Timestamp: 6.465.997.M41

Location: Port Suffering, Iochantos, Golgenna Reach, Calixis Sector

Situation: Searching for a way to revive Venus

Body: Port Suffering turns out to be every bit as bad as the name suggest. Hot. Dusty. Filthy. Crowded. Smelly. Full of vice and violence. Completely bereft of character and without a single good characteristic.

A largely characterless little village with a population in the low millions Port Suffering is the sole Imperial settlement on Iochantos. It serves one function, and one function only - to support the existence of the Counting House. It is here in this great Administratum building that Ghostfire Pollen is graded, weighed, and priced. And Ghostfire Pollen is the only substance of value on the entire world...the sole component of its tithe...and the means by which the warlords of Iochantos support themselves.

There is a centrally located spaceport. A small Administratum quarter. The Counting House itself. Support facilities for the Pollen trade and spaceport. A jumbled mix of decrepit housing blocks - and an even more extensive slum. All wrapped inside the confined space created by a tall curtain wall bristling with automated defenses.

Getting Ghostfire Pollen would not be easy - it is a restricted substance. You could try to flash the Rosette and demand some from the Adepts at the Counting House - and be turned away. The Ghostfire trade is regulated by decrees from the Lord Sector - and backed by the collective might of the Tricorn. No lowly Acolyte can overturn that.

So Haxtes settles on a compromise. He knows there must be a black market for the stuff. That's just the way the galaxy works. So he poses as an equerry for Theodosia and the Serrated Query. Through the judicious appliance of some ultra-violence the bluff goes through. Mr. Iacton will supply the stuff - for a price. Haxtes can wish all he wants, but no black marketeer will give up such valuable merchandise for free.

So a plan is devised to secure the funds. Brother Jax might be a Rogue Trade, but he's a dirt-poor one. No help there. Under-Consul Kerred Smyk, however, is willing to accept Haxtes Inquisitorial credentials. He would never hand over even an ounce of pollen...but he will part with a million and a half Thrones (the Haegum picks up the tab - Tancred's Chief Steward is going to have a fit). The purchase goes through and Haxtes gets his pollen.

Azhmut is sufficiently intrigued to not only turn a blind eye, but to actively aid. He brews up the Pollen to a very pure state - and hooks Venus into diagnostic equipment through which the Maiden can monitor her. It works. Venus recovers. There is some sporadic damage to her memory leading up to her being gassed, but in all it is a full - and miraculous - recovery. There is much rejoicing.