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The Charter

++VOX TRAFFIC INTERCEPT 884 Frequency 979.54/3060/.002

+The Black Acantha+

212.09 817.M41

Mapping Routines Online…

+Current Course: Spinward/ Departing System designated: Frustration

"Start the clock…"
"Yes Captain."

## Pretranslation Protocols Initiated

+Gellar Field: Active
+Void Field: Active
+Systems 3-9 online

" Green Light on all systems Captain"
"Quench Thrusters, set Warp Engine to standby"

+Retro-Thrusters Offline > Cooling…
+Cruise Velocity holding at 20VU's p realside hr

"Mordechai…"
"The Astronomican burns brightly Captain. The Veil has lifted."
"Then set a course for Footfall, Navigator. Godric! Drop those marker buoys! Its time we set sail"

"It seems the parts Kobalt supplied will serve after all Venris…perhaps we misjudged her."
"The Acantha is voidworthy again- for that she has my gratitude, though little else. Come! I long for the surge of the Empyrean beneath my feet. Give the order Nixios."

"All Hands to Stations! Set Condition 2 throughout the Ship! Prepare for Detranslation!"//

+Warp Jump 6268 On Schedule…

"Awaiting your Go Captain…"
"3…2…1…Jump."

*static*

transmission lost …

Captain's Log

- Servitor 646 on behalf of Captain Black by dictation
- clarifications auto-appended by Servo-Savant 9
-212.09 817.M41

+Departed High-Orbit, Malfi (cla. Subsector Capital/Calyx Expanse)
for privateer skyhook, Port Wander,
(cla. outermost controlled bastion of Imperial territory).

+Arrived 21 days later, planetside - Collected Writ of Claim to salvageable materials present onboard wrecked Light Cruiser Emperor's Bounty. Imperial Salvage Laws dictate that the Captain must be the first to go aboard the vessel for the Writ to have effect. Plotted Warp route into the Maw, known vein of stable space between Void Dancer's Roil and the Screaming Vortex (cla. colloquial/superstitious parlance among Rogue Traders; terms refer to persistent wall of disrupted Warp dividing the outer Calyx-Halo Stars from the Koronus Expanse).

Collected construction records from the Munitorum, including workable blueprints and layouts of the Bounty. Made all usual preparations.

+Departed Port Wander for the Battleground
(cla. realspace anomaly, likely site of unrecorded pre-Heresy conflict. Deep-Void wreckage sprawl, also site of subsequent void-conflict between Traders Trame and Lathimon, -both fleets destroyed).

+Arrived (14 planetside) - actual warp passage satisfactorily conformed to plotted course. Sprawl of sizable wreckage created problems - eventually large areas were cleared with the Acantha's guns. Shuttle dispatched upon recovery of the Bounty; the Acantha's Void Master, Enginseer Hale, the Seneschal and 6 combat officers led by the Arch Militant accompanied me aboard.
Damage to the Bounty itself extensive, likely irreversible. Opted to salvage instead for parts.

Special Note for the Attention of the Lord Magos of the Cult Mechanicus, Malfi

- relay via astropathic seance

thought for the day; oblivion awaits the faithless

+Interior of vessel Emperor's Bounty bore signs of armed combat. bridge and large portions of vital workings damaged.
Investigations revealed that the Captain and crew had been dispatched of by their Navigator, either influenced by the Warp or technologies and intelligences unknown. Either way, the Navigator was not responsive to reason, and appeared to use a small device attached to his third eye to generate a powerful forcefield. I can only surmise that the artefact was some form of psychic aide, as it boosted our enemy's power and abilities in ways quite unfamiliar to me or my own Navigator. The device also functioned to apparently re-animate the surrounding dead; creatures who proved extremely resilient, destructible only by plasma or melta fire. My crew was forced to retreat, whereupon we encountered a survivor from the original crew. This crewman described the madness that overtook the Navigator upon contact with the device and the slaughter that ensued. The learned Seneschal determined that activating the Gellar Field would sever the obvious link between the Warp and the device; he proved correct. We shortly slew the Navigator and his creatures, and I ordered the device destroyed before salvage began.

I leave his Grace to surmise from these details what he will, though I should add that I have no hesitation in urging the destruction of these devices wherever they are found. My Enginseer will be in contact with further specifics at our first opportunity. Eternus Sceptrum Omnissiah

your friend,
Captain Venris Black

+Salvage Completed in 4 days planetside. Mobilization of the Acantha on a combat setting necessitated by one encounter with
unknown pirate vessel (cla. designation Halberd Light-Raider).

Minor damage sustained, principally to the Auger systems, Pirate vessel destroyed in boarding action and stripped for parts. Munitions consumption moderate.

+Upon translation for return to Footfall, sudden onset of systemic errors rendered the Acantha incapable of safe passage. Areas of the ship exposed to Warp-Space by Gellar fluctuations, genetorium failures and substantial crew losses sustained Uncontrolled de-translation undertaken as emergency measure. Efforts are being made to map our current location which is so far, unknown. The cause of these errors and the extent of the damage is also currently unknown.

212.09 817 M41

Captain's Log,

212.10 817 M41

thought for the day: to doubt is to invite wretchedness, which is the least useful emotion.

Current Course: Spinward/ Departing System designated: Frustration
Mapping Routines Running as Normal.

System resists ordinary analysis - first appearing to possess a single astral body, the central gravitational object is in actuality a vast artificial construct of xenos manufacture. Two human populations discovered; refugees hidden among the moon-grounded debris of becalmed vessels- predominantly mutant - and a small community of pilgrims aboard a derelict ferry-freighter.

First contact came from the Pilgrim vessel - hosted Brother Superior Pelor of the Penance aboard the Acantha to commune. Decidedly unlikeable, overzealous, uncooperative individual. Successive negotiations falter as he fails to uphold his bargains or offer agreeable terms. Insists that the Acantha destroy the Moon settlement in exchange for an arranged meeting with Free Trader Kobalt, possessed of an armed transport vessel. Captain Kobalt evades all our attempts to initiate unchaperoned communications.

The cooperation of uncorrupted human populace immediately forthcoming - an evacuation of some 10,000 able bodies effected under the Arch-Militant's direction. Remaining mutant community razed from orbit. Assisted the ungrateful Captain Kobalt in an assault of the xenos planet-construct - early suppositions that it was of Eldar origin prove false. Structures are of an unknown xenos design, environment hostile and ill-suited for human habitation. The Acantha's landing party succeed in detonating a void torpedo within a central system, extinguishing the construct's gravitational pull. All xenos encountered are detailed in the attached codex (ref; Glasshound - Sentry Role, Fleshcloud -Role Unknown). Marker-buoys dropped at systems edge, Designated Frustration; Category 6 System - Desolate/Hostile Environment/Devoid of Habitable Surfaces or Salvageable Resources.

I hope this message will dissuade any nosy passers-by, as i intend to return some day. The human leader Martek, whom i have taken into my crew, made mention of rare minerals present beneath the moon's crust; i will either undertake to support a mining venture or sell the coordinates to the Munitorum. Kobalt has fled the system with Pelor and his sycophants in tow, leaving the lion's share of the salvageables to us - parts to repair the Acantha, numerous xenos artifacts and an Archeotech Auger. As far as costly misadventures go, this one has not been altogether unprofitable.

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