816.M41
Segmentum Obscurus
Koronus Expanse, Zone 15
Nobles Quarters of the Tiberius, Excelsior-class grand cruiser, flagship of House D'Romas en route to station of passage located in Winterscale's Realm
Lady Azzurra strode down the passageway of the Nobles Quarters with purpose. While acting as the Captain of the Tiberius, she had taken to wearing garb that fit the position. She wore a dark crimson greatcoat with golden trim and wore black pants with dark crimson boots. A chainsword rested on her left hip and a bolt pistol on her right. Her long blonde hair was tucked beneath a dark crimson tricorn hat which had the House D'Romas heraldry on its peak. Beside her walked Sister Elena of the Order Famulous of the Adeptus Sororitas with her long red hair in twin braids. Her red robes had a golden fleur de lis on the chest.
"I am still shocked about Magos Alidyne," said Sister Elena. "I had no idea he had been performing heretical genetic experiments on the planets visited by the Tiberius." She then said, "He even had his hands in the genetics of the House D'Romas armsmen."
What? thought Lady Azzurra. "I'm sorry, but I've had so many responsibilities to take care of that I had not learned of that yet. Could you please elaborate?"
"Yes, I can," she said. "Techsorcist Davin Ferrus was able to crack some of the databanks in Magos Alidyne's medicae deck. Apparently, the original armsmen for your House came from Europa on Holy Terra in the aftermath of the Unification Wars and an enormous amount of their genetic material was kept in storage onboard the Tiberius." She had Azzurra's full attention. "In the centuries he was onboard the Tiberius, Magos Alidyne accessed that material and used it to reintroduce the old blood to the population from which he chose recruits for the D'Romas armsmen. Now, the current armsmen, although not clones, have most of the genetic traits of the original warriors from Europa who fought in the Unification Wars."
"Do tell," answered Lady Azzurra. What does the Inquisitor think of this? Is she ready to cast Vitus down for heresy? She began to step a little more lightly and a smile grew on her face as she listened.
"Fortunately, Inquisitor Sarcasin had Apothecary Camron test the genetics of the House armsmen. The genetics matched the records kept in Alidyne's databanks. No mutations." Seeing she still had Lady Azzurra's attention, she continued. "But, there is more. He played a crucial rule in recruiting many of the colonists from the Scarus sector. He made them many of them agree to be artificially impregnated." She seemed excited as she said this. "Magos Alidyne's records indicate that there are roughly thirty thousand pregnancies among the colonists which also have significant genetics of the original House D'Romas armsmen from the Unification Wars."
"Thirty thousand?" Azzurra asked. "Is their genetics pure like those of the current House armsmen?"
"The records indicate so and the match with the current House armsmen is a good sign these records are accurate," answered the Sister. "However, the Inquisitor has said she intends to have every one of them tested."
"Excellent, I would expect nothing else," answered Lady Azzurra. She wanted to scream. Do you know nothing about how the Inquisitor feels about Magos Alidyne and Vitus? That fiend killed my Leandro and then he killed Malleus before he could deliver the test results. There is no end to the trouble he has caused me.
"Personally, though I disapprove of the method, I am ecstatic about this development," the Sister said. "You and your cousin, Vitus, are prime examples of the strength contained within the bloodlines of ancient Europa. Having tens of thousands of such men and women to form the backbone of your new colony bodes well for its success."
Sister Elena continued, "I must say that, in Vitus' absence, you have done an admirable job of running the dynasty. You have managed to coordinate with House Aurelius and the Mechanicus fleet while picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the events surrounding Magos Alidyne. Truly remarkable, if I do say so myself."
They arrived at Lady Azzurra's cabin to see a Tech-Priest awaiting outside in her red robes. "We are now journeying to our rendezvous point. I do hope Vitus is well," said Azzurra. Hopefully he is dead. "I believe I may have important business to take care of with this Tech-Priest, Sister Elena." Bah! She talks so much for saying so little and told me nothing I wanted to know. Then aloud, she said, "One more time I would like to thank you for introducing me to Knight Lord Aurelius. Now, I have business to tend to."
The Sister turned and walked back down the passageway. Lady Azzurra dropped all sense of friendliness and snapped at the young Tech-Priest. "What do you want?"
"Greetings, Lady Azzurra," answered the Tech-Priest. "I have a package that is meant for you." A small and multi-digited mechanical arm slipped out from underneath her robes. A small case was in its mechanical hand. "There is a data module within. It was found with Tech-Priest Malleus' records in the medicae deck onboard the Bellas Aquila. It was addressed to you."
A smile formed on Lady Azzurra's face. She reached out and took the case from the Tech-Priest. "I must give you thanks for this," she said. "Now, I have business to take care of." Without so much as another glance at the Tech-Priest, she opened her door and walked in, closing it behind her.
Azzurra wasted no time. She immediately removed the module from the case, picked her dataslate up off the coffee table, and inserted the module into it. The test results were in a two column format labeled column "A" and column "B". Azzurra then asked the machine spirit to recall the genetic records of House D'Romas she had obtained from Sister Elena. She looked at the two sets of records and compared them. No! This cannot be! She was stunned to find the comparison between the records to be exactly as she had expected for one set and exactly what she had not expected for the other set.