Inquistor III - Stormtroopers

[masterofweirdness]

OOC: Finally got to this... sorry for the delays.

The trip had been hard on the band of warriors. Not only had they barely escaped from death on a planet in the middle of a chaos revolt, but they had then do deal with cultists who had infiltrated their ship.

And now, it was all over. The trip was done and they had finally reached their destination.

The strange assassin that had appeared at the end of their trip, a Calidus Assassin, disappeared as soon as Zen's band had landed on the planet. Zen didn't care, and in fact was glad to have the man gone, the last thing Zen needed was someone who was barely human and distrustful on board his ship.

But now he had his other problems. When he had left this planet just a few days (in real time) ago, he had been the apprentice of a Lord Inquisitor Cyin, the man who, more or less, ruled this planet. Now however, Cyin was dead, and Zen bore his Inquisitorial Seal. Zen assumed that this meant that he would take over Cyin's position as the ruler of the planet. Also, he assumed that he would take charge of the thousand or so Stormtroopers that Cyin had under his command.

However, now that he arrived on the planet he found that both of these objectives would be easier said than done. His trip in the warp had taken longer than he had expected. Apparently news of Cyin's death had beat him to the planet, a new planetary governor was already installed. Also, the stormtroopers were in the middle of being split up to go to other Inquisitorial Fortresses, to be put under various Inquisitors across the Imperium.

Zen sighed. He had his work cut out for him.

OOC: Post yor intros... then we get into the meat of the story.

[TheKiller333]

Erendul staggered off the ship, almost exclaiming with joy to have ground underneath his feet again. His joy was withheld however, by the terrible memories of the ship. First Things First He thought, and headed off to find Mikail. He supposed he owed the man a bit of an apology. Or did he? What did he really do? It wasn't his fault he was surrounded by cultists, with no sign of help. No, he wasn't going to apologise. He'd report to Zen to find out what the hell to do next.

[NearSightedFarseer]

Stilheim stepped off the ship groggily, thanking the emperor for every step taken towards solid ground. It seemed like forever since he was last off the ship, with all that has happened. Upon reaching the ground, he fell to his knees, relishing the feeling.

[Baron Spikey]

Mikail stepped from the belly of the shuttle onto the smooth plascrete of the Inquisitorial landing strip. Taking stock of his surroundings with a, seemingly, casual glance the disturbed mercenary paced just within ear shot of Zen, ensuring that he could get to the Inquisitor's aid quickly yet far enough back to observe the flow of people near his Lord.

Noting that Zen was currently adequately protected by his personal bodyguards, the Altonian let part of his mind wander as the other part kept a wary eye on his surroundings.
With a glimmer of what might optimistically be called excitement, he began to imagine all the equipment and weapons that his place in the retinue would give him access to...before snapping out of it as he saw Erendul emerge from the shuttle and stride through the crowd in a determined fashion. In scant moments Mikail melted into a knot of guardsmen and studied the Cadian dispassionately as he passed mere feet away....

[Killermoose]

Akrial frowned as he read the data report in front of him. He had barely returned from his last deep-cover mission, and was looking forward to some rest and relaxation, but it looked like again he would be cheated out of his warm apartment in one of the upper city spires. Sighing, he ignited the report with his mind, and by the time it was nothing but ash he was already out of his office on his way to the armoury. Why can't they get one of the other worthless clots around here to do it? He passed by the training ground, where fellow Arbites practiced their aim and combat skills. Well, it's because they're worthless clots, I guess...

[masterofweirdness]

As the group got off the ship and familiarized themselves with the planet's capital city, Zen and his stormtroopers made their way to Cyin's former Headquarters. When they approached the entrance, the stormtroopers on guard duty said, "may I ask who you are and what business you have entering the former Headquarters of my late master, the Lord Inquisitor Cyin?"

"I am Inquisitor Zen, Cyin's heir and I demand to see the master of this fortress." Zen replied as he showed the guards his Inquisitorial Seal, verifying his claims.

To say the stormtroopers were surprised would be an understatement. One of them, after a bit of staring in shock, said, "Umm... yes sir, umm... allow me to show you the way to Cyin's former office, which is now being used by our current captain."

"Thank you, stormtrooper. And may I inquire to the name of this captain, was not Erendul head of this Stormtrooper Regiment?"

"Yes, his name is Benden, we assumed he died, along with Cyin and the rest of his retinue."

"No, he, and the rest of Cyin's retinue are alive and well, all of them follow me now."

The stormtrooper did not reply to this, but instead escorted Zen to the office, and then left Zen there, returning to his duties.

[TheKiller333]

Erendul, after walking around aimlessly for a number of minutes, went to find his old quarters, and was rather suprised to see someone wearing a Captain Insignia sat in there. "Who the HELL are you?" Shouted Erendul.
The other man just looked at him, stood up and hit him. "Back to your own quarters soldier!" Ordered the man. Erendul backed away, recovering from shock, and charged the insolent idiot in front of him. "You Feth!" He shouted, and knocked the man down with one hit to the face. "Who, the hell, are you!" He managed to stutter.

OOC: Thought it might be nice to get some emnity between Erendul and the other captain. =]

[Dan296]

OOC: sry, i was at camp for a week so couldnt post

Akuzio, unfamiliar with the situation that Zen was in, because he used to be with the Guard. as far as that was concerned, if an officer had chosen his replacement before he died then until further notice his decision stood.
Akuzio hoped that Zen could keep his position of responsibility. As a member of a honoured Inquisitor he could be in charge of lesser men. He would also keep some sort of command. Some inquisitors had households of hundreds of men, and if Akuzio could be in charge of that....well....who knows what would be in store for him.

[NearSightedFarseer]

Stilheim took the oppurtunity to visit his chapel, as it has been a while since he was last here. The scene was shocking to him, finding it in a state of woeful disrepair. Crude graffiti was on the walls and unsavory characters were lounging around the entrance.

Approaching the resident priest angrily, "how dare you let this holy site be desicrated in such a manner, you cur!". Before the stammering priest could respond, stilheim slugged him, sending him to the floor hard. Storming out of the chapel, stilheim knew what he had to do when zen was reinstated.

[masterofweirdness]

OOC: Looks like everyon is rooting for Zen... good... lol.

This was not going well.

As it was, there wasn't much Zen could do to retain the stormtroopers that Cyin had under his command. Officially, they were all under the Inquisition. The few that Cyin himself had recruited, were under Zen's command for sure, but they only added up to a couple dozen, barely 100.

The only thing Zen could do was lodge a complaint with the Ordo Hertictus (OOC: spelling?) and hope that it was reached before it was to late.

But the stormtroopers were the least of his worries. He was an Inquistor outside of the Inquisition almost. Cyin died before he could properly equip Zen. Cyin's ship, the one Zen had been using, was officially the property of the Ordo Hertictus, meaning he didn't even have a ship. The only thing that he had of value or power, was Cyin's Inquisitorial Seal, and even that wasn't officially his.

Right now, he and his retinue were still living on Cyin's ship, hoping that there was something he could do to get what he thought was rightfully his back.

OOC: Okay, things are bad for Cyin... I'm not sure where to take this RP, so post up suggestions on the OOC thread... I'm going to PM Killermoose with an idea.

[Killermoose]

'Well, men, do you know why you 6 are here?'
Akriel stared impassively at the gathered Arbites, all barely out of training. This isn't going to go well...
'Is it because we're the best, sir?' piped up one young man, a grin on his face.
'No, it's because you're the worst.' I love my job... 'You're all here simply because HQ doesn't want me doing this on my own, yet they don't want to attract attention by sending off any of their best. So, you drivel have to work with me.'
The faces of all the Arbites in the room sunk immediately, their bursting egos punctured.
'What do you mean, they don't want to attract attention?' one had the courage to ask. 'We're the Arbites, for Emperor's sake! Who have we got to fear?'.
'The Governor, is who. Something's going on, but we can't investigate it properly as he's suddenly decided to take much more of an 'active' interest in our procedures. So, the only way to get round this is to dispatch some of our more worthless members, you, to investigate.'
'So why are you here, sir?' someone else asked.
Akriel allowed himself one of his rare smiles.
'Because not even HQ has a clue what I do, so the Governor isn't likely to find out! Now, clots, equip yourselves and follow me!'
The 6 Arbites stood up as Akriel walked to the door.
'Wait, sir' the closest Arbite stammered. 'Will this be dangerous?'
A devilish grin slipped over Arkiel's face.
'Oh, you bet your arse it will.'

[Baron Spikey]

With the last buckle secured Mikail stepped from Zen's ship as a fully equipped, and masked, Inquisitorial Stormtrooper.

Noticing the suspicion tha Zen was held in, the mercenary quickly realised that as a member of the Inquisitor's retinue he would be no less held in suspicion ensuring his movements were strictly curtailed to any area directly away from the ship. But as a faceless Stormtrooper amongst thousands of others he could circumvent checkpoints with impunity. Laying in wait for one of the planet's soldiers to pass by alone the dangerous Altonian had quickly subdued him taking both identification papers and uniform.

With a tightening of his stomach muscles as the tense excitement began to eat at him Mikail made his way to the nearest armoury, exclaiming to anyone who asked that his "damn gun had broken down again, bloody hell guns are a ***** to keep working". For such a simple ruse it was working disturbingly well...

Wrestling with thoughts of how lax security was, it heightened the danger to his master but also made it easier to slip about unnoticed, the mercenary was so preoccupied that he didnt even notice when he stepped into the armoury proper. A quick glance to scan his surroundings and the Altonian returned to his conundrum, until the surprise of what his glance had shown him finally filtered into his consciousness
"Feth!"...

[NearSightedFarseer]

Stilheim had sometime to mull over the fact that imperial truth was being neglected on the planet, a fact which disturbed him greatly. If a blessed chapel could be abondoned so, could laxity be found amongst the populace en masse? Walking amongst the milling soldiers and workers, he was shocked to find that precious few were adequately pious, but even then...

The soldiers he spoke to looked at him as if he was crazy to worship the emperor everyday, and it took all his composure to hold back the urge to strike them down. Finally, when a lowly menial worker dared to scoff away his query, he slugged him hard and returned to the ship to report this to to zen.

[BrainDeleted]

Lt. Cancer slept with one eye open in the Guardsmen barracks. When you grow up in the bad parts of a bad hive you learn to watch your back constantly.

He was admitted to the ranks of the guard as a sergeant after some persuasion. Cancer became a lieutenant after one of the previous men to hold the rank 'disappeared'.

The Colonel, also the highest ranked officer on the planet, was the type of man who was born into his rank , he never really had seen combat or been fired on. He attributed the late lieutenant's death to a drunken squabble gone wrong and had decided that he wanted a more strait laced man to take over his rank, a more 'civilized' man. He saw Cancer, and he saw what Cancer wanted him too, a bright young man with a good sense of honor and tradition values. Cancer dreamed about how the meeting went, more specifically the part were the colonel gave him his speak "A young man like you could go far in my Fusilier Dragoons, keep your impeccable record through your first taste of command and advancement will come, my lad." the colonel gave him a big clumsy wink after he was done speaking.

A smile crossed Cancer's face as he dreamed.

OOC: forgot for a while

[Dan296]

Akuzio, having wandered around the starport for sometime, walked back towards Zens headquarters. while passing the barracks of Zens requisitioned stormtroopers, he could see fighting inside.
Akuzio ran inside to see what was the matter
Inside, Erundal and another officer were having a fistfight, while the other troopers egged them on. It wasnt every day that they could watch officers fight. from the looks of it, they had busted through the captains quarters and continued the fight out on the barracks floor.
"Erundal! Calm down!" yelled Akuzio. He ran over and pulled the Captain off of the strange officer. Erundal had a black eye and a cut on his cheek, while the other officer's face was a complete mess. both eyes had shiners, his nose was broken, and his arm was bent and an unnatural angle.
"Throne, man, calm down!" said Akuzio.
"That bastard took my quarters! My personal gear is in a box! Its insulting that one can waltz in here and take my fragging office without my permission!"
The offending officer groaned, and Erundal silenced him with a kick to the groin.
"Erundal, they thought we were dead! we had to take a warp jump, and no matter how short the distance it could still have been a year or more in real-space. Give him a break. Im sure he will let you have your quarters back. especially now," he grinned. "Come on. Lets find some dive with cheap rotgut and take it out on some locals, not officers."