Nothing at first happened, and then the machine spirit opened itself, apparently having double-checked it was a Martian and nothing else attempting to commune. Quickly it became obvious that all information of the craft has been removed. No single log, crew list, even the name of the ship has been lost. But no sign of scrap-code or xeno manipulation. It simply was a blank slate, an empty hull, desiring to be shaped. And here it was, the Machine Spirit intact and fully functional. The various machines worked perfectly fine and were ready to be used. Scanners. Communication. Engines. Weapons (those that had not been destroyed by the Wing Captain and his squadron). It even had an operable Void shield and Gellarfield Generator. Interesting enough. All Escape Pods had been depleted. Whatever happened, the crew did evacuate. Perhaps the pirates who had been found dead on the planet surface? One more mystery in the system...

--Tus Primaris Orbit, Flagship Hour of Reckoning, Earlier--

While surprised by the Martian ambassador's enthusiasm, Tockman did not show it. Why he didn't send a proxy was beyond the old Admiral. The situation was odd enough as it was, but then Alexei remembered. 'The Priests of Mars have their own ways, only known to them.'
"Good man, I wish you well. Find the truth of this derelict and watch yourselves. My men can navigate a ship of that size with ease, a sealed bulkhead is easily enough removed, but they cannot speak to its spirit or access its logs. I would appreciate a copy your report on its condition. I believe it can be redeemed and returned to service of the Imperium and a boon to the defense of this new frontier. Emperor be with you Ambassador Haxx."

--Later--
With the away mission on Tus Primaris and the Derelict proceeding, Alexei returned to his command throne. A hot cup of fresh tea and a concerned looking Lieutenant Iona waiting for him.
"We have a problem." The holopict of Ven II showing enough for Tockman to slam his fist upon the big red alert button.

"Delay that order Captain Webber." The Admiral voice sounded aloud the vox channels. "All ships, prepare for battle! Swords class frigates are to pull ahead and draw enemy fire. Captain Webber, accompany my Falchion Escorts and prepare torpedo volleys, wide spread. Keep them from maneuvering and once in range fire high yield round and fire at will. The Hour of Reckoning will meet this foe head on. If these Emperor damned xenos think they can hide under our feet and then think that gives them free pass though our space, then they shall pay for this arrogance! All Ships orbiting Tus Primaris, move out and light up the void and fill it with the bodies of our enemies!" Switching off the fleet wide vox channel, Alexei addressed his own vessel directly.
"Begin charging Weapons batteries! Get me the Durandal, I want up all reports on the enemy's weapons and defenses, and I want them now!"

Accessing recent combat data, Alexei could see these xenos were fast and had strong void shields to compliment them. However, with their trajectory and speed... "Is their goal to ram the planet?" Admiral Tockman said aloud.
Activating the fleet vox once more, "Captain Oswald, Admiral Tockman here. It seems you have a new friend that wishes to say hello to Tus Primaris. Anything you can report to shed some light on the goals of these beasts? Also, we are preparing torpedo spreads. Keep a close watch for crossfire. Keep on them and know we'll finish them off here and now. The Emperor Protects. We are the shield and holders of His fury. For the Imperial Navy! Let fly all guns!" As he spoke, the first wave of torpedoes launched from the Hour of Reckoning and Falchions frigates, while the laser-based weapons batteries of the Sword frigates fired to keep the Xeno vessel from maneuvering freely.
"Reload and fire second wave on my mark............ mark. Begin scrambling fighters, find me an opening in those shields!"

Image provided:

OOC:*gasps*
Is that a Nova Cannon on its front?
*excitement intensifies*

Roused from his sleep,Magos left his transport bunk for the night,the bright sunlight welcoming him in a new day.
Already the dust has risen from the movement of various machinery and air was thick with the smell of burning promethium and copper.
For a moment Magos wondered how could he have slept considering all the noise,but he perished the thought as Noosphere buzzed with activity.

Reports spoke about a alien craft rising from Ven II and breaking through the Navy cordon,rushing toward the planet at terminal velocity.Executor Saul have commited to the effort of reclamation and exploration of a derelict ship found in orbit.

Ire rose his choler from the half-wakefulness of a much needed sleep.Much work needed to be done today and this turn of events served only to postpone this great work.It seems that even the Admiral`s starship was committed to stopping this aberration from undoing everyone and everything on the planet.
"Get me the link to the Hymn of Forging.We will stop what everyone else failed to do so."snapped Magos at a Skitarius next to him and despite the Tech-Guard`s numerous augmentations surprise came easy to him,seeing Magos Artisan irritated like this.

One of the Techpriest hurried along,giving him a data-slate that projected the catastrophe-version of the event,if the alien craft would collide with the planet.
Xi-Lomax was not pleased with the scenario.

<Tus Primaris,High Orbit>


As if stirred to life,two Hunter-class Destroyers moved away from the Mechanicum Factory ship to a collision trajectory with the alien spacecraft.Wary of the possible friendly fire,with excrutiating calculation only a machine can come up with,they scanned the enemy voidship hungry for new data.

Suddenly salvoes of torpedoes were unleashed along its bow.For the Mechanicum vessels void-warfare was not a banter of a larger guns,but a cold and calculated ballet that only those with greater processing power can ever hope to comprehend.

Naval Support Crew - Derelict Cruiser, Orbit Tus Primaris
LTC Daggermoon and the Assault Pattern Troopers from both battalions went onto to secure gun decks, armory, crew quarters, and Munitions Storage areas. As each area was secured, each team voxed over command net their statuses. Each team had support of the intelligence arm of their battalions, these particular people started rummaging through the rooms looking for any clues to what had happened here and who's ship this was. This people were the General's investigators and seekers of information. The rest of the soldiers assigned to the battalions supporting the navy operations, went ahead and secured the other hangers while keeping their own open and secure incase of a quick exit was needed.
@Uriel1339
@PorOborosCain
@EvicusDasan1
@Mechiaus

Durhan and his pilots moved down the corridors of the derelict and had finally arrived at their objectives. "All right, you all go to the cabins and secure them. The rest of you follow me to the bridge." He said pointing out the two seperate halves.

Walking into the bridge Durhan saw exactly what he expected....nothing of interest to him. He did however search for a flight recorder to take back to his superiors as they would have more interest in it than him.

Without having to be told Brennith started working to get comms online to reach the admiral.

Flight recorder wiped. Comms came online without an issue. Ship fully operational and awaiting to be used.

Ammunition for the torpedoes, as well as the former crew was found, pretty good amount. Little under half of the regular standard weapons and ammunition for the crew members to fend off boardings. Guns, pistols, grenades, even some boarding shields to hold the line and a few heavy weapons for fighting in the hallways and according ammunition for the various weapons. The hangars however were completely empty. Most likely wreckage would be found on the planet beneath?


~~ Stopping of the Alien Ship ~~
@Colapse | @PorOborosCain | @High_Adept_Zeth | @Mechiaus | @matt23

The ships shielding withheld the combined power of all weapons, almost as if mocking the power of the Imperial Navy. But everything changed when the Dominator-Class ship joined the fray, slingshotting around the massive planet it came in with quite a punch as it's mighty Nova Cannon awoke from it's slumber and projected what appeared to be the Will of the Emperor itself. A bright glow filling the void, even visible by the colonists beneath if they would dare to gaze up into the sky, and even from as far away as Ven I, due to the lack of a blocking sky. And then the dramatic point came to a height when the massive projectile collided with the Alien craft. A huge detonation occurred in the front 1/3rd of the ship and completely cancelled out the shields, melted through the structure and even came out on the other side, heading for Ven II, the Polar Moon as nothing could stop it's mighty wrath.

Finally a moment of opportunity! Jannika Oswald and her frigates annihilated the Engines of the ship, stopping it at least from further accelerating and shedding off a good chunk of the rear part, causing space debris which they had to evade or the short-range cannons to destroy if they further decided pursue.

The Mechanicus frigates, also appeared to just close in at the right moment, shooting their torpedos in whatever support beams kept the alien vessel in one piece, causing it eventually to break in half. However.... It's mass was still heading for the colony. Immediate calculations of the entire Mechanicus ship and the Noosphere calculated that while most chunks would burn up in the Atmosphere, the more massive parts would withstand the extreme heat and still collide with recently constructed buildings, and/or harm colonists. The only way to ensure safety at this point was to further break down the ship with all they have got and send in bombers and fighters to take out the debris or at least shoot it in such way that it would miss the colony.

Last but not least, the bulky Flagship finally managed to come into effective weapon range, further destroying the bulk of the ship, causing it to split now into three major parts, and many more smaller, relatively harmless debris. It was roughly five minutes until the first pieces would collide with the planet surface.

@PorOborosCain "Lieutenant Iona this is Wing-Captain Apker. I have established comms on the derelict. Awaiting further orders. Shall I stay aboard this hulk?"

"By the Emporer!" Gale said as he saw the fire show from on the Moon of Ven II Gale watched as a huge explosion lit up the night sky possibly being the Xeno ship he smiled hoping the navy were moping space with the beings that did took so many imperial lives.

Mathius stood from his throne and yelled, "Bring it around and use all flanking batteries for the larger pieces. Have all bomber squadrons deployed to break it up further, now!" All at once all the hanger doors opened of the Dominator Class Cruiser, unleashing all its bomber squadrons into the void of space. All squadrons had the green lift to unleash hell, which they wasted no time doing. The cruiser itself also swung around, just as ordered, to come up along side the larger pieces of the ship.

Mathius then made a little more secret order, to some of his scouting ships, to go out and begin collecting samples of an bodies found or things technological interest.

Scout Force Victor Alpha - Ven II, Alien Stucture.
The tanks went in as far they could go into the structure. Then it was time for the Infantry. They broke down into fire teams to explore the stucture. Lieutenant Mason, coordinated with the command team from the Salvation of Despair. This was 60 plus soldiers delving into the unknown, and anybody accompanied them had guards.

@seabass @Colapse @Uriel1339 @Vulpas