Artisan Beta-3665a Longinous had been having a run of good luck. Chosen to go on a special Explorator mission lead by his mentor? Check. Chosen to captain one of the ships in the fleet? Check, even if it was a glorified shuttle.  After a lengthy refit process to better serve the fleets repair needs and a crew of 19 of his friends and associates he had been successful in serving the needs of Explorator Fleet KZ-557-D of Stygies VIII. During the final warp jump to their destination the Lathe-Class Light Cruiser Luminous Beacon unexpectedly crashed into a spacehulk and had to make an emergency translation. The resulting devastation to the flagship of the fleet and absence of the rest of it leaves Beta all alone past the borders of the Imperium in a land bereft of the Omnissiah's light.  Will the ingenuity that birthed the Mechanicus shine through despite the ragged edge Beta finds himself on or will he be guided by millennia of dogma?------------------------------------------------------------------- Description subject to some change. I'm not certain I've got all my lore right for both universes I've got jumbled up here but I hope the story is at least entertaining. I've tried writing before and haven't gotten to acceptable lengths to post anywhere and I hope to get there with this. A fun thing about this for me is I've rolled up the MC as a Rogue Trader character and Intend to use that and the Starwars D20 system to add some uncertainty and randomness to events in the story. I assure you most chapters will have a few dice rolls if the first is any indication. If you have an inclination to comment where you think a story like this should go, or where I should shove it please comment. I'm open to your comments. Keep in mind its my first story so please don't put too much expectation on me.  A note on the grimdarkness/disturbing content and graphic violence. This is a first person story written from the perspective of a Tech-Priest of the Cult Mechanicus. Those guys lobotomize slaves and menials as a day job so they have a thrall to pull a door lever and they call it an automatic door. I'm pretty sure the coffee machines run by a similar logic. I am not going to hand wave these topics so be forewarned if that's not your thing.  My grammar is also not the best but I work on it. If that upsets you all I ask is patience since I haven't really had to write much that wasn't a team effort in a decade.