Tertioday, Rami 31st 067.M42

After two more terrifying days of wondering whether they'd ever come back, Maddy and the others finally got in last night. The news they bring is dire. They say that the lower levels of the hive are more or less given over fully to the cult, and in their explorations they saw some of the beasts moving not quite openly amongst the streets, but Maddy and Remy both confirm having seen them on the move whilst Nate and Jakob were elsewhere.

Between worrying for the last few days, I've been watching the Feed pretty closely. The news itself has started to quiet down. Reports of what the Hadrigans and Kai-Tens are doing have just suddenly cut off, everything is going back to normal, ordinary news. Reports of minor crimes, news about meetings between minor traders and other no-name concerns, updates on the mining going on down at Achlys. It's almost insultingly glaring how any news about the Hadrigans and the Kai-Tens is just… missing. There's nothing there about it at all. Even the non-official news sources are quiet on the matter. It's like there's just been a collective decision, now that everyone's whipped up into a worry, to not bring it up at all any more. I'm sure that it's not a coincidence in the slightest.

There was a part of me that didn't want to give Nate and the others our report. I didn't want to tell them the things we'd found, I wanted to hope that I could just ignore it and turn my back on it and everything would turn out okay. I know that's not going to happen though. Especially once they reported to us - to me - exactly how far things have gone in the lower levels. Asphodel has fallen to these beasts, it just doesn't know it yet. So I told them. Everything. About the cult in Nyx. The mutant monster birth in Styx. The plague and missing people in Tartarus. Everything.

They all looked to Nate then. Much as I'd suspected, although he'd never announced himself as the leader, again they all turned to him and waited for his judgement on what to do. I don't think he himself is an Inquisitor. Not that I'd know what an Inquisitor is actually like, everything I know about them is rumour and legend. But I'd expect an actual Inquisitor to be something more… Impressive? Imposing? Than this man who could honestly be my brother, he's so unremarkable and… ordinary looking. But he is clearly some manner of authority within the group. He's directed everyone around so far, he was the one who told Kel and I to go out to Central, he directed the group going down to the lower levels. It's really clear that he's calling the shots with some degree of authority.

I don't know much of him yet, we talked a bit while we were planning out what to do, but we haven't really talked to each other directly much. I don't know if he's a cruel man or a fair man. Kel wouldn't talk about the others while we were together, and Maddy and I haven't had a moment to really speak alone since they arrived. Not that I'm sure she would tell me much about them anyway behind their backs. Or that I'd trust what she had to say anyway. There's so many things that she's hidden from me during these months and I don't even know now what's going on with our relationship. Any talks about that got lost in the rush to get away from the cult and get into hiding.

To be fair to the man, he didn't seem happy or even satisfied with what we were discussing. I caught a glimpse of him while the others were discussing the report that Kel and I had gathered, he seemed to be wearing an expression of what looked like honest distress as the details were debated, a certain weight on his shoulders. And I think I can guess why.

After the discussion had died down somewhat, and the others all turned to him to see what his verdict would be, that's when he finally spoke. The Navy has been called, he confirmed. An astropathic transmission from Governor Fei to the Sector Fleet was intercepted while the group was on their way to meet us. He said it's likely that the comms blackout on the Feed is because the Navy has finally arrived, and they're starting to communicate with the Governor and make plans to strike at the Hadrigan fleet - which is an outcome that I think nobody in this room wants, as we're all pretty sure that the source of the infestation and all of the troubles seems to trace back to the Kai-Tens. And leaving them completely unopposed then opens the door for them to take their foul cargo and spread it further through the system, if not the sector or even beyond.

He said that it's imperative that we take our evidence to the Navy Fleet commander. It's unlikely that the conspirators will try to actively infiltrate the Fleet, at least in the early days. Apparently the Navy are well aware of the threat of the Genestealers, and if they detect their foulness at work then it's likely that they'll turn their guns on those who called them in. So the cult will have to play it carefully to get the Hadrigans subdued and thus remove the main threat to them - that they're aware of. But if we can get to the Fleet commander, then Nate says he has the authorisation to make him listen, to take the steps that will be necessary to end this before it even begins.

I asked what he meant by that.

I've never been hit by such a force of sympathy, so many apologetic gazes turned my way. My heart sank into my stomach and a cold sweat sprung on my brow. I'd feared the worst, how horrifying it would be to hear that I'd helped uncover the death warrant that would be signed on my world, but I never knew how gut-wrenching it would be to hear the words spoken out loud. I fear I'm going to hear his voice in the back of my mind until the day I die.

"Orbital bombardment of all major population centres and complete destruction of the hive cities. Asphodel will then be put under quarantine for as long as it takes to confirm that the infestation is completely eradicated."