"And your business is what exactly?" The armsman asked Ermlanth. He stood at attention with another five of his fellows, all wearing identical suits of dull grey carapace armor, each cradling a rather large las gun in their arms as they stood three on each side in front a large bulkhead. The interlocking plates and segments of their armor came together to form a rather bulky mass of protection. The armor made each look larger than he or she was, which when combined with the face concealing covers of their helmets with dull red ocular relays protruding outwards, complemented the figures.
Ermlanth was holding out a large badge, the I-shaped piece of metal was colored green and yellow, a circle with irregular edges dominated the upper half of the I and a set of metal wings stuck out at the far edges. In the center of the badge was carved skull. A rosette which stood as the sole indicator of his position within the vast Imperium, a badge which gave him absolute discretion; which as he held it in front of the indifferent guards seemed to account for very little. Ermlath thought briefly about the fleets that he'd ordered when he presented the badge, he saw the imposing visage of the Emperor's mighty cathedrals dropping burning las fire on planets below to expunge the threats he'd uncovered. He imagined the chapters of Asartes who'd followed his requests and recommendations upon his presentation of the small piece of metal, the hulking angels of death scything the battlefield and reducing their foes to chaff in the wind. He thought of the vast legions of guards who at his smallest word were mobilized en-mass to wage ceaseless campaigns of blood and fire across whole star systems, engulfed in the crucible of never ending war to bulwark the Imperium and the greater whole of humanity. All those and more, all at his insistence and all set in motion by the small rosette.
He sighed as he pocketed it, the dull metal pulling gently at his clothing as it weighed down. "I would like to speak with Captain Von Helvik, please" He said through his teeth. "Arrogant bastard" He thought bitterly as he feigned polite attention to the guard. The damned traders always acted the part of loyal citizens of the Imperium, but personal experience told him that usually lasted until they fired up the warp engines, then they'd slip a knife in your ribs. He mentally cringed at the memory of some unknown blade slamming into his side, a brief flash of pain dominating the thoughts in the back of his mind. "Make it look like a Xeno attack, then dump him out the airlock." The callous voice from a time long ago echoed.
He looked down briefly to shake the memory away, speaking as he raised his head to look into the dull red eyes of the guard''s helmet. "It's rather important business that I can assure you needs the utmost attention" he said slowly, trying to let each word carry its own weight and emphasis.
Von Helvik had cooperated in so far as he was required to by Imperial mandate, Ermlanth had been lucky to find his warfleet orbiting the forge world when he did, the Battlefleet Itano was away fighting several insurrections on the western edge on the sector and it would have taken precious time to reach them. He'd figured he could force enough cooperation from the damned trader to get him to fight the orks on his behalf and either destroy the threat, or at least substantially weaken it enough for a later imperial force to mop up. Either way, the Trader's fleet would have taken quite a bit of damage, which Ermlanth would shed no tears over. He was sure that the Von Helviks, like the rest of their Rogue Trader ilk were engaged in layers upon layers of heretical activities, shielding themselves behind the generous grants of privilege their ancient warrants allowed. No skin off his back if they lost a few ships.
"The captain is busy right now and has ordered no interruptions" the armsman said, his voice amplified by a vox communicator in his helmet, the sound bouncing off the walls and carrying far down the hall. "Did you make an appointment?"
"No, and the pages said that meetings were penned out for months in the future. This cannot wait, I must speak with the captain at once." Ermlanth said, straining to maintain the face of politeness as his heart rate accelerated and his teeth began to slowly gnash against themselves. Ordinarily, if he encountered someone obstinate like this, he could just turn and deal with someone else more cooperative, saving his fury for later; which was to say, a powerful incentive for someone to be cooperative. Unfortunately, Rogue Traders, so long as they operated beyond the border, per their Warrant, were afforded privileges and exceptions that rivaled that of the Inquisition The only saving grace was that the bastards fought among themselves often enough as to whittle down their numbers and keep the worst of their activities in some semblance of check. Plus on the rare occasion a family annoyed their peers enough or acted out in a manner that shocked even the other Traders, the Inquisition was usually shortly thereafter, flooded with enough evidence to bring decisive action down on the offending house, though usually it was the other houses who were given remit to attack and seize the errant trader's property. Ermlanth though all this bitterly as he was held up at the door.
"Well then I'm sorry Inquisitor, but without an appointment, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave" the guard said, motioning with the butt of his lasgun. Ermlanth imagined Von Helvik flashing a smug grin somewhere in the ship. Balling his fists, the hard leather cushioning the iron grip somewhat as his knuckles popped lightly. Ermlanth was about to turn back when he saw a hovering servo skull fly though a small opening above the door. It rotated side to side as it scanned the hallway with its red mechanical eye, the other socket holding some kind of blinking green light. The skull carried a data-slate with a stylus attachment and a few small mechanical graspers, but what stood out most to Ermlanth was the snow white powdered wig that sat on top of the skull, its sides were a tight rings of curls and the back had an interlaced pony tail that draped about a foot or so downward. After several moments of scanning, it floated back towards the hole and vanished into the captain's quarters.
A second later the armsman placed a hand to his ear, speaking to someone unseen. "Yes….of course…no he's still here….of course….at once my lord…" Ermlanth could hear as the man whispered in his helmet. Raising his head to look at the Inquisitor, he gestured to the other guards and all six stepped aside as the door made a series of clicking and whirring sounds. After what sounded like the sliding of several bolts it rolled away to its side, revealing a room that, when compared to the average meager quarters often offered to people living on imperial ships, was downright cavernous. "The captain will see you." the guard said, bowing slightly as he gestured into the room with an outstretched arm.
Stepping in, Ermlanth was greeted to a small wash of heat. To his right a fire was blazing in small alcove dug into wall, tended to by a small servitor which occasionally prodded the logs with a metal stick. A pair of caliper like arms held a spare log for the fire. Above the brick and metal façade of the fireplace were several mounted heads belonging to some unknown breeds of xenos. He thought he recognized the shaggy head of one, a predator species native to a planet in the Itano sector; a world known for: its never-ending blizzards, blubbery creatures the size of five men, fierce native predators who hunted said creatures and a particularity hardy species of berry that when mashed, created a potent neurotoxin. On Ermlanth's left was a giant map of Imperial space, golden pins with Aquila and other heraldry marked hundreds of locations on the map which seemed to be several meters long. Further in the room on both sides were shelfs stocked with an assortment of rolled parchment and other documents. On the wall at the end of the room was a massive three meter tall fresco of a man in a blue uniform with multicolored buttons and red sash. He was resting one foot atop a pile of gold, gems, cogitator screens and lasguns. His right hand held a boxy black pistol near his leg, smoke coming out of the barrel, and several spent bolts littering the ground near it. Above his black and gold bicorne hat he raised a golden chainsword, its teeth stained red. All the while the background was dominated by what looked to be some kind of xeno city ablaze. At the far end of the room, in front of the mural was a massive desk, made of wood and adorned with swirls and twists of gold and other precious metals, the ostentatious block of wood was weighed down by stacks of parchments, scales and other instruments of commerce. Hiding behind all the things was the man in the fresco, Captain Josiah Patternock Meriweather Von Helvik, who was furiously scribbling and crossing a piece of parchment with a massive quill.
"No no, that's grammatically incorrect! Damnable quill! How many times must I go back and edit my passages?" he muttered to the parchment. Ermlanth began to cross over to the desk, after he stepped in several meters, the captain looked up. "Inquisitor" he said "Please take a seat" waving his quill to the space in front of him. A treaded servitor the size and shape of a small child rolled out from behind some unseen panel in the wall, dragging a large wooden chair with a high back that looked as though it was several heads taller than either man. It set the chair down with an audible thud before vanishing once more. Ermlanth walked over and sat on the chair's thick velvety cushion with a dull plop. Adjusting himself quietly for a moment, he looked back up to see the captain scribbling away. Leaning forward, he steepled his fingers and rested his elbows on the tops of his knees, absentmindedly tapping his lips.
"Captain, a pleasure" Ermlanth said feigning a smile from behind his index fingers as he looked at the trader. The man was dressed in a uniform that was vaguely martial, as though he'd taken the already ludicrous garb worn by the high admirals of the fleets and added even more unnecessary accessories. The blue coat beneath the golden glowing cloak had more than a dozen buttons; each made from a different gem cradled by a bed of precious metal going down the coat's center. Horizontal lines of additional golden fabric, or quite possibly, gold made to be fabric were also present, cutting more than a dozen extra lines on the uniform. The cloak was protruding from Von Helvik's shoulders where Ermlanth suspected layers upon layers of padding were propping up the impossibly large shoulder pauldrons which had golden tassels cascading down the captain's upper arms. A scarlet sash adorned with medallions and pendants; all in the shapes of eagles, skull and other imperial regalia completed the ensemble as it crossed Von Helvik's chest from his left shoulder to his unseen waist
Von Helvik nodded and looked at Ermlanth, his red bionic eye unmoving, staring back with a dull red glow. His face was surprising lacking in any ornamentation apart from the bionic eye, which was absent from the painting. Von Helvik kept his black goatee as neatly trimmed as his short dark straight hair. "Ah Inquisitor" he said slowly. Apart from a couple wrinkles near his temples, only a thin scar which went from forehead down the side of his left cheek, near the bionic eye, served to give Ermlanth any distinct impression about the man's face. "And to brook no insult to the adjudicators of the Emperor's will, I do hope we can hurry this along. I'm quite busy and your order tends to speak in riddles that take too much time to unravel." he said, leaning back as he mentioned the Inquisition. His hands vanished to his lap.
Emlanth for his part remained still, meeting Von Helvik's gaze and refusing to budge his eyes. He chewed on his words before speaking "Of course. I'm here because I'm curious as to why I was not invited to the meeting of your fellows the other day. I've noticed a rather abundant movement of activity through the ship and I have it on good authority that we're somewhat beyond the borders of Imperium space. To sound immodest, I have quite a bit of knowledge and experience in navigating beyond our borders and would be more than happy to assist, if we are in fact stranded."
Von Helvik's real eye narrowed for a split second, his body appeared to twinge before returning to its formerly statuesque stillness. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came for the briefest of moments. As the captain seemed to gather his thoughts; he spoke, slowly, deliberately, with an almost sickly sounding tone of conciliation. "I do apologize for that oversight, Inquisitor." He said, his eye open wider, his mouth showing a few too many teeth as he smiled and his voice an octave or two higher than before. "It must have just slipped my mind. So many details, so many small bits of organization, and your type is just always there in the shadows, ready to slip through the cracks like a small bug." He finished with a small clap of his hands from behind the desk. "But you're here now though. From what you've told me, you've already been doing what your kind does best, skulking and digging in all the grox shit out there to find whatever snippet of gossip you want to manufacture." He said as his toothy smile vanished behind a grim frown. His voice rose with each word "So tell me, what can I do to put my family's assets at your disposal after you did such a good job of getting them lost in the bowels of the Warp?" he finished, his face a darker shade than it had been before, his last word echoing around the spacious room.
"I'm not asking that you give me anything but some time" Ermlanth said, unlacing his fingers and opening his palms as he leaned back slightly. "I can't change what happened captain, I'm just as far removed from civilized space as you are, and I'm just as eager to get back. I just happen to possess a set of skills, skills that I've acquired over a long career, all I'm asking is that you at least let me use them to try and help us return home." he said, voice neutral as to not betray the weight in his chest. Out here, Inquisitors and Rogue Traders were theoretically equal in rank. In practice, everywhere around Ermlanth, Von Helvik owned every ship, every gun and almost every-man, Ermlanth had a gun-cutter and five acolytes, two of who, mostly just stayed on the cutter to run it and occasionally follow him to make his entourage seem larger and more intimidating.
"Oh that's it then? Just a humble request for supplication? Inquisitor you honor me so!" Von Helvik's hand slapped over his heart, jingling a few of his pendants and medals as he did so. "Shall I retrieve my family's ancestral sword and dub thee an honored squire of our house?" the captain's fists began to clench as his eyes narrowed "and then once you've gotten free reign to see everything, then as a humble, and pious servant you'd be forced to report on all the horrible "heretical" activities you'd seen in your struggle for survival." The man laughed in a way that was half a mad giggle and half nervous chortle. "I wonder what you'd send to end me? A temple assassin? A Sororitas Commandery? Ooo, or maybe an Astartes kill-team.? I'm personally partial to being seduced and poisoned by a beautiful woman, though if that's not an option I'll take the blaze of glory!"
His fist then pounded the desk, a loud echo of metal gauntlet on wood reverberated through the captain's quarters. As he spoke, all the humor had left his voice, leaving it deep and controlled. "Situations like this rarely occur by happenstance Inquisitor" He retorted coolly, eye still narrowed "After this narrow escape, I'm hesitant to admit you any closer to my precious assets. "
Ermlanth bit the inside of his lip as he pondered what to say. Theoretically he could use his authority to dismiss the Captain and requisition any of his ships, it was within his power. In practice though he knew that he was alone with only his acolytes for support in this dark, forgotten corner of space. All the nearby ships were Von Helvik's and all the people his too. If he was lucky he might get one ship to defect, but then that'd still leave the fleet, and with no way of figuring out how to get home…"No" he thought "I'll have to play this one diplomatically".
"I won't force you to do anything more captain" Ermlanth said slowly, as he though on each word he spoke. He returned the Captain's stare. "My mission was to locate and eliminate the xeno threat. Apart from cursory knowledge, my interest and experience with the Warp is very limited. Clearly, we're in some unknown location and by writ, you have command. I won't try and subvert that when all our survival depends on cooperation and focus. What I ask is that I be informed about the current happenings of the fleet, what I offer is the skills of myself and my team. Through cooperation, we might be better able to find our way home, and even possibly find new things that could be of use to the Imperium, even if it's just knowledge of xenos operating out in the periphery."
"So don't go throwing me or my people out an airlock you son of a bitch" he thought to himself.
The captain said nothing for what seemed like an eternity, he looked at Ermlanth, his regular eye still narrowed and his bionic eye glowing a faint red. Apart from the dancing quill in his right hand, the Captain didn't stir, like stone he sat. Ermlanth was about to try and speak more when Von Helvik finally said something, low voice filling the air like a whisper in the wind.
"I see, I see" he said, setting the quill down and leaning back in his ornate chair, his left hand moved to gently cradle his chin, vanishing behind the small curtain of facial hair. "I appreciate your candor Inquisitor, you're the first one of your order I've met who didn't speak like a damned Eldar." his face pulled back to form a snakelike grin "I agree, it's best not to dwell on the circumstance of our arrival, our focus needs to be on returning to civilized space."
"I'm...glad to hear that captain." Ermlanth said neutrally, taking several small breath of cautious relief, the Trader could still very well be playing all seemed too easy, his mood had gone from enraged to calm and cooperate.
"However" Von Helvik said holding up a hand "I think your skill will be wasted here. Until we know for sure how to depart this area of space, most of the fleet will be remaining here, including my own. ship As I and many of my most trusted retainers have duties to attend to, you'll be able to stand in partial stead of my authority as the ships explore."
It was Ermlanth's turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow, the captain's sudden generosity was surprising to say the least. "I appreciate the trust captain" he said in his most gracious tone "what ship will I be flying with?"
Von Helvik pressed several buttons hidden on his side of the desk and the hologram of a warship appeared between the two men. The ship was dotted with a number of Aquillas carved into the metal hull. As it rotated slowly, Ermlanth examined the boxy ship intently. It was rather small, hardly more than a kilometer and a half by his rough estimate. He could see square shaped cubbies and turrets of the dorsal part of the ship and several over-sized engines protruded from the rear. It was the bow that most intrigued him, rather than the characteristic sleek ram of many ships, he saw that it'd been replaced with the massive figurehead of a woman with her arms outstretched, surrounded by flames. Around the statute were a half dozen large emitter tubes which faced out into the void.
"The Eternal Crimson, she's been making the rounds of exploration near our current position. Like the rest of the fleet, she'll be due back after the latest report. What I offer is this, take your gun-cutter and transfer over to the Crimson. Once we retrieve the initial batch of astrological data, most of the fleet will be staying put here, only my smallest and fastest ships will continue to explore and scout. I need as many experience hands on those ships as possible. People who can keep a cool head when plunging into the unknown, and people I know can make an honest accounting and assessment of xenos, should we find any out here."
"I'm curious captain, why have me leave? Not to look a gift grox in the mouth, but this seems rather sudden."
Von Helvik pause for a moment, as though he was thinking hard on how to approach what he was trying to say. "Captain Albinus is a fine tactician,." He said, stressing the "fine" "he can command his ship with a skill that rivals only myself and Captain Leinwand." He paused, clicking his jaw as he did so. "Unfortunately...What he lacks that his tactical skill offsets is a calm head for, delicate situations. Albinus is a very... pious man Inquisitor, and rather quick to anger at any perceived slight against: The Emperor, The Imperium, my family or himself. With us being in unknown space for an indeterminate amount of time before we can return home and with no clear path, I'd rather not become embroiled in conflict that can be avoided with diplomacy."
"And you think I'd be best suited to this task?"
"The captain knows his place, he's deferential to those in certain positions. So long as I give him notice that you'll be there, he'll understand. As an executor of the Emperor's will you'll hold high station with him, second only to my own. The rest of my captains have proven themselves in one way or another to be...tactful in unknown situations, Albinus is the exception, not the rule you understand. I'll feel much more comfortable knowing someone who can be... diplomatic will be there."
"So I have to keep a zealot from blowing his lid. Marvelous!" Ermlanth thought bitterly, but only nodded appreciatively. If this is what it took to get in Von Helviks good graces, then so be it. The one knot though was that it was everything he needed. Rogue Traders weren't in the habit of giving someone an advantageous deal. There were strings and catches he couldn't see even with the obvious warning Von Helvik gave him.
"I accept, Captain" he said, grimacing in his mind as we wondered when the hammer would fall. Will the Crimson be returning soon? he asked
"Wonderful" Von Helvik said. His one eye relaxed and opened, and his lips parted to reveal a pearl white smile, though the captain once again was showing a few too many teeth to be considered a genuine sign of happiness. "Yorvik" he called to the empty room. From above, a familiar servo skull floated down, the powdered wig bouncing slightly as it descended and hovered next to the captain. He produced a new piece of parchment and scribbled something Ermlanth couldn't see before he rolling the parchment and jamming a small metal rod into the paper. Pulling it away, the faint smell of burning wax filled the air as Von Helvik handed the scroll to the skull, which took it in a pair of its small pincers. "Bring this down to Inquisitor Ermlanth's ship and give it to one of his companions." he ordered as the skull wordlessly floated over to the hole above the door and vanished. Rising from his desk, the captain moved towards the door, gesturing for Ermlanth to follow. To two exited and made their way down the hall, the armsmen by the door saluting as they left. He'd ignored his last question entirely, Ermlanth realized as they walked.
Von Helvik pointed to a number of things as they strode, one room he said was home to a contingent of armsmen who'd proven themselves in some battle important to his family. He'd gestured to an oil painting of some garishly dressed woman standing atop the corpse of an ork holding a smoking plasma rifle. According to the captain it was one of his grandmothers, or aunts or some other woman in his wretched and likely inbred family. He prattled on and on for some time.
The two walked down the hall, keeping abreast of one another and forcing all in their path to quickly compress themselves against the walls to make space, many attempted to snap awkward salutes or twist their bodies to bow at their presence; or more specifically Captain Von Helvik's presence, Ermlanth went more or less unnoticed and ignored by the people around them. The captain continued to speak about more banal and uninteresting tidbits of history from his family.
"...From the wreckage of the Valkyrie that carried my uncle" Von Helvik finished as he pointed at a gnarled twist of metal hanging from one of the walls. They'd been walking for ten minutes by this point and Ermlanth had only been half paying attention to Von Helvik's boasting, choosing instead to focus in more on various corridors and passageways, hoping to memorize them in case he needed to ever make a break for it, or sneak around the ship. To their left he could see a member of the ship's janatorium crew mopping the floor next to an air vent. He turned and smiled, snapping a clumsy salute at the captain.
Ermlanth was about to ask something when the vent cover exploded in a cloud of metal and other dust particles, the man scrubbing the floor near it coughed and gasped in surprise, dropping his bucket and cloth as he brought his uniform to his mouth, He took two steps to the side when three long sharp dull-grey metal talons erupted out of his chest, showering the newly cleaned flood in an arterial spray of blood. The man looked down and saw the talons now protruding from his torso, he was strangely silent, lolling his head to his left as a small dribble of blood appeared at his mouth, which was open as though something between a scream and a question were forming at his lips. Behind him the glow of a pair of crimson orbs were visible through the darkness and the dissipating cloud of dust. Ermlanth saw the grinning face of a skull. A faint mechanical whine could be heard as the man was pulled back into the vent, leaving a streak of blood behind him as Emlanth and the captain had both raised their pistols and were firing at the spot where it had just been.
"Horus cursed servitor!" the captain roared as he sprinted to the vent. His pistol aloft, he fired several times into the vent, Ermlanth hearing the faint detonations as each bolt exploded somewhere further back in the twisting maze of life support passages. Von Helvik's eyebrows were turned downwards, he real eye open wide and his artificial one glowing bright red, his lips curled in a snarl. As he fired the last round, and sighed rather audibly as the skittering sounds in the vent faded further away. Von Helvik quickly produced another magazine from beneath his cloak and reloaded the boxy bolt pistol before holstering it. He looked up to one of the servo skulls floating overhead "Refill that magazine and have it brought to my quarters" he ordered, pointing to the empty magazine on the ground. The small skull dutifully dropped down and grabbed the metal box with several of its tweezer-like mechanical graspers before it lifted itself off and vanished into one of the small port holes that cut into the ceiling.
"Apologies Inquisitor" he said, looking at Ermlanth "That damnable thing has been making a nuisance of itself. Come let's continue!"
Ermlanth's eyes lingered on the wrecked vent cover for another couple of of seconds before his legs began to carry him forward, the captain having already turned and was walking down the hallway with a flourish of his golden cloak. Taking several long hurried strides, he caught up with Von Helvik. "I heard talk of a loose servitor aboard, I take it this isn't normal?"
"For day to day operations, no." the captain said, hurrying his own pace as they rounded a corner, passing by several uniformed armsmen marching down the corridor, las guns in hand as they escorted a red robed engiseer. "But the situation's well enough in hand."
"How many has it taken so far?"
"With that fellow, the official count is seventeen, all janitorium personnel. At this rate we won't have enough people to keep my busts polished and our floors immaculate. Dark times Inquisitor, dark times." He said as they approached a large door. Ermlanth nodded, but thought that if the thing was just targeting cleaners and scrubbers, nothing important was being lost. Better to let it continue then waste valuable arms men trying to fight the thing. He felt a shiver as he remembered the dark tunnels of a ship from half a lifetime ago, the passageways lined with blood and gore as they hunted a group xenos and the traitorous tech priests who'd joined them. He'd begun to vaguely remember hearing something about murder servitors carrying pre-programmed limits on the number of people they could slay in autonomous mode when they reached the large double door made of ornately carved wood and lacquered with gold and adamantium, the drawings and patterns he'd seen members of the Ordo Malleus forge to ward themselves and others from the machinations and intrusions of vile warp spawn.
A full dozen heavily armed guards stood at attention outside this door, Most cradled rifle-sized flamers, the upward tilt of the weapons told Emlanth the heavy metal cylinders near the trigger were likely filled to the brim with promethium, ready to leap out and incinerate anyone in its sight with bone melting sticky fire. After a wave of the captain's hand they went to work. Several men climbed ladders placed at the side and upon reaching the top of the door, slung their flamers , grasped a large metal knob and lifted. A faint groan of metal could be heard as the latches were hoisted from their sockets and dropped, Ermlanth could hear the sound of metal bolts sliding downwards inside the door. On the bottom the guards fellows performed a similar action on several more knobs. Once the men scrambled down from the top, others began turning a pair of large copper colored cranks, one on each side. He could hear several more sets of hidden metal bars slide out of position. With an audible click, the cranks stopped and the guards moved to the doors, each one grabbing a handle and pushing inwards, both hinges and men groaning with the effort. A rush of stale air greeted Ermlanth and Von Helvik with a faintly dusty whisp as they stepped inside.
The room was circular and spacious, a thick rug made of some unknown shaggy material covered the floor, soft looking cushions formed a semicircle in a small depression in the center of the room. A marble pedestal adorned with doubled headed aquillas sat in the middle of the depression, rising several meters up. In addition to the pedestal, a dozen white marble pillars were spaced out equally around the room to form a circle around the smaller ring in the middle. Each pillar was filled with carved reliefs of the Emperor, his Astartes and other triumphs of the Imperium, as well as selected passages from the various holy texts of the Ecclesiarchy, most of them various litanies, parables and hymns for guarding the mind and warning of temptation. The walls of the domes were filled with a honeycomb pattern of silver hexagrams interlocking with one another to form an unbroken silver web that carried all the way to the ceiling of the dome, the black paint making the thin lines stand out even more so to Ermlanth's eyes.
Standing around the pedestal were a half dozen barefoot men and women wearing identical pale green robes, plain, save for a pair of golden aquila pendants, one at their waist, holding a loose rope belt with several chains draping down towards their legs; the other at their necks, holding the clasp to their hoods. Several had metal bands around their eyes, while one wore a simple white cloth around hers. The rest adorned their faces with nothing and Ermlanth saw their empty eye sockets, black as the night staring at nothing as they murmured in chant. Three of their members were holding staves as dark as their empty eye sockets, thin long frames connecting to a flat board with the icon of a golden radiating eye appearing on both sides. Two dipped the staffs towards the pedestal, while a third held his tall. The low chanting continued.
"Expecting a message then?" He asked Von Helvik as they looked at the astropathic choir; the psykers seeming to take no notice of the pair.
"Several actually" Von Helvik responded, eyes focused on the group "You asked to be included, so here we are. I sent several ships out the day the meeting ended. They've been scouting the stars for these three days, short distances mind you, but hopefully enough of a distance so that we can get an accurate enough reading of the star fields and warp currents around our position. If we can confirm the presence of several well known astrological positions and formationsm as well as certain currents, we'll get a better sense of wherever in the Veiled Region, or Halo Stars, or wherever that accursed storm blew us."
The sound of something heavy being dragged across the floor drew Ermlanth's attention. He turned his head back to the entrance. A red robed tech priest walked in, accompanied by blindfolded man who wore the same dull robes of the others in the room. Behind them, a dozen servitors wordlessly labored to drag a large metal cube behind them. Their wheels turning slowly on the metal floor to gain enough traction to pull the thing. Once they hit the shaggy carpet, their pace slowed considerably as the thick fibers made turning their wheels difficult. Following behind the cube was a man wearing purple robes, a pair of walking servitors accompanied him, carrying a smaller metal box between themselves. Tall and painfully thin, the man' arms poked out at awkward and spindly angles. His face was pale, almost sickly grey apart from his dark blue lips. In the center of his forehead, a strange fold of skin was present, taking up much of his brow space.
"Navigator" Ermlanth greeted as the man entered the chamber. Looking at the cube as it drew closer, he saw it was adorned with the what he assumed was the navigator's sigil, a skull atop a set of wings and the three numeral in the skull's center brow.
"Inquisitor" he croaked is a raspy voice "A pleasure." He rotated his head slightly and saw Von Helvik. "Ah, Jos- Captain, I take it the honored guest has been introduced?"
"Not yet" he said, gesturing to the man "Inquisitor, may I introduce Kessler Stah, our esteemed navigator." Ermlanth looked and gave him a nod in greeting. "The Stahs have been impeccable allies to my family for more than a millennium, and Kessler has steered the Acquisition true for longer than I can remember."
"Thirty three years captain" he croaked with a gentle smile. "Forty, if you count my time here while my father steered."
"I remember your father looked way better at your age then you do!" the Astropath said over his shoulder as he approached the chanting choir. Kessler gave a rather loud huff as he raised his pointed shoulders . "Hrumph! Hardly, I dare say I'm a perfect specimen of health. Prime of my life in fact!"
"Emperor protect us all if that's the prime of our life" the astropath gestured somewhat randomly in the direction of Kessler, lazily spinning his hand as he spoke.
"Its nice you're not using those damned messengers anymore!" Von Helvik said. Ermlanth turned and saw the captain smiling, It lasted only a moment though, as the captain returned to his stony expression when he saw Ermlanth glancing over. He cleared his throat. "Anyways, this is mister Augustus Hoyal, our chief astropath, and leader of this choir" he said, pointing to the green robed man. He was leaning on a black staff like several of the others carried. His empty eye sockets were uncovered, through his long shaggy white hair nearly draped over them.
"Inquisitor" the man called over his shoulder, voice lower than it had been just moments before. "Welcome"
"And of course, the Magos of our ship, Brith." the captain turned and motioned to the tech priest. The priest didn't turn as he focused his attention on the cube. His arms were spread forward and several long metal appendages appeared out of his arms, clacking away at some something in front of him. From his back, a pair of mechadendrites were working the exterior of the cube, a large clamp like limb was pulling levers while a smaller, almost willowy looking artificial limb rapidly cycled through a number of attachments and made minute changes to knobs, dials and plugs. The Magos remained silent as his limbs whirled with cold precision, only the faint sound of an artificial respirator carried over the sound of his work, the slow, bellow-like sound as air was sucked in and and exhaled through metallic grills.
Looking beyond the priest, Ermlanth got a better look at the device. It was an almost perfect cube, three meters in any direction and and dull gold in color, from in front of the Brith came a small, almost sickly green glow, which ,after he craned his neck, he saw as a small screen.
"Our secondary cogitator navigational matrix" the captain explained, tilting his head to the device. "We'll receive navigational inputs and coordinates from the ships we sent out a while ago, their own cogitator will have a rough approximation of their position. We'll simply feed those bits of information into this device and after setting our own ships coordinate as a true reference point, we should be able to find where we are."
The Inquisitor raised a curious eyebrow at Von Helvik "This all seems rather cumbersome. Couldn't we just use our telescopes to locate the galactic center and use that as a basic point of reference? We could have set out days ago."
"Oh, we already have a very rough approximation of our location" Kessler chimed in, his raspy voice echoing in the chamber "Between my charts, looking at the galactic center, other points of reference and the basic navigational cogitator, I figure we're somewhere in or beyond the Segmentum Ultima by best estimate. And to be honest, considering the circumstances of our suprise travel, only being blown thousands of lightyears from one segmentum to another is not the worst fate."
"Best estimate?" Ermlanth asked. While it was true figuring out precise locations in space could be rather difficult, determining which Segmentum one was in was far easier. Even without the light of the Astronomican basic stellar charts and navigational interfaces could tell you which of the five massive segments of the Imperium you were in with little difficulty.
"Correct Inquisitor" the captain said with a deliberate slowness, " We have a rough approximation, but the stellar patterns don't match our charts. Everything is off by a small margin or another. As to your earlier question, yes we could have already left, but then I wouldn't know the exact location of this bubble of space." he announced making a sweeping gesture to the ceiling. "This will give me the precise coordinates, or at least, coordinates close enough to find my way back."
"That makes little sense though" Ermlanth said, looking from Von Helvik to Kessler "If we're somewhere in the Segmentum Ultima, then we should be able to see the Astronomican."
"The device has been prepared." a voice that sounded as though it came from a static filled vox channel. The Magos, Brith, stood still in front of the device, his metal limbs eerily still as he waited to input information into the coginator. Ermlanth though he caught the faint whiff of oil mixed with incense waffing from the two.
Von Helvik pulled an antique chrono from his pocket and flipped it open, the bronze and silver facade of the timekeeper reflected off the dull lights that filled the black chamber, Ermlanth though he could see the faint etching of a skull in the center of an aquilla on the face of the chrono before the captain snapped it shut and pocketed it in his cloak. "Any moment now" he said, eyeing the choir, whose chanting had ceased. It was only then he realized how silent the chamber was.
Ermlanth was ready to interject with more questions when Augustus curved his back slightly, bracing himself with the staff, practiced familiarity seeme to take him as the others began to chant rapidly, three dipping staves towards the pedestal while the others placed their fingers to their temples. Ermlanth felt a faint sense of static in the air as the astropath began to speak. "Resplendence Reporting...All nominal...no anomalies or hostiles... M-class star...three mild jungle planet...one jovian with moons...Cognition coordination... seven seven five two three six five nine twelve dash forty dash sixty nine dash two dash…" he trailed speaking the words with a booming cadance and echo that crowded the large chamber. Behind Ermlanth, he could hear the Magos furiously clicking away at the device, limbs whirling and bionics flying over the interface with mechanical precision. He thought he heard a low hum from the navigation coginator.
The astropath continued to list numbers for another twenty seconds, then returned to his normal upright posture, the others resuming the low chorus and raised their staves once more. He turned to the others. "That wasn't bad at all" he cracked a small grin "Hardly any Warp interference at all, we could have probably done that without any signal boosting if we wanted." he waved to his chanting choir. "No offence, you all did as well as you usually do."
The captain simply nodded, offering no commentary on his astropath's words, though Ermlanth made sure to take a mental note of it. He'd already learned about the strange calmness in the warp around this area days prior, but a lack of interference, dark whispers, and other usual difficulties in any astropathic messaging was simultaneously encouraging, interesting, and deeply disturbing.
The procedure repeated itself a number of time, Augustus rattled off more numbers than an Administratum accountant compiling a casualty reports, Brith clattered away at the coginator while the captain and Kessler watched. Eventually, the last report filtered through and Brith's ceaseless gesticulations stopped as quickly as they'd begun. The low hum from the device turned into an audible whirl as it began to unravel and make sense of the numbers that had been fed into it. Slowly, a long sheet of parchment began to slide out of the side, lines and numbers incomprehensible to Ermlanth dotted the entirety of the sheet. After a long minute it came to a sudden stop as the machine slowly powered down.
The servitors moved over to the smaller box, mechanical injectors and limbs moving back and forth along it. Several red lights along the left and right side of the box blinked rapidly each time a new dial was turned and as a empty port was plugged with one of the servitors needle-like appendages. Eventually the blinking stopped and the lights turned a solid green as the lid of the box parted in the center and fold to both sides like a bird stretching its wings. A small pneumatic hiss could be heard from the box as metal cradle was pushed outwards. Affixed to it were seven long, thick tubes, colored brown and easily a meter long. As the cradle came to a stop, Kessler and Brith pushed past and moved to the cylinders, with the captain extolling them to be careful. as they pulled one of the tubesl, it detached with a small hiss. Holding is as though he was holding a newborn child, Kessler brought the tube to the Captain, he placed a thumb on its lid, after a moment subtle pop could be heard and Von Helvik unscrewed the lid, extracting a rolled up piece of parchment.
A pair of servo skulls floated over, one grasped a corner of the parchment in small, delicate graspers, the usually pointed pincers had been replaced with a, flat tong-like manipulator covered in what looked like velvet. Slowly unrolling the massive sheet, Von Helvik paced backward, face screwed in concentration as he handled the parchment. It looked to be a pale brown, almost translucent in many places, with ragged corners and lines upon lines of carefully written navigational routes. As it finished unfurling and the other skull grasped it, the map was displayed in all its tattered glory. Unlike its much adorned cousin in the Captain's room, this one held only thin, delicate lines linking a myriad tangle of dots. Numbers, navigational runes and other familiar markings stood out next to the lines and dots and small unknown letterings an incomprehensible scribble to Ermlanth. Brith and Kessler stood in front of the map, muttering quietly to themselves, the Magos's respirator taking in loud intakes of breath which covered up their conversation. After several minutes, Kessler moved to the map and gently pointed a finger to a dot near the bottom right, careful to not lay a finger on the parchment.
"Hmmm" was all Kessler said. Brith looked at the map and appeared unmoving as usual. Von Helvik, Augustus and Ermlanth watched the two, waiting for more information. "It is working, right" Kessler whispered to the Magos who gave a single nod in affirmation. Wheeling around, the Navigator spoke with a slow deliberate voice. "I have excellent news and horrible news!"
"Let's hear the bad news first" the Captain grimaced.
"We'll it appears we're definitely in the Segmentum Ultima like we thought and we're in Imperial space, the bad news is according to these charts, we're very close to quite a few planets, so if that's true then laying a stake to all these world will be difficult." He pointed to several of the planets. "An Astartes chapter planet is here, and if you go over a bit more, you'll find a forge world of some repute, and further around are more standard worlds. Go down a little more and you hit more locations. subsectors and the like."
"If that's so then how is this cluster unknown?" the captain demanded, opening a palm expectantly towards Kessler and Brith. The Magos remained motionless himself, but his mechadendrites appeared to gesture slightly up and down in a rapid motion. Kessler sighed and turned to the shaft, pointing a circles of sharp jagged lines.
"My best guess would be this. Celtor's Flux, it's a smaller warp storm but still its presence might be why. Despite refining our coordinates we're still within an area one hundred or so light years in any direction, still plenty of worlds and stars that might have gone unnoticed."
The name of the warp storm sounded familiar to Ermlanth as the four others began to talk among themselves. Slowly he asked "Navigator, what are the names of the more prominant worlds in that cluster you mentioned?"
"Oh, let's see. We have Talon, I believe that's home to an Astartes chapter, and Endragiga is the for-"
"Did you say Endragiga?" Ermlanth's eyes fluttered wide open as he stared at the map and the Navigator. When Kessler answered with a surprised "yes", he wheeled around and looked at the astropath, who was facing in his direction.
"Did any of the captains say the worlds they found were life bearing?" he asked in the same low tone.
"Yes...I believe they mentioned several rather pleasant planets or worlds that are candidates for possible changing later…"
Ermlanth whipped his head around, first from the map, then the crew and then finally to Von Helvik. Trying to speak slowly through his rapid breaths, he tried his best to regain his composure.
"And you are sure of your charts, your machine and your messages? Nothing is broken or given over to falsehoods" he asked the Kessler, Brith and Augustus respectively. It couldn't be, it had to be an error.
"Oh course!" Kessler said as he pointed to the chart "These maps have been passed down for generations upon generations, annotated, and updated as my family flies a thousands ships to a thousand worlds to a thou-" he wheezed before he could continue his thought.
And the cogitator, it's in working condition, no inconsistencies or issue?" he asked Brith. Newer cogitator like this one likely was tended to have issues of quality in their reporting.
"Do not insult the gift of the Omnissiah child!" Brith boomed, his mechadendrites rising a noticeable half meter in the air and his tilting posture suddenly straight. The vox enhanced voice sounded the same, but lost a lot of the slow deliberateness it had earlier. "This particular machine was forged in the Dark Age of Technology! Used in a time when ships like ours numbered so high they darkened the sky and the Omnissiah's grace was at its apex. It is clear of taint, error, mistake, bug, maleficence and apostasy! Do not demean his gifts, boy!" his last word run through the hanger with a mechanical clang. Ermlanth was silent, though he looked at the cube with a new respect. These people were dragging an archeotech cogitator around the ship like it was a cart or plow?
"And yes I'm sure I heard everything right, I've been doing this for twenty years, if I can't listen to something someone says in my brain and then repeat it two seconds later, I'm an abject failure at my job, Emperor forbid" he said with a single lazy wave of his hand.
"Inquisitor what are you going on about?" the captain demanded "If you know something speak!"
"Captain." Ermlath said, slowly, calmly, but with a small crackle in the tone "If your people did everything right and all your equipment is functioning properly, then something has gone horribly wrong. All the world's Kessler listed...along with anything living for hundreds of lightyears around them...should be dead."