Upon returning to the Aegis Morrigan, Frank, Simo, and the armsmen all head off for some well-deserved down time. Jace is still walking around on the outside of the Aegis, installing the new focusing arrays into the Sunsears. Yasha remains by your side and her brother Vir enters the Shuttle bay and makes for you.

"Yasha, Tristan. How are you doing?"

Yasha answers for you. "Quite well actually. The Terra Incarnadine is clear of any active threats, as far as we can tell. The station, less so."

Vir looks at you, "I had wondered if Yasha had told you: I can sense only a psychic blankness emanating from the station, and I have no idea what it is. Might you have any idea, Tristan?"

You glance about, making sure no crewmen are in earshot, "Possibly. Yasha tells me that whatever is generating that field is neither human nor of the Warp, so I think it must be Xenos. When I asked Frank and Simo, they thought it may be Tyranid in origin. We'll have to come back to clear them out in order to complete and launch the Terra Incarnadine. Do you know of anyone who might be interested in doing so to reclaim the station and let us sail away with the ship?"

Vir shakes his head, "no I do not. but if it is Tyranids, then we stand no chance without help. Do you mind if I speak to my sister in private?"

You shake your head, "Not at all. would you mind stopping by my cabin later tomorrow however? I want to talk about what you might know about a few things best not discussed in public.”

Vir nods, "agreed Commander."

Late in the evening of the next day…

You lean back in your chair and rub your eyes. Jace's latest projections as to the Aegis's repairs lies on your desk, although you can make little of the technical aspects. What you do understand is that the Aegis is ready to sail, and the Sunsears are back on line and then some. As Jace mentioned, they don't hit any harder, but they can hit out to much further ranges. Simo has put on a marvelous showing picking off stray debris for gunnery trials, and his accuracy is truly phenomenal. Zheeves raised an eyebrow at your request that he start looking into a party or parties that may want to reclaim the station in exchange for the Terra Incarnadine, though you did let him know that this was an extremely long-term plan, likely not to leave the planning stages for years yet. He seem to appreciate that you are planning so far ahead for once. You are almost startled by a knock at you cabin's door.

"Vir Saurlance. You wanted to see me Sir?"

"Yes Vir, come in and have a seat. Water, wine, or other refreshments?"

"Water will be fine, I prefer to keep a clear head. You mentioned that you wanted to talk about some 'things best not discussed in public'?"

"Yes. Pardon me if I am being too intrusive, but how did the son of a Navigator house wind up an Astropath? Your House seemed eager to dispose of your services, going so far as to offer me a discounted contract to hire you if I also hired Yasha."

Vir sips his water and smiles, "that goes back to the Kania Incursion. I'll assume you know the sweep of things: something went wrong, a ship's Warp engine imploded, and Daemons started pouring out of the woodwork. What is far less well known is that the Kania Astropathic Choir was all but wiped out in the opening moments of the Incursion, so the fumble-fingered Governor signed an order that any and all psykers were to be press-ganged to replace them. Combined with a scared batch of PDF blunts who didn't know a Navigator from a Wyrdling, I wound up yanked out of a tutoring session, handed a tome, and told to add my voice to the choir. I was no Astropath, but I did know how to see the tides of the warp and shield my mind form the worst of its effects. As a result, I was unable to add any meaning to the message being sent out, but I was able to aim it somewhat, and survive where may others did not."

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You have seen a few things, but the image of Daemons, night-terrors made hate-fueled flesh, brings a shudder to your spine. "So that event ruined you as a Navigator, I take it, and House Saurlance values you far less because of it?"

"Between that, my distaste for binding contracts, and some... internal politics it is safe to say that the Matron herself values me rather little."

"If you dislike binding contracts, such as the one you are under, then why in the Warp did you accept this one?"

"Because I was to serve with Yasha and get out from under the Matrons thumb. And serving with a Rogue Trader is as free as I'll ever be."

"Speaking of Yasha, why wasn't she grabbed when you were? Was she already serving aboard ship?"

"Something like that. Getting back to my history, the call got out and the Space Marines showed up. Yasha was up in the middle of the fight, and did something foolish to distinguish herself to them. I was stuck in the middle of the psychic equivalent of a reactor meltdown with all of the Wyrdlings in the choir dying left and right. So I cut the signal, and did what I had to in order to stay alive long enough for the Space Marines to save my ass. Given that they pulled me out of that mess, the Head Psyker of the Space Marines on Kaina put me through the wringer to make sure I didn't have a Daemon lurking in my brain before sending me off. The Matron was less than pleased that I was no good at Navigation anymore, so she partnered me off with Yasha and sold our services to you."

You get the feeling that Vir is glossing over some of the details, and flat out bullshitting others. But the whole tale hangs together, and he seems willing enough to serve, and he has proven his worth, so you decide to let the matter lie for the moment. Instead, you bring up the matter of his contract. "Swapping subjects, you said that you don't like your contract. Unfortunately, we're both stuck with it for another five years. At that point, the contract times out and I'm supposed to re-negotiate it with House Saurlance. If you want out from under, we could work something out. Say I arrange for you to enter my service directly, under terms agreeable to us both, to end when either of us desires it? What would you say to that?”

Vir looks stunned at the offer, "an at-will contract between just the two of us? And I would be serving aboard a Rogue Trader’s ship? Oh, the thumb that would plant right in the Matron's Third Eye! Consider it a deal, so long as you retain Yasha's services as well. You have been good for her, and I think her for you as well."

It is your turn to look stunned, "so you don't mind then?"

Vir snorts, "so long as you understand much of what you are getting into. Navigators, like all psykers, tend to not stand up to time all that well, particularly if they focus on their powers. This tends to express itself via mutations and malignancies. Yasha has always been a shade too long of limb, and this latest crash revision has weakened her normal eyes quite a bit. As time passes, these things, and others, will only grow worse. Yet you have always treated her as any other noble lady and officer, and that has done wonders for her self-esteem and confidence. Now if you will excuse me, I do need to work with Morrigan on my pistol skills."

You stand and extend a hand, "by all means, and thank you for your insights."

Vir shakes your hand, "it is my honor and pleasure to work with a Good Captain." He bows and leaves.

You return to your paperwork, and turn some things over in your mind. There is clearly more to Vir's background, but thinking it over you decide that most of what he told you was true, and that what he omitted was either difficult to explain to a non-psyker or deeply personal, so you set the matter aside to consider later. You still need to buy Frank a drink, and resolve to do so when you reach the Tuatha system. You double check the roster of planets for the system, looking for a planet likely to have a good bar and blink at the one-entry list of inhabited planets: Dagda, Morrigan's homeworld. Well, at least they will have some good spirits there, and Morrigan should be able to point you towards a good bar. Your thoughts sour when you consider that you have to leave the system, and update the Hazards to Spacers charts for HJG-1034. Some change is clearly in order, to account for the expanded cloud of debris that your close-pass to the station has stirred up, but what to put? Zheeves is in favor of simply marking the station debris field as larger, but will that keep enough people away so that they don't discover the Terra Incarnadine? The other option you have persistently contemplated and discarded as too risky is to mark the station as actively dangerous, but that might actually draw more attention to the system, not less.