" ... Inquisitor Zhevon, watch out!"
Zhevon turned and saw a rogue Arbite execute the officer next to him. Then he turned his pistols to Zhevon, who sidestepped to cover Echo Nurien with his own body. Once the lead from the rogue Arbite started flying, Zhevons rosarius flashed to life, converting the kinetic energy of the bullets into light. Zhevon's heads up display flicked to life, displaying a flood of information, including the amount of energy he had remaining in his rosarius. While it had a quick recharge rate, the two pistols from the rogue Arbite working together had a faster fire rate. Soon, the shields died down and three bullets smacked into Zhevon before the rogue Arbite had to reload. The first hit his shoulder, where the distinct sound of a bullet impacting with metal armor was heard. The lights of Zhevons armor glowed brighter. The second went into his backpack, making a ping sound as it hit a metal object. The third went into his left lower thigh, impacting with a thud. Zhevon grunted and crouched slightly. The bullet fell to the ground, while Zhevons eyes glowed even brighter. The robes where the bullets had hit also glowed lightly for a second, before going back to their neutral red color.

Before the rogue Arbite could reload, and before Zhevon could react, Echo grabbed him and pulled. Zhevon went with the pulling and ducked behind Echo and his shield just in time to avoid another fusillade of bullets. "Stay down!" Echo yelled over the gunfire and rioters, "Sic em!" Zhevon looked over to Echos Mastiff, darting forward with impressive speed. After hearing screams, Echo advanced, with Zhevon close behind him. Upon reaching the fallen attacker, Echo striked him in the torso with the edge of his shield. "What do you want to do with this one Sir?"
"Keep him stunned for now." Zhevon crouched and began to search the presumed unconscious rogue Arbite. The rogue Arbite reacted by suddenly punching Zhevon right between the eyes, the force of the punch coupled with the surprise made Zhevon stumble back. Zhevon found himself lying on his back. In response, Zhevon kicked the Arbite in the head as soon as his back made contact with the concrete ground. Adrianne would then appear from thin air.

"What happened here?!" She looked at both Zhevon and Echo, "Inquisitor, are you alright?!"
"I'm fine, I might wake up with a nasty welt on my left thigh, but that is the extent of my injuries." He reported as he got back up, "Let's give him another shock." Once Echo had done so, Zhevon crouched once more and began to search the now unconscious assassin again. He began to pull apart his Arbite clothing to investigate what damage Echos shield strike did, but instead found that he was wearing an undershirt. Zhevon had an inkling of what was going on, he let out a quiet, "Ooohhhhh..." As he revealed more of the under shirt, the trio saw wires and grenades, mining explosives of every kind, rigged as an explosive vest. "Yep time to go!" Zhevon exclaimed, quickly getting up and shooing Echo and Adrianne away. He muttered curses under his breath as they began to run from the body, he quickly glanced at Echo and his Mastiff, deciding that both would be fine. The Mastiff was made of metal and Echo had his shield. Then he looked at Adrianne, who was noticeably not wielding a shield.

Getting a feeling in his gut, Zhevon yelled "Down!". He placed himself between the bomb and Adrianne to ensure that she would be unharmed, crouching. Then there was a thunderous crack as the bomb vest went off. Even while Braced, Zhevon staggered a bit. "Must have been low explosive. You two okay?" He asked, small bits of concrete and rock rained down, "Celestian Niskaru, let's get the Valkyrie landed."

Stukov cursed as he ducked a piece of burning debris, an overhead support strut by the looks of it, as it half collapsed and blocked part of the hallway. And damn near took his head off as well. Smiles had stormed off, and without any extinguishers of his own to beat back the flames it was a rather perilous trek back through this forsaken burning building. Falling debris trying to kill him did not help in the slightest either, and he could feel the sweat dripping off his face and around the rebreather as he ran to try and catch up with the others. He would be the last one out of the building, considering he had also been the first one into the place it would make sense he would be the last one out, considering the deteriorating conditions. That trinket that Smiles had found lingered in the back of his head, it had just felt wrong in his gut, to put it metaphorically, and he would try to figure out why later. Moving with agility he finally made it out of the building, having missed the assassination attempt on Boss, but having heard the yelling on about it. He stepped out of the burning building, spotting the downed rogue Arbites, and saw the vest just in time to realize what was about to happen. And not enough time to really get away either, not fully. "Oh that is just fucking...."

Stukov either didn't finish the sentence, or no one could hear him finish it, as he went the only direction he could in the face of the bomb blast. Right back into the burning building, having thrown himself back towards uncertain injury instead of certain injury, possibly death, in the face of a suicide bomb. Granted, the pressure wave from the explosion threw him into a door frame, lacking the time to brace, the shield, and armor that Boss had to resist the blast wave and shrapnel from it. Stukov groaned, forcing himself upwards despite the fact he had some shrapnel embedded in his carapace chest plate. Grabbing the chunk, he wrenched it out and could find no blood. Good, it hadn't gone through, and all his gear was somehow intact. A damn miracle, there, but the main doorway was bust, damaged and half buried in now burning debris. Not much time, had to get clear, and Stukov ran into the room he had already been half thrown into, heading for the window and smashing it out with the stock of his autogun before vaulting out, wincing and coughing again as he landed. Great, impact probably agitated things again.

"That was eventful, a little forewarning next time might be nice. One plate of carapace off from having a piece of dead traitor wedged in my lung." Stukov checked himself over properly to take stock of how much damage he had taken. Minor burns and singe marks on his clothing and armor, the coughing had reared its ugly head again, all gear intact, minor scrapes and cuts from being tossed bodily into a burning building by suicide bomb, overall, another miserable day. Checking over his gear, he glanced at Smiles, protected from the blast by Boss, and spoke directly to her, tone calmer after having a chance to get his breath back in his lungs. "Want to run Boss by what you found, Smiles?"

"Thanks, I'm fine." Adrianne would reply, dusting off her armor as she rose to her feet and looked at Zhevon.

Between her protective helmet, armor and refractor field; not to mention Zhevon placing himself in front of the explosion to shield her; Adrianne had barely been affected by the blast. The only noticeable effect had been the residual shockwave which had shaken her insides somewhat, but its effects were already passing.

"Inquisitor, you shouldn't have... " Adrianne began, looking at Zhevon who had placed himself in between her and the bomb, as if she was unsure what to say.
"I mean, if we were to lose you, it would,- "

"Want to run Boss by what you found, Smiles?"

Stukov's suddenly comment would interrupt whatever train of thought Adrianne had going, completely throwing her words out of balance. Looking back at Stukov, Adrianne choose to leave whatever words of concern she had for the Inquisitor, and instead raised her left hand which she had hanging at her side.

"You look weathered, Stukov. I'm sorry for leaving on such a short notice. But, in the building... "

Turning now to Zhevon, Adrianne held the medallion she had found in the building up to the Inquisitor. The moment her fingers passed the eye, it immediately started twitching again; rapidly glancing in every direction for a moment before setting itself in an intense gaze towards Zhevon. As the snake eye of the medallion focused on the Inquisitor, it was as if the very thing was looking straight through him, not stopping at his mere flesh or armor, but gazing down at something inside of him. Adrianne could feel a slight pull in the medallion, almost as if it was suddenly gravitating towards Zhevon on its own ever so subtly.

" ... we found this."

As the haunting eye continued to stare at Zhevon, he could feel a strange aura beginning to elapse around him. It was as if his body began acting outside his brain's influence, as a sudden spike in excitement occurred within him; his heart rate increasing, and a fluster of emotions that had previously been cold and suppressed began to now flow freely! The longer he watched the medallion, and it watched him in turn, the less despicable the eldritch artifact seemed in his mind. Indeed, it eventually began to radiate a sense of comfort and security, as a growing sense of attraction for the medallion slowly built up within the Inquisitor.

Indeed, anyone else standing close enough would feel a similar sensation to Zhevon as Adrianne held the medallion up in view.

"It is steeped in warp power." Adrianne finally said, suddenly closing her hand around the medallion. The moment her fingers covered the eye and blocked its sight from Zhevon, he could immediately feel a sharp, emotional sting in his chest; as if someone had unjustly just denied him something precious!

"The eye on the medallion is the eye of the daemon chained inside of it, potentially granting its wielder a psychic vision of the world, stripping away the mundane materialism of our perception to leave nothing but the naked souls of the actors. Its strong connection to the warp will increase the psychic might of any who might hold it."

Simply holding the medallion for a moment, it was as if Adrianne's gaze slipped into the empty air in front of her for a moment, merely gazing straight past Zhevon. Yet, after a few seconds, she would suddenly turn her head again, to hold the medallion towards Zhevon in a closed grip.

"Do you wish to hold it?"

Nurian pulled himself up off the ground dusting himself off, pieces of debris falling around him. he checks himself over and realizes that he is unharmed. his armor and shield are battered in the fight with the traitor arbites and his suicide vest. Nurian kneels down and begins to check over the Mastiff, which is only somewhat damaged from the explosion. While functional it should receive some blessings by a techpriest. he hears a new voice behind him, apparently a man named Stukov. While Nurian does not feel as though he belongs to this unit yet he decides that he should try and learn as much as he can about.. whatever it is that is going on.

Nurian walks over just as the woman produces an object and says "We found this." its eye opens and twitches and looks around it and for a moment, perhaps, it locks its gaze onto Nurian before focusing on the others. for that fraction of a moment Nurian feels as though he looked into the deepest space of the Immaterium. 'by the Emperor' he whispers to himself as he gazes at the Artifact of Chaos. after this first fraction of a second he feels an impossible sense of safety that Nurian immediately suppresses knowing that it must be wytchcraft. the Psyker says "its steeped in warp power" and Nurian looks at her with two thoughts in his head, the first was 'Well obviously, anyone can see that' followed by 'that amulet is being carried by a Psyker'

She begins to explain something about the amulet but Nurian stopped listening as he tries to work out what should be done next. his first instinct was to bash the Psyker over the head and smash the amulet to pieces. when he served with the Ordo Hereticus that would have been his directive, to kill all those touched by Chaos and destroy all trace. although he senses that killing the psyker might not be the best course of action. then something strange happened and the psyker looked dazed. Nurian tightened his grip on the power maul ready for if the psyker was taken by the warp.

She seemed to return and looked at the inquisitor asking him "would you like to hold it?" Nurian pushed the rune on his power maul charging it once again "Psyker Witch!" he says lowering himself ready to fight. The only thought in his head was to prevent corruption by chaos, it seemed at though the woman was being influenced by the medallion. thus, it followed that she must be killed and the thing be destroyed utterly. although before he strikes the psyker down he hesitates, realizing that it's possible they know how to deal with this.

The cockpit of the Valkyrie gunship now gave off a soft azure glow as the Adeptus Sororitas leaned forward in her seat checking over the ships multiple systems. A few of the monitors to her left showed atmosphere conditions with weather reports and other important statistics and figures for remaining safe while flying. Her hands traveled across the electronics and machinery fluently as she made the final preparations for an inevitable departure. The cameras on the left and right side of the ship snapped on without warning to show what was happening outside. With some modifications and patience, she enabled herself to have a full three hundred and sixty degree view of the ship on the X, Y, and Z pan with the help of the cameras.

Now satisfied with her work, Aviza strapped herself into the pilot’s seat once more and descended from the sky. As she descended though, a loud explosion came from below her. The Valkyrie swung around to face the burning brothel only a mere moment before a piece of what was left of the rouge Arbiter fell back down in front of her, hitting the nose of the ship and then landing on the ground with a grotesque sound. Once the ship had finely landed, Aviza unbuckled herself and stood up. Making her way off of the Valkyrie, she stepped over chunks of debris from all the unbridled chaos that had happened in such a short amount of time. It was a relief to see her squad all in one piece and alive, the explosion made that same small hint of worry come back. "Adrianne, you found something? What are you holding in your…” for a very brief second her blue eyes made contact with the cursed artifact.

Aviza broke eye contact almost immediately with the artifact, now instead looking into Adriannes eyes. “That artifact must be covered at all times or destroyed Adrainne.” Aviza’s tone quickly turned dark and foreboding but strangely calm at the same time. “We may have just given ourselves away to the forces of Chaos Adrianne. If we have made such a mistake, this world will burn and countless lives and souls will be lost in their wake as they search for us." Quickly turning to Zhevon, she spoke once more in the same sounding tone of voice. “We have to rid ourselves of this artifact as soon as possible, this simple medallion could quite literally cause untold amounts of death and suffering on a scale of which even generations of the yet unborn will cry out in anguish for all eternity.”

The voice of the recently joined Arbiter echoed out around them with “PSYKER WITCH!” Aviza turned on one foot to find him standing in a combat position, ready to fight Adrinne to the death. “Echo Nurian, I am Celestian Niskaru of the Ebon Blade. Pycher Adrinne is under the protection of Inquisitor Zhevon and myself, you will lower your weapon immediately under my orders or face an extremely slow and excruciatingly painful and dishonorable execution. Your actions threaten to bring this whole operation down and the lives of billions could be lost because of you. You have ten seconds to comply starting now.” Aviza raised her heavily modified bolter and took very careful aim at the Arbiter, “Eight seconds Arbiter, I do not miss with my shots…”

Adrianne would turn to look towards the battle-readied arbite whom now faced her with a threatening posture, holding his maul and shield ready for action. Though her face was covered by her skeletal helmet, the psyker did not seem too surprised by the man's sudden behavior, as she casually closed her hand around the medallion.

“Eight seconds Arbiter, I do not miss with my shots… ”

"Calm yourself, sister. This man will not attack."

Adrianne spoke with a calm voice as her servo-skull suddenly hovered up next to her, a strange, metallic bag adorned with mythical runes hanging under it. Reaching up to grab the metallic bag, Adrianne would hold the medallion over it, causing a sudden increase in the medallion's bizarre aura among anyone who stood around; before it faded almost completely as the medallion was dropped into the metal bag and Adrianne closed the zipper.

Hanging the back back up on a small hook beneath the servo skull, the skull would drift a couple of feet away as Adrianne finally turned her full attention towards Nurian, the psyker now facing him.

Moving a hand up to the side of her helmet, she would suddenly depressurize it and remove the skeletal helmet with a click, letting her long, silk white hair flow freely down her back. Staring at Nurian with a set of deep, purple eyes, a small yet friendly smile would form across the lips of the pale skinned woman.

"My name is Adrianne Valenthin, sanctioned psyker of the Imperium. I am the Inquisitor's aide in dealing with matters that go beyond the physical world." She would speak with a soft voice, before motioning towards the servo-skull hovering about with the bag containing the medallion.
"This is not the first cursed artifact I have dealt with, nor do I suspect it would be the last. My mission here is to find, recover and possibly destroy any such items I come across, and I fear this world will keep me busy for quite a while."

Giving Nurian a friendly nod, Adrianne would then turn to Zhevon standing next to her.

"The newcomer's sensitivity towards warp touched artifacts is a good indication that he will make a viable addition to our Inquisitorial cohort. His piety will be useful for rooting out the followers of chaos on this world."

The Sister of battle was a surprise to Nurian, he stared down the barrel of the bolter. a shot from this range would surely kill him, he condiders his options for a moment knowing he would surely die to protect the Imperium from the corruption. Nurian's distrust of the psyker and the object ran deep. allowing the taint of chaos to spread would surely be disastrous. then the Psyker speaks
"Calm yourself sister, this man will not attack."

she put the medallion into a bag which seemed to contain the warp energies. she removes her mask and looks at him with white hair and what seemed to be the purple eyes of cadia. she smiles at Nurian, which was a surprise because he was nearly ready to bash her skull in. he lowers his weapons and deactivates the maul. "My name is Adrianne Valenthin, sanctioned psyker of the Imperium. I am the Inquisitor's aide in dealing with matters that go beyond the physical world." she says as he clips the maul into its holster. "This is not the first cursed artifact I have dealt with, nor do I suspect it would be the last. My mission here is to find, recover and possibly destroy any such items I come across, and I fear this world will keep me busy for quite a while."
she then says something to the inquisitor. Nurian looks at her somewhat annoyed, but decides perhaps she is more of a psyker than those he had to fight before.

"my apologies Adrianne, I served with the Ordo Hereticus years ago. I have had to kill psykers because of artifacts like that, and i have seen the damage they have wrought when we failed. First hand... by the Emperor." Nurian says thinking back to the pitched battles against cultists and their sorcererous psykers. as the thought runs through his head he feels a tingle go up his spine, a reaction to the horror of war with chaos.
"i dont know about being sensitive to them my only goal is to protect the Imperium and its loyal subjects."

Stukov found himself with his autogun trained on the Arbites fellow the moment he seemed to react rather violently to Smiles and the amulet she produced. Yes, the thing reeked of Slaaneshi influence and it was giving him a terrible headache as he shut out those thoughts to the best of his ability. He was getting really tired of every single new person training weapons on original, standing members of the retinue and acting like they were the only ones smart and experienced enough to understand the danger the warp, and its artifacts posed. Stukov's knee jerk reaction to such artifacts were, yes, to destroy them. But in this case, the item might prove useful in tracking down the main, greatest threat on this planet towards the Emperor fearing civilians and soldiers on this planet. The headache wasn't helping, so he was thankful for the fact that Smiles had a bag to drop the warp tainted charm into, although the burst of intense warp energy from its full exposure amplified his headache before it faded as the item was cut off from interaction with surrounding people. Sis also had her bolter on the Arbites before he stood down, and Stukov lowered the autogun and took a stance indicating he was keeping an eye on the surroundings, scanning for any trouble coming since that medallion was exposed. He finally gave himself a chance to respond to prior comments, and he shrugged briefly.

"Weathered is one way to put it Smiles, you had places to be so don't concern yourself on running too much. I'm still alive, thankfully. And I don't think we've met yet either, Enforcer, Bark. Armsman Stukov, well former Armsman, now with the Boss over there for better or worse." Leave it to the armsman to already assign ever so informative and original nicknames to the Arbitrator and his metal hound. Keeping an eye on Smiles as she removed her helmet and spoke to Boss, and smirked at her statement on his sensitivity towards the warp artifacts and general piety. He made an offhand comment on that, from what he had seen of Arbites during times when select crew were given the luxury of planet side exploration and wandering, usually as bodyguards of lower ranking Naval officers. "Pious or no, Arbites typically aren't ones to bend or bow in the face of any violation of their Laws. Unluckily for the warp spawned abominations, they are in violation of such things, far as I understand it. And are, you know, warp spawned abominations."

Stukov was thankful for the fact the headache faded, and he had all but written it off as a side effect of getting tossed around again. Granted, this time by explosive ordinance strapped to a suicidal corrupt Arbitrator instead of warp travel, shockwaves, and gravity wells in corridors. This had been one extremely long day, to put it mildly, and was not looking like it was going to get any shorter. They were going to have to figure out this medallion, and the source of the medallion. As in its master on this planet, rather than its origins which were seeped in the Warp, the effect the thing had was obvious of that much. He had a thought, considering the medallion, and where they found it, and mentioned it to the group, coughing before he spoke and scanning the surroundings as he spoke rather than focus on any one single person. "Any idea if this brothel is part of a chain owned by one main figure? Might find some clues in that case. If it's stand alone, hmm, perhaps check financial backing? Nothing is free, after all. How about you, Enforcer, if your done menacing things for the moment, got any ideas in that particular train of thought?"

As the tension begins to ease Nurian begins to rub the back of his head where a mild ache had developed. He lied to himself that it was just from the blast. Stukov was talking about warp abominations but there was a nagging feeling, something Nurian had forgotten. He clenched his teeth forcing the the wild warp induced thoughts out of his mind. While he had no formal training In resisting the warp he had some innate resistance to it, or just the mind of a veteran haunted by his own horrors, he was never sure.

Then stukov asked "Any idea if this brothel is part of a chain owned by one main figure? Might find some clues in that case. If it's stand alone, hmm, perhaps check financial backing? Nothing is free, after all. How about you, Enforcer, if your done menacing things for the moment, got any ideas in that particular train of thought?"

Nurian smiled, this was more up his alley. Law and order, investigations something he was actually trained in. "Well, it's hard to say. Many clues are being burned as we speak" he says motioning to the fire. "Checking the finances and if it's a chain is a good idea. But it might be an isolated incident, the brothel may have nothing to do with it. Although it may be prudent to interrogate each of the whores and customers if we can. But we need to know more.." He turns to the Psyker. "How did you find it? Was it in the open on the manager's desk? Or well concealed in one of the brothels rented rooms?"

"How did you find it?"

Adrianne turned to look towards the arbite at his question, the same man who had moments earlier just threatened her. She simply smiled while nodding towards the bag hanging under her servo-skull.

"It was found in the manager's official office, in the clutches of a dead clerk who looked as though he had been in the process of retrieving the medallion from a reinforced safe in the office. At least, before what looked like one of the rioters had interfered. Death by cranial bludgeoning."

She would explain with a neutral, slightly friendly as she tossed a quick glance over to the burning brothel behind them.

Elements of the area's fire department had showed up in two heavy trucks, and were already beginning to try to get the fires under control with hoses and chemicals. Most of the rioters had scattered, the remainders mostly consisting of isolated onlookers who watched the burning building from a safe distance, whom in turn were watched by the ever watchful eyes of the arbites who still maintained their formation in case the dissidents were to return!

"I am fairly sure the owner of the object was a psyker of some degree." Adrianne would finally speak as her head returned to look back at Stukov and Nurian.
"Such an amulet is generally gifted to psychic servants of chaos to amplify their powers, but require a strong will to master. Because of this, they are often removed by the less-devoted followers of chaos when not in use, which could explain the absence of its psyker master."

Adrianne explained, being no stranger to artifacts that could increase a wearer's connection to the warp, and thus their strength. Among the servants of chaos, it was often a favored gift.

"It is not unlikely that this brothel may have acted like a safe house for the owner of the medallion. Because of its strong aura, I highly doubt that the owner could ever be ignorant of the nature of the medallion, and is thus complicit in storing forbidden artifacts."

Zhevon looked around and checked on the status of everyone. The new arrival, Echo appeared to be fine, while his Mastiff only suffered minor damage. Stukov appeared less than healthy, but still alive, hopping through a window of the brothel. He made mention of a piece of debris that had nearly killed him, his armor saving him.
"Thanks, I'm fine." Adrianne reported, getting up and dusting herself off. "Inquisitor, you shouldn't have... I mean, if we were to lose you, it would,- "

She was interrupted by Stukov, saying that she had found something in the Brothel. Zhevon had an eyebrow raised, having nothing to say to Adrianne. The object she found was more concerning. When she pulled the medallion out, its singular eye fixated at the Inquisitor. Zhevon narrowed his eyes. He had seen his fair share of Chaos artifacts, and he was seen another like this one before, years ago, before he was an Inquisitor. The more they looked at each other the more Zhevon found his mind wandering, the Medallion casting its shadow over Zhevon, who was attempting to remember the shape and make of the artifact he had seen before. In seconds he Zhevon found himself thinking about thoughts and feelings he had cast aside for duty and training. When Adrianne covered the eye, Zhevon felt a pain in his chest, similar to a man losing his first love. But he knew better, and mentally thanked his Psyker. He cleared his throat quietly as Adrianne began to explain the medallions purpose.
"Do you wish to hold it?" She asked,
Zhevon shook his head, "I'd rather not. The last time I held an artifact like that, I found myself in a spot of trouble, to which even today I am feeling the effects of." The gears of his mind began to churn, when Aviza landed the Valkyrie and appeared.

The instant she saw the metal object, she looked at Adrianne. "That artifact must be covered at all times or destroyed Adrainne. We may have just given ourselves away to the forces of Chaos Adrianne. If we have made such a mistake, this world will burn and countless lives and souls will be lost in their wake as they search for us." She turned to Zhevon, “We have to rid ourselves of this artifact as soon as possible, this simple medallion could quite literally cause untold amounts of death and suffering on a scale of which even generations of the yet unborn will cry out in anguish for all eternity.”

Zhevon rubbed the side of his helmet through his hood, "I know what these artifacts are capable of, but... If wha-"
"Psyker witch!" Echo yelled out, now in a combat stance. Zhevon was prepared to explain that Adrianne was in his retinue, but Aviza was quicker. Essentially explaining what he was about to explain, albeit with an additional threat at the end of the explanation. Before Echo could could charge or stand down, Adrianne deescalated the situation. Placing the medallion in a containment bag and introducing herself.
She then turned to Zhevon, "The newcomer's sensitivity towards warp touched artifacts is a good indication that he will make a viable addition to our Inquisitorial cohort. His piety will be useful for rooting out the followers of chaos on this world."
Zhevon nodded in agreement, "Actually I was going to let him in because he has a maul. I've always wanted to try one of those."

When Stukov spoke up about the possible leads that could be found by investigating the Brothel, Zhevon contacted Alpha. Who made him wait several minutes.
Then he spoke into everyone's voxes, including the newcomers, Echo's vox.
"Heard you guys had a new arrival, an Echo Nurian. Welcome to the team, don't die. Now then, I've been working on trying to dig up some intel on this brothel. Unfortunately the guy has covered his tracks very well, if there have been any tracks. Everything appears fairly normal, sales, marketing, whatever. Now the owner, a 'Tortus Abajian', does not exist.
This Tortus character owns this brothel, and a few other miscellaneous stores. A small shop, a gift store, a few others. He also owns a medium sized factory producing and assembling boxed breakfast, lunch and dinners. I've had a few from this factory before, and they check out. 100% Imperium authorized food, no poisons, no nothing. I know because I'm not dead yet, and I've did a few blood tests when I found out. I'll have a map compiled and prepped for your guys' review when you get back to a safehouse. Now, I can only do so much at the front of a cogitator. Like Mr. Nurian said, I can pull up a list of workers and customers from the brothel and question them to see if we can get anything from that, while you guys check out these other places that this Tortus guy is owning."

Zhevon nodded and spoke up after Alpha, "Since we're doing updates, I've made a few calls about our big Daemon problem. Right now there are three regiments of Guard fighting an Ork Waaagh on an Agriworld about two systems over. They're assisted by two companies of Space Marines, whom I've called over before we landed on here. The rest of their Chapter is en-route now, with an additional five regiments of Imperial Guard. Captain Horner called his old Battlefleet and convinced the Lord Admiral to move a battlegroup of ships closer to Friere II just in case."

"Also thought you might want to know, Inquisitor Cattleya has arrived and is currently assisting Gregor in the north islands investigation. She sends her regards." Alpha added,
"...Ah. Yeah, that too." Zhevon meekly replied, looking at the ground. He almost heard his grin. He cleared his throat, getting his more authoritative voice going, "Let's hit the factory first. Bigger target means bigger rewards, mount up!" He said, briskly walking to the Valkyrie and stepping onto it.

Adrianne let out a mental sigh at the mention of the Ork Waaagh on the nearby Agriworld, casually putting on her skeletal helmet as she followed the Inquisitor and the rest up the loading ramp of the Valkyrie.

The Orks had been one of the major foes she had faced in the past, and she knew if there was one thing the Orks were good at; then it was causing trouble wherever they went. Though not master strategists by any stretch of the imagination, the Orks were nonetheless tenacious, numerous and notoriously difficult to ever stamp out effectively, and were usually at their most dangerous when ignored.

"Hopefully they will just firebomb the whole Ork Waaagh before it ever can threaten the sector."

Adrianne thought to herself, preferring to see the Orks destroyed from orbit before she ever had to face them herself.

She had seen the Imperial Guard fight an Ork Waaagh in its early stages before, and she knew well enough that any conflict with the Orks usually ended up with a protracted and often very bloody conflict. It seemed that no matter how many the greenskins may have lost in a single day, they came back again even more excited the next day!

"If the owner is gone, what's the reason for traveling to the factory?" Adrianne would then inquire, turning her attention to the rest of the crowd as they entered the valkyrie.
"Do we suspect the factory to be a mere cover-up for some other illegal activity? Are we looking for notes, databanks or communication collections?"

“I will lower my weapon when he lowers his, Adrianne.” Aviza had taken a combat stance as was ready to pull the hairpin trigger at a moment’s notice if the Arbiter did not follow her instruction swiftly and to the letter. Turning her left foot outward slightly, she bent both of her knees ever so slightly and prepared to fire upon the Arbiter, her scopes crosshair positioned directly on the center of his head. “Five seconds left, make your choice.” The Adepta Sororitas had her attention drawn away from the Arbiter for a moment while Adriannes Servo-Skull materialized near her and made its way to its master. It stopped near Adrianne before she reached up and placed the cursed artifact into a metallic bag it was carrying beneath it. Once the bag was zipped closed, the Servo-Skull it vanished once more, becoming invisible. It appeared the Arbiter hesitated for a second which could have cost him his life but thankfully he lowered his maul and deactivated it. At that exact moment, Aviza did the same, lowering her weapon and turning the weapons safety on to prevent any accidents.

The weapon deactivated with a soft click as a red light on the side of if turned a solid blue. Moving back into a more relaxed position, Aviza nodded once at the Arbiter once Echo apologized to Adrianne, explaining his dark history with Psychers and cursed artifacts. If there was anything inside of the brothel that could help them out more, they would be impossible to reach. “There is no way we can enter that brothel anymore, might as well let it burn to the ground and be purified.” Aviza glanced back at the Valkrie behind her before the voice of Alpha came over her com. He informed them he had been trying to gather information about the brothel that had now collapsed onto itself. The man who owned the building appeared to own multiple others as well as a medium sized factory that produced and assembled boxed meals. Everything in them checked out and they were fine for consumption, on a certain level of course. As soon as he said he was going to have a map compiled, Aviza spoke up. “Send that information to all of us in the squad, having a map of these areas will be invaluable.”

Turning on her left foot so that she was now facing Inquisitor Zhevon, Aviza crossed her arms over her chest and listened to what he had to say. The mention of an Ork Waaagh made her sigh, if the Orks somehow made it to the planet they were going to have their hands full. Thankfully, the odds of that happening were extremely small due to the massive force that was pushing back against them relentlessly. “We have not only the Imperial Guard, but also Space Marines and a group of Lord Admirals Battleships coming to assist us? I can contact the Adepta Sororitas to send us additional Sisters to assist us if you require Zhevon, fighting threats like this is what we do best.” When ordered to get into the Valkyrie, Aviza quickly made her way onboard and took her set in the cockpit, securely strapping herself in. Rolling her shoulders for a moment she cracked her knuckles then began to activate the gunship. The cockpit lit up as all the electronics turned themselves on, creating a soft blue glow that filled the interior of the cockpit.

After making a couple readjustments to her seat and a monitor near her head that showed important information, Aviza would double check all of the ships systems before making the final adjustments needed for departure. This would only take a moment though, giving everyone enough time to get situated and strap themselves in. Speaking into her com, she reassured all of them that she knew exactly what she was doing. “I understand that some of you are rather tense with an Adepta Sororitas flying the Valkyrie but I assure you that you have nothing to worry about. I am Canoness Colistis’s personal pilot for both combat and non-combat missions when assigned to her. I have spent many years in training and still continue to sharpen my skills with piloting.” She turned off her Com and placed one hand on the control stick before using her other hand to engage the VTOL engines. The Valkryie lifted off the ground and stopped at a certain altitude before the VTOL engines shifted back into their cruse position, pushing the aircraft forward through the night sky.

It arced slightly and climbed at a one hundred and thirty degree angle into the night sky before leveling off at a normal altitude and quickly accelerated towards their first objective, the medium sized warehouse. The entire experience of taking off and their currently glide was incredibly smooth and turbulent free, only proving that Aviza was quite skilled with piloting. Turning around in her seat, she closed the cockpit door behind her and returned to her original comfortable position in her seat.Leaning down slightly she pulled a cord from under her seat and plugged it into her data pad then opened her com for all to hear. “I went through the music archives a while back and gathered a large amount of music that I downloaded onto my datapad. I would play the music for myself through my coms but I am unable to do so thanks to forgetting a simple tuner I left back at the safe house. I hate to expose all of you to my own personal taste in music but there are few other options.” Pressing a button upon the face of her datapad, music began to play through the ship. Reaching up above her, she flipped a couple of switches before the room filled with a cold soft breeze that came from the air cooling system.

If Adrianne was sitting next to her in the co-pilot seat, she would glance over to her Pyscher friend and say “Strange is the Emperors will, not long ago I was having lunch with an old friend and now here I am with a retinue following clues to find a greater daemon on this pleasure planet I was assigned to. Not only that but there is also a Ork waaagh in a nearby sector and we have multiple militaries of the Imperium of man on their way to assist us. I will admit this is quite a bizarre happening but I rather be fighting then walking around these corrupted streets below us while having nothing to do.” Aviza would reach into her bag and pulled out a long roll shaped object that was in a golden metallic wrap.Breaking it in half with a snap, she offered the other half to her Psycher friend. “This is chocolate marzipan, very expensive, very rare, and very delectable.” Aviza lightly bit into her piece and chewed it slowly, savoring its flavor and texture knowing it could very well be the last time she was going to have it with the way everything around them seemed to be going into a downward spiral.

( Music Playing: https://youtu.be/h-S9SDJ7odc )

As the Valkyrie was about to take off, Adrianne would have made her way to the co-pilot seat.

Her psychic power of precognition meant that she was almost always the designated shotgun or backseat rider. The ability to predict incoming flak or a missile launch before they ever happened was an ability most pilots would dream to have, and with a psyker trained in the arts of divination, such a power became reality.

Making her way into the cockpit which was considerably more cramped than the loading area of the valkyrie, Adrianne would carefully maneuver her staff to the side of her seat; trying to avoid accidentally hitting as many buttons and possibly the battle sister herself as she leaned it against a console.

Buttons and dials flickered with light in front of her at the expansive console surrounding the cockpit, yet they did not confuse her too much.

Because she was often riding shotgun, Adrianne had received courses in how to operate various imperial flying machinery; at least on a basic level. She had also spent a lot of time practicing in simulations, and even flown an actual valkyrie on occasion. Though as a psyker, she was usually relegated to the co-pilot role.

Becoming an imperial fighter pilot had always been her secret dream, as there was a degree of attraction to the notion of simply flying through the skies and endless space at great speed; going wherever you wanted.

“Strange is the Emperors will, not long ago I was having lunch with an old friend and now here I am with a retinue following clues to find a greater daemon on this pleasure planet I was assigned to. Not only that but there is also a Ork waaagh in a nearby sector and we have multiple militaries of the Imperium of man on their way to assist us. I will admit this is quite a bizarre happening but I rather be fighting then walking around these corrupted streets below us while having nothing to do.”

"Thanks." Adrianne would then say as the sister of battle suddenly offered her a piece of chocolate, accepting it from her after removing her helmet.

Taking a bite, she thought over what Aviza had said, before swallowing.

"War is what's keeping the imperium together." Adrianne would suddenly comment, her eyes turning towards Aviza.
"Back at my old academy, we were once lectured by a famed Philosopher and Biologist named Attila Thanatolian. He said that for the continued survival of large organizational entities, such as kingdoms and empires, whether they span the breadth of a simple world or an entire universe, it is essential to have a large, external threat to bring the people together."

Adrianne would comment, her mind slipping back to her old academy.

"A protracted peace can damage the solidarity of the citizens of an empire. The survival instinct which originally bound them together in the face of an external foe will fade over time come peace, and the citizens will turn on each other instead. Rather than thinking as a large community or nation, their concerns will instead move over to a more individual, family level. Society will become a war of everyone against everyone, as they see their neighbors not as venerable allies in the support of the empire, but rather as competitors. War makes the empire, and the empire makes war. It is what enflames our passion, and without it, a slow, social decay will inevitably claim the imperium."

Stukov relished being on board the Valkyrie, as the retinue went about boarding as questions were answered and orders dispatched. Sure, it wasn't a void ship and it certainly wasn't a warship of any sort, but it was certainly more comfortable then marching out to whatever destination they were heading for. Better then terrestrial transports as they had to worry about rough terrain, which was far more unpleasant in the armsman's mind than some turbulence from atmospheric entry or hostile fire in a void deployment. He would take up a position as close to the hatch as possible, so he could be the first off with weapons at the ready, scanning and daring the enemies of Man to try anything unwelcome or untoward. It was a comfortable role, in the understanding of the fact that being first out invited retribution and typical unpleasantness. But he had made it this far leading the charge whenever possible, and he would never decide if it was luck, skill, or divine intervention that saw to such things working out in his favor.

Stukov did a check over on his rifle, since it had taken some hits during his escape from the burning brothel. Everything was in place, drawing the slide back showed full operation and it snapped back forward with a solid, familiar clang of metal on metal. Good, solid, reliable weapons like his newfound autogun and his dearly missed Lucius Pattern shotgun were far more preferred, in Stukov's mind, over highly elaborate, experimental, and inherently dangerous to all groups involved weapons. Plasma weapons came to mind, as did warp powers in general, the former due to overheating and detonating, the latter due to the fact daemons seemed drawn to psykers like moths to flame. Except the flame would get possessed by the moth and burn the whole damn house down if it could, bringing all its moth friends along to fan the flames and make things far, far worse. Not a very good analogy, the man decided with a quiet, amused smirk, but it wasn't like he was openly explaining this to anyone. Sitting back in the seat, he made sure he hadn't lost any gear along the way. All his grenades, spare ammo, sidearm and knife were present alongside his rifle. Traveling light clearly worked wonders for him right now, couldn't afford to be losing vital equipment others might be relying on.

Mentally running through all the information they were given, Stukov had a bad feeling about this abandoned factory. Sure, having an Imperial Navy force nearby was immensely relieving, the big guns on the Imperial vessels were always comforting to have at the ready for surface bombardments on key targets. The Imperial Guard and Space Marines were also great to have along for the ride, since that was more dedicated ground forces to throw against a Daemonic incursion, or Dark Eldar raiders or whatever hells the universe threw at them all. Didn't help in the short storm if he kicked in a door and a Bloodthirster or Daemonette tried to jump him through the doorway, a fusilade of fire trying to rip the offending being to shreds before it could really cause any damage. The daemons seemed to focus on him whenever he had been working through boarding actions, and it was rather irritating to put it mildly. Life threatening and terrifying, far more accurate. But he did his job, regardless, and kept moving forward. And right now? His job was to lead the way and follow Boss' orders. Whether or not he was going to like carrying out said orders was another story completely, but that was neither here nor there. The Armsman took the moment to rest, dozing in the seat to maximize how much rest he had. Considering the flight path, it was a testament he was able to rest at all.

“We have not only the Imperial Guard, but also Space Marines and a group of Lord Admirals Battleships coming to assist us? I can contact the Adepta Sororitas to send us additional Sisters to assist us if you require Zhevon, fighting threats like this is what we do best.” Aviza spoke up, offering the aid of her Order. She climbed into the Valkyrie.
"No, not yet. Maybe tell them that I may require their assistance soon, but we don't want to broadcast that we're about to do something big. The reinforcements coming in are under the guise of a force coming to finish off the Ork threat once and for all on the agriworld." He explained, "If there's a way to prepare the Sororitas without warning everyone on the planet of our intent..." He trailed off, leaving everyone else to finish the thought, and perhaps come up with an idea.

"If the owner is gone, what's the reason for traveling to the factory?" Adrianne asked, having gotten into the Valkyrie already, "Do we suspect the factory to be a mere cover-up for some other illegal activity? Are we looking for notes, databanks or communication collections?"
Once everyone was in, Zhevon closed the Valkyrie doors and replied as he was getting back to his seat. "We're looking for anything of use, what you mention would be very useful, but even if we find nothing, we would have found something out." He took his backpack off and set it on his lap. He then just noticed a bullet hole in the side of it, opening the pack, he took out his thermis and shook it. It rattled, evidently catching the bullet from before. He growled quietly and opened it, emptying what little tea was left and the bullet onto the floor of the Valkyrie.

Adrianne then moved into the cockpit, and Aviza went over her previous flight experience. To which Zhevon replied, "As long as we don't end up crashing." He went back to orchestrating how the Imperium would respond to a worst case scenario.



The factory was surprisingly larger than expected, since its only known purpose was to manufacture and pack boxed meals. Even from a distance, one could tell that the factory was several stories tall, 7 stories, for the main factory section. With most likely a basement of some sorts. There was a taller section of the factory, likely where the offices were for the paper pushers and the overseer.
The Factory was a distance away from the main city, on the outskirts. Several factories surrounded it, but they were likely making something else, such as toys or souvenirs.
As soon as they were close, Zhevon opened the vox to the two pilots, "Take us down somewhere in walking distance to the Factory, I'm not too picky, get the best parking spot. Once landed, stack up on the nearest entrance. Let's try infiltration again, we don't know whats in that factory."

"Quiet right up until someone starts shooting at us. We also might want to avoid another hallway of statues, you know, considering the track record with those so far..." Whether Stukov was making light of how the first encounter with the statues that came alive to try and attack, murder, or do worse to the retinue and its members, or was somewhat miffed on how that turned out still due to outside interference that, while Sis could not have known what she was walking into, did not really change the fact that it had happened. It was done, though, so he was unable to go back in time and fix the problem or prevent it from happening at all. He had heard out the briefings and discussion, and had little to add towards the plans. He had no idea how to safely involve the Sisters of Battle without rumbling the intentions of Boss, and frankly, he would rather they kept out of the work unless things clearly went to hell, and he wished that had no chance of being literal. As the Valkyrie landed, and the rear hatch dropped, Stukov was already on his feet and heading down the ramp, scanning his surroundings and looking for any possible threats, obvious or subtle. Once he was as sure as he could be, he spoke back to the retinue through his comms, rebreather worn again.

"We're clear out here, Boss. I'll take point, let's hit this factory and hopefully figure out something fast." Stukov would wait for the group to disembark before taking the lead, heading for the factory at a deliberate, but not too rushed of a pace. They wanted to blend in and be subtle about their approach, so no sense acting like a military unit being disembarked from their transport to raid a given location. Speaking of subtle, Stukov brought up his question on the use of a Valkyrie to drop them off close to the Factory and yet remain subtle about it. The transports weren't always the quietest craft used by the Guard or Navy, and unless the factory was running its heavy industrial equipment, he was concerned about any squatter heretics, criminals, rebels, or worse hiding in the silent, abandoned ruins of a factory. Either way, though, he spoke as an aside to Boss, keeping it over the comms though. "So, for subtle, landing a Valkyrie and disembarking like a raid team was subtle, sure as sure. Hope the factory equipment was running, sharp ears might have heard otherwise."

“War, war never changes Adrianne, it is all we know these dark days as hostiles push down upon us from all sides. They are not here to acquire our worlds or gather resources, their one and only goal is to remove our existence from the universe, as if we are a stain upon their own. I was reading a book about great leaders in our past from all sides of war and have grown quite interested in one named Isaack. He spoke to his people from his capital and said as follows. My people, sons and daughters of this grand civilization, we are once more reminded of our enemies depravity. We suffer the unspeakable horrors and hardships that they try to force down upon us, hoping that we will break and succumb to their will. The days of those fears have passed, for now we strike out upon those who would see us harm with terrible vengeance. Look now into the sky and watch as our enemy’s ships burn away in orbit, watch as they are cut down by our forces who fight together as one. We will destroy their dreams and haunt their nightmares until they know that our homes, our lives, our existence is our own from this day, till the end of days.” Aviza fell silent before the Valkyrie took a large left turn. The warehouse could be seen in the distance, a beacon of light standing out amongst lesser buildings and factories in the area. “All it takes is a great leader, faithful people and a challenge or threat to bring everyone together as a whole."

"It’s been prove through the many years humanity has existed, though there are some exceptions of course, we are mercilessly cruel at times.” Placing her hand upon the throttle, she pulled it back towards herself slowly as the ship decreased speed. "I see a prime landing position for the ship, a dark alley near a couple other factories that are producing large amounts of smoke, if we are lucky they are generating quite a bit of noise as well." The ship positioned itself over the dark alley before slowly drifting towards the ground, blue flames illuminating the area for a moment. Reaching out in front of her she flipped a couple of switches, turning off all the lights and switching the engines to twenty five percent power. The Valkyrie felt as if it was free falling for a moment before very gently touching down upon the road beneath them. As soon as it did, Aviza’s hands went to work as they quickly shut off almost all systems for the ship. “Thank you for being my Co-Pilot Adrianne, your Psycher talents are greatly overlooked and I for one appreciate your help, even if we were very close to being sucked into a warp portal while in the art gallery.” Aviza opened the door that connected the cockpit to the rest of the Gunship and motioned for Adrianne to go first. “After you, I will hold up the rear.” Once everyone was out of the ship and Aviza had made sure it was securely locked, she followed the Inquisitors orders to the letter and quickly made her way to the back of the warehouse taking her position next to a large metal door that lead into it. Bending down on one knee, she took an offensive stance with her weapon raised, ready to breach.

"Spoken like a true sister of battle." Adrianne nodded at Aviza with a small smile. The Sister certainly did not lack for any kind of idealism, and the way she spoke was almost as if her teachers and canoness had spoken directly through her. Picking up her staff and leaving the cockpit, Adrianne would head out into the loading bay of the valkyrie as they prepared to touch down.

The moment the air-tight loading bay of the valkyrie opened, Adrianne would immediately grimace as the polluted air of the factory district washed in. Deciding to quickly put on her helmet with a click, she'd march out of the valkyrie at a casual pace with her staff in hand.

Unlike Stukov and Aviza, the Psyker seemed remarkably calm about the whole thing, merely walking casually towards the door without making any obvious attempt at being stealthy or using cover. It was either an attitude of complete disregard for her surroundings or situation, or simply a sign that the Psyker was confident that no one was trailing their gun on them.

"I thought this was supposed to be a garden world." Adrianne would comment as she turned to throw a disdainful look behind her mask towards the towering industrial complexes that surrounded them on all side, with black or chemical smoke belching out from massive iron or brick pipes that spewed forth all manners of pollutants from the belly of the numerous factories. The area was particularly darker than the rest of the areas they had been to on the planet, and a thick, acidic smoke hung over the district.

"Even if they noticed us, Stukov, I'll send M4R1-A on aerial overwatch of the factory property. If anyone attempts to leave the perimeter, we'll know about it. And get a high-res footage of them as well... "

Floating at her side would be M4R1-A, constantly scanning their surroundings and focusing its attention on the building ahead. The metallic bag with the medallion it had once carried had been left behind in the valkyrie.

As they approached the door, Aviza would soon come running to catch up with them from behind; the battle sister having done her best to hide the oversized military vehicle in the busy industrial sector, hopefully without anyone having noticed her.

"Where did you park the thing?" Adrianne would inquire, throwing a glance over at Aviza before the psyker raised her staff and pointed it at the metal door in front of them. Weaving her staff through the air in front of her, the thin, metallic sheath that made up the door would creak, before being lifted up in front of them to reveal the entrance to the factory.

"Quiet right up until someone starts shooting at us. We also might want to avoid another hallway of statues, you know, considering the track record with those so far..." Stukov remarked just before the Valkyrie landed,
"I don't believe they will nest in a factory, it is far too loud there, they enjoy quiet places." Zhevon replied, "Another type of daemon comes to mind, one that enjoys noise. But as long as the factory remains active, they should remain docile."

As they were moving to the factory, with Stukov taking point, Adrianne commented about the sickly atmosphere of the industrial district.
"They can't import everything, and some businesses make their profit on locally made or grown products." He reasoned, "Although they could have been more... Ecological." He looked up at the darkened sky, making out a sunrise in the distance. Stukov then spoke up.
"So, for subtle, landing a Valkyrie and disembarking like a raid team was subtle, sure as sure. Hope the factory equipment was running, sharp ears might have heard otherwise." His voice came through the vox,
"Even if they noticed us, Stukov, I'll send M4R1-A on aerial overwatch of the factory property. If anyone attempts to leave the perimeter, we'll know about it. And get a high-res footage of them as well... " Adrianne assured the Armsman,
"Heavy trucks and shuttles go to and from this district all day and night, it would take a trained ear to distinguish Valkyrie engines from all of the noise." He added, "...And if there actually is such an ear, and we get ambushed, we know then that this mystery owner does not want to be bothered. Grounds for bothering him."

Once they reached the Factory, they stacked up on a side door. Adrianne waved her staff over the entrance and unlocked it, opening it at the same time with her powers. Zhevon made a note of that. He put his hand on Stukov's shoulder and stepped forward, meaning to take over as pointman. As soon as the group stepped through the side entrance, a worker stepped around the corner and saw them. The mask wearing, apron clad worker froze. An awkward second passed.
"Inspection." Zhevon said, breaking the silence.
"I-Inspection?" The worker asked, confused, and wary.
"Uh... Yes. The last factory I inspected turned out to be a ganger front. Better to be prepared, right?" Zhevon quickly made up.
"Right. Uh... Do you need anything inspector?"
Zhevon turned his head slightly and then looked back at the worker, "Is there anything strange about this factory that differs from the others?"
The worker scratched his head, thinking, "Well, sometimes we get a notice that everyone will get a paid holiday, usually a day or two before the actual holiday. The factory is then manned by a skeleton crew, the machines put on half speed to ensure there are no accidents or malfunctions, and the skeleton crew is paid overtime for however many hours they put in. Today is one of those, usually we have some 50 workers in here, but right now there's about 10 of us."
Zhevon looked to his retinue, then back to the worker, "May we walk around?"
"Yes of course Inspector. I really need to use the restroom, excuse me. The rest of us are in the breakroom if you have any questions."