A slightly smaller Mess

Max: "We should...probably get back to the upper hive"

"Yeah I don't really like it down here so where can I tell my ship to park ?"

Mute: "Do you want some tanna? I have a pot going."

Hera: "If not. Well, i could always set you on them."

Byrne: "It doesn't mean you need to grab my shoulder." *he feels like he's being told off by a school teacher*

Akira: *Wiping her eyes.* "Probably..."

Chard: if you're offering. Thankyou.

Charles: *chuckles* I want to see how you handle this first.

Caiber: fair enough, fair enough.

Max: "One if the upper docks, I'll let them know it's coming"
*He removes his helmet and smiles to Akira, offering her a hand*

Hera: "unfortunately, i can't read minds."

*Mute goes over to the kettle, and starts making tea*

Byrne: "So, what is it you're here for? Not to listen to an old captain without a ship down in self pity, i'm sure."

Akira: *she takes it, tightly*

Charles: aye. But still, you're getting good at this.

Chard sits down politely

Caiber: might be because you're the only decent company around here who doesn't hate my guts.

Hera: "Well, i try."

*mute hands him the tea.* "Well. Cadia."

Byrne: "Laurence is around isnt he?"

Chard: aye.... what do you know already?

Charles: you do very well.

Caiber: yep. Off on some mission.

Max: *He squeezes her hand and leads his children, wife, and his men back to the upper hives*

Mute: "Cadia is gone. Destroyed."

Hera: "Flattery will get you everywhere."

Hakken: "C'mon get a room."

Byrne: "Right." *sip*

Chard: that all you know?

Charles: don't I know it. Anyway, letting you take charge for now, what would you say next?

Caiber: no love for your shipmate, byrne?

Mute: "Yeah." *sips his tea, then puts it back down so he can keep signing*

Hera: "We could go down... have a look for ourselves."

Byrne: "You two got my Emnity blown to hell."

Caiber:... not sure how I share any blame in it

Chard: right... where to begin...

Charles: then lets do that.

Byrne: *Shrugs* "You work for the man."

Mute: "The beginning? I suppose."

Hera: "Well... Lets do it." *she starts walking*

Caiber: and you don't?

Chard: well... just so you know, what i've got isn't definitive. It's gathered together from survivors' reports and accounts.

Charles follows behind

Byrne: "I did. Not anymore."

Mute: "Best i can hope for."

Hera: "I have a bad feeling. Charles, keep your mind open will you?"

Charles: always do.

Chard: aye... well, the point the stories start, you probably know everything before that. Lots of battles, lots of forces on both sides, the forces of the traitors held at bay just about, only for another wave to arrive.

Caiber: no way he'd fire you. Best space captain I've ever seen.

Byrne: "Captain without a ship... Besides that... I've been thinking about retirement."

Mute: "Same old, same old."

Hera: "Good" *Reaching some kind of side access door, and pushing it open* "Right, lets roll."

/Later at the palace\

*Henry and Vee are in a dining room eating a much needed meal with Akira, while Max is in his room trying to process everything*

Caiber: didn't know you imperials got to retire.

Chard: the problems started when abbadon decided to try to use a blackstone fortress upon the planet. A weapon which could have annihilated the entire planet in one go.

Charles lets her lead the way
OOC wait emma?

OOC: AUTOCORRECT!

Byrne: "When the jobs done, rare as hell. But its there. Win the campaign, you get to settle down. And if that wasn't a victory i damn well don't know what is."

*Hera looks out of the door.* OCC: Describe please k thanks

Mute: "Ah. So thats how she died."

*Hera raises her arm, her laspistol sighted on his head*

Charles:... well then

Chard: not quite. The defenders had been expecting this and had erected some kind of energy barrior tailor made to the blackstone's weapons. So the chaos forces first had to storm the control facility, and to do that they had to get past among other things, the 8th.

Caiber: I wish I had that luxury.

Hera: "What are you doing?"

Mute: *He looks at the floor, and forms the shape of four words with his lips.*

Byrne: *He half shrugs, and sips his brandy. It's evident he's not particularly listening to caiber.* "I've got grandchildren you know. Great grandchildren perhaps even."

Hera: "And you are?" *her aim has not wavered*

Caiber: You must miss them. I know that feeling. I had two children. Two beautiful girls.

Chard: However, by themselves even the 8th were in trouble Came down to the daemon prince Urkanthos, lord of the Hounds of Abbadon warband, against canonesses Genevive and Elaenor. And they weren't enough. The field was wrecked by the daemon, and they were slain.

Charles:... please don't use the cryptic nonesense, My apprentice here doesn't have the patience for it.

Hera: "He's not lying. The uniform is a dead giveaway."

Byrne: "John is a solid boy. He'll make a fine officer. His sister is already quite the young lady."

Mute: *He doesn't move for a few moments, then makes the aquilla across his chest.*

Hera: "You get thirty seconds. Thats generous."

Caiber: how old?

Chard: It wasn't quite over yet. The way eyewitnesses describe what came next, was like the sky opened up, and the light of the emperor shone down from above, beams stabbing down into the chaotic horde, ripping them apart in moments. At the head of this, came a woman, wreathed in light, wings of an angel, in shining gold armour with a mighty sword in hand, descended from on high, with the two fallen canonesses at her side. A few moments later, Urkanthos lay dead at the feet of the newcomer. I presume you've heard of the living Saint Celestine.

Charles: A reunion would require knowing who you are...

Byrne: "The boy is fourteen, the girl is seventeen."

Mute nods.

Hera: "Twenty."

Charles:...I beleive the words 'enough with the cryptic nonesense' were uttered mere moments ago.

Caiber: My youngest was seventeen.

Charles: well she arrived, and brought a whole bunch of sororitas along with her. Of course problem was the field was down, but they were working on that. The last of the firehowlers, one of the space wolf great companies, had boarded the fortress to try and deal with it. Problem was, they hadn't been heard from in a while.

Hera: "Ten."

Byrne: "Hmn... I think she'll probably be engaged now. She was being courted by some young thing when i left."

Mute: *continued listening*

Hera: "Liar. Five."

Charles:.... excuse you?

Caiber: I'm sure she's happy. And she's very lucky.

Chard: and then... the phalanx showed up.

Bryne: "I could pass on the political intrigue."

Mute: *signs* "The imperial fists ship?"

Chard: I think the correct term is star-fort. One of the few vessels in the galaxy capable of taking on a blackstone fortress.

Caiber: I'd take it over what happened to my children.

Hera: "Right yeah I'm gonna kill you." *looks at charles.* "Wanna kill this lying piece of shit?"

Hakken: "Burn it." *he looks at the warp creature, and wrinkles his nose like its presence is a bad smell*

Byrne: "To each their own."

Mute: "mnn"