Story of the ship “Baphomet”
For a very long time the Yith'got Witnesses seemed to be an almost harmless cult. People saw its danger mainly in attempts to control things beyond their understanding, and in the spread of the Liu-virus and a possible infection. The cultists weren’t too eager to share information outside their community, so many didn’t think about a far more serious commitment of these fanatics to their cause.
This was the case until 4622. Shortly before the peak of the signal, the cultists intensified their activity. The Inquisition, that was monitoring them, was able to infiltrate their ranks and locate their main gathering places, but couldn’t fully control the situation. The Yith'got Witnesses recruited a huge number of people, after which they started a massacre in dozens of sectors. All these killings occurred near the ruins of the Precursors. Using the captured clone creation machine, the cultists have stained an entire Precursor obelisk with blood.
Soon after that, the activity of the cultists decreased, and they began to act covertly again. Unique fighters, titled “Baphomet” for their appearance and completely otherworldly capabilities, started to appear among their ships.
The Inquisition started a rumour about the real location of the new Precursor glyph in one system and prepared an ambush there. And after the arrival of the cultists, they attacked the Yith'got witnesses. Despite their serious numerical superiority, the ships of the Inquisition were seriously damaged. However, the main purpose of the ambush was accomplished — one of the Baphomet fighters was captured for study.
From the conversation between Lord Levia and the head of the Lumen-4 shipyard scientific department:
- What can you tell me about this ship? Was it worth repairing almost a dozen ships from scratch to capture a single “Baphomet”?
- My lord, the data that we received suggests that we don’t understand how the systems of this ship operate.
- What do you mean “you don’t understand”?
- We examined the structure of the ship's special module. According to the reports of those who fought against the ship, it disappeared from their radars, became invisible. But inside the circuits of this module there’s only a radio transmitter. The module broadcasts a simple set of words, though it seems to be in the Precursor language. Fortunately for us, however, this module will not prevent direct bearing or spy bots from aiming weapons and modules at the target. However, this should be done by the ship's automatics.
- How does the ship react to the Signal?
- Very strongly. And this module especially. The ship’s “harpoon” is also powered by the Signal, and the weapon… We couldn’t figure out its purpose. But my department was able to figure out the ship's mission.
- And what are ships like this supposed to do?
- They’re designed to kill. To covertly attack defenseless humans and sacrifice them to the Precursor artifacts in hopes of opening a gateway to our world.