Kael wanted to clarify the situation, Lor'themar's signs of mana addiction were most likely mistaken for something else, but he could not say what was really happening to the high elf for obvious reasons. Every military loved to research the rare and unusual, he needed Lor'themar's research value to drop, not rise.

  "He has a rare disease, it is not what you think." He tried to persuade the Eldar who simply kept staring at him, deeming beneath them to respond to his lie.

  Kael saw that he was expected to leave and nothing he would say could persuade the Eldar to finalize an exchange. For the time being, their conviction was too strong, he might be more lucky later, when the true efficiency of their serum came to light. He did not know what they had brewed out of Lor'themar's dirt in between his toes, but it could not possibly do what they claimed.

  At this point, he could only back off, as his very presence was already pushing the xenos' bottom line. He was aware that the only reason he had not been blown to pieces was the big I symbol of the Inquisition displayed on his power armor.

  "When your medicine fails, remember to contact me for an exchange." The inquisitor turned around and walked back to where his ship was docked. He decided to consider his failure to rescue his former companion a game of multiple steps.

  His hand squeezed into a fist and he looked around, thinking about sabotaging the fancy sarcophagus of outdated technology he was passing through, but let the thought pass as his hand opened again.

  There was the right time for everything. This day, he had not come to fight.

  A more realistic thought immediately followed, the Eldar had stopped him very close to his spacecraft and there was little he could sabotage even if he intended to.

  His departure was uneventful, the Eldar were hesitant to try anything dirty, likely uninterested in creating more trouble for their local community.. Their skirmishes with Astra Militarum were bothersome enough without adding a quarrel with the Holy Inquisition into the mix.

  Kael returned directly to the void ship of the Rogue Trader, intending to wait how the situation with the Eldar developed further. There would be no elegant escape from the system with the implied middle finger to the general, but not everything in life could always be smooth and elegant.

  Sometimes, thing were just crude and awkward.

  He passed through the docks of the large void ship, escorted by the private militia of the Rogue Trader until they reached a section of the ship reserved for visitors. Kael entered the quarters assigned to him and spotted a plump figure already waiting for him.

  "Inquisitor!" Giron bowed, his belly threatening to overturn him, sending him to the ground. He seemed to be even more fat than when Keal met him the last time.

  "Kael, the military is asking for you, they refused to tell me the details. Something about a mission." Giron's plump figure miraculously straightened back up without collapsing.

  "Giron, you fat pig, you should exercise, or find a women." The inquisitor could not help but point out.

  "Haha, that might be a good idea." The Rogue Trader laughed, not bothered by Kael's rude remark in the slightest. "However, she has to be tough to withstand all this muscle."

  Giron slapped his belly with the palm of his hand and the inquisitor shook his head.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "There are no greenskin women in the Imperium I am afraid." Kael added and they both chuckled like old friends.

  "What about the general? He seemed irritated." The tone of the finely dressed void ship captain turned serious.

  "Tell him the mission failed. He should not push anymore, if he knows what's good for him." Kael's face hardened. He had tried to play nice, but not everything always worked out. He understood that he had yielded too soon, unnerved after the crazy adventure in Azeroth.

  "Fine, what is our course, Inquisitor?" The Rogue Trader quickly skipped the trouble with Oberhoff and focused on the purpose of his visit.

  "The orbit of Donoria Prime, I only need to regroup with my men. No need to leave this sector." Kael Gull said clearly, he had enough of staying on the edge of the Imperium. Despite the considerable power of The Holy Inquisition, Inquisitors were no explorers, he needed the Imperium's institutions and resources around him to utilize his authority. He would find out later who had almost trapped him on that strange world.

  Despite being close to Segmentum Solar, the Donorian Sector was plagued by Donorian Fiends and was not considered a frequented destination. He had still a feeling that the original mission had been assigned to him out of spite. After regrouping at the Donorian System, he planned to leave the Sector for good. He pitied his unfortunate otherworldly companion, but before the Eldar got tired of him, there was nothing he could do.

  Unless the lazy general manned up and destroyed the Craftworld, but that was not going to happen.

  It was the usual routine for an inquisitor, people were just names in the thick accounting books of the Imperium and frankly, if he was completely opposed to the notion, he could not be doing his job. At the end of the day, people were just simple lines on the long parchments of Adeptus Administratum. His job was to compare the parchments at stake and judge which one was thicker and Lor'themar Theron was just a single name.

  A name which was not even there, he was xenos and Kael could stretch the law only so far.

  "Understood, we will just trade some goods with the surface of the planet and be on our way." His host nodded and left to arrange their brief stop at the local planet, as it was a rare opportunity to turn profit during otherwise unprofitable pick up trip.

  Kael Gull remained alone in the guest cabin, staring at the decorative paintings directly in front of him. There was a compulsory religious painting among them, as a guest hailing from Ordo Malleus of the Holy Inquisition could not be presented with a completely faithless room. The healthy looking, beaming man sitting on a golden throne was staring down on him from the paining, a halo of shining light behind him. He looked fresh and ready to jump down from his throne and fight the whole world.

  The painter must have been one of those zealous artists brainwashed by long sermons that many priests of Adeptus Ministorum loved so much.

  The Emperor of Mankind would not be running around anytime soon.

  Kael's eyes shifted and looked at more paintings that seemed more down to earth compared to the portrait of the Emperor. The one he liked the most depicted a landscape dominated by forests, light sparsely illuminating their detailed bark. With his line of work, these kind of paintings brought him a few seconds of peace every time he looked at them.

  "Ok, let's check my mail and set the next targets." He breathed out and sat heavily on a chair paired with a heavy wooden desk.

  He had a lot of time before The Rogue Trader took care of his business.

  He had some unimportant reports pending, delivered to him by Magos Eisenarch Alvrick. The supporting forces of Adeptus Mechanicus must have already boarded the void ship along with their small fleet of ships. He skimmed through them and thought about how to get his hands on the rat that prepared the ambush for him. After some thought he remained indecisive and reviewed their route.

  He lost himself in his thoughts.

  Suddenly, he heard a soft hum of increasing frequency and mild vibrations passed though the ship's hull. The engines were picking up speed, their output increasing. Not the mundane sublight engines, the real deal.

  "Engaging Gellar Field."

  "Entering warp."

  Two quick ship-wide announcements rang though the corridors and cabins, warning the crew that the ship entered a separately regulated mode of faster-than-light travel. There were some extra restrictions while traveling in this way in order to increase the notoriously abysmal security situation of warp travel. In layman's terms, that which used to be heresy outside of warp-travel mode was doubly heretical at that moment.

  Kael quickly remembered the star system they were leaving, only one thought in his mind.

  "Good riddance." The ominous green light of its single star disappeared in the distance.