"10 days to raise an army, steal sacred artifacts and secure supplies," Cassandra listed off the demands dryly. "And what support can we expect?"
"That is an awfully short window for a full warp transit, I take it this is a very well-charted route?" Jessica comments dryly.
"ArtiFACTS. You need that part. FACTS. How many is there supposed to be of artifacts all locked up? Do they get lonely? Who keeps them company?" Lola had a thought about it. While it's true that she will need to go and get a souvenir for the vacation, they didn't necessarily know how many were supposed to be in the respiratory. They wouldn't actually have to grab them all, all that really had to be done is to just get Sextia to think that's what she did. Of course, Lola would have to explain this to the squishy lifeforms later when they weren't standing directly in front of Sextia.
"Normally such a transit would take a month or three, but the ship's navigator is... 'adamant' he can navigate our course in record time. I'm skeptical about his claims but the Captain is confident our mission will proceed on schedule." Sextia replied. "And while it's true finding recruits is a priority, raising an army is a little bit of an exaggeration. You're to find suitable recruits for both the ship and legion. Do be sure to adequately vet the candidates." "As for the Repository," Sextia turned to address Lola, "I'm led to believe that the masters of this world have stored dozens, if not hundreds, of artifacts in their vault. However, you need only acquire ones associated with the Alpha Legion. All others are unimportant to the Captain. However, as I said, my Master would be appreciative if you were able to recover the Tome of Srythendalt. I have no idea if it is in the Repository or not, however, that does seem the most likely location for it."
"You also seem to be woefully underestimating the raw crew requirements of a vessel this size Sextia, for a ship as large as this several thousand is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of required personnel, and I'm not sure about you, but I'd call that an army. Whole worlds have been conquered with less," Jessica opines.
"Yes, but we're not recruiting an entire crew. We're replacing a few casualties, and taking anyone who might become Astartes. I would say we'd be recruiting a few companies at most." Kar said, moderating his tone so as not to offend the Astartes.
Lola realized that all the information that could be provided would have it's own limits, so she opted to user her own knowledge instead and wracked through her memory to think of what she knew about the places the scavengers were looting. She was after all a machine and even when alive, able to remember literally every piece of information she came across. It seemed unlikely that she knew nothing at all of the broken and raided ships.
Cassandra sat back in her seat. Letting the talk of the others wash over her as she thought about the task at hand. "The crew will be easy to obtain," She says when there is a break in the conversation. "You say this planet has Feral Tribes? In my time since leaving my homeworld, I have learned that most of what you call Feral Tribes work the same way no matter where you go. Simply overawe them with your strength, kill those who refuse to be awed and then do whatever you wish with the rest." "It seems that myself and the Astartes would be the best to deal with that side of things." She suggested. "As for the other tasks, I leave the best way to approach that to the others."
"You will refrain, in the future, from addressing me as 'the astartes'. You may refer to me as 'My Liege', 'Comander', 'Fuerhen', or if you must be informal for some specific reason 'Jessica'; but not 'the astartes' as if I were a potted plant." Jessica informed the mere mortal who was being so familar on so short an acquaintance.
Sextia regarded Varis after he asked his question. "The Captain cares about the Legion's relics. The Legion cares about the Tome. No one, save the planet's inhabitants, care about the rest; do with them as you will."
"AAARRRGH DAMMIT!" Lola's random volume increase was bizarre as she had not spoken for a while. "These are spooky ghost ships. They don't from anywhere, because if they do, I can't think of it." When a heretek was faced with the realization that there was some information or data out there they didn't know, they didn't take it well. Sullen, she opted to remain silent for a little bit, partly hoping they could get on to properly stabbing things in the face soon.
"Excellent. Then, if I am allowed to keep anything I can take, other than that which is the Legion's, do you have any other leads on relics or artefacts that the planet might play host to? To... help me on my way to thriving?" Charm test: Result of 66 versus a skill of 65.
After Lola's outburst, Sextia again turned to Varis with a smile. "My apologies, but my briefing was limited to Legion business. If you wish to find other items of worth, I'm afraid you'll have to ask the planet's inhabitants. They'll probably know it better than I." Once more she addressed the group. "Are there any other questions?"
"Several, but not necessarily ones you can answer," Jessica began. "One, what do we know about the culture of these warrior tribes? Two, where approximately is this reliquery housed? Three, is there anything of value left in the orbiting hulls other than their Keels/Spines? Four, you say the planet has been looting the ships, looting them how: what kind of tech level should we expect down there? Five: how familiar are these people with living Space Marines?" Jessica finished.
Cassandra looked at the Astartes, a distantly recalled campfire song from her time in the guard came to mind. At the time the odd wordplay about bits of them "Dropping off" had made little sense to her although she had gotten the jist that all Space Marines were male or at least had begun as such. An Astartes calling itself by a female name was a something unexpected. Then again, since turning traitor, most things had been unexpected. Still, she had enough of a sense of self-preservation not to bring that point up right now and instead simply nodded her head. "I apologize," she said to the Astartes calling itself Jessica. "I don't believe any of us have met before I could not have called you anything else."
"You make a good point:" Jessica allowed with a nod of her head, "as we appear to have been formed into an action team I believe introductions are in order? You may know me as 'Jessica Q Herriot of the Alpha Legion Twentieth Chapter, Fifth Company, Champion Detached Duty Assignment' and what are your names?"
"Varis Kar, the Dark Prince. Former king of the Illium Isles, currently responsible for keeping the Calixis sector's cults working together. They're not exactly being cooperative, so I look forward to being able to do something that might actually benefit the Legion, Chaos, and myself."
"Me? Oh, I do know this one!" The robot girl seemed proud. "Lola Moreau. That would be my flesh people's name. That's a person's name, so it could definitely be that." Lola paused for a couple of seconds before staring at Varis, whom she had never met or seen before with curiosity. "Is that my name? Am I right?"
