Of all the things in this universe,
There is nothing more frightening
Than a lack of knowledge.
I would rather face down a thousand
Horrors that I know about,
Than a single horror about which I know nothing.
- Inquisitor Vecchio

There comes a time when a person is crouched down behind what used to be a rather nice column, with bolter shells, las bolts, and occasional bursts of warp-fire flying overhead that a person just has to think to oneself; "What the frak did I do to get myself in this position?"

I was at that time.

I took a quick peek over the top of the downed column, risking taking a round to the face, to ascertain how many of the cultists were left. I knew that on our way into the building, my group and I had eliminated a fair few of their number, before more and more of them started coming. Looking around, I saw at least twenty of them firing from covered positions, with more of them simply standing in the open, either charging or hurling Chaos sorcery at us.

Speaking of us, I quickly ducked back down, but not before one of the cultists managed to nick my hat with a las round. I removed the hat at stared at the smoldering furrow left in the material. Patting out the smolders, I put the hat back on, determined to find the bastard who had done this and make sure his end was remarkably painful.

I heard a chuckle next to me, and looked over to find my companion, and friend, Umberto Trelli crouched behind the column as well. After glaring at him a moment, he finally spoke. "God- Emperor have mercy on the poor soul who just shot your hat. I know how protective you are of that thing."

"Damn right," Backing up words with action, I raised my bolt pistol over the column and unleashed a flurry of poorly aimed shots. There were just so many cultists that it was almost guaranteed that I would hit something. No one damaged my hat and got away with it. The hat was a gift from my old mentor, given to me on the day I became a full Inquisitor.

I pulled the bolt pistol back down after it started dry clicking and swiftly reloaded it. Looking at the bolt pistol, one could almost mistake it for a bulky las pistol, instead of a bigger bolt pistol. But that was because the pistol was modified to the point where any tech priest who saw it would cry heresy. Something that my own tech priest had done for a while before he learned to just ignore it because I was not going to let him change it. The pistol was modified to be lighter, with an overly sensitive trigger. It still packed the punch of an un-modified bolt pistol, just lighter and easier to fire. It was painted black with gold filigree inlaid on the handle in High Gothic script, and more High Gothic winding its way down the barrel.

Risking another look over the column, I saw that I had indeed hit some of the cultists. Two of them were down and if the blood and viscera around them was anything to go by, would not be getting up again. Another cultist was still standing, but that was only because he was propped up by an upright column. The fist sized hole in his torso meant that he was most likely quite dead as well.

A warp-fireball came flying at me and I instinctively ducked, even though the sorcery sputtered out of existence a few feet from my position. I wondered why these cultists continued to use Chaos sorcery when it was completely ineffective. On the other side of me from Trelli, sat a woman holding a las pistol in each hand, occasionally snapping off a shot or two at the cultists, she was the source of our good favor.

Aki, as she was known to all, was a small woman, barely cresting five feet tall, but she was what is known as an untouchable. In a radius around her, psychic powers simply stopped functioning. She was one of the only reasons that my group was still alive at this point. With the sheer number of enemy psykers ranged against us, her abilities had saved us already on many occasions.

I tapped the comm-bead in my ear. "Okay, everyone aim for the psykers on my command. Take them out and I will end this myself."

There came several replies in my ear, and one simply click of acknowledgement, which would come from my long-las specialist and sniper, a guy named Hecuter Donavon. Where he was, I had no idea, most likely in some dark corner up high, picking off cultists one by one.

"Remember, watch out for Xandria, don't hit her, wherever she is. On my mark…" I peeked out over the column one more time, seeing the psykers still just standing in the open, conceited bastards. "Mark."

At my command, Aki, Trelli, and myself swung our weapons over the column and opened fire, aiming for the psykers and downing them. I saw Trelli and his bolt pistol take out one psyker, the cultists head simply vanishing in a puff of blood and brain matter. Eldritch energies poured out of the neck, going wild and arcing towards the other cultists nearest to the man. The sickening smell of burned flesh rose as cultists were burned and consumed by the warp-fire.

Taking careful aim, I fired my pistol at a group of the psykers, hitting several of them and knocking them over. Their compatriots turned and started to flee, but the lead one was stopped when the point of a sword poked out of his back. I could not see the look on the man's face, but it was most likely priceless. The sword disappeared back into the man's body and he collapsed. Suddenly, other cultists started to fall over, some spurting blood from severed necks and arteries, others missing limbs entirely.

I saw one psyker simply fall over, a neat hole blown in the side of his head. I knew that to be Hecuter's work. In the space of a few seconds, most of the psykers were down and the others were fleeing. Only the regular cultists were left.

Turning to face Aki, I shouted. "Aki, now!" The woman reached up to the necklace she always wore and hit a switch. Suddenly, I felt free and complete again. Aki had switched her limiter on, blocking her untouchable ability. The return of my psychic powers was always a heady feeling, almost like taking a drug. I felt suddenly a rush of what could be called euphoria.

Shaking my head, I quickly ranged out with my powers, finding the remaining cultists and figuring out which one had shot my hat. I found the man hiding behind an overturned table and decided to save him for last.

Projecting my consciousness out of my body, I saw the world in a whole new way. Everything had a sort of glassy sheen to it, as if it was fragile. People and other life-forms lit up, surrounded by an aura of light, marking their positions. I saw Trelli and Aki next me, Trelli holding on to my body carefully. Hecuter I found wedged into a crevasse on top of a pile of rubble, concealed in the shadows. Xandria, my death cultist, was still concealed in the shadows behind the cultists, her sword dripping with the lifeblood of her kills.

I moved unseen amongst the cultists, sowing death in my wake. An aneurysm here, a stopped heart there, the cultists fell one by one, dead or dying. I never relished the deaths that I caused like this, in my opinion a person deserved the chance to die in battle, not against a foe that they could do nothing about. Sometimes though, expediency won out and I had to use my powers in this way.

When the only thing left alive was the man who had shot my hat, I turned my full attention to him. Being a powerful psyker in my own right, I entered the man's mind with the full force of my being. He could not take it. The man screamed, holding his head in his hands as blood leaked out of his ears, nose, and tear ducts. He screamed and screamed, as I psychically shredded his mind and sanity. Eventually it became too much and the man's head exploded, showering the surrounding area in blood, bone, and small chunks of brain matter.

I will admit to relishing that one, but he deserved it for shooting my hat. As I reentered my body, feeling the arms of Trelli supporting me, my eyes opened and I perceived the world normally again.

Taking a deep breath before sitting up, I looked over the column again. Death looked back at me. There were cultist bodies arranged everywhere. Blood and other matter coated almost every surface where they lay. Looking back at Trelli, I saw that he was staring at the man whose head had exploded.

"Damn boss, let me guess. That was the one who shot your hat, right?" He asked me, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"If I need to answer that question," I responded, "Then you obviously don't know me." We both smiled at that, knowing that indeed we knew each other very well. But decades of gallivanting around the galaxy together, fighting xenos and Chaos, will do that to a group.

I tapped my comm-bead again. "Regroup everyone, by the archway." Aki, Trelli, and I moved forward, through the cultist bodies to the archway that the fleeing psykers had gone through. According to the schematics of the building, the archway led down a hallway to a smaller chamber, which was presumably the throne room of the cult leader that we were after.

As we reached the archway, a section of the shadows peeled off from itself and revealed itself to be Xandria. Shortly after, Hecuter came jogging up, his long las slung over his shoulder.

I took a good look at the people around me. Trelli was tall and very well built. A former hive-ganger from Sameter, he still sported the tattoos along his arms, signifying his status as an elite member of the Kys gang. He had short brown hair, cropped close to his scalp, and, as was his habit, had a lho stick behind his right ear. I had never seen him smoke, but he always carried one. I had met him on one of my first missions as a full Inquisitor, on Sameter. I was posing as a noble in order to gain access to a suspected dark eldar cult. He tried, rather unsuccessfully, to kidnap me and hold me for ransom. Needless to say though, I was impressed with his balls. When he found out that I was instead an Inquisitor, rather than soiling his drawers like most people, he actually seemed quite unimpressed. He did let me go though, and even gave me information regarding the cult I was hunting (as it turns out, he only did this because the cult had been a pain in his ass for a while, and he wanted me to destroy it for him). I offered him a job with me, as part of my crew, after I had wiped out the cult and he rather surprisingly accepted. That was over sixty years ago.

By contrast, there was Aki. Short, with long black hair, she was a very beautiful woman who just happened to be an untouchable. It is unfortunate that a side effect of being an untouchable is that it is exceedingly difficult to form a personal bond with one. Most untouchables are doomed to live their lives alone. Psykers, such as myself, cannot touch them without incurring pain beyond just physical. She is an accepted member of my team, and even gets along quite well with Hecuter, but sometimes I wonder if she is still resentful about being born an untouchable. I met Aki shortly after I met Trelli. She was being held captive by a corrupt businessman when I rescued her. Being a psyker, I immediately knew what she was, and offered to take her with me. She agreed and has been with me ever since.

Xandria is an entirely different story. She just showed up one day. I was relaxing in the home I lease on the agri-world of Hollow. It is a quiet place, where people do not really bother others, yet it is still a friendly place. Honestly sometimes I think that the townspeople where I live are honored to have an Inquisitor living with them. But I digress. I was relaxing/recuperating at home after a rather trying mission, when Xandria literally showed up. Trelli opened the door to the house to find her standing there. She gave him a note that had my name on it, and then walked past him into the home. Unsure of what to do, Trelli gave me the note, after escorting the black-clad woman into my study. It turns out that she was a member of a death cult that had pledged itself to my mentor, and he had sent her to me, to be a part of my team. She is a very nondescript woman, at least her face is. She always wears a black bodyglove and is always festooned with blades. Her sword, throwing knives, and daggers. Since she came to be with my team, she has proven to be invaluable. Being a death cultist, she has been trained from birth in the art of death.

Hecuter, my sniper, is an interesting character. He was once an Imperial Guardsmen, but when I found him, he was a drunk, living in the streets of Perlia. His only possession was his long-las, the very same one that is currently slung over his back. He followed me for a while, when I was on Perlia, begging for money and asking if there was anyone I needed killed, for a small fee of course. Since he was getting on my nerves, I finally showed him a picture of my target, a rogue trader who was ferrying a Chaos cult across the galaxy, and told him that if he killed this man, I would pay him well. Hecuter saluted and shambled off. To my vast surprise, two days later I spotted the rogue trader and was following him through a marketplace when he stumbled and fell over. When he did not get back up, I investigated. I found him lying on the dirt, a neat hole in the side of his head and exiting the other side. I wondered what could have happened, when the drunk man I got rid of two days ago found me later, as I was pondering in a bar. He sat across from me in the booth and asked if I liked what he had done. It took a moment, but I finally realized that he had taken out the rogue trader. Needless to say, I followed through on my promise, and hired him to join me. He is a tall and reedy man, who looks like you could knock him over just by glaring, but he is one of the best shots I have ever seen, and can hold his own in a fight.

The five of us stood outside the archway. "Okay, at least five or six psykers made it through here. Aki, turn your limiter off and follow behind us. Trelli, you and I will go in first. Hecuter, stay back with Aki and make sure nothing happens to her. Xandria, stick to the shadows and try and get behind whoever is in this room. No one does anything unless we are fired upon first, or at my signal. Let's try and get these guys alive."

After receiving four nods, we started off down the hallway. There was almost no light in the hallway, so immediately Xandria simply vanished. I have always marveled at her powers of stealth. She can vanish in almost any shadow, and move silently, a real feat with the amount of blades she carries around. She strikes and is gone before the enemy even knows what hit them. The rest of us, even though we were moving as quietly as possible, sounded like an explosion next to her.

The hallway was long, and decorated with carvings on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling. The carvings once depicted great heroes and triumphs of the Imperium, but had now been desecrated by the cultists, such that you had to work to figure out what they were. Curiously however, there were none of the usual Chaos sigils carved around, no eight pointed stars, no symbols that hurt the brain to look at them, none of that. I figured that the cult was relatively new, and had not been able to do that yet.

We reached the end of the hallway, and stepped out of the shadows into a smaller room. This room was narrow, only about fifteen feet across, and perhaps thirty feet long. At the opposite end of the room from where we were, a man sat in a chair atop a raised dais. Well, perhaps sit is the wrong word. He was lounging in the chair as if he had no care in the world. As soon as we entered, he looked at us. Surrounding him were indeed six men wearing the robes of the cult. The cult leader, as I assumed him to be, raised a hand and pointed at us. The six psykers stood and as one began to unleash more warp-fire at us.

Fortunately, due to Aki's presence, we were not immolated where we stood. Instead, we raised our weapons and fired at the cultists. One went down immediately, several bolt rounds penetrating his torso and blowing it apart. Another suffered a las round to the head, while a third went down under concentrated fire from Aki's pistols. The fourth and fifth went down simultaneously with small throwing knives sticking out of their eyes. The sixth one suffered from both bolt rounds and las rounds, before he simply collapsed in a pile of his own entrails.

Only the man in the chair was left, and he was smiling. I stepped forward and raised my bolt pistol, aiming it squarely at his head. "In the name of the God-Emperor and His Holy Inquisition, I hereby place you under arrest. Drop whatever weapons you may be carrying, place your hands on your head, and come quietly."

The man started laughing. His voice rang out across the room as he laughed, and indeed began to clap as well. Like we were performers in some show who had just finished some spectacular feat. I was taken aback at his reaction. Normally, when someone realizes that the Inquisition is arresting them, they either curl up into a ball and cry, or they launch into a last ditch attack. Either way, they tend to void their bowels first. This man however, seemed wholly unconcerned that the most powerful organization in the Imperium was about to arrest him, or kill him if he attacked.

When the man was done laughing, he looked me straight in the eyes. "You are an Inquisitor?" he asked. I sighed. Honestly, I had gotten used to the looks of disbelief, and the occasional snickers from other Inquisitors meeting me for the first time. But I would be lying if I said that it did not still annoy me. I am well aware that at five foot one, I did not look like most people's version of an Inquisitor. Add that to me being a woman, and having youthful features, and most people simply took me for a young woman, sometimes even a teenager. Although it should be known that I was not the shortest on my team, I had half of an inch height wise on Aki, something I was quite proud of.

Usually I would smile and fake-laugh with people when they showed incredulity that I was an Inquisitor. This time, however, I was tired and pissed off, a deadly combo for those against me. I reached into a pocket of my jacket and pulled out my Inquisitorial Rosette, the sign of my office and my badge. I showed it to the man. "Yes, I am an Inquisitor. My name is Inquisitor Arianna. I will only ask you one more time, put your hands on your head and come with us quietly."

The man smiled at me once more. "Very well, I surrender to your company." He stood up and stepped down off of the dais. Placing his hands on top of his head, he stood there patiently and waited. I approached him cautiously, knowing that my teammates would be covering me, and would shoot him at the slightest sign of movement.

When I reached him, I quickly grabbed his hands and placed him in cuffs. Dragging him behind me, I rejoined the others. "Spread out and search this place. Gather up anything related to the cult, papers, cogitators, anything. Be thorough." Aki and Hecuter nodded, before heading back out down the hallway. Trelli stayed behind to search the room we were in.

I got on my comm-bead. "Were done here, bring in the ship and be prepared for a prisoner."

"What, only one prisoner? Did you have a bad day Arianna?" teased my pilot.

"Yes I did, someone shot my hat," I responded to her.

The link was silent for a moment, though I could hear Trelli snickering from behind the dais. "Oh," came the reply. "Well then, I'm surprised that there is even one prisoner. Usually when this happens you leave no one alive."

"Just bring in the ship and let's get out of here."

"Yes ma'am," was the sarcastic answer. I could almost see my pilot grinning and saluting me from behind the controls.

"Mordecai," I said, still talking into the comm-bead. "Mordecai?" Only silence greeted me. "Come on old man, I know that you're listening in to this."

Finally there was a reply. "Yes ma'am? What do you need?"

"When you get here, I need you to assist in the search for evidence from this building. Help the others, and get what you can out of this place."

"Yes ma'am," came the simple reply.

I shook my head. I must have interrupted something very important to him, perhaps he was researching the mating habits of some long dead species, or looking up some other useless piece of information, because usually you needed a shock maul just to get the man to shut up. Mordecai is my savant, my source of information. The man never forgot anything, he has regaled me with stories of something from his childhood, and the man is well over two hundred years old. I am less than half his age and probably cannot tell you what I had for breakfast last week, while he could tell you what he had for breakfast two hundred years ago, as well as how much of it and how many bites it took him to finish it.

I left the chamber and went back down the hallway. I came back to the room where the battle had taken place, and surveyed it in more detail this time. The room was large, with a high, vaulted ceiling. I'm almost certain that this had once been a place of worship, as the columns, and the raised area where an altar would have been seem to suggest it. Some of the columns had been knocked over and there was rubble where sections of the wall had fallen in. The whole place had the look of having been abandoned for quite some time, which fit with this particular section of the hive that we were located in.

I tried to remember what planet we were on, but could not for the life of me do so. My ship had been en route to Pradia VII when we had received an astropathic communication from Lord Inquisitor Nykos to divert to this world… God-Emperor what was the name of this world…? Lixion, that was it, Lixion. Although it would be better off being named Ass End of Nowhere. I suppose this planet had once been a thriving place, at least judging by the size of the hives. Most of them were abandoned, or inhabited only by those who have nowhere else to go, who did not leave when the leaving was good. On the way to this building alone, we ran into junkies, joy girls, mutants, and several different breeds of xenos.

And those were the ones out in the open. I almost shudder to think what hides in this city. It is no wonder a Chaos cult sprang up here, it is nearly inevitable under such conditions. On a planet where poverty is not merely a factor, it is the damn way of life here. If I thought that it would help, I would simply Exterminatus the whole planet and leave. Unfortunately, the amount of sheer paperwork that would involve, as well as the briefings and questionings, made that not really an option.

Listening, I heard the distinctive sound of my ship coming in on approach. Just as I was wondering whether my pilot would pull her usual fly-girl shit, the entire building rattled as the ship went screaming by on a high speed pass, before quickly banking and coming in to a landing, only shedding speed when the ship was practically scraping the ground.

When the building started rattling, I wisely decided to move towards the nearest column that was still standing, just in case a portion of the roof picked that moment to drop in and say hi. When the sound of the engines to my beautiful ship diminished, eventually vanishing altogether, I knew that it was parked outside and that Mordecai and my pilot were on the way inside.

Sure enough, about a minute later, the two of them walked into the room, or in Mordecai's case, shuffled in. Mordecai was a wizened looking old man, and he played the part quite well too, but I knew that he could really step up and surprise a person if needed, as many an adversary has found out to their detriment when the harmless old man suddenly springs forward, steals your gun, and shoots you with it.

My pilot on the other hand, looked no older than twenty, and acted like it as well. In reality, she was actually about forty, but she preferred if no one knew that. Her name was Liliy, but we all just called her Lils, mostly because it annoyed her. She may be young, and had only been on my team for about five years now, but she was one of the best pilots out there, and as long as she continued to out-fly and dodge all of the trouble that we run into, I can put up with her teenage tendencies.

Indeed, even now she was wearing a low cut top which revealed way too much chest, as well as pants which simply screamed "Joy girl" at you. There were times when I wanted to bend her over my knee and just go at it, but then I realize that I would only be acting the age that she makes me feel. Lils and I had quite the love-hate relationship going, but I suppose that was normal of the team that I had assembled. We may be dysfunctional, but we know when to buckle down and get the job done.

I waited and let Lils and Mordecai approach me. No sooner had he got to me, than Mordecai stopped and immediately went over to one of the columns, took out the data slate he always carried, and started to make notes on it, muttering to himself about different types of columns, dates, and places. Lils, on the other hand, stopped in front of me, saluted, and then immediately reached for my hat.

After batting her hand away, she pouted. "Come on, let me see the hat, I want to see the damage to it."

"Lils, I'm tired and really don't have the patience for this right now," I replied, still fending off her ever-reaching hand.

"But Ari, come on," she persisted, calling me by that ridiculous name she made up one day. Finally I relented and let her snatch that hat off my head, which was easy for her being that she is at least five foot five.

She spent a moment inspecting the hat, quickly finding the new furrow that the last round had made in the material. She turned it over in her hands, before placing it back on my head at some odd angle. Looking at that a moment, she corrected the angle and moved that hat until it was hanging half off of my head and practically dangling from my ear.

"There, you look much better wearing it like that." She smiled at me as she inspected her handiwork.

Adjusting the hat back to its normal position, I said, "Yeah, but I feel like an ass, so no. Just go back to the ship and clear out the hold for the prisoner." She pouted at me again, but I pointed back towards the door and the ship and she turned away, head down and shuffling her way back. To this day I am still not sure why I allowed her to touch my hat. Generally if someone tries to touch my hat, I try and kill them. I suppose it is because in some way, I feel like a mother around her, indulging her child in some silly way like that.

I shook my head and reached up to the comm-bead in my ear again. "Xandria, please escort the prisoner to the hold of the ship and chain him up, tightly. Make sure that bastard is going nowhere." There was no response, but there never was. As a death cultist, she had taken a vow of silence until her quest was fulfilled. What that quest was, I had no idea. I just know that most death cultists never utter a word in their entire lives, mostly because they never live long enough to do so. The life of a death cultist is generally short and violent. Xandria is perhaps an exception, because she has been with my team for quite a while now.

I waited for a moment until I saw Xandria, with the cuffed man thrown over her shoulder, walking down the hallway. I joined them as they passed me, walking slightly behind them and covering the man with my pistol. He looked up and saw me, where he actually had the audacity to wink at me, before looking down again. I think it was at that moment that I decided to not be nice during my interrogation of him.

The three of us exited the building to find my ship, my yacht, settled such that the landing ramp started a mere foot from the door. Again, I marveled at the skill of my young pilot. We walked up the ramp and into the ship, which could easily be mistaken for the boat of some rich noble family, heading for the cargo hold. Inside the hold, Lils was busy clearing out the middle of the room, shifting some boxes around and cursing as she did so.

So engrossed in her cursing, she did not even notice us enter the cargo hold. It was only when she had gotten to some rather interesting ways she was going to use Mordecai's staff on me did I bother to clear my throat. Startled, she dropped the box she was carrying, which was thankfully only a box of foodstuffs, and not one of Trelli's boxes of explosives that he brings on every mission. "Oh ma'am, I didn't see you there," she said, managing to look absolutely everywhere in the cargo hold with the exception of where I was standing.

"Apparently," I answered. "Listen, if you aren't happy with the job I have assigned you, you can always volunteer to go clean up the remains of the last person to cross me. I believe that you would need a bucket and sponge for that job."

I will admit that while it was cruel, watching her face go pale was ever so worth it. "Ah n-n-no ma'am, I'm quite happy here, moving boxes."

I smiled at her. "I'm sure that you are."

It was not long before Lils had cleared out the center of the hold, and together Xandria and I, using some of the chains both hanging from the ceiling and attached to the floor, chained the man up tightly. For good measure, I lowered the cage that I keep on a lift towards the ceiling and sealed him in there. And for extra good measure, I turned on the power to the cage, sending currents of both electricity and psy power through the material which made up the cage. If he touched the cage now, he would be either electrocuted, or blown backwards by psychic force.

As we were finishing this up, the rest of the team came back in, Trelli dragging Mordecai with him. Aki and Hecuter were carrying some data slates that they had most likely found. "Ma'am, we searched the whole place, and there wasn't much. Either this cult knew we were coming and cleaned house, or they didn't believe in keeping records of any kind. Aki found a few data slates, but other than that, there's nothing there."

I nodded. "Okay, good work ladies and gentleman. Today we broke a Chaos cult and now we get to head home for some well deserved relaxation time."

Trelli pointed to the man currently residing in the cage. "And what are we going to do with him?" he asked.

"Well, he is coming with us, where he will be a guest of the Inquisition until such time as I can arrange to have him shipped off somewhere more permanent."

Lils looked up from where she had been rifling through a box. "So he is coming to our home?"

I stared at her. "Yes Lils, he is." Seeing the bright look on her face though, I continued. "However, he will be placed under lock and key in the holding cells, which need I remind you that you are still banned from that area?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "No ma'am." Then under her breath, but still loud enough where I was clearly meant to hear it, she muttered. "Dear Emperor. Let one measly guy loose accidently and I never hear the end of it."

I turned to face her. "One measly guy? Not only did he manage to escape the house, he stole my precious ship and very nearly escaped the system. It was only our luck that a Navy frigate intercepted him. And this was after, by the way, we had all spent months tracking him down and apprehending him." I was not shouting at her, indeed I was quite quiet, and not mad at all, mostly because after this incident, I had shouted at her until I was blue in the face, and then promptly threw her into the cell next to him for a while. "So yes, you are still banned from that area, and whoever is on guard duty still has orders to shoot you if you try and go in."

Her only response was to call me a spoil sport and stick her tongue out at me. I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Oh just go pilot this ship back into orbit, then dock with The Cordelia Rose and get us home, I'm tired. Everyone is dismissed. Xandria, you get to stand first watch over the prisoner. And remember, if Lils tries to get in here, stab her first, then come find me."

The group broke up the chuckles and snickers, before they all left the cargo bay, except Xandria who stood by the wall, still as a statue. I left shortly after, after double-checking the cage, making sure it was working properly. I went down the hall to the stately room, and promptly laid down on the couch along the wall. Trelli was across from me, cleaning his pistol while Aki and Hecuter were next to him, talking about what they were going to do once we got home. Mordecai was over at the table, surrounded by data slates and making notes on another one.

I heard the engines start up, felt the familiar vibrations as we lifted off and began the journey into orbit. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, leaving instructions to wake me once we docked with our ship in orbit, The Cordelia Rose.