The crew of the Valedictor Imperialis had just intercepted the Winged Jubilation, a Kar Dunash pattern fast clipper that had broken mooring from Footfall and was trying to make a hasty escape. Just as Zedkiel thought he'd made a mistake, he and his chief of the watch accidentally stumbled across a the bodies of their missing team of tech adepts that were going through the freighter's communication logs. With the jig up, the Captain turned on Zed in a desperate attempt to throw the Imperial Navy of his smuggling operation. Zed and his skilled armsmen were able to put down the enemy crew and discover that the true captain was hiding amongst his men trying to look like a rating.
En route to the Footfall with the captured ship in tow, Commissar Riker was able to
conduct a thorough interrogation of the captain. His summation was that the captain was a
cowardly waste of flesh unfit to command a ship, incompetent beyond any ability
to develop the connections for black market trade: an easy pawn for someone
else’s larger schemes without any discernible links to the mastermind. Having exhausted what he could of the
captain, Riker jettisoned him and half-dozen surviving officers from the Winged
Jubilation into the void with their ill-gotten cargo.
Both ships docked at the generically named Pier 27, a
small asteroid docking station on the outskirts of the main hub. Pier 27 is the civilian dock utilized by Passage
Watch 27-Est on their transits from Port Wander into the Koronus expanse. All the hands, security personnel, and
administrators work under contract to Battlefleet Calixis, allowing the
Imperial Navy to keep its permanent presence at the station discreet. There are but a handful of true Imperial
personnel from the Administratum, Arbites, and Munitorum to ensure the
stability and security of operations there.
The presence of an Imperial ship at Pier 27 often draws a crowd from the
main settlement of peepers, peddlers, preachers, and prostitutes.
Upon docking, the chief of the watch took the surviving
hundred or so crew of the clipper and press-ganged them into service on the
gunnery decks and torpedo magazines of the Valedictor to replace the casualties
from the infighting that occurred during the trip to Footfall. The Valedictor’s Techpriest immediately began
putting in the orders for repairs to the Jubilation. Lt. Gaius, the XO, gave the order that Junior
officers and NCOs not involved in recovery operations would be authorized a 24
hour pass, restricted to Pier 27. NCOs may give their ratings pass at their
discretion.
The chief Astropath informed Zedkiel that he had received
a reply to his notice of capture of the ship and a change of orders. Zed pulled up the message on a data-slate and
it read as follows:
Fleet Communique
Sent: Secondary
Astropathic Duct-201.814.M41
To: Lieutenant
Commander Zedkiel D'Lyander-Footfall Pier 27
From: Admiral
Nathaniel Horne—Metis Fleet Base
Commander
Zedkiel, you are to be commended on your capture of the smugglers vessel on
your first foray into the Expanse. It is
our duty to remind the Imperial citizens here that they are not exempt from the
law nor beyond the watchful eye of the Emperor. As is custom here in the Expanse, a captain
that captures a ship may choose to crew it and use it as he sees fit in the
service of the Navy. You may be able to put it to good use in your upcoming
assignment.
We've been receiving
reports from the governors in the Heathen Stars about an increase in pirate
activity. The pirates have grown bolder
from attacking random shipping to conducting daring orbital raids on colony
worlds. You and your crew are to conduct
a long range patrol in the Heathen Stars region of the expanse, investigate the
pirates, and put a stop to them. Your destroyer should be more than adequate to
put the fear of the Emperor them.
I wish we could
have had the opportunity to meet before sending you on to the farthest reaches
of the Expanse, but such is our duty.
Ave Emperator
Communique Ends
With
this, Zed decides to go ashore to see what information he can obtain from the
locals on the pirate attacks. Taking
Riker, Edwina, the Chief of the Watch, and a small Contingent of Armsmen, he
tracks down a freighter on Pier 3a that has just returned from Raakata hauling
a sanctioned load of archeotech to the Adeptus Mechanicus on the Forge Worlds
of the Lathes in the Golgenna Reach of the Calixis Sector.
The
captain, very happy to help the Navy, especially anyone investigating Pirate
activity along his routes reports he hasn’t seen any pirates personally, but he
knows from fellow captains and dockmasters in the subsector that the pirates
are from a Wolfpack led by the charismatic Dread Pirate Yan Marcuson.
“He’s a
ruthless cutthroat that always leaves one survivor to tell the tale of battle.”
The captain explains. “He’s gained such a reputation amongst merchants in the
area that there’s rumors that captains will sooner abandon ship rather than
face him in combat.”
The captain
produces a pict slate with the only known image of the man in question.
“Even those
on the ground are not safe. I’ve heard
tales of Marcuson landing in far-flung settlements, procuring supplies, taking
concubines for his vast harems, press-ganging every able bodied male into
service before leaving the entire place a smoking crater of slag.”
“I know
it’s only a matter of time before I meet my fate at his hands like so many
other captain’s before me. I’d certainly
find another less-profitable trade route if I could. But my hands are a bit tied by the cogboys.” He says as he gestures over his shoulder to a
pack of crimson robed tech-priests very interested in the contents of some
container being hauled aboard the freighter.
“If you
could put a stop to him, Commander, I’d be eternally grateful.”
