"UGH!" Savora voiced her displeasure audibly. The bloody servitor had to be manually programmed it seemed... as it brought her the correct papers but she had to yell at it and mess with its neural interface in order for it to get the new batch of documents.
"Would master want anything else..." It said, its lifeless eyes staring blankly as its limp body awaited further instruction. Not even bothering to program him this time she hissed at it.
"NO! GO AWAY!" she finally said slamming the door in front of him and hopping that someone would come and drag it away. She shifted through the papers. She found mild amusement that most of them were either classified or sensitive, probably meant for inquisitions eyes only. She smirked knowing how some desperate chaos worshiping human would give up almost anything to get the juicy knowledge in these papers, knowledge for which she didnt care too much. "Found by the iron warriors during the great crusade under the battalion leader kreloth..." she read the words silently. "The sector is rather safe suffering only occasional xeno attacks every few centuries, so it is rather rich..." she skimmed over most details, focusing only on that which could benefit that greedy asshole. She found the notes on Requiem system. "The loyal von Judenhossen family..." she smirked at the idiotic name. "has ruled the system for thousands of years, with some records of them stretching back to the great crusade. While a bit arrogant and greedy they have expressed only a limited desire in extending their influence, sticking to their system of 10 planets and at least two dozen moons, most notable of which is the third world called Aegle which roughly translates to high gothic as splendor..." huh... a world of splendor eh? If only one of those rich nobles went to Commoragh, they would be shocked at the beauty of Eldar, of which they could never dream of achieving...
"Oh old peculiar! Did that xeno woman just leave you here?" Savora heard Annabel ask the servitor. GODS they were annoying! regardless she threw herself back to reading the notes.
"Although highly self sufficient the system is known to export lots of military equipment but serving in the guard itself is viewed either as punishment or as the most heroic thing one can do to advance his position..." she continued reading until the dinner came, thankfully the human girl called on her.
"Savora? You still in there? Its dinner time! You know? The time for you and Adrian to eat each other's hearts out!" she joked as Savora left her room, eyeing the seemingly obnoxious girl with a frown. She was correct however.
"Dont you have anything better to do than to make my life hell, mon'keigh?" she asked her. The girl rolled her eyes beaconed Savora to follow her, which she did.
"What did you find out about our destination? Anything interesting for me to kill?" she asked. Now as everything these crude inelegant creatures did this angered Savora, but she didnt bite.
"Im afraid not. Unless you count on having a noble hire you to take out another noble..." Savora smirked, remembering all those hits she put out when she was in power. "That would be fun indeed, but I doubt Adrian would appreciate it in the first place... Still, I have no idea what he might want going to a system like that... no unexplored territory, nothing to buy or sell..." she pondered. Annabel shrugged.
"Why dont you ask him when we get there?" She said, stretching her arms as the two tall women strolled down the metallic cold corridors, finally reaching the door. "Speaking of which..." She said as they entered the room. There was one large elegant and flamboyant table in the middle of the large room, most likely made out of composite materials as it outwardly seemed wooden, but looked and felt too solid to be made entirely of it. A couple of servants stood ready as the main people lingered around the table. Upon seeing her they tensed... the fuckers. Adrian was there and not long after they entered he sat down, with the rest following suit. Savora crossed her arms as Adrian smiled at her politely and offered a seat next to him. She took his offer only because it seemed to annoy the hell out of the other humans... in truth it should be she who is sitting at the head of the table, even if it seemed round, oh well. Another thing she noticed was that the four females (herself included) sat the closest to Adrian. She smirked, figures the bastard would want his harem near him. Adrian spoke with courtesy and everyone listened.
"Ah Lady Savora... I see you have acquainted yourself with miss Annabel..." he spoke and everyone paid close attention. Deciding to play the court game in hopes of making the bastard allow him to go to the planet with him, Savora dipped herself in poisoned honey.
"Indeed..." she purred and this obviously shocked everyone, especially Adrian, who was skilled at hiding his surprise of her change of attitude, but she saw that slight shift in his eyebrow. "She seems like a... fitting liquidator and a... fine companion to yourself..." she spoke, subtly implying and poisoning the minds of those around her which all eyed her as the servants stood by, the dinner all ready on the table, although Savora wasnt hungry with all the anger and sadness inside her. Still, always adapt to the situation as he father told her, if she was to advise this mon'keigh than so be it, the more she helps him the sweeter his suffering will be to her. The clumsy human took too much time to respond to her... implication so she continued. "But do introduce me to your other... companions." she spoke and once more agitated the other humans. Nodding Adrian got to it.
"Next to me sits Corvina, my first mate." Adrian said, pointing to the raven haired woman who eyed her but nodded with courtesy. "Next to her is Samantha, the ship's medicae, who is greatly interested in Eldar... physique." he said and the red haired woman nodded as she eyed her with kindness for some reason. "Next with have Benedict, a good priest of the adeptus ministorum, he served my father and his father before him..." he explained as the ancient corpse prayed vigorously, making the sign of the Aquila. Fine, she could understand the 'dangers of the alien' and all, but if their god was a corpse, why was this idiot trying to mimic him? "We need him..." Adrian smiled "especially to cleanse our souls from your presence." he spoke, making sure his tone is not insulting to neither her nor to the corpse of the priest... she took insult non the less... they should be begging for her presence! She is far more perfect than they are the savages! "Across from him sits our resident explorer Arch magos Damien of the machine cult of Mars." he said pointing to him, the man with the implants who had his entire face replaced by a metallic interface and had has metallic body covered by red robes was the only one to speak.
"This was the exact danger I feared when I was banished from my forge world and forced to become an explorator." He spoke, his metallic, vox filtered voice held a semblance of annoyance and anger, than again the crude technologies these mon'keigh possessed was... inefficient to say the least. "Not only is this ship's machine spirit xenophilic itself, harboring xeno technologies, but now we are forced to endure a xeno proper on it!" Surprisingly, the adept of the machine cult and the priest of the imperial cult seemed to set aside their doctrinal differences as they were united against her. Wow... so this is why humans came to dominate the galaxy after the Eldar? Xenophobia truly unites.
"Well magos Damien... it may come as a surprise to you that I too believe in the machine spirit, but in a way which would baffle even your advanced and augmented mind..." she told him politely, knowing full well what the collective emotions and thoughts of... sentient beings was capable off. Savora tried not to spit thinking of humans as sentient, but it was true that they gave life to the machines they worshiped. The magos'es metallic face betrayed no emotion as she continued. "In fact, I do agree with you that the ship likes xeno's and if you would allow me I will personally fix the power ram after dinner to demonstrate this." she said and the lightning on Damien's interface for a face seemed to flicker every so slightly. As if sensing the man's anger Adrian stepped in.
"Magos... I do agree with her, if the blessed machine spirit will listen to her, than it is our holy duty to sooth it, even if it is... a bit outside of orthodoxy." he said and this seemed to sooth the adept of the machine, who made reluctant agreements. "Next to him sits our resident Astropath, Lucian..." he continued, the seemingly blind, bald man didnt even look in her direction but she knew what was going on.
"Dont even think about trying to read my thoughts human... Psykers may be banned in Commoragh but that doesnt mean every Eldar there is stupid enough to let his or her powers atrophy." she told him mentally as she felt him try to approach her mind, overloading his and the man audibly shivered in front of everyone. The humans were confused as she smirked.
"Impressive... I see the tales of Eldar mental fortitude are true..." he responded telepathically. Well, now that she will be spending much of her time in real space, perhaps she should experiment with her powers, true it will attract she who thirsts but Savora wasnt the kind of woman to care about such things. Tales of psykers being consumed were common in Commoragh, but Savora believed those things happened to lesser people, not someone superior as herself.
"...Moving on..." Adrian said. "Across from him sits Podric, I do believe you remembered his name." he said and the main in uniform nodded, his frown still visible. Without his helmet she saw that he was a handsome (by mon'keigh standards) older man, his short military cut hair was pure white, betraying his age, but he was still in his prime, so around 40 she took it. "He is the ships Arch Militant..." Adrian added and she nodded respectfully.
"Next to Lucian sits Amanda, our Navigator." Adrian pointed and Savora was slightly surprised that this megalomaniac didnt put all his females next to him. Was he gay? or bi? Not that she cared but he didnt seem like the type. The Raven haired woman who wore a pony tail and had a bandana of some sorts cover her forehead. She is the only one to smile at her with courtesy as she nodded.
"Amanda Voidfarer." She said with a nod. Ahh yes, the Novis people took great pride in their lineage. Savora recalled how he took the third eye out of a Navigator a decade or so earlier... this knowledge would probably piss this girl off but maybe... she decided to risk it.
"Does Judeux Voidreaper relate to you in any way?" She asked politely, showing genuine interest. Amanda frowned ever so slightly.
"Voidreaper and Voidfarer houses are rivals for the last three millennia, but I do recall the high placed Judeux... he served a Cruiser The Hope of Ophelia if I recall correctly... the ship and its crew went missing about a decade or so." Amanda spoke and Savora smirked.
"Good!" she declared and everyone shot her a mean glare. "So you wouldnt miss him?" Amanda slightly gasped slightly. Not waiting for an answer Savora continued. "I personally took out his third eye..." she said, twisting the dagger in the hearts of these humans. Adrian shot her a mean glare. "Dont worry though I dont torture people I like, unless they want to." she added and Amanda nodded awkwardly.
"Lastly we have Selena, our sanctioned Psyker." Adrian pointed to another black haired woman, she sort of looked like Amanda, but she knew there could be no relations." the psyker woman simply nodded and Savora nodded back, well there is someone to help her with her latent powers. She also made a mental note to question either Adrian or Damien about the ships xenophila. Adrian took a glass full of wine and rose, extending it."To lady Savora!" he declared and while no one responded the humans did at least raise their glasses, all full of wine, except Damien who had his filled with oil. "May the Emperor guide us to greater profits, ventures and adventures still." He politely said, took a sip and sat down as people began eating.
"We should check if she poisoned anything." Podric said under his breath but Savora didnt care, her perfect Eldar metabolism meant she couldnt get fat so she indulged herself.
"Tell me Adrian..." she began, the rogue trader continued eating but listened to her. "Requiem system, at least according to the info you gave me, holds nothing of interest." she said, taking a bite of her food before continuing. It was nothing like Eldar cuisine but she didnt care... she will eat plenty when she gets back to Commoragh. "It is economically self sufficient, nothing to buy or sell... and nothing to explore." she added. "so why go there?" she asked openly.
"Very good miss Savora... I like your deductions..." he said in-between bites. "But add your previous knowledge to the big picture." he told her as he cut his meat. She smiled and resisted purring.
"Well lets see... you are heading to a new sector AFTER leaving Commoragh... so I take it you are going there to gather information... since the highest concentration of information in the entire sub sector is there... if not the entire sector." she added as she ate, not looking at him.
"Very good... Very good indeed." he told her, relaxed as her Eldar brain worked out the details.
"However..." she said and Annabel who was next to her turned her head. Adrian was unphased. "You gained entry to the webway... so you must have some Eldar contacts... yet after leaving Commoragh you chose to go to an entirely different Sector... Were you running away from someone I wonder?" she said and Adrian suddenly stopped eating and cutting his meat as everyone fixated their gaze on the xeno woman. Only Annabel seemed to roll her eyes at this.
"No miss Savora..." he said as he continued eating. "It is just that all the profitable ventures were... exhausted in the previous Sector, thats all... No one is chasing me." he said and Savora smirked.
"But thats only half true... you are a skilled liar Adrian Ill give you that." she said as she ate and finally he turned to look at her. Looking back at him she explained. "A tip, when you lie you clench your jaw a bit too much, dont worry though no ordinary human can see this... you clenched it at the beginning and at the end..." she said making a pause to swallow her food, Adrian awaited patiently for her to finish. "So yes all the profitable ventures were exhausted... but you are being chased it seems... and by a powerful enemy as well... to take on the dauntless light cruiser." she added and Adrian licked his lips and exhaled seemingly both being glad he took her and regretting it. "My personal opinion..." she said as she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief after drinking some wine. "You come to Commoragh looking for help or for mercenaries to deal with your little problem..." she said, everyone paying close attention to her. "offering 10 000 slaves and probably all the scraps of victory for those who will help you..." she said still not caring for the stares. "But for some reason no one does. Either the target is too hard to eliminated or your problem is unfixable... I do not know a lot of people in Commoragh who would turn down that sum..." she said and saw Podric bare his teeth at her. "So you choose a second best thing! A person who is familiar with the political workings and know how to assassinate someone in so many different ways... well rest assured, you chose correctly." Savora spoke, savoring in the anger of the humans as Podric gripped his fork so hard veins started showing on his hand. "If I was to guess... for your kind... I guess your problem would be... an Inquisitor?" she said and while Adrian watched her in amazement Podric could bare it no longer, he stood up.
"WHY MUST WE SUFFER HER PRESENCE! SHE WILL BE THE DOOM OF US ALL!" he said, much to the approval of those around her.
"Settle down." Adrian turned to his friend and tried to sooth him.
"NO! BY INVITING HER HERE WE ARE NO BETTER THAN THAT BASTARD PRODITORSKI!" he boomed throwing his fork down and slamming his fist against the table. Savora rose her eyebrow in delight.
"PODRIC!" Adrian said sternly and the arch militant seemed to cool down a bit. "I will not tell you to call down or be happy, because only a retard says that in a situation like this! Still, first of all we should be happy to get the right person." He spoke and Podric stopped fuming. "Second I think everyone in this room knows the traitorous ways of Inquisitor Proditorski..." he said and people nodded. "He and I are similar only in the fact that we both serve the Emperor directly and no man else..." he said, holding his arms and making a small pause before he spoke sadly. "You and I both know that the Emperor doesnt smite traitorous people like Proditorski... he just doesnt work that way... so we have an option... either suffer underneath him and tolerate his traitorous ways... or do the entire humanity a favor by sacrificing our dignity for his removal... you chose what makes Emperor more proud Podric..." he told him and the arch militant exhaled. "Im not asking you to like it Podric... but I am asking you to support my decision." Adrian added.
"I dont like it..." Podric confirmed. "But I will support it." he said, sitting down and resuming his meal. Things returned to a semblance of normal after that.
"Miss Savora, we will talk more about this later in private... right now please try to get along." Adrian told Savora with mild disinterest and she nodded poisonously.
"Alright... just send me ship schematics after dinner so I can study them." she said and he nodded much to the displeasure to the magos in the room.
"Sorry I am late everyone!" Savora heard a voice, slightly similar to Adrian's but more youthful and energetic, turning around she saw a man, dressed in similar fashion to Adrian and having an equally regal bearing. Did Adrian lie? were there more than 10 of them? Did she have to bare yet another mon'keigh's presence?
"Ahh, lady Savora, I would like you to meet my younger brother, Rogue Trader Bering." he said and the younger man bowed. How polite! Savora flattered him by offering her hand to him, which he took and gently kissed. Unlike Adrian he seemed less professional and more care free, perhaps due to his age. "he is my seneschal and void master. He is the second in command of the fleet and while he is usually on his havoc class raider he has insisted on traveling with us just so he can meet you." Adrian said, still focused on his food.
"The beauty of the Eldar attracts me..." Bering said, much to the cringing of the more puritan members of the company. "And I must say the tales that the most intelligent Eldar are the most beautiful as well have so far remained true." he said. She smirked at him, the poor romantic.
"You flatter me, human." she responded kindly, but not too kind so the man doesnt get any ideas. "If the human intelligence was less lacking I would personally overlook the physical characteristics." she said, genuinely not wanting to hurt him but wanting to draw a border right from the start. It was obvious that he took no offense.
"Thats the reason why we have you here, Lady Savora, you make up for the rest of us." He said and she couldnt resist laughing.