Reviews
Carthienes
I don't have an exact date as the 40k timeline is a bit of a mess so I'll go with it being several decades before the 13th black crusade. That should be enough time for Fallout power armour and plasma weapons to start making a difference in battles all over the galaxy.
As long as he goes through the motions I don't think the machine spirits would care if Thrax believes in them or not.
Morkail
As I don't know the institute or the the Big MT research crate very well I'll have the Ad-Mech deal with them while my characters handles what he knows.
I already did a sample chapter for the third story which will be set in the Mass Effect universe and I posted it on my patron. My thinking is that as long as he sticks the terminus systems then he won't have to face the combined fleets of the Citadel races, and they would be the only real threat to a Imperium warship in that universe aside from the Reapers due the sheer difference in the scales of their firepower.
Since the humans in Halo make use of AI I decided against having my Rogue Trader go there as then the Ad-Mech would do something stupid. The First Ones would not like him getting involved in the Babylon 5 universe.
Going to Stargate after SG1's finishes could be fun the Ad-Mech would love to get their hands on lots of naquada, there are loads of human worlds to visit, Earth would want to do business with a merchant, and the Ancients were human so finding any of their tech would be fine. Or he could go to Pegasus and finish off the Wraith.
edboy4926
I don't really know the Institute so I think my Rogue Trader will focus his efforts elsewhere. I might just make some stuff up since there's plenty of world to mess about with.
Rogue Trader CYOA Story 2
You have committed the ultimate heresy. Not only have you turned your back on the Emperor and stepped from his light, you have profaned his name and almost destroyed everything he has striven to build. You have perverted and twisted the path he has laid for Mankind to tread. As your decrees have stated, there can be no mercy for such a crime, no pity for such a criminal. I renounce your lordship, you walk in the darkness and cannot be allowed to live. Your sentence has been long overdue and it is now time for you to die - Alicia Dominica to High Lord Goge Vandire
Part 5
Former Enclave Base. Outside of the Capital Wasteland.
I found the Colonel hard at work in a room that she had turned into her command centre much like the one in The Citadel, and when I saw her I could see that the Imperial Guard officer was going over a collection of maps as some of her people moved little figures on the tables that were covered in those maps. Nearby vox operators were taking in reports from the field. If not for the fact that some of the red robed people were busy imputing data on locally made computers that had been repurposed for our needs by the Ad-Mech, once the proper rituals and prayers had been performed, I could be forgiven for thinking that I was in a War World 2 movie.
One of the biggest maps was up on the wall and it showed most of North America, the part of the world our operations were focused in. As our understanding of this planet grew symbols were added to the map to show settlements, ruined cities, dangerous areas and other sites of interest. Parts of the map had been coloured in red to show the Legion's land were as the part of the country controlled by the NCR was a blue colour. The map was more than large enough to show New Vegas and the Wasteland around it that was part of Mr House's dominion, or it would be once New Vegas was freed of both the NCR armed forces and the what remained of the Legion.
As I looked around an Imperial officer came over and added a bit of green to the map around the part that showed the capital wasteland. This showed Imperial influence over this world. The work was going well and we were spreading out, our warriors working to secure the lands under Imperial protection, as we purged the mutants, the raider and the monsters.
When it was time for me to leave most of the Imperial Protectorate as it was called would be handed over to The East Coast Brotherhood to police along with the garrisons we'd set up acting to support them. We wouldn't be leaving a lot of troops behind as they'd be too much drain on what little resources the locals had access to, but The Brotherhood would need the support to protect the fortress city the Ad-Mech were going to build over the ashes of DC.
"Lord Captain I received word that you seized Fort Independence from the Brotherhood Outcasts" mentioned the Colonel "I assume that this was due to incident with the cogboy team".
It had seemed to be best to take the Outcast's HQ so that the renegades couldn't organise well enough to be a threat to Imperial operations. They never would have defeated us, but they could have been a hindrance if they'd been left free to attack our patrols or to interfere with operations. As I only had so much in the way of resources to spend on this expedition this could not be allowed to happen.
"I deemed it best to handle the matter in person" I replied "How did it go setting up a garrison in the New Vegas Wasteland?".
If all went to plan the 2nd Regiment would have taken the over the airbase that was home to a group called the Boomers. The NCR would think twice about trying to conquer New Vegas with an Imperial garrison in the area.
"Very well, Lord Captain" said the Colonel "With a foothold in the area we can send out troops to pacify the local gangs and to explore any ruins of interest for their technology".
We'd also be protecting human settlements, either directly by removing threats, or by trading laser weapons with them.
"For now I'll keeping the majority of our forces in the Capital Wasteland" the high ranking Imperial Guard officer let me know "There are so many operations taking place in the area and I need to be here to direct them".
She did seem to have matters here will in hand.
"I think it would be best for me to focus my efforts in the New Vegas area" I said the Colonel "While you handle matters here".
Not all Rogue Traders are military leaders and I'd never proven to be anything special when playing that role, but when it came to making deals and finding methods to obtain profit I made a decent of those things. The wasteland around New Vegas had its troubles, however it was more civilized and could use a lighter touch. Besides someone would need to keep the NCR and Mr House from interfering with our operations out west.
"That seems for the best" agreed the Imperial Guard Officer "We don't want to be stepping on each other's toes".
We could have discussed all of this on the radio and save time as well as fuel, but somethings were better spoken about in person.
"Then I'll head back west" I said "I'll take the Palatine with me for backup".
There were more than enough Brotherhood troops around to act as guides for the guards here in the Capital Wasteland and the 2nd Thrax had more than enough firepower to deal with any problems around here with the battle sister who tended to annoy the other branches of the Imperial military by overly zealous. Since nuns with guns admired me I would have an easier time directing them to some useful purpose than the Colonel would.
"The Palatine asked for a mission for herself and her sister so I sent her on one" the Colonel informed me "She shouldn't be gone for long".
Since there was no rush I could wait for her return.
(Line Break)
DC Ruins. The Capital Wasteland.
The ghoul settlement called The Underworld was home to many ostracized non-feral ghouls who lived in what was left of Washington, D.C. What had once been part of the Museum of History was now a proper settlement complete with a bar, inn, clinic, general store and even a self-proclaimed hair stylist. While the ghouls tolerated most outsiders The Brotherhood of Steel were not welcome in these parts because of their hostility towards ghouls and their tendency to shoot them on sight, perhaps because they thought them to be feral and couldn't tell the difference, or maybe they simply didn't care to.
At least the super mutants left the ghouls alone, or they had until some new humans had turned up and started supporting the Brotherhood, between them they'd killed or driven off the mutants that Brotherhood seemed to be have been fighting forever. Willow, the ghoul who patrolled the entrance, hadn't minded at first, the lack of gunfire and explosions only made it easier to perform her role.
She could only assume that all the fighting had damage her hearing because how else could a squad of warriors in power armour sneak up on her. These were not Brotherhood soldiers this was something Willow realised right away. These humans, if they were humans under all that metal, each wore a suit of armour more ornate and clean than anything the Brotherhood had ever been seen in. The armour was mostly black with gold edging and the all had strange symbols upon them. Mostly some sort of fancy bird and a skull.
There were only five of them and yet Willow somehow understood that they were more than enough to destroy all the ghouls of Underword and to destroy everything they'd built.
"Mutant" said the leader of the power armoured people.
The female voice that came from inside the suit was full of hate and menace with no mercy. Something Willow experienced first hand when she dropped her weapon in an attempt to surrender. This did nothing other than make her an easy target.
Palatine Brigicia of the Adepta Sororitas looked down at the corpse she had made and then over at the four battle sisters that she brought with her to cleanse this small hive of mutant scum. Behind her stood Sisters, Decine, Sabedes, Hildes and Belloya, who like her had given up any family ties they had long ago and had even chosen new names.
Like her they were in the service of the Rogue Trader known as Lord Captain Thrax. Normally Battle Sister would not serve a Rogue Trader it was just that Thrax had earned the favour of the Emperor's most holy servants by casting down many heretics and then going on to bring an entire world into the Emperor's light. Back then she'd been playing the role of bodyguard for an Inquisitor as a lowly warrior. In time the Inquisitor had stopped needing her as he'd gained many soldiers who could carry out his bidding. Given how little the Inquisitor had shared of this plans for all Brigicia knew he was on the world called Planetos performing his duties.
Now she command entire squads of battle sisters and Lord Thrax had brought them to yet another world that badly needed to be cleansed in holy fire. While the Palatine could take many more of her sisters into battle with her she'd deemed that she would only need half a squad as the servo-skull sent to scout out this location had failed to find any meaningful defences. The mutants would pay for their lack of foresight.
The Palatine also wanted to preserve the strength of her sisters as there were not many of them and while dying in the Emperor's name would be a good ending for them she'd rather that her missionary live to carry out the Emperor's Will. This was why most of the sisters remained on the cruiser and why they were training any young girls they could recruit.
As the half squad of battle sisters entered Underworld they cared not at all for the businesses and the homes that the still intelligent ghouls had created for themselves. They saw only abominations that needed to be cleansed with sword and bolter. Palatine Brigicia slew a female mutant who cowered in her store and didn't even fire a weapon in her own defence despite having a supply of them. She didn't waste a bolt, instead swinging her chainsword and ending the mutant's life.
Others did try to protect themselves, they opened fire with their crude stub guns. Alas for them the power armour worn by the battle sisters protected them against such weak weapons and what cover the mutants could take offered no defence against bolters which blew apart anything their projectiles impacted against.
Such was the ferocity of the attack that it was over it mere moments and the sisters spread out so as to finish off any who hid. Palatine Brigicia soon entered what could have been a place of healing if not for the fact that it clearly not clean enough and it contained no injured people aside a young human female.
"What did they do to you?" the Palatine wondered.
She must have been captured by the mutants to fulfil some sick need of theirs. She was in some sort of coma and she might have been the subject of heretical experiments. Brigicia decided to be merciful and grant this woman a quick death before she ordered all of the mutant settlement put to the torch.
(Line Break)
Imperial Base. Mojave Wasteland.
When Palatine Brigicia of the Adepta Sororitas, Confessor Olybrius Ferrandino, Sarah Lyons and I stepped onto the tarmac of what had once been Nellis Air Force Base we found that it had quickly been transformed into a proper Imperial garrison. Prefab buildings had been set up so as to house the fighting men and women, and there were many vertibirds around, far more than I'd expected. The Ad-Mech must have been able to salvage quite a few wreaks since we'd started our operations.
They'd even improved on the veritbird tech in ways I didn't understand allowing the aircraft to travel faster on less fuel, and I'd not thought that this was something the cogboys would do. Perhaps it was allowed because these machines were pre-STC tech? There would be some sort of theological justification for it and I didn't intend to bring it up in case they Ad-Mech people got annoyed about me prying into their business.
Upon landing we were met by Major Lutherus Gemim, who was Colonel Ionael's second in command and the officer in charge of parts of the regiment which had been posted here. We had less tanks and people in power armour than the regiment had back east, but we had a lot of men on horseback. This made some sense given how much of the Mojave was open space the patrols would have an easier time getting around on a good horse. Keeping the horses fed and watered would be a chore, thankfully it wasn't my problem.
Magos Thea Maxanid was already here having been sent to take charge of the Adeptus Mechanicus operations here in Mojave having been sent by the Archmagos. She seemed pleased with her new role and we would be working closely together as we recovered technology from this part of the world. Also the Ad-Mech would also be sending people out to help prove the infrastructure of the NCR and Vegas as part of our treaties with the NCR and Mr House, but this would be on a rather small scale since most of the cyborgs were needed else where.
As for Mr House he wasn't going to mind us taking over the air force base since the Boomers had not been friends of his and since Magos Thea Maxanid handed over possession of the Platinum Chip to me upon my arrival so I now had a perfect bartering chip. He would want me to go and awaken his robot army. Which was something I was wiling to do since Mr House would be far more interested in keep the NCR army from invading than keeping me out. Without the Legion as a threat the NCR might try to outright annex all of the Mojave. This would not suit my plans.
"Major" I greeted as the man and the support staff with him all offered salutes.
I introduced everyone with me to the Imperial Guard officers since that was polite.
"Everything has been calm around here" reported the Major as we headed into this base's command centre "We have patrols set up, but I've had to limit their movements so as to avoid the NCR bases and patrols".
This wasn't cowardice, it was a practical matter as not all of the NCR troops would know that we had an alliance set up with their leaders and I didn't wish to antagonise a faction that I was selling laser weapons to.
"I'll have to talk to Ambassador Crocker about our patrol routes" I said "We don't want them shooting at each other".
Mr House might soon drive out the NCR armies, but he wouldn't stop the NCR citizens from coming to Vegas to spend their money so likely the NCR military would maintain some presence here and so would the Imperium even after I was gone. Arrangements for that should be made sooner rather than later in case they weren't made at all.
"Any signs of super mutant activity?" asked Palatine Brigicia.
She and her sisters were eager to do some more cleansing. A whole squad of battle sisters had been assigned to this base so not only would the nuns with guns be carrying out operations they'd be trying to recruit as well. Finding healthy female children in the wasteland who had families willing to give them up or had survived without families would be hard work.
"Nothing concrete yet, my lady" said the Major as he gestured to a map "But we are looking into some reported sightings of mutant activity in this area".
The super mutants in these parts were different that the ones who had been plaguing the east coast for so many years, yet they would be cleansed all the same if the battle sisters found them, and I wasn't going to get between the power armoured fanatics and their targets.
"I'll need to met with Mr House as soon as possible" I told everyone while I moved the platinum chip between my fingers "Once I've finalised the details of our alliance we can begin offering some shore leave to the crew and members of the regiment who have earned it".
Only those with the best records would be allowed to go have fun at the casinos since there was simply no way to give all the tens of thousands of my crew and thousands of Imperial Guards some time off. But Vegas could handle a lot of tourists and once the NCR soldiers were driven out of Vegas then the city would need new gamblers. The NCR would return, but in less numbers and that would take time so a lot of my followers would get a chance to go gamble.
"Duty is its own reward" quoted Palatine Brigicia.
I didn't totally agree with that.
"Morale is an important factor for any army" I said to the battle sister "And sending our hard working men and women to enjoy Vegas will help to cement our alliance with Mr House".
Brigicia soon let the the matter drop since matters of politics were my dominion. As for me I decided to retire to what passed for my quarters in this base as I was tried and could do with some sleep before I met again with Mr House.
(Line Break)
Dreamscape
This wasn't the first time that Farseer Galadeer had contacted me and I doubted it would be the last despite my desire to have as little to do with the Eldar as possible. Alas for me the pointy eared twats had their own plans and they involved me. There wasn't much I could do about the space elves as I didn't wish to antagonise them and enter a conflict, but they were known for abusing the trust of humans and so I knew that I had to be very careful around them.
"What do you want, Farseer?" I asked.
Looking around I realised that Galadeer was standing in a swamp and while I didn't know if she'd projected an image of herself as well as her surroundings into my mind or if she'd summoned my spirit to her, and it didn't really matter. The end result was the same, I had no power over what was happening here, no choice other than to hear her out.
"You cooperation, Lord Thrax" answered the space elf.
When she took off her helmet it was easier to see her alien nature yet I was not repulsed by her appearance as a proper Imperial citizen should be. This might be because I'd lived in time when society taught its children to embrace those who were different or perhaps Galadeer was making an effort to look less alien so as to appear more trustworthy. Not that I would ever trust her as I knew that she saw humans as beasts, in her eyes we were intelligent animals nothing more, and perhaps I could be useful to her, but she'd never see me as a true ally.
"In what matter?" I asked.
It wasn't as if I could stop them from doing whatever it was the Eldar wanted to do. They had an army camp set up in what I guessed to be Point Lookout and that meant they had a ship somewhere in this system that my vessel couldn't detect, as such they could go where they pleased and conduct their own operations as long as they stayed out of sight.
"In saving my race" Galadeer replied.
Before I could inquire about that the view around me changed and now I was onboard an Eldar vessel, or at least the image of one, this was just an illusion, but if it was an accurate one then this was a ship being heavily repaired or constructed.
"My craftworld and others have a plan to save our race" the Farseer informed me "We are building special seedships. You don't need to understand exactly how they work or how much it is costing us to produce them as your part in our plans is simple".
As soon as she'd used the word 'seedships' I'd started to figure out the plan the clue was in the name.
"What I will tell you is that each of these vessels will be like a seed thrown on the wind" said the Farseer "Like our other vessels they are more grown than built. They will grow once cast into new universes and so give my people a second chance. These ships will drift between the stars for centuries until they become true craftworlds".
It wasn't hard for me to imagine that the space elves had the ability to grow people in vats. My own cloning labs could this, make copies of existing people or even create a new person by combining DNA it was just a time consuming and expensive project.
"So you need me to go to other universes when your seedships are ready" I reasoned.
The Farseer moved closer to me before speaking.
"We can sow our seeds when you travel" she told me "What we need from you Mon'keigh is to turn a blind eye to let our seeds find their own paths without any human interference".
While this universe did have some hostile aliens in it a galaxy was a big place and one of these ships could easily be missed if it floated between star systems. The universe that contained Planetos could be devoid of any other intelligent life and given the vastness of the multiverse there were plenty of other places for me to go. I could over the span of many years aid the Eldar is scattering their seedships. However there were risks.
"If the Inquisition finds out..." I started to say.
Galadeer didn't let me finish expressing my concerns about what those fanatics would do to me if they found out I was aiding the Eldar. My status as a Rogue Trader would not protect me if they discovered I was letting the space elves spread to other universes.
"Arrangements are being made with the Inquisition" the alien psyker assured me "Simply feign ignorance if questioned and ensure that your crew do not look too closely at any odd readings your sensors may detect".
That seemed simple enough, too simple for an Eldar plan and there were other concerns. The space elves had murderfucked a demonic warp god into existence and they wanted to restore their own empire even at the expense of everyone else. It didn't help that even the craftworld Eldar weren't above a little piracy.
As such it seemed unwise to allow them to travel to other universes. However it had take billions of them to create the Dark Prince and this had happened over thousands of years. It was unlikely that a single craftworld would have that much of an effect on other universes outside of the normal meddling the space elves got up to.
"You will be rewarded" promised Galadeer "Even now our people work to aid you in your endeavours. The corruption in this land will be cleansed and your path smoothed before you".
Before I could say anything about that I began to wake up, or so it seemed.
(Line Break)
Weather Monitoring Station. Mojave Wasteland.
Since I'd had Caesar and anyone who had a chance of succeeding him assassinated the Legion Fort here was poorly manned and disorganised. Held only by a small war band which had once been part of the Legion. Due to the fracture and less organised nature of these war bands when compared to the Legion they were easy prey for my battle harem who swept through the camp, killing anyone who objected to our presence here and sending the slaves running off somewhere. I'd would much rather have sent those slaves off to work as serfs on some project, but I didn't care enough to have them rounded up.
At the western edge of camp, we found what we were lucking for, an old building. It was here when the Fort was taken by the Legion quite recently after the first battle for the Hoover Dam which did not go well for the Legion. There would never be a second battle since the Legion no longer existed as a unified organisation.
Inside the building there was a hatch, and inside that hatch are two steel doors that bear the sigil of the Lucky 38 casino. I was able to open them since Mr House had entrusted me to activate his army. Once he had that army he planned to create what he called the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas. A nation allied with House Thrax and by extension the Imperium of Man.
Once the NCR had been forced to pull most of its forces out of the Mojave then Mr House's robot army would act as the Free Economic Zone's army and police force with House Thrax being free to run its own operations as order was restored to the Mojave Wasteland. I would only leave behind a small garrison once I was done here since even Mr House needed allies to help keep his Free Economic Zone stable.
Before we could bring about any of that we needed to place the chip in the right terminal so that the waiting robot army would get its upgrades.
"Ah Captain, I see you've arrived" said Mr House.
He wasn't here in person, instead an image of himself had appeared on a large screen once I'd opened up the way to vault that was below the harmless looking Weather Monitoring Station.
"As promised, Mr House" I replied "My people will have the vault secured soon and you will have your army".
Since the ruler of New Vegas had already instructed me in what to do there was no more need for any speech between us. My battle harem led the way as Sarah Lyons, Magos Thea Maxanid and I headed down some stairs. Due to the radiation here Sarah and I needed to be in full armour, as for the Magos she had her own defences and the battle harem had been created to endure far worse than some rads.
After going around what remained of a protectron after my battle harem had dealt with it we entered a room that contained three terminals. The Magos, who had aside from being in charge of Ad-Mech operations in the Mojave was also my liaison to the Ad-Mech, quickly got to work, reporting that she was able to disable the turrets and protectrons despite the machine spirits of this vault having no been tended to for many years.
She wasn't able to switch off the sentry bots as it turned out due to the machine spirits governing them having become unresponsive due to a lack of appeasement and that restoring them would take hours. I assumed that this meant the operating systems had become damaged in the last couple of hundred years.
"The sentry bots should remain dormant as long as we do not threaten this complex" Magos Thea Maxanid told us "However if their machine spirts have become restless the robots may mistake us as hostiles. We should proceed with caution".
Which is what we would have done anyway.
"Omnissiah be praised!" Maxanid called out when we entered a side room.
Within this space was a small collection of weapons. I assumed that they were meant to be used by any human people who would have defended the vault in the past. Those people had been dead and gone for a long time yet they'd left behind some weapons. I mag-locked my bolt pistol to my side and took possession of the plasma rifle that still worked. There were grenades as well, a mixture of pulse and plasma, were shared out among everyone. I saw Maxanid take more than her fair share of the spoils and hide them within her robe, but I didn't mind since I knew that the cogboys and coggirls couldn't resist the lure of technology. Besides her services were proving to be useful even if they were expensive.
The next room has two protectrons and two turrets within it all of which were inactive thanks to the hacking of the Magos. As we moved on we found rooms filled with generators, and many long windows that allowed us to look out over an army of securitrons. The final room contained as I knew it would, an operations console that can read the data on the platinum chip. Once it had done that the vault began to upgrade all the securitrons, and activate the army in the vault.
"We'll seal up this place on our way out as we won't be returning" I said, mostly to the Magos.
I didn't want the red robed cyborgs messing about with this place and upsetting Mr House. Not when he now had a robot army that could threaten my garrison. While him having so many soldiers should make him comfortable in dealing with the expedition it wouldn't do to overstep our bounds and start hostiles.