"I'll be heading over there alone. Have a cutter prepared in half an hour, I'll fly it myself. In the meantime, I'm going to take a shower."

Mu'randa nods and Jace takes a seat in the Captain's chair. You exit the bridge.

Back in your quarters, freshly showered and shaved, you put on one of your best official-looking outfits. You strap on Serpentsbreath and your trusty Laspistol, and consider your pulse pistol. Mu'randa, at your request, arranged for Jace, or more likely one of his machinists, to re-do the frame, grip, and barrel shroud to something suitably imperial looking. Overall, it looks like a rather boxy plasma pistol. Given the rarity of such weapons, bringing it would showcase your rise in fortunes since your last interaction with Inquisitor Ironsides.

On the other hand, he or one of the Deathwatch Marines might recognize it as a Tau weapon, or at least a human-made knock-off. Which would be rather embarrassing, and possibly fatal. You take along your trusty Foehammer instead, resolving to pick up a suitably Imperial alternative at some point in the future.

Several hours later you dock your unassuming cutter with the Ebonheart. You follow the Landing Signal Officer's directions, placing your landing gear down in your indicated spot, and disembark into the ordered chaos of a flight deck under active operation. You duck nimbly out of the way of the deck crews and follow a half-masked fellow in a lieutenant's tunic.

You follow him up several decks, noting the extra-tall ceilings and extra-wide corridors. Rubicon or Lord Pyrus would fill one of Aegis' hallways wall-to-wall and nearly deck-to-overhead in their power armor. Less so aboard the Terra Incarnadine, considering parts of her used to be an Astartes ship. But the Ebonheart is built to accommodate Space Marines at all times, which leaves you feeling a bit like a child sitting at the adult's table.

Soon enough you arrive at a door flanked by a pair of black-armored guardsman badged with the heraldry of the Inquisition. The Lieutenant announces your presence, and the guardsmen part to allow you passage. You take a slow breath to clear your mind and enter the room.

You were expecting a dimly-lit conference room, shrouded in intrigue and shadows, illuminated by candles. Instead, you are greeted by an immense oaken round table in a well-lit conference room. The walls are bedecked with simple banners in bold colors. Seated around it are Inquisitor Ironsides, Lord Pyrus, a troubled-looking Sargent Danus, Rubicon, and a Deathwatch Marine you presume to be the commanding officer of the Strike Force. You take the available chair, and the guardsmen close the door from the outside.

He speaks in the resonant, echoing tones you have come to associate with Space Marines. "Quite the impressive flotilla you have amassed for yourself Master Von Sebastion. A Battleship, a Voyager, your original Sword, and two Cobras."

"Only The Terra Incarnadine and the Aegis are mine, sir. The Chrysus is an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator ship, one Magos Explorator Alieus Rex commanding. He arrived in system not to long ago. The other Sword and Cobras are part of an Imperial Navy squadron that was passing through. The other ships of that squadron, along with the Aegis, are returning or have returned to Viking for resupply."

Danus leans forwards, "why did you summon the Deathwatch? With such a rich salvage area available, why not keep it all for yourself? You have the manpower and firepower to exploit all of it."

You snort. "You may be above easy reach of the Inquisition, but I am not. Battleship or no, armsmen or no, the only thing I could do is to force them to expend more resources if they want to get me. So I'm more than willing to settle for a portion of the human-origin salvage, and leave all of the Xenotech to the Ordo Xenos.

"And getting that portion will require a multi-decade effort at least, and require the assistance of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Assistance they do not give lightly or cheaply. That effort is going to need a permanent base of operations, which will be anchored around Oasis, the habitable planet in this system. That level of industry and ship-salvage is going to attract predators, so the Imperial Navy is getting a cut of the human-origin salvage in trade for basing a squadron in the system."

Ironsides leans back in his chair. "So Generous Shipmaster Von Sebastion! This must be costing you quite a fortune, so what does House Von Sebastion stand to gain from all of this?"

"As I said, a portion of the human-origin salvage, plus a profit-earning share of the Oasis colony. All told, the salvage will amount to twelve ships in the next decade or so, and the colony-share will pay for both its initial investment, all of its infrastructure requirements, and crewing the new ships."

Rubicon cocks an eyebrow. "Which twelve ships would you pick, given your choice?"

"Three Swords, two Falchions, two Firestorms, two Lokis, one Vagabond, one Orion, plus one of the human hulks, probably another Orion or Loki. Most of the escorts would be stationed here as a system defense force, or dispatched individually to escort particularly sensitive cargoes. The other escorts would accompany the Terra Incarnadine in pushing forth the borders of the Imperium. The merchant ships would be assigned to semi-permanent trade routes and armed well enough to look after themselves."

Rubicon cocks an eyebrow at Lord Pyrus, who simply shakes his head.

You rest your hands on the tabletop. "Will the interrogation be continuing, or shall we get around to dealing with the Malignus Maximus, which was why I was summoned here?"

Lord Pyrus looks directly into your eyes. "What needs to be established is how much you have been changed by the energies that suffused you since the Kanus Incident. Given that Helheim hasn't blown your head off, the changes must be either negligible or subtle."

"Helheim?"

"Helheim Blackfang. You know him as Direwolf. Care to make your report Helheim?"

Danus stiffens as you hear the deliberate *thump* of a footstep behind you. How Direwolf can move so quietly with so many augmetics, you have no idea.

"As far as my senses can tell, Master Von Sebastion here has done nothing too far outside the scope of what a common chartist captain would be allowed to do, much less a Rogue Trader of his vaunted Warrant. Nor has he abused the sanction of the Ordo Xenos, however tacitly it was given. The one thing I cannot speak to definitively is warp taint, though I have seen no physical evidence thereof."

The Force Commander taps one gauntleted finger against the chin of his helmet. "And you detect nothing out of the ordinary Lord Pyrus?"

Pyrus shakes his head, "Nothing beyond that which I would expect to see in a void-bound shipmaster. Certainly nothing like the surge of energies during the Kamas Incident. I think that surge can be attributed to the meddling of the Eldar, perhaps the after-effect of some hex?"

Direwolf grunts, "She did lay him and his Navigator out cold with a single flick of her wrist, and vanish into thin air not soon after. When they woke up, they did express evidence that they had had the same dream or hallucination."

Lord Pyrus looks right at you. "Care to elaborate?"