Vormav hefts one of the autoguns "Cowards by nature, but they are also scavengers by nature. Left barely enough ammo for three good bursts between the two of these. Maybe it's best to send Jak down to Aase and we go over the top and see what's attacking the other side of this thing. He'll be able to liase with the remaining tech-guard better than we can. Plus it's easier to get that Ursid down a level than up a few so they'll have a bit more firepower." he shoulder's the autogun. It would have to do for now.

 "Your compliance is not requested High Factotum, it is required if you wish to continue to be communicant in the mysteries and blessings of the Omnissiah. The cogitator core cannot be harmed if this vessel is to survive its engagement." Jak answers in the emotionless, flat mechanical tones his kind tend to favour, then turning to Gregory for his tactical assessment, since it's pretty obvious that the Archmilitant is prepared to take action and he's entirely prepared to take whatever risks are needful to secure the Core.

Gregory notes the growing tension between the two of them and decides that he's not having any of it.

"Enginseer, I would suggest we split up in this case. Aase will go with you and Scarlet as you attack this side and meet up with the techpriest contingent while Vormav and I circle around below and flank them from the other side with the breachers. Is that agreeable?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Sat 11 Mar 2023.

Vormav double checks the map of the area again "Ah yes down not up, an active combat zone is no place to be sliding along the crown of a giant sphere after all."

The troops lead off in two groups, one covering while the other advances, then stops to cover the first group's advance, moving first up the stairs to a gantry which they cross to a ladder that leads down through the higher platform to the lower one. From here the troops can open fire on the insurgents on the top platform, though neither side will have any cover top speak of. To reach the insurgents on the lower platform they would have to descend passed those on the upper one.

Jak descends a stairway on the right to meet up with Scarlet, Captain Ace and the men she has with her there. They then proceed along a solid platform to the foot of a spiral staircase that leads to the lower platform where the insurgents are in melee combat with a small group of tech priests.
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As the move forward the feel the Pious Lament shakes and shudder.

News across the vox beads from elsewhere on the ship is mixed, the main fight seems to be in the Temple where heavy casualties have been taken however, the invasion is being contained, for now.

Outside the fighters and gunships are trying to dislodge the Eldar ship that has latched onto the temple, the situation there is confused and there might have been some losses.

There is no contact with the bridge at the moment and it seems that heavy fighting is also taking place there.
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 "You have tactical command. I am here only to set strategic objectives." Jak answers obligingly - from where he stands he doesn't expect the Archmilitant to have the slightest idea of the relative sanctity of the great machines around him, but he also doesn't imagine for a moment that he can equal the other mans knowledge of military affairs, making that division of labour entirely logical.

 With that said, he heads to join the group moving to relieve the tech-priests, checking his bolter as he goes and - once in position to do so, announces their presence with a resounding call - echoed from a dozen wall-speakers and obliging vox units - "Omnissiah Vult!", punctuating his statement with the crack-whoosh-slap-boom of a bolter round being sent downrange into the back of the biggest-looking thing in the enemy line.

 ---

21:53, Today: Jak Tesla rolled 9 -- 5 degrees of success using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 59.  Aim and fire.
21:54, Today: Jak Tesla rolled 4 using 1d10.  Damage.
 Pen 4, 9 damage (Well, 10 if I use my degrees of success instead).
This message was last edited by the player at 03:10, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

Meanwhile, Gregory, Vormav and the Breachers have gotten over to the other side, where Gregory begins their attack by unloading suppressive fire from the autopistol he took with him, aiming to force all the insurgents to dive for cover.

"Vormav, take over," he says as he drops the weapon (it only had one burst left in it, which he just used) and draws his grenade launcher, preparing to drop a gas grenade behind whatever piece of cover the insurgents have decided to hole up behind.

OOC:

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Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
Per the Suppressing Fire rules (p. 248)...

All targets within the kill zone must a Hard (–20) Pinning Test or become Pinned (see page 248).

Additionally, the active character must make a Hard (–20) Ballistic Skill Test to determine if his wild spray of gunfire hits anyone, friend or foe, within the kill zone. A roll of 94–100 on the test indicates the weapon has Jammed (see Weapon Jams, page 249). If the Ballistic Skill Test succeeds, the GM assigns the hit to a random target within the kill zone. Furthermore, every two degrees of success scores an extra hit against another random victim. Use of the Suppressive Fire action does not affect the defensive benefits of armour or cover. The number of hits scored may not exceed the weapon’s fully automatic Rate of Fire. Use Table 9-5: Multiple Hits to determine Hit Locations for f against the same target. The active character cannot choose to fail this Ballistic Skill Test.

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12:35, Today: Gregory Asgard rolled 26 -- 1 degree of success using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 40.  Suppressive Fire.
Damage for whichever guy I hit: 1d10+2 I, Pen 0.
12:38, Today: Gregory Asgard rolled 6 using 1d10+2.  Autopistol Damage.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:26, Tue 14 Mar 2023.

Vormav watches the insurgents and aims for any that don't duck for cover when Gregory opens fire and peppers the brave unfortunates with the supercharged lasfire of his Hellgun.

Again, the gun hisses and spits its deadly payload three times and each one is accompanied by the screams of an injured opponent.

"Aye!" he shouts back to the Master-at-Arms as he shoulder's his reclaimed autorifle and prepares to spray the insurgents with slightly higher caliber gunfire.

07:55, Today: Vormav rolled 60 -- 4 degrees of success using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 105.  +20 Full Aim, +10 Semi-Auto, +10 Short, +10 MIU.

07:59, Today: Vormav rolled 5,5,12 using 1d10+4,1d10+4,1d10+4.  Damage, Pen 7.

On the upper platform of the sphere, Gregory, Vormav and the troopers rain fire down on the insurgents who are trying to break in through a hatchway, they have no cover from this angle and panic ensues. Some turn to run around to the far side of the sphere, most dive down onto the deck and try to crawl after them, several fall into the depths of the fin and many more are wounded or killed..

On the platform below a similar situation arises when Scarlet, Jak, Captain Aase and his troops open fire, especially when the head of a hulking mutant virtually explode under the influence of Jak’s bolter round. The difference here is that there is nowhere for them to run, the mechanicus defending this hatchway push forward, re-energised by Jak’s ‘proclamation’ and invigorated by suddenly having support. At the front of the mob insurgents are cut down while others turn to flee. At the back of the mob many are shot while others push forward to get away from the withering fire while in the middle, a good few go over the railings in the chaos and confusion.
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 With the chaos developing in front of him, it would be the height of folly for Jak to continue to use a weapon as potent as his bolter - the risk of a mis-aimed round vanishing into the sphere to perform the very damage that the heretics sought to achieve is too great! And so slinging the weapon after a short binary paean of praise he advances, brandishing his bladed staff of office high - a weapon he is far less practised with yes, but a potent one nonetheless, and far safer to wield around sanctified mechanisms - as once again the vox-speakers roar "Excitare ferrum!"

 ---

Going in to mop up with the power axe, although I suspect I'll not have actual targets since there's folks in front of me. ^_^

"Think we should probably take a look and see if they planted bombs or anything, maybe they scattered because their mission was already complete? Maybe capture some wounded to interrogate?" Vormav offers, his tactical acumen no doubt being second to Gregory's.

"And you were telling me to kill them all," Gregory muses. "Breachers advance. Cover the High Factotum and the Engineer-Prime. Take prisoners if possible."

Gregory keeps his grenade launcher at the ready, aiming to drop gas grenades into pockets of resistance or to hit commander-type people (usually the better-dressed ones or those shouting orders) in the chest with a gas grenade like a makeshift beanbag round.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 01:42, Sat 18 Mar 2023.

"No, I guessed correctly that if you just went ahead and tried to kill them there would be enough prisoners laying on the ground that it wouldn't be a problem."

Vormav organizes rounding up any wounded survivors that are left.

When they link back up to Jak "Do we have another objective?"

There is no fight left in the remaining insurgents, Captain Aase takes his cue from Jak and orders a melee advance, which is followed up by Jak and Scarlet. Initially the troops are slaughtering all they come across but when word reaches them from Gregory the just round them up. On the upper platform it is much the same though here many more are able to flee as they are not boxed in.

Soon everything settles down, an inspection of the sphere reveals only superficial damage to the outer casing. There are about forty prisoners by the end of it, many of them wounded and mostly with some form of minor mutation, they seem dazed and confused, aware of their actions but cant understand why they acted like that. There are many more lose in the fin but they are unlikely to be a threat unless reorganised and remotivated.
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Gregory orders a casualty count and an evacuation of severely wounded personnel. Anyone who can fight joins the Tech-Guard in watching over the techpriests as they perform their repairs.

He hasn't forgotten about that sniper yet, but he's going to finish one task here first before starting another.

 More or less immediately, Jak emits a volley of high-speed Binaric, one which results in the servitor skulls around him whipping forwards to play their scanners over the sphere, while a few swift orders see the Mechanicus militia secure the sphere, taking the time to dig in more thoroughly and treat their wounds as Gregory takes charge of the greater martial effort.

 "Tactically, that would be for the Archmilitant to determine." he answers Vormav "But it would seem that securing the fin structure against the possible Xenoc intrusion and gathering the scattered forces under siege within it is a high priority. I will determine what other priorities exist.", after which he extends a cable-link and sockets it into the nearby portable vox-caster, once more signalling the scattered loyalist units to ascertain the current situation.

"If your boys are alright by themselves, I'll divert my lads so we can start organizing patrols to hunt down the stragglers and that sniper from just now. And we should start putting our prisoners into custody for later interrogation..."

Vormav, starts looking around at the labyrinth of catwalks above them as the troops are moving the prisoners and wounded "We should probably find cover from that sniper. I don't fancy getting scalped by a xeno-dart or whatever they shoot. Sounds like there is a lot of action around. No shortage of things to do."

"Patrol time it is, then," Gregory says.

He keys up his mirobead and sends a transmission to First Officer Alexei and the Lady-Captain.

++Ma'am, we have regained control of the Auspex fin. Enginseer Tesla is overseeing repairs to it while Mr. Vormav and Choir-Mistress Scarlet are assisting me in hunting down stragglers. There was a suspected xeno sniper sighted dwn here, we will be flushing him out as we continue to secure the area.++
This message was lightly edited by the player at 01:10, Wed 22 Mar 2023.

In the Auspex fin, while guards, both trooper and Mechnicus, are posted at the enterences to ensure that no one leaves, Jak and his Mechanicus minions get on with the job of testing and repairing while the Gregory leads Scarlet and the trooppers in a systematic search of the whole place to round up any surviving insergents and track down the sniper.

Given time the repairs will be compleated, the insurgents killed or captured, the bodies removed and the blood cleaned up. The sniper seems to have disapeared into thin air so I'm considering this eppisode done and dusted, but feel free to post here if you have any follow up or bright ideas to find the sniper.

.

After ordering the spoils to be brought back to the armory, Gregory notifies the rest of the senior officers present.

"The L-C's reporting another incursion near the chapel. I'll be heading over after I get a medicae to see to this nice new hole in my chest."

 'The spoils' of course do get a once-over from one or two Tech-priests - the net result of which is unlikely to represent more than anything especially heretechal being redirected to a guard trophy room and anything that needs particular maintenance being flagged for the especially attention of the munitions masters.

 Beyond that, Jak remains jacked into the 'com system for some five or ten minutes of exquisitely high-speed communication which he uses to organise search patterns and repairs (with Archmilitant Asgard conferred with for the former), the completion of which leaves him free to state "While the Chapel is not my direct concern, it is placed toward the rear of the ship. I will accompany your efforts."

Vormav keeps scanning the area for traces of the sniper. "I think I'll stay here a bit and manage some of the clean up"

He touches his micro-bead and mutters some heated messages back and forth for a moment.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Sun 26 Mar 2023.

 Which volunteering earns Vormav the assistance of an adept of the Mechanicus assigned to his team, as well as nominal control over cult resources in the spire - with the proviso that their priority is diagnosis and repair, but that they're to help him if they can.

 He is the High Factotum after all, and his compliance with not using the tank-buster near the sensorium is apparently appreciated.