Inquisitor Icarus of the Ordo Hereticus stood silent and still upon the command deck of the Amythian as the soothing sound of computers and machinery filled the large room. Her sapphire blue eyes gazed up at a large monitor that hung part way over the massive glass window that displayed the vast emptiness of space. Upon the monitor was information about their position in space and the estimated amount of time it would take them to arrive at their destination if conditions stayed favorable.

"Inquisitor Icarus, Imperial units in the area of Minh report zero threats and zero anomalies between us and our destination. The estimated time till arrival is twenty three hours and forty nine minutes. Weather upon Sovereign will remain in the low temperatures for the next two days then will slowly warm to the planets summer season. We have no further words or information from the Erathellian System. The ship is running at one hundred and fifty percent capacity, all systems are in the green and are fully functional. I would feel sorry for the poor bloke that would end up engaging us in battle."

The ship's information specialist brought his right hand to his mouth and coughed before continuing. "The small number of elite troops that you requested help in this mission are in their personal quarters within the living deck of the ship. None of them have left their quarters yet but once that happens I will inform you immediately. Most likely unpacking their gear and getting comfortable with their new setting. All gear, equipment, weapons and vehicles are secured and counted for." The information specialist looked over more random information before nodding his head in approval. "The ship is running like a charm, we have everything we need, everyone is present and accounted for, thank the emperor."

Inquisitor Icarus nodded her head once in acknowledgement, her short black hair slightly swaying as she did. "Inform my retinue to report to the briefing room immediately for important information regarding the mission. Inform them that I require their presence inside of the meeting room as soon as possible. While you are doing that, I have a matter to attend to." The Inquisitor turned and left the command deck swiftly but silently as if on the hunt for something or someone. A few moments later she would appear in the meeting room with her own Servo-Skull floating beside her.

Walking to the front of the room, she stopped next to a table in the middle of the room and motioned for her Servo-Skull to send a direct feed into it. Instantly an incredibly detailed and interactive holographic image of the Erathellian Solar System came up. At that moment, it dawned on her that the information specialist had not done what she had asked. Reaching to interact with the com upon the wall near the entrance of the room, she was abruptly interrupted before she could order the command once more. "This is Information specialist Flores, by order of Inquisitor Icarus, all those that are part of the Inquisitors retinue must report to the meeting room immediately for information about the mission at hand."

Swiftly, Inquisitor Icarus returned to her position in the middle of the room and ensured that the hologram was in fact working correctly. All there was to do now was to wait for the Emperors finest to show up, then she would start.

"This is Information specialist Flores, by order of Inquisitor Icarus, all those that are part of the Inquisitors retinue must report to the meeting room immediately for information about the mission at hand."

Then silence. Ansgar looked up from his workbench, in a rather spartan quarters. The Krieger had decided, and requested, specifically that his quarters only contain the absolute, vital necessities. A bed, secure stowage for his equipment and maintenance gear, and a workbench to maintain his needlessly tempermental Type XIV Lasgun (Heavy). That was what he spent most of his time doing, outside close quarters drills and prayer. And that was what he was doing when the message came over the vox, ordering all retinue to the meeting room. Rather overt, but on the Inquisitor's own vessel? He supposed they could afford to be blunt. He thought the way he did of the Inquisitor, without gender, since he had been effectively told, being carted off the Thrasis campaign and being sworn to utter secrecy upon penalty of the most painful death imaginable, that he was being assigned to Inquisitor Icarus. The Ordos meant nothing to him, he really had no idea the differences between them. He would hunt the enemies of Man, and that was enough cause for the Death Korp Grenadier.

Ansgar went about securing his gear, armoring up and affixing the trademark Krieg rebreather and helmet most of all. People tended to expect that he never remove the thing, that he lived, slept, fought and died in the thing. Which was true, he would indeed do all of those things. But it seemed to make outsiders almost feel better, seeing the impassive and expected face of the Death Korp over some oddly youthful face, according to them. He didn't feel comfortable with the attention being unmasked brought, so he just left the thing on. Kept him ready for a moment's notice of trouble as well, so he finished his armor checks before slinging the backpack power unit, which was the centerpoint of his gear, onto his back. Lastly, and most certainly not least, was the Type XIV Lasgun (Heavy) itself, which was secured over his shoulder. Glancing at a mirror that was left in the room, for some reason, he looked far too clean. The equipment and uniform were cleaned of the muck, blood, and debris from his rather rapid flight from Thrasis I, and he looked too new, despite the dents, scrapes, and a rather stunning claw mark down the breastplate, for the Krieger's taste.

Marching out of his quarters, it took several minutes to figure out where the meeting room was, and Ansgar was able to get there before anyone else it seemed. Tardy lot, they were going to be, was it? Ansgar came to attention, giving a swift salute to the Inquisitor. Female officer then, hardly a concern to Ansgar. Most woman tended to stay back on Krieg, but he was aware that was not how things normally operated outside of the place. Exposure to the Adeptus Sororitas most certainly made him aware of that, if nothing else would have. But with the salute came the, slightly muffled from the rebreather, report from the Krieg born Guardsman. Almost as an afterthought, which would be apparent, came the informal name he was referred to as by outsiders. It also helped them feel better than referring to a man as merely a statistical number. "Trooper 17431, informally Ansgar Staudinger, Death Korp Grenadier. Reporting for active duty, ma'am."

Amythian, now here was something that Vala wasn't even dreaming of being on board of - a real imperium light cruiser! She was quietly sitting in a chair by the workbench she had also asked to be in her room. As someone who used a lot of modified and custom crafted weapons and armor, she had to keep them in prime condition herself. That's the reason she spend a lot of her free time on them.

She had just tweaking her rifle and crafting some more slugs for it when the message was sounded.

"This is Information specialist Flores, by order of Inquisitor Icarus, all those that are part of the Inquisitors retinue must report to the meeting room immediately for information about the mission at hand."

Vala sighed a she looked up and about the place. It was time to get prepared, but by her own calculations they shouldn't have been scheduled to arrive at their destination just yet.” Guess I will go in full gear to be presentable at least.” She muttered and walked over to the locker in the room, taking the custom armor out of it and quickly putting the pieces on herself.

With the armor in place, she started putting all of her weapons in place. The handguns on her hips, the sword and rifle on her back and the shotgun on her waist. She looked herself at the mirror, making sure her face wasn't covered in oil and grime from all the tinkering. Content with how she looked, she smiled as she walked towards the exit of her room to head in the direction of the meeting room.

She arrived just in time to hear a man presents himself in military designation, name and former post. Vala nodded as she entered the meeting room and saluted the inquisitor. The former merc wasn't really much on military etiquette, but she learned basic salutes at least after she was drafted into the retinue.

“Vala Sal Felere, combat engineer. Reporting for duty!” She greeted also before quickly taking a more relaxed stance. She disliked the military stances and preferred to keep away form them as much as possible. Her weapons and armor were neatly clean, but without polish so they don't shine in light and gave away positions in case of sneak tactics were needed.

"This is Information specialist Flores, by order of Inquisitor Icarus, all those that are part of the Inquisitors retinue must report to the meeting room immediately for information about the mission at hand."

“This is Primaris Psyker Selkirk. By order of painful fiery death, I command everyone else to leave me alone.”

Maria sighed, setting down the book she had been engrossed in for the last few hours. It wasn’t anything scholarly or particularly Emperor-worshipping, merely a fictional novel by some kid who had gotten access to a word processor, but it was a delightfully original take on a tired old genre and had an intelligent view of magic users - hopefully that wouldn’t get the burgeoning author purged for heresy at some point in the near future.

She hopped to her feet, slipping into the sturdy boots she’d been issued so many years ago, debating for a moment whether or not to arrive at the meeting place in full dress or not. On the one hand, it would reflect poorly on her to show up half dressed and without her gear, on the other hand, her gear was heavy and uncomfortable.

Eventually she decided it would be best not to be executed for improper decorum as a sign of Chaos worship. Strapping on the various buckles and clasps of her armor, she slipped into her coat and donned her hat before strapping her gun belt and other accoutrements over the exterior of the faux leather, aramid fiber, or whatever the material was. Striking a pose in a small mirror she had set up, she smirked to herself - as always, the bandolier of bolts slung across her chest was simultaneously an odd contrast and a swashbuckling flair with her coat and hat.

Striding out of the room, she slumped against the wall for a quick second, sighing melodramatically, before straightening up and marching briskly for the designated room.

As she entered, she took note of the other occupants of the room, surprised to see a Death Korps guardsman here. Weren’t his type more keen on dying in droves to grind down their enemies with sheer numbers and complete disregard for their own lives?

Flashing a quizzical look at him, she appraised the other non-Inquisitorial occupant of the room. A woman who appeared to be about her age with some very impressive red hair and a suit that seemed to… favor its wearer’s physique. Also interesting.

Turning her attention to the Inquisitor, she snapped back into the Guard mindset, standing stiffly at attention and delivering a crisp salute, “Primaris Psyker Maria Selkirk, awaiting further instructions, Lady Inquisitor.” She stood there, stock still, almost statue like.

The room was dark and dimly lit by some old, flickering lights attached to the walls alongside the endless, wiry mess of tubes, plates and heavy circuitry that ran across the interior of the room.

The wall furthermost in the room consisted of a large, slightly dirty pane of glass that loomed over the rest of the room, staring right out into the empty darkness of space. The room was large, reaching almost ten meeters before its curved metal roof. Despite its size, it was almost completely empty.

All except for one lone figure, an ashen haired woman sitting cross legged right in the middle of the room, the large pane staring out into the void right behind her.

The woman was donned in a tight, deep brown elastic jumpsuit adorned with a web like pattern of metal threads running about its surface. Above it she wore a set of segmented half plate, consisting of a chestguard, a pair of shoulderpads, with two long metal greaves and gauntlets running almost up to her elbows and thighs respectively. Hanging from her back and attached to her elbows was a long, flowing blue cloak, tattered in its appearance as it laid out around her. And along her torso hung a heavy tome on her left side, bound by a hard chain of steel running across her torso diagonally. Her hair, pale as snow, would be hanging out behind her in a long, ashen ponytail that ran down to her lower back.

Adrianne's eyes were closed as she sat in her position cross legged, meditating, frozen like a statue.

Then, suddenly, her violet eyes would open; a faint shimmer of sickly purple light emanating from them before she blinked once more, and they were back to their normal violet hue. As if summoned by an invisible calling, she reached forward to pick up the metal helmet in front of her. An armored zero-g helmet fashioned much like the rest of her gothic plate armor, and with a skeletal skull at the center of it where the facemask should be.

Standing up, she reached forward and made a gesture with her hand. Lying motionless some feet in front of her was her staff, and upon her gesture, it would suddenly fly up from the ground and land right in the palm of her hand, Adrianne grasping it as it came at her.

"This is Information specialist Flores, by order of Inquisitor Icarus, all those that are part of the Inquisitors retinue must report to the meeting room immediately for information about the mission at hand."

A voice suddenly sounded across the room, coming from the vox speaker located somewhere up in the darkness of the roof of the room. But by then, Adrianne had already reached the door, which she opened with a slight gesture, walking through staff in hand. As she passed through the heavy iron door, two shadows located at either side of the door would come to life, snaking their way down through the air like it was water. As the snake like figures entered the light of the corridor behind them, they would be revealed to the be servo-skulls, each with a long, snake-like metallic human spine snaking out from the back of their skulls like a vicious, pointed tail. They followed Adrianne like a pair of shades, hovering behind the psyker as she marched through the vessel towards their intended destination.

And with one final step, the woman would suddenly disappear in a crack of black smoke, vanishing instantly!

*

A creeping, unnatural sense of cold would suddenly wash of the briefing room for a short moment that could be experienced by every organic being within. The unusual sensation was followed shortly by what might have felt like the beginning of a migraine, as if the center of balance in the room shifted ever so slightly for a moment - before everything suddenly returned to normal.

Now standing behind Vala would be the figure of Adrianne, the psyker seemingly having materialized out of nowhere!

The psyker was quiet, not saying a word. Indeed, standing as she did in the half-shadows and wearing her mask, she almost looked like some dark spirit! Throwing a glance at the back of the red haired woman standing in front of her, a sense of curiosity ran through her mind.

The woman definitely didn't look like any imperial official or soldier that she had seen, and she looked far too regal and proud to be a deck monkey. She was a mystery, though Adrianne did not speak. Instead, the psyker continued to stand directly behind Vala, deciding instead to see how long it would take the woman to even notice her.

Turning around, she could see another guardsman and the fellow Psyker present.

The guardsman looked as grim and spartan as ever, though unusually clean from the pictures she had usually seen of his division. The way he stood, his posture, everything about him simply radiated a steely, grim resolve, like that of a man ready, perhaps even eager, to throw himself into almost certain death to fulfill the purpose of his existence. Yet, for some reason, and almost comically so, there was something about him that made him rather uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the social gathering and lack of dangerous bullets whizzing by and the smell of bodies?

Adrianne took a moment to try to remember his name, if she even knew, though quickly gave up, realizing the foolish errand of befriending a guardsman. A guardsman of Krieg nonetheless!

Looking the other way, she saw a woman, sporting a funny hat in a rather swashbuckling attire. The way Maria stood still like a statue, and her quaint outfit, made her in some way almost resemble an imperial naval officer. If she had not already known she was a fellow psyker, Adrianne might initially have assumed she was simply an officer or a very flamboyant mercenary come to serve.

Finally, Adrianne continued to stare right forward, over Vala's shoulder. Which quite frankly wasn't that difficult, as Adrianne was quite a bit taller than the other woman.
Instead, she made sure to cross glances with the Inquisitor, Icarus, simply nodding with the empty, dark sockets of her mask when she met the Inquisitor's gaze, acknowledging her presence and attendance, before continuing to listen.

Vala stood there after presenting herself and just observed the room and the people who were now present in it. The inquisitor was well... the same, the guardsman was also not really interesting. The woman that entered and had a really interesting hat and coat was well a lot more intriguing. Vala wasn't sure exactly from where that woman hailed. Her coat reminded the merc of a certain rogue trader she once met. They also seemed to prefer as showy garbs as this one.

It was then that the atmosphere in the room changed. Something felt wrong and caused Vala to narrow her eyes for a moment, steeling herself. This was... no... it maybe... couldn't be. Vala's hand lightning fast was already on her laspistol. She threw a quick glances around and verified that the inquisitor was not taking action indeed. Then this must not be an enemy attack.

The former mercenary had an idea of what had just happened. She felt similar things just before she was picked up by the Imperium. She glanced left and right, confirming that no one was there which left only one place where the new arrival could be... Behind her!

She tried to take a single step back, but quickly pressed against the woman standing behind herself.' I knew it...' Vala thought, not really amused by this. She hated having people in her blind spot. She usually fired at such cases right away with the inquisitor's calm looking state being the only thing that made her no shoot right away.

“Ahm..., would you kindly step away from my blind spot, please?” Vala asked the woman who was behind her. Yes she realized it was a woman the moment she felt the rather soft front when she tried to take that step back.” It's kind of annoying to have someone in my blind spot and not fire at them...”

Adrianne would tilt her head slightly to the side, her long white ponytail swaying behind her as she did.

"Ohh? Would you assume me to be some sort of thug or bandit? Now now, I was going to shank you and run off with your purse, I would have done so long ago." The Psyker spoke with a rather amused voice, her lips curling into a smirk behind her skull mask.

Eventually, she reached a hand up to her mask and clicked a combination of buttons, causing a slight hiss as the edges of the helmet seperated from her collar, and she pulled it off, allowing her ashen white hair to flow freely around her face as she set Vala with a pair of strong, violet eyes.

"Don't worry yourself. Unless, you are one of those few with an utterly ridiculous social bubble... !" Adrianne added with a slightly joking tone at the end of her sentence as she eyed Vala up and down, as if something about the other woman really amused the Psyker for some reason.
"Have you ever attended a congregation to our glorious Emperor ever in your life? One would've thought one session of that would have washed away all shyness!"

The chill sounded off just about every alarm in Ansgar's head, the subtle shift creating a migraine would have caused a panicked expression to flash across the Kreiger's face, if it was visible to begin with, and if it had happened at all. Instead, he turned on heel, the whine of his Type XIV primed to unleash a volley of powerful las rounds the only announcement that he was reacting on instinct. To be fair, pluck a survivor from a world in the midst of becoming a Daemon world, and one could not readily fault him for not reacting peacefully to sudden appearances from warp travel. The chill and headache only made the matter more clear, as far as the man was concerned, that there was trouble so soon. He had the Type XIV trained on Adrianne and was about ready to fire when civil thought kicked in. Unlike Adeptus Sororitas and Grey Knights, he was not used to working alongside human psykers. The split second he didn't move from his ready position gave him time to analyze.

Psyker, or manipulated by one, likely the former. Silver looking armaplate, would likely take precision to punch through gaps and weakpoints assuming it was rated highly enough to take a Type XIV (Heavy) lasround. He would take that gamble, if he were not one to assume the worst of a situation like this. Helmet, similar material, likely rated equally or slightly better. Overall threat, above average. Potential for violence? An attack would not have waited for one of them to notice, and considering no one else seemed to react as poorly as he, the calm hum of the Type XIV returning to its safe state and the muzzle lowering indicated he was not reacting on instinct anymore. But, while reacting, the discomfort and unsurity of a social situation were gone. Combat made far more sense to Ansgar, after all. Most sane people would have likely apologized profusely for aiming a potent weapon at someone out of instinct, but the Krieger only offered an off hand comment, shifting his position to keep all of them in view now. Muffled and definitely not friendly in tone, and a tad cold when his comment was directed at the Psyker who newly arrived. "Not used to friendly warpers..."

Warper being a nicer term his regiment had referred to Psykers as. More unkind was learned from their brief contact with the shattered survivors of an Armageddon regiment having finished putting down Orks on Thesis II before the Chaos incursions. Bangers were the more derogatory term, referencing their tendency to explode, their heads especially. Ork psykers, at least, but the Krieg regiment stuck to it, an oddity to be sure, but facing Chaos in so many of its forms, oddities tended to form at the best of times. Her idle jesting with the other woman was nothing interesting, to Ansgar at least, and he left the Hellgun resting in his arms, ready for a split moment's notice, just in case. Anything with Warp relations was never good news, whether it stabbed you in the face, screaming bloody murder, or slipped its toxic dagger between a lone sentry's ribs in a unspoken assault from the Immaterium. He didn't pretend to understand the Warp, and frankly, he had no interest in doing so. When it was a threat, it was put down. Otherwise, watched carefully for when that line into threat was crossed. And it was put down.

Maria still stood rock solid at attention. Unlike the Krieg man, she knew the feeling of a psyker teleporting their way in, and also unlike him, she knew their new visitor bore them no ill will. Despite herself, she snickered at his reaction, though managing to maintain her posture.

Though she did not move a muscle, she muttered out of the side of her mouth, “Relax, Mr. Organic Servitor, she doesn’t bite.” She paused for a moment, “Or at least I think she doesn’t. Normally.” Looking at the new arrival out of the corner of her eye, she couldn’t stop her eyebrows raising at the… impressive posture of the other psyker. “Though to be frank, she could probably just fall on you from that height and it’d hurt a lot more.”

Maria was not short by any means, but the new woman was straight up tall, perhaps bordering on towering even. She’d seen her before, though not very close, and it was only now that she appreciated how imposing her height could be, especially when coupled with her armor. Granted, it wasn’t as if she was unused to being completely dwarfed by other people - she had spent time around the Astartes after all, and they stood tall over any normal human.

It did amuse her that they seemed to share the exact same type of snow white hair - maybe it was a psyker thing? Or at least something psykers were prone to? She would have to go do some reading, if possible. Truth be told there was little in the way of intellectual stimulation when attached to various overzealous Commissars and Imperial Guard commanders. Some of them had impressive libraries, but it wasn’t as if they would let some psyker from the Underhive of Mordia browse through their private collections.

She made a mental note to pester the Inquisitor and the other psyker about any interesting books they might be willing to share before returning her attention to the Inquisitor in question, face going blank once more as she returned to standing stiffly at attention.

Inquisitor Icarus was quite aware of her retinues presence, though she had knelt below the large holographic projector in the middle of the room to tamper with its internal wiring. In fact, she was ensuring that it could handle what she was about to make it do. After rising to her feet, she straitened her armor and then introduced herself properly. “Morning everyone, I am Inquisitor Icarus of the Ordo Hetericus, hailing from the Orion system in the north eastern section of the Milky Way. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your attendance on this highly imperative mission. I have faith that working together, we will root out the chaos forces from the system and return it to its former glory in the name of the emperor. Now, everyone relax and wait a moment while I engage the holographic projector.”

Reaching to the side of the projector, that was more of a large table in the middle of the room, Icarus flipped a switch and the room was suddenly filled with a massive interactive, highly detailed hologram of the Erathellian Solar System. “This is the Erathellian Solar System. There are eleven planets within the system, each planet is classified with its own world type ranging from a single command world to a luxurious pleasure world.”

Reaching up with her left hand, Icarus pointed at the large planet that looked a lot like earth, it was the third planet from the sun and was apparently very important. “This is Sovereign, a command planet for the whole system. That means it has a mix of a number of other planet types built upon its surface. These can range from forge, armory, hive and so on. This will be our first stop in the system, and where we will be spending most of our time. There have been reports of chaos cults forming upon the planet. We have reason to believe that such a cult may have infiltrated the planet's infrastructure, which will have grave consequences ranging far beyond the system if they are not rooted out and eliminated immediately.”

As she pointed at the planet, a small window appeared next to it, showing the planet's information and history. “We have little under twenty-four hours before we arrive at Erathell. Once we arrive at our destination, we will take a shuttle from my cruiser and land at my personal docking port within the temple district, by Celestian Andromedai's request. From there, we will be shuttled to a safe house I have requested for all of us. That is all the information I have to give for the moment, you are all dismissed to do as you see fit until our arrival. Feel free to ask any questions you may have and I shall do my best to answer them.”

“Hmhm…” Vala made a sound, turning halfway to face the frankly a lot taller woman. She expected Adrianne to be taller considering the sensations when her back bumped into the psyker, but she was a lot taller than she expected.” I grew up on pirate ships, outlaw ships, merc ships and all manners of illegal stations. Having someone in your blind spot at those places never means good. Growing up there, conditioned me with desire to shoot whenever someone is staying right behind me, it’s nothing personal.” She explained.

“Well in matter of fact I’ve indeed never been at congregation. Once more, on the fridges of Imperium space and at the dark corners of the space where mercs and pirates live, faith isn’t exactly a thing that exist, be it to the god Emperor even. As the inquisitor should be aware, considering the ‘debriefing’ I was given when imperium forces rescued me from my assault boat after the infidel incident.” She stated, making a cringing expression for a moment. Man it still hurt just thinking about the ‘debriefing’. Hell they made her retell her entire life story… multiple times to make sure she wasn’t lying or being a chaos agent in disguise.

After that, Vala turned back to inquisitor Icarus as the woman began to speak. Well it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary really. Chaos cults and infestations, just the usual from what Vala have been hearing stories ever since she was old enough to remember.

“I have a question, inquisitor. Are the locals aware of our imminent arrival or is this still completely a black ops for now?” She asked.” Also before I forget, I’m in need of some more parts for my new project. To whom should I address a requisition order? I've nearly completed it, but it remains unoperational until I get those parts...”

Vala’s newest project was going to be grand once it was completed. A new rifle just for her, it had it’s drawbacks, but the potential her weapon showed so far was outclassing it’s negatives.

Adrianne derived a certain degree of amusement from the reactions of the rest of the room, in particular that of the guardsman.

Although he had raised his weapon against her, even if only for a moment, Adrianne had felt no real danger about the circumstance. None of her powers had warned her about any potential danger, and even if she had been wrong, her Refractor field could have easily dealt with a lucky shot... or two!

"Very well, little Pirate Princess, I won't pry anymore unnecessarily." Adrianne said with a smirk as she tilted her head, looking down at the shorter woman as she gently petted the top of her red hair.

Turning to the rather anxious looking guardsman at last, Adrianne would toss a friendly smile over his way.

"She is right, you know, my fellow psyker. I don't bite people... " She answered with a light tone, leaning her head ever so slightly.
"Provided I don't through some foul fate end up as a many-mouthed-warp-horror."

Adrianne said with a joking tone, letting her violet eyes rest at the guardsman for a moment.

Even though she was standing towards the back of the room, it was easy to see the rest of the retinue present. One benefit of being as tall as she was, she could almost always look over the heads of the rest even when in the crowdiest of crowds.

Her only real enemy were low placed doorframes...

Turning towards the Inquisitor whom had finally finished her little mission briefing, Adrianne remove her hand from Vala before the woman could get the chance to get violent, raising it slightly(though the raise was totally unnecessary given her being the tallest member of the room).

"What do we actually know about these cults, Miss Inquisitor? Are there many sporadic ones, are they unified or only one?" She asked as she looked down towards the Inquisitor.
"And perhaps too, do we know what accursed idol these heretics have thrown their lot in with?"

It seemed he was the only one to react poorly to the abrupt arrival of the teleporting psyker, and was alerted to the minor fact that there were, indeed, two psykers with them. Ansgar suppressed the urge to sigh, unconsciously reinforcing the mental barriers that had kept him sane on the daemon planet. They were equal parts his own survival necessities and indoctrination by the Inquisitorial forces after the campaign after his purity tests and checks were complete, to ensure no outside force could simply read his mind and learn of things better not known to other people. It made reading him a far more involved process, since the Inquisition had made sure that one couldn't simply glean details of their deepest secrets idly from a Guardsman at some point. It made things fuzzy, at times, especially those last few weeks of the campaign when most of the Death Korp presence was dead or wished they were, and he was more exposed to things that most Guard would never desire or dream for.

Still, having someone a good foot taller than him wielding dangerous, unstable powers from the Warp did not settle terribly well with Ansgar. Even if she jested about perils such as daemonic possession and mutation, which got no overt response. Ever thankful for the mask that so defined his people, the Krieger instead returned the Hellgun to its place on his back, leaning on the wall in the closest thing he could get to a relaxed stance. He did give the freakishly tall psyker a response, looking towards the Inquisitor as he spoke before the brief started. "Well, rest assured, should you become some many mouthed abomination of warp twisted horror, I will be there to put you out of your misery." It was a rather casual response to her joke, and for all appearances, completely serious. If he were a Death Korp Quartermaster, well, it would have been completely literal. Rather, he would merely put her out of her misery should the warp lash back against her.

The brief was short and, unsurprisingly, not terribly informative. Controlling world of the system, chaos cults infesting, all the problems that usually lead to the Guard being sent to put the world down and back into the embrace of the Imperium. So, instead of storming into a figurative or literal hell and putting the enemies of Man to the torch, he was going in before they could rise up. And still putting them to the torch. Well, he could certainly get behind that. Made him miss the heavy flamer from his Engineer days, really, that thing cleaned up messes, daemonic and mortal, right quick. A fond smile formed under the impressionless gasmask, briefly as it existed, before it faded again. Thing was also heavy as hell and made one a target for sharpshooters fancying their chances at a rather explosive shot at a squad. Rather, he only really had one question. "So, how loud are we going? I'm not much one for subtle movements, really."

Maria immediately loosened her posture, going from a rigid salute to almost slouching against the wall of the room, folding her arms in front of her chest and fading into the background as the Inquisitor began speaking.

She didn’t know why the Inquisitor felt the need to explain what a Command World was to her, or a pleasure world for that matter. Did she think they were all a group of inexperienced recruits who’d never been off world before? The Krieger’s jumpiness certainly didn’t help matters. She was sure he had over three hundred confirmed kills of heretics and traitors and graduated near the top of his class in the Schola Progenium in order to become a Grenadier, and so on and so forth, but his jittery reaction to the other Psyker, whose name escaped her at the moment, didn’t bode well.

Perhaps she’d have to burn him before he decided to kill her? It wasn’t a pleasant line of thought, and she turned her attention back to the Inquisitor, and immediately felt a sense of foreboding at the mention of the Adepta Sororitas. She hadn’t met them yet, and in all honesty had no desire to. They were not an organization known for such silly things as “reason” or “not shooting first and then realizing you’re not a heretic until later”, though she took some comfort from the protection of being part of an Inquisitorial retinue.

Sighing internally, she tuned out the banter that erupted from her present company, instead turning her thoughts to just what they would be tasked with exterminating as a part of this retinue. Probably some generic cult or somesuch - she’d seen enough over the years to know what was liable to pop up. Miraculously, the Inquisition hadn’t decided to execute her because of potential corruption or even mind wipe her, and as such she had some inkling of what they would be in for. Probably some Slaaneshi or Tzeentchian cult, if she had to guess. In the latter case, likely deeply entrenched into the command structure of the world, and in the former, probably a gaggle of rich hedonists living with harems of sex slaves.

The Krieger raised a question, with a predictable addendum at the end. It came as no surprise that the drone from Krieg would favor a more direct approach to things - evidently he had little inkling of how to do things that weren’t frontal assaults.

“If I had to guess,” she began, raising an eyebrow at the man, “we shall begin by digging fortifications all around key command points of the planet, with lots of heavy artillery and human wave attacks. All five of us! Then, once we’ve breached the outer walls, I’m sure your bayonet will do very well for that, we shall begin more wave assaults against isolated pockets of resistance. Once every single person who isn’t wearing a gas mask or a fancy hat has been brutally murdered or taken prisoner to be brutally murdered later by an assortment of Hospitaller Sororitas once they’ve coughed up all they know, sorry mercenary” she inclined her head towards Vala in a mock display of apology, “then we can go and dig more fortifications!”

She beamed brightly at him, doffing her hat with grandiose melodrama. “No, I’m sure you’ll get to poke somebody with a pointy object sooner or later, but we’re going there to investigate, which would imply subtlety.” She paused, “Granted, I too am partial to setting things on fire.” Raising a hand, Maria smiled innocently as a ball of warpfire manifested in it before vanishing.

Turning to the Inquisitor, she raised a question of her own. “Lady Inquisitor, if I may ask, would it be too much of me to ask about reading material? Commissars are not generally known for being bookish types, and I’ve been wanting something a bit more engaging to read than the Uplifting Primer for some time now. Does this vessel, or the safehouse we will be living in, have a library I might access? I would like to further my knowledge of the Warp with something other than self-teaching, for obvious reasons.”

“We haven’t even begun the mission and the retinue is already giving each other trouble, this can only end flawlessly as the days progress.” Thought Inquisitor Icarus to herself before she raised a hand to silence her retinue. Once everyone had quieted down, she quickly went to work answering their questions in great detail.

“The locals are not currently aware of our imminent arrival, though that will change once they see an Inquisitorial Light Cruiser break orbit and dock at Sovereign. Word travels fast in this system but if you all keep to my orders, our activities upon these worlds will stay well hidden.” The Inquisitor motioned for Vala Sal Felere to stand by her side for a moment. She produced a data pad one a pocket on her armor and handed it to the mercenary. “Enter what supplies you need and I will have them delivered to you within the next half hour.”

Now, Inquisitor Icarus approached Adrianne Valenthin, looking the woman over for a moment before speaking. “The cultists are mostly Slannish but small groups of Nergal lairs have also been seen on more of the outer rim planets. They are all working together for one common goal, but said goal is still very much so unknown. If you joined me to kill the forces of chaos, you will have your fill over the next couple of months.”

“How loud are we going?” asked Inquisitor Icarus, “Well Ansgar Staudinger, it depends on what we find after our first recon assignments. I have no doubt thought that we will end up going plenty loud once the forces of chaos find out about our presence. In the meantime, just follow my orders to the letter and everything will work out fine.”

Inquisitor Icarus turned to face Maria now and addressed her by her full name before beginning to state her surprise. “I was honestly surprised to see you agree to partake in this mission after I informed you that Celestian Andromedai would be joining us. None the less, I am thankful that you decided to be part of my retinue. I am looking forward to seeing your unique Psyker abilities in use. Now to answer your question. Inside of your room next to the work bench that each of you have is a small computer that stores countless resources and information about anything and everything you desire. All of this information can be downloaded in a short amount of time by plugging your PDA into the computer and starting the archive download.”

As soon as Inquisitor Icarus stopped talking, the sound someone knocking upon the door to the meeting room could easily be heard. The door would suddenly open and in would step Ophelian Celestian Andromedai Morgenstern of the Order of the Argent Shroud. Gently but swiftly, she would move Adrianne who was blocking her way, then stepped forward to the Inquisitor. “Inquisitor Icarus…” Andromedai would speak in a heavy German accent. “The Gunship has been fully armed with custom weapons and custom armor as well. It is fully prepared and waiting to be deployed upon the heretics when the chance comes. All armor, weapons, gear, equipment, vehicles are ready for deployment as well.” Andromedai would glance around the room now at each member from behind her air-sealed helmet then back to Icarus. “This is our retinue then? I only know one of them.” She pointed at Adrianne for a moment then lowered her arm. “Psyker Adrainne, it is good to see you again, we keep ending up fighting along side each other these days, it seems. ”

Adrianne visibly raised an eyebrow at the mention of Chaos and Slaaneshi forces working together.

"Really?"

To hear of those two widely different forces suddenly working together came as a surprise to the Psyker. Although she was not an expert of the subject, she having studied mostly the practical application of the warp back at her old academy as opposed to going deep into its lore, she was nonetheless taken aback by the idea that such wildly different elements of chaos could align themselves, even for a brief, temporary goal.

That the decadent, arrogant and extravagant followers of Slaanesh would ever even consider co-existence, let alone collaboration, with the filth-mongering and diseased slaves of Nurgle meant that things were either very desperate for them, or that a supremely powerful persona had taken charge of the chaos forces in the sector.

So lost was she in her inner monologue that she was again surprised when Andromedai suddenly adressed her.

“Psyker Adrainne, it is good to see you again, we keep ending up fighting along side each other these days, it seems. ”

"Well... I'm not sure if that's a good, or a bad sign!" Adrianne remarked, with a slightly joking tone as she smirked. Indeed, one could never be so sure when it came to any elements associated with the Ecclesiarchy. They had long since taken a cue from general politics when it came to veiled threats.

Looking down at the shorter woman as she spoke, Adrianne would eventually turn her head towards Andromedai.

"Inquisitor, if I may come with a suggestion." She remarked, slightly raising a hand - only to lower it was she remembered that the bridge of the cruiser was no schoolroom!

"Rather than wasting our time killing low-ranking chaos mooks, we should focus on the leadership." She said, taking a step forward, naturally pushing Vala out of the way, whilst also remaining careful as to not brush into Andromedai, lest the sister suddenly get a "Justification" for purging the entire ship for supposed heresy.

"The fact that the slaves of Slaanesh and Nurgle forces are working together means that there is a very strong leadertype for the chaos forces in this sector. I believe our chief goal should be to eliminate this figure, whoever... or whatever, it might be. By doing so, we will undo the at-best fragile cooperation between our enemies, and perhaps leave some of the job of killing them to each other."

Adrianne finished, a slight smirk on her lips.

Indeed, at times, Chaos was as much an enemy to itself as the Imperium ever could be. That was the downside of relying on an army of egocentric, overzealous psychopaths. The servants of different chaos gods almost hated each other as much as they did the Imperium, and sometimes, even more. If they could disrupt that cooperation, it meant that at worst, the enemy became much less coherent and effective, and at best, they might actually start killing each other!

The other, not abruptly warping psyker went off on a considerable spiel about how the sterotypical approach to war, as per a Death Korp commander would see it, including copious amounts of fortifications, human wave assaults, with emphasis on their own lack of numbers for such an approach, mention of bayonets for breaching the fortifications, so on and so on. Ansgar had half a mind to simply tune the woman out, her sarcasm was ill needed really. But, he'd figured out a very simple way to handle this sort during interactions with other Regiments. Guarded by the eternally impassive, grim skulled mask of the Death Korp Grenadier, Ansgar hid a smirk at her reaction to their tactics. Fearlessness in the face of death was oft mistaken for a suicidal death wish. Atoning for the sins of their ancestors through the blood, sweat, and valor of the present was the duty of all men and women of Krieg, regardless of how they served. But, as she winded down, before the Inquisitor started, he offered a comment to indicate he was taking her completely and utterly serious, with a critical failure to notice the sarcasm laced speech.

"Considering the numerical situation, I would recommend sapping. Why bother breaching a wall when you can merely go under it? At worse, a wall with its foundation mined out isn't a wall at all. Besides, even if we we're to be breaching walls, there is always slightly more effective than chipping away at the foundation with bayonets. Entrenching tools are far better in comparison." Whether the shit eating grin was really under the mask, or could be merely imagined, was irrelevant. His attention turned to the Inquisitor as she began her brief, addressing his question with a more serious tone than the warp power show off of a psyker. That made two that flaunted their curse like a blessing. Her comment on following orders to the letter was easy, if something that might bite her in the ass if she wasn't careful. But she did get a response to her answer, brief and clipped as it was. "Understood ma'am."

No need for empty reassurances or false confidence. The arrival of an Adeptus Sororitas was a welcome thing, as far as the Krieger was concerned, despite the past history between the Sister and the warping Psyker. But what kept his attention was the disparity in Chaos cults working together. Typically, the hedonistic extremists and the stagnant followers of decay rarely got along and played nice. Not nearly as overt as the bloodthirsty ones and scheming sorcerers, but still, they were not fast friends by any stretch of the imagination. As much of a hellish nightmare that Thrasis I had been, experience on both it and Thrasis II had made it amply apparent that, true to its name, Chaos was indeed chaotic. Warbands often turned on each other as quickly as on their enemies for the sake of currying favor, as far as the interrogations had revealed. So, finding disparate elements cooperating was peculiar indeed. And, apparently, he was not the only one thinking along that vein of thought.

The warping psyker offered up a suggestion about removing the head and letting the body die, turning on itself in an accelerated process of self destruction. Taking off the head of a threat was smart, but that assumed two key things. One, there was just one leading body. Two, the targets most culpable were able to, indeed, be readily targeted. When hunting down the corrupt ruling council during the Thrasis campaign, many briefs had emphasized that, indeed, there was not any one single leader that would miraculously end the vicious heresy and corruption running rampant. But, it was hardly his business to worry that much about the plans. After all, the best laid plans often went to shit. So he kept his peace, despite the half of a thought to speak up, instead letting the supposed wiser heads and more powerful figures make their points and counter points. He would make note of the information, taking in as much of the brief and information presented as possible. He had preparation to do, considering they were supposed to at least make the attempt at an investigation before kicking in doors. Or whatever the Inquisition decided to do.

'I will bloody kill this wench...' Vala thought, very irritated at Adrianne's attitude towards her. Her little jokes and pokes at the fact she was taller than her, just made her blood boil precisely the right amount. She had ways of dealing with such pests, she had done it in the past and sure enough this was just the next case of it. There was always the option to start the verbal war, but in the presence of an inquisitor, it just didn't seem like the best decision to start one hell of an argument.' It's alright... don't pop a nerve.. don't throw a shot.' She though, closing her eyes for a moment as she took a breath.

“Hmmm?” Vala made an innocent questioning sound as she went by the inquisitor and was given the pad to enter her requisition order. Her eyes opened wide and were basically sparkling like those of a child who just got herself the best present for her birthday. Immediately followed by a rather devilish grin as she started entering the things she needed.” 5 meters of high grade wires, graded for heavy loads... 4 high density lenses for highpower las cannons... ceramic plating... ten empty powercells... 10 charged ones... a box of small servomotors...3 more standard issue lasrifles...” She was just typing and typing, entering more and more items. Once those were in her possession, she'd be able to finish her newest weapon... once she had it... things were going to get interesting!

She didn't even notice when the Ophelian Celestian entered the room. So focused she was in getting all her things ordered. At least she was sure she didn't miss anything.”UGH!” Vala suddenly made a surprised, strained sound as she was pushed rudely away by Adrianne. She only now noticed the new presence in the room, but frankly this was it!

“Alright, you oversized pole dancer, what's your bloody problem? I've not caused you any harm or ill intent, so let's hear what's the problem and get it over with right now.” She called at Adrianne with very annoyed expression on her face.

“Alright, you oversized pole dancer, what's your bloody problem?"

"What?!" Adrianne would turn around at the sudden, angry sound coming from somewhere around - only to realize that she had to lower her head and look down to notice the diminutive, red haired girl that had just called her out!

"I don't have a problem with you, you midget!" Adrianne pointed out, making a show to point a finger right at Vala's face as she leaned forward as to place her own face slightly above eye level with Vala as she stared the shorter woman down.
"Or rather, I didn't have, until now; if you intend to speak like that!"

Then, as if suddenly realizing that her opponent was far below her - both metaphorically and literally, Adrianne suddenly pulled herself back from Vala to her full height, crossed her arms below her chest and turned to look the other way with a clear "I-don't-care-about-you!" look on her face!

"But I won't let you drag me down to your level... " She replied with a more casual tone, her eyes finding whatever object in the room they could find that wasn't Vala.
"I am a very Important Psyker, aiding a very Important Woman, who is on a very Important mission. I expect you to apologize!"

Maria’s face lit up like a Mordian battle line at the mention of the sheer volume of knowledge she had suddenly been given access to. She had been expecting to be lead to some restricted selection of nigh useless tomes, undoubtedly even then heavily censored by the Inquisition.

Instead, she seemed to have suddenly been given as close to carte blanche access to the available knowledge as there existed in the 41st Millenium - outside of whatever lore of the old galaxy the Eldar might have stashed away somewhere. She didn’t even bother to remark on the Inquisitor’s calling her pyromancy an “unusual” skill, so excited she was to get to reading.

But, as always happens, the other members of the group just had to go and start bitching at each other. Somebody seemed to have a bit of insecurity over her height. Apparently, the mercenary had never had to tolerate taller people using her as an arm rest or other undignified purpose. She quirked an eyebrow in amusement at first, though as the confrontation escalated her brow furrowed, and fire began dancing along her eyes.

She could taunt the overzealous Krieg guardsman later, but for now there were some things that needed straightening out. The Inquisitor seemed disinclined to put a stop to things, and so Maria grudgingly stepped up. She was no stranger to physically stopping arguments before they turned violent, but she’d never been able to see just what effect adding a little fire to the mix would have.

Flames, brilliant and blue reaching into white, erupted along her entire body in furious jets. Maria herself didn’t feel the heat, beyond a little extra warmth, but anybody standing next to her, or indeed within the general vicinity, would be immediately blasted with a massive wave of scorching air that would burn the lungs and any other exposed surfaces if lingered in too long.

In this middle of this maelstrom of flame Maria grinned maniacally, calmly striding over to Adrianne and Vala and calling out over the sound of the flame, “How about we…” the flames vanished as suddenly as they had come, save for a seeming ball of plasma sitting in her hand, “cool things down a little?”

She winked at the both of them, before narrowing her eyes. “Kill each other later, for now, you two are going to get along, or I swear upon the Golden Throne I’ll make you wish you were captured by Chaos.”