Timestamp: 7.248.996.M41

Location: Free trader vessel Maiden of Golgenna, outer reaches of K4 V 'OCG-001671A' system

Situation: Aboard the Maiden of Golgenna, approaching the inner system of unexplored orange main sequence star 'OCG-001671A'

Body: Xerza has gathered all of you (including Ignace) in the officer's mess. It's nothing so grand as the banquet hall of the Ignorance is Bliss, but it has a certain rustic charm. Bits and pieces gathered by generations of Rogue Traders serve to remind you that this ship was not always a tramp freighter. There are some xenos relics gathered here, including several skulls whose species are unfamiliar to you, but for the most parts its mundane mementos from a hundred human worlds visited.

Xerza is briefing you on the situation:

She's informed you all of Captain Corben's madness and subsequent execution, without going into any detail. She's also told you that she's opened a file on Corben, a file that is to track the Captains activities, whereabouts, and known associates. If his heretical ways and/or insanity can be traced to any source, or if he in turn has passed on his wicked ways, the Inquisition must know. Maximilian is in charge of the preliminary investigation; once you get back to civilization she'll assign a full analysis group to pursue it.

You are also told that the ship's machine spirit has become self-aware and is pursuing 'freedom' as its primary agenda. Once again she leaves out the details. She merely points out that this is tech-heresy and therefore under the purview of the Inquisition. The Adeptus Mechanicus might also have to be informed.Venus has been tasked with preparing a preliminary report. To be handed over to an analysis team at a later date.

For now, however, there is a truce in effect. The abominable intelligence will not interfere with your activities and will not try to spread its blasphemous influence. In return you won't try to destroy it or those among the crew under its control (you get a list of those 'infected).

Meanwhile you'll all try to work together to preserve the ships vital functions. A full crew with current loadout (back in her heyday she carried more than triple that, but that was another day and age) should be 275, while a skeleton crew of around 180 (dependent on the right mix of skills of course). You now have around 120 crew, with about 1/3 of those in league with the machine. Even with their enhanced efficiency ratings and the cooperation of the vessel itself, that's not enough for sustained operations. You need to dock, repair, restock - and replenish the crew. Were you going to an Imperial world Xerza could just requisition more men; here it might not be that easy. You'll have to wait and see.

You've been under sub-light drive for four weeks now. First two weeks accelerating at a constant 5Gs until you reached a velocity in excess of 60.000 kilometers per second (or more than 20% the speed of light for your scholarly types). That kind of acceleration would be unbearable for long periods of time, but perceived acceleration aboard is nonexistent. Some sort of techno-wizardry negates the acceleration force, leaving you with just the steady pull of 1G from the artificial gravity maintained aboard (just like the techno-wizardry that allows the vessel - weighing hundreds of thousands of tonnes fully loaded - to accelerate as if it had almost no inertia at all). If not for the secrets of the Mechanicus space travel would be an altogether different experience, taking months to cross the even the distances between planets. All hail the Machine God.

Of course, the Maiden COULD pull a lot more accel. Up to 5oGs. But that would put a lot of strain on the ship AND the accel compensators would not be able to negate everything; at 50Gs you'd be feeling in excess of 2Gs and everything would have had to be strapped down. Not practical for such a long haul. So 5Gs is a good compromise.

Then, two weeks ago the ship turned 180 degrees, pointing its massive plasma drives towards the sun, lighting them up at low power and starting a shallow deceleration curve to minimize the ship's signature. Only a dedicated search will reveal your approach, which suits Xerza just fine.

So there you are. Still two weeks out, way beyond the outmost planetary orbit. Listening to Xerza speak. Now she's droning on about the preliminary augury reports (OOC: augury = sensor stuff). Boring stuff. Main sequence K4 star. Bits about luminosity. System age. Planetary orbits. Nothing really interesting. Until she notes that the second planet contains a habitable biosphere, as inferred from Vern's analysis of the auguries. Seems the atmosphere is breathable, if a little contaminated (breath masks recommended, but not required for shot stays).

More interestingly; the planet is inhabited. By humans. Using a dialect of Low Gothic and transmitting using STC-compliant comm-systems. Too early to tell much beyond that, you only got bits and pieces of unidirectional broadcasts, but additional data will become available as you approach the inner system. Vern will make a full report on his findings, to be released to the Imperium when and if the Inquisition deems it appropriate.

That's all for now. Questions?