Syndragar watched.

He'd been at this game for a long time. There was a Writ of Marque somewhere in the labyrinthine Imperial records departments that had his name on it, telling a story of a very different part of his life. Truth be told, he had some sympathy for the Battle Sisters that had set up on his ship. They knew something of what it was like to be a valued tool of the Imperium, cast aside and left to fend for themselves.

He hadn't done anything wrong, per se; he just hadn't received what he felt he deserved. When chance had left him in control of the Soul Venom after fierce fighting in a renegade system, the choice of handing over one of the legendary Slaughter cruisers to the AdMech for study as instructed, or keeping it for himself, was no choice at all.

Thus do Rogue Traders fall from grace. It always seemed to be that way in the old stories; a man chose between duty and riches, and he chose riches.

It hadn't let him down yet. His first duty was to his ship and his crew, for as long as they were in good shape, his fortunes would continue to prosper. For the moment, the renegade Sororitas were a good asset to have. Better than the accursed Word Bearers. Those he'd had to serve; Tzarine he chose to accommodate. It was a better deal for his pride, at least.

The bickering was only to be expected, he supposed, as the volume rose briefly before a sharp command restored order, briefly. They were still unused to the game. They'd learn. Or they'd die. There was little room for nobility among pirates and mercenaries, and one day, they'd accept that that was what they had become. When that day came, they'd loosen up a bit.

Until then… he would just have to moderate any suicidal impulses as best he could. Tzarine showed no signs of wanting to leave his ship, and pressing the matter would not go well. He had a healthy respect for the capabilities of power armour in close quarters, and that demon… far more pleasant his new guests might be, but he was under no illusions about how dangerous they could be if provoked.

"Might I offer a thought?" he spoke, raising his voice slightly.

Argument ceased, and half a dozen feminine gazes locked on him.

"With regards to the question of how we treat the Tau… I happen to agree with Ms Karis. We have no conflict with the xenos, and ill treatment serves no purpose other than to alienate them in future. Guards, certainly. Locks, most definitely. But actual imprisonment would send the wrong message. Aun'kar is an honoured guest and should be treated as such, regardless of his final destination. I will also state that as captain of the Soul Venom, I have the final authority on this matter, and whatever your personal biases against aliens, I would rather not make an enemy of an occasional employer."

He smiled faintly, trying to gauge Tzarine's reaction. She was a soldier, not a politician, and proud of the fact. Still, underestimating her was a mistake, as his former tenants had discovered, and while her motivations might be simple, that did not make her entirely predictable.

In this case, there wasn't much of one. Too concerned with the other matter of the day. "As to the second, and more important one…" This business with the missing mission was a fool's errand, but no need to set himself at odds with the women. "The presence of the Iron Warriors changes little. The next step was always going to be to investigate the mission itself, no? What a few soldiers of Chaos are attempting in the middle of a large ground war is of little concern to us at this point. I think the irony would be lost on no one here if the full might of the Imperium had to be brought to bear to cleanse the taint from one of their prized 'holy' worlds."

He leaned back, waiting for the response.

Tzarine glanced between her squad commanders, then to Syndragar, and concluded that in this case at least, surface appearances were likely close enough – although the subtle reminder of shipboard authority was not lost on her. She was suddenly glad that she had yet to take a side on the matter of the Tau. Butting heads with the man was not on her list of priorities.

"I'm no expert on the Traitor Legions," she said aloud. "What I know of the Iron Warriors is that they are siege specialists, not commandos. We wouldn't even know they were here if it were not for Tau testimony." She raised a hand to forestall the comments. "While I'm not taking the xenos' word for it, he had little reason to lie in so outlandish a fashion."

"You are quite correct," said Llthaanhir. All eyes turned to the demon, who had been silent until this point. "Iron Warriors are anything but subtle. It would be fair to say that they are possibly the least subtle force at the disposal of Chaos. Khornate warriors will charge into battle screaming their lungs out in a mad display of aggression…" She paused, the expression on her not-quite-human face indicating her disdain for such a concept. "…but they do not make typical use of tactics that involve reducing a position to pebbles with artillery before they even consider sending in conventional forces. An Iron Warrior looks at a target and begins calculating firing arcs and warhead yields. I can think of nothing that would lead them to act so out of character – not even covering the unlikelihood of any servant of Chaos agreeing to work alongside something so sickeningly naïve and yet maddeningly incorruptible as the Tau. Something is amiss here."

There was silence as everyone present digested this. Finally, Zekka shrugged. "The Captain is correct. Our first move is surely still to land on Vensis and discover what happened. Rescue, vengeance or flight all depend upon what we find there."

"Which raises the question of what happens if we do find living Sisters there," said Helga.

All eyes turned to Tzarine, who shifted uncomfortably. What did she plan to do? "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," she said after a moment.

"Senaav is not that far away, and while any word of your betrayal will have been violently suppressed in the general populace, you can be sure that it will have reached your former brethren," remarked Syndragar.

"They are unlikely to want our help," Llthaanhir added. "Particularly mine. My mere presence would be enough to ensure hostilities."

"I wasn't planning to bring you," Tzarine said, glad of something she could say. "You would be a liability." She paused, then added with a glare, "And I could do without you whispering advice in my head as well."

That last comment brought a mixed response, as expected – unease at the fact that a demon had a private link to their commander, and relief at seeing the warpspawn chided. The relief hurt a little, but what did she expect? As long as she kept Llthaanhir around, long-trained instincts would ensure that none would trust her fully.

Morgana was looking at her with concern, and she mentally amended 'with the possible exception of one'.

Llthaanhir just smiled and fell silent. That was irritating. Would it kill the thing to look contrite? But no, just about any response from the demon princess would likely only frustrate her. She shook thoughts of the creature from her mind, returned to the issue at hand. People were still looking at her expectantly. "I do not wish for hostilities. If they do not want us there, we'll leave. But if it's a choice between firing on them and being killed ourselves… the former is preferable."

She shook her head. "Syndragar, set a course for Vensis Gamma. We'll take the Thunderhawks and investigate the situation on the ground. I'll be relying on you to keep the skies clear and alert us if things change up here. Karis, you'll remain on board. I want you to track and analyse any information you can find that might be useful in the system." She paused for a moment. "Zekka, Morgana, you're with me. Helga, Ysabella, you'll take the second 'hawk and will act as backup. Questions?"

"What do I do? Struggle to entertain myself?" Llthaanhir smirked faintly, and Tzarine rounded on her.

"You have work to do. You claim to be one of Slaanesh's favoured? Pull strings. Someone in the Warp has to know what the Iron Warriors are doing here."

Llthaanhir hesitated. "It doesn't exactly work like that." She saw Tzarine's expression, and coughed lightly. "I will, however, try to find something useful."

"Good. Syndragar, how long until we're in position?"

"Accounting for navigating the debris, around two hours."

"We'll be ready. Dismissed."

The group dispersed, and Tzarine caught Karis' arm as she turned to leave. "You had your wounds checked out?"

The stormtrooper nodded. "I got lucky. Mostly bruising."

"Luckier than your comrades." Tzarine searched the other woman's expression.

She found nothing. Karis shrugged, looked away. "Some you walk away from, some you don't. They didn't walk away."

"Why did you bring them?"

Karis paused. "I'm sorry?"

Tzarine leaned closer. "You heard me. Why did you bring them? They were ill-equipped for a vacuum op. I didn't question you at the time, but we hardly needed the additional firepower. If you wanted an escort, I wasn't short-handed. Instead, you brought along a bunch of rogue Guard who promptly got themselves killed following you. Why did you bring them?"

Varn Karis' tone became frosty. "Perhaps I'm not overly fond of relying upon you and yours. I'm not exactly treated with great friendliness. The only one who will associate with me given the choice is Helga, and your suspicions are clearly rubbing off on your troops. If you want to accuse me of something definite, say it. Otherwise, I have comms chatter to filter."

Tzarine's eyes narrowed slightly, but she released the arm she held, and Karis left.

"Much as I hate to say it, I wonder if taking her on was the right call," said Morgana softly. Tzarine glanced around, saw that her lieutenant had been quietly eavesdropping from nearby. "She has a very different mindset from us, very different training."

"Taking her on?" Tzarine queried. "You mean in the cathedral when she surrendered? Or when we cleared Senaav and unloaded Golic and what was left of Word Bearer assets?"

"She saved your life on Senaav," Morgana pointed out. "I agree that there is something off about the woman, but a death sentence is a cruel punishment for not fitting in properly."

Tzarine grunted. "We'll see what happens, but the next neutral system we find, I'm leaving both her and Rhia."

"Do you think we should take Rhia with us to Vensis?"

Tzarine hesitated.

"She might want to try and rejoin the Orders. Whatever her sins, they would accept a vow of repentance."

"I don't know what Rhia wants," said Tzarine. "But we can't keep her confined to her quarters forever. She deserves more than that. Her only crime is disagreeing with my decisions, and if I were to punish her for that, I'd be no better than the Ecclesiarchy." She sighed. "Ask her. She's more likely to talk to you than me."

Morgana nodded, and left.

The door sealed behind Karis, and she sighed, slipping off her jacket and turning to the small work station in her quarters. There was work to do, but between pain and stress, she was more than a little tempted to dig into the bottle of amasec she'd liberated a few days earlier.

"You're playing a dangerous game, Varn."

The low, purring voice made her jump out of her skin, combat instincts flaring and making her scrabble for a weapon, any weapon. Her knife was in hand, pointing shakily at the barely visible silhouette on the bed. "How the frag did you get in here?" she asked, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice, flicking on the lights to illuminate the room.

"This much death and destruction this close by? The veil is thinner, I can do all kinds of things." Llthaanhir sat up, her pose sultry but her expression more akin to a cat eyeing a mouse. "I think it's time we had a talk, you and I."

"We agreed to leave each other alone." Karis made herself put the knife down, took a few deep breaths, wishing her heartbeat would slow. She was sure the demon could hear it and was enjoying her spike of terror.

"No, you knew better than to cross me and I considered you to be of little importance. We never made an agreement, unspoken or otherwise. I know who and what you are, Varn."

"What do you want?" Karis snapped. "If you found my presence offensive, you just had to whisper in Tzarine's ear and I'd be thrown out the nearest airlock. She might do that anyway."

"She is suspicious, and she doesn't appreciate being made into anyone's toy. Something we share in common, Varn. And right now, Tzarine is mine, and so is every Sister on the ship. Factor that into your plans. Watch all you wish, but you do nothing else."

The demon blurred, and suddenly she had pinned Karis to the wall, a playful smile revealing pointed teeth. "As of this moment, you belong to me. Betray me, and you will live to regret it for a very… long… time." She leaned forward to whisper in the stormtrooper's ear, a twisted version of a lover's whisper. "I guarantee it."

Karis' heart was like a drum, but she managed to whisper back. "I might not have your power… but I know your name. Factor that into your plans. He won't be pleased if you kill me."

Llthaanhir smirked. "Prove it."

The stormtrooper looked her dead in the eye, held the quaver from her voice, and said the name.

There was a pause, then the demon giggled. "I do love it when your kind makes a mistake." A delicately clawed hand reached out, ran along Karis' cheek. "You know something of who I am, but nothing in this universe or the other knows my true name save the Dark Prince. I made sure of it."

Abruptly the playfulness vanished, and the demon's eyes turned into black orbs dark enough to swallow suns. "Play your games. Tell your master to keep searching, if it gives him pleasure. But tell Tzarine what you know, or what you think you know, and I will introduce you to suffering beyond your darkest nightmares."

Karis was violently hurled to the ground, and she stifled a grunt of pain as she hit, looking back at the demon.

But Llthaanhir was gone, no trace of her presence in the room save the shallow scratch along her cheek.