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There are two main rankings of concern in this game: Dominion and Reputation. Dominion reflects how much territory Princess Marie controls, while Reputation reflects the sentiment of her subjects and peers alike. As her Dominion and Reputation rankings rise (or fall), Marie's options for rulership of the Questarai Thread will change.

Be aware that other princesses have their own friends and rivals, and may judge Princess Marie by the company she keeps.

Marie's current retinue consists of her closest friend, the Lady Katherine 'Kitty' Helveticus; and the captain of the guardsmen, Hugo Kess. A third member will be joining them soon. The members of her retinue can act in her stead, and can grant her other boons.

Decisions will be made by majority vote.

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On Bastius, the capitol-planet of the Questarai Thread, Princess Marie finds even her own world in turmoil. From the library of her palace, in the hive-city of Bastia, on the shore of the western continent, she studies the cartographical displays of her new home.

The planet has two moons. The one, Loam, is so close it almost appears to scrape against the spindles of the hive-city. Its sister Glint is so distant that it may as well be another planet. Only the western continent of Bastius is fully within the Pax Imperium.

"That place." The princess is looking at the marking in a remote wasteland northwest of Bastia, and asks Kitty, "What is it?"

The Lady Katherine 'Kitty' Helveticus is Princess Marie's closest friend. When the princess made the journey to Bastius, Kitty traveled alongside from the world of their birth. "That's the holy fortress-shrine. Sister Elzibeth lives there along with the rest of her chapter. They're quite famous. They're called the Order of the Martyred Virgin. I heard she's a bit of a snob." Kitty has begun to ramble, as she often does when called upon. "The whole place is overseen by the cannonball." Kitty stops for a moment. "I mean, the canoness!"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty." The captain of the guardsmen stands in the library's doorway, peering in at the two young women. Hugo Kess has been captain for longer than Princess Marie has lived, but he still knows his place and waits in the doorway until bidden.

This is the first time they've met. "Yes, Captain," the princess says. "Please, join us."

(cont.)

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"I'm sorry you have to see Bastius in such a state." Captain Kess is looking at the areas on the display marked as outside their direct control. "After word spread that yer predecessor had fled the city, the anarchists almost pushed their way through the city gates, but we beat 'em back, all the way over the sea."

"We'll do our best," agrees the princess. "Was there something you needed?"

Kess nods at Kitty. "M'lady informed me you were expecting a guest. In three days' time, if I recall."

"That's right, I forgot!" Kitty claps her hands together and looks at Marie. "The Magos of this sector is sending a tech-priest to live here with us! Sorry, I meant to tell you, but there's so much to do!"

"It'll be nice to have someone who understands these machines." Marie looks at Kess and asks him, "Is there a problem with the arrival?"

Captain Kess locks his hands behind his back and looks out the window. The palace is the highest spire in the city and all they can see are clouds. "A few million malcontents have been rioting a bit more than usual. I wouldn't want any incidents to, er, upset yer plans."

>Let Captain Kess handle the rioters and visit Sister Elzibeth
>Let Captain Kess handle the rioters and study the local history
>Meet with the leaders of the rioters yourself
>Write-in

>>5522883
>Let Captain Kess handle the rioters and study the local history
>Have Kitty handle the arrival preparations.

The malcontents issues can be addressed once they stop rioting and when we've established the way of things. Until then, business as usual.

>>5522883
>>Let Captain Kess handle the rioters and study the local history

Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d10)

>>5522945
>>5522995

+ 0 Princess Points

Scribing...

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A flicker in the cartographical display catches Princess Marie's eye. "You have my trust, Captain Kess. I'm sure whatever their concerns are, we can find a solution. Was there anything else?"

Kess knows better than to press his luck with a new sovereign. "No, yer majesty. I'll see about keeping them quiet."

When Captain Kess has gone from the room, Marie again turns her attention to the display. "What do we know about my predecessor anyway?"

"Not much," Kitty says and shakes her head next to the control panel. A moment later, the portrait of a man appears above them. "Lord Adipose Maxiumus." Kitty is reading off the small amount of information that appears alongside him.

Page after scrolling page of self-congratulatory military fiction and very little useful knowledge. Before Princess Marie knows it, the day has slipped away and night has fallen on the hive-city. Kitty has been dutifully working to decipher the garbled mess Adipose left behind. "He removed most of the information in the computers when he left," she says at last. "There's some information here about Glint."

"Glint?" Marie recognizes the name as one of the planet's two moons. "What kind of information?"

"It's too fragmented for me to read." Kitty taps the control panel in front of her a few more times. "No," she says, agreeing with herself. "Whatever it is, I can't read it. Maybe the tech-priest will be able to see something in this mess. I think it's time we took a break, anyway. We've been at this for hours!"

Marie finally looks away from the display to the window. Before long, both the princess and the Lady Helveticus are standing at the window. "Oh!" Kitty exclaims. Far, far below them, processions of light stream from every corner of the hive-city toward the palace. The light is bright enough to dance on Kitty's eyes even from a mile up. "Is it a holiday?"

Princess Marie watches the millions of flickering lights and frowns. "Send for Captain Kess."

(cont.)

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The barrel of a lasgun was enough to disperse the rioters in daylight, but now darkness has fallen and the crowd has grown, and they have brought fire in great amounts.

"How did this happen?" Princess Marie asks Captain Kess as the three watch from above.

"Beg pardon, yer majesty." A flare catches their attention and they can only imagine what explodes a mile below them. "It was easier a few hours ago. They aren't thinking straight. Hunger, you see."

Marie turns to the captain of the guardsmen. The solution seems simple. "Why aren't they being given food?" demands the princess.

Another explosion. Night has turned to day at the base of the palace. "The factories in Bastia can only grind so much grist. Most of the food comes from the eastern and southern continents. They cut off food shipments shortly after that son of a-" Captain Kess glances away from the window. "Beg pardon, yer majesty. After Lord Adipose ran off."

Kitty flaps her hands as though she can shoo the rioters away. "It won't do to have them all milling about the walls of the palace like this!" She looks at Marie with wide eyes. "It simply won't do! Not when the Magos is sending a tech-priest! Oh, Marie, you must do something about them!"

>Travel to the eastern continent to negotiate
>Institute a draft and invade the small continent
>Kill some of the rioters and feed them to the others
>Deplete the city's food stores to feed the rioters
>Write-in

>>5523236
>>Institute a draft and invade the small continent

>>5523235
Maybe there is some special mineral deposit on Glint or something and the former governor intends to try and coup us and try and reclaim the wealth or something? Or maybe it was the site of a past failure of his?

>>5523236
>Kill some of the rioters and feed them to the others

Do that first as temporary measure. Both to quell the riot and so when we draft soldiers afterwards we aren't essentially arming the rioters we just refused food.

Then...
>Institute a draft and invade the small continent

Soldiers will require food as well, especially on the move. We'll use the city's stores to feed the army if we have to. Once food shipments have been resumed then all will be well.

Rolled 6, 4 = 10 (2d10)

>>5523249
>>5523291

+ 0 Princess Points

Scribing... Will post more in about 20 hours.

Are you using ai for these images or getting them from some gallery

>>5523447
anon, those are 100% AI generated

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Over the next few hours, the number of malcontents begins to dwindle. Few bother to question the origin of the emergency tins. Fewer still are willing to voice concern when the demand yet outstrips supply.

With a meal behind them and the promise of another at the end of their fight, a new legion of the starved is quickly mobilized and launched in a surprise assault against the small continent. Princess Marie's guardsmen may not have the numbers to take back the planet in the name of the Emperor just yet, but against the poorly-trained army of the small continent, victory comes.

Yet victory comes at a price. In the day ahead, they lose ground inch by inch with more armament than Captain Kess had expected, and when Kess finally sets foot in the capital hall and executes the leader of the rebel army, a million dead men lie between him and Bastia.

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At first light, Benedict Augustus, "temporary chairman" of the eastern continent since the abdication of Lord Adipose Maxiumus, is pleading ignorance of the weapons through a voxscreen. "Princess Marie, I am shocked at these allegations!" Augustus holds the lasgun at bay as though it's a piece of offal. "We have always been good stewards of the Emperor's lands. Perhaps you should come visit us in person and we can arrange a tour to formally welcome you to Bastius."

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The small continent of Bastius is now controlled by Princess Marie. Her Dominion increases to 6, and her Reputation increases to 4.

>Travel to the eastern continent and negotiate their surrender
>Travel to the small continent and rally your guardsmen
>Visit Sister Elzibeth and ask for reinforcements to crush them
>Remain in your palace and await the arriving tech-priest
>Write-in

>>5524276
>Visit Sister Elzibeth and ask for reinforcements to crush them or at least for their services as an elite body guard for us should we be forced to demur into negotiating instead of conquering.

>>5524276
>>Travel to the eastern continent and negotiate their surrender

>>5524276
>>Travel to the eastern continent and negotiate their surrender

>>5524276
>>Travel to the small continent and rally your guardsmen

>>5524276
>Travel to the small continent and rally your guardsmen

>>5524276
>Visit Sister Elzibeth and ask for reinforcements to crush them

Rolled 8, 8 = 16 (2d10)

>>5524288
>>5524337
>>5524523
>>5524588
>>5525076
>>5525220

+ 0 Princess Points

Scribing...

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The voxscreen turns dark. Princess Marie turns and strides from the library. In the hallway a servant is waiting. "Call for my shuttle."

"Where are you going?" pleads Kitty. "You can't really think to trust him!"

Marie reaches her chambers and throws on a fur cloak. "I don't trust him at all. He would probably take me for ransom if he thought he could." The princess is already turning and out the door again. "If we're to win this planet decisively, I have much to do."

"What about me?"

Marie throws Kitty a smile over her shoulder as she boards the shuttle and shouts over the whine of the engines. "Someone will need to defend the palace!"

When her shuttle touches down atop the fortress-shrine, Princess Marie is greeted by Canoness Eufemia Kreidelklipper herself. The landing pad is coated with snow and ice. Marie's fur cloak flies out behind her with a chill gust.

"We are happy to welcome you to our home, Princess. We did not expect you to visit us so soon after your arrival on Bastius." The tone of the old woman matches the chill of the wind.

Marie is grateful that Kitty mentioned the woman's name at breakfast. "Canoness Kreidelklipper."

The two women walk from the landing pad through the fortress-shrine until they stop in front of a set of doors. Eufemia looks pointedly at the door. "I myself am pleased that you have begun to put your own house in order before concerning yourself with us."

"I assure you, I am concerned with the welfare of all my subjects." When Canoness Eufemia Kreidelklipper turns her head in reflexive ire, the princess meets her with a smile.

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Eufemia opens the door. "Princess Marie Naivetus Sigismundus, this is Sister Elzibeth." The old woman gestures and Marie steps into the indoor gardens where a young woman her own age sits on a stone bench.

"Princess Sigismundus." Elzibeth nods to the bench next to her. "Please, join me." Marie crosses the room and Elzibeth turns to Eufemia. "Thank you, Canoness." For a moment Eufemia remains in the doorway. Sister Elzibeth keeps her gaze on the old woman until the door closes.

When the two women are alone Elzibeth turns toward the princess. "Your war is going well."

"I wish there did not have to be a war."

"When Lord Maximus fled Bastius, we feared the shrine might be overrun." Marie looks at the other woman and Elzibeth nods. "We were able to push them back. With the help of the guardsmen from Bastia, we retook this continent, but we could press no further."

"My guardsmen may be able to fight on, but they are stretched thin." Marie looks around at the flowers blooming out of season, oblivious to the snow outside the walls. "I would call on your Sisters to fight alongside my guardsman once more."

Elzibeth's face remains placid but Marie detects a hint of smile. "Do you think you can reclaim the Questarai Thread in the name of the Emperor?"

"I was tasked with such."

The smile on Elzibeth's face is no longer hidden. "And what will be our reward for aiding you in your conquest? Land? Wealth?"

This time it is Marie's face that remains placid. "You will aid in the liberation of the eastern continent because your ruler deems it so. Your reward..." Marie turns toward Elzibeth. "...will be peace. Nothing more."

Elzibeth's smile falls away, replaced with shock. "When Adipose tried to recruit me for his 'personal guard' he offered me the tithes from a third of the continent for my loyalty."

"Then you will fight?" Marie's face is still, but inside her heart is pounding.

Elzibeth stands and nods softly. "The Order of the Martyred Virgin will fight alongside your guardsman to take the eastern continent."

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Princess Marie stands up from the stone bench and smiles at Sister Elzibeth. "I am pleased we met. Call your Sisters. We must move quickly if we are to win this war."

The shuttle alights in the newly-conquered capitol of the southern continent, and the guardsmen, flush from rations and victories, are happy to receive her.

"My loyal guardsmen." The voxcaster mounted to the stage sparks as her words boom out across the sea of soldiers. "Remember those you fight for, who know hunger at this moment. You will once again be victorious, and when you have succeeded and taken the capital, you will never know hunger again!"

The roar is deafening. Her voice barely carries over the enormous voxspeakers.

"The Sisters of the Order of the Martyred Virgin have pledged to fight alongside you in the liberation of the capital. I have come here to personally oversee this war, because I am assured of total victory!"

"FOR THE PRINCESS!" shouts a guardsman. By happenstance, he is within range of the voxcaster, and his words carry through the crowd. The others pick up the chant, and Princess Marie is hurried from the stage before the soldiers break rank and begin firing their lasguns wildly into the air in early celebration, all the while shouting "FOR THE PRINCESS!"

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The death toll from the final struggle to retake Bastius is enormous, but of the millions of mounted corpses few are pledged to Marie. Despite inferior numbers, Marie's guardsmen take the capital city of the eastern continent alongside Sister Elzibeth and the other members of her order.

In the confusion of battle, Temporary Chairman Benedict Augustus slips away just as his throneroom is breached. His aides reveal nothing of his whereabouts, even under torture.

The entire planet of Bastius is now controlled by Princess Marie. Her Dominion increases to 9.

Bastius has no long-range spacecraft, only shuttles. Glint is at the extreme range for a shuttle.

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The victorious soldiers are still reveling in the streets of the sacked capital city when Elzibeth's sisters contact her.

"Sister Elzibeth, we have located Benedict Augustus. He is attempting to flee the planet on a shuttle of his own."

>Capture him for interrogation
>Allow him to escape and follow him
>Write-in

>>5525442
>Write-in
Attempt capture but be sure to have a backup plan to place a tracker on his shuttle

>>5525442
>Capture him for interrogation

Not worth losing him to find his potential secret cache of doomsday weapons/hidden bunker/patron. We can interrogate him and check the shuttles navigational data for its trajectory in hopes of finding out where he is going though.

>>5525442
>>Capture him for interrogation

>>5525442
>Write-in Sabotage his shuttle and use his fortune death as a sign of favor of from the God-Emperor of Marie being the rightful ruler.

>>5525442
Supporting >>5525479
Damn, this art is cute.

Rolled 3, 2 = 5 (2d10)

>>5525479
>>5525485
>>5525669
>>5525804
>>5526144

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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The order comes to capture Benedict Augustus, too late to stop his launch but soon enough for a single member of Elzibeth's order to stow aboard his shuttle. Novice Sister Clementina soon finds herself in the lawless realm of Loam City, the only inhabited spot on an otherwise airless rock.

Sister Elzibeth is less than pleased with the Novice Sister's impulsiveness when she receives a vox transmission in the drawing room of Augustus's palace and learns the whereabouts of the missing Sister. "You were told to retrieve him for interrogation!"

"We had nothing to track him with, and he was about to escape... wait!" Novice Sister Clementina peers out. "I see Augustus!"

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The voxscreen shimmers, and both Princess Marie and Sister Elzibeth fear for the Novice Sister's safety, when suddenly the image of a homely young woman manifests. "Is this a bad time?"

Kitty bobs into view on the voxscreen with a guilty grin. "Marie! This is Lauronum 15 Tragius! She..."

"I arrived earlier than expected. Your lady-in-waiting seems to think you should be here. For the occasion." Lauronum looks down for a moment and back at the screen. "Oh, and I turned the palace's atmosphere control back on, so you won't have to burn logs in the winter anymore."

"I tried to get them to circle the planet until you got back, but they said they were running out of fuel!"

"Kitty, this isn't a good time for..."

Marie and Elzibeth turn as they're again interrupted, this time by the royal torturer. "Excuse me, Princess Sigismundus, I thought you should know..."

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"Yes, Brith, what is it?"

"Augustus's chauffeur and I were conversing just now, and he mentioned how his master was able to provide all those lasguns to the south." The royal torturer leans in. "It seems Augustus has been diverting most of the grain produced here. It was being taken through Loam and on to Glint."

"Glint!"

Marie looks at Elzibeth. "What of it?"

Sister Elzibeth shakes her head. "Glint is a pirate haven. Even in the best of times it attracts the worst."

"His chauffeur mentioned something else, my princess." Brith rolls his one eye upward and back at Marie. "Another shuttle is due soon to collect the next batch of grain."

>Tell Novice Sister Clementina to follow Benedict
>Wait and see if a shuttle arrives from Glint
>Send the guardsmen's only attack shuttle to Loam
>Write-in

>>5528046
>Send the guardsmen's only attack shuttle to Loam

We'll may be able to intercept it before it leaves and even if we can't then we'll obtain more spacecraft with which to use as attack shuttles. They must have space shuttles there or else they'd have no means of transporting whatever goods they trade and produce.

If the food gets away...well, we can always kill some of the recently conquered traitors anyways as punishment and to use as food to support the our loyalists.

>>5528046
>Send the guardsmen's only attack shuttle to Loam

>>5528046
>>Tell Novice Sister Clementina to follow Benedict

Out of curiousity what prompts are you using for the pics?

I would size the weapons to equip our own armies.

>>5523447
>>5528424
I work for Pixar and these are unused assets from a scrapped project

a beautiful cute teenage warhammer 40k disney princess in the style of tangled and frozen, big cartoon eyes, looking sideways, wearing XXXXX, with XXXXX in the background, cinematic lighting, 4k clean 8k smooth sharp focus, directed by pixar

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d10)

>>5528063
>>5528275
>>5528313
>>5528499

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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Ever-practical, Kess puts forth a statement. "Beg pardon, your majesty. We could always use more lasguns."

"I could use my Novice Sister back on Bastius!" Sister Elzibeth jabs the control panel of the drawing room's voxscreen. On every frequency is Tech-priest Lauronum. "Princess Marie," she says with her eyes narrowing at the screen. "Please have your tech-priest reestablish contact with Novice Sister Clementina!"

In an instant the voxscreen returns to the scene on Loam, yet the Novice Sister is no longer in sight of the lens in the cargo bay.

At that moment, Novice Sister Clementina is in sight of much worse.

"Well, what's this?"

"One of those zealots from Bastius!"

"How much do you think she overheard?"

"It doesn't matter," says the bald man. "She saw us talking to Augustus. She already knows too much."

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Marie turns to Captain Kess. "Order the attack shuttle to Loam!"

Kess nods at his vox-operator. "At once, yer majesty."

The guardsmen's attack shuttle is soon airborne and breaches the atmosphere of Bastius when another ship approaches. "Status!" demands Kess to his vox-operator, but he can hear it himself through the speaker.

Their shuttle is under fire.

>Order your guardsmen to return fire
>Order them to board the other shuttle
>Write-in

>>5529489
>Order them to board the other shuttle

"Fly closer, I want to hit them with my sword"

>>5529489
>Order your guardsmen to return fire
I don't think they're equipped for atmospheric boarding operations.
We need us some Disney Marines.

>>5529489
>>Order them to board the other shuttle

>>5529489
>>Order them to board the other shuttle

Rolled 9, 6 = 15 (2d10)

>>5529494
>>5529787
>>5529897
>>5530360

+1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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The guardsmen are outgunned. The pirate shuttle seems the obvious victor as the two ships approach, but Marie's army has been winnowed down to only the most brutal and cunning soldiers and the pirates are caught by surprise by the audacity of a boarding operation. The cabin of the pirate shuttle is soon slick with blood and when the ballast is dumped, Marie's fleet has grown.

With two attack shuttles, the guardsmen and the Sisters storm Loam and purge the city one room at a time. Novice Sister Clementina is rescued from the fleeing pirates as they abandon Loam City. Almost none escape the purifying fire. The few pirates who slip past their flames launch their own secret shuttles bound for Glint.

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The moon of Loam is now controlled by Princess Marie. Her Dominion increases to 11.

In the hive-city of Bastia, a hundred residents across the city begin to scream in unison with psychic terror. The latent psykers form an unwilling choir of heralds.

An aperture in the Warp appears above Bastius.

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An enormous ship presses through the wound in space.

It is the size of Marie's palace. Impregnable to the guns of both her guardsman's shuttle and their newly-won attack shuttle. Bristling with armament.

Sister Elzibeth rolls her eyes when she sees the image on the voxscreen.

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"Sister Elzibeth of the Martyred Virgin? I did not expect to see you." The young woman on the voxscreen looks from Elzibeth to Marie. "And who is this?"

"Rogue Trader Lady Violette Engel, Captain of the Savoir." Elzibeth nods. "This is Princess Marie Naivetus Sigismundus, of Bastius."

"Charmed." The Rogue Trader gives no other indication to Marie, but instead glances toward Elzibeth. "I thought it may offer me some amusement to observe this war from afar. You are welcome to attend aboard the Savoir, if you like." Lady Violette gives Marie a polite smile and says, "As is the princess of this world."

>Rally your guardsmen at the Battle of Glint
>Observe the battle from afar with Violette
>Write-in

>>5532032
>>Rally your guardsmen at the Battle of Glint

>>5532032
>Observe the battle from afar with Violette

The potential to purchase goods or even better in this instance; services, could be invaluable. Especially from a rogue trader. An introduction would do us well.

>>5532032
>Observe the battle from afar with Violette

>>5532032
>Rally your guardsmen at the Battle of Glint
Our place is with our men.

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d10)

>>5532043
>>5532052
>>5532274
>>5532331

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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Sister Elzibeth glances at Princess Marie and shakes her head. "Oh, no, we couldn't possibly remove ourselves from the war at this stage..."

"Don't be silly, Elzibeth!" Marie steps in front of the lens. "We would be delighted to come aboard the Savoir, Lady Engel. I look forward to meeting you."

"Very good. I will expect you shortly." The voxscreen turns dark.

Elzibeth pointedly turns her head toward Marie. "What are you doing? We can't quit the battle now!"

Marie is already beckoning a servant to ready her shuttle. "The battle will go on without us! Think what having access to a ship of that size could mean. Not just the transportation, but access to goods, to information..." Princess Marie stops. She is beginning to sound like Kitty.

Elzibeth shakes her head once more. "I hope you're right."

An hour later, Marie is being served a sampling of desserts by a man old enough to be her grandfather half a dozen times over. "My confectioner is legendary," Violette confides. "Most of the servants aboard the Savoir have been in the family for generations." The Rogue Trader dabs a tiny silver pick at a row of candied bird's hearts. "It would be a great loss to our house if he was allowed to die. Isn't that right, Sergei?"

A wheezy moan escapes the ancient man's chest. "Yes, Lady Engel."

Marie smiles and takes another polite nibble. The princess glances about the room and is suddenly glad she did not have to play host. Compared to the opulence of the Savoir, Marie's own palace more closely resembled that of her subjects. Standing in the far corners of the tasting room are more servants at the beck of Violette than Marie has in her entire palace.

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After the sampling, the three women retire to a sitting room. The Battle of Glint is going poorly and Marie's two shuttles and ground forces are seemingly unable to hold their own line, much less advance. Marie watches the visual feed drawn from the Savoir's instruments. The miniature battle rages on a screen held before them by another of Violette's servants, and the princess begins to worry that she should be there with her guardsmen.

"It seems the outcome is already decided." Violette reaches for a golden goblet of amasec and glances over the rim with a dainty sip.

Sister Elzibeth shifts on her couch. "Have faith, Lady Violette."

A wicked grin spreads across Violette's lips. "Do you have faith in your guardsmen, Princess?"

"I do," says Marie, her eyes again drawn to the glowing screen. She looks back to their hostess.

The Rogue Trader puts her goblet of amasec on the stand next to her own couch. Violette's fingers remain on the stem. "Why don't we make a wager on your war?"

"A... a wager?" Marie's skin chills. The royal treasury was looted by Adiopose and his servants. What little she has available are the scant funds she brought with her to Bastius, and the tithes of her subjects.

"If Glint is taken, you may have use of the Savoir for one voyage. You may direct it anywhere in the Questarai Thread and return again to Bastius. I understand your world has no ships of its own."

Marie's stomach chills to match her skin. "And if... otherwise?"

"If your guardsmen and the Sisters are unable to take Glint, you will give me..." Violette taps one finger on the rim of her goblet and smiles. "All of your tithes for the next year."

>Take your shuttle to Glint and rally your troops in person
>Make a wager with Lady Violette on the outcome of the battle
>Write-in

>>5532963
>>Take your shuttle to Glint and rally your troops in person

>>5532963
>Write-in
If she wants some of our tithes she can have a percentage in exchange for orbital support in this battle. A ship this size could make some very big holes in the enemy battle lines

>>5533197
Supporting

>>5533197
+1

>>5532963
"Sigh" I should've specified to send the sister or one of our retinue to supervise the battle, we didn't need them with us.

I don't think wealth matters that much to this person, they are already insanely wealthy. I think they just want the thrill of a bet, with risks to make things interesting. Still, I'll support >>5533197

It'll probably bore them, but I imagine they'll agree anyways, it'll be worth their while at least.

Rolled 10, 4 = 14 (2d10)

>>5533119
>>5533197
>>5533203
>>5533235
>>5533312

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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An explosion on the screen draws Marie's gaze away from the smirking Rogue Trader. From out of the machine's voxspeaker, the voice of Captain Kess orders his men to fall back yet again. His exhaustion is evident even through the crackle and distortion of the grille, and again Marie wonders how the battle would have gone if she had been there with him and the troops.

Marie's guardsmen are pushed back to the new battlefront of Loam.

Princess Marie no longer controls the moon of Loam. Her Dominion decreases to 9.

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The three women have moved once again to a music hall. Lady Violette has ordered the Savoir to take position above Loam. They are close enough for the lights of explosions to reflect over the huge window in the center of the room.

Lady Violette rises and moves to the window. "Play something lively." Her musicians respond at once. "Oh, look! They have fallen back again. They are almost surrounded now." Marie moves to join the Rogue Trader at the window and Violette speaks without looking away from the battle below. "Have you reconsidered my wager? The odds are growing longer for your guardsmen. I will raise my offer to five voyages."

"I can't gamble with the tithes of my subjects, even when passage aboard such a remarkable ship as this is offered." Princess Marie turns her head toward Violette and gives what she hopes is her most charming smile. "However, if the tithes of Bastius appeal to you, I would be happy to surrender a portion of them in exchange for your aid in this battle."

"Pardon?"

One of the musicians draws a sour note and the hall is suddenly plunged into silence. A pair of attendants glance nervously at one other.

Princess Marie smiles more broadly. "The Savoir obviously far outclasses my own meager fleet, and it would be a trivial matter for you to..."

"I will not be solicited like a common mercenary on the deck of my own ship!"

Marie's face grows hot. She wishes Kitty were here. The Lady Helveticus was always better at social graces but someone had to be left in charge of the palace.

Elzibeth begins to rise. "Lady Violette, I'm sure Marie simply meant..."

"Sister Elzibeth." The eyes of the Rogue Trader remain fixed on the battle. "Please remind the princess of this world that she was only invited aboard out of courtesy toward you."

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The silence breaks when the voxspeaker crackles. Captain Kess reports they are being surrounded. Any more words are drowned out by the explosions of heavy weaponry. A moment later the grille goes dead and Marie can only assume that the vox-operator has been killed along with it.

"Lady Violette." Marie doesn't know how to mend this exchange but she has to say something. "Perhaps the concern I hold for my subjects has clouded my judgement. I did not mean to..."

Violette smiles. "No, perhaps my own judgement has been clouded. Perhaps I did not fully understand the native culture of this world. Perhaps exchanges like this are commonplace on Bastius." Marie can only smile in return as Violette continues. "I will sell you the services of my ship in your battle for control of this system, Princess Sigismundus. For a price."

Marie swallows. "What will be your price?"

"The price is Loam itself. It would make a lovely cottage, should I ever choose to visit this world again."

>Agree to surrender Loam to Violette in return for her aid
>Pray to the God-Emperor with Elzibeth for divine intervention
>Take your shuttle down to Loam and lead your troops from the front
>Write-in

>>5533711
>Agree to surrender Loam to Violette in return for her aid

Glint is where the shipments of grain were taken, where the pirates are, and are where whatever secrets the chairman held are. The deal is agreeable so long as we keep Glint and the food needed to restore stability and remove any other threats in the system.

>>5533711
>Agree to surrender Loam to Violette in return for her aid

>>5533711
>>Take your shuttle down to Loam and lead your troops from the front

>>5533711
>>Take your shuttle down to Loam and lead your troops from the front

>>5533711
>Take your shuttle down to Loam and lead your troops from the front

Rolled 9, 9 = 18 (2d10)

>>5533733
>>5533757
>>5533772
>>5534500
>>5535014

+1 Princess Point

Scribing...

>>5529146
This is great stuff and all but I have to ask...

I too work for a Disney subsidiary, and I have to constantly sit through compliance training about protecting their IP. How are you gonna avoid getting sued if they find out this is on 4chan?

>>5535572
Given how much raunchy Disney fanfic out there on ao3 and wattpad I don't think qm should be concerned.

>>5535574
That's fanwork. This is official stuff, unused official stuff but official stuff none the less. It's a LEAK and if there's one thing the Mouse hates, it's leaks.

Granted the chances of someone seeing this, recognizing what it is and being enough of a corporate goon to notify legal are astronomically tiny, but you never know.

>>5535582
Dude, it's all AI-generated.

>>5535626
Fuck me... you're right. I feel silly now.

>>5535636
Really hope hand drawn makes a comeback thanks to AI. The AI can do all the in-between panels while the artists make the Keyframes.

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Princess Marie sees a glimpse of fire reflect in the great window of the Savoir and something inside her stirs. "I must decline your gracious offer, Lady Engel. My place is with my people. Please inform my shuttle pilot that I will be disembarking on Loam."

"You cannot be serious!" Violette looks from Marie to Elzibeth and back again. The Rogue Trader is aghast. "You will be killed!"

Marie glances at Sister Elzibeth and sees that she is smiling. "Thank you for a lovely engagement, Lady Engel," says Elzibeth. "I will be joining Princess Marie."

They arrive just as the remaining guardsmen are penned in on three sides.

Marie picks up a lasrifle from a fallen guardsman and advances. At her side is Sister Elzibeth. They are soon flanked by the handful of Sisters still able to fight.

The guardsmen see who stands at the head of their line. "For the Princess!" comes a shout. The guardsmen fight with renewed vigor and Marie is grateful to see Captain Kess is still alive but the battle seems hopeless.

The stars suddenly swell to daylight.

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A squad of five attack shuttles descends on Loam and rains down fire on the just and wicked alike. Punishment for allowing the rot to fester.

Caught between the guardsmen and the Sisters, the pirates are unable to escape the bombardment.

Elzibeth drops to her knees. "It's a miracle of the God-Emperor!"

"Princess!" Captain Kess is waving to Marie from across the cratered plaza of Loam City. Marie's royal shuttle is the new forward base of operations and on the voxscreen is Tech-priest Lauronum. The princess crowds into the shuttle along with the rest of Kess's surviving officers.

Marie is shocked again when she sees the tech-priest's face. "You! Where did you get these?"

"I found these in the palace. Your lady-in-waiting thought you could use them."

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With the additional attack shuttles Loam is retaken and Glint soon falls. The pirates are unable to wipe their base's computers before they flee. Most are executed on the spot. None escape orbit.

Temporary chairman Benedict Augustus is captured but there is no sign of Marie's predecessor, Lord Adipose Maxiumus.

Bastius and its two moons are now fully controlled by Princess Marie. Her Dominion increases to 13.

In the aftermath of the battle, a small starship appears out of the Warp and is quickly overwhelmed and captured by Marie's shuttles. As expected, the holds of the captured vessel are packed with weapons bound for Bastius... weapons gladly confiscated by Marie's guardsmen. Tech-priest Lauronum is able to speak with the machine spirit and determine that it originated on the planet Scalprum in the neighboring stellar system.

In the direction away from Holy Terra and the Astronomicon.

>Send a squad in your new ship to investigate Scalprum
>Command your new ship to take you to Scalprum in person
>Order your ship to remain here for now while you rebuild
>Write-in

>>5536461
>Order your ship to remain here for now while you rebuild

We have administrative stuff to do. The people will want the missing food to be distributed, the conscripts need to be disbanded, etc.

>>5536461
>Order your ship to remain here for now while you rebuild

>Order your ship to remain here for now while you rebuild

We need shipping between the planets

>>5536461
>>Order your ship to remain here for now while you rebuild

Rolled 4, 8 = 12 (2d10)

>>5536478
>>5536647
>>5536765
>>5536801

+1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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Lady Violette departs into the Warp with a curt congratulation for retaking the system. Kitty notes that "At least she made the effort!"

In the past few days, Elzibeth has found the royal palace more of a home than her own fortress-shrine. Much of her time has been spent here, and she is almost reluctant to return to the frozen north. "What will you do now?" she asks.

"The people are still hungry." Marie looks out the palace window. From this far up, the devastation of the riots can hardly be seen. "That will be my first concern." Marie looks at Elzibeth for a moment and smiles. "I owe our success to you. Without you and your Sisters, we wouldn't be standing here."

"Without your tech-priest, we wouldn't be standing here," says Elzibeth with a grin.

Over the next month, the hive-cities of Bastius and its moons are rebuilt and Marie's subjects grow less despondent with each passing day. Grain from the eastern continent flows to her subjects instead of being routed out of system. Marie's guardsmen and their attack shuttles are again pressed into service until regular supply lines are re-established but there is otherwise little need for them. The only traffic into the system is a supply ship from closer to Holy Terra.

The supply ship and its warp drive bring much-needed resources, but also a message for Princess Marie:

The daughter of an Inquisitor will soon be passing through Marie's system along the way to join her father on Feltrov, two systems distant.

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"A guest!"

Kitty is overjoyed at the chance to play hostess. "We'll need to have a welcome delegation. I volunteer to coordinate that. We should have a cake with the meal. I hear she's quite young. I'll have to find out what her favorite colors are so we can propertly decorate her quarters..." Kitty realizes Marie is looking at her. "What?"

"Kitty, she's only going to be here for a day or two."

"You didn't go through this much trouble for me." Lauronum has made a rare appearance outside the bowels of the royal palace. "I certainly didn't get a cake."

"Oh, but you appeared before I was ready, and then there was the war, and..."

"Kitty!"

Inquisitional Acolyte Astryd Richter arrives nine days later. "That was a lovely cake."

The Inquisitor's daughter is only a few years younger than Marie and Kitty but carries herself in a way that makes both women feel like they're breaking protocol.

"I understand your father is on Feltrov now?" Kitty is undeterred by the challenge.

"Yes, he has been there for almost a year." Before Kitty can make any more small talk, the Acolyte turns her head toward Marie. "Princess Sigismundus, I would like to know why your tech-priest has not joined us."

"Oh, Lauronum prefers to take her meals in solitude." Marie smiles at Kitty. "We must remember to save some cake for her."

"My father does not trust the Priesthood of Mars." The suddenness of Astryd's statement is countered by the childlike tone in her voice. "He says they serve their own ends, rather than the Emperor."

>Defend Lauronum
>Call Lauronum to the banquet hall
>Try to change the subject
>Write-in

>>5537549
>Try to change the subject

I'm sweating bullets. Either she's feigning her innocence or she'll tell her father and he'll distrust us. This could happen almost anything we do, defending our tech-priest is defending someone he distrusts, calling her may cause an argument and lead to her telling him things heightening her father's distrust of us, evasiveness may be picked up by her father if she tells him.

Still, we can do our best not to get BLAMMED.

>>5537549
>Try to change the subject

>>5537549
>Write-in

One could say the same for an one of the hundreds of different interpretations of the Emperor's Holy word that exist in the Church.

>>5537549
>>Call Lauronum to the banquet hall

Rolled 1, 6 = 7 (2d10)

>>5537555
>>5537752
>>5538236
>>5538252

+1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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Marie knows better than to glance at Kitty. Astryd might interpret it in a way that Marie wants to avoid. Instead, the princess reclines slightly in her chair and allows her smile to slowly relax. "I'm no theologian, but it seems that different people interpret the Emperor's word in different ways."

"Without the Emperor there is nothing." Astryd recites the saying as though she's reminding Marie that the void is black. "It is a known truth that the Cult Mechanicus worships a machine god. It is not the Emperor of Mankind who sits upon the Golden Throne to which they transmit their devotions. They are not like you or I." Just as Marie is about to speak, Astryd adds, "I certainly hope that your faith rests in the Emperor."

"Yes, of course, I..." Marie's attention wavers to the doorway. Tech-priest Lauronum has wandered into the banquet room and the Acolyte Inquisitor has not yet noticed.

Kitty gestures frantically at Lauronum and almost knocks over her goblet when Astryd turns toward her. "Are you well, Lady Helvetica?"

"Just a little warm." Kitty fans herself with a cloth. The Acolyte's face is as passive as a doll's.

Marie glances at the doorway. Lauronum has crept back out of sight. "Your father seems quite passionate about his work. My own father is..."

"Princess Sigismundus, thank you for the meal. I am afraid I must retire early. My ship will be departing in the morning." Astryd stands before Marie can bid her leave.

"Yes, of course." Marie nods and smiles. "Have a pleasant night. I will see you off in the morning."

"That will not be necessary."

Five weeks after Inquisitional Acolyte Astryd Richter departs from the system, another ship appears out of the Warp, roughly half the size of the Savoir but carrying even more armament. It identifies itself as the Exhumation, out of Feltrov.

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"Princess Sigismundus, this is Inquisitor Erdred Richter. I would like to land and inspect the capitol world of this sector now that you have brought the planet under control."

>Pull rank and send him away
>Allow him to inspect Bastius
>Write-in

>>5539848
>Allow him to inspect Bastius
>Send Lauronum to the sisters for a time, ask Elizbeth to hide her.

>>5539848
>>Pull rank and send him away

>>5539848
>>Allow him to inspect Bastius

>>5539848
Write-in "Of course In fact here my top people will help you. IE watch you and keep you in check.

>>5539848
>>Allow him to inspect Bastius

>>5539848
>Allow him to inspect Bastius

We literally have nothing to hide.

Rolled 10, 10 = 20 (2d10)

>>5540036
>>5540133
>>5540141
>>5540240
>>5540371
>>5540422

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

>>5540480
This should be good...

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"An Inquisitor? Coming here?" Kitty is nearly at a loss for words, but only nearly so. "I heard the people on Feltrov have a saying, 'Nobody's stricter than Richter!' We mustn't let him see Lauronum! You heard what his daughter said! There may well be an, an..." Kitty's mouth gapes like a fish. She can barely bring herself to say it. "An incident!"

Captain Kess glances toward Kitty and asks, "Any ideas?"

"Marie could ask Sister Elzibeth if Lauronum could stay with the Order of the Martyred Virgin. Just until they're gone."

"Begging yer pardon, Lady Helveticus, but the Inquisitor already knows about the tech-priest. He's bound to wonder where she's gotten off to."

Marie is looking through the palace window up at the sky. If the Exhumation has started its descent, she can't see it. "Captain Kess is right." Kitty is about to speak but Marie already knows what she must do. "It wouldn't be proper to hide her away like that, and besides, we aren't guilty of anything."

Captain Kess locks his hands behind his back and joins Marie at the window. "I wouldn't want his presence to cause any security issues."

"Well, we needn't just let him wander about." Marie glances at the reflection of Kitty standing behind Kess. "See that a tour is planned." Kitty has only begun to turn to leave the room when Marie adds, "And send for Lauronum. I want her to be here when we greet them."

Inquisitor Richter is more imposing in person. Even when he steps down the ramp of his ship and doffs his hat he still seems nearly the height of a Space Marine.

"Princess Sigismundus, I presume."

"Inquisitor Richter, welcome to Bastius." Marie has gathered her retinue on the landing slip. "This is my lady-in-waiting, Katherine Helveticus; the captain of my guardsmen, Hugo Kess... and my tech-priest, Lauronum 15 Tragius."

Richter gives no indication to any of them. The lens of his mechanical eye is fixed on Marie. "My daughter Astryd has voiced to you my distrust of the Adeptus Mechanicus?"

"She has."

"Yet you touted your tech-priest out in the open like this."

Marie is beginning to think they may live through this inspection. "We have nothing to hide from you, Inquisitor." The princess gestures inward toward the palace. "The Lady Helveticus has arranged a tour of the planet for you."

The Inquisitor gives a quick nod. "Good. I plan to speak with many inhabitants of this planet. I have brought my daughter Astryd along with to assist me in this task."

Inquisitional Acolyte Astryd Richter makes her second appearance on Bastius, and walking down the ramp behind her is an elderly man whose hair matches the shade of Astryd's. Her father the Inquisitor nods again. "And this is my father, Inquisitor Leopold Richter."

"Hrmp," grunts the old man.

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"State your name and occupation."

"Patience Louise Yates, my lord. I'm a maid here in the royal palace of Princess Marie."

"Would you describe your princess as a forthright steward of the Emperor?"

"Oh, yes, my lord!"

"Why do you say that?"

"Princess Marie is always early for chapel."

"How many times each week does she attend?"

"Oh, twice each day, my lord!"

"Even when the chaplain is sick?"

"On those days she leads the service, my lord!"

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"State your name and occupation."

"Sid Chinskey, sir. Vox-operator, sir. 93rd Company, in service to the Emperor."

"And you were present at the military engagement on the moon of Loam which took place nine weeks prior to this date?"

"Yessir."

"It was during that encounter when your issued equipment was damaged?"

"Yessir. Multilaser strafing from the rebels, sir. My voxcaster took a hit."

"And it was at that time when your issued equipment became lodged in your skull?"

"Yessir. Everyone wrote me off for dead, but the tech-priest took care of me. Got the voxcaster incorporated into my brain straightaways."

"You are referring to Tech-priest Lauronum 15 Tragius?"

"Yessir, Princess Marie's tech-priest. She fixed me right up. I'll never lose my caster now."

"That will be all."

"If it wasn't for those extra shuttles the tech-priest found, we'd have lost Loam."

"I said that will be all."

"Yessir."

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"State your names. Starting with you."

"Um... my name is Caleb, and this is my sister Gretchen. Sir."

"Is that really your name, girl?"

"Tell him, Gretchen!"

"Yes."

"Don't forget to call him sir!"

"Yes. I mean... yes."

"And what do you think of Princess Marie, girl?"

"I love Princess Marie!"

"What about you, boy? Do you feel the same way?"

"Oh, yes, sir! After the war, Mother thought we might have to eat Gretchen but then Princess Marie gave every family a half-ration of grain."

"You were gonna eat me?"

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A fortnight after they arrived, Inquisitor Richter and his family depart Bastius. "You have done an admirable job bringing this planet to heel, Princess Sigismundus."

"Thank you, Inquisitor." Standing with them on the landing slip is Temporary Chairman Benedict Augustus, now in irons. "Here is Augustus as you requested."

The Inquisitor's lens fixes on Augustus and the fat man's chains rattle with a flinch and a grimace. "You are certain you no longer need to speak with him?"

"Our royal torturer is quite persuasive, Inquisitor. We've learned how the pirates preying upon Bastius were part of a larger force."

"Indeed." Richter seizes Augustus by one swollen elbow and drives him forward down the slip toward the Exhumation. "Though I think this one has not yet been wrung dry. Have a pleasant day, Princess Sigismundus."

Inquisitor Richter and his retinue depart from Bastius and disappear into the Warp.

Marie's Reputation increases to 5.

Less than a week after Inquisitor Richter departs, the royal palace of Bastius receives a transmission from the direction of Scalprum in the neighboring system. Corrupted by exposure to the Warp, the message is too fragmented for even Lauronum to decipher.

>Send Captain Kess in your only warp ship to investigate Scalprum
>Command your warp ship to Scalprum in person
>Keep your warp ship here and tell Lauronum to work on the transmission
>Write-in

>>5541184
>Keep your warp ship here and tell Lauronum to work on the transmission

Don't go in blind. If we don't have more than one warp capable ship then we need to work on that and improving our capabilities and intelligence before acting.

>>5541183
It's a simple gag, but it got me.

>>5541184
>Keep your warp ship here and tell Lauronum to work on the transmission
We need more warp-capable vessels.
>Conduct PDF readiness maneuvers in case that was a warning about an invasion.

>>5541184
>>Command your warp ship to Scalprum in person

>>5541184
>>Send Captain Kess in your only warp ship to investigate Scalprum

Rolled 7, 4 = 11 (2d10)

>>5541386
>>5541396
>>5541411
>>5541842

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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"Keep working on the transmission. There are more pirates massed near Scalprum and we can't risk sending our only warp-capable ship out of system without knowing what awaits." Marie stops Lauronum as she's turning to leave the palace library. "If you'd like to work in here, I'd be happy for your company." Lauronum glances around the bright sunlit room and when the princess gives a nod and a smile Lauronum hesitantly sits down in front of the computer terminal.

Captain Kess appears on the screen before the tech-priest can touch the controls. Marie leans in over Lauronum's shoulder. She's had Kess examining the eastern continent for armaments or anything else they can scavenge. "Yes, Captain, anything to report?"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty. Any luck with that transmission?" Kess is making small talk. That means something.

"Tech-priest Lauronum is working on it. How is your search of the eastern continent progressing?"

"We found a hangar in a mountainside near Augustus's summer palace, yer majesty. I'm there right now." The perspective on the voxscreen shifts.

On the screen is a voidworthy yacht.

Marie keeps her composure at the sight of the vessel. She's glad Kitty isn't in the library at the moment. Kess might mistake the squealing for a voxscreen malfunction.

"It's not very big or very well-armed, but it has a warp engine." Kess's voxcaster swings back to show himself. "Better armed than the supply ship we commandeered, at any rate. We had a look inside. The bay can hold one of our attack shuttles."

"Assemble a crew to get it back in service as quickly as you can, Captain. Good work."

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When Kitty hears about the yacht, Marie has to order her to remain in the palace. "But I should be there to supervise!"

"Kitty, the guardsmen have everything under control. You're going to wear out the carpet pacing. Why don't you help Lauronum?"

Lauronum looks up as Kitty glances over. "She doesn't need me!"

"Actually, I think I may have been able to patch the transmission." Lauronum taps at the control panel for a moment. "I think it's from a Space Marine." Marie and Kitty both stop and look at the tech-priest. Lauronum points at the screen. "Here, come look."

An image of a young man flickers into view. Marie and Kitty lean in over Lauronum's shoulders. "Oh, he's handsome!"

Marie's head whips to the side. "Kitty!"

Kitty grins at Marie. "What? He can't hear what we're saying." Marie looks away. Kitty continues. "Besides, you could certainly do worse."

"Kitty!" Marie pointedly turns her gaze back toward the screen. Lauronum continues to operate the computer controls in silence.

"You know I'm right," Kitty says with a smirk.

Lauronum looks back over her shoulder at Marie. "Did you want to hear what he's saying?"

"Yes!"

A voice springs from the speaker grille, wavering with distortion. "This is Valorus Hansteen of the Eternal Swords... whatever you did... riled them up... increased their attacks... can barely hold Scoria... need reinforcements..."

Marie frowns. "Scoria?"

Kitty recognizes the name. "That's in the same system as Scalprum."

>Send a squad of guardsmen to Scoria in your small warp ship
>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person
>Order Lauronum to transmit your condolences and continue arming
>Write-in

>>5542242
>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person

>>5542242
>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person

>>5542242
>>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person

>>5542242
>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person

>>5542242
>>Command a squad in your new yacht and travel to Scoria in person

Rolled 10, 9 = 19 (2d10)

>>5542283
>>5542337
>>5542444
>>5542470
>>5542776

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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"Tell Captain Kess to double the yacht crew and prepare an attack shuttle and a squad of guardsmen for transport. I will be commanding the Iuvenis on its voyage to Scoria."

Kitty takes Marie by one arm. "I don't like the idea of you leaving the system like this. Especially with what Valorus said. There's a real war going on there!"

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." The princess disentangles Kitty from her arm and pats her hand. "After all, we have information on the system, we have the cartographical displays from the captured ship, and..." Marie throws a glance at the flickering face on the library voxscreen. "We have allies who need help."

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"...Princess? Princess Marie? Oh, thank the Emperor. Captain Kess, I think she's waking up."

Marie's head is pounding. She tastes copper and smells smoke. Something is wrong with the gravity. The guardsman medic floating in front of her is oriented the wrong way. She opens her mouth to speak. She means to ask what happened but she can't quite remember how to make the sounds. Then it comes back to her.

The Iuvenis is caught in a current in the Warp. The pilot is shouting something. They're caught in a current in the Warp and they can't get out in time. They're going to emerge back into the Materium too close to the center of the system and when they are spat from the Warp they appear in the middle of a battle.

Marie has gathered her wits enough to form a single word.

"Where?"

"We crash-landed on Scoria, your majesty. About a hundred klicks behind the enemy line. The pirate army has us surrounded."

"The shuttle?"

"Unknown, your majesty. It was deployed before the crash." When Marie orders the medic to help her up he glances at Captain Kess but knows better than to disobey his sovereign.

"Thank you, Guardsman." The interior of the Iuvenis doesn't look as bad as she thought. Captain Kess hurries to her side. "Report, Captain."

"Beg pardon, yer majesty."

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"The pirates would like a word."

Outside the crashed yacht is an army. Marie's guardsmen - the ones still alive and able to fight - are perhaps a tenth the number.

And at the head of the pirate army is their queen.

"Those still alive inside the yacht, I am Lurline, of the Free World Alliance. This system is under my jurisdiction. Your vessel is to be confiscated to aid in the war effort to reclaim the Questarai Thread. You will come out, one way or the other."

>Reveal your identity and demand to be taken for ransom
>Pray for reinforcements and try to hold the yacht
>Pretend to be a minor functionary and surrender peacefully
>Write-in

>>5543224
>>Pray for reinforcements and try to hold the yacht

>>5543224
>Pray for reinforcements and try to hold the yacht

W-was that supposed to be a good result?

Also is Sister Elzibeth or the canoness part of our retinue now, or no?

>>5543224
Actually, I have either an addition or just a replacement if both can't be ordered at once.

>The stupid bitch pirate "queen" has exposed herself. Shoot her in the fuckin' head and order your troops to open fire. Decapitate the head and the body will fall.

>>5543244
>W-was that supposed to be a good result?
It's actually a 09

>Also is Sister Elzibeth or the canoness part of our retinue now, or no?
Sister Elzibeth counts as a fellow princess and you will encounter more opportunities to increase your retinue

>>5543224
>>Pretend to be a minor functionary and surrender peacefully

>>5543224
>>The stupid bitch pirate "queen" has exposed herself. Shoot her in the fuckin' head and order your troops to open fire. Decapitate the head and the body will fall.

Rolled 4, 9 = 13 (2d10)

>>5543232
>>5543244
>>5543246
>>5543348
>>5543706

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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"Options, Captain?" Marie may be the sovereign but on the battlefield she knows when to defer to the expert.

"I think we may be able to come up with something, yer majesty."

Lurline's pirates draw back as the bay door of the Iuvenis begins to open. From inside the darkness comes a voice. "Don't shoot! We have a lady-in-waiting of Princess Marie of Bastius aboard! We are willing to surrender peacefully if you will guarantee us safe passage!"

Lurline holds up one hand. "Hold your fire." She looks at the yacht and smiles. "A lady-in-waiting, you say?"

In another part of the yacht, Kess's voice crackles over a vox. "Harland, what's your status?"

"I'm in the starboard dining room now, Captain. Target sighted. Ready to proceed on mark."

The voice in the darkness of the yacht hatch calls out again. "Alright, we're coming out!" The pirates raise their weapons.

Harland's rifle gives the signal to open fire. Lurline spins around and drops to the dirt and an instant later the air is seared with lasers.

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Marie's guardsmen pour forth out of the yacht's bay. The pirates expected dilettantes and a small security detail, and for a moment Princess Marie's forces are able to catch the pirate army by surprise with a charge.

The moment ends and the guardsmen are pressed back inside the Iuvenis. The pirates' fire is massed on the hatch entrance. The guardsmen are driven further back. Marie realizes the vox-operator is giving their coordinates to someone.

Their attack shuttle is coming in under fire from other shuttles.

Lurline's elite guards are battle-hardened but many of the pirate soldiers seem to be untrained rabble and break rank when Marie's attack shuttle appears and releases its payload across the field on route to its destination. A wave of heat washes into the yacht and for a moment the attack concentrated on the hatch entrance ceases.

The hull of the Iuvenis reverberates. Kess looks up. The attack shuttle has landed atop the yacht. "Come on, yer majesty. We need to get you to the top deck and get you out of here."

>Board your shuttle with an escort of guardsmen and escape while you can
>Remain with your men and order your attack shuttle to resume combat
>Write-in

>>5544920
>Use the shuttle to deliver our guardsmen from the yacht to flanking positions. Put the pirates into a crossfire.

>>5544920
>>Remain with your men and order your attack shuttle to resume combat

>>5544926
+1

Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d10)

>>5544926
>>5545000
>>5545264

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

File: awed.jpg (87 KB, 512x512)

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Marie fires another burst from her lasrifle. It's a standard pattern guardsman rifle and she's been using the same one ever since they retook Loam. "You should know by now that my place is with my men!"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty, but this might be yer only chance to fall back to a safer position!"

"We need that shuttle to flank the pirates." Princess Marie stops firing to reload and gives Kess a look. "Get them back in the air and position your men on the far side of the plain. That's an order, Captain."

The takeoff provides a useful distraction and Marie's guardsmen are able to press their way back out of the bay and into the night air but before the shuttle can make it to the first designated landing zone, three pirate shuttles are upon them and Marie's shuttle is forced back toward the yacht.

Below the air battle, the advancing guardsmen on the ground are cut off by a surprise flank of pirates.

The guardsmen outside the yacht and the pirates both pause in their gunfight as the ground begins to shake with the approach of something huge.

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The pirates are shouting and falling back on both sides. One is too slow and is tossed screaming into the smoke. The last of the pirates part and the trapped guardsmen look up and up at what towers over them.

The giant is twice the height of a man, and clad in piecemeal power armor scavenged from some ancient battle. The armor must weigh as much as a pair of guardsman.

The giant's brow is a single cliff of bone on its bald head and sunk below the shelf the firelight reveals the monster's dim intelligence as it scans the battlefield and lumbers toward the yacht. The guardsmen take aim.

"It's a Space Marine!"

"No... it's an ogryn!"

"I don't care what it is," shouts Captain Kess from the bay of the yacht as he raises his own lasgun. "Open fire!" The ogryn is laughing as it wades forward through the laser bursts. "That thing's going to tear the yacht apart if he gets his hands on it!"

>Order an airstrike on your own men to kill the ogryn
>Order your men to fight the ogryn hand-to-hand
>Approach the ogryn yourself and try to soothe it
>Write-in

>>5545435
>Write-in
D-distract ogryn with tasty food?

>>5545435
>>Approach the ogryn yourself and try to soothe it

>>5545435
>Approach the ogryn yourself and try to soothe it

May as well. It's either a reputation hit, failure and subsequent destruction, or a chance to subvert an enemy and gain some rep with the possibility of death if I had to sum up the choices.

>>5545435
>>Order your men to fight the ogryn hand-to-hand

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d10)

>>5545603
>>5545748
>>5545766
>>5546101

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

File: flox.jpg (83 KB, 512x512)

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He reaches the surrounded band of guardsmen and he's still laughing as he grabs a guardsman's rifle and swings it like a club. The pirates unlucky enough to be on the far side of his swing are sent flying into their comrades.

"Yer majesty!" Captain Kess doesn't think Marie is fleeing the battle when she suddenly turns and runs from the bay. All he knows is what she shouts to him as she disappears into the crashed yacht.

"Don't kill it yet!"

When Marie returns with a roasted flox, Kess understands perfectly what his sovereign means to do, and he's terrified at the idea. "Yer majesty! You can't..."

Princess Marie is already running out the bay door with the flox slung over her shoulder. "Ogryn!" A small miracle occurs and the giant pauses in his rampage and turns. Like a curious child he slowly pushes his head forward, and when he finally understands what he sees, his mouth opens in a half-smile. Marie returns it with a smile of her own. In her mind she has all but won the beast's loyalty with an offering of food.

His hand is the size of her body and he grabs Marie around the neck just hard enough to make lights begin to dance across her vision. The flox tumbles to the dirt. Marie claws at his enormous wrist and reflexively kicks as she feels the ground pull away from her feet and now the giant is smiling fully.

"Pretty girl!"

Marie is dangling in the air by one hand and a brave guardsman who comes to her rescue is hit with the ogryn's free hand by a punch that nearly tears the guardsman in half.

File: thrones.jpg (65 KB, 512x512)

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"Gormy, no! That's the lady-in-waitin'!" One of the pirates hit by the battered guardsman climbs over the dead man's body and reaches out his own hand. "She might be worth as much as the ship for ransom!"

The ogryn's head whips sideways and his face contorts. "No!" A black tunnel is forming in the center of Marie's vision and her neck is wrenched as the ogryn shakes her back and forth like a child's doll. Again he shouts at the pirate and this time punctuates his demand with another swing of his huge fist. "Gormy want pretty girl!"

The pirate falls backward and as he scuttles out of Gormy's reach he locks eyes with another man in the crowd. "Paymaster, tell 'im!"

"Gormy, we're gonna ransom her back for a lot of thrones, and then we're all gonna be happy, right?" A burly pirate with a beard and spiked armor pushes his way into the open. "We can't do that if you kill her!"

"Gormy work for Lurline, not you! Lurline dead."

The paymaster takes a step forward and starts to say the ogryn's name again, but his voice is stifled along with his breath when a giant hand launches like a serpent and hauls him into the air. Marie feels her feet briefly skim across the dirt. Gormy holds the paymaster's face close to his own and opens his mouth. Each of the ogryn's teeth is the size of a man's thumb.

"Gormy... want... pretty... girl!"

The pirate chokes out an offer to double his pay but he doesn't live to hear the ogryn's response and when the paymaster's body lands the spill of thrones that tumbles out alongside his corpse goes unheeded by the giant. "Gormy not want thrones! Gormy want pretty girl."

>Order your guardsmen to kill the ogryn
>Offer the ogryn all he can eat in the yacht's galley
>Write-in

>>5547872
>Order your guardsmen to kill the ogryn

Well, that didn't go well.

>>5547872
>>>Order your guardsmen to kill the ogryn

>>5547872
>Offer to kiss the ogryn if he kills the pirates
If he does it, he'll be hopefully weak enough to kill him.

>>5547993
+1

Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d10)

>>5547920
>>5547956
>>5547993
>>5548084

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

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"K...kiss..." Marie can only manage to force a single word through her constricted throat.

It is enough. Gormy's attention swings away from the cowering pirates to the princess in his grip. "Pretty girl kiss Gormy?"

Wide-eyed, still dangling a meter off the ground, Marie struggles to nod her head. It is not intentionally that the ogryn slackens his grip. Rather, with a new thought in his brain he is merely beginning to forget to hold onto her. A thin trail of Scoria's smoky air slips into Marie's throat, and she shakes her head more vigorously and rasps out a promise. "Kill the Alliance soldiers and I will give you a kiss!"

Marie is dropped to the dirt as Gormy spins. The pirates are caught surprised as their own giant turns against them and smashes through their ranks with his armored fists, all the while bellowing "Pretty girl kiss Gormy!"

Left with no other choice, the pirates turn on him. As they do, a pair of guardsmen rush to Marie and cradle her. The other guardsmen surround her.

"Fire on the ogryn."

No sooner has Princess Marie given the order to execute Gormy than her attack shuttle roars down from the stars. Marie can only watch the overhead firefight as the remaining two pirate shuttles launch spatters of gunfire at Marie's shuttle and disappear into the smoky night. An explosion soon follows but she doesn't know whose shuttle.

The ogryn lies mortally wounded and surrounding him is what's left of three dozen pirates. One of Gormy's eyes has been gouged through by a dagger that's still buried where it was struck but the remaining eye drifts upward and looks at Marie with pity.

"Yer majesty, wait!" Marie shrugs off Captain Kess's grip and haltingly approaches the dying giant.

Gormy's jaw drags against the dirt as he pushes his mouth open. He is trying to talk. Marie kneels and strokes his head, and bends down and kisses him on the brow, but he is already dead.

A squad of attack shuttles tear out of the night sky and rain fire on the pirate army. Marie continues to stroke the dead ogryn's head as the air explodes around her.

The vox-operator waves at Kess from the cargo bay of Marie's yacht. "Sir! It's the Eternal Swords!"

The battle is turning against the pirates and even the most resolute among them begin to break and run beneath the Space Marines' bombardment.

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The pirate army that once surrounded Marie's yacht is scattered. All that remains in the field outside her yacht are countless corpses and the still-steaming guardsman shuttle. By the grace of the Emperor the operator was able to land without more than breaking a strut but he is unsure how soon it may be airborne.

The attack shuttles of the Eternal Sword whip apart the flames as they circle back for another pass. Of the squad that accompanied her to Scoria, only ten guardsmen yet live, Kess among them.

One of the shuttles slows in the air and begins to descend directly in front of them. When its legs settle against the ground the bay door begins to slowly descend.

Marie bends her elbow and reaches up. "How's my hair?"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty?"

"Never mind." Marie is looking into the open door and as the princess sees an imposing figure in red power armor step from the shadows into the running lights, she can't help introducing herself.

"Valorus Hansteen, I am..."

"Princess Marie Naivetus Sigismundus of Bastius." The Space Marine striding down the ramp has Marie at a loss.

He takes Marie's hand and cups it inside his own huge palm. "Felton Hansteen. Valorus is my brother." He grins at Marie. "My LITTLE brother."

"Captain Hugo Kess, sir." Kess holds his salute for a moment but the Space Marine's attention is on the princess.

"At ease, Captain. We've got the immediate area secured, but as we are still in hostile territory, allow me to escort you back to our stronghold, Princess Sigismundus. There's room for you in my personal shuttle."

Marie looks at Kess and wishes Kitty was here. She looks up at the Space Marine. "Oh, but my yacht... and the shuttle..."

Felton gives Marie what she assumes is intended to be a charming smile. "I'll be happy to leave some of my men here to assist in getting the yacht airborne."

>Allow Felton to escort you to the stronghold of the Eternal Swords
>Remain here with your guardsmen until the yacht is airborne
>Write-in

>>5548722
>>Allow Felton to escort you to the stronghold of the Eternal Swords

>>5548722
>>Remain here with your guardsmen until the yacht is airborne
Alain Prost?

>>5548720
The execution order was too soon, Marie! -0.5 Princess Point! But +0.5 Princess Point for being true to your word.

>>5548722
>Allow Felton to escort you to the stronghold of the Eternal Swords

>>5548722
>Allow Felton to escort you to the stronghold of the Eternal Swords

Rolled 10, 10 = 20 (2d10)

>>5548727
>>5548730
>>5548767
>>5548798

+ 1 Princess Point

Scribing...

>>5548801
Hmmmmmmmm

>>5548801
Crit fail?

File: virgilio.jpg (71 KB, 512x512)

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Marie rubs her neck. "I would be pleased to accompany you to your stronghold." The guardsmen's shuttle pilot and a Space Marine are both gesturing at the yacht and nodding to each other. "It seems like my guardsmen have the situation under control. Captain, please continue the repairs with haste."

Kess nods and salutes at Felton once more. "We'll get her in the air as quickly as we can, yer majesty. Good to have met you, sir!"

Felton has already begun walking toward his shuttle where a hunched and milk-eyed old man waddles from the end of the ramp clutching a mechanical scriber. "As Chapter Master of the Eternal Swords, it's important for me to keep a record of our chapter's deeds. Only the most qualified serfs can become battle scribes. Virgilio here has held his post for the past ninety-seven years. Virgilio!"

The old man turns in a circle and nearly trips on the body of a dead pirate. "Yes, sir?"

Felton continues past Virgilio up the ramp into his personal shuttle. "We have been successful in another battle! Our air attack overcame the pirate shuttles and their ground forces which had laid siege to a downed yacht. This bold strike allowed us to rescue the princess of Bastia." He glances back at Marie as they settle into their seats. "Amend that, Virgilio."

"Sir?"

"The BEAUTIFUL princess of Bastia."

Again Marie wishes Kitty was present. "I understand the pirates are massed on Scalprum, Chapter Master."

"They use Scalprum as a staging ground because it has a breathable atmosphere, but their fleet in this system is hidden throughout the Contritum."

Marie leans forward in her seat. She has to shout to be heard over the roar of the engines. "With Lurline dead, they may prove easier to overcome."

"Another leader will soon emerge. They have proved almost impossible to crush. Each time we engage them, it seems more appear. And call me Felton. Virgilio!"

The old man gives a startled jump from where he crouches on the deckplates of the shuttle next to Felton. "Yes, sir?"

"Are you getting this?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You mentioned the Contritum?" Marie has seen the cartographical projection, but she knows it is only a representation. The phenomenon itself is enormous.

"Three worlds' worth of debris. Scalprum is a high-grav world and the Contritum follows Scalprum like..." Felton stops for a moment and glances at the scribe. "Like a pack of orphans and curs following a meat wagon." He smiles at Marie and nods for a moment, pleased with his analogy.

When they finally arrive in the stronghold, Chapter Master Felton Hansteen continues his narration. "The two great warp ships of the Eternal Swords, the Ecumenical Blade and the Shining Scourge, have been recalled from their battle above the Warp rift known in the depths of Feltrov as the Sink."

File: map2.jpg (278 KB, 1500x1159)

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At some point, Marie can no longer tell how long she's been in the stronghold of the Eternal Swords. Chapter Master Felton has seen to that. The battle report seems more interesting than Felton's next round of praise for Marie's beauty and there seems no end to his ability to make small talk. Again Marie wishes Kitty was here, and raises one finger to tap it in irritation when the doors of the stronghold chamber burst open and Valorus enters along with Captain Kess. Both men are covered in blood and laughing. Behind them the other guardsmen trail in, alongside the chapter of Space Marines.

Valorus throws his arms high as he enters and sees Felton and shouts "Brother!" before grabbing Kess in an embrace that sets both men laughing again. "Brother, this is Hugo! He's the captain of the guardsmen for the princess of Bastia! Oh, brother, you wouldn't believe what a battle we just fought!"

"What? What battle?" Felton leaps to his feet.

"We were helping the guardsmen repair their vessels, when from out the glare of the rising sun came the pirate army! They had regrouped and the cowards thought they could catch us by surprise!" Again the Space Marine Valorus embraces Captain Kess. The two men look at each other and both are grinning. "Ten guardsmen, but they fought like a hundred and ten! For a moment it looked grim, but the Blade and the Scourge both reappeared at that moment! The planet is ours, brother! We have retaken Scoria!"

This time it's Marie's turn to leap to her feet. "What?"

The Space Marine notices Marie for the first time and bows. "My lady."

"Valorus, er... sir." Hugo looks from the Space Marine to Marie. "This is Princess Sigismundus, of Bastia. Yer majesty, Valorus Hansteen of the Eternal Swords."

Valorus bows. "Welcome to Scoria, your majesty."

That evening, Marie, Kess, and her nine remaining guardsmen are the guests of honor at a feast in the stronghold to celebrate the retaking of Scoria. Chapter Master Felton Hansteen presents a toast, and pledges the loyalty of the Eternal Swords to Marie.

The planet of Scoria is now controlled by Princess Marie. Her Dominion increases to 15.

File: rust.jpg (92 KB, 512x512)

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At the end of the night, Marie and Kess are led to their rooms by another of the chapter's serfs. "Have you been well briefed on the war in this system, yer majesty? I noticed you and Valorus spent most of the evening together on the balcony."

"We were discussing various strategies for the liberation of Scalprum."

The next morning, Marie and Kess have been invited to the stronghold's library to view more detailed projections of the system. Scoria may be under the sway of the Pax Imperium but from what the Space Marines know, the pirate fleet has at least three ships equal in might to their own and an invasion of Scalprum could prove disastrous without significant reinforcements.

"What precisely is that planet?" Marie is gesturing to the very edge of the system map where an asymmetrical mass wanders the fringe beyond the Contritum.

"Rust isn't exactly a planet." Valorus touches the control panel of the library's computer and the image on the screen magnifies itself. "It's a collection of ships, some of them thousands of years old. The people of Scoria call it a space hulk."

"My tech-priest would be thrilled to take a peek at something like that. What do you think, Captain?"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty. I think I've been away from Bastia too long."

>Transmit a message and order another squad of guardsmen to journey here
>Transmit a message to Bastius and order Tech-priest Lauronum to join you
>Order them all here
>Return to Bastius with Captain Kess and your guardsmen
>Write-in

>>5549318
>Order them all here

>>5549318
>>Transmit a message and order another squad of guardsmen to journey here

>>5549316
Ah, crit success.

>>5549318
>Order them all here

>Transmit a message to Bastius and order Tech-priest Lauronum to join you

If the SM are going to be helping clearning the SpaceHulk that is great. SpaceHulk can be opened up to retrieve a number of ships, we badly need a fleet.

>>5549318
What prompt and AI gave this outcome it look amazing.

>>5549752

Midjourney; "a giant asteroid made of rusty spaceships alone in the middle of outer space cartoon in the style of pixar's cars, scary cosmic background, screengrab, cinematic lighting, highly detailed, 4k clean 8k smooth sharp focus, directed by pixar"

Rolled 3, 3 = 6 (2d10)

>>5549393
>>5549399
>>5549455
>>5549745

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: ecumenical blade.jpg (123 KB, 512x512)

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Princess Marie is given free use of the stronghold's voxcaster, and within the week Lauronum and a fresh squad of guardsmen arrive on their commandeered warp ship without incident. Nearly as soon as the serfs have unloaded and refueled the ship, it is sent back into the Warp toward Bastius. Marie has no wish for her capitol planet to be cut off from the rest of the Questarai Thread any longer than necessary.

Again they are gathered in the stronghold's library around its cartographical projections. This time Lauronum joins Marie, Kess, Felton, and Valorus. In the corner is the battle scribe Virgilio.

"I agree with Chapter Master Hansteen." The tech-priest gestures along the displayed arc of the Contritum. "This space hulk presents a possible opportunity. There may well be voidworthy craft that can be brought into service."

Felton glances at the battle scribe. "Make sure you get that, Virgilio." The Chapter Master steps closer to the display, edging Lauronum away from the screen. "The yacht of Princess Sigismundus will travel through the Contritum to Rust. The area around the space hulk is littered with a cloud of debris. Only a small vessel such as the Iuvenis will be able to make the approach. The Blade and the Scourge will provide an escort through the Contritum and remain in high orbit while the Iuvenis approaches the space hulk."

"What about Scoria?" asks Valorus. "We can't leave the planet undefended. The pirates might stage a surprise attack."

The Chapter Master agrees. "We'll have to leave one of our ships here."

Lauronum creeps under the shadow of the two Space Marines and reaches for the computer's control panel. The technical diagrams for the two cruisers flicker back and forth, and a moment later she makes a declaration. "The Shining Scourge isn't as maneuverable as the Ecumenical Blade. If you plan to travel through the Contritum any time in the next twelve weeks, the Ecumenical Blade is the optimal choice."

"Very well." Princess Marie nods at Lauronum. "I'm glad to have you around. Prepare your ship, Chapter Master."

"I will command the Blade." Valorus looks through the holographic display at Princess Marie. "It will be my honor."

Felton glances from his brother to Marie and back. "Traditionally, the Chapter Master commands the Ecumenical Blade when escorting the sovereign of the Questarai Thread." Felton grins at Marie. "I will command the Blade."

Valorus smiles. "Then my men and I will accompany the princess and Captain Kess in the Iuvenis."

"Oh, that reminds me." Lauronum looks up at Marie. "Your lady-in-waiting wanted me to ask you how things are going between you and Valorus."

File: ixodidae.jpg (77 KB, 512x512)

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The Contritum is a storm of stones the size of mountains and Felton's flagship is dwarfed as it passes between them. Marie's yacht is nimble by comparison, and their passage is restricted once more as the Blade slows to avoid colliding with a floating pebble ten times its size.

Aboard the Iuvenis, Lauronum rises and turns to walk past Marie and Valorus out of the cabin without asking leave. "I need to speak with the machine spirit."

Valorus and Marie sit alone in silence of a moment before the Space Marine speaks. "Your tech-priest is certainly... forthright." When the princess remains silent, Valorus smiles and continues. "What are you planning to tell your lady-in-waiting about how things are going between the two of us?"

Marie's cheeks begin to warm. Her gaze remains fixed ahead of her. "That depends."

"Oh?" The Space Marine's smile grows broader. "On what?"

Marie glances at Valorus and opens her mouth to speak when an alarm begins to sound.

A pirate cruiser has appeared from out of its hiding place on an approach vector toward Marie's yacht.

The Ecumenical Blade has disappeared from their sensors.

>Make a run for Rust without the Ecumenical Blade
>Engage the pirates in battle with your yacht
>Order your yacht to retreat back toward Scoria
>Write-in

>>5550381
>Make a run for Rust without the Ecumenical Blade

We can deal with whatever on foot, but the cruiser is perhaps too much. Then we can fix up something bigger and better to fight the cruiser with.

>>5550381
>Make a run for Rust without the Ecumenical Blade

>Release mines as you approach the space hulk. to damage the pirates if they try and enter approach

>>5550381
>>Engage the pirates in battle with your yacht

Rolled 2, 9 = 11 (2d10)

>>5550437
>>5550585
>>5550808
>>5550825

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

>>5551309
What is princess points fot?

>>5551464
*for

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"Brother!" Valorus rushes to a porthole. "We are on our own."

Marie doesn't know where the Blade has gone. Perhaps there are more pirate cruisers still hidden in the Contritum but her yacht has just cleared the last of the stones and beyond is empty void and Rust. "Make for Rust, pilot. Maximum speed."

"Beg pardon, yer majesty. We can't outrun a cruiser." Kess has been trained from birth to follow his commanding officers to death without pause. His statement is made purely for clarification.

"We can do our best, Captain. I came here to find a ship, and that's exactly what I mean to do."

It is a running battle toward Rust. Marie's yacht accelerates into the open void faster than the pirate cruiser, but the larger vessel quickly begins to overtake them and the Iuvenis is in firing range before they reach the midpoint.

The yacht is ablaze as it descends into the metal cloud around Rust.

Princess Marie opens her eyes to find that Valorus has cradled her seat within his arms during the impact. It is among the only intact objects in the cabin.

As the impact rumble subsides, other sounds clarify. Marie hears low voices. The medic and two other men are kneeling at the far end of the cabin.

"What?" Marie rises from the chair and approaches them. "What is it?"

The guardsman medic glances up at her. "Guardsman Nagelhout lies on the verge of death, your majesty."

Marie kneels down next to the man. She knows him well. Nagelhout is a veteran of the Bastia Riots, the liberation wars, and the battles of both Loam and Glint. He has served Marie without fail since her arrival on Bastius.

"Princess Sigismundus!" One of the Space Marines gestures through a porthole.

Outside, past the fires of their crash-landing, a man with a sunken face and crudely-worked cybernetic limbs waits like a carrion bird.

Valorus and his fellow Space Marines rush from the yacht bay and surround the man, bolters drawn. The cyborg is unmoved.

"The Sutura-General would like to speak with you."

Marie has descended the ramp. Valorus glances at the princess as she approaches the encirclement of Space Marines. "Who are you?"

The cyborg bows and says, "Ligarius. I am but an envoy."

"What do you think, Captain?"

"Beg pardon, yer majesty." Kess looks from the cyborg to the squad of Space Marines and the burning yacht behind them. "It might not hurt to take a walk."

Ligarus gestures inward. The Space Marines part, and beyond is a rend in the hangar wall. "This way, please." The cyborg hobbles through the gap between the Space Marines.

File: sutura-general.jpg (110 KB, 512x512)

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There are more of these cyborgs. Many more. They pass through a wide corridor seemingly made for a race of giants, and along their way Marie counts at least three dozen of the withered beings. They remind her of the most ancient tech-priests, but fashioned by imitators. Many are nothing but skulls on stick-figure bodies.

At the end of the hall is a ship parked so long that its landing struts have begun to merge with the ancient metal of the deckplates. Marie and her escort are led inside, to the lair of the Sutura-General. Gathered with him around a table are two other cyborgs. In the center of the table is a small metal pot.

"I welcome you to Rust, my lady. You must forgive our appearance. The toll of living in this place for so long is high."

"Your courtesy is appreciated."

The Sutura-General nods. "I understand your arrival was quite violent. You are new to Rust, my lady?"

"We've come in search of ships that may be put into service." Marie sees no reason to admit their unfamiliarity with the space hulk.

"Of course. We have lived here for a very long time, but many find the hallways of Rust to be... difficult to navigate."

"Of course." Marie smiles at the electric ghoul. "It is fortunate that we are looking for someone who can lead us to a serviceable ship."

"Then, my lady, it is all but settled. I know of such a guide, and I know of such a ship." The Sutura-General looks at the empty pot in the center of the table.

"Name your price, Sutura-General. I have thrones."

The ghoul smiles at Marie. "This receptacle is merely symbolic, my lady. We require payment of a more... immediate nature. The wounded man aboard your vessel. He will not survive." Marie's face remains passive. The ghoul continues. "You need not confirm my words. We have a means of detecting such things. We have made many discoveries in our time here."

Marie glances at Valorus and Kess.

>Turn Guardsman Nagelhout over to the Sutura-General
>Order the Space Marines to open fire
>Thank the Sutura-General for his trouble and decline
>Write-in

>>5551616
>>Order the Space Marines to open fire

>>5551616
>Write-in
What do they need him for? Maybe we have an alternative.

>>5551616
>Perhaps we can come to an arrangement to grant you captured prisoners of war, they are just pirates and traitors after all. But Guardsman Nagelhout stays with us, the sacred dead or soon to be should be treated with care and be given the appropriate rites.

>>5551752
Supporting

Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d10)

>>5551680
>>5551744
>>5551752
>>5552112

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: helina.jpg (85 KB, 512x512)

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"Of what use is a dead man to the Sutura-General of Rust?"

The electric ghoul dips his skull in a slight bow. "As I said, my lady, living here exacts a high toll upon our bodies. You have no doubt seen many among us reduced to nearly nothing." The Sutura-General gestures to the stick-woman at his side. "My own wife has been without her arm for nearly five years."

"You mean to cut him up and stitch his parts to..." Captain Kess glares at the woman. "Cannibals!" The Sutura-General's wife takes an involuntary step backward.

"Captain." Kess has gripped his lasrifle. Marie's gaze remains on the Sutura-General. "Is this true?"

The ghoul dips his skull again. "It is not so crude as you may imagine, my lady. The nervous fibers are of great value to our people. Our cybernetics are limited, and the environment of Rust itself causes them to wear down before their time. We will be grateful for the tumorless muscle strands, and the blood which is free of radiation. These resources are more precious to us than thrones."

Marie looks at her tech-priest. "Are such things within your purview?"

"No." Lauronum's eyes shift between the three ghouls. "But he seems like he's speaking from experience."

Princess Marie shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. Guardsman Nagelhout will not have his remains used in such a way."

"Of course." The Sutura-General turns his palms up as he bows. "I am sorry we were not able to arrive at an equitable arrangement, my lady."

"Perhaps I may yet be able to meet your terms, Sutura-General. I came here in search of ships. This you know."

The ghoul nods. "Yes, my lady?"

"Guide me to a ship, and if it is satisfactory, I will deliver to you one thousand living traitors. I give you my word."

"You are Princess Sigismundus of Bastius. I believe you have the authority to grant me such." When Marie remains silent the ghoul continues. "Yes, I know who you are, Princess Sigismundus. As I said, we have made many discoveries in our time here."

Marie forces a smile. "I look forward to learning more of your discoveries, Sutura-General."

When the electric ghoul dips his skull his gaze remains on Marie. "Of course."

"You will supply us with a guide?"

"She is already here." The Space Marines behind Marie part. Beyond the doorway another of the stick-people totters into the light. "This is my daughter, Helina."

File: xenos pests.jpg (72 KB, 512x512)

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For two days they travel like maggots through Rust's innards. Each cavern holds new oddities, and each deck is canted at a new angle from the one before. On the evening of the first day they cross a chasm still glowing with the aftermath of an ancient spacefaring engine's explosion. They make camp in the crumpled ruin of what Marie assumes was once a military commissary.

"We will reach your ship tomorrow."

Kess poses the question. "How soon?"

"Another day of travel."

They are halfway through the second day of travel and Marie is just about to ask Helina how close they are when one of the Space Marines suddenly fires his bolter. A scaly xenos half the size of a human flips from its hiding spot near the ceiling and falls dead on the deckplates. "Sir, there are more of them in the room ahead!"

"Look sharp, men!" Valorus raises his own bolter. "Stay behind me, Princess Marie."

There are hundreds of the creatures, and they cling to every surface on six prehensile legs. Their bites carve scrapes upon the sacred armor of the Eternal Swords but the Space Marines advance across the room and into the next, and finally with fire and will the last of the xenos have been purged.

Marie, Lauronum, and Helina have kept back behind the line of Space Marines. Captain Kess stands ready at Marie's side.

One of the Space Marines has found an entrance portal into a different ship.

File: xenos traders.jpg (85 KB, 512x512)

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The bloated xenos is some kind of worm, bent in the middle like the centaurs of old Terra. Its head rises up taller than Marie.

It speaks to them in High Gothic.

"Ah, humanforms!"

"Xenos!" Valorus and his men draw their bolters in unison.

"Calmthink, humanforms! Eruditan repelfields much better than primitive weapons. Why not make tradetalk? Tradetalk benefit both Eruditans and humanforms. Eruditans much smarter than humanforms. This ship too complex for humanforms. This ship made by more advanced humanforms."

Princess Marie steps alongside Valorus. "What are you proposing to trade, xenos?"

"Humanforms necessary to operate ship. Eruditans instruct humanforms."

"Beg pardon, yer majesty." Kess is standing on the other side of Valorus. "What do they get out of teaching us anything?"

"Ship has many comforts. Eruditans will live in comfort and instruct humanforms."

>Order the Space Marines to open fire on the xenos
>Pretend to befriend the xenos and betray them later
>Write-in

>>5555221
>>Pretend to befriend the xenos and betray them later

>>5555221
>Pretend to befriend the xenos and betray them sooner than later

>>5555221
>>Pretend to befriend the xenos and betray them sooner than later

Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d10)

>>5555283
>>5555310
>>5555391

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: bubble trap.jpg (87 KB, 512x512)

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"Very well, xenos." Marie glances at Kess. The captain of the guardsmen returns a nod. "You may begin my instruction with the awakening of this ship."

Helina, daughter of the Sutura-General of Rust, has remained silent through the exchange until now. "May I leave? You have your ship."

"Not yet." Marie's eyes are still on the xenos. "You will remain until I am satisfied that this ship will meet my approval."

Valorus and his fellow Space Marines stand rigid as the xenos worm scuttles across the deck toward a slanted shelf made of black glass. "Prosperous tradetalk, humanforms! Panel is ship power control."

Marie has crossed the room. Her hand hovers above the controls. "Where is Lauronum? She should be here to observe." When the Space Marines turn to look at each other, Marie looks back at the worm. "No matter. It's fitting that I myself am the one to wake this great ship from its slumber."

The xenos turns its attention to the panel. "Humanform taps center with appendage."

"Like this?" Marie presses a fingertip against the smooth darkened glass. Immediately the panel begins to glow in a series of tiles. A muffled bang draws her eyes to the ceiling. Another more distant sound comes from her left, and accompanied by a whine is an echoing drumming that quickly rises in tempo and shudders to a halt. In the silence that follows, a creeping of doubt begins to settle in the pit of Marie's stomach, when suddenly the entire ship shifts. The movement is little more than a hair's breadth, but the low and constant hum that follows is undeniable.

The ship has been awakened.

"Now what?"

The xenos slowly undulates a few paces from Marie. "Humanform orderspeaks, 'Transfer control coordinates three-one-six, eight-one-three.'"

Kess has been untrusting from the start. "What does that do?"

"Calmthink, humanform! Orderspeak allows humanforms to control entire ship."

Marie glances from Kess to the xenos. "At ease, Captain." She smiles. "We are almost finished here. I must speak this command? Very well. Transfer control coordinates three-one-six, eight-one-three." When nothing seems to occur she looks at the xenos. "Is there anything else I must do to gain control of this ship?"

The xenos rises up to its full height. "Eruditans will control ship. Humanforms no longer needed."

"It's a trap!" Kes raises his lasrifle. The Space Marines have already raised their bolters. "Kill 'em all!" shouts Kess as he squeezes the trigger.

The roar of bolter fire is deafening. Marie's eyes go wide in shock as the air around the xenos ripples and instead of exploding its unclean flesh from inside, the force seems to bounce back at the Eternal Swords. Enveloped in the splash of glowing energy, the Space Marines quickly find themselves cocooned motionless inside the repelfields.

File: fleeing vermin.jpg (100 KB, 512x512)

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Kess and Marie have been trapped as well. The xenos slowly undulates toward them and inspects Marie closely. "Distance to Eruditan homeworld is very great. Gestating broods will require meat." The xenos twists itself to stare at Helina. The stick-girl cringes beneath its gaze. "Metal humanform has too little meat. Metal humanform may depart."

Helina shrinks backward and totters as quickly as she can from the sight of the xenos and their captured prey.

The exit portal is just ahead and the instant she crosses it a pair of hands lashes out and drags her close.

"What happened in there?" Lauronum wisely remained outside the ship with the split force of Space Marines, and now her gaze is locked upon Helina. The Eternal Swords that remained outside the ship close in a looming circle around the two young women.

Helina's unblinking eyes dart from the Space Marines to the tech-priest. "There were xenos inside! One of them tricked your princess into giving it control of the ship! Now they're all caught in some kind of force fields! The xenos are going to feed them to their young!"

"You led them right into a trap!"

Helina's terrified gaze snaps upward at the Space Marine. "No! I swear on the name of the Emperor, I didn't know what would..."

Her words are cut off by a sudden flare of light that sends vermin scurrying across the ancient deckplates away from them. The light continues to swell brighter and brighter, now accompanied by a rumbling. Flakes of Rust begin to drop like rain.

To Lauronum, it can only mean one thing. "The ship is about to break free of Rust!"

"Orders, Tech-priest?"

Lauronum looks up at the Space Marine in surprise. "What? Me?"

"You are a member of Princess Sigismundus's retinue, are you not?"

>Lauronum orders the remaining Space Marines to cripple the ship
>Lauronum and Helina stow aboard and try to free Marie and the others
>Write-in

>>5556410
>Lauronum and Helina stow aboard and try to free Marie and the others

>>5556410
>Lauronum orders the remaining Space Marines to cripple the ship

Entering an environment that they control is too great a risk. The fact that they were able to contain space marines proves this. Disable the ship, rescue the Princess, we'll find another ship.

>>5556410
>>Lauronum orders the remaining Space Marines to cripple the ship

Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d10)

>>5556572
>>5556750
>>5557338

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: ship smash.jpg (95 KB, 512x512)

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The tech-priest tilts her head for a moment. "Stop that ship from launching."

As one, the Eternal Swords turn their gaze upward and begin to confer with one another. A moment later, they turn toward Lauronum and one gestures high above a cliff of metal to the corroded bulkhead. "Tech-priest, if we can ram another ship into that bulkhead, we may be able to pin the xenos!" The rumbling of the warming engines has become a roar.

Helina flinches as Lauronum spins to face her. "Where can we find the closest operable ship?"

But the stick-girl shakes her head. "First pronounce the bargain honored!"

"What?"

"The bargain your princess struck with my father, the Sutura-General of Rust! I have guided you to your ship, and for it my father is owed one thousand living traitors!"

Lauronum looks from the Space Marines to the glare of light and back to Helina. The deckplates rumble so hard they nearly lose their balance. "Agreed. In the name of Princess Marie Naivetus Sigismundus, the bargain with the Sutura-General of Rust is considered honored." Lauronum finishes her proclamation and the two young women stare silently at one another for a moment.

One of the Space Marines leans in. "Well?"

"I'm thinking!" shouts Helina. Her gaze shifts behind Lauronum. A small escort ship lies on its belly along the far wall of the hangar.

Helina and the Space Marine look at each other and grin.

File: spess coffins.jpg (86 KB, 512x512)

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Inside the ancient ship, the Eruditan scuttles quickly from panel to panel. There was a jolt and now there are loud automated notifications and the humanform ship refuses to move.

And now there is a noise coming from the outer room and the Eruditan realizes that it is the sound of another of its kind in great torment.

The humanforms have returned, and they have discovered that Eruditan repelfields do not prevent humanforms from holding them down and slowly reaching into their throats to throttle them from within. One of the other Eruditans is physically compelled by a humanform to release the others like it from the repelfield. The extermination that follows is methodical and it is the last left alive.

"Calmthink, humanforms." It seems necessary to say this, surrounded by the desecrated bodies of its own. "Eruditan make tradetalk. Eruditan will release humanform leader. Humanforms will allow Eruditan to depart ship unharmed."

"Stow your bolters, men." Valorus looks down at the xenos. The other Eternal Swords look at him.

"Sir?"

"That's an order, Crastus! Very well, xenos. I order my men not to harm you. Now release the princess."

The repelfield around Marie dissipates and her gaze immediately flicks to the xenos. "Valorus, why is this one still alive?"

Valorus smiles at Marie. "I told my men not to harm it in exchange for your freedom, Princess Sigismundus."

"I gave no such order," says Marie. "Kill it at once."

Valorus's smile broadens as he looms over the xenos. "At once, Princess Sigismundus!"

Lauronum has at last boarded the ship, and Marie sees concern on the tech-priest's face. "What's wrong?"

"You need to see this." Lauronum glances up at Valorus. "Alone."

"Princess?"

Marie looks over her shoulder as she's led from the room. "I'll be right back." When they get into the hallway of the ancient spaceship Marie looks back again and asks, "What's wrong?"

"While they were clearing out the xenos I found a room full of..."

They have reached the room. "I see what you mean." Inside are row after row of hanging glass coffins. Each contains a murky human form. Marie turns her gaze from one end of the room to the other and asks, "Did the xenos put them in there?"

"That doesn't seem likely." Lauronum runs a finger over the seal of the coffin in front of them. "Most of them seem to have completely stopped working a long time ago."

"I'm sure there are a lot of unconsecrated dead on Rust. If it will make you feel better, I can ask Valorus to..."

"That's not why I brought you here. Look."

Marie turns her head and gasps.

File: dara.jpg (57 KB, 512x512)

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In front of Marie is a young woman only a few years older than the princess. Her garb is bizarre to Marie's eyes, and inappropriate for anyone but a jester or acrobat.

"One of the coffins was still functioning. It only failed a few minutes ago."

Marie glances at her tech-priest. "You're saying she woke up because of us?"

"Yes."

"Who are you people?" The young woman puts a hand to her throat and feels along the sides of her brightly marked leotard.

"She speaks Gothic!" exclaims Marie.

Lauronum nods. Neither's gaze have left the woman in yellow. "She was speaking nonsense for a few moments, but then she began to speak perfect Gothic."

"It's the polyglot virus," says the woman in an agreeable tone. "It probably took a little longer because I just came out of hypo-stasis."

"Virus?" asks Marie.

"Oh, don't worry, it's noncommunicable. Just a regular tailored virus, standard issue to all Union personnel." She looks around at the glass coffins. "Have you contacted ship maintenance about this? They'll want to know what..."

"I am Princess Marie Sigismundus of Bastius, sovereign of Scoria. What is your name?"

The woman in yellow turns distractedly in a circle that ends with her facing Marie. "My name is Ensign Dara Sinclair of the Galactic Union." She stops for a moment, and looks around at the room once more, and finally says, "I'm sorry, your majesty, I'm unfamiliar with the planet Bastius, or Scoria, for that matter. Can you tell me the Union standard date? I'm sure if we weren't picked up by a tugboat we must have been drifting for weeks once the antiproton drive went offline."

Marie glances at Lauronum. "I thought you said she spoke perfect Gothic."

>Turn her over to Inquisitor Richter
>Secretly add her to your retinue
>Write-in

>>5558669
>Secretly add her to your retinue

Oh god, it's a trekkie!

>>5558669
>Secretly add her to your retinue
That Inquisitor was boorish and his daughter was a brat.

>>5558669
>>Turn her over to Inquisitor Richter

>>5558669
>Turn her over to Inquisitor Richter

>Secretly add her to your retinue

Interested in this plot point, and finding a human world with lost tech will bring in huge Admech support.

Rolled 5, 9 = 14 (2d10)

>>5558863
>>5558886
>>5558899
>>5559446
>>5559817

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: control panel.jpg (68 KB, 512x512)

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"You have some understanding of this ship?"

Dara stops and looks at the princess. "Well, I mean, I'm only an ensign. I've only been aboard for ten months. But I guess you could say I understand a little bit about it."

"You may have cause to grieve." Marie takes Dara's hand in her own. Marie does not know the customs of this Galactic Union but the woman in yellow does not object. "All the others here are long dead. You were alone on this ship until we found you."

"W-what?" Before Marie can say anything else, Dara has rushed to the closest coffin, and when she taps on its controls she gasps. The young woman quickly steps to the next coffin in line and a moment later gives a choked "No!" For a moment she seems unaware of Marie and Lauronum, but then looks up at them. "Who are you?"

Marie gives a patient smile. "As I said, I am Princess Marie Naivetus Sigismundus of Bastius. I am the duly appointed sovereign of the Questarai Thread. This is my tech-priest, Lauronum 15 Tragius."

"Tech-priest?" Dara has at last noticed Lauronum's more obvious cybernetic implants. She looks at Marie again and asks, "How did you find us? The Columba Dei, I mean."

"We're aboard a space hulk," says Lauronum. "Your ship crashed into it a long time ago."

"Space... hulk?"

Marie takes Dara by one arm. "Don't trouble yourself now. I will care for your well-being. In return, I want this ship. My Space Marines were forced to trap it in order to prevent its theft." The princess leads Dara to the bridge and Lauronum follows. "Perhaps you may be of assistance in freeing it."

"Oh, that reminds me." Marie looks back as Lauronum speaks. "I told the Sutura-General's daughter that they had honored their end of your bargain."

"When you are among the others, say nothing unless you are spoken to," Marie cautions Dara.

Perhaps she has been numbed by the shock, but the sight of the Space Marines elicits only a long stare before Dara trudges toward one of the control consoles.

"Halt!" says Valorus, but Marie waves a hand.

"Lauronum found her. She claims to have some knowledge of the workings of this ship."

Dara taps the black shelf and its surface blooms with light. For a long moment the room stands in silence watching her finger peck at the glass.

File: columba dei.jpg (81 KB, 512x512)

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"Well?" asks Marie.

"It looks like only a few critical systems are still online." She looks up and clarifies. "Online means working." She resumes her pecking, and a moment later announces, "The antiproton drive has an operational lifespan of almost fifty thousand years." She looks at Marie again. "We might be able to remove the obstruction by focusing the shield emitters. Sixty percent of them seem to be operational."

"Remove the obstruction?" Marie takes a step toward the control panel as though she can decipher it. "Do you mean this ship itself is capable of moving the bulkhead?"

Dara nods. "It should work as long as the antiproton drive can generate enough power to the shields." She taps at the controls again, and a wrenching sound echoes across the ship.

"Order everyone aboard." Marie is smiling. "We will test my prize against the grip of Rust."

In the hands of Ensign Sinclair, the ship throbs to life once more. The vermin and stick-people which had crept close during the lull are sent scattering across the hangar once again. Another wrenching echo drags across the ship, when suddenly the bulkhead raises upward, thrust from the ship by an invisible force.

A tangled spiderweb of ancient girders and struts snaps apart and tumbles out into the void like heralds.

The Columba Dei breaks free of Rust.

Marie smiles at Valorus. "Very good, Dara. What are this ship's capabilities?"

Lauronum looks around the room and back at Dara while she works. "I could..."

"The only systems functioning at the moment are the antiproton drive itself, life support, shields, and the forward beam array." Dara looks at Marie and shakes her head. "Without a trained crew, I can barely control anything." The ship rumbles as they pass through the cloud of metallic shards encircling Rust. "Shields holding," she announces dully.

File: hanusey.jpg (73 KB, 512x512)

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"Contact the Iuvenis, my yacht. I wish to speak with them about the progress of their repairs." Marie waits for a moment before she realizes Dara has not acted. "Well?"

"I'm sorry, your majesty." Dara pecks at the glass again. "None of the standard frequencies seem to be in use. What frequency is your yacht?"

Marie looks at Lauronum with irritation. "What is she talking about?"

"Voxcasters use such a thing," replies Lauronum. The tech-priest turns toward Dara. "I'm producing the frequency."

Dara shakes her head in surprise and taps the glass again. "You are! One moment... there."

The face of the guardsman operator-mechanic soon appears on the ancient voxscreen. "How go the repairs, Guardsman?"

Guardsman Hanusey runs an oil-slick hand through his hair. "Beggerpardonprincess, gonb'while, hullstillalltornupanaftcontrolhastabereplaced, gottamanlookinaroundoutsideferthat."

"How long do you expect the repairs to take before the Iuvenis is voidworthy?"

"Beggerpardonprincess, gonb'leastanuddafo'days."

"Understood, thank you, Guardsman. Please continue with all due haste." The princess smiles at Valorus again. "It seems we will be here a bit longer."

"This can't be right." Dara looks up from the control panel. "According to the decay rate of the antiproton drive, it's been in standby for more than twenty thousand years."

Marie looks from Valorus to the young woman in yellow. "Why were you in that coffin in the first place?"

For a moment Dara grips the sides of the control panel and her head drifts while she thinks. At last she speaks. "We were conducting an experiment... in the neighboring system. We all went into hypo-stasis as a precaution."

"Experiment?" asks Lauronum.

"We were... we were attempting to open a localized distortion field to improve interstellar travel. Something..." Dara's gaze has begun to drift around the room. "Something happened. I can't remember what." She looks at Marie. "Princess Marie, if I may please make a request, would you allow me to take the ship to the neighboring system and see if I can find anything related to the Union? We could be there and back before your... repairman is finished."

>Allow Dara to pilot the Columba Dei to Inquisitor Richter's system
>Forbid it and remain here until the Iuvenis has been repaired
>Write-in

>>5560879
>Forbid it and remain here until the Iuvenis has been repaired

The tech isn't worth attracting the attention of the inquisitor and going right under his nose. We have a war to win, we need to focus our attentions. Not to mention I've begun to suspect that the trekkies caused some horrible warp disaster or the spawning of a Chaos God or something with their foul 'experiments'. She should be watched closely, but for now we can make use of her.

>>5560879
>Forbid it and remain here until the Iuvenis has been repaired

>>5560879
>>Forbid it and remain here until the Iuvenis has been repaired

Rolled 4, 9 = 13 (2d10)

>>5560962
>>5560986
>>5561250

+ 2 Princess Points

Scribing...

File: breutzmann.jpg (68 KB, 512x512)

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"I forbid it." Dara looks down at the control panel dejectedly and Marie's voice softens. "At this time." Dara glances at Marie and the princess continues. "There is a pirate army which threatens the security of the entire Questarai Thread. That's why I need this ship. The Eternal Swords have two cruisers between them. The Columba Dei makes three. The size of the pirate fleet has us at a disadvantage, even with this marvelous ship. For now, we will remain in this system."

Marie makes use of the next four days, sending thanks to the Sutura-General of Rust and his daughter. Inquiries into more vessels have turned up a few potentially repairable attack shuttles and one escort craft nearly the size of Marie's yacht that may yet be extracted from the space hulk. The other ships will have to wait, however. Marie has no wish to tempt fate and remain here longer than necessary when Scoria is defended by only a single cruiser.

The Iuvenis is repaired almost a day ahead of Guardsman Hanusey's estimate.

Against Dara's advice, Marie orders the Columba Dei to land on Rust, so that everyone aboard may observe the service for Guardsman Nagelhout.

"Guardsman Nagelhout was a brave and loyal man who died in service to the God-Emperor of Mankind, so that His word may be brought to this sector. Though Nagelhout did not die in battle, we can all take comfort in the fact that this mission has been a success, and Princess Marie has acquired a marvelous new ship with which to spread the Emperor's light." Battle-chaplain Breutzmann pauses for a moment. "Princess Marie has ordered that his remains be taken with us when we depart, so that he may be buried on his homeworld of Bastius. I can only assume that she holds such love for each of us."

Soon after the service, the Iuvenis departs for Scoria with Captain Kess and his guardsman, and the Columba Dei with Valorus and his Space Marines.