The preliminary analysis of the Archive proved to be briefer than I had anticipated and much more disturbing.
Josiah Veydon, former Grand Master of the Ordos Thavma, and superlative scholar according to the common
citizen, was a radical, possibly even a heretek. My own opinions on the use of Xenos technology are of no relevance
to this case, as the option of concealing my findings is not open to me.
Due to the unusual circumstances that led to me taking up the case, I had to obtain the approval of the
Inquisitorial College of Masters for the sector in order to proceed with my investigation. This came with
more than its fair share of caveats.
Firstly, that I travel with a member of the Chamber militant to ensure the success of the mission and the security of the prize.
The real reason I assume, was to monitor me. Both my former master, and his own, from whom I had taken on this quest were
under arrest for a variety of offences including sacrilege, and, while their case was still not decided, they clearly considered me to
be possibly unsound by that association. He had saved my own life on the Spacehulk, and the chapter to which he belonged owed
me a great debt due to the recovery of one of their most sacred relice. However, he was still a member of the Deathwatch and sword
to the destruction of the Enemy Without. It was highly likely that he would see to it that the archive was destroyed as it was tainted
with alien technology.
I had similar concerns with the second stipulation. In an effort to further cooperation with the Red Priests of Mars, I had been ordered
to present the Archive to the Synod Technical on Vakand so they could analyse the document. The Inquisition hoped to gain a means
of preserving its knowledge and the option of promulgating it, and the Adeptus Mechanicus wanted a share of the credit for the recovery
of what was whispered to be an unprecedented masterpiece of Imperial scholarship. Both I and the Trader Eisenstark had contacts within the
Adeptus Mechanicus who had been known to study, copy, and even use Xeno tech, but their practices effectively barred them from high office,
and so they were unlikely to be of much help when speaking to the Synod Technical, whom I did not doubt would take the Orthodox line of destroying
it to appease the Ecclesiarchy, or would take its secrets for themselves before doing so.
The third stipulation, that I take passage with and seek assistance from the Rogue Trader Hrodbearth Eisenstark, had been to settle another debt
of honour, between the government of the Sector and the Trader House itself, who had supplied the Imperial war effort during the Macharian
Crusade, and the Post Macharian Heresy. Perhaps it was here that I would find a solution to my dilemma, although it meant that I would have
doubtless incur a debt of honour of my own while gaining one from Master Gileas, assuming he still lived ...