he was a sanctioned psyker for a year, Cadian sixteenth. He suffered a warp-influx when he was eighteen and a nearby commissar attempted to execute him by shooting him in the back of the head. The shot missed his brain stem though but snapped him out of the attack. Gustavo then proceeded to beat the Commissar to death with his own fists." McKenzie paused and looked up "I saw the after action picts, the man's face looked like an Ogryn had taken an entrenching tool to it." She looked back down to her notes and continued "Apparently he had made a few friends though and found himself on a slab getting fitted with the subdermal bionics of the Gnosis guard. Psychically he tends to favor direct energy exchanges. Lightning, heat, telekinesis.... things that hurt."

Lawrence cleared his throat and said "Voorhees had promised Emerald the entirety of the Gnosis Guard. She wouldn't be able to do that without full cooperation from her subordinates, primarily Narlow. Now most of the other stations orbiting Jupiter are Mechanicum facilities and most of the security here falls to the Skitarii which is supplemented in part by a detachment of Arbites. The Gnosis Guard though; being wholly composed of Psykers of various power levels, outfitted with bionics from the Mechanicum, and with training and equipment from the Adeptus Arbites form a truly elite group. Lots of high profile officials pass through and reside here and many like knowing that there's a group looking out for them that can actually see the future and has the best equipment and training a security force can have has gained the Gnosis Guard a considerable reputation and quite a bit of private funding as well."

Van Der Mir exchanged a nod with McKenzie who pulled up another photo, this time of a much older gentleman in a crisp suit that was black as the void of space. He didn't seem feeble or weathered though, not like Brenner. His eyes carried a learned glow that seemed much too cheerful and curious for being so close to Terra. McKenzie finished off her lho stick and said "This is Herman Fennec, the supposed Art Dealer that sold Emerald the urn that Malfallax was sealed in. How he got it is a mystery but what is known is that he's a very well known distributor and purveyor of Religious relics, xeno artifacts, basically anything that you'd want to pay a lot of money for and hang on your wall. The reason he's not in a cell somewhere is because he's doing it legally. He's a registered Xeno-archaeologist and has full certifications from the Ordo Xenos and Administratum to traffic xeno-artifacts whether it be to academic institutions, Mechanicum labs, or to private collections. He's a legitimate businessman and accomplished scholar. He was going to help Emerald smuggle people onto and then the Emperor's genetic material off of Terra itself." McKenzie lit another lho stick and added "He went by White in his correspondence with Emerald."

Lawrence waved a blossom of ash away from his face and said "The last name, Lucinda Irons, we don't have anything on though. McKenzie couldn't pull up any hard information other than the fact that Malfallax knew her before inhabiting Emerald's body and in correspondence she went by the name Metal. The fact that McKenzie couldn't pull anything leads me to think that this Irons character, if that's not a complete pseudonym, is operating on a level far above that of common sevice... Imperial or otherwise." He clasped his hands together and leaned forward, his nitrate coated elbows scraping against the table. In an authoritative tone he said "I'll be dividing you into two groups to pursue these two very different objectives. The first group will be targeting Captain Voorhees. That group will be deployed into some of the main levels of the station occupied by commerce centers and their administrative sectors, including Gnosis Guard command. That group will consist of Kally Sonder, Censor, Marc Black, Ella Saren, Vincent Nyl, Zerlinda Ghast, and Eugene Roebuck. Black will be leading the investigation. Team two will be assigned to the lower sections of the stations to go after Herman. The lower levels are occupied by numerous high powered officials who often employ their own private security, of various legalities, in addition to the presence of Skitarii, Arbites, and the Gnosis guard. Herman is in good standing with most of them so expect any sort of conventional investigation to be heavily impeded. If we expect to get any answers before Sidonis shows up we'll have to get mean. That team will be comprised of Delaz Octavius, Baldur, Ren Syren, Juno, Skip, Arcolin DeRei, Alicia Terran, Gavin Jenkins, and Provost Stavra who will also be overseeing the operation. Team one will land conventionally in one of Emerald's crafts. Team Two will insert into the private dock of the lower levels via the Bliss if Mr. Savs is willing to lend his expertise." Lawrence crossed his arms and added "We need Voorhees and Fennec alive if possible, Narlow is expendable. We also need information on Lucinda Irons so keep a heads up. If there's any questions ask them now."

[dakkagor]

Kally Sonder.

Kally was leaning back in her chair, smiling. She liked the team composition, even if she didn't know Censor, Ella Saren or Zerlinda Ghast that well. Marc leading the investigation was just the icing on the cake. These where good people, from their files, and that meant she could trust them.

She raised a hand.

"How cleared are we for ordnance here? Are there any station regs on firearms or explosives we'll need to abide by, and is there any more anti-psyker tech we can hand out to both teams? I'd suggest at least some psyk-out grenades for everyone if we can, especially if these Gnosis troopers are as tough as we think."

Later on, she knew she would have to chat to Gavin and Skip. She knew Gavin was a good guy for a psyker, and Skip was the bets marksman they had.

They'd need to watch Arcolin.

Zerlinda

Zerlinda impatiently tapped her left foot. Why this couldn't be inloaded in a few seconds was beyond her. Worse was that they where pulling her off the moon calf. Why? She wasn't a commando or a skitari, she was a mechanic, and a wanted. . .
She silenced her thoughts. There where psykers in the room, and she didn't want to give anything away. If this was how she was going to pay for her freedom, so be it.

[Culsandar]

"...and Eugene Roebuck."

Fantastic, a family reunion. Roebuck had kept to himself, as usual, up until the briefing. Not because he was dark or brooding, he just didn't care for socializing. He was eager to get the briefing underway, and get the hell out of this sector.

As he sat with one leg crossed over the other he drummed his fingers silently on the heel of his boot.

He mirrored Kally's question, he too wondered just how heavy he would get to go.

[Ixajin]

It was surprising to see the number of agents that showed up for the briefing. While he had seen a fair number of them over the last ten days, he did not realize that the mission would require so many agents. Again, Skip was unsure of the planning. A station like Saros, as just described seemed foolish. Too many heads in the game, too much could go wrong. And that doesn’t even take in to account the fact that if someone wanted to feth up the mission it would be the perfect place to do so. If any of them were secretly working for Sidonis or Malafax even, they would have plenty of allies here to turn to. Then they were all going to meet the God-Emperor sooner than expected. Looking around, Skip wasn’t sure who would be the one to betray them, but he knew it would happen.

When Van Der Mir made it clear that his target, the hulking Narlow was expendable Skip’s spirit lighten just a little. That would simplify matters. At the moment Skip decided that Narlow would need to die. It was the only way the mission would have a chance. There were already too many variables to watch over, and one less prisoner made the job that much easier. Then the floor was opened up for questions.

“Are there schematics of the station available?” Skip asked. “Or do we continue to go on ops completely blind.”

[Atrum Daemon]

“Where on the station is the Mechanicus representative directing the Skitarii?” Delaz asked. “Having him and his warriors on our side will remove that large threat in the event that something goes wrong. Baldur and myself can ensure the Skitarii understand that our actions are not to be impeded.”

If there was one thing Delaz and Baldur knew better than anyone in the room, it was how the protocols and authority structure of the Adeptus Mechanicus military worked. The Skitarii forces would have to be directed by either a Tribune class Skirarius reporting to a Magos or by the Magos directly. Truth was something the Mechanicus placed great value on and were excellent at identifying.

Delaz was certain that he could make the Skitarii’s controller understand the truth of their mission. With that truth, the Skitarii would be on their side.

“Having even a small force of Skitarii on our side would tip some of the odds in our favor,” Baldur added, knowing the reputation Skitarii had among the non-Mechanicus as being near-savage and devastatingly effective combatants.

[SandQueen]

"How cleared are we for ordnance here? Are there any station regs on firearms or explosives we'll need to abide by, and is there any more anti-psyker tech we can hand out to both teams? I'd suggest at least some psyk-out grenades for everyone if we can, especially if these Gnosis troopers are as tough as we think."

Lawrence raised an eyebrow and said "I'd rather you not go in shooting. If they identify what vessel we're operating out of we could have an Entire battle fleet breathing down our neck before we could spool up our engines. Although should violence break out it would be good if you end it quickly and with extreme prejudice. Thankfully station regulations are fairly loose concerning firearms, no doubt due to the amount officials with personal security moving through the station at any given time. As for specialized equipment Stavra discovered a case with some psyk-out grenades as well as some Rad Grenades and even half a dozen Empyrean Brain Mines. It's not a permanent protection but it's better than nothing."

“Are there schematics of the station available?” Skip asked. “Or do we continue to go on ops completely blind.”

McKenzie replied "Of course. I found a full technical schematic including maintenance lines, ventilation ducts, and I overlayed it with territorial and property lines... if you're interested."

“Where on the station is the Mechanicus representative directing the Skitarii?”

"I wouldn't count on much." Lawrence said grimly. "The overseeing Mechanicum representative has to coordinate with Voorhees and Narlow for deployments. Any sort of aid we could ask for would be documented in triplicate at least and would pass over one if not both of their desks. Not to mention the fact that by now the Inquisitor most of us were working for is probably already taking actions to track us and lock down our movements and resources."

[ArchonDuPlex]

McKenzie replied "Of course. I found a full technical schematic including maintenance lines, ventilation ducts, and I overlayed it with territorial and property lines... if you're interested."

Ren stepped out, clearing his throat quietly, but drawing enough attention to be noticed.
"I've gathered my own, but I would like a copy of your data to conffer a route. I will meet my team on the station. I can however bring another as backup, but they have to be quick and willing to follow my orders." Ren remarked.
now would be a good time to collect on a debt, or two

[Ixajin]

“Yes, I want those please.” Skip replied.

"I've gathered my own, but I would like a copy of your data to conffer a route. I will meet my team on the station. I can however bring another as backup, but they have to be quick and willing to follow my orders." Ren remarked.

Skip turned to look at the individual that had just spoken up. Interestingly enough there was not much to see as the garment it was wearing was doing a good job at blending in to the bulkhead it was standing in front of. This gets more and more interesting with each passing moment Skip thought to himself. First we start working with known traitors, and now we are to include xeno scum. Skip truly believed that he could smell death closing in on all of them.

“Yours to stranger,” Skip called out. “I need all the intel I can get if this is to be a successful hunt.”

[ArchonDuPlex]

“Yours to stranger,” Skip called out. “I need all the intel I can get if this is to be a successful hunt.”

Ren turned to the voice behind him, the realised for one he had to actually look down. The human of sorts was probably one of the ratling's he had heard about in stories from the Craftworld, only this one seemed much more disgruntled and full of fury that he'd been told.
"of course, I'll give you what I can give, but nothing more. It'll take some time to translate it aswell." He replied calmly to the Ratling.