《An Aquila lost within an Oriental Land of Illusions》Interlude Alpha

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\ ++ :: Halting Lt. Foley Record Recollection :: ++ //

:: Intervening Transmission Received ::

\ ++ :: Intended Recipient: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ++ //

[[ :: Opening Communication Channel : Acolyte Artaus Transmitting . . . ::]]

“... Most holy of Inquisitor, I do hope that the archive you have been reviewing thus far is satisfactory in the depth and complexity of it's content, our menials present on station would like to further indicate we’ve taken the liberty to prepare further data for transmission to your vessel at your request…”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Indeed Acolyte, thus far the archive has answered some of my lingering questions, though many more remain, most importantly, I’ve a great many inquiries surrounding this Gensokyo and it's precise nature are perplexing. I’ve had my Scribes, cross-reference stellar charts and and star maps from a myriad of locations across the galaxy, only to have my efforts bear forth no fruit. Tell me, did you and your team manage to salvage any meaningful data from the various night-time stills from this entry in Tomas Foley’s archive? I am seeking to better place this realm in the context of a greater whole, and I believe the few reconstructed scenes of the night sky might be a keen clue to unveiling this mystery…”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... Keen is the mind you possess M’Lord! For indeed we had noticed and managed to recover pic-captures from various sources within the cogitators memory banks. To say we’ve swept over stellar charts ranging from the acrid soaked battlefields of Helix Primarus to the chaotic and hellish blight of the Cadian gates own stellar layout, is by far an understatement!

But as of late one of the servitors that was analyzing this data for us, made a most peculiar and estranged connection, we’ve never dared muse. Upon comparing catalogued pic-captures from various deep and cloistered librarium. We suspect that the layout and position of the stars in the sky above this realm, most closely match that of… well Holy Terra itself M’Lord as erroneous as it may seem.”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“ … Come now Acolyte, your conclusion is not only impossible, but entirely dumbfounding. You have spent nearly a decade collecting data pertaining to this investigation, and you lead me forth and suggest that this realm of Gensokyo is somehow upon the blessed soil of the Holy of Holies? You must have your servitors decommissioned and slated for reconstitution with fresh and agile minds unburdened by a decade of musing over these data-streams. I will order you a new set of computational and archivist servitors for your librarium … “

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“ … M'Lord, I regret to inform you that I’ve already ordered the servitors purged and replace no less than thrice when the data was presented to me. Sire, this data has been mused and mulled by three separate cogitator banks for no less than a decade and each one spits forth the exact same report, each time! I would not be honoring my station if I were not to look upon this data without suspicion, but yet each time without fail the data is laid bare before my eyes.

I’ve consulted with various Magos Dominus from various circles of the Adaptus Mechanicus’s own Astra-Chronologica and each of them have stalwartly pointed out the uneasy familiarity and similarity the placement of the stars in the skies between ancient catalogued pic-captures of Holy Terra’s own skies and that of this Gensokyo. The logic engines indicate that by some unknown means, these realms are either frightfully similar, or are by definition the exact same! …”

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[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“ . . .[*System does not register audio input*]. . . “

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... M’Lord, the data is conclusive, I have transmitted the excerpts from our research notes here to your vessel. I know not what this means or if this is even possible, as it appears this realm of Gensokyo is upon the face of Holy Terra itself, but far in the distant past as there is no sign of orbital defensive batteries nor the militarization of her holy orbital body Luna. As to how this Battlegroup could have arrived upon such a plane confounds the mind, as we’ve yet to speculate upon such … “

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“ … Standby Acolyte, I am opening this vox-channel to another more experienced in such fields than myself…”

[[ :: Alert: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Chronos; Inquisitor Matarii :: ]]

“... [*Vex sigh Audible*] The hour is late Inquisitor Tharix, I pray to the Throne you’ve some proper reason for interrupting my slumber, I left clear instruction that I was not to be interrupted at this hour …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... You can whinge and weep over your precious sleep another time Matarii, we have far more grave matters to discuss, as my Acolyte has recovered some unsettling information about the Ad Integrum Battle-Group that I am investigating. Tell me, in your Ordo’s records, when vessels are lost within the confines of the Immaterial, how far back or forward are they capable of travelling chronologically? ...”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Chronos; Inquisitor Matarii :: ]]

“... Tharix, you called me in the mid of my sleep cycle, to ask me about damnable time distortions and how far they are able to travel within the course of space-time? Damn it, you ineffable fool, I told you not to waste my time on petty -”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Damn it Matarii! Listen to me, the data my Acolyte has recovered points solidly to support that somehow the Battle-Group Ad Integrum is currently on Holy Terra, far before even the reclamation of the Luna’s surface, can you fathom what sort of implications this would have for our species if this was accurate! I am transmitting our findings, I need you to read them and answer my question! …”

[[:: Data Transmitted; Sender Accepted Data Archive ::]]

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Chronos; Inquisitor Matarii :: ]]

“... [*Long Unbroken Silence*] This is impossible. There is no means nor way for a vessel let alone a fleet of them to traverse that far back chronologically. What in His name is going on here. Even the Chronometer readings are wildly fluctuating here, and feeding back dates and times beyond the capability of their recall.

You’ve several data recorders, one of them time-stamped from the early days of the M31, then you’ve some of these records spitting out dates that range from M1 to M4. None of these are possible. Have you spoken with Adapts of the Mechanicus? What it seems to me, you're dealing with faulty Chronometers that are causing this wild delusion, though I will confess the star-chart data is, unsettling …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... That is what I have said, and my menials have relayed to me! There is no way under His golden light that such a thing could have occured. Yet laid before you is data that has been verified by hundreds of independent sources. As for the Chronometer data, Acolyte! Have you had members of the Mechanicum inspect the data-recorders and ensure their blessed machine’s spirit still functions as it should? …”

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[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... Y-Yes my Lord! I have sent the physical data-banks of the Chronometers to the nearby Forgeworld of Ryza, they have physically plied and inquired with the Machine Spirit of the data-banks and they attest that these chronometers are accurately reporting their times with the data they were able to record and provide. …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Chronos; Inquisitor Matarii :: ]]

“... Damnation that boggles the mind to even suggest these things could occur, though I am still skeptical of this entire ordeal or at least the location of your Battle-Group, I shall reach forth to my contacts within Ordo Malleus and Ordo Custodum, as there are many cases recorded that produce similar results daemonic entities become involved in the material plane, time and space flow and ebb differently, along with the sky you see in your pic-captures could be entirely fabricated or manipulated by beings Immaterial…

Thus as this situation has piqued my curiosity, I am hellbent to get to the bottom of this once seemingly unassuming Battle-Groups loss. I shall take my leave, long may His Light Shine. ... ”

[[: Vox Link Terminated; Ordo Chronos; Inquisitor Matarii ::]]

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Very good, Inquisitor Matarii is a senior among his Ordo, hopefully the resources he will be able to bring to bear will help us gather further insight into this matter, and broach if there was warp-based chronological distortion, or if some entity of the Immaterial is ensnared our Battle-Group in a twisted twilight realm between the Material and Immaterial.

Now, where were we? I do believe we had reached the close of Lt. Foley’s first reconstructed archive, had we not? The entity that has travelled with him, I find unsettling. Are we certain that this Yukari and her retainer have any name or holds within Imperial space?

The nature of this realm is unsettling because if I am not mistaken the megarachnid they encountered, was that race now burned from the galaxy millenia ago? How did one of their wretched kind escape the fires of the Great Crusade.

In addition, back when he was aboard the Blade of Woe, your recreation actually confirmed the presence of Traitorous Legionnaires, or at least renegade elements of Astarte that had boarded their vessel, can you explain the meaning of this? Are there active confirmations that Traitor Legionnaires incited the failure of the fleets Gellar Fields? There was no record of such in the after action report from Ichorous V. …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... Indeed my most holy lord, I can assure you that the data we’ve collected from the archives do fully indicate the presence of seditious forces that managed to embed themselves within the menials and guardsmen of Ichorous, their actions destabilized the fleet of that we can be sure. It seems these same elements also survive the vessels controlled deorbit by Commodore Terval and plague the loyalist survivors further on in this record.

As for the presence of Traitor Legionnaires, we do have several banks of cogitators working to process after-action reports that come later in the archive that seem to conclusively prove that Traitors of the Dolorous Sacraments warband were operating in some capacity throughout the recorded time-line spent in this Gensokyo.

As for the Dolorous Sacrament, they appear to be composed of legionnaires from many of the traitors' numbers as descriptions of their appearances vary wildly from one account to another.

In addition, Traitorous elements from what the Lieutenant Foley’s logs indicated, the traitor warband boarded the vessels suddenly whilst in transition, their meddling prior responsible for the Gellar Fields failure.

As for the portals that opened to consume the fleet, we suspect that this Yukari figure had a hand in this action, though we’ve no data in any archive or librarium at our disposal that would bring us a step closer to unraveling how such came to be nor any recorded info of a noble bearing such a title. She is unknown to us..”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Troubling to know that elements of the Battlegroup were trapped wherever they were with elements of the arch-enemy among their number. Certainly it's even more fortunate to know that we soon will have assistance from pillars of the Ordo Malleus investigating this situation, with their resources we may be able to make some measure of headway. We shall see what the Emperor has willed for them soon enough I do suspect.

Now, as for this archive, Lt. Foley does manage to return to this Valkyrie with the other survivors from his account, from what I am to understand? What became of the injury he sustained whilst engaging the megarachnid? I see this is not the end of his account.

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... Aye, M’Lord, Lt. Foley does manage his way back to the extraction zone, before his archive suddenly derails from the rest of the expedition as he spends time within a house of healing, which I can detail at a later date. From what we can glean, he and Ran returned with the Voids-men and Skitarii to an ad-hoc airbase that the various regiments had managed to cobble together.

The next entry from Foley covers some sort of conflict erupted between the air-bases scouting force and abhumans that dwelled in a location that they were codifying as “Yokai Moutain”. This resulted in several small scale skirmishes that resulted in Lt. Foley deploying with his newly formed team onto the mountain in question to establish an observation post. However they ended up at the entrance of some sort of cavern entrance. We can begin there if you want M’Lord. …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Hold Acolyte, I want to see more interactions with these natives during this initial foray into the realm, do you have an archive you can supplement in between those of Lt. Foley and his team on the ground? Perhaps someone from the ranking command structure might give us some more insight into how the regiments are put together in their crumbled command structure and their interactions with the natives? …”

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Acolyte Artaus :: ]]

“... Actually I do have an archive we can look over, it's an excerpt from the immaculately kept journal and audio/visual recordings from the Lord Commissar attached to the regiments. The Lord Commissar in question is Bulgraff Von Draken, an extremely decorated and especially aged member of the Commissariate that won his honors and accolades during the myriad of Ork incursions that cropped up in the sector.

Throne preserve him, this man is well into his 7th decade of service, his tale began as he was actually in the process of demobilization whilst training a new generation of Commissars in the sector’s Schola Progenia.

As stated, he was recalled back into service during the Greenskins final invasion, and subsequently made his escape with the fleet when they hauled the Ichourous guard survivors off-world.

When it comes to the role he plays in this Gensokyo, from what our records can confirm he was the acting and de-facto operation and command of the entire campaign, whilst sharing this authority with Magos Dominus Gretia and Major Bruma of the 495th, as it appears the Lord General in charge of their campaign did not survive a duel with a Warboss back on Ichorous V woefully under equipped to handle the new realm.

[[ :: Incoming Vox Traffic: Ordo Astra; Inquisitor Tharix :: ]]

“... Mhmm sounds like a reputable source of information, that can give us some insight into their operational planning and how they handled interactions with the natives. Very well Acolyte, if you would kindly forward me the data-archive, let us begin our review…”

[[ :: Vox Communication; Terminated ::]

[[ :: Beginning Data In-load from Remote Source ::]

[:: Inloading Data-Packet; Lord Commissar Bulgraff :: ]

\ ++ :: Preparing Record Playback :: ++ /

\ ++ . . . ++ //

[++ :: Benediction of the Day :: ++ ]]

“. . . Fear not the shade nor shadow Guardsmen, for where you tread so too does His light . . .”

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