Morgan escaped her pursuers from the bar, and the Inquisitorial band boarded Stevius’s ship on the way to the Tau-infested planet Vorix. On the way, they debated what else they could offer their smuggler other than the auramite Aquila pendant he was expecting as payment. Having come to no agreement, they took Stevius up on his offer to play regicide and turned their game into a wager. Damien won them free passage to and from Vorix, allowing them to keep all their auramite and offering only to protect Stevius from those on the planet looking to collect on his debts.

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The planet Vorix has been infested by Tau and the agents have been tasked with removing them. Morgan, Damien, and Solomon donned their disguises as Imperial preachers and boarded the Janus II space station to meet their contact, Stevius Funkhauser, and procure passage to Vorix. Hoping to pay him less than his asking price, they plied him with drinks first, but when Morgan realized the bar didn’t take thrones as payment, they tried to dash. The bartender, however, pulled out a lasgun, Morgan retaliated with her knife to fatal effect, and she tried to follow her fleeing companions through a now angry mob of people.

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The Lucky Strike re-entered the Warp, and Morgan informed Solomon and Damien that they were in greater danger, but did not relay that the danger was now in the form of the Alpha Legion. Avarice briefed them on their next mission. The Tau had inexplicably established themselves on an Imperial world and blockaded the planet against a small force of Imperial ships. The agents have been tasked with resolving the current impasse and removing the Tau from the planet without it turning into a firefight. They will be entering the system disguised as preachers and hope to infiltrate the humans who have seemingly joined the Tau’s cause.

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The crew of the Lucky Strike was becalmed for 137 days. Solomon and Talos Ivo discussed Solomon’s Book of Ezekiel, and Damien in turn spent time with Solomon discussing his own, official, bible. Valentyne and Morgan spoke via astropath and the Inquisitor revealed that the code word was in fact the war cry of the Alpha Legion. As a precaution, Morgan then arranged to record the genetic sequences of everyone on the ship to ensure none of them is replaced by an imposter during future missions.

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Solomon had Talos Ivo sanctify his auramite-infused xenos glaive by inscribing symbols onto it that represented his companions. Avarice learned that the captain of the crew that attacked them and abducted the Judge was Libertine Morwith, a human who was raised in Drukhari captivity and escaped to become a rogue trader. They decided not to pursue the Judge, having no idea where he went and trusting that it was Valentyne’s intention for him to be taken and that he would be returned to them. Morgan sent a coded message to Valentyne to inform him about Hydra Dominatus.

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Damien questioned Morgan about the auramite aquila necklace that CL053T had made, and she revealed that she had requested it for Damien to wear because of auramite’s anti-psyker properties. Morgan reviewed the symbols on the intruders and realized that they were Drukhari runes that were altered purposefully to be offensive to a Drukhari. CL053T reported that repairs to the ship would take 114.3 days, so they all decided to invest the intervening time in learning how to repair the sub-light and warp engines and shaved their repair time down to 78 days. Damien looked into the data from Amberlin’s tech priests and discovered that an individual had made the introductions between Amberlin and the Drukhari but the identity of that person was obfuscated. They also took time to upgrade combat equipment, using up all of their auramite in the process.

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Morgan, Damien, and Solomon discussed the findings from their initial investigations into the recent incursion aboard the Lucky Strike. They decided to keep a human watch on duty at all times. Solomon used stimms to stay awake during his first watch, and when he couldn’t sleep later, Damien had him sedated. Morgan privately asked CL053T to used some of their auramite to fashion and aquila medallion on a chain.

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Morgan needed answers about possible tampering in Avarice’s brain, but CL053T wouldn’t permit Talos Ivo to perform a scan on the Savant, so Morgan asked CL053T to do it instead and the scan revealed no anomalies. She then asked Talos Ivo to explain his religious doctrine, determined that his benefits outweighed the risks, and ordered CL053T to dedicate some of his time to giving the Mechanicus the tools he needed to tinker moving forward. Meanwhile, Damien and Solomon investigated Judge Rex’s quarters. Solomon recognized the scent of the sleeping salt residue and Damien found a stummer, confirming that the Judge was abducted against his will, but raising the question of why on the Judge was taken.

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While the intruders were sucked into space through the open airlock, Morgan, Damien, and Solomon managed to hang on until Talos Ivo secured the seal once more. They got a brief look at the enemy ship before its cloak engaged, but with a damaged engine, the Lucky Strike was stuck in place for now. Once Avarice was set free, the savant revealed that his bifurcated brain had allowed the intruders aboard, and he had initially assumed that it’s what Valentyne had wanted. Talos Ivo was tasked with examining his brain for evidence of tampering, while Morgan scrubbed through recordings of the incursion for any clues about their enemy and where they took Judge Rex.

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With Judge Rex nowhere to be found and Morgan injured and poisoned, Brother Solomon and Damien continued to fight their way out of their room. Damien unleashed a powerful blast to eliminate most of the intruders in their immediate vicinity, a gun servitor cleared the rest, and CL053T pointed them in the direction Morgan had been taken and secured Talos Ivo. Morgan managed to shake off the effects of the poison, but as Damien and Solomon entered the aft hold, the hostile ship pulled away, leaving the Lucky Strike’s airlock wide open and everyone inside at risk of being sucked into the void.

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