(It's been awhile hasn't it, but now I am back and I intend to start updating again now that the final weeks are over with. Some have expressed interest in the Demiurge; its identity will be revealed in a later chapter. This chapter will be a two parter, and it is one I am quite proud of. Generic Disclaimer)
Inquisitor Clark's Journal Entries
Free Ports are a necessary evil, especially on the fringe of Imperium space. They are a meeting ground for rogue traders, heretics, rebels, mutants, pirates, and a wide assortment of Xenos. Naturally, they are a wonderful source of information, and it's a wise policy to allow for a few to stay in operation, though I have purged quite a few during my time as an Inquisitor. They can often be found in asteroid belts, abandoned outposts, and I have even seen a few space hulks retrofitted to serve as Free Ports. When Inquisitor Wei took me to my first Free Port, she sought to help end my prejudice against all Xenos. It did almost work; I have to admit to that. In the end, however, all sympathy that I had developed for these Xenos, even the refugees, has been lost. I still visit these Free Ports in secret, since it serves my purposes and they are a treasure trove of information. I just need to make sure that I document all of them for extermination at a later date.
Nathaniel once again found himself on the Miss Liz with Methuselah Alden and Inquisitor Wei. Not even Mr. Li was going with them this time. Apparently when entering a Freeport it was for the best not to draw attention to oneself, so smaller groups were the way to go. While Inquisitor Wei had a few Xenos friends who knew that she was an Inquisitor, most inhabitants of this Freeport would not take kindly to having an Imperial Inquisitor strutting about their home. They came upon the Freeport, which appeared to be a mishmash of strung together asteroids, old derelict ships, and old mining facilities left over from a different age. A wide assortment of ships Nathaniel had never seen, though Nathaniel did recognize a few Dark Eldar raiders. Sensing his unease Inquisitor Wei tries to calm him.
"Don't worry Nathaniel, those Dark Eldar are probably here as traders, they won't start trouble in a Freeport. Just remember not to start anything with them, while they won't start trouble they won't hesitate to fight back if you interfere with their business." She grabs a couple of black cloaks and throws one to Nathaniel. "Put that on, in Freeport's different colored cloaks mean different things. Blue stands for refugee, gray stands for weapons merchant, red stands for slaver, green stands for drug merchant, purple stands for a pimp/prostitute, white stands for emissary, orange stand for a honest merchant/professional, yellow stands for a traveler, and black stands for someone who is here for a private meeting and should not be disturbed. These black cloaks will guarantee us safe and undisturbed passage in the Freeport."
"That's a highly elaborate system, how did you everybody agrees to those rules?"
"Freeport's have been around since before the Age of Strife, dating back to the Dark Are of Technology, we believe the cloak system was agreed upon by all parties involved in the first Freeport's in order to make one's intentions clear and to help facilitate trade. Knowing what everyone is doing there can help prevent unfortunate incidences and misunderstandings, as well as tragedies." Methuselah was the one who explained this bit of history.
"Sir, we are beginning docking procedures, we have clearance to disembark at Dock M4." Says the voice of one of the voice of one of the crewmembers on the intercom system. "Also, the Merchant's Council of this Freeport welcomes us in the spirit of free trade, and asks for us to leave all weapons on our ship, unless we are engaged in arms dealing or slave suppression in which case we should check in with customs and declare what we have."
"Freeport's are very big on maintaining their neutrality and not causing any trouble. It definitely serves our purposes not to cause any trouble." Methuselah finishes off.
A few minutes later the three of them are stuck in the customs line, being questioned by a blue orange skinned humanoid alien with green hair, purple eyes, and ten arms. "I take it from your black cloaks you are here for a private meeting. Who are you, who are you meeting, and where will you be meeting?"
Inquisitor Wei responds "We are Rogue Traders here to discuss a business proposition; we will be meeting with an Eldar Farseer from the Craftworld Paratain, a Torgan, a Bortaran, and a Yulka. We will be meeting in a private room at the Polten Café."
"Are any of you psykers?"
"The boy and I are both beta level psykers, with excellent training and control we assure you."
The alien gave them a suspicious look, "See to it that we don't have any incidents with Daemons running amok. Do you have any weapons you would like to declare and leave with me?"
"We have no weapons on us whatsoever; we are here for a peaceful business meeting."
"What about the older man's eye, is it weaponized."
"Come on now, you wouldn't deprive an old man of his bionic eye would you? I can assure you my eye is quite harmless." Methuselah responds.
"Well, if you have no merchandise to declare welcome to our Freeport. Please no fighting and may you satisfied with all of your purchases and business deals."
They left the dock and entered the tunnels, which led them to the larger caverns. "Keep lively Nathaniel, our rendezvous zone is all the way on the other side of this Freeport." While they traveled through the Freeport, Nathaniel got a good look at many different sites. It was an eclectic collection of stalls, tents, doorways, and hanging bridges. Nathaniel was hit by a wide variety of alien music and strange smells. It was almost too much for him to take in; the colors, sounds, and smells very nearly overwhelmed him.
He saw a group of feline humanoid aliens, a mother and her children in blue cloaks begging for food. He would later learn that their homeworld was conquered by Black Templar crusade and now they were without a home.
He saw a group of Tarellian and Kroot mercenaries in yellow cloaks gambling with each other. The Kroot gave them a curious look while the Tarellians looked at them with barely contained hatred.
He saw the Dark Eldar in red robes holding a slave auction. Most of the slaves were attractive human women in skimpy outfits. One poor girl was sold to some reptilian Xenos, who informed her that she would make an excellent meal for its young. Nathaniel was about ready to unleash his powers upon them, but Inquisitor Wei quickly pulled him along. "Nathaniel there is nothing we can do to stop this, we need to focus on the reason why we're here."
The variety of new Xenos Nathaniel saw simply overwhelmed him. Most Xenos responded to their presence with fear, loathing, or curiosity. Some of the phrases that he picked up, thanks to the Dark Eldar translator still implanted in him after all these years, were phrases like filthy humans, murdering humans, hideous humans, cruel humans, vicious humans and even one delicious human. However, despite their misgivings their appeared to be a lot of blue cloak humans in this Freeport. Nathaniel would later be informed that these were humans who had rejected the Imperium and its beliefs, and now sought refuge amongst the Xenos. Most of these fools would either end up killed, enslaved, or a part of the Tau Empire. They finally made it to their destination, a large structure that looked like a restaurant. Inquisitor Wei and Methuselah told him to wait outside while they secured their room, it would be a few hours before their contacts showed up. While waiting outside Nathaniel saw a familiar unpleasant sight, an entourage of Tau, one male ethereal and 10 members of the water caste, dressed in white cloaks seeking out anyone who would listen to them. They decided to set up their soapbox not too far from where Nathaniel was standing. Giving some strange voice projection device, he begins to speak
"My friends," the ethereal began, "I am Aun'el'Borkan'Nautel, and I come as an emissary for the Tau Empire. Let it be known, that a new era of peace and prosperity is open to you. We have come, with an open hand to lead you to a greater state of freedom known as the Greater Good, in service to the Tau Empire. No more starvation, no more fear of the Imperium, we are offering you the change for a new life. Over the years many species have heeded the wisdom of our words, and have found liberation in complete dedication to the Greater Good. For those of you who are interested, me and my entourage will be here all day, if you seek to join the Tau Empire, or have any question about joining, just seek us out." With that the Ethereal got off of his soapbox, he then caught sight of Nathaniel. Thinking that he might have found someone who would hear him out, he decided to strike up a conversation with Nathaniel. "Hello there young man, have you heard the word of the greater good?"
"Yes, in fact I have, I have heard about it a lot."
"Wonderful, where did you learn about our glorious empire?"
"In the hellish realm of nightmares known as Commorragh, there were a lot of Tau slaves who spoke quite fondly of your empire." Nathaniel was speaking in a very dry, condescending tone, though the ethereal had not picked up on it.
"That is quite tragic to hear, though your scars would indicate such an origin. What do you think about the Greater Good? Would you be inclined to join us?"
"Well, to me the concept of the Greater Good is full of lies and deceit. You are charlatans and deceivers who use everyone for your own means, who will not hesitate to save their own lives by sacrificing your followers. You use indoctrination and pheromones to control your populace and affect the perceptions of non Tau you come into contact with. You are a vile manipulative species that hides its true nature behind a mask of altruism. And in answer to your second question, I would sooner die fighting for the Imperium before I bow down to a piece of Xenos filth such as yourself."
The Ethereal, quite uncomfortable now, slowly backs up.
"Oh, and one more thing, I met an Ethereal girl while in Commorragh, I knew her as Aun'sal, she was released before my escape, with a little hybrid child in her custody. Could you send her a message from me, no matter where she runs and hides, I will find her and put an end to her and her little abomination."
The Ethereals face becomes quite pale at this. "You are the father of her child, aren't you? It would appear that her debriefing wasn't completely accurate."
"No doubt she never believed that I would escape that city."
The shaken Ethereal leaves Nathaniel to continue his proselytizing, while Nathaniel hears a chuckle coming from his side. "Well spoken boy, well spoken." Nathaniel turns to face the speaker and see's an assortment of humans in blue cloaks, underneath they are all wearing purple and gold with Slaaneshi symbols. Their leader is a very attractive female, who seems to exude an inhuman, mind numbing musk from her body. "My name is Cassandra and I lead this Cult of Ecstasy, these refugees you see behind me are recent converts of mine. I have taken away their misery and sorrow and replaced it with pleasure and ecstasy; I can do the same for you. All you need to do is surrender yourself to the Prince of Pleasure."
"Yes, I have heard of your "Prince of Pleasure", and I dealt with its servants first hand." He turns to the new cultists in Cassandra's entourage. "I don't know what Cassandra has promised you, but in the end devotion to Slaanesh will bring you only ruin." Cassandra, quite outraged at this gets ready lash out at him with claws that had grown out of her nails, but quickly backs off with fear in her eyes and leads her cultists away. Nathaniel, thinking he had suitable intimidated them, is caught off guard by the by the voice behind him.
"Bold words Mon 'keigh, however one should not invoke the name of She Who Thirsts lightly." Nathaniel turns around and founds himself face to face with a female Eldar wearing bone white form fitting armor underneath her black cloak. She has red hair and green eyes, with her spirit stone on the middle of her forehead. "I am Farseer Marltona and I take it you are Inquisitor Wei's protégé.
To be continued in part 2