Frank had verified the flight plan, and cleared Simo as the pilot of the second shuttle. Surprisingly Vir Saurlance took one look at the mission and politely declined to accompany the Away Team, despite the presence of Yasha.

"It will be good for my little sister to get off-ship. She spends too much time staring at bulkheads and the warp and worrying about me. I have made peace with what happened, and she needs to do so as well. But if you come back without her, I WILL end you.”

You grin and grasp his shoulder, "I would expect nothing less from any brother worth his blood."

Vir grins and shoos you away, "Best get going Sir, before Jace starts poking things he shouldn't be."

You laugh and head for the shuttle. It needs a better name than Aegis Cargo One if it's going to be hauling the Away Team around on a semi-regular basis. Perhaps the Swallow? You almost trip over a tracked probe zipping across the deck, and then narrowly avoid running into Jace.

"Sorry Sir, one of the CATs came online a tad early. I'll have it stowed away momentarily!" He runs off after the CAT before it can get too far away. You regain your balance and head for the Swallow, where Morrigan is pouring over what maps and scans you have.

"Morrigan, any better idea of how we're going to get to wherever it is we need to go?"

Morrigan scratches at the edge of her crow tattoo, "yes and no Tristan. Jace has indicated that we need to get here," she points at a spot on the map just behind the Battleship's unfinished forward port broadside, "so that he can get to work unplugging whatever it is he needs to unplug. After he's finished, Frank and Simo will pilot the shuttles to just outside the hull, Jace attaches cables, and they tow it away. What I'm less sure of is our path. Jace tells me that the CATs will find a path for us, but I'm not so sure how they're going to do that."

Jace walks past with the runaway CAT in his hands, "Easy enough. CATs are fairly simple machines: tracks, a motor to move them, a camera so the operator can see where it’s going, a beacon to follow its position, and a basic protocol to move them about. Go forward until it runs into something it cannot pass, then turn ten degrees left and repeat. I'll be letting about a score of them lose at our entrance point, and another ten or so once we get to the work site. They will wander about mapping the ship and scouting ahead for us. fortunately, the ship is complete enough, and undamaged enough, to still hold atmosphere in most places. I'm hoping that I can find out more about her once aboard, some of the architecture is familiar, but other parts not so much."

You nod, "keep in mind that you are going to wind up back here for a long period of time finishing that battleship at some point Jace. Might it be a good idea to send some of the CATs into what's left of the station?"

Jace shakes his head, "too much chance of awakening anything aboard the station to do so now, perhaps when we are ready to leave."

Morrigan looks thoughtful, "so I can count on my maps being updated as we progress by more than just our own eyes. That does change things. With the CATs to pathfind, we can use a convoy deployment instead of splitting up trying to find a path. I'll take point with two armsmen, four more armsmen will act as a rearguard. The remaining armsmen and the Away Team will form the convoy's main body. There is atmosphere, but don't count on it being breathable everywhere after so many years, so I've brought along breath masks for everyone."

You study the maps for a moment before agreeing, "that sounds more than workable. Everyone have everything they need before we depart?"

Morrigan juts grins and taps the but of her hellgun. Frank shrugs and picks up a lascarbine, while Simo pats the wooden stock of a bolt action rifle. Yasha nods, fingering the hilt of an elegant laspistol bearing the Saurlance crest. Jace pauses and flicks his Omnissian Combi-tool through a self-test pattern before indicating his readiness. With no further fanfare, you indicate the shuttles and everyone starts to board.

One sphincter-clenching shuttle flight later…

Morrigan has everyone wait in close proximity to the the shuttles while Jace's CATs set off into the darkness. Fifteen minutes later she starts out, "Jenkins, Leroy, with me. Moe, Larry, Shemp, Curly, ye four have rearguard. Let's move."

Two minutes later, You lead off with the main body of the 'convoy', Jace whistling a jaunty tune despite the dark and gloom of the hallways. Simo cocks an eyebrow and listens for a moment, "Where did you learn the Kannus working songs?"

Jace breaks off his tune, "Working Heavy Industry before transferring to the Explorators. It seemed appropriate, somehow."

Simo nods, then brings his rifle to his shoulder as you enter a high-vaulted chamber. A cathedral, if the pews are anything to judge by. Jace's servo-lamp rises on high, casting a spotlight through the cobwebs and gloom to illuminated the statuary behind the altar. Your breath catches in your throat, and Yasha thumbs her palm at the sight. Frank breaks the silence first, "is that...? Is this...?"

Simo whispers, "Skin made of iron..."

Jace finishes the phrase, his voice ringing in the silence "...steel in our bones. Sir, this is no battleship. This is an Ark Mechanicus."

You glance back at the enormous statue. Easily thirty-four feet high, and standing atop a twenty-one foot pillar, is a cast adamantium representation of a heavily augmented man. His face is a half 'flesh' and half cogs and gears, his torso is riddled with induction and interface ports. Both of his outstretched arms become obviously mechanical at the shoulder, as does his torso from the waist downwards. "so what does this mean Jace? Can we get the components we need? And can we still get it operational in the fullness of time?"

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Jace nods slowly, "yes, and yes. But this ship would never have been abandoned except under the most dire of circumstances. And even then she would have been scuttled, her reactors set to overload rather than be allowed to fall into the hands of any foes. Something very wrong is going on here. " he breaks off long enough to activate his microbead, "Morrigan, move with extra caution. This ship should never have been abandoned intact like this."

"Given what I've found down here, I'd think the same. the bulkheads are warped and slagged, as if they were half-melted. Not to mention the bodies and bones I've seen in some of the side halls. They look, well, eaten."

Yasha's head snaps around to look at you, "Tristan, we need to move quickly. I can feel something stirring in this ship's bones. Something not of reality."

You clench your teeth and breathe deeply, settling your nerves, "right. Sooner started, sooner done. Simo, Frank; back to the shuttles. Get them voidborne and follow us down the outside of the ship. Morrigan, get the rest of us to the objective. 'Convoy', tighten up on me, we're moving at speed. Rearguard, close up. Let's move people."

Jace and Simo both make the sign of the cog towards the altar and you all hurry off, nerves tightening with every step.

Two hours, three detours, and a fair bit of profanity later, your 'convoy' arrives at the back of the port forward broadside. The breach end of the lance arrays gleams with hoarfrost and condensation. Morrigan arranges the armsmen into a rough perimeter around the back of one of the weapons while Jace un-crates and unleashes the last of his CATs. Yasha is holding up well, although she spends a fair amount of time staring at the shadows. Your microbead crackles with an incoming signal.

"Simo here, Frank and I are in position and ready to haul metal."

"Confirmed Simo. Tristan, clear." You walk over to Yasha and lay a hand on her shoulder, "How are you holding up?”

Yasha draws a deep breath before answering, "Well. This ship seems, well, aware of our presence. But I have felt no malice, nor offence at our presence or activities. It's almost as if it knows that we are here, and wants up to succeed. It wants to sail again. It feels almost welcoming, an isle of stability amidst a storm. But there is something darker on the station. I'm not sure how to describe it, I've never felt the like. A hole? A filled nothingness? It isn't of reality, nothing with a psychic signature that strong is, but I know not what it could be."

You frown in thought as Jace sets to work, "Yasha, the presence on the station, could it be from a dweller in the Warp?”

Yasha shakes her head, "No. I have felt those lurking in the warp, and they feel nothing like this. They all but bleed emotions, desires, hatreds. This, this is nothing but a hungry shadow."

You cock your head in thought for a moment, "thanks Yasha. If its not human, and not of the warp, then it has to be xenos. some sort of alien, or group of them, is putting out that effect. And in that case, Frank or Simo may know more." You tap your microbead, "Frank, Simo, have any of you heard of a xenos that puts out 'A hungry shadow' in the Warp?"

"Simo here. The only Xenos I know of that puts out a 'shadow in the warp' would be the Tyranids. But we'd know of any of them in the sector, there would be warfleets and armies everywhere."

"Frank here. Perhaps it’s the splinter of a fleet that got left behind and went dormant? It would explain the eaten bodies Morrigan saw in the passageways."

"That sounds plausible. Anything else?"

"Simo here. If it is a dormant splinter or nest, then we do not want to wake it up. The Aegis has no guns, and no body of trained armsmen for a pitched battle. Boarding actions or hit-and-runs, sure. Full-on pitched war? No way."

"Frank here. There might be another way, but that would be something for later. If we had a small Atomic, we might be able to scuttle the station without breaking the slip open. It would cost up all of the salvage on the station itself, plus the cost of the atomic, but..."

You butt in, "and would increase the cost of repairing the Ark because of that lost salvage. But calling in someone to help us clear the station would mean that they might have a claim on the Ark too. Thanks for the input guys, Jace looks to be about ready to cut the first focusing array free. Tristan, clear." You close the connection, but keep thinking the issue over. This is definitely a problem for later, and one with far too many teeth to approach carelessly. suddenly, an idea strike you, "hey Jace! Do you think the Mechanicus would take the station and whatever salvage is aboard it in exchange for the Ark?"

Jace looks up from removing the securing bolts off another focusing array, "not a chance in the Warp if they knew it was an Ark Mechanicus, not for just the station."

"What about a Magos Biologis? Would one of them be more interested in the Tyranids aboard the station than any ships left behind?"

Jace pauses at that, "perhaps. But we'd want to be well clear when they inevitably woke the Tyranids up. I have heard rumors about a group they sometimes work with. Magos Rex was grumbling about their interference one time, when he didn't know I was within earshot. Something about delving into knowledge that mankind wasn't supposed to have."

"Would this group have a name, and would they deal over the station?"

"I do not know the name, but I did see an insignia, perhaps. A black ship with a triple-barred I on the prow pulled in for refit and took several Magos Biologis aboard not long before Rex started kernel panicking about interference." Jace shrugs and resumes loosening the focusing array, "It’s a starting place, anyway."

You agree, "I'll have Zheeves start looking for information quietly. Very quietly. In the meantime, how much longer do we need to be here?"

Jace stands up and backs away from the focusing array, "not long at all. If you all will fall back to the hallway and seal the bulkhead, I can vent the atmosphere from this room and eject the needed components for Simo and Frank to tow back. Then one of them can come back and pick us up, and I can start work on the Aegis."

An hour and a half later, back at your initial landing area…

Nearly everyone is back aboard the shuttles, but Yasha is hesitant to leave. She stands still for a moment, one hand against a dusty bulkhead, and closes her eyes. Hoarfrost begins to form at her fingertips, and you can see Morrigan's eyes go wide before she hustles back aboard Aegis Cargo Two. a few moments later, Yasha's eyes open and she withdraws her hand from the bulkhead.

"Yasha, is there something I need to know about? what just happened?"

"I asked Ark its name and past. Most of it is fragmentary, but two things came through clear enough. The Ark was to be called the Terra Incarnadine, and she was never completed because of a foe armed with claw and fang. In exchange, I left a promise that I would return, if I could, and sail her across the stars."

You can only nod at that. After all, what can one say to a Mistress of the Navigator's Art about that art if one is not a Navigator? You gesture to the Swallow, "Our carriage awaits Milady. If you would accompany me?"

Yasha laughs, and accepts your arm, and you escort her back aboard the Swallow for the trip back to the Aegis.