Morning.
"Lord Chuck, you've received a letter from Priest Vik of the Mechanicus."
"I see."
One of the three Inquisitors aboard, Chuck, took the letter from his servant, opened it, and carefully perused its contents.
It was a routine report, detailing what Vik had witnessed on the hive world. Though none of the information was particularly crucial, the Inquisition could obtain such knowledge through countless means, impossible to conceal. Still, Vik's presence greatly expedited the flow of intel.
After recording the letter's details, Chuck walked to the cabin's porthole, gazing out as he often did.
Ahead of the ship were two space fortresses. These fortresses were not angular bastions but perfectly circular in design. Black orbs floated to and fro around the structures, while various machine-like entities, reminiscent of sea creatures, crawled along their surfaces.
Chuck pondered why the inhabitants of this star system were so enamored with spherical shapes. The fortresses before him shared this design, as did many of the orbital constructs around the hive world, differing only in size.
After a moment of reflection, Chuck recalled a hypothesis Vik had once shared with him.
Perhaps these fortresses served a purpose beyond defense. They might be small celestial bodies, satellites to a colossal planetary structure yet to be built, functioning as gun turrets.
Chuck dismissed the idea as far-fetched, though he couldn't deny the aesthetic appeal of the structures. They exuded a solemn majesty that stirred something within him.
"Don't you find it captivating?" Chuck asked his servant suddenly.
"I find it terrifying," the servant replied. "I can't even imagine what would happen if those fortresses were armed and turned their weapons on us."
Chuck was a fair man, which allowed his servant to speak freely. Chuck valued honesty above all and harbored a deep disdain for lies. His greatest love, however, was reserved for machinery.
"Don't be so prejudiced," Chuck said, turning to his servant. "You sound like Raina. Those conservative lunatics see heretics everywhere. She even suggested you might be one."
"My loyalty to you is unshakable," the servant knelt and vowed.
"I know," Chuck replied nonchalantly.
The two lapsed into silence until a slave entered, head bowed, and brought Chuck's breakfast to the porthole.
Chuck picked up the bread and wine, observing the fortresses' construction as he ate. He grew tense when a worker, operating a machine, failed to secure it to the fortress's surface, causing it to drift away. But when the machine managed to float back and resume its task, Chuck clenched his fists in quiet cheer.
After a pleasant meal, Chuck turned to his servant, asking, "Have you seen Raina since last night? I went to her room, but it seemed empty."
"I did, sir," the servant responded dutifully. "I saw the Inquisitor on the landing platform."
"Inquisitor? She's no more an Inquisitor than I am," Chuck scoffed as he exited the room.
As the servant opened his mouth to inquire where Chuck was heading, Chuck called back, "I need to keep an eye on that wretch, lest she stirs up more trouble."
Moments later, Chuck leaned against Raina's doorframe, quietly listening to her reasoning for why everyone in the Tyron system was a heretic. Her arguments were not much different from the ones she had made yesterday, devoid of substantial evidence, relying solely on her gut feelings and suspicion of the unknown technologies within the system.
Ironically, investigating these foreign technologies was precisely what Chuck and another Inquisitor were focused on. They too found these artifacts peculiar, but they did not believe their users to be heretics.
After listening to her tirade, Chuck said, "Have you considered the possibility that these artifacts are STC templates?"
"Are you joking?" Raina exclaimed, barely containing her outrage. She stood up, screaming, "A remote system without even a proper sector division, filled with STC templates—do you find that believable?!"
Chuck, used to her attitude, remained calm. "What do you think then? A genius emerged from this backwater system and developed all this tech on his own? Don't be absurd."
Rendered speechless, Raina considered rambling about xenos origins but quickly realized how unlikely that was. She shoved past Chuck and stormed out of the room without another word.
Chuck watched her leave in silence.
He had been suspicious of her activities the previous night, but now it seemed she had done nothing more than leave her quarters. Professionally, Chuck even questioned if she was still the same person, but her behavior dispelled any doubts—there was no reason for concern.
Satisfied that Raina hadn't done anything significant the night before, Chuck left the room. Yet, as he walked away, a thought nagged at him. During her previous kidnapping scheme, no one had known until it was too late. What if she had hidden something again?
With renewed suspicion, Chuck returned to Raina's quarters and began searching. After some time, his gaze settled on a small, diamond-shaped metal box atop the desk—something Raina always carried. It was used to remotely record events.
Chuck opened the box and examined its contents. Inside was a single sheet of paper—blank.
"Hmph, you'd better not have done anything," Chuck muttered, setting the box down. He didn't leave immediately, though. Instead, he took a few ritualistic steps backward, sidestepping to the left, before crouching down and prying up a floorboard.
Beneath it was a tiny listening device. Chuck placed it in his ear and began listening to the recording, replacing the floorboard and leaving the room quietly.
"I behead you, heretic!"
"Bear witness to my glory, my victory! Witness the death of your wicked governor!"
The first few lines of dream-like rambling made Chuck frown, but as he was about to remove the device, he heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps—those of powered armor clashing with metal flooring.
Chuck's brows furrowed. This wasn't simple. His instincts told him someone had entered Raina's quarters the night before—a figure clad in power armor.
The armor's steps were softer than usual, quieter than standard power armor would produce, which only deepened Chuck's suspicion.
By the time the recording ended, Chuck had returned to his quarters.
"The Priest is waiting for you," the servant reported as Chuck entered, then promptly left the room.
Chuck glanced at the desk, where Vik sat, the Mechanicus priest's head twisted unnaturally to stare at him.
"Listen to this," Chuck said, sitting at the desk and placing the device before Vik.
Vik, with his enhanced auditory implants, absorbed the recording in a few moments before offering a cold remark, "A standard recording."
"Standard? No," Chuck whispered, lowering his voice. "What if someone teleported into Raina's room last night, picked her up, and took her away? You've seen what those teleporters and advanced power armor can do. Don't you find it strange?"
Vik's remaining flesh eye bored into Chuck in silence before his voice came out cold and mechanical, "Destroy it."
Chuck remained silent, unmoving.
"Destroy it," Vik repeated, like a machine issuing a command.
After a few minutes, Chuck picked up the listening device and crushed it in his hand.
Vik's mostly mechanical face showed no emotion, his gaze steady and devoid of reaction.
"This is a dangerous game. I hope your decision was the right one," Chuck warned as he scattered the device's remains across the desk. "If this comes to light, we'll be in deep trouble. You'd better have thought this through... Father."