Chương 72: Volume Two - Chapter Nine - Snakebite

Everything was nice and slow, and then suddenly it wasn't, and Alexis wasn't sure if she'd ever be able to get used to a change of pace like that. The day after her chat with Clarice was the same day that The Broken Scale arrived next to the orbital station over Death Bane. There was a lot of fanfare and work involved with that. The ship had to be slowed down to what was basically a crawl, then tugs were dispatched from the station to come and hover around the Broken Scale.

The ship was slowly brought closer to the station, moving past the three system patrol craft that guarded the station at all times. Alexis had been excited to see them. She wasn't a huge fan of the Basilikon Astra, but she felt something whenever she got to see a kilometre-long machine of steel, wrought by the hands of men in the service of the Omnissiah.

Every ship was a temple, in a way, and she couldn't help but feel a certain religious reverence on seeing a large vessel smoothly move past one of the great windows in the bridge. It was a better view than any she had gotten before. The bridge was louder than she ever remembered it being. They were receiving hundreds of vox messages from the station, and keeping on top of it all was chaotic. Still, the Broken Scale slid into its berth with little issue.

The moment they were in place, Clarice put out a call, demanding that some people join her in one of the rooms adjoining the bridge. Obviously, Alexis followed. She wasn't surprised to see Vena there, clearly working to organize things. Alexis wasn't sure if the woman was sleeping much, but she still looked healthy, so she decided not to poke her about it. Octavia showed up, along with a small contingent of Sisters of Battle who were charged with guarding her. Then more of the sororitas showed up.

Alexis recognized the Sister Palantine, the one who was very much Octavia's boss, still. Clarice's cousin came in with some higher-ranked members of the Voidsmen, and then the same two members of the Mechanicus who had been at the last important meeting showed up; Ordinator Velpexa Thame and Thale-66 Mirr. Finally, Clarice herself came in, along with that psyker butler of hers and the seneschal.

"Everyone who is unable to keep a secret, stand," she demanded. A few people glanced at each other, then back to the temporary Rogue Trader.

"I will be divulging information during this meeting that, if leaked, could well cost the dynasty a great fortune. If I discover that the pertinent information we are going over is shared with anyone outside of these confines, then the sharer will be summarily executed." She looked to some of the lower-ranked members of the Mechanicus, Voidsmen, and even the Sisters of Battle. There were a few quick, murmured conversations and even some chatter in binharic, then half a dozen people left.

That helped, the room had been a little crowded.

"Lock the doors," Clarice said. There was a loud clunk, and the room was sealed.

"Are you going to tell us what all of this is about, Cousin?" Janus Caduceus asked.

"In due time," Clarice replied.

"Most of you will be unaware of this, but our house, when we were merely a lesser noble house of Terra, had many friends, including a small but honourable knightly house called House Kronis. That house has been lost. Their last heir died some fifteen years ago, and the current people who have the name are several generations detached from their noble line." Alexis stood up straighter. She knew where this was going already.

"House Kronis has, or rather had, a small keep on Chrysis." Clarice placed a small portable holoprojector onto the table at the centre of the room and it displayed a map of the surface. First Death Bane, then to the east of that, a glowing point of interest.

"This keep, called Overcliff, is just behind the ork front lines. It is very likely overrun. It was lost several sieges ago when the family couldn't defend it any longer with so few members remaining."

"I imagine this is going somewhere interesting?" Janus asked.

"It is. I have been digging through some archives available only to the ship's Lord Captain and the acting Rogue Trader of House Caduceus. and I discovered something. I had some discreet assistance from Techseer Prime Thale-66 Mirr, who lent me the service of several of his Techseer Adepts. It confirmed a few things." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Clarice cleared her throat. She really did have a flair for the dramatic.

"House Kronis was, at the time of its fall, the sole owner of an STC fragment." Alexis knew, and yet the sound of that still made her heartbeat quicken. Octavia let out a long, low whistle, but that was nothing compared to the way the two senior tech priests tensed.

"Are you certain?" Ordinator Velpexa Thame asked.

"This is a grand/important/noteworthy discovery," Thale-66 added.

"Are the local forges aware of this?"

"I am certain of nothing," Clarice said.

"However, the potential value of such an item cannot be overstated. That is why I have called you all here."

"You wish to sell the info?" Janus asked.

"No," Clarice snapped.

"That's short-sighted. I want the STC for myself. To copy, if possible, and to trade with the Adeptus Mechanicus. Selling it off world may be politically unwise. Painting it as a discovery that we are willing to graciously share with the local nobility and the representatives of Mars would earn us much goodwill. We have the funds to fully repair the Broken Scale. We are not suffering too greatly in terms of financials, but the sale of an STC fragment of even middling quality would be a great boon.

I'm not going to lie. I also want it to secure my reputation as a capable Lord Captain and as a credible future Rogue Trader."

"I have several queries/questions," Thale-66 said.

"How was this lost? Was the house not able to trade/sell the STC? Why keep it hidden/secret?"

"I don't have all the answers you seek," Clarice said.

"If I could, I would be more discreet about this. In any case, none of that matters. If we want the STC for ourselves, we need Overcliff." She pointed to the projection.

"I'm sending Alexis Lambda-3, from my personal retinue, to the surface. Octavia, would you be willing to join her?"

"And blow up some orks? Sure thing!" Octavia said.

"When are we going?"

"Wait, just those two?" Janus asked. Clarice frowned.

"We don't have many vehicles to spare. We have uncle's personal Aquila transport, two more Aquilas which we may well need here, and a dozen Arvus Lighters, but we will also be needing those. I will not pretend to know very much about military matters. Simply that my retinue will be piloted down in uncle's Aquila. Ideally, we can spare some additional forces to assist them in retrieving the STC fragment."

"I can have enough volunteers to fill every transport to capacity," Velpexa Thame said.

"Unfortunately, I doubt the quality of all of those. I will be more selective."

"Hey now. We're not going to let you get all of the honour," Janus said.

"This is a Caduceus affair. We ought to have some of our veterans on the surface as well." The Sister Palatine sat up.

"We will not miss out on an opportunity such as this either. I was planning on meeting certain members of the Ecclesiarchy soon, but I can spare some of my more veteran sisters to assist." Alexis sat back and watched as a plan was hatched out. Initially, Janus pushed his weight around, but then common sense prevailed. In the end, the plan was formalised and kept relatively simple. Two Arvus Lighters were going down with two twelve-man squads of veteran voidsmen.

Another was heading down with volunteers from the Mechanicus as well as some field medics--Vena's idea--as well as the equipment necessary to sniff out archeotech and set up a base camp. Finally, the last was going to descend with a full Sisters of Battle squad. It was about as subtle as they could be. Clarice had a story prepared, about fetching something owed to them on the surface before the ork siege went on for too long.

The issue was mostly that once they landed, their transports were going to leave immediately. They had no escort. The orks had their own crude aeronautica. If the shuttles came and left quickly, they'd likely be fine. If they lingered, or stayed groundside, they wouldn't be. It was possible that they would have to arrange their own transport off-world. That was fine. Task Force Snakebite was going to be overseen by Ordinator Velpexa Thame, with assistance from Janus and some of his militants.

They were to depart in six hours. Alexis wasn't sure if she was ready, but she supposed it was too late to back out now.