The Story So Far...

The message was from Rogue Trader Waylen Star, ancient by mortal men’s standards, possibly touched in the head, and fatally injured on his last venture. The Lord Captain Waylen Star desperately passed on command of the Star Charter and the precious dynastic Warrant of Trade to his distant blood-kin Lord Devrim Star on his deathbed. The dying Waylen urged his distant relation to continue the dynastic work by proceeding into the largely unexplored Koronus Expanse seeking fortune and power to restore the Star family name in the annals of Imperial history.   Newly minted Lord Captain Devrim Star, now holder of a renown Warrant of Trade and master of a stout voidship of ancient lineage, anxious to seek fortune and glory, and relishing the idea of the freedoms that are the right of all Rogue Traders, took his most trusted retainers and launched into the void.   Lord Star’s two most trusted retainers travelled with him to the Star Charter: Lord Carno Fortunus, Master at Arms, fearsome warrior scholar and loyal son of the Imperium and Wade Echo, voidborne Shipmaster, twice-cursed traveller and master pilot took to their new senior positions aboard the Star Charter rapidly. Amongst the ship's existing crew, none stood out as much as Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator Vorg Titanus, Engineseer and master of the arcane mysteries of the engineerum decks.   Already a passenger on the Star Charter, the reclusive Astropath Amaris Nahara was originally retained in the service of the Inquisitor Cassis who never returned from the mysterious errand that ended the life of former captain Waylen Star. Never one to overlook the usefulness of an asset as rare as an Astropath, Nahara found a place on Devrim's retinue as the ship approached Port Wander.  

The Hulk and the Star

  Less than a week into his new captaincy, with the crew still fresh from the hasty and incomplete handover from the rapidly deteriorating Waylen, Lord Captain Star found his ship thrown into a seething warp storm. The Star Charter collided with an ancient ship, becoming vacuum welded into the mysterious wreck before both were ejected from the Sea of Screams to flounder in the eye of the storm in the materium.   While the crew worked to free the beleaguered vessel before the warp storm returned and tore both ships back into the Immaterium, the Lord Captain and his retinue decided to investigate the labyrinthine corridors of the ancient hulk, seeking ancient treasures. Events came to a head when daring exploration teams encountered wretched mutants - remains of the ancient ship’s old crew. With losses mounting and the Star Charter only hours away from being cut free, the Captain's retinue discovered a Dark Age star map of the Koronus Expanse, a prize worthy of the Lord Captain’s time and attention. Lingering to pay homage to the Machine God for preserving such a fine example of it’s influence, the Captain's retinue became surrounded by mutants and something far more sinister born of the depths of the Warp, but finally made their fortuitous escape using a Gun Cutter they found in the cavernous hangar deck.   Once freed, the Star Charter resumed course for the vast void station of Port Wander. Lord Captain Star paid a vast fortune in bribes to gain enough favour to grant the entirety of his sixteen-thousand strong crew a final shore leave in the Imperium.  

The Silk Road

  Passing through the Maw, an Emperor-blessed safe passage between the two permanent chaotic warp storms that seal the dark Koronus Expanse from the rest of the Calixis Sector, the Star Charter’s Astropath received a plea for help directed specifically to the old captain Waylen Star.   Responding to the plea for assistance, the Star Charter found the Rogue Trader voidship Silkwyrm in orbit of a bountiful virgin world, potentially ripe for Imperial exploitation. Reports from the remaining crew of the Silkwyrm indicated that Captain John Silkurnicus’ expedition to the surface went mysteriously silent as soon as they dropped beneath the cloud.   Risking becoming stranded themselves, but deeming the risk worthwhile, the Lord Captain and his retinue flew down to the planet. Thanks to the expert piloting of voidmaster Echo and the favour of the God Emperor the Gun Cutter made a perfect unpowered landing, despite suffering the same mysterious power-loss that must have caused Captain Silkurnicus’ crash weeks earlier. Stranded, but otherwise in good condition, the crew tracked down the camp of Captain Silkurnicus and his surviving retinue.   Before the two crews could form a plan, the camp came under siege by primitive humans, apparently the remaining survivors of an old Imperial colony that mysteriously vanished hundreds of years ago. Capturing one of the attackers, the crew learned that the planet had been cut off by a warp storm. Bereft of the light of the Emperor the colonists eventually fragmented and broke down into tribal groups. The descendants of these original colonists feared native beings they called 'the pale ones'. The Lord Captain's retinue realised that the ‘Pale Ones’ were likely xenos that might well control the dampening field that prevented escape from the primitive planet. Armed with this vital knowledge the crew discovered an underground chamber where a gigantic xeno construct guarded an incomprehensible device that seemed to be the source of the problem.   Voidmaster Wade suffered a mortal wound from the construct's alien weaponry, losing a leg, but before the blasphemous animus could finish it’s terrible work a number of the enigmatic and dangerous Aeldari xenos appeared and deactivated the guardian.   This Farseer claimed to have had a vision of a dark future, and realised that the fates of Lord Captain Star and his crew were intrinsically linked to this vision. The Lord Captain earned favour with the xenos Farseer, who deactivated the damping field and granted Captain Star the rights to valuable artefacts from the planet in exchange.   Once back in orbit and again in the embrace of the Star Charter, Lord Captain Star tasked Captain Silkurnicus with overseeing the extraction of artefacts found on the planet below. After several weeks in orbit, Voidmaster Wade was healed from his wounds, and the Star Charter headed to the nearby Imperial colony world of Damaris for resupply.

Foul Mutiny!

  Deep into the voyage to Damaris the sacred Gellar field began to fail, allowing a spectral predatorial presence aboard to stalk the crew. Explorator Vorg discovered that the Gellar field had been deliberately sabotaged, and many of the holy symbols and blessings of the Mechanicus had been defaced or removed. Magos Vorg was able to make repairs and posted a permanent guard on the compartment. Unfortunately the chaos caused by the spectral entities ravaging the crew and several other small grievances frothed over into a full-scale mutiny. Master-at-arms Carno's newly trained armsmen proved vital in containing the mutiny and preventing it erupting fully across the ship. The Lord Captain and his retinue ventured into the lower decks to confront what appeared to be the leaders of the mutiny. A small girl, Devona, either hostage or an unwilling accomplice was liberated from the mutineers and taken by Lady Nahara who revealed herself to be not an Astropath, but an Inquisitor psyker in disguise.   While the ship underwent resupply and refit at the Emperor-blessed colony of Damaris, a Rogue Trader by the name of Jerico Velan arrived in-system. Velan ranted about being 'owed' something by Waylen on an open vox link and appeared to be making best speed to engage the Star Charter in combat over the planet Damaris. Lord Captain Star decided that a tactical withdrawal was the wisest course of action, taking his ship far from Damaris to a star system known only as GD-350, whose coordinates were recovered from the ancient starmap found on the space hulk.   While en-route Devrim took his retinue to explore a secret section of the Star Charter frequented by former Captain Weylan. The vault, accessible only to someone who knew the history of the Star Dynasty and had the family signet ring and codes had been converted into what seemed to be a research area focused around a mysterious black orb of unknown origin.   Feeling compelled to touch the orb, the Lord-Captain experienced a powerful vision of an ancient wrecked ship deep in the ocean on the planet Rain. Devrim continued to experience these odd visions every night and was forced to take powerful sleeping medicants to allow him to properly rest.  

Demons in the Bilges!

  The GD-350 system revealed itself to be home to a long-lost human colony based on the planet they called Necya. These humans were ignorant of anything outside their star system. Before the crew could explore the planet they discovered that mutants living in the bilges of the Star Charter had sealed off a large section of the underdecks and had been snatching crewmembers for some unknown purpose. Fearing another mutiny, the Lord Captain led the crew into the underdecks to purge the mutants and restore order. The crew discovered it was far worse than they expected, they quickly became embroiled in a bloody battle against heretical cultists and mutants before witnessing the leader of the blasphemous cult become host to a horrific entity spawned from the twisted energies of the Sea of Screams. This newly-birthed monster was vulnerable for only a short time after it was birthed into the materium. A sustained assault from the crew guided by the benevolent light from the God Emperor managed to tear the daemon's physical form apart and return it to the warp.   After celebrating the cleansing of the ship, the crew of the Star Charter landed in one of the largest cities on Necya and announced themselves as being visitors from the Imperium.   The humans of the planet Necya turned out to be volatile unsanctioned psykers. Having never been suppressed by the Imperium these mutants had spread and become the ruling class of the planet. Initially the Lord Captain accepted the hospitality of Cécire Le Jumel, the Autarch of Dumone, one of the most powerful city-states. While courting the locals carefully, it became clear that the planet was mineral-rich and would be of great interest to the Imperium for its abundance of rare minerals. Unfortunately before trade negotiations could get started a religious extremist group that had been simmering under the surface erupted into open conflict and threatened the lives of the Captain and his retinue. The Lord Captain chose to leave the GD-350 system and let the citizens of Necya resolve the situation themselves.   Months before arriving at Necyia, the crew discovered a starmap detailing a safe passage through terrible warp storms to a long-lost human colony world offering the potential of treasures from the Dark Age of mankind. The crew decided to travel from Necyia to the nearby system of Raakata using the map, hoping to find riches untouched for millennia.   At first the Emperor’s light shone upon the venture. The transit progressed quickly and Hadrak Glarson, the ship's venerable Navigator, was pleased with the accuracy of the map. Soon though Glarson detected a massive, unprecedented warp tsunami approaching that would engulf the ship and likely destroy it entirely. The crew scrambled to action stations and prepared for the coming storm. The storm hammered the ancient Star Charter with the incredible reality-bending energies of the Empyrean, causing severe damage to the outer hull. The psyker Nahara defended the bridge crew from assault by nightmarish entities from the immaterium while with the Emperor’s guiding will voidmaster Wade steered the ship as best he could through the terrible storm. Engineseer Vorg managed to prevent massive damage to the vital Gellar field, saving the entire crew from a fate worse than the most horrible death imaginable to mortal minds. The Star Charter miraculously survived the raging energies of the immaterium, but found itself ejected from the warp severely damaged, barely functional and with all systems suffering major traumas that rendered the ship functionally dead in space. The crew found themselves trapped in a ship that was soon to become a vast tomb. Eventually, over many desperate hours, the crew slowly gained control of the systems and managed to stabilise the ship, but discovered that main power was impossible to restore and the ship's ancient and complex life support systems were failing. Several thousand crew had been killed in the disaster, and in order to save the remaining thousands the Lord Captain and his retinue were forced to leave the Star Charter to seek aid, hoping that wherever they ended up would provide what they needed.   Auguries showed the ship was near what seemed to be a vast wreckage field, with signs of a void-faring civilisation nearby. En route, the crew rescued a small freighter from attack from the bestial Greenskin Orks. The grateful ship’s captain told the crew about the nearby civilisation based at Tantalus, a vast heavily industrialised starport no more than a few days journey away.   At Tantalus the crew discovered a thriving and technologically sophisticated civilisation, apparently grown from the seeds of the Dark Age colony that once existed here. Disturbingly it seemed as though the humans of this system knew nothing of the God Emperor and lived and worked shackled to the whims of foul xenos. However, with time running out for the thousands still stranded on the dying Star Charter, the Lord Captain had little choice but to seek help from the rulers of Tantalus.  

Dealing with the Devil

  In order to persuade the implacable Assembly Council to render aid to the thousands of dying crew aboard the Star Charter, the Lord Captain struck a deal to lease his ship to the Ithacan Star League, the local military force, to use as a temporary void station on some grand campaign against the Orks ravaging the system. In exchange the Lord Captain was offered the deferred powerful position of Governor of this new station, overseeing an entire sector of the Star League’s territory. The Assembly also provided the Lord Captain with a new system-ship to use as his personal vessel.   Meanwhile, the thousands of now-displaced crew of the Star Charter were moved and given accommodation and work aboard Tantalus station. Hoping to earn more favour with the locals, the Lord Captain accepted a contract for work from a powerful military leader based at Tantalus station.   The mission led to a dangerous area of the local system, known as the Charybdis Graveyard, a vast wreckage site left over from old wars on the edge of a broken region of space where the laws of time and space break down. The mission proved fraught with unforeseen challenges as the crew struggled to adapt to this heretical xeno-loving society. The contract called for simply recruiting a skilled Engineer to the Star Charter’s refurbishment project, during which the voidmaster Wade murdered an alien he felt was disrespecting him. While this would have been lauded in the Imperium as the right and proper course of action, in this place where they know nothing of the blessed light of the God Emperor, voidmaster Wade’s actions resulted in the crew being placed in extreme danger. The pilot was punished for his crimes by having both of his arms cut off by a local lawkeeper.   The Lord Captain agreed to pay a large sum of money to buy the maimed voidmaster out of indentured servitude and the crew returned to Tantalus, far poorer than they had been. There the Lord Captain discovered that he was on the verge of being sanctioned by the local authorities due to a confrontation with a belligerent xeno. In order to avoid what would amount to being deposed and forced to live as a lowly citizen of this heathen society, he accepted the position of Governor and immediately shipped out to take over the Star Charter’s refit project, thus putting him out of reach of the scheming alien he’d offended.   Inquisitor Nahara took command of the Lost Star, claiming the remaining crew of the Star Charter as her own retinue in order to pursue her own mysterious Inquisitorial objectives. Captain Nahara accepted a contract from Admiral Graves in hopes of smoothing ruffled feathers while furthering her own goals, also she inherited a new recruit hired by Devrim just before his abrupt departure. The lizard-like Xeno Skalex joined the crew as ship's chef.   Admiral Graves proved to be an ally to the Inquisitor, the Lost Star's new mission took them away from their local problems to an overlooked 'passage' between the dangerous Scylla Reef and an ancient war-era minefield of massive proportions. they were tasked with locating the missing scout ship Sterope. Along the way the Lost Star stopped off at an outpost run by a retired adventurer. There the Inquisitor took advantage of the situation and hired another local xeno, Polydectes, with a great deal of local knowledge and navigational skills. The Lost Star discovered the ship they were searching for, damaged and under attack by an Ork raiding ship.   After a vicious ship-to-ship battle that saw the Lost Star heavily damaged, the valiant crew prevailed. Sadly the crew of the other scout ship was already dead, but Vorg managed to extract the logs from the other ship, which they took in tow to return to Tantalus.   Upon returning to Tantalus the ship received a strange encoded message asking them to dock at a disused port in an area under construction. The message hinted that Admiral Graves was the sender. The crew cautiously did as instructed, and proceeded through old mining tunnels. There they discovered a fortified door bearing the Imperial Aquila and guarded by God-Emperor-Fearing guards. Master-at-arms Carno Fortunas was recognised by several of the guards, and it became clear that this was the Star charter's crew! All 10,000 of them had been dumped in an old mining site because they were inconvenient for the Ithacan Assembly, accustomed to the hardships and dangers of being the crew of a voidship, the Imperial citizens thrived in the relatively safe environment of the cave-system. They had been constructing a small town from discarded containers and old industrial equipment over the last few months, quickly adapting from their arduous duties on the Star Charter.   The Inquisitor's retinue were pleased to see the old crew doing well, meeting back up with many people they recognised and learning what had happened after the Star Charter was co-opted by the Ithacan Star League.   The Inquisitor was led to an honoured guest - Admiral Graves! She had been forcibly retired from her position due to a series of internal political conflicts. suspecting she was intended to be the victim of assassination now that she was without the protection of her office, she fled to "Little Imperium", which she'd been heavily influential in setting up. Graves revealed that there was a deeply-routed rot at the heart of the Ithacan Star League, and that she was a member of a secret group calling themselves the Aquilan Society. The first Aquilans had discovered old records from over a century ago indicating that the Raakata system was part of the Imperium of Man, and governed under Imperial Law. After the devastating Ork war that raged for hundreds of years, the scattered survivors in this area abandoned their previous allegiances and formed the Ithacan Star League, a society that differeed significantly in several ways from the Imperium - notably having no laws on the integration of human and alien technologies or societies. Graves had joined the Aquilan Society after discovering evidence of large-scale cover-ups within the Ithacan Navy. After decades of membership, Graves was a highly-placed Aquilan and when the Star charter's crew had arrived, she immediately recognised the danger to them, and the opportunity for toppling the corrupt Assembly Council running the Ithacan Star League and the possibility of returning to the embrace of the Imperium.   Graves revealed to the Inquisitor and her retinue that she believed the League was controlled by a 'Shadow council' that had an agenda that was opposed to the greater good of it's citizens. She had been investigating what turned out to be a massive syphoning-off of material and funds spanning decades, and odd alliances within the Assembly that resulted in voting that favoured de-armament and rejecting and expansionist or exploratory ideas - this had led to the weakening of the Navy over time, and resulted in Tantalus and all of the Ithacan Star League being isolated from the rest of the Raakata system. Former Admiral Graves was grateful to receive the logs from the Scylla, and rewarded the crew by paying for repairs of the Lost Star from her own dwindling funds. Inquisitor Nahara chose a new name to match the ship's purpose and status: The Profectus. While the covert repairs were underway Admiral Graves informed the Inquisitor that the data logs from the scout ship revealed a massive fleet of Ork ships was using the Sleeper Route and heading towards Tantalus station. With the majority of the Ithacan Fleet already engaged with the Orks at Amphion Point, this second fleet would easily smash Tantalus' defences.   Graves suspected that this may have been part of the Shadow Councils plans, and she speculated that this may be why she was continually denied permission to send scouts along the disused Sleeper Route - an order which she defied by sending the Sterope, and one that was the official reason to investigate her office and resulted in her being deposed. Graves feared that simply turning the data over to the authorities would see it buried, and Tantalus would be unprepared for the Ork assault.   The Inquisitor's Retinue decided to release the information publicly, giving everyone on the station the opportunity to see the data free of the Shadow Council's influence. The Data showed that it would take less than 80 days for the Ork fleet to reach Tantalus. Graves suggested that attempting to gather all the fractured ships and organisations in Ithacan Space together to defend Tantalus might give them a chance at victory. The Inquisitor accepted the mission to return to the Charybdis Graveyard and attempt to make alliances with the various 'outlaw' factions there - Graves speculated that the combined power of these rogue groups might represent a sizable fleet, if they could be encouraged to unite for a common good. Meanwhile Graved called in every favour she had left to send similar missions to other scattered groups, most notably the Minoan's, who were trading partners of Tantalus.   Returning to the Graveyard, this time with the assistance of the xeno Polydectes, the Profectus arrived safely at Storm Port. Last time the ship was here Voidmaster Wade lost his arms and the crew were highly cautious about approaching the Mardoon Syndicate, the local ruling power-faction.   Information provided by Polydectes indicated that the Mardoons were primarily a capitalist business corporate structure, and that despite a heavy-handed approach, they maintained law and order at Storm Port.   While gathering some preliminary intelligence, the crew aboard the Profectus conducted minor repairs, discovering in the process signs of recent sabotage. These were safely dealt with before they could cause problems, but it was clear that there was someone onboard that was working against the crew. While investigating, Voidmaster Wade was attacked by one of the Armsmen that had been with them since the Star Charter's stop at Damaris. Wade managed to fight off the attacker and capture him alive, but hevily injured beyond what seemed possible for a human to survive.   Nahara used her psycana to infiltrate the mind of the prisoner to gain answers, and found a horrifying presence that fought her in the psychic plain. She was able to fight off the powerful attack, but not before taking severe injuries herself. Vorg performed at autopsy of the body and discovered that the Armsman had somehow been infected by a parasite organism that was using his body like a puppet. Unable to determine the cause or reason for this, Vorg screened the rest of the crew and found that everyone was free of the parasite organism.   While recovering from the betrayal of a trusted crewmember and while the Inquisitor healed from the injury she sustained doing psychic battle, the child Devona seemed to loose control and unleashed an electrical storm within the Profectus. While in the throws of this psychic tantrum her face morphed into that of an adult male and a ghostly voice filled the heads of nearby people. The message was a warning: “We are betrayed! Beware the Slaver Moon! Defend the Imperium...”. As soon as the possession took place, it faded away, and Devona was left shaken but unharmed.   The Inquisitor felt that this apparition was somehow linked to her secret mission in this system, and she took the opportunity to reveal her real reason for being here to the crew - searching for a powerful psychic entity referred to as "The Golden Man" to determine whether it was a threat to the Imperium.   Seeking a guaranteed way to gain favour with the Mardoons to get them on-side for the defence of Tantalus, the crew met up with two of Polydectes' old associates. From there they were able to meet with a powerful information broker that offered not only an guaranteed in with the Mardoon, but a massive cash reward for the recovery of their missing brother, a local private investigator.   Following the trail, the crew discovered the location of a secret facility deep beneath the main living areas of Storm Port. There they investigated what appeared to be some sort of old abandoned medical research centre, clues suggested it had suffered some kind of biohazard containment breach. While exploring, the crew inadvertently tripped hidden alarm systems.   It became clear that the long-abandoned facility had been used to contain and examine people from the local area infected with the same parasite organism - referred to in the logs as "Puppeteers" - as the creature the caused the loyal Armsman to sabotage the Profectus. The crew continues to search for the missing investigator, following scant clues that he'd also been investigating the research facility.   Upon opening a sealed door, the crew were surrounded by the ragged, starving citizens that the investigator had been searching for. The citizens appeared to have recently broken free of whoever held them captive and were fleeing. Before the crew could wrangle the panicked mod, the civilians all pulled pins on grenades they carried, causing massive cascading suicide-bomb blasts that threatened to end the Inquisitor's retinue in a single stroke. The emperor's protection allowed the crew to escape the worst of the blasts with minor wounds and from there they penetrated deeper into the facility. Here it seemed that this part had been renovated from more recent use. Through a final door the Inquisitor's party came face-to-face with a well-equipped squad wearing Ithacan Navy Black-ops gear. The Nave Black-Ops indicated this was a covert facility and ordered the crew to surrender. The crew opted instead to return fire and a vicious close-range gun battle erupted.   The Navy Black-Ops were dug into entrenched positions and used sophisticated tactics to prevent the Inquisitor's party Advancing. Meanwhile the tiny xeno Polydectes had managed to work its way through the ventilation system and had discovered the missing investigator being held in a makeshift prison cell on a lower level. Polydectes and the Investigator attempted to get out through the only door, finding themselves emerging on the other side of the gun-battle.   Polydectes say a group of its own species assisting the Navy personnel, but they acted strangely and refused to assist, instead continuing to dismantle some odd technological device in a great hurry.   During the firefight the Armsman Carno Fotunus was killed. Voidmaster Wade Echo attempted a brave rescue, but instead was also gunned down and grievously wounded as a result, taking him out of the fight. With her retinue greatly diminished the Inquisitor was unable to press the attack and instead fell back. Polydectes witnessed the final deconstruction of the device, and the withdrawal of the Navy personnel to a waiting ship which immediately left for an unknown destination.   The crew returned to the Profectus to deal with Voidmaster Wade's injuries and to mourn the failure of Carno Fortunus. They were met by a ship from Tantalus carrying an Aquilan Society member, Darrius, who was eager to assist in the Inquisitor's mission. He was escorted by a the skilled mercenary Ramirez who agreed to stay on to provide some extra muscle for the crew.   While Inquisitor Nahara studied a detailed report from Graves, bought by Darrius, the rest of the crew responded to a request for help from one of the Armsmen that was still on Storm Port trying to find information to help the mission. This Armsman had found a community that was being terrorised by a ruthless gang and were unable to get help from the offical law enforcement due to the disruption caused by the assassination of Xzar Mardoon. This Armsman had taken it upon himself to help, but immediately got in over his head.   Vorg led the crew, including the two new recruits, to the hideout of this gang. The battle was short, resulting in the swift death of most of the gang. The Gang's leader called in a gigantic hulking human mutant, a dirty and brutal beast controlled by sparking elecrodes drilled deep into his brain. The Girld Devona had insisted on accompanying the mission, and insisted that the mutant not be killed. Vorg determined that the electrodes were being controlled by the Gang's boss and swiftly dispatched him.   The Mutant immediately halted all aggression and collapsed. Devona insisted that he be looked after, and the crew discovered that he wasn't a mutant, he seemed to be one of the near-mythical transhuman Astartes warriors - known as Space Marines in the Imperium. He was in extremely poor condition, and the surgery to install the electrodes in his skull was crude, but Vorg was able to permanently disable them. The crew escorted the Astartes back to the Profectus where he immediately retreated to one of the cabins to recuperate.   News that the investigator had safely returned home reached the ship, and the information broker transferred the location of the assassin known as Karoy Blue, a person wanted by the Mardoon Syndicate for the recent murder of the Xzar Mardoon, leader of the Syndicate. The Syndiacte had a massive bounty out for this person, but no-one had been able to find them at all. The information the crew now held was the exactly location of Karoy Blue.   The Inquisitor led the mission to capture the assassin, but they discovered the location was a crowded community area and they had no information on what Karoy Blue looked like. After a time, the assassin was revealed, and she immediately surrendered on condition that the crew listen to her story before taking her to the Mardoons.   Karoy Blue claimed to be a diplomat sent from the Sleastatt Alliance, a group with a poor relationship with the Mardoon Syndicate. She had come to attempt to form an alliance with the Mardoons after the discovery of mind-controlling parasite creatures deeply embedded within the Sleastatt Alliance's command structure. The Alliance had purged all the parasites, but discovered evidence of years of tampering by the creatures - the goal seemed to be destablilisation of the Alliance and the prevention of outward growth, this included making alliances with other organisations within the Graveyard.   Karoy's superiors had compiled a detailed dossier including many details of the Parasite's manipulations and detailed plans for scanning technology that could identify their hosts. The Alliance suspected that the Syndicate had been similarly infiltrated and hoped that this information would allow the Mardoons to similarly purge their organisation. While Karoy Blue was secretly meeting with Xzar Mardoon, his most trusted advisor and second-in-command Bo'klor shot Xzar, then himself in a successful attempt to frame Karoy Blue. She fled and went into hiding while attempting to find a way off Storm Port and back to the Alliance to report. Meanwhile the Syndicate imploded into a civil war between the 'heroic' Bo'klor, who fought off the Assassin and Xzar's teenage daughter and rightful hereditary heir to the Syndicate, Verna Mardoon.   Karoy offered the Inquisitor a large cash reward for returning her to the Alliance instead of turning her in to the Syndicate, and also her assistance in getting to see the Alliance Command to plead the case for sending the Alliance fleet to defend Tantalus.   The journey to Alliance territory was relatively easy thanks to Polydectes' supreme navigation talents, and while en route the crew discussed the revelation that these parasite creatures had been apparently highly active within Ithacan Space for decades, but until recently had remained unknown. The information package sent to Nahara indicated that she'd also discovered the Parasite creatures working to destabilise the Tantalus Assembly Council and Navy - explaining Graves' long-held suspicions about the Shadow Council.   Arriving at the Port of Auras, the Alliance's home port, the crew realised that this most closely protected homeland of the Alliance was far larger than they'd been led to believe from the intel they'd gained from Tantalus. As they were sped through security checkpoints by Karoy Blue's security codes they caught glimpses of what seemed to be very large battleships concealed within the nebula hiding the Port.   After docking at the Port, Karoy Blue introduced the Inqusitor's Retinue to her commanders. The crew were put through a long-but-gentle interrogation and testing to ensure they didn't carry the parasite being. Polydectes responded badly to the high-power radiation coming from the scanning devices due to their extremely alien biology, but otherwise everyone was find and passed through the checkpoint.   Inside the Port itself, it became clear that the visible part of the Port was actually a front for a massive, majestic Imperial-era voidstation called the Kalrek. This station retained much of the pre-war Imperial civilisation that was lost from the rest of Ithacan Space.   The crew were given a brief tour and shown that the Alliance was far more powerful than they'd even imagined. They were introduced to Lord Commanth Crassius of House Crassius - one of the last remaining Noble houses that once reigned over the Aegean Hypercomplex that was devastated during the war and reduced to the tumbling wreckage of the Charybdis Graveyard.   Crassius was ecstatic to meet representatives of the Imperium after well-over a century of isolation, and guided the Inquisitor to the mysterious leaders of the Sleastatt Alliance. These three leaders projected themselves from a hidden location as gigantic holograms in a grand chamber flanked by kneeling statues of Astartes-sized people. the Inquisitor was able to convince these leaders that the time was right to take back Tantalus for the Imperium, and in so doing, protect it from the Ork fleet.   The Inquisitor's impassioned call to action succeeded, but there was an issue - scouts for the Alliance had detected a massive unknown vessel heading towards the Kalrek. This ship was known as the 'Ghost of Anwick Deep' and 'The Eater', it was something the crew had heard rumours of some time ago - apparently this vast unknown ship destroyed and 'consumed' an entire space station (which turned out to be a secret outpost of the Sleastatt Allaince).   This 'Eater' was now only three days away from the Port of Auras, and the Allaince fleet needed to stay here to defend from this powerful attacker.   The Inquisitor immediately offered her services, taking the Profectus to confront the Eater so that the Alliance Fleet would be free to gather and depart for Tantalus before it was too late to get there before the Ork fleet.   The Profectus approached the Eater, a ship over 3km in length, width and height, a massive industrial-looking vessel that sported gigantic weapons larger than the tiny Profectus and shields that could deflect any attacks. The Inquisitor attempted to initiate contact, but recived no reply. Vorg then attempted contact and was immediately met with a reply.   The ship was crewed by Mechanicus - in fact Mechanicus that Vorg had sent away from the Star Charter because he feared they wouldn't deal with 'alien lovers' taking over the ship and replacing the crew. These same Mechanicus had been through a great deal, and had somehow gained control of a pre-war salvage/construction vessel. The commander of the ship identified himself as Archmagos Coptek, someone Vorg had rated as a fairly lazy engineer with little skill.   Archmagos Coptek reacted violently to being confronted with Vorg, calling him Heretek for consorting with aliens and flying an alien-touched vessel. The Eater then proceeded to fire small-calibre barrages at the Profectus hoping to cripple it, but the pilot of the Profectus proved a match for the skill of the gunners on the Eater and managed to evade most of the attacks. The Inquisitor ordered the pilot to find a place to land on the Eater, and she found a gigantic bay in the front - this was the gigantic kilometres-wide maw that was used to swallow ships and stations for salvaging and repair.   Unfortunately the bay was protected with a powerful electrical barrier that caused an electromagnetic pulse through the Profectus, making the flight systems fail. Fortunately again the pilot proved to be up to the task and made a successful crash landing on the landscape of scrap contained within the bay.   The Profectus was immediately set upon by a horde of monstrous cyborg creatures. These seemed intent of cutting up the Profectus into scrap, and the crew went to work fighting them off. Unfortunately the zealous Darrius was overconfident and almost immediately mortally wounded by the powerful cutting blades and plasma torches of the cyborg scrappers.   The Captain of the Profectus suggested that he and the crew stay to defend the ship and distract the scrappers while the Inquisitor and her Retinue make a run for what seemed to be the only way into the Eater itself - almost a kilometre away across incredibly difficult terrain made of junk and scrap, teeming with and endless number of the cyborg scrapper monsters.   Finally the team reached the facility at the back of the vast bay - a processing plant - and confronted the lone guardian there. The Mechanicus was another membner of the Star Charter's old crew that Vorg knew as someone slow-witted but pious and inflexible. Twobit felt conflicted when confronted by Vorg, feeling allegiance to him, but also to Coptek who claimed Vorg was a traitor to the Mechanicus. Twobit opted to test Vorg's knowledge of Holy Mechanicus scriptures, a sure way to determine if he was truly a Heretek. Vorg failed Twobit's tests and instead immedaitely killed Twobit, plunging him into a vat of molten metal.   At this point, the team received a message from the Captain of the Profecus, boosted by jury-rigging the transmitter he broadcast a warning to the Inqusitor saying the ship was overrun and most of the crew had been killed defending it. The Captain himself was gravely injured and had elected to detonate the ships engines rather than let it be broken up for scrap, he hoped that the damage resulting from the atomic blast would cripple the Eater and make the Inqusitor's mission successful. He gave the team a few minutes to get to safety before the detonation.   The explosion of the Profectus caused massive damage to the Eater. The Inqusitor's team had managed to get through a heavy bulkhead and were safe from the blast, but they found themselves deep in the industrial bowels of an ancient, wounded ship. They negotiated flame-spewing broken pipes and areas of severe radiation before reaching a central transport hub. There they found another of the Mechanicus crew. This one didn't care about Vorg being a Heretek, he was far more interested in attempting to fix a radiation shield system before a deadly three-day long blast of radiation was released from the ships' drive systems.   Vorg assisted in the repair, and the team hurried to the safety of their new ally's shielded chambers.   On the Fabricator decks the party encountered a group of starving, injured rag-tag humans survivors battling against the servitors. Rushing to the aid of their fellows it became clear that these were prisoners taken from the stations and ships consumed by The Eater. Amongst the prisoners were three heavily injured members of the Profectus' crew, snatched by the scrappers while defending the ship. The damage caused by the atomic detonation of the Profectus had allowed these prisoners to escape, but they were in no condition to fight against the cyborgs sent to re-capture them. In fact, there had been more prisoners - thousands of them - but most had already been converted into the cyborg servitors before already.   Around three hundred prisoners were left alive, but they were in no shapre to fight, most had been captives for months or weeks, underfed and left to die without hygiene or medical care - they were simple there to provide biological components.   The Inquisitor's Retinue, particularly Darrius, wanted to save these poor survivors - which greatly complicated the process of escape. While protecting the survivors the team could no longer hide their presence and the Mechanicus known as Scyther took notice and sent her armies of Murder Servitors to kill the escapees in revenge for the damage inflicted by the Profectus - which incidentally had killed the Mechanicus Faidon, a close friend of Scyther.   With their stealth lost, the Inquisitor broadcast a message on the internal communication network of the Eater, claiming the ship for her own and leaning on her rights as an Imperial Inquisitor - condemning the attacks by the Mechanicus and ordering them to stand down.   After defeating waves of aggressively combat-capable servitors the crew left the survivor group temporarily to explore the hangar decks in search of ship(s) to take everyone to freedom. An earlier gamble paid off, and they gained access to a detailed list of all the available ships and their readiness status.   The team received an unexpected reply from Archmagos Coptek - he offered his conditional surrender, demanding a trial by peers rather than accepting the judgement of the Inquisitor alone, but in return he deactivated the defensive turrets that protected the Hangar bays and ordered his crew to stand down and allow the Inquisitor to leave. Scyther interrupted, calling Coptek a coward and refusing the surrender - she then attacked Coptek and the line went dead.   Taking advantage of a lul in the battle the Inquisitor's Retinue rushed to inspect the nearest ship, one that Vorg was particularly interested in. Meanwhile Darrius attempted to find some way to move the injured and sick prisoners to the hangar bay, watched over by Ramirez.   Vorg became obsessed with a non-functional exotic shuttle which boasted some potentially interesting features, and the team failed to take advantage of the functional (though less interesting) ships that were already ready to fly. While investigating, the Inquisitor received a garbled message from outside the Eater - someone was out there trying to find out if the Inquisitor and her team needed help. Unable to get a message from personal comm gear through the thick hull of the Eater and unable to contact Coptek further, the team failed to take advantage of the more powerful transmitters on any of the available vehicles.   While still investigating the shiny shuttle the crew realised they were being surrounded by dozens - no, hundreds - of Scyther's powerful Murder Servitors. These cybernic soldiers attacked mercilessly. Despite the team being able to destroy the Servitors quickly, they were fighting a loosing battle of attrition. A Gigantic servitor joined the fight and mamed Ramirez, burning the flesh from his face and blinding him. Vorg realised he could use the shuttle's communication system to send a message to the ship outside and ask for help - but that help would take ten minutes to arrive.   The xeno Polydectes attempted a heroic last-stand but was shot down and taken out of the fight by a fierce series of shots. The Inquisitor took a bullet to the chest and was severely injured, near-death. Vorg, the xeno Skalex and Darrius were left to fight alone - all injured to varying degrees already - and without any further options they settled for getting their allies into the safety of the golden shuttle. Without the ability to fix the ship from the inside, they were trapped. Nahara managed to muster the strength to make a powerful psy attack from inside the shuttle which bought the team a little more time, and Vorg wired his own internal batteries into the shuttle's hull in readiness to electrocute anything that touched it.   The rescue team arrived just in time. It was led by the Astartes warrior the crew had rescued a few weeks previously - he was recovered from his enforced servitude and proved why his kind are so feared and respected as warriors. With him in the lead the assault teams swept the hangar decks - at a great cost of lives - and evacuated the Inquisitor's Retinue to the waiting ship.   Darrius remined behind to make sure the prisoners were rescued too, and there he had an encounter with the girl Devona. She apparently used her psy abilities to blast apart many of the servitors attacking the prisoners, and seemed to have gone through some sort of transformation, exhibiting odd abilities and attitudes.   Aboard the Alliance warship the crew found themselves lost in the chaos of battle. The injured were being unloaded from shuttles as fast as reinforcement soldiers were being dispatched. Darrius lent his medical skills to the effort, spending hours helping at the overloaded Medicae ward before collapsing from exhaustion and his own injuries. The xeno Skalex was treated with fear and revulsion, only avoiding a quick death himself due to the orders of the Astartes. Skalex took the near-dead xeno Polydectes with him and they were sealed inside a food store-room for many hours.   Ramirez was treated by the ship's medical staff, who were shocked to discover he was in-face a mutant - something hated within the Imperium. His results showed a significantly non-standard organ layout and he was healing faster than he should. The medical staff refused to treat a mutant, and only the intervention of the Inquisitor allowed him to take up a medical bed. Vorg and Darrius were able to aid in Ramirez' recovery instead of the ship's medical staff.   The Inquisitor went through surgery herself and within two days she and Ramirez were out of immediate danger. Locked in the store room, Polydectes consumed a vast amount of nutrients and entered a cocoon state to heal from their injuries, while Skalex chafed at his imprisonment, only mollified by a personal visit from the Astartes and a friendly guard who considered Skalex a curiosity rather than a horror.   The Psyker Inquisitor Amaris Nahara, born to a world in the Calixis Sector, trained as an Acolyte under Inquisitor Cassis leads her Retinue of loyal retainers. Through her they have access to freedoms and resources unattainable to normal Imperial citizens - and most importantly the chance to make a difference in the Galaxy.   Magos Vorg Titanus, born on the Forge world of Mars first encountered Nahara on the Star Charter. They both accompanied Lord-Captain Devrim Star, until he got into political trouble and was forced to take a high-paying Governorship of a front-line battlestation in the Raakata System and abandoned those who "held him back". Joining the Inquisitor's retinue allowed Vorg to keep exploring and searching for lost artefacts of the high-tech past, and maybe one-day an illusive STC - the ultimate goal for any Exploritor. The Voidmaster Wade Echo was left behind by Devrim, and continued his role as pilot extraordinaire and jack-of-all-trades as a valued member of her retinue. Sadly Echo was grievously wounded and had to seek advanced medical treatment at Tantalus station, his fate is currently unknown. Master-at-arms Carno Fortunus continued to fight for the Emperor until he died in a firefight with Ithacan Navy Marines. His near-dead body was converted into the first Servitor constructed by Magos Titanus with the new mission to serve the Imperium by sweeping the ship's floors. Sadly the Carno servitor perished (a second and final time) in the atomic fire that destroyed the Profectus.   Joining the Inquisitor in the Raakata system first was the alien Skalex. Originally hired on as the ship's cook by Lord-Captain Star hours before his departure for pastures greener. Skalex proved himself a stalwart companion in battle and surprised everyone with his ability to power-up into 'Blackscale' in response to the imminent danger of the Second Ork War coming to the Raakata System. Next the Inquisitor saw the need for a local guide, and took the opportunity to hire the unusual diminutive insectoid alien Polydectes. This alien proved that they have a keen sense of navigation, and a knowledge of the local area, as well as a can-do attitude - although they are often bewildered by the Imperial's distaste for both them and Skalex.   After helping topple the Assembly Council and placing Supreme Admiral Graves in control of Tantalus, she sent one of her Aquilan associates, Darrius Macharius, to deliver a message to the Inquisitor in the hope that he would be able to read a valued historical tome (that was also later immolated in atomic fire). Darrius has uncovered much about not only the repressed history of the Raakata system, but also his own heritage as a Macharius. Delivering Darrius was the Privateer Roland Ramirez, a strong fighter and a smart tracker with a mysterious past, he'd already proven himself tough and reliable doing under-the-table jobs for Graves for several years. Roland opted to remain with the Inquisitor, seeing the potential for making enough money to retire happily on.