With an unknown Xenos race still supposedly scanning them, the Hos Dynasty got down to the business of figuring out how to deal with this situation. Explorator Felicis immediately set about to decode the probably communication signals that they were receiving. Astropath Eckhart suggested leaving immediately, as either this was a trap that they were being led into, or a potential distraction that their damaged vessels could not fight off. His voice was outvoted by Felicis’s desire to inspect Xenotech, Rogue Trader Hos’s desire to explore new Xenos species, and Navigator Maturinus’s desire to wipe out heretical Xenos races just like the Emperor intended. The In Purgatio Lumen, still towing the Grace of Jaccobus, set course for the void station they had intended.

Felicis successfully identified the transmission was likely a transmission of some sort, but was having trouble identifying its actual content. Rogue Trader Hos took a moment to record a repeating greeting in High Gothic, Low Gothic, Eldar, Kroot and Stryxis. Taking over from the Explorator, Captain Hos was able to correctly translate the message to play over the Vox speakers, but that the language itself seemed to be a series of vocal percussions unlike what had been met before. Surprisingly, as he had begun to gain a rudimentary understanding of the structure, Void-Mistress Nichols informed him that they were receiving an answering Vox message now in Low Gothic, as well as Eldar.

The Xenos identified themselves as the Labrek, inhabitants of this system posessing two homeworlds, one colony world, and extensive off-planet mining operations. They were eager to meet the Explorers, and despite some reservations the creatures were granted permission to land aboard the Lumen. The Xenos appeared to lack any sort of eyes, and brought to mind large burrowing creatures, though obviously with technical sophistication. Their key technology was revealed to be a translator device that possessed an incredible ability to turn any language it heard into the sonic vibrations that the Labrek spoke, as well as their own language into a spoken one.

The Xenos themselves had only recently in their species’ history begun void travel, but seemed curiously unsurprised to find proof that they were not alone in the Galaxy. Their translator, and other crucial bits of technology, had been seeded upon both of their homeworlds, and featured the ability to program each other upon being built. Moreover the mystery of the two homeworlds were that they each possessed very similar rotational factors, and independently evolved a Labrek race that were capable of interbreeding. Captain Hos did not claim to be a member of these Creators despite advice, but was more than willing to begin diplomatic negotiations, especially once Felicis brought up the possibility of using this apparently safe Xenos system as a bulwark to repair their Corvette.

The first port of call was the mining station, where the crew was warmly received, and the subject of much scrutiny. To avoid revealing the secrets of Navigators and Warp Travel, Astropath Eckhart hit upon only claiming that the senior crew were incredibly long lived and capable of surviving the long journey between the void. The head of the void station was willing to allocate a large portion of their resources – under Felicis’s supervision – in order to repair their corvette. The remaining Hos Dynasty would take their void ships in-system to meet with the Xenos government, and make diplomatic overtures – as well as investigate these mysterious Creators.

The journey in-system had Captain Hos learn much of their culture, but also served as a chance for Navigator Maturinus to tell them of the horrors that lay beyond the stars. Telling them of a galaxy where most planets were incapable of supporting life, and those that were faced a multitude of horrors like the Eldar, Orks and Rak’Gol, provoking a reaction so great in one of their observers that it nearly died of a type of seizure. Astropaths Poe and Eckhart also took this chance to attempt to detect whether or not these creatures possessed any pyschic techniques, but found the whole system was relatively calm in the warp.

The initial lavish reception provided by the Labrek was almost skipped by Captain Hos who was far more interested in the technologically advanced Creators, but he was eventually persuaded to go and make a speech to the population, utilizing the Jokaero Voice Mimicker to great effect. The president of the colony and his senior staff gratefully granted the Captain’s request to view the Creator Shrines in an attempt to find out more clues to their origin. The technology themselves yielded no information, though a few items were procured as salvage for analysis later.

Desiring further leads, the Captain took the Lumen to scout out the rest of the system, with the Labrek accompanying as observers. The ebullient mood of the Xenos gradually soured as the Captain failed to inform them of much of the goals of their journey, and seemed reluctant to discuss his plans or long-term goals for this race. Astropath Eckhart took this opportunity to explain that as extremely long-lived races, they were easily bored and needed their own entertainment… as well as to mind probe the strange creatures. Their senses were unlike anything the Astropath had sensed up to this point, but he managed to gain that the Xenos were aware of the overwhelming difference in void technology between them and the Explorers, but also that there was some information about the Creators that there was meant to be one more artefact in the void that had to be discovered before they would return.

The President asked to be released from the vessel to attend matters of State, leaving behind only a Science team to help the Dynasty with their explorations. Captain Hos reacted distracted and angry by this move, while also revealing that he knew of the existence of the “Final Artefact”. Confused and off-put, the President nonetheless exited, and Navigator Maturinus was able to compute a number of candidates where in the void the final artefact might possibly be located. The first location had been searched by the Labrek, and did indeed reveal nothing. The second did appear to have something, but it appeared to self-destruct when the Lumen approached.

Before going to the third possible point, the Captain boarded the Labrek Science vessel for approach, and they began a slow, laborious search aided by extreme-range scans of the Lumen. Captain Hos managed to notice a visual distortion hinting there was something there, and he directed the Xenos towards it. All at once, the illusion fell away and a mighty void station was revealed. Though it had never been seen before, the Captain recognised the type of technology – the same Eldar that he had faced over Grace.

Landing on the station, a bizarre hologram visible to both human and Labrek alike appeared and told them that the Creators had judged them as worthy, and they would be returning to their “Creation” soon. A pronouncement that left the Dynasty aware that the Creators of these so-called Xenos were not likely to return in the name of peace… for either race.

“Admiral” Jacobus was left behind in the hollow lost in the Processional of the Damned. The In Purgatio Lumen had taken some damage in the fight with Jacobus’s fleet, but had managed to convince Captain Legate of the Grace of Jaccobus to join forces with them to try and escape. The information she provided was not reassuring though. Her vessel had tried for a number of months to escape, all without success. Eckhart and Maturinus both agreed that given the increasing warp interference there might be some sort of solution at the center of the system, where the course was laid for.

Days passed in the absolute silence of the void of this system, before another ring of vesesls was reached, this time a series of apparently salvageable – if not fully functional – space hulks. Captain Hos was tempted by the possibility of ancient, long-lost secrets while Explorator Felicis was drawn in by the promise of Xenotech, but ultimately the Dynasty chose to continue travelling inside the system, possibly returning to the hulks if they ran out of leads.

To bolster the crew’s spirits, and indulge his desire to constantly one-up himself, Astropath Eckhart challenged the crew to a race on the outside of the ship on the Dark Eldar Jetbikes like he’d always wanted. Valencia Mercutio of the Death Bastards accepted the challenge, and the pair managed to surprisingly successfully navigate the towers and devotional statues on the outside of the ship, and even though the Astropath failed to win, the crew was momentarily distracted from their situation.

The next mystery of the Processional came in a thin, all-encompassing dust cloud blocking their path. Seeing absolutely no danger, but a chance to further impress the crew, First Officer Eckhart opened fire on the cloud with the full fury of their lance battery for the duration of their transit – which lasted almost for an entire day before finding an exit. Proceeding on they encountered another Space Hulks, in apparently another orbit. Passing it up as they did the last, they again arrived at a dust cloud, leading Felicis to speculate they may once again have their navigational sensors distorted. The Dynasty promptly took this out on the dust cloud and opened up with their lance on it again.

The dust cloud parted to reveal more empty space, but this time it did not lead to more space hulks, but rather a shadowy planet just slightly off course from their current location. Deciding to ignore it, the Dynasty proceeded on before a frantic vox transmission from the Faith of Jacobus that the creatures termed the Hollow Men had somehow landed on their vessel and were hacking inside. Eckhart left to patrol the outside of the Lumen, while Maturinus led the Hos Dynasty Platoons in defense of the vessel, and Felicis used the Guncutters to strafe the outside of the Frigate to whittle down the creatures on its hull.

The creatures lived up to their name, apparently being nothing but a well-armoured void suit with cutting tools. Unfortunately these numbered in the hundreds, and as Maturinus found out, they were quite difficult to put down with conventional weaponry. Relying heavily on his warp eye and plasma pistol, Maturinus led the defense inside the ship, joined eventually by Eckhart mounted aboard his jetbike. The platoons did eventually sweep through the interior and exterior of the vessel cleansing the Hollow Men, but the damage to the frigate left it at the point where the survivors consolidated aboard the Lumen, and it would be towing the Corvette crewed only by basic servitors.

By this point the dark star was now plainly visible blocking out the backdrop of stars inside this cursed system. Unfortunately there was one last obstacle between them and the star – another array of fully functional Void Wasps, finalizing Felicis’s theory that this may indeed be a Yu’Vath stranglehold. Unwilling to turn back, the crew combined their power and bucked the gravity well that was keeping them locked in this perpetual ring, and barely managed to fly “over” the array, and towards the star.

At this distance, the star itself did actually seem like a star, giving off intense light and heat, and no sign of any sort of path out of the system. Nonetheless, having come this far the crew steeled themselves and dove towards its heart. Their ship buckled and twisted, and began to deform under the heat, but impossibly as they reached the point of no return Maturinus felt a warp route open up, and they entered the warp, and left this cursed system.

The system they landed in was surprisingly pleasant and approachable, with favourable gravity currents and a number of planets ripe for exploration. Their best astrographic guess was that they were in the region of The Accursed Demesne known as the Alembic Depths, which was almost entirely unexplored. Sensing opportunity, they set course for the nearest gas giant to restore some sense of normalcy to their crew.

The gas giant itself had a large number of moons orbitting it, which were rich in radioactive materials that are incredibly valuable to starship reactors, but there were signs of crude mining apparatuses on the larger moons. The gas giant itself was obscured by stellar rings and dust clouds, but Void Mistress Nichols found signs of radioactive power sources inside it as well… moving towards the Lumen. Locking on to the strongest, the crew opened up with its lance battery, only to uncover a Rak’Gol cruiser, larger than anything they had seen before. And then its esecort vessel. And a number of vessels from the outskirts of the system converging on them.

The crew frantically used the teamwork that evaded the Void Wasps to frantically burn away from planets, weathering blows from the pair of Rak’Gol vessels closest to them before their incredible warp-aided speed boosted them far enough away to shut down all systems and hope they went undetected. A few days of powerless coasting to warp range, and the crew decided to get the Chaos-tainted Hell out of that system and aim in the direction of The Cauldron, hoping that it would be more hospitable.

The system they emerged in next had a large number of signals from within indicating the presence of a reasonably advanced civilization – that were not screaming obscenities like a Rak’Gol would – and the Captain set course to investigate where they had landed this time…

Navigator Maturinus and Arch-Militant Caine had managed to fight off the robed attacker that had come for them and Astropath Soloket, but their fight had not gone un-observed, and three had broken off from the group to approach them. Retreating further into the building, they boarded themselves in a room to make a stand against their attackers, who advanced under the cover of a smokescreen. One of them managed to heavily wound Astropath Soloket before being dispatched by Maturinus, while Caine handily disposed of his attacker. There was no sign of the third, but rather than waiting for more attackers, Caine blasted out the back of the house and the trio made their escape into the mazes of Footfall, hoping to escape their attacker.

Captain Hos and Astropath Eckhart in the meantime managed to reach the Black Brotherhood stronghold, but apart from the vox-scrambling field in effect the power to most of the facilities of Footfall had been disabled. Calcus had planned to lead his people into the caves of Footfall that he was familiar with, and invited the Captain and his Honour Guard to join him, but insisted that once they had found a secure spot to fortify, they would be attacking anyone that approached them so this would be a one-time deal. Unwilling to sit this out, the group also decided to make their way from their location to the docking bay to attempt to escape.

Outside of Footfall, cut off from everyone, Explorator Felicis was making his way to the bridge of the In Purgatio Lumen, being briefed on the situation by Lieutenant Nichols. Moments before his arrival, the void defenses around Footfall had activated, and a broadcast had gone out ordering all vessels to withdraw from immediate orbit, and any attempt to enter or escape would be met with lethal force. One free captain Frigate had attempted to breach this cordon, and had been torn apart by the defenses.

Felicis pretended that the Captain had the situation in hand, which was useful when Lady Sun Lee contacted him from the bridge of the Nihontu, requesting the Captain’s aide in stabilizing the situation, and preventing any potential culprits from escaping during the confusion of the situation. This was a plan that the Explorator would eagerly go along with, and he exerted his full diplomatic authority in the name of the Captain to tie the groups together, and prevent anyone from fleeing before this crisis was over.

Thanks to a fortunate turn of fate, the two groups on Footfall managed to reunite, and intended to head to the docking bay to try and escape – unaware of the potential danger in doing so. Fortunately for the group, the only person capable of navigating the back passages of Footfall was Navigator Maturinus, and he refused to leave without more information, and “accidentally” led the group to the Renowned Blessing, the Rogue Trader bar that Captain Hos had visited long ago. Emerging onto the more prosperous streets of Footfall, they found dozens of people lying dead in the streets – a few of the robed cultists and Fel’s guards among them, but the majority appeared to be civilians of Footfall, cut down by the blades of the cultists.

The Renowned Blessing had either been attacked or looted, but at least it was reasonably defensible and not filled with people shooting at them. There was a sealed room in the rear compartment that Eckhart mentally confirmed had survivors in it, but they were unwilling to open the door for the group, and the Explorers decided not to push it for the moment. With the situation somewhat confirmed, both Astropath Eckhart and Soloket opened their mind to the warp, and attempted to establish contact with Astropath Poe on the Lumen to retrieve intelligence – despite the latter having apparently never sent to the Hos Dynasty before.

Fortunately for the group, the distance the Cruiser had put from Footfall was no problem at all to an Astropath, and the message reached Poe without problem. Felicis informed the people on Footfall of what had happened in the intervening time – himself, Lady Sun Lee, Abel Garret, Maximus Caughran and Captain Persyn of the Fist of Dorn all committed their vessels into maintaining order, and discouraging anyone from attempting to flee. Relaying through Poe the situation, he informed the group that fleeing Footfall would be unlikely, but transit between asteroids would be much harder to target. He suggested the group attempt to infiltrate the Adeptus Mechanicus shrines to regain control of the system’s defenses, and that he would lead his Combat Engineseers in one of the Dark Eldar transports which would hopefully baffle Footfall’s sensors.

The Explorers waited for Felicis to finish his plan, during which another announcement came over the vox, presumably from the attackers, saying that if the people of Footfall killed and filled the gems carried by each cultist with enough people’s blood, they would be ignored during this sweep. After a few minutes, while on watch Caine detected one such person murdering another and attempting to fill the blood into one of the gems. Caine easily stealthed up on the lightly armed man and captured him. He appeared to just be a random terrified citizen who was otherwise a servant of Jonquin Saul, but the true information from his capture was that the gem was not any sort of warp technology, but perhaps some sort of technology. Setting out to the docking bay to seize an Aquila, and were ambushed along the way by a number of these cultists, whose sword work was no less deadly, but much less effective in the face of the organised ranged weapons fighting against them.

In the meantime, compiling the practice of the Death Bastards with Dark Eldar gear, and his own brilliant leaps of logic, had worked out the basics of how to fly a Dark Eldar lander – in that he could point and make it go – and he proceeded to the AdMech shrine. He did manage to land bypassing the exterior defenses, but was quickly picked up by the automatic spirits inside. His lander was quickly torn apart by built-in heavy bolters, and only by directing the Engineseers to provide cover fire was he able to reach a control panel and shut down the defenses – just in time for the rest of the Dynasty to arrive and secure the shrine. The Inner Council was now reunited, and it was time to solve the mystery.

The Adeptus Mechanicus shrine was oddly empty, but in the “heart” of the Shrine lay the temple to the Omnissiah, from which came a regular binary chanting that the Explorator identified as standard praises to the Machine-God. The shrine would not open for them, but a vox servitor conveyed the words of Tech-Priest Raythus from within. Using his influence and familiarity with the Mechanicus, the Explorator convinced the workers to reveal their part in the plan, which the Tech-Priest was more than happy to do. He informed the group that the Adeptus Mechanicus were contacted by an unknown party, and in exchange for their cooperation in this endeavour to assassinate the Liege of Footfall, would be granted a great trove of Archeotech.

After securing a pledge from Explorator Felicis that the Adeptus Mechanicus would not suffer from revealing all information, they presented the Dynasty with a transponder that would allow them to ignore Footfall’s defenses, as well as schematics for a fearsome robotic assassin that had been dispatched to Liege’s Court to assassinate Tanthus Moross. The party that had hatched this plot was still unknown, and the Explorers were torn between blaming Hadarak Fel, Vladayam Tocara, or possibly both. They headed back to the Lumen, and after leaving Rogue Trader Hos to further coordinate the Rogue Traders’ response, the rest of the Explorers loaded up with heavy weapons, and set off to rescue the Liege.

The court itself was under lockdown, but hailing and submitting to scans, they were permitted to dock. The docking bays and surrounding corridors were littered with bodies of cultists and Liege’s Court guards. Further along they met a security checkpoint, and Eckhart used his personal connection with the Liege to be granted an audience, but they were not permitted to enter with enough weapons to decimate a small area, only the Explorers themselves entered while the rest of their troops were fortifying key areas into the Liege’s personal fortress.

The Liege himself was unconcerned about the potential assassination, saying that it was not the first attempt on his life. He was gracious towards their help, and offered his quarters to the Dynasty while they waited for this so-called assassin. Navigator Maturinus was offended by Moross’s attitude, and set off to find Captain Sylvia Locke, who had been stationed in the underbelly of Liege’s Court. The Captain herself had been aware of the situation, but merely waited in her quarters to review her paperwork, and was pleased to see the Navigator. Her conversation reaffirmed what they had previously suspected – her assignment was punishment for her actions in Damaris, something that the Captain did not regret, and saw this as a chance to force the Battlefleet to reconcile their actions with abandoning the people of the Expanse. Maturinus convinced the Captain to hand over her files regarding the Cold Trade to him, so that the captain could use his influence to thwart the Cold Trade, and perhaps make her job easier. A proposition to which Captain Locke agreed.

While the Navigator was away, the peace and forced tranquility of the Liege’s headquarters was shattered by the robotic assassin bursting through the roof, and tearing apart a nearby servant. The door to the chamber had seized up during the attack, and Astropath Eckhart was horrified to realise that the assassin had a daemon engine inside of it, making it leagues more dangerous than what they were anticipating. Felicis attempted to use the shutdown code given to him, while Eckhart and Caine engaged it in combat. The robotic assassin was slowly whittled down by the pair, but it still managed to break through and attack Tanthus Moross – who promptly vanished from his dais. Badly damaged, the thing attempted to flee, until Felicis managed to issue a forced shutdown to the thing, which did shut down its mechanical components leaving it helpless. The daemon within forced the machine back into operation, but that brief break was all Eckhart and Caine needed to deliver one final volley that banished the spirit back into the warp.

The ruined and dead hulk of the machine crashed into the ground, and although the threat was over, Moross was still missing from the room, and there were now more questions raised as to who had forged this unholy engine…

The Stryxis caravan on the outskirts of the SR-651 Breaking Yards was quite eager to make the acquaintance of the Dynasty, and welcomed the Inner Council onto their modified Imperial Light Cruiser that formed the “heart” of their caravan. Greeted by rows of faceless, vat-grown servitors they were quickly ushered to the small, trinket-strewn den of the caravan leader. The façade of the over-eager trader soon vanished once the Xenos caught sight of Astropath Eckhart’s armour, and the creature sat down for bargaining.

Obviously, Jequin Hos and Artifex Felicis were eager to salvage the three vessels they had found in orbit over Dolorium, the unique nature of Stryxis bargaining made such a proposition difficult, as they would be unwilling to discuss favours or other abstract representations of money – they would only take firm goods. The possibility of selling the location of the vessels in exchange for other void ships from the convoy was also tossed about, but eventually the Dynasty decided to trade two of the salvaged vessels in exchange for towing one to Svard. For the purpose of their burgeoning army movement, the Dynasty selected to keep the damaged Galaxy-Class Troop Transport, and offer the other two to the Stryxis – terms which the Xenos agreed to.

The Stryxis were eager to secure the ships, as their true owners could return at any time, so the enigmatic creatures moved on. The Dynasty chose to pursue its goal of heading to Melbethe and completing the quest they had been asked for. Navigator Maturinus was also more confident in the speed of transition on his own, so the Unrelenting Fury of the Void was ordered to stay in the Breaking Yards and make inquiries on behalf of the Dynasty to acquire new System Defense Fleets for the Hos Dynasty’s increasing colonial presence.

Alone, the journey to Melbethe was indeed fast, and after only a few days – relatively – of Warp Travel, the In Purgatio Lumen reached the outskirts of the Melbethe system. The exact location of the Xenos they had been asked to procure was unknown, so Captain Hos prepared to make a sweep of the six identified planets in system. Providence provided however, when Magos Isabella Stein asked to be dropped off at a specific planet, as she had hoped to capture and research a Xenos specimen there matching the description they had been sent for. When questioned about it, the Magos informed the Dynasty – at length – that the species had been long sought, but those willing to risk travelling close to The Accursed Demesne were few and far between.

Allowing the Magos to land on the planet, and then landing in a nearby cave system, the Inner Council supported by the Pathfinders and Crusaders began a hunt of their own. The navigational capabilities of Navigator Maturinus proved as strong on land as in the void, and Arch-Militant Caine’s enhanced cybernetic frame made him perfect to range ahead of the cave dwellers and scout the cave system. The psychic senses of Astropath Eckhart managed to identify one straggler which Caine apprehended, and from it Explorator Felicis was able to synthesize a toxin that might help them capture more.

The journey into the depths of the world took four days, but they finally were able to narrow down a large nest of these creatures, and preparations were made to capture a large number of creatures. Correctly identifying them as acting on instinct, the plan was to suddenly appear in force, make a large amount of noise, and attack with as much ferocity as possible – capturing any that survived. The bat-creatures were initially drawn to the sound of what may have been prey moving through the tunnel, but in the face of lasrifles and plasma blasts, their cautious approach quickly turned to full retreat.

Dozens of the creatures fell or were trampled in the retreat, and half a dozen healthy specimens were tranquilized and successfully captured. The cave itself seemed unremarkable, although Captain Hos found a piece of ancient and discarded pottery that, while interesting, was not enough to convince him to further explore the bowels of this planet, and the Dynasty returned to the surface. The ascent went quite well as the creatures were now “behind” them, and the Dynasty returned to the surface with their prize in tow.

Retrieving an equally successful Magos Stein, Captain Hos ordered a full sweep of the system to ensure nothing was missed, but the other five worlds seemed to lack a human-sustainable atmosphere, and were dismissed as unremarkable. Explorator Felicis attempted to convince Magos Stein of his abilities, but his forays into experimenting with the Xenos’s poison were unimpressive at best.

The return to Inti and Svard went smoothly, and finally the Dynasty left for Footfall to deliver the Xenos to the Spire of Intoxicants. Despite attempts to hail their Inquisitorial contact, there was nothing but silence waiting for them to guide the creatures through the lonely halls of the asteroid. The waiting area was deserted, but did have a number of cages suitable for containing the Xenos, and lacking any option the Dynasty delivered the creatures and departed.

Their journey back to the Lumen was interrupted by a brief ambush by gangers – but the initial onslaught was only successful at disorienting the Dynasty, and once they recovered they easily routed the desperate gang members, with Captain Hos recruiting the most brazen of them to serve in his Honour Guard. Though the lack of human contact was off-putting, the return to the Lumen was met with confirmation that they had received payment for their mission, and it was time to focus their minds on their next endeavour.

And also to figure out what all the commotion around Footfall was right now.

Completely taking control of a planet of three billion takes time, but after a reasonable break from adventuring the Hos Dynasty felt that Damaris was finally secure enough integrating between their “homeworld” of Svard and their colony worlds at Inti, and that it was time to once more seek out fortune, adventure, fortune, riches and profit among the stars. The Dynasty was fully aware that with three systems – only two of which boasted a passable SDF – their logistical needs had increased exponentially, and their thoughts turned to acquiring favours and new ships. Although the support provided by Rogue Trader Orleans had proven invaluable, Jequin Hos was never one to rely on any force that wouldn’t swear complete allegiance to him. Fortunately during his expedition to Seldon’s Folly, Seneschal Leopold Phipps had acquired a lead on a new Light Cruiser – the Unrelenting Fury of the Void which was part of an expedition to found an Agri World in the Koronus Expanse, an endeavour that yet again meant with failure.

Though it cost them a not inconsiderate amount of their capital earned to date, the Light Cruiser was purchased, and its crew had been selected and trained up, now all that was left was the inaugural mission. Seeking to settle the desire to acquire more vessels for his fleet, and settle Arch-Militant Caine’s prior “arrangement” with the Inquisition, Captain Hos decided to set sail with the Fury to the SR-651 Breaking Yards for a shake-down cruise, and then proceed alone from there on to Melbethe to hunt some Xenos. Their first stop along the way was to check in at Inti to ensure that the colony was running smoothly, and to pick up supplies from Magos Stein that could be useful for Xenos hunting. During this stopover, their destination to Melbethe was casually mentioned, at which point the Magos insisted on coming along, and after a quick arrangement with her logistics personnel to ensure that the colony would run smoothly in her absence, she boarded the In Purgatio Lumen for her own endeavours.

The journey to the Breaking Yards was as much a test of the new Navigators provided by House Pazzano as anything else, and the newly promoted Navigator Maturinus also saw this as an excellent chance to prove that his promotion was based on more than just an implicit promise to sell out his Rogue Trader. Forgoing their existing Warp Route that was known around The Cauldron, the Navigator decided to take a chance and plot his own route to Dolorium. Unfortunately, though astronomically it was a short distance in realspace, without a Warp Route and being forced himself to match the pace of the Navigator of the Unrelenting Fury resulted in the journey taking much longer through the Warp than initially expected, and even longer in realspace than they were used to. The journey through the warp was taxing on the crew of the Lumen, with unsettling dreams and short-lived but fierce mutinies spreading through their ship, but the vessel did survive the transit and arrived via a new Warp Route to the Dolorium system.

The system itself was not overly interesting at first glance, a handful of planets with no sign of technological advancement, but that could have just meant that profit, adventure and excitement was hiding from them. Their policy of careful exploration did turn out to yield dividends, as in orbit around one of the planets was the wreckage of what appeared to have been a mighty battle between Imperial forces and the Rak’Gol. The two sides had battled to destruction, as a large force of Imperial transports and support craft had been heavily damaged, along with a few escort ships while the Rak’Gol had suffered grievous losses as well. Three Imperial void ships appeared salvageable, and after verifying that no ships appeared to be in any state to harbour survivors, the Hos Dynasty set out to board the largest of the intact vessels. Some thought was given to attempting to salvage the Rak’Gol vessels, but as they were also quite badly damaged, and the radiation from their vessels obscuring the possibility of any life forms surviving on board, the Lumen used its mighty Lance to break apart what was left of the Rak’Gol fleet while the boarding actions were conducted.

The three “surviving” Imperial ships only barely qualified as such, with extensive damage to their internal systems and dozens of severe hull breaches, not to mention the horribly slaughtered bodies found throughout the ship from the Rak’Gol marauders. The only surviving Light Cruiser was identified as bearing the heraldy of Rogue TRader Djanko Scourge, a Trader not known for his diplomacy. The remainder of the surviving ships all bore a similar grey colour scheme and had heraldry not known even to Captain Hos, but they too would require severe repairs before being voidworthy. The only other thing shared by the Imperial vessels is that the majority of their landing craft were missing – leading the Dynasty to suspect that the survivors had made for orbit on the surrounding planet.

The ice world in orbit did have a human supportable atmosphere, but its range from the dull star of Dolorium meant that the temperatures were far below what could be survived. Careful scans by Lieutenant Nichols did find a slight distress signal coming from a small base established on the surface of the planet. Little more than a portable Imperial structure, it appeared to be a preliminary research base that would be capable of supporting maybe a hundred individuals, along with a research station that appeared to have a massive service elevator to deep within the planet.

Initial attempts to respond to the distress signal had met with failure, but finally a man calling himself as Overseer Leerus responded, and asked if they were there to evacuate the survivors of the massacre. His mood towards the Dynasty quickly soured when they didn’t identify themselves, and when he figured out that they did not represent his “employers” he demanded they leave the planet immediately. Negotiations on this point failed, in part to the Overseer’s recalictrance and also due to the fact that he identified Rak’Gol as existing in the depths of the planet, and he could not maintain vox communication.

Their interest piqued, the Dynasty ignored the Overseer’s request and took the elevator deep into the depths of the planet. The elevator was large, easily capable of accommodating most landing craft, and the journey took over two hours traveling a handful of kilometers straight down. The psychically honed senses of Astropath Eckhart identified a number of life-signs patrolling the depths of the cave – assumed to be Rak’Gol – and a concentration of stationary life signs to the Northwest – assumed to be the survivors. The true identity of the underground structured was soon revealed to be an Egarian maze, similar to the one encountered on Magoros, but much larger and far more intricately laid out. Following a series of lights laid out deep in the complex, the Dynasty arrived at a fortified bunker guarded by two Gun Servitors, which immediately issued a warning that they would open fire if anyone attempted to approach.

Negotiations through the vox with the Overseer ultimately proved fruitless, as Leerus appeared more afraid of his unknown backers than the Rak’Gol, and at Astropath Eckhart’s notification that the Rak’Gol appeared to be converging on their location, the Dynasty withdrew. Upon exit, the maze itself appeared to reconfigure to trap them, creating dead-ends where previously there had once been paths. Arch-Militant Caine began cutting through the wall with his built-in melta, while the Crusaders, Pathfinders, Death Bastards and Inner Council made ready to repel the Rak’Gol.

Though there were less than a dozen Rak’Gol against almost a hundred troops, they were barely able to down the beasts at a rage, and once they had closed to close-combat, they tore through the Hos Dynasty troops as if they were paper. Navigator Maturinus and Astropath Eckhart’s warp powers proved to be their better though, and enough time was bought for Caine to cut through the wall, and the survivors escaped to the surface, whereupon Rogue Trader Hos called for extraction, and deactivated Overseer Leerus’s distress beacon before departing.

The three vessels in orbit were a tempting prize, but neither ship had the ability to salvage a vessel, and with a rescue team potentially arriving soon, the two Dynasty Cruisers abandoned their plan to map the rest of the system, and departed for the Breaking Yards immediately in an attempt to try and find someone who could salvage the ships for them. The Breaking Yards themselves were a confusing jumble of loosely-constructed shipyards – most of which ignored the Dynasty’s request for help. However from the outskirts of the system, they were contacted by a Stryxis convoy, that was happy to trade with the Dynasty.

Making for the empty void beyond the system, the Dynasty arrived at a massive Stryxis convoy, and made to dock in order to meet with the enigmatic Xenos, and see what trade there was there…

The xenos invasion of Damaris was finally over: The Orkish forces of Warboss Snokgritz were scattered and disorganised following the death of their leader, and the ambush from Craftworld Kaelor had ended with the complete destruction of the Eldar fleet facing the fragile yet powerful alliance of the Hos Dynasty, Battlefleet Koronus, the Damaris System Defense Force, Da Ship Eata and Farseer Anaris. Unfortunately with the conclusion of the threat, Captain Locke was manoeuvering her Light Cruiser into an attack run on the Whisper of Anaris, Kap’n Chaintusk was rallying the remainder of the Ork forces under his banner and Astropath Eckhart was leading a boarding party on what was left of the enemy Eldar vessel in order to ensure the death of the Eldar Autarch that had been plaguing them.

The primary concern for Captain Hos was to disarm the situation and prevent further violence between erstwhile allies, especially since his forces were greatly diminished: the In Purgatio Lumen and In Obscurum Veritas had been heavily damaged, and the Emperor’s Bounty had been all but crippled. Explorator Felicis also still had hopes of capturing the Whisper of Anaris for Magos-Commodore Trannarch, and the pair contacted the Battlefleet captain in the hopes of getting her to stand down. Between forcing her to acknowledge the assistance of the Whisper of Anaris in the defense of the system, and their tacit acknowledgement that she was under orders to quit the system and report to her superiors, they were able to persuade the Captain to stand down, and leave the system to make her report. Despite her concern at the two Xenos forces allied with the Hos Dynasty, she nonetheless admitted her respect for their actions in the system’s defense, and would be making a report that would recognise their accomplishments, and diminish any “questionable” actions on their behalf.

In the midst of this discussion, Astropath Eckhart and the Death Bastards landed on the ruined Eldar Eclipse Cruiser to ensure that their foe would not return to plague them further. Making their way through the ship, large portions of the vessel had been destroyed by the torpedo volley from the Under Wry Beginnings, and what few Eldar crew they ran into were very clearly dead. Partway through the hull of the ship, they encountered giant, mobile statues methodically making their way through the corridors of the Cruiser and retrieving soul stones from the bodies of the fallen. Identified as Wraithguard by Captain Hos and Explorator Felicis, the boarding party was paid no attention by the Wraithguard as they methodically swept the ship retrieving the stones from the fallen. Eckhart attempted to grab a random soul stone for his own, but was identified by the Wraithguard as possessing one and elected to surrender the stone to them, rather than risk a confrontation. The subsequent sweep of the fallen did not identify the body of the Eldar Autarch among them, and although the crew hoped that he had simply been slain outright by the battle, they held little hope.

Felicis and Eckhart remained behind with the Veritas and the Bounty to secure any salvageable Eldar artifacts, while Navigator Maturinus and Arch-Militant Caine intimidated the Orks back in line, and forged yet another “treasure map”, this time pointing the Orkish fleet squarely in the middle of Winterscale’s Realm. The Lumen and the Damaris SDF returned to the capital, to find that Rogue Traders Blitz and Orleans had only been lightly challenged during the absence. And with return comes celebration.

As the brainwashing of General Dante also appears to have held, Captain Hos’s tenure as current Governor of the system had gone unchallenged. Although intending to hold true to his bargain of turning control of the system over to Ibram Calgar, he was going to stall for as long as possible in order to get his fleet repaired at The Bulwark. Thus began the thirty-day celebration and victory tour. Nobility parties were attended, feasts and awards were given and the idle rich were entertained with fascinating stories of derring-do and high adventure.

Although Rogue Trader Blitz was more than happy to join in his share of the celebration, Rogue Trader Orleans was absent from a large portion of the festivities. Maturinus and Caine tracked her down to a tour of the outer regions, where she was inspecting the damage caused from the Ork attack and building a list of supplies she would need to retrieve on her next run – though they suspected that something else was behind her reticence.

The day of the great handover finally came, and both ex-Governor Kapak and General Dante gave speeches praising the people of Damaris and the assistance from beyond, and acknowledging the importance of standing together in the face of adversity. Rogue Trader Hos also humbly thanked the people of Damaris, and introduced Calgar as the next Governor to replace him – a role that Calgar refused, and to great acclaim of the crowd insisted that Captain Hos remain Governor of the planet.

Though caught off guard, Jequin Hos was capable of navigating such unexpected social situations on autopilot, which was good as Astropath Eckhart immediately started a Psychic conversation with the Inner Council. Humbly thanking the crowd, the Council made to “discuss the future of this world” and were invited into a meeting with Rogue Trader Orleans, who apologized for the abrupt warning but felt that it was in the best interest of her planet that the Dynasty remain in control of the world – and its defense. She was aware that the Battlefleet was ordered to not protect the world, and the resources of the Hos Dynasty could ensure the security of the planet. To sweeten the deal, she pledged the support of her Transport fleet to support the Dynasty, as their actions could now be said to benefit Damaris, and to turn control of the Envoy of Damaris over to the Hos Dynasty.

Captain Hos was wary about appearing to have been bought in such a fashion, but the rest of the Dynasty still talked him around to accepting the terms. Announcing to the planet that he would be appointing Jorun Alexander as his representative for the time being, the Dynasty made to return to Svard to consolidate their power, and unwind from the intense months of activity. On their way out of the system, they had one final meeting with Farseer Anaris, who thanked them for their support, and hoped that the bonds of friendship between them would continue to grow. He offered to show the Hos Dynasty how to navigate the Eldar Webway in a limited fashion – enough to move between Svard, Damaris and Inti. However, Navigator Maturinus strongly warned against such an option as it was inherently unsafe to rely on Xenos.

Upon their return to Svard, the Dynasty spent the next 100 days restocking their lost crew members, consolidating trade agreements and working on their next plan of action. For the most part the time spent was relaxing and the crew got to unwind, right up until Magos Commodore Gnothis Trannarch arrived in the Ascendence of the Omnissiah and demanded to speak to Artifex Felicis regarding his latest activities. Revealing that he was aware of the Xenotech heresy perpetrated up to now, and the death of Magos Hadron Shard, and that his activities were not beyond monitoring.

Felicis attempted to defend himself by saying his actions were all taken on behalf of Rogue Trader Hos, to which the Magos-Commodore beamed the Rogue Trader to his vessel so Felicis could better explain his actions. Panicked beyond coherence, the Magos teleported Felicis back to the Veritas to discuss matters with the Rogue Trader in private. Once alone, Trannarch succinctly reminded Captain Hos that the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus were powerful leagues beyond the Rogue Trader’s, but that the research conducted by Explorator Felicis could be useful, as long as he believed that he should be afraid of reprisal. Captain Hos cheerfully accepted the implicit threat by the Magos-Commodore, and pledged to do his best to keep Felicis terrified.

The last order of business came from a meeting between Navigator Maturinus and Navigator Dionisio of House Pazzano, to discuss the blasphemous Eldar Webway that the Farseer had offered access to. Such a thing could potentially destablize the Navis Nobilite, and was unacceptable to both Navigators. Though Dionisio was not prepared to believe the word of a Xenos wholesale, he did agree to send more Pazzano Navigators to aid the Hos Dynasty fleet, and promoted Maturinus to a senior position to better watch over Captain Hos. There were also very clear orders that if the Captain attempted to use this Xenos method of faster-than-light travel, Maturinus was to report him at once for what would almost certainly be execution.

Terms to which Maturinus agreed…