You crouch down to stare into the empty eye-lenses of the helmet. It gazes blankly at you, reflecting only the flat light of the overhead luminators. You suck in a deep breath through your nose and let it slowly hiss out between your teeth. “We take the relics.”
Hagrdict starts to bark out a protest, but you already have a hand up to call for silence.
“We can not afford to leave them behind, nor can we afford to blindly use them. We take them back and call it in. Watch Command will have instructions for us, or at least tell us to send them in for proper inspection. Gorlin, see if you can find something to wrap these in. Hagrdict, try to pull what information you can from the bridge databanks. A ship map would be nice, but I will take what you can get. Losis keep an eye out just in case.”
Hagrdict’s search proves as fruitless as you expected, but it was more to distract him than anything else. Gorlin come up with some towels from the gymnasium to wrap the parts of the power armor in, as well as scabbards for the power sword and bolt pistol.
You share the load out among yourself, Gorlin, and Losis. You don’t ask Hagrdict to carry anything, as this means that he doesn't have to refuse to carry anything. Both the asking and the refusal would probably be grave insults in and of themselves, so you sidestep the issue.
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Mission 4: Twisted Moon Completed!
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Stockpile Update:
* 863 rounds of 0.75 caliber bolt ammunition. Suitable for bolters and bolt pistols.
* 136 rounds of 0.75 caliber Hellfire bolt ammunition. Suitable for bolters and bolt pistols.
Specialist rounds for special targets; Hellfire Ammunition bypasses all natural or organic armor, and liquefies the target from the inside out.
* 1250 rounds of 1.57 caliber heavy bolt ammunition. Suitable for heavy bolters.
* 19x frag AP grenades, hand throwable.
* 10x krak AT grenades, hand throwable.
* 60x units of armor repair cement, for patching armor breaches in the field.
* Enough combat rations to feed your squad for sixteen weeks.
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Rewards: The Marks of Duty
* Primary objective (Kill everything aboard the Rok Breka) Completed? +400 XP
* Hidden primary objective (Destroy the Tyranid Digestion Pool) Completed +400 XP
* Secondary objective Completed: +250 XP
* Tertiary objective Completed?: +150 XP
* Personal (bonus) Objective Completed: +1 Renown.
* +1 Renown: Complete all primary objectives.
* +1 Renown: Completed all secondary objectives.
* +1 Renown: Completed all Tertiary objectives.
* +1 Renown: Completed 5+ objectives in a single mission.
* +1 Renown: Completed 3+ objectives of ‘veteran’ difficulty.
* +5 Renown: Recovered a complete suit of Mk4 ‘Maximus’ Pattern Power Armor.
* +3 Renown: Recovered 2 relic weapons.
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Current Level: 1 (out of 8)
Current Renown: 33 (out of 100) - Respected Deathwatch Member
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ZTO is absolutely fascinated by the relics that you have brought back to the Void Hab. It literally squeals with delight when you instruct it to take the armor and bolt pistol apart, cleanse and consecrate everything, and then reassemble the relics for transport back to Watch Command.
Interrogator MacWater looks on with bemused tolerance as ZTO promptly commandeers the main table in the common space and begins carefully disassembling a gauntlet. “I’ll keep a watch on this one. Probably have to remind it to eat and rest every so often.”
Hagrdict frowns, turning his helmet over and over in his hands, “does ZTO have to work in the common area?”
ZTO splutters, aparently amused at the Hagrdict’s question. “Do you know of any other space in which I can find an elevated horizontal surface with one point three four seven square meters of available space? I didn’t think so. Stack the remaining parts here in the corner, I’ll have them sorted and stowed away in a moment. The armorium servitor is a fine work assistant, but it’s as literal- and simple-minded as any of its fellows the Imperium over. I’d trust it with delicate work like this about as far as I could throw an Emperor-class Battleship in a fifteen point zero two four gravity field…”
ZTO rattles on, and Hagrdict puts his helmet back on to hide a blush of embarrassment.
You grin to yourself, and start shucking your gauntlets in preparation for writing up your report on your latest incursion into the Captialis Congestus. Of particular import will be how you mention the Relics to Watch Command. You have no intention of lying, but you could use them while waiting for instructions, or simply send them off...