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| The Altar- A site sacred to the Fundamentalists of the Sabik |
I was taking some time in a facility on the Emperor Family station over Amarr with a colleague from the Society, Lunarisse Aspenstar. I had been working on some data when she came by and we were having a discussion about that, the action in Huola and things in general. She had come across some Sabik artifacts that might have been of interest as part of work for another party. During that discussion an Amarrian capsuleer and a Minmatar man entered the establishment. The Matari gentlemen recognised Lunarisse but not the reverse. The capsuleer, whom I shall not name, made the introductions which caused her a great deal of shock. After some explaining a plot like something out of a holofilm was laid out.
It was told that the Covenant had kidnapped this man, who was in fact an Amarr of quite some position within the Theology Council, and an acquaintance of some sort of Lunarisse from her time with them. In some twisted plot to gain access to his contacts and insert a spy into the Council they had skinned him and given his face to one of their men. It was a cosmetic process taken to the extremes. To add horror to horror they had given him a tribals face and skin. The capsuleer had rescued the man while working for the Council in raiding a covenant facility. How this man will ever fit back in Society nor how he can live with himself having been made to wear such a skin is beyond me.
As far fetched as such a scheme sounds, I can not disregard it with the things I have seen in my search covering the facilities of the Covenant. I only fear I may have wiped out such innocents in my cleansing of our space.
This then led me to a further area of my search. I had heard talk of a deadspace pocket with an outpost of strong Fundamentalist Sabik in Araz. This site held sacred and ancient texts which would be greatly beneficial to my work. These were deep within a known as the "Bastion of Blood". I managed to obtain a code which would enable me to access this area. Foolishly I attempted to raid this outpost alone. The initial areas were guarded by the Covenant and whilst numerous posed no significant threat. So when I warped to in the inner enclave I was cautious but not terribly concerned. I have seen that these heretics can not stand up to one entrusted with Faith in God.
The final goal was a building they called their "Altar". I was able to dispatch the patrol near by and send a boarding party to look for the texts. They were successful and returned with several copies of texts including one called "The Apocryphon". While my teams were securing these items I fired on and seriously damaged the temple. I then turned to the generator facility to destroy these heresies for good. However, the patrols guarding that, a mix of frigates and battleships overwhelmed me destroying my ship. I was able to escape in my pod but the ship, the texts and my crew were destroyed.
I have some information which had been backed up prior to the even but not all. I was staggered by the strength and ferocity of the attack and the ships. This is leading me to consider if the fundamentalists of the sabik are more separate from the Covenant than I had thought. Maybe this group holds ancient weapons of strength from the past, or maybe being separated from the depredations of the Covenant they have not been degraded to the same extent.
This is an area upon which I must think and study more. I fear what I have learnt and what I have lost may have set me back further more than I think.
