The rest of our journey passed in relative peace and quiet. Elris had relaxed with her witch hunt among the crew, due in no small part to my appointing several of the more pious crew, those that spent most, if not all, of their time at the shrines where they prayed fervently to the Emperor. These preachers had, with my blessing, been given authority to start their own gatherings of followers among the crew to serve as makeshift temple and church attendants, until I could either get my hands on a smaller escort ship I could turn into a flying cathedral to serve the spiritual needs of my crew, and of course show of my piety to the ecclesiarchy, or at least turn a spare hangar into a permanent temple.

Later on, the natural need for humanity to see one among them rise to be a leader would see one or more confessors appear, chosen by the preachers to be the link between the ecclesiarchy, and the officers on board the ship. I didn't mind that at all, as they did not have enough authority to be able to touch me. They did, however, have the authority to hound me ceaselessly, and report me to the ecclesiarchy as well, should I start falling from the Emperor's light. A small price to pay for the freedom that was at my fingertips. I just had two more problems to deal with, and I would be truly free. One commissar, which would leave my ship as soon as we reached Bakka, his almost godlike patience, and open-minded understanding was needed to train more Ogryns into useful soldiers and guards.

The other problem was a tad more difficult. A long-legged, red-haired, church-sanctioned killer, with a specialty in infiltration and information extraction. Not only would she be difficult to rid myself of, but I would also miss her company at night, though I would not have any trouble there. A word, a command, a single indication was all that was needed and most, if not all, female crew members and/or troopers would come to my chambers. A chance to climb the social ladder was always jumped upon, and the women of this universe fully understood the advantage they could wield simply by being women. Of course, had I been born into a rogue trader dynasty I would have had obligations and duties to the bloodline that required me to marry very specifically, to further political alliances and send signals of allegiance, but as a newly anointed rogue trader, if slightly hampered by the lack of ability to create a lasting dynasty, I was fair game to any and all women in the galaxy. This could be both advantageous and dangerous. There would be nobles that would want to lock me in marriage with daughters, or sons had my desires been such. The Imperium did not discriminate against your sexual preference, as long as you did your assigned duty.

I was hoping that the rapid increase in preachers and the knowledge that they would soon elect confessors among themselves would convince Elris that there was a far better use for her skills elsewhere. The Ecclesiarchy hadn't trained her the way they had, just for her to hide away on the ship of an emerging rogue trader. And maybe, just maybe, I could nudge things in the right direction, if I played my card right when we hit Bakka. It shouldn't be difficult to get a meeting with a high-ranking official to influence toward the right choice, for the safety and protection of the Imperium of course.

As the days passed and my newly appointed preachers took to their new stations with gusto, Elris found herself in the rather unique position of being content with the faith of the crew, but incredibly frustrated as she had nothing to do. The way she skulked around the shadows of the corridors of the ship at all hours, spoke of a woman that sought some form of distraction or work. Anything other than the tedious waiting of warp travel. She lamented her boredom to me in private, taking great care to express that she was not unhappy with the state of things, but rather with her inability to do her assigned job. The engagement with the renegades had even made the crew accept the contingent of guardsmen I brought with me when I took the ship into possession, meaning she couldn't even divert her attention to peace-keeping duties anymore. It was perfect for me and my plans.

Eventually, she approached me one evening after I had withdrawn to my quarters.

"You have done very well in your new role, Björk. You have adapted better than imagined, and all while keeping your faith in the Emperor strong and your opinion of yourself humble. I do not doubt that the Imperium will benefit greatly from your service. But my duties call me to seek out heresy within and eradicate it where ever I find it. And from your recent promotion of several preachers, your immediate dismissal of contact with a renegade captain, and the willingness with which you offered your assistance to the Astartes, I see no reason to remain aboard your flagship for any longer than it takes for us to reach Bakka. A station of that size is bound to have degenerates and scum that requires purging, and I plan to offer my assistance to the local Ecclesiarchial representatives. It has been fun, and you have been an interesting experience, but duty calls." I had to suppress a smile as Elris was trying hard to make it sound as if she was reluctant to go, but I knew better. She was going crazy from not having anything to do and this was the best excuse she could come up with to find a new way to continue snuffing out life in the name of the Emperor. But I had to keep up with the act to ensure her departure.

"I cannot say I am happy about this, Elris, but we must all serve the Emperor as best as we can. But I want to thank you for your invaluable assistance in making this a successful venture, for both me and the Ecclesiarchy. I am going to miss having you on board, but as you said, duty calls. Though, I am going to have to get used to sleeping alone once more." I played my part beautifully, and my words put a sly smile on her face before she shook her head and said,

"Please, Bjork, don't give me that. You have been a pleasant way to pass the time, but we each have our path to follow. And I am curious how you will fare without the guiding hand of the Ecclesiarchy to guide you. Don't think I don't see what you are doing. Appointing more preachers, giving me more free time to do nothing, while you bury yourself in data slates and studies. You want me off the ship, which I was planning anyway. But I admit that our encounter with the renegade, and your immediate dismissal of his attempts to communicate have hastened my decision to do so. I understand you want to stand on your own legs and start building a fortune and a name, like other rogue traders. Just don't forget who you answer to!" Her voice was warm and intimate while speaking, but the last sentence was delivered with enough seriousness to convey the message perfectly. There would be eyes casting their gaze in my direction from time to time, and I had better continue delivering results.

Not that I worried about that, in the veiled region, which was the closest uncharted area of, relative, safety where I could run back to friendlier territory if things got out of hand, there would be plenty of planets and areas of space to explore, renegades to find and question about the system, and who knew what else to find among the unexplored stars.

"Alright, Elris. You got me. I AM eager to stand on my own two legs. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate both the help and the companionship you have offered, and I would be lying if I said I would have done fine on my own. Blessed throne, I doubt I would have known how to properly deal with the Emperor's angels of death, had it not been for you and the work you have done for me. Thank you." Might as well come clean and throw a bit of flattery in there for good measure. Elris didn't respond beyond a smile and a nod, and then she left for her quarters, leaving me to contemplate the near future.

Elris had solved a problem that had caused me no small amount of headaches. And she had done so of her own free will, even if it was for reasons that I had completely overlooked as a possibility. Sheer, absolute, boredom. I leaned back in my chair and gave it some more thought. Boredom was not a thing in the Imperium. If you had time left over when you met your work quota, you just kept working in the hopes of getting ahead on the quota for tomorrow, which would never happen. Even among leaders, boredom was not a thing that existed as there was always something to do when you were in a position of power. Only at the very top of the social order, among the planetary rulers and the oldest of the rogue traders, could you find boredom regularly, which was also the reason for, relatively, many planetary rulers succumbing to the influence of the ruinous powers of chaos on a regular basis.

When you have everything you could dream of, and no one to rein in your delusions, then corruption, nepotism, perversion, and degeneracy usually entered the picture, and the Imperium was a perfect example of this. The more power you gave an individual from the Imperium, the greater the chances of them being corrupted by the ruinous powers. For all its posturing and proclamation of greatness, the very way the Imperium was built up provided ample ground for the seeds of heresy to take place.

It struck me how casually I was thinking of the Imperial cult as the basic truth at this point. When had I become so casually religious? or what it just a way of thinking that made my current life make sense? It was true, I felt more calm and peaceful after praying, but that could just as well have come as a result of focusing my thought on a singular thing, like meditation back home. only, they had found a way to combine it with religious indoctrination. In a way, it was a beautiful piece of social engineering taking place every hour, of every day, across the entirety of the Imperiums holdings. It also gave the Ecclesiarchy an immense amount of power, as the official state church.

I suddenly remembered that I hadn't checked my status screen in a while, and seeing as I had nothing to do and I was alone in my private quarters, what better chance to do so?

HUMAN. LEVEL 6.

STAT POINTS REMAINING: 5

ALIGNMENT: FAITHFUL IMPERIAL-

LITANIES: 35

AUGMENTATIONS: Cybernetic lung(upgrade lvl1, Toxins/environment)

LEVEL:9728/19200

STRENGTH: 11

AGILITY: 9

PERCEPTION: 13

WILL: 14

LUCK: 31

PSYCHE: 4/500

SKILLS

FEATS

ABILITIES

RETINUE

Huh, new level. which of course meant 5 more stat points to play with. My luck was already my highest stat by more than double that of my second highest, so there was no reason to pump that even more for the time being. My agility was the lowest stat, and I was standing in front of a choice for the future. I could keep pumping my will, luck, and perception stats, ignore strength and agility, use bionics to compensate, and armor to protect myself. Or, I could try to catch up with agility and a bit more strength, and start relying on natural skill rather than armor and, frankly, unneeded bionic upgrades. I would have to ponder this question before I allocated the points, but it would have to happen soon. Far too many times had I left points to be allocated when they could have helped me out. I needed to stop being so timid with my choices and start accepting my choices as I made them.

Psyche had also increased a small amount even If I didn't use it. That was worrying. It would seem that just being connected to the warp as a psyker, caused the warp powers to slowly, ever so slowly, increase on their own. That meant I NEEDED to train to keep myself safe, eventually, or suffer a fate worse than death. Being an unbound daemonhost* was about as bad as it could ever get in this universe, having my very soul condemned to eternal suffering and torture. If I did not train my psychic abilities, I would not know how to mask them, and that would make me shine like a lighthouse in the night, for any psykers or warp entities that might be interested in an untapped and untrained source of psychic energy. Which meant, everyone. Provided, of course, I didn't get picked up by the black ships and used as a sacrificial offering to keep the golden throne working.

Funny, it only took me to be transported to another universe, in one of the worst possible places to appear, to start improving myself as a man. I would have cried if not for the irony.

But why hadn't my quest to become a rogue trader finished? I was promised a reward upon achieving the title, yet, my pool of stat points remained suspiciously low. What is up with that, system? Where the hell is my bloody quest completion reward?

I couldn't do anything about it, so there was nothing gained by wasting thought on it, but damn it, that was not fair! If there were hidden stipulations, or parameters for completion, it wasn't fair to keep that information from me. I rubbed my temples and prepared to turn in for the night when my personal vox made a noise. I pressed a button on the wall to connect the attempted communication. "Speak!" I demanded tiredly.

"Sir, the Ogryn is out of control! He is trying to break through a bulkhead to get into some of the crew quarters!" The voice of the trooper on the other end was frantic and panicked, and it kicked e out of my tired state in an instant. A rampaging Ogryn, on a ship traveling through the warp. The implications were horrendous and it was made all the more terrible when you realized that Trokk was a freak of nature, even among Ogryns. His 600 strength was a testament to the sturdy nature of Imperial construction if he had not managed to get through the bulkhead to whatever had enraged him.

"Inform the commissar!" I yelled into the vox and jumped from y chair to the lift that would take me to the bridge. Every second felt like a minute on the very short trip down, and I was greeted by the sight of a panicking bridge crew that stared fearfully down the corridors on the far end. A guardsman was fidgeting and shaking as he stood by the lift, waiting for me.

"Lead the way" I commanded as I jumped off the lift before it touched down, and the trooper shot me a look like I had ordered him to charge a space marine, but he hunched his shoulders and started running, with me in close pursuit. It only took a minute before we could hear the efforts of a 9-foot behemoth trying to break down a pressurized steel door designed for regular humans to use. From the roars of anger and frustration and the loud banging of what I could only assume to be a part of the ship he had acquired to serve as a bludgeoning tool, it sounded like my new bodyguard had indeed lost his mind completely.

We rounded a corner and the sight that greeted us made my blood freeze for a moment. Every vein on Trokk's massive body was bulging as if it was about to burst open, he was screaming and roaring like a madman possessed, and he was hammering relentlessly on the door with a large piece of piping he had ripped off the wall, covering the hallway in a thick layer of steam.

"TROKK! STOP!" I yelled as loud as I could, but I couldn't even hear myself over the noise the Ogryn was making. A moment later the commissar arrived, took in the situation in a heartbeat, drew his bolt pistol, and fired it once at the nearest unfortunate crew member standing nearby. The poor man's left side of the torso exploded in a shower of blood and chunks of meat, covering the dozen or so crew embers behind him in blood and gore. The sound of the shot was deafening in the tight corridors inside the ship and it was enough to make Trokk turn his head, see the commissar swing his bolt pistol around to aim it at Trokk, and bellow out "CEASE IMMEDIATELY, TROKK!" With enough volume to make my chest vibrate. No doubt he had vocal implants that allowed him to raise his voice above the cacophony of battle to give orders. Now THAT was an implant I would like to get my hands on at the earliest possible chance.

The rampaging Ogryn halted for just a moment, and it was enough for his primitive augmented mind to kick back in and realize that he had been given an order. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered the pipe and put it on the ground before stepping back from it, at which point the commissar holstered his bolt pistol and walked over to the now very embarrassed and frightened Ogryn. They must have classes on how to walk because there was something deeply menacing about the way the commissar dug his heels in with every step. Not a sound was heard over the clicking of his heels against the steel hull and he didn't stop until he was right in front of the towering abhuman. "Explain yourself!" His voice was barely more than a hissed whisper, but everyone heard it clear as day, and the lethal intent behind the words was palpable.

"I heard the man say the Emperor was wrong and stupid." Trokk finally managed to stammer out, now shaking with fear at the thought of how much he had displeased the Emperor with his actions. His words made the commissar stiffen as if someone had slapped him across the face, but after a few seconds, he whirled around and pointed to the guardsman that had led me here. "You!" He said as he pointed the guardsman out, "Lockdown this entire section and assemble 10 squads here within the 30 minutes. There is heresy to snuff out!" The grin of malicious glee that crossed his face as he said the last words made even me feel uneasy. The man lived and breathed for the chance to kill anyone that didn't follow the Imperial cult blindly. This was the only time he felt truly alive. Hunting and killing the enemies of the Imperium.

I used my own vox to contact Elris. "What? Im packing!" came the irritated voice of the fiery redhead.

"We have just locked down a section of crew quarters. Trokk was trying to break down a bulkhead. Apparently, he heard someone denouncing the Emperor." I said casually and waited for her response. When 30 seconds had passed I started worrying the excitement might have made her pass out, but another 15 seconds later I heard the sounds of running footsteps. Figures she wouldn't even wait to tell me she was on her way, she was worse than the commissar when it came to religious zealotry.

"Why are we not hunting down the heretics already?!?" She exclaimed as soon as she was within earshot, but before I could answer, the commissar broke into the conversation, "We need at least 10 squads to cover this area effectively. They will be assembled within the next 30 minutes, at which point we will start interrogations."

"Very well, I will gather my tools then," Elris stated and started walking back to where she came from.

"Trokk, I want you to stay with me as we do this. I have a feeling I might need you when this begins." I said and the, now quite shameful and subdued Ogryn dutifully took up his position by my left side and I started walking to the armory with him. Might as well get him armed if we were going to do this. With the commissar there, he wouldn't do this kind of thing. Hopefully, I wouldn't need the young man after we reached Bakka. I would have to spend more time with the Ogryn, and maybe find some way to interact with him, as I had done with others. But that had been accidental, and Trokk had cranial augmentations, making him smarter than the average Ogryn. That would have to wait, however, as we have heresy on board MY ship to root out. It was nice to be on the well-armed side, for once.