Having received the co-ordinates of the Varrick system, a system that our rogue trader dynasty had a claim to as our rogue trader's birthright, we entered the warp for what should have been a short hop. However a phenomena struck after a few hours; crew members started complaining of headaches, some even collapsing and entering a catatonic state. During this, I detected a psychic phenomena nearby, that of a mirror ship of ours. A double of myself entered telepathic conversation with me, confirming their ship was too in jeopardy. The situation of there jeopardy was different; murder servitors gone berserk, attacking the tech priests. Also, whilst there crew held similar names to ours, most people seemed to be in different roles. A parallel universe perhaps ? We may never know.
The Navigator was the first to detect an additional peril, a "false reality" shard that would spell doom for our ship. With our chief helmsman down, the Pilot Philleus took control of the helm and with a judder and a groan the ship steered clear of the phenomena. My "double" protested that the opposite approach was the advice from their navigator, but the supposition here was that such an action would annihilate us and leave them undamaged. Perhaps our actions caused the opposite effect, and I have just doomed a copy of myself by saving ourselves. But such is the universe - survival of the individual is key, even above the potential life of other versions of "me".
Dropping out of warp for checks or repairs, I sent a communication to nearby systems to see if other ships had picked up similar disturbances in the warp. A reply came back from a nearby system, only a few minutes later from a ship that turned out to be an antiquated Blood Raven vessel run by Brother Helix. With engine difficulties, we decided to respond to the distress call and offer assistance, seeking profit from the situation as always. The marines who greeted us were bluff and accepted the parts offered. Meanwhile, our new Seneshal got "lost" around the ship, and acquired a data slate detailing the relics the marines had uncovered - some dreadnoughts, one of which had shown malfunction of an unknown kind. Further information on the slate was encoded, but applying the cryptology knowledge gleaned in my imperial training, I managed to apply a trap-door algorithm and decrypted an image of one of the dreadnoughts with the armor plating burst through FROM THE INSIDE...
We dropped from warp into the Archonus Prime system, and straight into a war between the inhabitants and a cluster of Space Ork "Rokks", planets turned to vessels and driven into violent conflict. Our vessel changed course and shot down at the main planet, using suppressing fire to cover our broadside maneuver. Pulling around to the opposite side of the planet, Darrius led a hit and run assault, piloted in by Philleus and sent in waves of servitors and guardsman to disable the Ork sensors and start fires. Returning from the hit and run maneuver, another battery round tore a large chunk from the Rokk and left in crippled. Shortly, the orbiting smaller planets collided into the ruined and fragmented central Rokk, and with Ork bodies drifting out into the steller void, the Ork vessels were destroyed.
We continued to the final destination, where Brother Helix thanked our forces for the assistance, and resumed our journey toward Varrick Prime. As reward, we received a relic shaped like a eagles talon, part of a power armour suit and of an item of great value. Arriving at the Variick system, vox traffic greeted us and a older, bald bearded man known as Tal greeted us. He recognized Darrius' face as familiar, thinking him to be his father and bidded us to come to the moon "svard" and meet with the council. This council - the crystal council - were to meet us for discussions. The planet overall was quite poor, hungry beggars trying to get scraps of food or heat from our resources. At the council, Speaker Tal told us that they had been cut off from trade and trapped out here, and were in a state of despair. The council told us of several people in the populous having dreams of a massive presence, huge and dark. All those who had this vision awoke somehow altered, murderous - a "whisperer" as they were known. This condition had struck on all of the other moons in the last month, to the extent that svard had lost contact with all of them. Alone, the Icy worn planet were struggling to survive, and requested aid. Initially this would take the form of food, but shortly we would try and regain control of these moons, get to the bottom of the whisperer outbreak, and restore the system to it's former economic glory.
An interrogation of one of the whisperers yeilded he was crazed and uncooperative. Using a mental probe, we discovered his name was Tok, and he had murdered friends and loved ones all thinking he was doing the will of the God Emperer. Before I could dig closer for hidden memories, an outside force pulled the grip away, and robbed me of my chance to explore further. Tok gasped from what appeared to be a coronary attack, and his life was perhaps saved by Darrius ordered the geller field made active, breaking the link from whatever entity may have caused it. With Tok passed out, no further investigations could be made. We then proceeded to a banquet in our honor, to meet other members of the planet council and to further understand the extent of the whisperer problem upon the Varrick system, and the moon of Svard...
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