The confession

Somewhere in a dark city, a barefooted man was following a recurring echo. A prayer. Short and to the point. More fitting for a battlefield, than a mass.

"Emperor who watches from above us...lay your merciful hand upon me...and preserve me from the fires of damnation..."
The source of the prayer was a wretched being clothed in dirty rags. A woman. Her clothes were smeared with stains, and her hair was a disheveled mess. Best not to dwell on the indignities she must have suffered.

"...and as my feet walk through this valley of death, I shall not fear, for…" the prayer ended abruptly. The woman could not remember how it continued.

The barefooted man observed her intently. He was not alone. Had the woman been less dismayed and more attentive, she would have realized that she had been surrounded by a small group of shadows that resembled people. Their emaciated leader stepped forward, startling the woman with the sound of his feet on the cold stone.

"You! I remember you. Have you come to bring me before the Emperor?"
"No." the Rogue Trader denied "I am not here to end your suffering, Sister Argenta."
"Then, if you would not let death claim me, why have you come?"

"I am here to recover my missing boots." the Rogue Trader said jovially, as if he were having tea among friends, instead of being stuck in a nightmarish realm with only a handful of terrified companions "So far, I have only managed to find most of my retinue."

The impromptu joke left Argenta dumbfounded, before she remembered what sort of man she was talking to.
"I...see." she managed to comment. Eccentric manners of the Rogue Trader aside, there was a matter that Argenta wished to discuss, now that he was here. While there was still time. "Lord Captain. I have a confession to make."

Great. When confessions are involved, nothing good ever comes out of them.
"Were you forced to provide classified information through torture?" the Rogue Trader asked, all traces of false cheerfulness now gone. One way or another, all of them had been tortured since their unforeseen arrival in this bleak realm. At times there were questions, other times the torture seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever.

"No, no. This is not about torture, or these accursed Xenos. It involves you, your Lordship."

The Rogue Trader's mood darkened at her words. "This is a city built on suffering. The truths that emerge from such places should not be disclosed openly. But don't let my words dishearten you, Argenta. You will have an opportunity to unburden yourself once we make it out of this city."
If we make it out of this city...

Hope is a powerful motivation. By promising a private audience in a future that might never come, the Rogue Trader reasoned, Argenta would find the strength to forge a future that could be. But the Sister of Battle refused to budge. "No! Lord Captain, you must heed me. I have not been entirely honest with you, and this...might be my only chance to offer an apology."

This is getting more concerning by the minute. Whatever she wants to say should be discussed somewhere safe. As safe as we can hope to be, that is. But why does Argenta feel the need to be so insistent? How much important could this confession even be? To get to the bottom of this matter, the Rogue Trader decided to indulge her.

"Alright. I'm listening. What are you apologizing for?"
"I was the one who murdered Lady Theodora von Valancius."

Argenta's words had barely left her mouth, when she felt the temperature around her plummet.

Disbelief. Outrage. Disgust. There was considerable hostility among the shadows that had gathered around the soon-to-be-disgraced Sister. Murder of a Rogue Trader. For once, even Theodora's heir was at a loss for words. But even where there is no light, there are forces that still have reach. Before the new Rogue Trader could collect his thoughts, the long hand of the Inquisition made itself manifest.

"Sister Argenta." Interrogator Henrix van Calox began, the tone in his voice so cold that he almost cut the temperature in half for a second time "Explain yourself." It was not a request.

"It was during the mutiny attempt!" Argenta cried out, pouring facts in quick succession before Henrix decided that further questioning was in order.
"Lady Theodora was heading for her chambers. I thought she needed me to escort her. And so I followed. But once inside, she recovered an artifact from her vault. Xenotech. Or maybe a blasphemous idol. I don't know what it was. But the moment I saw that artifact in her hands, I acted on reflex. When I came back to my senses, she was already dead."

An open-and-shut case, if there ever was one. Imperial law acknowledged sanctioned murder. But never without proper supervision.
"And so you took it upon yourself to execute a sentence against your superiors, that had yet to be passed, without first informing your betters?"
"The imperial creed leaves no room for hesitation or doubt, when it comes to heresy." Argenta said weakly, as she attempted to hide behind dogma "I had to do it."

The Interrogator was unimpressed.
"Did you? Because from where I am standing, not only did you act without authorization, but you also refused to take responsibility, while intentionally concealing your role in this murder." he countered dryly "Do you even have any idea of how much disorder your actions have caused?"

The last point was particularly heinous. Unauthorized execution of an influential figure was a crime. But not because said person could have yet turned out to be innocent. Presumption of guilt was standard practice in the imperial courts. No. The guilt laid in the damage caused by the untimely death of said person.

"I had to do it!" Argenta pleaded "She was practicing witchcraft! I had to kill her!"
"No, I do not believe so. In any case," Henrix continued, as the Interrogator implicitly declared that he considered this matter already settled "your confession alone is reason enough to pass judgment upon you. Predictably, the verdict is not in your favor. But I will leave your fate to the mercy of those who had a more...personal connection to the victim."

At first, Argenta did not understand at whom the Interrogator was referring to. Then came a fire that burned but did not burn. She contorted unnaturally under writhing tendrils of Warp energy, as Idira painfully twisted her body.

"You. Sanctimonious. Bitch."