– Present–

Rykad system, space travel to Rykad Minoris

The Rogue Trader went back to her office after separating with Abelard. The Seneschal had given her much to think about. However unpleasant their quarrel had been, she felt more serene now that they had settled their misunderstanding. Abelard's sheer passion when he talked about the job of a Rogue Trader - it moved her, in a way, made her see something she hasn't seen yet. Struggle for survival would be over when they got to Footfall, hopefully, and she was going to need the Seneschal to get a grip at all of her new duties.

As she sat in her office, she looked once more at what had been until recently Theodora's files, reports, plans. Her whole life. Theodora hasn't really made a good impression on Elena, and she could tell the feeling had been mutual. She wondered what the haughty, imperious woman would say if she was still alive to see her commanding her ship and sleeping in her bed. At least Abelard's dedication was certain, and today would certainly prove to be a turning point in their relationship, as they'd learn in time to know each other better.

Elena took some time to go through her files of the day, and organize the desk to her liking. Once she was over, she took her vox and called the Interrogator, to inform him that they could now talk in her office.

After a while, her servants ushered Heinrix in and quickly left. The Interrogator advanced towards her desk, taking in the various details of the office, but looking unimpressed.

He stopped in front of her, waiting politely for her attention.

" Please, have a seat ", Elena said amiably. As Heinrix sat, she continued : " You said you wanted to speak to me privately. I'm listening."

" There is something the Lord Inquisitor wanted Lady Theodora to have. Considering her unfortunate demise, and your consequential ascension, this is now supposed to go to you." He brought a hand-held device out of his pocket, that he slided to her across her desk. Elena caught it nimbly. " It is an Elucidator. This device will allow you to speak and understand various languages, including xenos ones." He stopped, impassible.

Elena glanced at the device. That raised many questions. Why would the Lord Inquisitor want Theodora to possess such a thing ? If she could fathom the utility of it for a Rogue Trader, the fact that it was gifted from the Ordo Xenos was deliciously ironic.

Something must have seeped from her interrogations as she turned the device in her hand. Heinrix continued evenly :

" Originally, I intended to give you this just after Aurora's death, as per my Lord's will. Since discovering your unexpected diviner abilities, though, I had to…make some other arrangement, in order to cleanse it from its sensory data. I hope you won't mind." There it was again, the hint of irony.

She looked back at him, but there was no trace of anything else but this perpetual mask of cold politeness. Well, at least the man had a brain and knew she could have used her psychometric senses to get a reading at the object, had it been in proximity long enough with the Interrogator or his master. Which she now knew it had.

" Thank you for this." She put back the device over her desk. " I must say, it comes as a surprise. Surely the Lord Inquisitor didn't intend for Lady Theodora to meet any xenos in the future, I hope ?"

" For your own good, Rogue Trader, I certainly hope for you, at least, to never have to cross paths with one", replied Heinrix, ignoring her not so subtle hint. Of course he wouldn't respond to that, but it's just so tempting to wonder aloud.

This gave her a strange chill. She felt the hair on her neck raise up. Well, that was a foreshadowing if I ever felt one, she thought, laying back in her chair in order to hide her sudden discomfort. She could tell those two dark pools of eyes of his had noticed her reaction.

" You are well informed on diviner abilities, I notice ", she said, changing the topic. It would take some effort after all to cleanse an object from its psychometric readings, mainly because the only way she knows of doing that would be to confuse the sensory data by overloading it.

" I have known a few diviners before." Something changed in his expression, something she had noticed multiple times when he considered hers or Idira's powers. A cautious interest. " They did not age well. I have come to thank the God-Emperor for not bestowing that specific curse upon me. There is a certain type of madness that shrouds those that slowly lose track of the present."

" Indeed. I'd say that battling descent into madness is a perpetual trial we all have to face", she replied sternly.

A new, lingering silence, as Heinrix's expression changed slightly. " Is it", he agreed calmly after a while. " Any weaknesses on this matter should be reported to me."

That was the first time Elena began to understand that, if she wanted to understand Heinrix, she'd have to pay more attention not to his words but to his silence. The man was skilled in giving everyone that asked too many questions (which was any question at all) the silent treatment, but she was beginning to infer that there were a variety of qualities of silence from him. The smug one, when he thought you said something stupid, wasn't planning on telling you that straight to your face, but still wanted you to come to the conclusion yourself. That one happened a lot, and rattled on everybody's nerves around him. Elena dealt with it by ignoring it. But there were other types, as well, that she was just beginning to notice. There were the things that were said…and the things left unsaid, lingering in the silence. It would take time to decipher those, and patience.

" This brings me to another question. I am unused to working with another psyker. In my experience, though, and because of the risks, psykers don't tend to be left unsupervised. I was surprised to find a person of your abilities was sent alone in the system. It seems…risky, should things go sideways. "

Heinrix raised an eyebrow at that. " I am unsure of what you're expecting of me with that question, Rogue Trader. I didn't think it necessary to insist upon, but I am sanctioned, as I think you're well aware of. I am sure you will find my will nothing but unwavering. As for my Lord's motivations upon assigning me to this peculiar mission, they are not for you to inquire about. "

You may elude me, but you know I'm right. There's always someone watching. Ready to blow your head up if you let yourself lose control. Who is it in your case, and by what conduit ? Elena thought to herself, but didn't say. That would be going too far. There was a thin line of exterior courtesy between them, and, as long as she didn't cross it, it could allow for some veiled internal curiosity. The line was really thin for now, and she doubted it would ever open up much more.

" Still", he added as an afterthought, " I have asked myself the same thing regarding you. I seem to recall you were a battle-psyker, in the Imperial Guard. "

Way to tell me you've been sneaking around, since I've never told you. Elena's eyes narrowed as a sign of annoyance.

" So did I, years ago." He paused, looking unhappy. But then van Calox wasn't exactly the most cheerful companion in her retinue. " I wonder, how do you feel about becoming a Rogue Trader ? Diviners in places of power are not unheard of…but I daresay they're quite rare. As you so crudely said…some need supervision after all."

She couldn't quite read into the man, but it looked like a tricky question. In the same time, she felt there was a curiosity she had noticed before - one born, perhaps, of their shared past as sanctioned psykers and all that would imply, where you were made to be a servant to the ones in power, and not the other way around. She understood how intriguing and repulsive it must be to someone sharing features of her background. Even thinking about it made her uneasy. She didn't want to talk about it. It felt so private.

She tried to wrap her head around a satisfactory answer, but could not quite find the right words for it. She resorted to her usual stern attitude :

" I am certain to be at the best place and time to serve Mankind and the Imperium", she finally said after a while. It was true, in a way. She had the intuition of this - of something she had to do. That her blood was important, fateful. Though how exactly - it eluded her.

" A comforting thought."

They fell silent, as Elena ruminated on this. Apparently, her getting lost in her thoughts didn't seem to bother the Interrogator who let her be without interruption. It occurred to her after a while that maybe he was just waiting for her to dismiss him, as etiquette would command. But she didn't feel quite like letting him go just now.

" I must admit, I hadn't expected to fight alongside not one, but two psykers. The experience is certainly…tiresome", she said cautiously. " I am not used to sharing."

Restraining herself voluntarily in order to allow for Idira and Heinrix to use their powers without causing any perils of the warp was indeed a burden for her. What was even worse, she had to put up with other psykers's channeling side-effects. It felt like wearing someone else's skin. She had to ignore it in battle, but still found it uncomfortable when a sudden cold or surge of wind made her mind crawl, and it didn't originate from her. It would be difficult to explain the awkwardness it caused her to someone exterior, but she knew Heinrix would get the point.

That nearly granted her a faint, unjoyful smile from him.

" I share your diagnosis. Your unsanctioned psyker's powers in peculiar are distasteful. Might I add that…"sharing" the essence of the Immaterium…would prove easier without her around. I hope you have prepared yourself to allow her the Ultimate Sanction, which, in her case, is inexorable. I'll leave it to your diviner abilities to know, not if the time has come, but when it will come. "

The Ultimate Sanction meant executing a psyker before he'd become too dangerous. She'd seen it before, of course. How someone unbound could twist, change, fall into madness. The vision of it still haunted her sometimes. It remained as a warning of what she could become in the end.

" I have considered this ", she said stiffly. Of course she had thought about it. No one made it through Scholastica Psykana without being ready for that possibility. Heinrix nodded gravely.

" Good."

They fell silent once more, and Elena took it as her cue to finally dismiss van Calox.

" I do realize it's getting rather late. Please, Master van Calox, don't let me detain you", she said, looking down at the files over her desk, and to the new strange device that now decorated it.

" Of course, Lord Captain. "

" My servants will see you out."

Heinrix got up and tilted his head respectfully, and then headed towards the exit.

Elena thought back on what he said about Idira. What was she going to do with Tlass ? He was right, in a way. One day or another, Idira would fall. It would take a slip of her will - a surge of powers - an emotion overwhelming her. She'd learnt that in the Black Ship.

**** Glimpses of the past

— Black Ship, childhood –

Elena sat down at the large, metal table, holding her tray in front of her. The child sat on the cold bench in between two others kids. Gideon, on her left, was a small boy (but everyone was small compared to her, even is she was the youngest), with pretty brown hair. Gideon had manners, a certain firmness about him that he inherited from his past as a noble scion. Elena had not bothered to care much for more information about him, she just noticed he had a wooden toy in the form of a dog. His sigil, he had said, and she instantly wanted the toy for herself. Gideon has always refused to share it.

Then, there was Isred. She was the oldest of the three, so she was the leader per default. She came from a death world, she had experience or at least pretended to have some. Under Isred's patronage, Gideon and Elena had survived their first weeks on the Black Ship. The meetings with Mistress Maria were very scarce, thankfully, except for Gideon. The rest of the time, they were just wandering the decks. Some sort of life was going on as humans, even bare of all their possessions and past, would strive to make sense of their lives and give them purposes : There was a schedule, work to be done, mainly in order to maintain and clean the place, even some classes, and regular masses in the chapel. In Elena's point of view, life was as good as it could get here.

Adults were plenty on this deck. There was the sobbing woman in their dormitory, for example. On her first night, she had cried about being separated from her children. Soon enough her incessant sobbing had worn on her neighbor's nerves and now she was just…kinda there, a shadow of who she used to be. Generally speaking, the adults seemed to have a harder time adjusting to their new environments. It was often that some were randomly selected during the warden's patrol. What happened to them was unknown, though Isred told them they were spaced out of the airlock for being too whiny. At first, the other rare children on the deck were scared all the time, asking about the whereabouts of their families. Elena had deemed it better to ignore them, and so she ended up with Isred, who didn't complain nor sob. Gideon was just someone they took pity on, mainly because he was sick all the time due to space travel. He had the best stories though, and he was educated.

Elena opened the can of artificial meat they were given everyday for lunch.

" Purple Soy Thingie slop ! It's my favorite ! " she said, gleaming.

Gideon, who barely even touched the undefined mash in his tin and only poked at it with the most disgusted face, looked at her.

" You're so weird, voidrat. If you like it so much, just take mine. I'm sick already just looking at this."

" You should eat while you still can", grimaced Isred, addressing the boy. " You pampered little baby."

Elena took the can, oblivious to the eternal bickering between Isred and Gideon, and gladly ate the surplus portion.

A shade fell upon us, as the sobbing lady bended over them.

" All three of you are so cute", she sniffed, her eyes still watery. " So cute I could eat you alive !" she added, pinching Gideon's plump cheeks. The boy recoiled and slapped her wrist angrily.

As the woman slid away, Isred added in between her teeth : " Adults are freaks here. Don't speak to them ! " There was a hint of fear in her voice. Isred had been here longer than them all. She knew things about the ship.

" She's just sad", said Gideon.

" Oh, you know, she totally will eat you alive", chimed Elena, licking her fingers for any rest of slop. Her joyful tone unsettled Gideon, who squirmed on the bench.

" By the Throne, Martyr, you're such a creep. Shut up already", groaned Isred, rolling her eyes.

The bell rang. Putting their cans back on the tray, the children got up in a line. It was time for the warden's selection. Then work and then mass.

Elena was really happy here.

Elena sighed, and stretched. Fatigue was beginning to wear her down. Apparently, there was still a few hours to Rykad and to her triumph. From what she had gathered from Abelard, it would imply a lengthy procession around the capital, in order for the population to acclaim her and witness what happened to the rebels. It would be her first time being seen and acclaimed as the Rogue Trader. She wondered how it would feel, to feel all those people's eyes and hopes on her.

She knew from the weird chills in her bones that it would not feel good. The unsettling feeling lingered on, following her in her dreams and nightmares as she went to catch up on some sleep.

**** Elena's dreams

You walk down the street alone. The city is alien to you, unfamiliar. Everything feels so cold here, like you're going to freeze to death. Black alliage twists in strange shapes, spires, pikes, all things bloodied and deeply unsettling.

Someone watches your back, but everytime you turn around, you see nothing. Still you can't shake the feeling of being spied on, even though the utter desolation of the space around you screams your complete loneliness to you.

At least you spot someone at the end of the street. The city has changed, it looks more humane now. Maybe it's Rykad. Maybe it's a mechanical world. Its backgrounds keep changing, mutating, impossible to pinpoint with precision.

As you approach the shadow of a person, you realize it is far bigger than you had initially thought. It towers over you. It could break in two with a snap of his fingers. It's a giant, an ogre maybe. It hasn't spotted you, but the fear that rushes inside your veins tells you to run. You scamper to your feet and turn away, only to be faced with a man you know. well

" Hi, Elena. Aren't you glad we get to have a little family reunion ? "

It's Kunrad ! The sly traitor looks so smug in his Rogue Trader's attire. Your attire ! How dare he !

You look for your weapon, but once again you're unarmed, defenseless. It's too late to prevent the strange, blue blade entering your flesh, piercing your lung.

— Unknown landmark – Unknow time —

Eternal darkness encompasses all.

You dissolve into nothing, at least. You hope that rest will be granted to you, but even then, something ravenous preys upon every little piece of you that still remains to tear it apart. In the grim darkness of the future, there is neither rest nor mercy, even after death.