Personal Journal of Essiala Ariathia Sorjiik den Morgenstern ban Vor'cle, Navigatrix Primaris
Encryption Sigil: Vor'cle-HEXAMATIS-6184.malacant
Vessel: Gloriosa Lux Misericordiae Imperialis, rogue-trader of Dynasty Void-ghast
Location: Damaris System, Koronus Expanse, halo-Segmentus Obscurus
Date: 3.398.816.M41
Thought for the day: Only by His sword is Mankind saved.
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I must apologise for my delays in completing this journal. These last cycles have been laden with much activity and preparation for war and I be brief in this record for the ork vanguard is approaching within battle range.
Magos Shard, the planetary leader of the Mechanicum upon Damaris, offered his holy knowledge and techno-insight into the incident in the Enginarium. Following a deeper examination of Gloriosa’s burning heart, he expressed suspicion that the message was a subtle manipulation of her machine spirit, intended to manipulate us in turn as a regicide player does a pawn. A most concerning idea, made infinitely much worse by the magnitude of beings that could accomplish such a feat. At the Magos’ request I will not record the name he spoke or commit it to mnemovault, merely record it as =][=.X.A.41-287.’DECIEVER’ for the benefit of our Good Friends.
The remaining time before the arrival of our foes was consumed by preparation. Voidmines have been placed at the system’s Mandeville point to blunt any assault that may descent from out-system, and mercenaries have been recruited to supplement the meagre planetary levies.
Helm Mistress Petriam showed her naval mettle and drilled the command chamber crew to perfection, while Lord Captain Locke forged our meagre gathering of vessels into a squadron worthy to face the Ork. Master Katsuhiro recovered well from his augmentic implantation and was swiftly briefing General Dante and the planetary levy on how to face and defeat the orks, though I am still hesitant of their chances if the beasts make planetfall. None of them have fought a true xenos foe and know the ork only from the earnest but unhelpful words of the Imperial Infantryman’s Primer.
My own time was spent in recuperation and healing, retraining myself to use my hands correctly and disciplining one of my Tertiaries for deigning to comment on my condition. As they will insist on using their words for idleness and insubordination, then they shall learn to exist withough them. If Tomaris proves themself worthy of speech again by the end of this voyage, I will return his capacity for it in the hope that he uses it more wisely.
The first threads of attack began .001 ago with an unseasonal and inexplicable meteor shower. I cast the Emperor’s Tarot and found threat in the unknown skeins weaving around us all, and so roused the command crew to action. There was understandable consternation at this disruption of rest so close to war, for all know that orks are brutish and stupid creatures incapable of great cunning.
I was right to do so. For, within an hour of the meteor fall, word was raised that an outpost near the crash site had gone dark. The planetary miliary was unable to respond with sufficient haste and it was felt meritorius that the leaders of the defence should take this moment to show their mettle. So, Lord Captain Void-ghast, Master Katsuhiro, Mistress Petriam and myself landed at the site with a squad of hand-picked armsmen at our back.
The outpost was too quiet. Its walls were holed with precision weapons and its bunker guns silent. The orks did not rampag through the ruins, firing and looting and fighting as their brutish kind is wont to do. Instead they skulked in shadows, faced painted in lurid purples, waiting to strike from ambush and using suppressive volleys of fire to cover close assaults. These were the strategies of the professional soldier rather than the brutish xenos.
Yet for all this primitive cunning they were no match for our fire and sword. I did not realise how inexperienced our Lord-Captain was until this moment but he came through his baptism of fire and blood with a measure of glory. He cut down one of the beasts with plasma fire while Petriam sundered the another with her power-sword and Katsuhiro shattered the remainder of them in a hail of bolter shells . For my own part, I had forgotten how tiring it was to exert the full force of my gaze, even against a single target, but I was also able to modulate my True sight to allow only the fringes of power to stretch forth like a corona in eclipse and so ensnare one of the orks so it could be cut down like the filth it is.
Our examination into the fallen bunker was cut short by a detonation, for the beasts had sabotaged the site. With no orks remaining on the planet and injuries in need of chirurgical attention, we returned to Gloriosa Lux to consider what we had seen. If the Emperor had not protected us, the ork demolitions would have sent us all into His arms, and the Damaris’ defence would have been decapitated. Concerns of treachery or espionage were raised and will be investigated. The razor of Hanlon may dictate that incompetence is more likely than malice, but incompetence in the face of the enemy is sinful and must be cut out.
Adjunct entry
Date: 3.398.816.M41
We have sighted the enemy – Roks accompanied by Onslaught-class raiders – unsubtle but dangerously effective weapons fit for the crudities of the ork. Gloriosa and all her complement stand ready for battle. None may be allowed to make planetfall.
May Him on Terra grant us strength to sunder these brutes.
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