"Mayday mayday this is Tango Kilo Four-Two-Nine going down! Tango Kilo Four Two Nine, going down! Mayday mayday!" The Valkyrie shuddered as flames at into it's hull, it's engines screeching through the blackened night sky of Aeyras. It's hull painted black, the only identifying marker on it was a large silver =I= on either side. The wounded craft crashed through the thick jungle below, felling trees in it's descent. By luck or the Emperor's will, none of it's passengers or it's precious cargo were injured. Little of the same could be said of the pilot, a large branch impaling him through the chest.<br/><br/>Around the downed bird were large trees, smoldering with promethium-fed flames. Back behind the band of Inquisitorial acolytes could be heard the shouts and cries of orks, cheering about their spoils of downing a warship.<br/><br/>It was but twenty four hours ago when it all began....<br/><br/>Commander Locke stood, arms crossed, the smallest twitch of his lips betraying his emotion. He looked, though it was more glare, over the group in front of him. "Let me get this straight. The Inquisition wants to take one of my birds, one of my valkyries, of which I have few remaining... to go search for some damned xenos artifact?" he spat out, slamming a metallic fist upon the large thick table. A veteran of dozens of campaigns, Locke had earned his rank the hard way. While not a fool of a man, he knew there was little point arguing with the Inquisition. Not that that would stop him from doing so anyway. "An artifact that you have only the barest of coordinates for, deep within Ork held territory, held by a supposed researcher who has managed to avoid being seen by the greenskin brutes?"