Thread: Ordo Xenos [Reydan and Kaybee]

If ever there was a display to remind Astarael why she feared Patience' wrath, and why she would still need to step carefully even with those corruptive influences planted within her mind, watching as she powered through them to slaughter the two hulking Nobs without so much as a flicker of submission even when one of them managed to close with her was exactly it. The inquisitor had managed to kill them both before she'd even managed to bring her bolt pistol to bear and the only consolation was the lingering burn of envy in the back of the woman's mind at the sight of Jonelle's state. Still, she contrived her face to appear appropriately solemn at both their states while they made their way back towards the ship, bringing up the rear guard and keeping a careful watch for orks. The display of violence at Rosamond's post on the roof serving as a further reminder of why she still had much to do before she could move openly, and of how imperative it was that she begin to turn Rosamond as well lest the bolter bitch eventually catch on in her zeal... While the others took what rest or solace they could in the quick jump towards Luxus, Astarael planned her next move in this delicate game, wondering at ways she could entrap the Sororita and break down her mental defenses. First and foremost a distraction for Patience would be necessary, since Jonelle being in medical meant the assassin was in no condition to respond either way, and in this case, Henrietta would supply the perfect catalyst for such a disaster. The seed of chaos she'd planted into the witch's head had been put into a quiescent state by the battle-sister's blow but it was still there, steadily growing and feeding, helped along as subtly as possible by Astarael since the Psyker had no wish to see this little trick show itself too early. Now that all of them were aboard Luxus and she was in the care of the local arbites however, that swirling nexus of tainted warp energy was being allowed to grow of it's own accord, and even the tamest of rogue traders often had hedonism and excess in places. Had it gone off earlier, it likely would only have created a wave of lust and profane desires in those close to Henrietta at the time but it had grown since, to the point where it could potentially open a portal to the warp for a few moments potentially allowing daemons through to prey on those struck by the power, creating a station-wide emergency. In the midst of the chaos that would generate, A quiet psychic message to the chaos cultists in the station slums would tell them to take their chance and go after Rosamond as she prayed. The arbites would be unable to respond, and even if the prospect of defiling a daughter of the emperor wasn't enough, they would be doing so in a shrine, defiling it in the process as well. Astarael knew that the cult would likely be wiped out in the aftermath, or at least viciously hunted, and that the shrine would not stay defiled for too long with so many dutiful servants of the emperor around, but at the same time, it was worth the sacrifice to get a chance at planting those seeds of chaos into Rosamond's mind and possibly infect a few of the arbites as a bonus... In the end, it was as Astarael was paying the requisition officer for multiple copies of Jonelle's undersuit in the appropriate measurements for each of them that she felt Henrietta 'go off', finally succumbing to the roiling storm of chaos inside her and releasing it's influence. Profane urges and desires seized the minds of everyone within a hundred meters as the power released in a wave, and at the centre of it all, space buckled and twisted apart, a momentary portal to the warp allowing a pair of daemonettes to slip into the materium from where they had been watching the imminent chaos from the other side... Any psyker not attuned to Slaanesh or some other power of chaos on the station would find their minds filled with discordant noise even outside the immediate area of effects, and so Astarael made a point of letting herself crumple to the ground as the power went off, quietly pretending to remove herself into unconsciousness while she surveyed Rosamond's mind, waiting for that crucial moment of weakness and subtly dampening her perceptions to make it harder for her to notice the cultists once they eventually arrived. Meanwhile, on the station slum levels, it took a minute after 'detonation' for Astarael's whispered psychic communique to reach the cultists as they lay in wait near the entrance of the shrine, signalling them to move forwards. There were twelve of them in all, eight men and four women garbed in robes or rags entering into the emperor's holy space as quietly as they dared. As soon as Rosamond looked up they would rush her as one, bindings and ties at the ready to restrain her for their blasphemous work and fully aware that even unarmed she might be able to kill some of them before their numbers overwhelmed her. Though if she didn't look up on the other hand, she would find herself being grabbed and her wrists shackled in front of her before the cultists would lift her up and bend her over the altar...