The man leading was tall and slender, wearing a dark blade on his left hip and a bolt pistol on his right, while his head was topped by a short shock of black hair. Behind him strode the two giants in full battle armour. The one on the left was a giant with a red helmet and whose bulk was enhanced by a massive utility mechadendrite which extended from the back of his armour. A dozen or so smaller mechadendrites sprouted from his armour as well and he carried a massive axe on his shoulder. The one on the right carried a staff in his hand topped with the Imperial Aquila, a staff the boy recognized.

A force staff, Basil realized. He stared more closely at the giant, looked into the Warp at him, and gasped. Where's his sig? Feeling eyes upon him, he glanced up at Matthias. "I didn't touch it, he said. "I just looked into it."

"While serving me, that is a distinction you'll get yourself killed for making," Matthias snapped.

"Yes, Master," Basil answered and dropped his eyes.

"It's a side effect of that initiation rite your Master mentioned he conducted upon us," Fynn interjected. Basil's eyes quickly turned up to the Apothecary. "It's the same for all of us." He stopped for a moment. "At least when there was an all of us," he added.

At that moment, the man and the two Space Marines following him met up with Matthias. Fynn walked over to and embraced his armour wearing brothers while Matthias and the other man shook hands. Basil's head darted back and forth between the figures in front of him.

Upon closer inspection, the markings of the armour of the two new Space Marines were visible. The shoulder pauldrons of each Space Marine matched the other. Each had a silvered left arm and a silvered badge that covered the entire left pauldron, a badge with a Gothic numeral "I" with three crossbars and an overlain skull-and-crossbones. The right shoulder pauldron of each was black and had a silver skull with a torn silver tabard hanging from it, a spectre of some sort. The one with the staff also carried a bolt pistol and a sheathed combat knife on his hip while the one with the red helmet and giant axe had a bolt pistol built into one of his smaller mechadendrites. What does all that mean? Basil asked himself as he quickly took in the images and heraldry. Having placed the images into his mind, Basil turned his attention to the two men.

"It is good to see you again Matthias," said the man with short black hair to Basil's Master. "How is the work and how are you."

"And it is good to see you again, Draegoth," Matthias answered. "The frequency of Warp storms and daemonic incursions is ever increasing," Inquisitor Matthias added. His normal snap was gone and, for the first time, he appeared tired to Basil. "If Vandire's Reign of Blood isn't put to a stop before long, the Imperium will be torn apart by the Warp if it doesn't tear itself apart." He feigned a smile. "Other than that, I'm doing fine. And how are things for you?"

"The orks are on the move again," Draegoth answered. "But, then again, they always are. But the Aeldari," he began. "The Aeldari of craftworld Rubha Àird Driseig are on the move too, searching for something. I just don't know whether or not I need to stop them from finding whatever it is they're looking for," he finished with a laugh. "But that search has brought me back to the Reach." Draegoth frowned. "Back here as Attalus' and Ansgar's terms of service in the DeathWatch have come to a close. Back to the same region where the War Boss found many of his trinkets before moving into Thule. Where he found trinkets that included the psychically active piece the Adeptus Mechanicus wanted." He momentarily glanced over his shoulder at the Space Marine with the force staff. "Ansgar said their Seers called it a psychic condenser, or something like that."

"Eventually, all things come together," Matthias said. "Should we be surprised that Fate brought the three of them back together in the same region of space from which came the piece of that wrought the Void Spectres' destruction?"

Draegoth nodded in response to Matthias then glanced to Basil. "Is this your new apprentice?" he asked. "He is very young for this sort of work."

"Maybe," Matthias responded. "I really haven't decided what he is good for yet." Basil's Master looked down at him. "Basil, this is Inquisitor Draegoth Radinin," he said. "Most of the duties he performs fall within the purview of what we call the Ordo Xenos, the alien hunters."

"I am pleased to meet you," Basil answered. "I will do what I can to serve." He glanced beyond the Inquisitors to the three Space Marines who had begun walking toward them. "Are you the last three remaining Marines of the Void Spectres?" Basil asked aloud.

The jaws of Draegoth and Matthias simultaneously dropped open and the three Space Marines froze in their tracks at the boy's audacity.

"I will do whatever I can to help you rebuild," Basil said.

The three Space Marines simply stared at Basil while Matthias and Draegoth looked at each other. "That is a first," said Ansgar, the Marine carrying a force staff, with his voice amplified by his helmet's vox. "Some people are frightened to near death of us. Others beg for our help. Children want to be us," he added with a laugh. "But I don't ever think I have heard of a boy offering his help in such a manner."

As he spoke, a line of men burdened down with packs and gear began passing by behind the Marines.

Attalus, the Marine with the red helmet and mechadendrite enhancements, glanced over his shoulder at them. "They are the only serfs from Moyere that are still alive," he said in a heavily mechanized voice. "Alive because they moved from our home to serve me onboard Inquisitor Draegoth's cruiser while I served in the DeathWatch alongside Ansgar." He paused and stared into Basil's golden eyes but the boy stared back without blinking. "Be careful or you might end up dead, killed like all the others when the Adeptus Mechanicus used two-stage cyclonic torpedoes on Moyere."

"Inquisitor Matthias," snapped the Apothecary. "You have given me the task of breaking this boy to make him more suitable for your intentions." Matthias nodded. "I think it is best that breaking proceed immediately."

"Agreed," answered Inquisitor Matthias.

Fynn locked his gaze onto Basil's golden eyes. "Come with me boy," he demanded. "You need nothing save the skin on your bones."