"Two hundred and fifty three dead, thousands more wounded" The pict-screen blared "civil unrest and protest leads chaos through the streets into the so-called protective light of the 'most benevolent' Adeptus Arbites, however, today's events have started to bring to the front that the light is becoming an oppressive shadow."

Thall and Cairn stood in the main pavilion area in the centre of the residential area in the precinct. They stood under the media-totem that was erected in the centre of the circular room. On the totem there were almost a dozen pict-screens, vox-speakers and other multimedia equipment for use by the off-duty Arbites. The two Arbites where stood with their crossed as they watched the images on the screen go from bad to just plain worse. Their faces taut in a hard expression as the greying man on the screen jabbered on.

"Early estimates put the number of unlawful executions in triple digits, Provost Krael has refused to comment and so we are left with the images of the aftermath and the words of the survivors of this massacre." The screen changed to show the detritus of the riot. Windows smashed, burning ground-cars and dozens of bodies littered the street. Many showed the tell-tale signs of maul hits. Cairn groaned as the camera switched to a woman weeping over a body.

The reporter's voice started over the image. "This single-mother has lost her only child in a flurry of senseless violence; coroners claimed the death was by an Arbite Executioner round. The boy, aged six and ten years, had come to the final with a group of friends." The image jumped to a clearly ruffed up young man whose sky-blue robe was covered in dust and grime. "He wasn't causing any trouble; we were just trying to get away. A...An Arbitrator told him to lie down but before he could he... he just dropped after a horrible noise" The boy started to well up and Cairn turned away. Thall reached up and turned the screen off before it could continue the parade of defaming images.

"Fraker" Cairn hissed "How dare him!" Thall looked to his friend with a worried look. "Defaming an officer is an offence, why wasn't he arrested!" Cairn continued as his fists balled up. Thall sighed; stupid decisions had caused this, probably an inexperienced Arbite or just a simple misunderstanding. Perhaps the kids were lying and they were actively fighting, who knows.

Regardless, all Thall knew now was that the public image of the Arbites on Tercius was damaged by the riot. The speed at which it grew and the amazing degree of coordination between the two massive groups had forced a firm hand, Thall rubbed the bridge of his nose. Perhaps the Provost had been to rash to order such decisive action against such a varied crowd.

"Their calling it excess Arbite brutality, it seems they don't understand the whole deciding of guilty and punishment bit." The serene voice of Felicia said as she closed towards the two, her dark body glove changed in favour of an off-duty shirt and slacks.

"Brutality?" Cairn wheeled around, his face turned a further shade of red by the second. "Yes" the Detective nodded "They are saying that we overstepped our bounds-" She was cut off by an angered roar from Cairn "Overstepped! We enforce the law! As laid down the fraking Emperor Himself! And those frakers broke it!" He fumed "If they think that the Lex Imperialis is debateable then they are in for a shocking surprise" He continued until he was silenced by a hard glare from Felicia.

"Please Arbitrator, don't rant at me, I agree with you." She looked to the blank screen "There is very little we can do about it" She sighed. Pelmann, the man who had delivered the report and the news corporation he was part of were a sub-division of the main Adeptus Mechanicus contingent, they supplied almost sixty percent of media coverage on Tercius and usually they were respectful about what they broadcast, though it was obvious that the slug known as Pelmann had some sort of vendetta against the Arbites, who couldn't get to him due to the Mechanicus badge he could hide behind despite the numerous request to have him taken off the air.

"Getting off such a delicate subject" Felicia sighed "I need to talk to you two" Thall walked forward and tried to look attentive, though he really wasn't feeling terribly talkative at the moment. "In private" she added. Thall was immediately perked. She glanced towards him again with the same sly smile. Again he mentally hit himself for thinking such things.

She led the two towards a seemingly unused office. Detritus of discarded papers and data-slates were stacked up in mismatched piles and wrappers of various foods were cast near the disposal bucket in the corner of the room, some where even in the bucket. The old smell of recaf assaulted the two's senses as the Detective pushed open the door that had a smoked glass window with the letters 'F. Calamar' in bold type face.

She waved the two towards a set of seats in front of her messy desk. She smiled sweetly as she sat in front of them, despite the mess, the room still felt warm and accepting, probably helped to no end by the general psychic field projected by Felicia.

"Now, I have asked you hear to talk about the mutation you discovered." The Detective asked as she tapped on a data-slate.

Cairn leaned forward in his seat "Most of what I remember is in my after-action-report" The Detective nodded "I know, I've read them." She rubbed her neck "But I want your direct, unedited, emotional recollection of the event."

Thall looked to the face of the Lucius Angel; her face barely contained a laugh. "Just your recollection will do" She smiled "Unless you need to a cuddle."

Thall went over his thoughts of the mutant to the Detective "-despite amazing agility and strength, their endurance and durability leaves a lot to desire. I suspect a selective mutation program behind it." Felicia was scribbling away on the slate with a stylus in one hand and a delivered cup of recaf in the other. Her eyes locked onto the Arbitrator as he finished. "Like a mutant cult?" Thall nodded "With an overarching plan to perfect their mutations?" again the Arbitrator nodded. The Detective hummed as she wrote the thought down.

Cairn looked to his friend "What about the coordination?" He switched his sight between the two. "They flanked, attacked, fell back with unerring precision." Cairn shrugged, "If it hadn't been for those big guys, we may not be having the conversation."

"Why is that?" Felicia raised an eyebrow. "Well" Cairn started "The gangers had both numerical and positional superiority , they would have had us if those muscle-bound nutters hadn't charged in and distracted the purples crazies."

"Purple crazies? The gang's colour you mean" Felicia remarked. Cairn shrugged "I haven't come up with a witty name to register them with, purple crazies seemed good enough."

Felicia agreed with a slight nod. "However they are the gang with the mutations, so I'm sure they'll get an official designation soon enough."

Cairn leaned forward "May I vote that it contains the word crazy? You must have something wrong with you to sleep next to a fusion reactor." Felicia hummed again "I'd guess it would be warm if nothing else."

She noted a few more things before looking back to the two. "Thank you lads, I'll get back to you when I figure something out."

The two Arbitrators stood, saluted and left. Felicia looked over the notes she had collected from the dozens of personnel she had interviewed over the last few hours, from the Arbitrators to the Medical menials.

Each of the Honour guard had referenced a woman in the Representative's retinue who had freaked out before the attack. A woman she couldn't get access to without going through the Governor's staff.

The cogitator whirred as she punched the data into it. It threw the facts at a wall metaphorically to see what stuck. A few lines of code danced on the screen before the cogitator returned something legible.

Felicia's brow furred as she read the words 'Classified'. "T-y-r-a-n-i-d" she continued on through the data "Genestealer" she said quietly. As she delved further into the data, her eyes widened with terror.

... ... ... ...

"Milady" An aide spoke to the representative as amber-honey waffles were served to the red headed lady. She looked to the well-dressed manservant. "A member of the Adeptus Arbites is here to speak with you, she does not have an appointment" the aide bowed low as the Representative nodded to allow the Arbite in.

The gilded golden halls of the palace surrounded the Representative as she took breakfast in what the audacious governor called the Hericius room. Facing north was a wide balcony looking over the upper-level that sprawled out below the palace and its adjacent gardens. The tables were made seemingly of unbroken white marble. On the walls hung portraits of former planetary governors and the faces of valiant Generals and Commanders of Tercian Imperial Guard history. The chairs were, to the Representative's trained eye, nalwood. A substance that had become very rare due to the loss of supply, the chairs were probably centuries old and perfectly preserved in the personal reserve of the Governor, whom had brought them out of storage to impress the Representative. She smiled as she bit into the doughy food. It wouldn't hurt his chances she thought.

A minor cadre of handmaidens stood dutifully at the edge of the room ready to receive the Representative's orders. The maidens all wore simple robes marked with the crest of the Governor; their hair was pulled back into long ponytails and their eyes were cast down to the floor. They remained silent even as the sounds of feet echoed towards the room.

The door was carved with even more graven images of the Emperor and nine other giants. The Representative looked over the nine, she smirked. It was highly unlikely that, judging by their first conversation, the Governor would be able to name any of the nine giants that stood at the Emperor's side.

The sounds of the footsteps stopped outside the door and the noise was replaced by a rapping of knuckles on the great door.

The door creaked open as a handmaiden poured a glass of sweetened amasec for the noblewoman. She cast a serene glance over towards the opening doorway. The aide was stood unimposing in the doorway. He bowed low, "Milady, may I introduce Lady Felicia Calamar, Detective of the Adeptus Arbites." The black robed officer passed the aide with a smile and a nod to the aide. Her off-duty clothes replaced by her usual work clothes, an armoured body glove with a thick black cloak, her two bolt pistols remained in their holsters.

The Representative stood and nodded respectively to the officer who in return bowed low. "Thank you for your time my lady" The Detective said with a tone of reverence.

"Oh no, to aid the Arbites is always a worthwhile pursuit." The Representative indicated a free nalwood chair for the Detective to sit but she refused with a curt hand gesture. The redheaded woman smiled regardless and returned to her exquisitely prepared breakfast.

After a moment of silence the Detective took the unsaid sign that she should start. "My lady, as you are aware, there were some...disturbances yesterday."

The Representative cast a dim glare at the Detective "I am not blind to the universe around me Detective; I have been made completely aware of the civil disturbance." She paused as she chewed a bite of waffle. "A rather bad piece of business that." The Detective looked away as the Representative mentioned the riot. Felicia remembered the sheer anger from Cairn over what happened, despite the words he said, she could feel his disgust at the situation as a whole.

"My apologizes my lady, I meant no disrespect" Felicia half-bowed, "I was merely prefacing my reason for coming before you today."

The Representative "Allow me to presume" She took to a long sip of her amasec. "Your men reported one of my bodyguards acting strangely." The Detective nodded.

"That is among one of a few questions I wish to ask you my lady." Felicia checked the data-slate at her waist. Before she could she was caught off by a simple hand wave from the Representative. The redhead held the Detective in a sharp glare. She shook her head slowly. Felicia nodded knowingly.

The Representative stood; her white dress fell around her magnificently as she turned away, leaving the food left half-uneaten on the table. She began to move away, towards a door opposite the one Felicia walked in. That door was less ornate than the main entrance, instead of the Emperor and nine giants, they were replaced by what looked like rank after rank of soldiers all standing proud.

As the Representative moved towards the door, a young pair of maidens pushed the door open with a bow as they did. The Representative waved the Detective through after her. Felicia moved forward with an air of stiffness. The heavy boots of the body glove stomped down on the marble floor leaving dusty marks on the previously peerless white surface.

The Representative waved the maidens to a halt as they attempted to follow her. Even the two finely dressed guardsmen that were usually tucked into the corners of the room were stopped by a simple gesture. They hovered for a second, unsure of how to proceed, the governor's orders were clear; as was the threat of punishment should they fail to protect the Representative.

The Representative gestured for the Detective to walk beside her as she walked. The fair haired Arbite fell into step with the noblewoman. As they moved from the earshot of the maidens the Detective listened while the Representative started to talk.

"I must question, why does that reporter remain in the pict-screens, he said some horrible things about the Adeptus Arbites?" The Representative questioned as the two walked through the portrait laden halls. More stringy old men stared mercilessly outwards towards the two women.

"Pelmann?" Felicia asked and the Representative nodded. "My lady, Mister Pelmann is an agent of the Adeptus Mechanicus." The Representative looked on with eager eyes, as if she didn't really know what that meant.

"The joint unification of Terra and Mars to create the Imperium is a complex thing my lady, despite the implications the name suggest, the Mechanicus remains a separate entity in terms of the laws and rules. Though we stand shoulder to shoulder in war, we stand far apart in almost all other matters." The Detective explained as simply as she could. In truth the theological and multi-unilateral matters where astrological in comparison to the line the Detective trotted out. "We, the Emperor's Adeptus Arbites, have no authority over the Mechanicus at any level, hence Mister Pelmann is still able to produce his reports" Felicia bit back the bile and venom from her tone as she finished.

Despite the current face the Representative was projecting, the reports form the honour guard showed almost unanimously that the Representative was more then she was letting on.

"Oh" the redheaded woman breathed as she put her hand in front her mouth. "They have their own laws" The Representative said as if she was shocked to the core "They reject the mighty Emperor's own laws." The Detective had to sigh inside. "They are allowed to worship a clockwork version of the Emperor, but they do not bow to his word." She seemed saddened by it and again the Detective groaned silently.

"Felicia was it?" The Representative asked as they continued down the obscenely long hallway.

The Detective nodded "Yes my lady." The Representative smiled sweetly. "I am Mary, Mary Lognus of the Adeptus Terra" The Representative mimicked a curtsy. "The 'milady' thing wears on you after a while." The Detective stored the name mentally and nodded politely. Her 'sniffin' sense, the technical name for her psychic abilities, felt the warmth of honesty radiate from Mary, as if she thought it was a major thing to tell a, in comparison, low level hive-worlder your name. She mentally sighed again.

"I suppose your here, not to speak about the horrible acts of slander, but with my astropath Relena yes?" Mary questioned as they reached the end of the corridor, a far plainer door welcomed them, and it was still twice the height of either of them, as if the builders expected Astartes to walk these halls.

"Yes My- Mary" Felicia stumbled "I believe she may have some information that could lead to discovering the mutant cells that attacked your entourage." Felicia dared not tell the Representative the implications if any of the facts she uncovered proved true.

"The Shadow?" Mary said incredulously, as if it were something she had seen in a holo-drama. Felicia perked up to that, she only got to see those documents due to an office arrangement that allowed her to use the Inspectors authority. But then again, a representative of the Adeptus Terra probably out ranked her in terms of authority and classification.

"It hungers" Mary said as she pushed open the firm door with a steady hand.

Felicia Calamar walked into the inner sanctum with slightly caught breath, instead of the main room she entered into the antechamber of the inner sanctum. The tight hall expanded into a large, wide opening. Several tables where spread out over the carpeted floor. The bodyguards and a handful of others in administratum-style robes looked up from their desks.

On one desk was a full gun cleaning kit, as evidenced by the two bolt pistols and a laspistol that were taken apart on the table. A tech priest was stood over the guns. He clearly was a Mechanicus judging by the sheer volume of augmentation and cybernetics. The crimson robe flowed down the silvery skin of the priest; it rippled as the Tech Priest looked up. The augmetic eyes whirred and focused as they analysed the Arbite, after a moment he went back to the weapons.

"Don't mind Charon" a fair-haired man said as he walked forward towards the two. Felicia smiled as he offered his hand; she took it and tried to shake it. However when she gripped his hand, he turned her hand and brought it to his lips. "He doesn't play well with others" he grinned "Names Jonas Agrippa, aide-de-camp to Lady Lognus." He smiled devilishly. His face was peerless. His sharp eyes radiated a cool ease as Felicia looked into them, she couldn't drag her own eyes away from his.

"I play just fine" The raspy voice of the Tech Priest broke the locking of eyes. "I have a better use for my time than small talk." Jonas nodded to the Adeptus Mechanicum representative. "See what I mean?"

Felicia chuckled slightly. Her Arbite mind was sat, glaring sternly at Felicia as she laughed.

Mary stepped forward with a slight smile "You'll excuse my aides" She sent a raised eyebrow to both of the men. Agrippa smiled back to the redheaded Representative. The Tech Priest, if he had any reaction was hidden under the mask of metal that was his face.

Mary looked to the other who had gone back to the piles of data-slates and papers they were working through. "Relena, could you come over here please." She said to the room, after a moment the Tech Priest spoke up

"Lady Relena has exited the sanctum approximately thirty-nine minutes ago."

To this the Representative rubbed the bridge of her nose. "A moment Detective, I know where she's gone." Mary pulled away through the antechamber. The Representative disappeared through another set of doors.

Felicia was stood among the aides, servants and assorted others. Excluding the Administratum drones and the myriad servitors and servo-skulls, there were about fifteen people overall. The distinct smell of tanna tea mixed with the smell for high-grade recaf. The number of slates that were piled up on each desk rivalled her own number. Felicia thought to the amount of work required to inspect an entire planet's worth of data, judging from the number of slates stacked up at the edge of the chamber, it looked like they were looking through the raw data before the Governor's executives changed the meanings of the words and numbers.

The whirring of servos overruled the scribbling of the styluses as the Tech Priest Charon continued his work of maintaining the firearms. Jonas returned to his own table. The pretty young man leaned back and stretched in his chair, showing his intense boredom that brought another slight grin to Felicia.

The bodyguards, or what Felicia interpreted to be the bodyguards based on the Arbitrator's reports, where sat busying themselves with data-slates as well. The leader, the raven haired woman as described in the reports, was busy flipping through a slate with her feet propped up on a desk. Her plasma pistol was lying on the desk; the charging chamber was dull indicated the weapons status. There was an atmosphere of tense determinism in the chamber. Each of the entourage was working hard in their search for whatever it was they were looking for. Felicia stood around for a moment before Charon moved toward her. She politely smiled and moved out the way of the metal man.

"Drink?" The Tech Priest rasped to the Detective. She found the entire question a little strange but not off putting.

"Heavily." She smiled. "Recaf if you have any." A snort came from the nearest bodyguard. "A small river's worth."

The Tech Priest maintained 'eye' contact as a pair of mechadendrites snaked from under the heavy red cloak towards a table laden with bowls, heating stoves and kettles. The labelled tins that contained sweeteners, tea leaves and the recaf beans were open the air.

Felicia gave the working Tech Priest her preferences and watched in minor amazement as the machines worked with unerring precision, she had seen a Priest take apart a Rhino's engine block with similar grace but to see it applied to the steaming liquids was a small wonder in itself.

Felicia took the steaming bowl of liquid from the proffered mechadendrite. The brown liquid swirled slightly as she brought it to her lips. The liquid rushed down her throat smoothly. It made a definite change from the recaf the Arbite was accustomed to which came in the two differing grades.

The first grade recaf was easily likened to tasteless lukewarm water. The other, second grade was easily a substitute for molten tar in taste and texture. Of the two Felicia preferred the second one, at least it felt like you were drinking something. However, that suddenly had a new contender from this simple ceramic bowl. She allowed herself a moment to taste it before swallowing. It was indeed high-grade. She thought for a moment of pocketing the tin when no one was looking.

She opened her eyes to see a similar bowl in Charon's mechadendrite embrace. She mused for a second as to the meaning of why, the Tech Priest had no visible mouth to which to drink from the bowl. She watched intently as the Tech Priest raised the bowl to his head, only to see Charon's hand come up under his chin. The metallic fingers fiddled with something she couldn't see and a moment later a small, clear pipe dropped down. Her eyes must have widened as the pipe turned brown as the liquid rushed up, as Charon chuckled, or at least what the vox-speaker allowed.

"It is one of the few human pleasures I allow myself" The Tech Priest said as the liquid continued to drain from the bowl much to the stunned expression of the Detective.

The sounds of footsteps dragged Felicia's attention away from the Tech Priest and to the now returned Representative and her Astropath. The white-haired woman fitted the description of a psyker to a T, The slightly distant eyes and the minor distracted demeanour, as if seeing things that weren't really there. The Astropath snapped out of her trance to look at Felicia. The Detective realised a moment later that it was her sniffin sense, her own psychic abilities that had caught the psyker's attention. The aqua robed woman nodded kindly to someone she saw as almost-kin. Felicia nodded back unsure of the protocol defining the meeting of a full Astropath and a 'sharper-blunt' as some more advanced psykers would call her.

The introduction was cut off for a moment as a giant of a man walked past the Representative with barely a nod to the woman. The man was easily the same size as the Provost if not bigger. The tunic he wore barely concealed a sculpted chest and stomach. The fair hair was hung around the head of the man. As he passed Charon he shot a perfect smile to Felicia. She felt the more undisciplined parts of her mind melt but the strict Arbite remnants held her knees steady. She returned with a slight bow. Around his shoulders was a black cloak similar to the one she was wearing but ever so different, she couldn't quite put her finger on what though.

The giant scooped up a bowl from the refreshment table and made himself a generous amount of recaf.

Agrippa appeared beside Felicia, a little too close for her liking but she allowed it for the sake of politeness to the Representative. "We call him, Lakios, though what his beast parents call him, we have no idea" the Aide smirked.

The giant turned his head and mock-laughed "Very funny" Lakios turned towards the Detective, she suddenly felt very small, he was easily a head and a half above her, and Felicia was a moderately tall woman.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss?"

Felicia's told Lakios her name quickly and politely, unsure of the huge man's accent, a jocular yet strong tone impossible to place.

"Miss Calamar, I am Lakios Darrios of the-" he stopped for a second before starting again "Of the Lady Representative's personal security team."

Felicia leapt on the words with all the eagerness of the Detective she was trained to be. "I don't remember someone like you being mention in the after-action report."

Lakios nodded solemnly, "That was unfortunate, I was on the second shuttle down with all the others you see around you."

Agrippa nodded to confirm it, as did the Representative, if the Tech Priest made any expression on the subject, he wasn't sharing. Felicia smiled to the man as she turned back to the Representative. "Detective, may I introduce lady Relena." Mary smiled pleasantly. Felicia smiled back to the two of them and Relena partly-bowed. "I hope she knows the answers you wish to learn. If I may ask that she remain nearby, I may need to send an emergency communication."

Felicia nodded her agreement to the terms and indicated to the Astropath that she should walk with her. "Thank you for your assistance Lady Lognus" The Detective said as the two left.

The Detective led the Astropath out through to the main pavilion inside the Governor's gardens. At most times of the year they were open to the citizens to tour and walk through at a moderate fee.

The Detective indicated an empty seat in the corner of a recaf bar that was burrowed inside a minor indoor forest just outside the guest house of which the Representative was staying. The upper-level artificial solar-lamp shone down gloriously on the entire mini-city. The myriad crowds chattered among themselves, young couples walked the well-trodden paths of the gardens to the hidden areas. Mothers and fathers guided their children through the trees and small wooded areas.

The occasional patrol team of Arbites in light combat armour waltzed past, the laspistols in their holsters and frozen sweets in their hands. As they saw the Detective they immediately tried to hide them. Felicia raised a judgmental eyebrow despite the fact she really didn't care, the temperature within the high-level was quite high today.

The two women sat in the wooden seats at a quiet corner table. A simple word to the manager and a flash of identification had coerced the manager to ensure that no one would sit near them.

A nervous waitress wandered over at first, a paper pad and stylus in her hands. "Recaf for me" Felicia smiled to the clearly nervous young girl.

Relena shot a glance to the Detective, "Are you addicted to the stuff or something?" Felicia laughed in response "Probably, definitely all that keeps me up some days" The Astropath looked into the menu that she picked up off the table intently for a second.

After a moment the Astropath looked towards the waitress with an intense gaze. An instant later the woman nodded snappishly and walked away with a brisk gait. Felicia cast a raised eyebrow towards the psyker. Relena shrugged with a smile. "Gotta get your kicks somewhere" The pale-haired woman smiled.

Felicia was less than amused, "What did you do to that poor girl?" The Detective narrowed her eyes on the Representative's young astropath.

"I may or may not have placed a fake memory of my order into her short term recall. She'll have forgotten by tomorrow, no harm done." The white haired psyker smiled innocently. Felicia maintained her gaze. The Astropath clearly picked up on the thought drifting around Felicia's head. "It doesn't work on those with more disciplined minds or other gifted."

"Gifted?" Felicia questioned.

"The Emperor's own, those touched by His gift, like you and me." Relena said reverently. "The Psyker gene in all its forms." The Detective sat back and scribbled something on her data-slate. "Do you not feel His strength within you?" Clearly the psyker was referring to the Soul Binding, a staple of the Astropath training regime.

Astropaths receive their training at the Adeptus Astra Telepathica; they are selected from the second ranking of the psykers collected by the Imperium's Blackships, from those psykers whose powers are considerable, but whose mental strength is insufficient to resist the danger of daemonic possession. They must undergo a special process known as the soul-binding ritual, which shapes their powers as well as enabling them to withstand the attentions of predatory warp entities.

Before they receive the soul-binding they receive basic psychic training which prepares them for the process; they also learn to read the Emperor's Tarot, how to cast horoscopes, and the practices of chiromancy and augury of all kinds.

Only the Emperor is powerful enough to perform the soul-binding. Astropaths are led before the Emperor, where he reshapes their very minds a hundred at a time. The psykers are knelt before the Emperor and must endure several hours of agony as the Emperor redesigns their minds, mingling a tiny fraction of His immeasurable power with their own. The Emperor's mind is so powerful that some do not survive the traumatic ritual despite years of preparatory training, and not all who survive retain their sanity. All have their personalities altered to some extent.

Those who survive are almost invariably blinded; some may also lack other senses, such as touch, smell or hearing. However, the loss of their physical senses is generally made up by their increased psychic senses. The process gives the Astropath some measure of resistance against daemonic possession, and the ability for which they were chosen, to send and receive psychic messages.

Relena it seemed, had come out the other side relatively intact, she still had her eyes and other senses, at least mostly intact, though it would be plausible that Relena had restored her youthful looks through augmetics and juvenat treatments to provide a more presentable face to her close companions and the public, as part of the Representative's entourage.

"His strength? Not in the same way I'm afraid, to low level" The Detective admitted.

The Astropath nodded in return. "But His gift must lift your spirits nonetheless."

Felicia sighed as she placed the recaf bowl down, "Remove the Ecclesiarches hypocrisy surrounding the psychic gifts, the 'gift' is at the end of the day, a mutation, plain and simple, a biological mutation as defined by the Adeptus Mechanicum and the rest of the secular authorities who regulate its proliferation through pre-determined breeding pairs, not to say all psyker-gene births are regulated. I am the product of one such assigned breeding." The Detective said clearly.

The Astropath laughed openly. "So says one that has not seen the Emperor's holy light directly, but I see where you thought processes comes from, even if they are flawed."

Felicia sighed to the astropath as she flipped the slate to the questions she had prepared. Those were words you don't want to put to a Adept of the Mechanicum any time soon she thought.

"Lady Relena, yesterday, you reported seeing a 'Shadow', a fact corroborated by each of the Honour Guard and the Representative herself, could you please explain this." The Detective said officially after the waitress returned with the bowl of recaf. Felicia watched as the waitress placed another one in front of Astropath along with a simple platter carrying what seemed to be a slice of coco-cake with cream and akenberries. The psyker had smiled sweetly had motioned for the Arbite to continue.

"The Shadow, for want for a better term... is what it sounds like, a Shadow in the warp." The fork was held between the Astropath teeth while she thought of the correct terms "It's a somewhat common occurrence towards the eastern fringe, beyond Nimbosa and the Empire of Ultramar." The Astropath caught the glance of the Detective at the mention of the realm of the Ultramarines.

"The Shadow suppresses Warp activity, making all activities involving the Warp quite difficult." The Astropath swallowed another mouthful of the fluffy cake slice. "It tends to make my job impossible." The white-haired woman smirked.

The Detective noted it all down dutifully before moving on to the next question. "What causes the Shadow?" The data-file had told the Detective only a tiny amount, she knew the name of the beasts but almost nothing more, hopefully the Astropath could give some insight.

"A Xeno species of unknown origin." The Astropath said with conviction. "That's all you need to know Detective." she added.

The Detective leant forward, looking the Astropath in the eye. "What are these Xenos, are they the same as the ganger we have locked up in cold storage?" The Astropath locked Felicia in a hard stare.

"Much worse" was the grave response.

Felicia thought back to the name she had encountered in the data-file. "What is Leviathan? Is that the species name?" Again the Astropath looked to the Arbite with a glare. She held it for a moment intensely. The Astropath breathed hard as clearly something was happening behind the scenes.

The Detective stared straight back. She was not blind to the level of information she had asked, that after all had been why she asked, she could not defend against whatever Leviathan was without knowing what it was. If the Detective couldn't report to the Inspector and Provost or maybe even the Marshal about what they were fighting, experience had shown time and again that any counter was flawed.

What the Detective didn't expect was for the Astropath to touch the hand of Felicia. The psyker's eyes maintained their now-glazed over look at the Detective.

'It is too dangerous to speak openly on such a subject'

Felicia suddenly jerked back, her eyes widened in shock.

'Don't worry, the Lady has allowed this-'

Felicia stared at the Astropath as the voice filtered into her thoughts. In a blind panic her free hand flew to the holster of her bolt pistol.

'Stop, I mean no harm to you or your mind, but the words that need to be said cannot be allowed to be heard by undeserving ears.'

Felicia fought against every instinct not to yank the weapon from its holster and destroy the psyker. "You can't just force your way into my mind" Felicia hissed uselessly.

'Why? We're the same, sort of; we're both touched by the Emperor's gift whether or not you ordain the spiritual element behind it. If it would make any difference to you, the Lady Representative has allowed me to lend you this branch of cooperation'

The eyes of the psyker mimicked a pleading look of honesty; the sniffin' sense was pleased with the feeling that emanated from the young woman. Though Felicia gave little credence to it considering the fact that the Astropath was easily more powerful then the Detective and could probably overwhelm the meagre sense by sheer raw psychic power.

'Leviathan is not their name, that's is the name of their Hive Fleet, or at least the Imperial designation for it'

"Then what are these things actually called." Felicia sub-vocalised having never communicated telepathically in any way before now, the entire sequence was incredibly unnerving as it was.

'The one you have locked up? A Hybrid, more specifically a Genestealer Hybrid, a Pure strain Genestealer is something to be feared and is most likely guiding the mutant cell, but they are, unfortunately, the least of your problems'

"You didn't answer my question" the Detective reminded the Astropath. The young woman seemed to pale as the voice in Felicia's head began again.

'The Xenos themselves, they are ravenous beasts known only as Tyranids, a unnumbered horde of carapace, claws and teeth and a insatiable hunger that will know no end. The Emperor's Astartes Chapter Ultramarines barely defeated the first incursion but at great loss.'

The Astropath removed her hand from Felicia's and sighed loudly as her head dropped for a moment. She breathed deep before returning eye contact with the disturbed Detective. The voice had carried along with it, images, they lasted only a split second but the contents were clear. Worlds stripped clean on life.

"There is hope however" Relena said after a moment. "Corania, Periremunda, Macragge. Each of them a victory against them, a list I am thankful to say, is growing, slowly but surely, it is growing."

Felicia looked on at the woman as she regained her composure. "You're not here to inspect our planetary finances are you?"

Relena chuckled grimly "Not just, Lord Macekre has been skimping out on the tithes a little and the Guard regiments don't cover it entirely."

Felicia returned the smile and jotted some more notes down.

"And for the record Detective, I'm more than a simple Astropath" The woman smirked as the Detective's portable vox blared loudly.