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Inquisitorial Report - "Mother of Mercy" : Interrogator Jomar

Started by mcjomar, November 21, 2017, 11:09:39 AM

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mcjomar

"This will be a voice recorded report, transcribed directly via vox-scribe servitor, to be mind-wiped again once this record has been completed.
The "Mother of Mercy" Investigation has been... difficult. Her psychic residue still plagues me. I have... faced... much worse than this, yet she was still able to play me like a puppet. This only highlights my inexperience in the field, and my need for further training. My Mistress agrees, and as such, until I am physically healed, I will be training my psychic powers further, and working harder on - of all things - the paperwork. Such as this report.

"In regards which, to begin with, our early investigations highlighted the danger provided by "Old Mother One-Eye". This gave us all due reason to appear directly in person, rather than at long range and in the shadows. This necessitated our presence on Mercy Station. The potential damage to the sub-sector alone, or even the entire sector because of a gate closed by a psychic witch was incalculable. We had to act.

"We might be recongregators, but change for the sake of change is insane, and change of this nature, with the knock on effects it would produce is unacceptable. One could argue that the sector was fine before the gap opened, and that the imperium would have been fine without it, but the threat to our ability to wage war against Xenos and Heretic could not be ignored. Thus our arrival.

"Upon arrival, we began our investigations. There are a few key possibilities, but our primary selection pointed to an out of the way location, long since abandoned, and overgrown by onboard hydroponics, ancient beyond measure. Some of the techpriests I have encountered could be accused of being willing to give up limbs just to access the ancient technology (though in many cases they do that anyway). Our target was far more specific - an ancient device said to point the way to the equally ancient witch we sought.

"We arrived quietly, but even so, our steps echoed through the long-dead vaults. Choking dust rose from the floors, and ancient vines and roots snapped and crackled underfoot like bones. In all honesty, I would not doubt that had I bent down to check, I actually would have found the bones of long dead inhabitants. The ever present dust made it very difficult to perceive much in the gloom. My mistress, and "Victoria" both had their enhanced helms, with inbuilt visual aids. I had no such support. The dust doubtless did little to help my lungs or throat, but it didn't seem overly immediately harmful either, and Inquisitors tend to be able to requisition little things like medical aid, should it come to it.

"As we advanced through old arches, crushing dead plant-life underfoot, Victoria voxxed us that she had detected lifeforms ahead. We elected to attempt to move at an angle away from them so as to avoid their presence - we failed, as I will explain shortly. As we stalked on through the gloom, we heard gunfire break out to our left, and in the direction we were moving. It would seem that there were more than just the people in front of us infiltrating this dome, and not all of them were friendly towards one another.

"My mistress, and our assassin continued to flank left. An errant rock betrayed Victoria as she attempted to climb down a nearby cliff, but her capable skill allowed her to land on her feet with only minimal bruising. My mistress managed somewhat more capably at a lower drop, while I elected not to risk the unstable drop, and slowly jogged down the slope towards a fallen column.

"Samantha, and Victoria both spotted our objective - an old cogitator device, de-powered - and began to more hurriedly advance on that location, as we heard las and bolt fire, and the activations of a flamethrower, as well as the ringing of blade on blade, as the mystery combatants came to blows.

"Samantha spotted someone present at the controls of the device, and sent Victoria forwards toward it to try and capture the device. If all else failed, my mistress intended to destroy it with her plasma pistol, but she hoped to use Victoria to gain the information contained within before needing to do it.

"For my part I was distracted by an apparent call for help. Two rather questionable looking individuals attempting to gain assistance with injured comrades behind the building. Naturally I was suspicious and attempted to question them further, while gaining the attention of the Inquisitor. However, they were convincing enough that I was - to my shame - tempted out of cover, whereupon they proceeded to stand me up with their weapons. The first individual was not overly convincing, but I attempted to bluff and play along. The second individual was not very convinced with my bluff, or else did not notice or care, and he clearly seemed to mean business.

"Behind me, Victoria found herself in a duel with the individual who had tried to claim the cogitator. Initially it seemed possible she might win, but her opponent got in a lucky hit, and the crumbling nature of the old building conspired against her, leaving her flailing and falling off the building, giving her opponent time to gain the information she required.

"Distracted, my mistress had to come to my aid to scare off my would-be captors.

"As punishment, I was left to research the local area further, and also prevented from aiding my mistress in her second objective. My researched has uncovered the need for some manner of tribute, and it was suggested that one of a number of possibilities existed on board the station. First, the possibility of toebones of some manner of child saint. This seemed to be a very bad (and sacrilegious) idea, so I declined the possibility. The second was also less than ideal. This left us to hunt down the claws of some manner of beast. A beast who inhabited the same ancient domes that I had so recently explored.

"Inquisitor Samantha elected to go only with Victoria, leaving myself and Sara behind to negotiate for resources and supplies, and possible replacement equipment or weaponry. Theft was also not considered to be an out-of-the-question option.

"My report of this next stage is compiled from helmet camera footage provided by my mistress and Operative CXVII.

"Camera footage shows them advancing using the same approach that we previously used, moving forward cautiously, and trying to avoid too much in the way of unstable locations, at least initially.

"Victoria advanced forwards rapidly towards an early blip, which proved to be little more than local wildlife. She dived behind a fallen pillar for cover to avoid notice as a precaution. A second blip vanished from their auspexes, leaving only one possibility for the potential target.

"Samantha noticed that there were others in the area, and moved towards the location that Victoria had used last time. Once again, the footing proved treacherous, and my mistress was sent stumbling, as she attempted to reach suitable cover out of sight of her observers.

"The footage shows the blip clearing, and while it is not immediately obvious, combined footage from Victoria and Samantha (once the Inquisitor reached cover and found a suitable observation location) clearly identifies the creature as a genestealer purestrain. This suggests to me the station should be visited by Deathwatch operatives at some future date to correctly cleanse and clear the station of any other Xenos monstrosities.

"At this point the observers, and a third party from the left flank advance upon the creature, whereupon it turns on its attackers, and attempts to escape up a pillar. It is subsequently shot down and left stunned on the ground, as a bionic-enhanced warrior stabs it, first between the legs, and then in the head.

"It was roughly at this point that, via Victoria, Inquisitor Samantha successfully negotiated a peaceful truce between the three parties - including volunteering to surrender her revolver (I purloined a replacement after the fact, but prior to the final conclusion) as a means to gain the allegiance of both parties in the interest of killing the xenos creature.

"This led to a group of disparate people advancing upon the creature, and hacking it to bits while it remained stunned on the ground. Ordinarily, Genestealers are a terrifying breed, but if Imperial Propaganda decided to release footage of a group of random people successfully defeating a creature in such an embarrassingly easy manner, it would do much to (temporarily) support morale in some areas, albeit through falsehoods. Such a revelation would admit to the humble imperial citizen that such things exist, however, and so it will never actually happen.

"One of our erstwhile allies successfully acquired one of the claws of the beast, through a combination of truly impressive shooting, and some rather vicious knifework. Seeing this, Victoria advanced rapidly, and used her sword to quickly hack off the second claw. The remaining two arms did not have any such claws that could readily be judged to be suitable. This left the third party becoming understandably concerned, given that they wished to acquire a claw of their own.

"Seeing our two allies coming to blows, and seeing also that it might end up endangering our possession of our xenos claw, Victoria elected to put the mission first, and sprinted back out of sight, taking the claw with her. Her successful extraction provided us with the object we needed. My mistress paused long enough to "seal the deal" to maintain her cover and neutrality (so to speak), and tossed one of the ne'er-do-wells her revolved, before slowly extracting herself from the engagement.

"Apparently it was decided in favour of the bionic cyborg as they were last seen extracting from the area with claw in hand, the cyborg carrying his ally (and the claw) on his shoulders at a fairly impressive run.

"My efforts in uncovering the target were rewarded by being allowed to accompany Inquisitor Samantha to our final target - the old witch herself. Old Mother One-Eye.

"Upon arrival we could feel the heavy weight of warpcraft in the air, ozone strong upon my tongue, the atmosphere so thick it almost felt like wading through treacle. Almost. As a psyker, I am especially sensitive to such things. Which subsequently made things much worse, at least for me.

"Initially all seemed well, and Victoria advanced without opposition. For my part, I climbed a nearby ladder to get a better view, while my mistress reviewed her surroundings to make a better decision.

"Then the daemons appeared. In truth I think they were little more than overgrown warp-mutants, colloquially known as "Chaos spawn". Particularly runty ones at that - they can easily grow to two or three times such a size as the ones we faced. But these were bad enough. I witnessed one being fought rather skilfully by a nearby duellist - she carried two pistols, and a very large sword. Her monster was tinged with green, and had all manner of bone spikes coming out of it. Mine was pink, and was essentially a two-legged tentacle monster. As it charged toward me I alternated between taking aim, and trying to concentrate my psychic power. I think it was the second thing which cost me most.

"Then Old Mother One-eye made her presence known - the giant warpgate (it was pretty unmissable) on the central tower pulsed, and flung people back. I hung on, as did Victoria, but Inquisitor Samantha was flung into the sump below. She would take a good few minutes to successfully climb her way out of the ooze. Minutes we really did not have.

"I struggled to survive, dodging the attacks, while in the distance, helmet camera footage shows that Victoria used stealth and guile to successfully advance further toward the location we believed Old Mother One-eye to be inhabiting.

"Then the warp gate flung out another wave of power, and I was overcome with violent rage, the warpcraft easily breaking through my psychic defences. I believe only an alpha-plus class psyker (which I am not) could possibly have withstood such an attack. Or maybe a Space Marine Librarian, on a good day. I did, however, manage to positively direct the rage which coursed through me. I holstered my shotgun, and drew my shock maul, and proceeded to beat down the warped monstrosity in front of me, the shocking bursts from my maul temporarily stunning and incapacitating the creature.

"Victoria was also overcome and found herself driven to face down and defeat a nearby member of the group we previously faced. It was, in fact, the same one who had previously defeated her for control of the cogitator. Her camera footage shows her attempting a feint, and then giving in to the rage, and incapacitating her opponent with a stunning wound to the abdomen. Once she calmed down, she resumed her advance on Old Mother One-eye's location. She even reached the platform, before being sent scurrying back down and away. As with myself, she too recovered from the fear-burst, and recommitted her advance upon her target.

"However, a series of further warp blasts sent me scurrying for cover, and sent both myself and my now-recovered mistress tumbling to the floor of the gantry below - this left the creature alone long enough to recover from my attack. Victoria managed to avoid this fate.

"The earthquakes were caused by two things - I pieced this together from both helmet cameras after the fact. First, an orbital laser barrage, which carved through walkways and structures (including the warpgate) like a powersword through weak human flesh. Second, the arrival of an insane Valkyrie pilot who blasted apart the warpgate completely, and subsequently dropped off a pair of mercenaries from the band my mistress faced when fighting the genestealer.

"Victoria's helmet camera shows at this point that the witch created two psychic warp portals of some sort. One sucked Victoria's opponent into it, flinging her away to appear somewhere else - Victoria's camera shows a glimpse of the warrior being deposited nearby on a set of pipes. I don't envy her recovery in that environment. The other portal, visible on Samantha's camera, did not successfully hit its target, a female warrior toting some manner of exotic las-weaponry.

"It was around this time another rage blast (prior to its destruction) came from the warpgate, causing me to shamefully attack my mistress while she was on the ground after the earthquake from the laser blast. The final destruction sent out a fear wave, causing me to run from cover and away from what I had done.

"My mistress saw what had caused this, however, and instead of killing me outright, elected to let me live to make reparations. She advanced up the ladder, and shot the tentacled monstrosity in the back as it attempted to run away. I think she may have killed it, or at least significantly wounded it.

"For my part, I shook off the psychic assaults sent out by the gate and that witch, and began following Victoria's advance. I had to do so by an alternative route, as her path had been carved up by the laser blasts. Victoria herself, however, had gained the platform, while the crazy old witch was distracted by the two mercenaries dropped off by the valkyrie. A second laser blast struck another platform, separating the two mercenaries, but the old witch downed one.

"Noticing Victoria she advanced on the assassin, and the two came to blows. Victoria prepared to attack, but found herself on the defensive. dodging all the blows she prepared to strike, but her boot skidded on some warp-corrupted oil slick, and she was cast down, and struck between the legs by the polearm wielded by the old witch. As the witch shrieked her victory, or dire warnings about some even greater threat that she was trying to prevent, I advanced further, aiming to empty my combat shotgun in her direction.

"Apparently someone thought to bring a psyk-out grenade, however. It did nothing to Victoria, given that she's not psychic at all, but the effect on Old Mother One-eye was infinitely more lethal. It caused her warp-borne psychic ability to eat her up from the inside, causing her to explode with uncontrolled energy. Literally. Chunks of ancient flesh were strewn everywhere, as her dying scream cursed us for fools, and that "he" was coming, and was going to destroy us all.

"Given that our objective was achieved, we recovered Victoria, and the three of us returned to our craft, and quietly extracted before too much further notice could be sent our way. Victoria's actions inadvertently, and unintentionally led to the destruction of Old Mother One-eye by a third party. This is good, given that the threat presented by her actions has now been resolved, but bad in that we are still left clueless as to the reason behind her insane actions. I would vastly have preferred to have taken her into custody under psychic null fields, possibly provided by the sisters of silence on the Black Ships, and interrogated her thoroughly.

"Still, we are now in the process of investigating her insane ravings. Just in case. Possibly they were little more than the insane rantings of an ancient and deluded witch. But if there is even a grain of truth in what she said, then for the good of the imperium, we must investigate, even if it is only to disprove them. Besides, there are plenty of heretics, and incompetent fools in the local area to prosecute in the meanwhile. As my punishment is to do exactly that, while also researching this possible threat from the Nomad Stars. And to practice my psychic training. I will succeed, or drop dead from exhaustion. And I have no interest in the latter - I have too much to do."
"Heretics are like cockroaches - annoying to find, and even more annoying to kill." - unattrib.