Chapter 28: The Inquisitor
And as mobilization was underway, an Inquisitor, having received the news, rushed to the starport with utmost urgency.
"Captain! An Inquisitor wishes to see you."
"The Inquisition's intelligence network is truly efficient… Let him in. Notify Verre to tell Magos Pavian to close the gates to the forge workshop and temporarily halt production!"
Lucan sat in his captain's chair, awaiting the other's arrival.
Led by a guard, a man carrying a psyker staff strode in.
A master-crafted laspistol was holstered at his waist.
Several implants were connected to his smooth, bald head – these were psychic inhibitors, to prevent him from suffering uncontrolled manifestations.
"Greetings, servant of the Master of Mankind. Inquisitor Ian Hoffmann of the Holy Ordo Xenos is honored to meet you!" the man said to him, his tone cold.
Their eyes met. Lucan's psychic sight revealed the other's psychic signature to be incredibly strong, and he also sensed the other party probing him with psychic energy.
"A battle psyker? And able to join the Inquisition; he must be among the best of them."
Ian was equally surprised. As a battle psyker graduated from the Terran Psyker Academies, he was definitely one ofthe elite among psykers. Besides combat psychic abilities, he also possessed precognitive and divinatory powers. Yet, when he subconsciously used his psychic powers upon seeing Lucan, he found he couldn't see anything.
He obtained no information whatsoever regarding the fate of the Rogue Trader before him, as if he didn't belong to this world at all.
He even discovered that the psychic energy he had just released quickly lost its connection to him.
"Some kind of psychic nullifying object? These Rogue Traders always have some peculiar items…"
"Inquisitor, probing me with psychic powers the moment we meet, isn't that a bit disrespectful? Are you the one Inquisitor Derek mentioned?" Lucan asked.
"My apologies, great Rogue Trader. It was merely a matter of professional habit. I will be staying on your ship for the upcoming period. Your departure is much earlier than anticipated. Have your warship repairs already been completed?"
"Even if they're not completely finished, I must depart. I imagine if even I know about it, the Inquisition certainly does as well, yes? The Suarez Dynasty has declared war on me. The trip to Agathos will be postponed for now; I must deal with this matter first!"
"I am in no hurry. However, I will not intervene in wars between your Dynasty and others. I will merely be an observer."
"No matter! I will resolve my own affairs! Verre, arrange a clean room for Inquisitor Ian!"
"Yes, Captain. Please come with me, Lord Ian!"
Ian followed Verre off the bridge.
"Purser Verre, would it be possible for you to show me around this family flagship? I am quite curious about this vessel. I heard you even encountered daemons in the Warp? Although I serve the Ordo Xenos, as a psyker, my knowledge regarding the Warp is also substantial. Perhaps I can also check for any residual Warp corruption for you."
Hearing Ian's words, Verre did not refuse. Lucan had already given him orders: apart from the forge workshop, the Inquisitor was free to go anywhere else!
"Of course. Where would you like to begin your tour?"
"Let's start with the place where the Warp corruption occurred."
"That's in the bottom hold of this warship. It's quite a long way."
"My time is not so precious that I cannot spare it."
"Then please, come with me!"
Along the way, Verre introduced Ian to the glorious history of the Mongorte Dynasty and briefly recounted the recent corruption incident.
"Looking back on it now, I still feel a lingering fear. Thankfully, the God-Emperor did not abandon us. Perhaps it was under the God-Emperor's guidance that we welcomed our great current Rogue Trader, Lord Lucan Mongorte. Through the efforts of two Rogue Traders, we finally escaped the Warp and returned to realspace. Alas, a pity about Lord Ludwig…"
Ian responded intermittently, not paying much attention to Verre's words.
He had been dispatched with his own mission. Besides acting as a spy and checking if this new Rogue Trader had any heretical connections, it was more important to see if Lucan was suitable for establishing long-term cooperation with the Inquisition.
Moreover, the Inquisitorial agent on Agathos had lost contact. According to the messages sent before contact was lost, the problems on Agathos were even more severe than imagined; perhaps xenos or Chaos had intervened in this internal strife.
The Inquisition needed to regain intelligence on the situation of a Rogue Trader Dynasty's capital world.
The Inquisition wielded immense power within Imperial territory; they could even requisition the Navy, the Astra Militarum, and even those Angels of Death of the Emperor. However, in the Koronus Expanse, although the Inquisition still possessed supreme authority, the forces they could mobilize were significantly less than within the Imperium proper.
To maintain this barbaric star sector under the rule of the Imperium of Man, the Inquisition needed to cooperate with the Rogue Traders here.
Some Dynasties readily accepted the olive branch extended by the Inquisition, while others treated it with contempt.
Some heretically-inclined Rogue Traders even concealed their blasphemous activities on unexplored, unchartered planets within the Expanse, where even the Inquisition could not find them.
And without a clear casus belli, the Inquisition couldn't do much about them either. If they were to forcibly take hostile action, it would inevitably disrupt the order and balance of the Expanse, and no Rogue Trader Dynasty would agree to that, as it touched upon the sacred rights and fundamental interests granted by the Warrant of Trade.
The Mongorte Dynasty was one of the Rogue Trader Dynasties willing to cooperate with the Inquisition. The former Rogue Trader, Ludwig, had been a cooperative partner. Yet, such a partner had suddenly died, and Lucan Mongorte was someone they had never even heard of before.
According to the Inquisition's investigation, Lucan was originally just the captain of a frigate, with a clean background. He had received family training since childhood and, due to his bloodline, had been appointed captain after completing his assessment.
Derek had also carefully examined the performance of the CMC series combat suits with the Navy. After ensuring there was no blasphemous technology involved, he too realized that the Mongorte Dynasty was poised to rise.
Therefore, Lucan's name was internally flagged by the Inquisition as a target for recruitment, to be wooed with their best efforts.
"Is this large mechanical construct a new invention of the Adeptus Mechanicus?" Ian asked curiously, looking at an SCV working nearby.
"That? Oh, that's just some ordinary engineering machinery. Inquisitor Ian need not pay it much mind."
Seeing the SCV's simple structure and ordinary appearance, Ian believed Verre's words. Verre had no intention of explaining the SCV's true power to him.
As they entered the lower decks, Ian noticed that the relationship between the Enforcers on this ship and these lower-deck laborers was not as tense as on other warships he had visited.
Even the complexion of these shipwrights was noticeably better than on other vessels.
With enough food to eat, the bodies of these people, who had starved in Footfall, were gradually recovering.
After becoming Rogue Trader, Lucan had established new rules.
He increased the rations for the lower decks, improved their living conditions, and forbade the arbitrary exploitation and abuse of these shipwrights.
And with the help of the SCVs, the renovation plan for the lower decks was proceeding exceptionally smoothly.
The old ventilation, lighting, life support, and heating systems were all being made new under the SCVs' physically impossible (by normal rules) work.
At least the air in the lower decks was no longer so foul, and the environment no longer so dim.
And Ian also saw those soldiers clad in CMC armor. What struck him as odd was that for some of these soldiers, dubbed "Raiders," the threads of fate were clearly visible, yet for others, much like with the Rogue Trader Lucan himself, he couldn't see anything at all.
(End of Chapter)