Siebte Sitzung

Astropathic Intake: 955.297.M41

Sol System Communication Check: Class 3: Indirect

Encryption Class: Omega-Theta Crimson

Priority: Extremis Minor, Nobleborn

Sending Astropath: ID-No.: 8955/Rho-7, Marik Vahne

Recipient: Hiveworld Khalax, private Astropathic Choir, House Coalblack, Subdivision Eisenmüller

My beloved and ever cherished, Itta, sister in blood, in heart and in mind,

I am deeply regretful about spliting my letter a-two, but lest the Astropath be unduly tired, I saw no other means. Alas, as promised, I shall enlighten and entertain you with our first few adventures as well as some of the curiosities aboard our new vessel.

First and foremost of the curiosities aboard would be the Sisters Hospitaler, or rather, their descendants. For, you see, the ship's medbay is populated with tall, strong women of harsh accent, clad in baroque and finely wrought, blackend platemail. They inscribe their medical data upon great slabs of lead, instead of parchment, and such is their strength, they carry and hold it, as a lesser man would carry a book. Unusually it seems the medbay is not free of charge for the care they give, but a form of payment must be brought forth. Although i heard that payment was not in the form of coin. What other ressource they require then, I had not yet the opportunity to discover, but our soldiers refer to it as "doing the Horker". Perhaps I shall first inquire with our good Gunnery-Sergeant, as to why it was named after him. Nevertheless, our men always have a smile about them, should the need arise to visit the medbay for treatment. What great care they must give, for soldiers to visit the else often dreaded Medicae with such ease.

Another curious figure aboard is our Navigator, a member of the prestigious bloodline of House Ariuvel. As to be expected from the Navis Nobilite, he is a figure of great respect, yet also of eccentricity and, quite frankly, a bit of a diva. Unfortunately he recognized me for my career in the Holovid business and had me sign a copy of Lethal Lasgun II, my by far worst performance, if you ask me, though he seemed to have enjoyed it immensely. Having been somewhat divided on how to act in his presence, our group caused, once again, quite a scene, when visiting him for a stately dinner. It seems, I must teach a few of my compatriots the manners expected of nobility. Again. All in all, the dinner was a great success though, as the Navigator did not mind our internal quarrel, but rather seemed to enjoy it, and we had to promise to visit him regularly for further dinner parties.

But now to the interesting part, our first adventure, if you will. You must have been on the edge of your seat, ever since I mentioned our Magos' little investigation into Hereteks. As I mentioned, it all started harmless enough, with our Explorator's mistaken search for Eldar corruption. When talking to Magos Anne and her Magos Militant though, he discovered, that Anne herself had been held hostage by her subordinate, who himself dabbled in Tech-Heresy. Instead of immediately communicating his findings to us, he confronted the Magos Militant and was unfortunately subdued and dropped out of our Vox-Link.

This, of course, would not do and fearing for the worst, we began a shipwide search for our Techpriest. Being ressourceful as ever, Lester remembered the Explorator's stay in the medbay, where he had undertaken a thorough bio-scan in preparation for further self-augmentation. I quickly acquired said scans and with their help Lester used a Marauder bomber's long range auspex to locate the missing Magos. This is where Lester got into the aforementioned fist fight with the hangar's deck chief, who did not take lightly to someone foreign snooping around his bombers. Once that situation was defused however, the deck chief turned out to be a great help, as he manned the auspex and freed Lester to continue the search.

With his bio-signature, the auspex's use and our clever wits, we pinpointed the lost Magos to be caught inside the ship's lance battery. Being in grave peril, as a test firing of said weapon was close at hand, before warp transit, we hurried to said weapon-deck. After a short scuffel with the deck's guards, we made our way in, with Lord Haarlock himself joining us and gaining us entry. He even delayed the warp transit, giving us ample time to search for our missing compatriot.

What we found down there, was quite horriffic however. While I, guided by the deck chief's auspex readings, made my way through the crawlspaces to our Explorator's position, Arch-Militant Proudfoot fell prey to a carnivorous Kroot, a sentient and predatory Xenos species, that had taken up residence within the underbowels of said deck, feasting itself on unfortunate Tech-Adepts that had maintained the area. To my dismay, all I found of our Techpriest was his mechadendrite and some esoteric greebly bits, that used to be installed inside him. With Lester's company, we then sought out Proudfoot's last known location, and found him mangled in the heap of dead Tech-Adepts, the Kroot-Xenos devouring his leg. We swiftly brought this abomination down and our Arch-Militant to the Medbay, where Lester greatly impressed the surrounding Sisters Hospitaler with his expertise as a field chirurgeon, grafting new bionic legs onto our stout friend.

Having found the disturbing remains of our Techpriest, we decided to confront Magos Anne, where our Techpriest was last headed to, believing her to be the perpetrator of this heinous crime. Upon arrival in the ship's Mechanicus Sanctum however, we were greeted by the Magos Militant of the cruiser, who tried to blackmail us off the vessel in exchange for our Techpriest, who he had taken hostage. Not one to stand idly by when Heresy and injustice are afoot, Lord Haarlock recounted the misbegotten Magos Militant's crimes against the Imperium and ordered him executed. Being surprised by such decisiveness, he took a shot to the head, before he could react.

In the end, we found that Magos Anne had been a prisoner aboard her own ship for some length of time and, once she was firmly back in control of her ship, she released our Techpriest from his hidden compartement to the medbay.

All in all, our first days aboard were a great success, restoring faith to the masses, befriending the Navigator, discovering and punishing a Heretek, as well as making a powerful first impression among the crew and officers. I guess it is true, what they say: Follow Haarlock and greatness follows you.

Dearfully yours, forever only apart in space, yet never in thought

Horatio