Wait! It's dangerous out there, take two!

The esteemed astropath transcendent forgoes manifesting with his full psychic power in favor of cautious and safe casting. Alas, his powers are still only budding and with fettered strength he fails to send his thoughts into the void.

Karitoss sees a far greater degree of success in his efforts. He gives guidance to the machine spirit of the Equinox in studying the ominous veil. The enginseer feels a spark of insight rush through his machine body, understanding firsthand what information the Equinox has gleaned thanks to his aid. Although Karitoss has never heard or seen of such a phenomena he knows there is shroud blocking augury scans being projected into the void at the location of the static. Whatever is creating this obscuring field certainly lies within.

Furthermore, the continued success of the councilors gives a second wind to the morale on board.
[Meaning the next test is made at +10]

As the tech-priest communes with the spirit of the Equinox, Tristan holds a hand to the cold metal of the ship while he whispers his own reverent words to the great spirit that surrounds him. Despite his typical demeanor, Tristan seems to genuinely respect the piety of the proceedings.

"Hmm, something that blocks augury. Seems that attempting an active augury will be useless then, but perhaps..."

Tristan attempts a scholastic lore (astromancy) to recall something he might have learned relevant to the anomaly before him.

Tristan fails to come up with any astromancy related details about the ominous void phenomena the Equinox is circling. Either he has never read about or encountered such a mystery or he cannot recall any pertinent information at this time. The augury on the other hand shows no signs that the shroud is dangerous and that if the outer edge of the static is any indicator that the shroud has a radius as long as ten void units.

"Let me fire a macrobattery into the phenomenon to see if it is immediately dangerous."
Joachim fires one volley into the void.

Joachim fires a single volley of staravar laser fire into the astral static. The bolts of light fly into the static but nothing happens.

"OOOEEEEE. Wutevah is in dere is gonna bee mad now!!!!"

Tristan puts his face in his fingertips and lets out an exasperated sigh. "Does anyone have any better ideas than shooting at it? Perhaps we could dispatch a handful of crew in a shuttle to investigate. In the mean time I'll see if I can parse any useful data from this static." (making a scrutiny test)

No dice for the master helmsman. He tries his best to gain insight on the static field but only sees an enigmatic orb of data fuzz. As far as he is concerned there is no rhyme or reason to the void shroud's existence.

Rightfully unwilling to risk the Equinox but still tasked with the duty of reaching his destination, Tristan Sky instead deploys a shuttle to traverse the astral static. The randomly selected crew are given empty assurances that the dark sphere will bring no harm to them and promptly sent off. The shuttle signal is carefully watched by the Equinox as it closes in on the edge of the enigma. Tension grows as the blinking dot representing the scouting shuttle is only moments away from the static. Five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... and the shuttle abruptly disappears from the augury system's view. Try as the councilors might they find it impossible to determine the status of the disappearing shuttle.

As it might happen to be Choirmaster Joachim was one of the few on the shuttle.

40 minutes after the shuttle disappears into the interference, a psychic message reaches the mind of Novalaz, for which he relays to the councils of the Equinox.
"Field safe. Planet present. Strange vortex around. Come see."

Minutes after the message is relayed through Novalaz the shuttle reappears on the augury array. The shuttles engine is crippled from pressure put on by the pilot but the group makes it to the Equinox in one piece. Joachim Hig is on board the Equinox once more.

Desilco, no longer in his mentally unfit state, meets Joachim in the hanger where the ship lands and promptly greets him with a smile and says.

"Choirmaster Hig I can't tell you how overjoyed I am to see you returned. Are you alright? Do you require medical attention?"

"I am fine. What is inside is not, although without physical sight I cannot discern exactly what it is. What I can say is the field itself has no negative effects from what I can see, so a journey inside would not be immediately dangerous."

"You said there was a planet? What was it like?"

"It is shrouded by a maelstrom of sorts, a bundle of darkness and light. I could not discern the surface of the planet from our observing distance."

"Sounds like a gud place for meking squigs!! We shud investeegate."

"Would it really be a good decision to bring the equinox into there? If there is a planet in there I would hate for her to become planet bound again and trap us there"

"As long as we don't enter the vortex, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Then it would seem the only way we're going to get to the bottom of what's going on in there is to plunge head first and hope that the Emperor saves our sorry hides when it all goes to Hell. We can't get any accurate readings inside it without going through the static field so our first priority should be to get a semblance of an idea of what's past the maelstrom"

Desilco grabs his vox and speaks over the channels throughout the ship

"This is The Lord Captain, we are going to take the Equinox into the planetoid body. I want everyone to be on guard for strange occurrences on the ship and in its systems when we pass through"

"Captain, if I may, we still don't know enough about that thing we're flying into and I'd rather if the Equinox ever goes out, it does so with a bang, not with a pitiful void-whimper. The shuttle came back fine, but we can't say yet what that thing will do to a ship of our size. Before bringing the whole ship in, I'd personally pilot a small craft carrying a diplomatic envoy to the residents of the planet. There we might be able to communicate with the inhabitants and then learn how safe this thing is."

Desilco rubs his chin for a moment contemplating the next action to take. He then turns to Tristan and says to him

"Very well then Master Helmsman. You will take a shuttle into the unknown body with GRONK, myself, and my bodyguards with you. If we are to establish any sort of diplomatic relation Id prefer to be there personally."

[Are all players boarding this scouting shuttle?]

Regardless of who ends up going, GRONK will position himself to be "second for last." In reality, he plans to shut the airlock quickly, before Gobsnark is able to enter, so that he may finally be free of his minder.

He is also very excited to be considered a diplomatic envoy.

[I think only Tristan, Gobsnark, Desilco, GRONK, and desilcos bodyguards are going]

I will be boarding the shuttle as well.

"Welcome aboard Fortuna" (Tristan's personal gun-cutter).  "Please buckle up and enjoy the flight. Complimentary waste bags can be found at your seats in the event we encounter any, em, 'rough weather.'"

As the hangar doors slide, he calls to the nearest member of the crew. "If we're not back in [twice expected travel distance plus a week] send a search party for us. If that fails, assume we have been captured or killed. Then you may put so many holes on that Emperor-forsaken planet you can't tell it apart from the warp, assuming the lord-captain approves of course."

Desilco trades his captains outfit for his storm trooper armour before getting into the craft. While on board as everyone makes there way through the cold void of space he looks between his advisors present and speaks up

"Since we don't know what to expect in there it would probably be best to lay out a basic course of action. I'm open to suggestions but it would likely be best to try and open with diplomacy rather than hostility should we find anyone there. I personally am extremely curious to see what xenos device could possibly be causing this"

"I will hold the fort inside the Equinox."

[you hold that fort, hold it like you've never held a fort before]

"Of course captain, but I recommend we keep our curiosity to a minimum. It's probably best that we don't reveal the reason for our visit unless absolutely necessary. After all, we'll not be the only ones after the artefact. I say we find what we need to know, complete the mission, and move on as quickly as we can. We wouldn't want to over stay our welcome after all."

"Probably a good idea. However I believe we should do our best to discover not just the cause of whatever this is but it's nature and purpose. Imagine the possible benifits if we could get to the bottom of whatever this is. Besides..." Desilco pats GRONK on the shoulder "we can't leave without any teef"

GRONK cheers, not sure what this last statement has to do with the preceding ones, but happy that the captain has finally seen the light and embraced the Ork economic system.

GRONK schemes to lock Gobsnack out of the shuttle but fails to comprehend that the width of the entrance into the shuttle permits multiple passengers at once. Furthermore the minder is staying as close as physically possible. The weirdboy has had his plan foiled this day but there will always be another chance to try to evade his observer.

The shuttle takes off from the Equinox and passes the static field completely unharmed and within a few hours Tristan has reached the uncharted planet and locked the ship into its orbit. All that is immediately apparent is the presence of water and purple-green landforms. How do the councilors and their lord-captain proceed?

"Master Helmsman is there any way we can get an augary scan of the planet now that we're inside and is the shuttle in any danger?"

[The gun-cutter class craft fits what I want my ship to be. It has an atmospheric speed (2000 kmh) and a space speed (5 VUs) plus quarters for up to 6 people.]

"I'll see what I can do Captain."

Desilco looks through one of the windows to the planets surface and says to Tristan

"Lets go ahead and find a suitable landing zone. We'll work from there. Try and find a nice open clearing to land so we don't have to worry as much about an ambush and can get our bearings "

"Of course captain. While you and the others go exploring, I'll stay and watch the ship; even set up a perimeter if I'm feeling so inclined. If you run in to any trouble, send me a message and I'll be over there faster than you can say 'oscillating oligarchical omnissiah.' Just let me know whether you want me to ask questions second and shoot first or shoot second and shoot first."

"I have a feeling that if we do end up calling for you we'll be needing a lot of shooting."

Desilco turns to face those in the shuttle with him (Karitoss, GRONK, Gobsnark, and however many bodyguards) and says to them

"We're going to want to stick close together and watch each other's backs once we're on the move. If we do come in contact with hostiles we'll look to make it back to the shuttle if the situation looks to be beyond us. I don't want anyone to be setting a bad precedent for us by shooting the first thing we see so hold your fire unless we're attacked"

Karitoss records himself vocalizing "oscillating oligarchical omnissiah" and finds that it can be said rather fast.
"Acknowledged. I will be standing by to transcribe anything new we encounter. This could be potentially a virgin world ripe for the taking."
He stows his boltgun and pulls out a data-slate, starting a new entry.

Tristan lands the Fortuna on flat and rocky expanse a half kilometer from a lake. Before disembarking Desilco can see from the window that there isn't much in the way of flora or fauna here, only the occasional shrub. The group exits (and Gobsnack stays particularly alert of his weirdboy never stepping more than two meters away.) and takes in the fresh air (of course the possible toxicity was confirmed before exiting the Fortuna). One of the twenty five guards comments that the other members living in his quarters were green with envy that only he among them is getting to enjoy fresh air and sunlight. On the note of sunlight, according to calculations made by Novalaz and a few of his astromancers it should currently be mid morning on this side of the planet yet it is as dark as dusk.

[The dark vortex is not visible from here, the party is several thousand kilometers southwest from the origin of the vortex. Also GRONK's arm has not been slime covered since he pointed out the location of the static on the star map. Now it is only has a large splash of dried squig blood on it.]

Desilco proceeds out of the shuttle sword and plasma pistol drawn. He looks around several times before lowering his guard some and gives a thumbs up to Tristan that the area appears to be clear. He turns to those coming out of the shuttle and says to them

"Anyone got any ideas on how to proceed?"

"Gobsnak and me arr tirtsee Cap'n. Lets get sum wader fur drinkin and squig growin. Mebbe der be humies der two?"

"I concur, let us proceed to the lake and analyze whether its liquid is potable or otherwise."
Karitoss snaps a few pictures of the diminutive shrubbery and attempts to discern the light source.
"If there are people living here, they are likely underground or in small habs. We may not come across them at all on foot."

Desilco nods in agreement

"Yes the lake does seem like a good place to start. At the very least we should see if any of it is drinkable in case we have to be here for a prolonged period"

One of the operators of the Fortuna helps unload the hydro-potability-statifiers "These are kind of old and one might not work, take two."

The councilors walk over to the lake while Desilco's guards haul the heavy and unwieldly machines for water testing. Once there Karitoss supervises the placement of the machines and commences the rituals and litanies to gain inspired knowledge from the old machines as to whether or not the weak fleshlings can consume the water. Samples are poured into the chymistry barrels and a small parchment is produced from the user end of the machine.

"ACCEPTABLE FOR SETTLERS"

The machines were leftovers from a house Desilco planet development project and much like the esteemed house the machines did not care all that much about the longevity of individual inhabitants of the planet.

Tristan ventures out of the ship and casts a weary gaze across the barren landscape (rolling 61 with 22 awareness). He sniffs the fresh air once or twice, quickly grows bored of the outside world, and returns to his ship. Moments later the whirring engines of Fortuna let out a long whining sound as they slowly come to a halt.

Fortuna stands tall and proud, if a little beat up, above the dry soil. The once chrome plating is now scorched in several places, while weapons and augmentations adorn the old gun-cutter in a seemingly haphazard manner. Patches of repair work are a common sight on the interior and exterior of Fortuna, yet the ship's effectiveness could not be overstated. Amidst the scratches and imperfections, multiple rows of skull and crossbones boast the countless enemies felled at the hand of helms-master Sky and Fortuna.

Desilco smiles to himself at the news of the water being drinkable and says to those present at the waterfront

"Well this is unexpected. I honestly thought the water would return as being so badly contaminated it would melt your insides. At the very least if nothing is on this planet besides whatever is causing this strange maelstrom it could prove to be a good world for settlers or even a new fortress world if we find a way to control the maelstrom."

He then turns and looks off towards the direction of the source of the maelstrom to get a good look at what lies between them and their quarry (I'm literally seeing if there is a forest or something between us and it). He also voxes to Tristan whether he would think it'd be possible to fly any closer to the source of the maelstrom

The master helmsman receives his lord-captain's vox cast.

"I can certainly try." Tristan flies Fortuna as close as he can get, being careful to watch for any disturbances.

[It will take more than half a day for the Fortuna to get close to the origin of the vortex, will people be doing anything in the meantime?]