Rogue trader

[zedeace]

The emotion on Orbest dray's face showed relief, with a weary smile. Though his emotions changed, almost hurt or aghast at what arturious said, but after a moment he nodded slowly, and a look of sadness drew over him. He turned around and began to walk, painfully slowly towards the back of the store where he was sitting.
"It is just over here, come along now"
When he reached the back, a small desk and a chair, along with a few beat up filling cabinets, a half dead lumen lamp and an almost destroyed small vox device.
He sat down on the rusted metal chair, with nothing but a moldy cushion for comfort, he let out a small groan as he did so.
As he began turning some dials on the vox device, un screwing a few bolts, he spoke while doing it.
"You know i don't even know what this thing even is, all i know is that it will be of use to you"
He paused from what he was doing and turned to arturious "It's been so long since i have seen anything of the dynasty, you have no idea how relieved i am that it still exists. That there is a chance, for an old man to continue in service for a few more years yet."
He began to continue again, but only for a few moments before he spoke once more.
"I know it is not my place to ask anything of an imperial trader, such as you. But...I would like to serve once more aboard a star ship, i have been decaying on this station for so long, i have forgotten the embrace of the void, the sight of a raw burning star, and the rush of combat."
A few more seconds and he managed to pull of a panel on the vox device, it looked like it was once some kind of music player. He reached in, and pulled out a small circular object, inlaid with gold and silver and etched brass. The device was a little bigger then the palm of his hand, but it looked so master crafted and ancient.
He held out the device to you.
"Would you grant an old man his last wish?"

[Hagazussa]

When the Captain made the sign to scan the area Quirin did as he was told, Warp energies flooded into him and he let his perception wander, trying to feel any resonances from the Warp itself or anything other which could be out of place. The psyker was both proud of his abilities and he was afraid of them. Outwardly the man appeared completely calm as his mind worked, when he had first gotten into the Rouge Trader's employ he had used hand gestures to guide his mind to channel the Warp energies necessary to generate the effects he could do, but over time he had learned to just slightly shift his fingers as he worked, even that off course was not necessary, Quirin felt that it helped him to concentrate on what he was doing, other than his fingers moving every so slightly the only thing that could be seen as the psyker used his powers was a slightly focused look to his normally weary eyes which now looked very alert and at the same time appeared to be staring into nothing.

When the Captain told him with a hand gesture to scan Orbest Dray Quirin responded with a gesture that asked if he was sure, he could do it off course but the old man would feel it, and he would feel it well, scans where not the most pleasant things in the world and it was definitely not diplomatic. Quirin held off on doing the scan until his boss told him to go ahead, off course he would follow the Captain's orders but he let the man know with a gesture of his own that doing so would be noticed.

Quirin watched the old man as he spoke with the Captain and he glanced at the little metal sphere in the man's hand with interest. The psyker found that he felt bad for the old man and he tried to give him a smile, he wondered what had happened to him for a man who had been or who had traveled with a Rouge Trader to be in such a sorry state. Quirin did not say anything for now, he did not want to intrude on the Captain's conversation with the old man, and really he could not help the scrap handler and he was definitely not sure that he could be trusted so all Quirin could do was offer a compassionate smile as he continued to scan his surroundings for anything he might feel that normal senses would not pick up.

[Ollumhammersong]

Kreoss studied this new room with interest. He knew it was unlikely but that vox system looks like it came from the dark age of technology, it was a bloody miracle it still functioned. His eyes did become more focused when the old man produced soem foreign object. If it was human it was old. If it was xeno he had then overwhelming urge to burn it. But the mans plea did seem heartfelt enough. He certainly had experience and more than liekly was chasing a dying memory from his younger days in the hopes of reclaiming some of the lost youth. A futile gesture but one he could well understand.

[Omega]

Arturious followed the man into the back of his shop looking around at what to him was just junk but seemed to be the man's life now. The fact that whatever the man had he had hidden rather effectivly was a point in his head for the broken down rogue trader but still he had to see more if the man was to earn the respect of Arturious. As he listened the mans plea to return to the void he could not help but feel some pity for him at last now. He was almost about to agree right then and there when something clicked in his head. Without knowing this man in the slightest he knew the codes to his dynasty, without knowing he would be there knew that someone of his dynasty was coming, was offering something apparently valuable for free, and now asked to come aboard his ship. Turning slightly so his right side was away from the man he made a sign to cancel the command to scan him before asking Orbest Dray a question he was amazed had not yet come to his mind, "Tell me how do you know my dynasty? It seems odd to me that something is ever offered for free or that you knew my codes without me knowing you." Slowly his right hand creeped near his hand cannon, he did not make any overt moves but wanted to be ready. There was no sign from Quirin he had found anything but all it would take was a pariah to hide an entire death cult behind a false wall.

[Hagazussa]

Quirin noticed the Captain's nervousness and his slender hand went to one of the throwing knives he kept hidden in his robes, the feel of the worn metal was soothing against his fingers, to anyone observing him though he just looked like if he was huddling his hands inside of his robes to stay warm, Quirin certainly looked sickly enough to need the extra heat, in reality though he was ready to send the knives into the old man by the slightest indication of hostility or if the Captain should order him to do it. Quirin opened his mind more, he strained with the Warp energies he channeled as he tried to feel anything out of the ordinary wound him, something just was not right here. Quirin looked at the strange artifact the old man was holding then he took one hand out of his robes and with a gesture he asked the Captain if he should scan the orb, doing so might be dangerous though, there was no telling what that thing was or what resonances might be in it, but the psyker was willing to take the risk if the Lord Captain wanted him to, this situation was just getting far to weird for Quirin's tastes.

[zedeace]

He placed the ornate device on the metal desk, and sat back down. He almost looked like he was concentrating, like he was deep in thought. he rubbed his chin, and nodded to himself.
"I hope you can forgive an old man for forgetting to introduce himself, my story starts with another story, one that begun over two and a half thousand years ago, this was in the time of drusus and the crusade, the angevin crusade that is. The crusade was sweeping over an area of space, that would later become known as the calixis sector. The crusade forces were pushing back the enemies of the emperor, and bringing the light of the imperium to worlds that had gone dark long ago."
He would pause every now and then while speaking, as if he forgot the next part, and he talked almost painfully slowly.
"Among the crusade forces was a man named Lorcanus Ryn, that man was a great warlord of the crusade forces, aboard his Grand cruiser the Rightous path he brought the fury of the imperium to over a hundred worlds, the man however was not without his imperfections, he was a greedy captain and filled with blood lust.
One such world this man wrought destruction on was a planet called Krystallian. It was a world of man, who had long ago fallen to the corruption of false gods and idols. This world was said to be a world of immense wealth, with buildings carved from precious metals, glittering with gem stones and master crafted artifacts. As the story goes the people of this world were said to be part of the wealth, resistant to warp taint and corruption they were said to be the perfect humans, superior in every way. They were however, heretics and enemies of the imperium, and so Lorcanus Ryn brought his fury to yet another world. It only took 3 days of fire and blood to sweepy away thousands of years of this planets civilization. Lorcanus was in awe of the wealth he found, and his greed got to him. He set his sights on the wealth before him, from Ram to stern he filled the rightous path with all he could gather, he tore out macrobatteries and crew quarters, left fifty thousand men to there deaths on that planet so he could fill the holds up even more. When his ship was almost full to bursting with plunder he set off into the warp."

"There were many attempts to find the ship of course, but up until a hundred years ago there was no sign of the captain, nothing. He disappeared from the history tomes after that moment. And this is where my story starts."
He took a deep breath, and looked as if he was strained to remember his past.
"I was an officer of the bridge aboard the Emperor's Testament, in service to the dynasty and to my Lord captain, Vos Karlorn. The ship, crew and captain all served the dynasty. To fast forward events, we were traversing the warp and everything seemed to be going smoothly, as smoothly as one sails through the warp that is. But it seemed, that fate had a different plan. The ship was thrown of course by a violent and sudden warp storm, and it was a wonder that we were not torn asunder at that very moment, but we made it through. The ship was spat out into real space, in an unknown area of space somewhere in the expanse. We found ourselves in an uncharted solar system. We came to rest in high anchor over one of the planets, and that's when the astropath started to act strange.
He received some sort of message, i don't know how and i don't want to know how. But that...that thing aboard our ship received what he called an echo in the warp. A cry for salvation from a lost imperial ship, thousands of years old. When this message was examined, we found it to be a an astropathic marker from The rightous path.
The captain being a loyal servant of the dynasty did not pursue these co-ordinates right then and there. Instead we made for port wander, and this is where i left that ship."
He looked almost sad at that point, but after a moment his voice turned bitter, and a looked of seriousness crossed his face.
"Karlorn set off to find wherever your great great grandfather went, somewhere deep in the expanse. Before he left he entrusted this device to me"
He gestures at the ornate device on the table in front of you, as it were something not of value.
"I was to remain here and wait for his return, and protect the message hidden within this casket, but he never did return. And so i have been here since then, rotting and withering on this station while trying to survive the trials of time."
Hes bitterness left him, and he was sad once more. "And so here i am, and here you are, after a hundred years a member of the dynasty has returned, and my orders have been completed."
He picks up the device once more and hands it to arturious "So you see, this is something of value indeed"

[Ollumhammersong]

Kreoss listened to the mans story with awe. HE certainly looked old but not for a man over a hundred. Juvenent treatments really did work wonders he supposed. How the hell he managed to afford them was antoher matter entirely. This man possessed incredible loyalty to wait in suc a hovel for this lenght of time. Hoping vainly to fuffill an order from a century ago that may or may not have come to pass. Such a devotion was a true Imperial trait. You would not find such loyalty from the cursed Xeno's or heretics to be certain.
He had heard of several of the crusades that the Imperium launched over the Millennia. Not as great or as large as the great crusade itself of course but still important. And any crusade that brought even one world under the Imperial fold was a successful one. The new of the horrors inflicted upon the heretic worlds ment nothing to him. They did not see the perfection of the Imperial Creed And thus they needed to be taught such things. It was the only way to get the message clearly across sometimes. And though it killed potentiall millions of humans who could have been converted. It saved billions more who saw the true power of the Imperium and flocked to its open arms.

[Hagazussa]

Quirin's eyes narrowed as the old man told his tale, a treasure hunt? This was seriously about a lost ship filled with cursed riches, that sounded far to much like a child's fairytale to the psyker's ears, there had to be more to this, off course it could be that the old man had just waited though the decades to give a member of his Dynasty the message sealed in his little orb, but Quirin did not fully buy it. As the old man's story progressed the psyker's eyes glittered with anger when the man called his ship's Astropath a thing, Quirin did not say anything but he did not like how the other, probably long dead now, psyker was talked about, that man had not been a thing. Quirin sigh and he bring his anger under control, this was not a time to allow his emotions to get away from him, him mind screamed that something was wrong here and he just wanted to stay alert so he could react to whatever it may be. Perhaps he was being to paranoid, but in his life Quirin had met very few who would do what this old man claimed, and just waited for a hundred year to fulfill an ancient order, it could be, but in the psyker's mind it was far more likely that this was a trap. Quirin glanced up at the Lord Captain to see how his leader thought about the old man's tale.