The Judge

During the mobilization, an inquisitor also received the news and rushed to the starport in a hurry.

"Captain, an inquisitor wants to see you."

"The Inquisition's intelligence network is indeed swift... Let him in. Notify Veil to tell Pavian to close the forge workshop doors and halt production for now!"

Gao Yi sat in his captain's seat, awaiting the other's arrival.

Under the escort of guards, a man carrying a Psyker's Staff strode in briskly.

A Master-crafted Las-pistol was holstered at his waist.

Several implants were linked to his bald scalp—all Psionic Inhibitors, meant to prevent him from losing control of his psychic powers.

"Greetings, servant of the Master of Mankind. I am Ian Hoffman, Inquisitor of the Holy Xenos Inquisition, honored to meet you!"

He spoke to Gao Yi coldly.

Their eyes met. Through his Psionic Vision, Gao Yi detected an immensely powerful psychic reaction from the other, and he also sensed that the man was probing him with his own psychic power.

"A Combat Psyker? And able to join the Inquisition—likely one of the best."

Ian was equally astonished. As a Combat Psyker who had graduated from the Terra Psykana Academy, he was undoubtedly among the elite of psykers. Besides combat psychic spells, he possessed abilities in precognition and divination. Yet when he instinctively used his psychic power on Gao Yi, he found he could see nothing.

He gained no information about the fate of the Rogue Trader before him, as if the man simply did not belong to this world.

He even noticed that the psychic energy he had just released quickly lost its connection to him.

"Some kind of item that isolates psychic power? These Rogue Traders always carry something peculiar..."

"Inquisitor, probing me with psychic power the moment we meet—isn't that a bit disrespectful? Are you the one Inquisitor Derrick mentioned?"

"Apologies, great Rogue Trader. It's merely a habit from my work. I will be staying aboard your ship for some time. You're departing much earlier than estimated—has your vessel completed repairs?"

"Even if repairs aren't fully done, I have to leave. I think if even I know, the Inquisition must be aware too, right? The Suarez Dynasty has declared war on me. My trip to Agathos is postponed—I need to deal with this first!"

"I am in no hurry. However, I will not intervene in the war between you and other dynasties. I will only observe."

"No matter! I'll handle my own affairs. Veil, arrange a clean room for Inquisitor Ian!"

"Yes, Captain. Please follow me, Lord Ian!"

Ian followed Veil out of the Bridge.

"Steward Veil, would you mind showing me around the family's flagship? I'm quite curious about this vessel. I heard you encountered demons in the Warp? Though I serve the Hereticus Inquisition, as a psyker, my knowledge of the Warp is equally thorough. Perhaps I can also check if any residual Warp corruption remains."

Hearing Ian's request, Veil did not refuse. Gao Yi had already ordered him that aside from the forge workshop, the inquisitor was free to go anywhere else.

"Of course. Where would you like to visit first?"

"Let's start with the place where the Warp corruption occurred."

"That's in the Bottom Hold of this ship. It's a long walk."

"My time isn't that precious."

"Then please follow me!"

Along the way, Veil introduced Ian to the glorious history of the Mongert Dynasty and briefly recounted the previous corruption.

"Even now, looking back, I still feel a lingering fear. Thank the God-Emperor He did not abandon us. Perhaps under His guidance, we were able to welcome our great current Rogue Trader, Lord Gao Yi Mongert. Through the efforts of two Rogue Traders, we finally escaped the Warp and returned to realspace. Alas, it's a pity about Lord Ludwig..."

Ian responded half-heartedly, paying little attention to Veil's words.

He had been sent here with his own mission. Besides acting as a spy to check whether this new Rogue Trader was colluding with heretics, more importantly, he needed to see if Gao Yi was suitable for establishing a long-term partnership with the Inquisition.

Moreover, the Inquisition's spy on Agathos had lost contact. Based on the messages sent before the loss of communication, the problems on Agathos were even more severe than imagined—perhaps xenos or Chaos had meddled in the civil unrest.

The Inquisition needed to regain control over the situation on a Rogue Trader dynasty's Capital World.

The Inquisition wielded immense power within the Imperium—able to mobilize the Navy, the Astra Militarum, and even the Emperor's Angels of Death. But in the Kronus Expansion Zone, though the Inquisition still held supreme authority, the forces it could command were far fewer than within the Imperium proper.

To maintain this savage sector under the rule of the Imperium of Man, the Inquisition needed to cooperate with the Rogue Traders here.

Some dynasties gladly accepted the Inquisition's olive branch, but others sneered at it.

Some heretical Rogue Traders even hid their blasphemous acts on uncharted planets in the Expansion Zone, where even the Inquisition could not find them.

And without a just cause, the Inquisition could do little against them. Forcing hostile action would inevitably shatter the order and balance of the Expansion Zone—no Rogue Trader dynasty would allow it, as it touched upon the sacred rights and fundamental interests of the Trade Warrant.

The Mongert Dynasty was among those willing to cooperate with the Inquisition. The previous Rogue Trader, Ludwig, had been a partner. Yet this partner had suddenly died, and Gao Yi Mongert was someone even the Inquisition had never heard of before.

According to the Inquisition's investigation, Gao Yi had originally been merely the captain of a Frigate. His background was clean—trained by his family since childhood, he had assumed the captaincy after passing his assessments due to his bloodline.

Derrick had also carefully examined the performance of the CMC Combat Suit through the Navy, ensuring it contained no blasphemous technology. He realized that the Mongert Dynasty was bound to rise.

Thus, Gao Yi's name was marked within the Inquisition as someone to be courted with all effort.

"Is this massive mechanical construct a new invention of the Adeptus Mechanicus?" Ian asked curiously, watching an SCV at work nearby.

"This? It's just some ordinary Engineering Machinery. No need to pay it much mind, Inquisitor Ian."

Seeing the SCV's simple structure and plain appearance, Ian believed Veil's words. Veil had no intention of explaining the SCV's true power.

As they entered the Lower Deck, Ian noticed that the relationship between the ship's enforcers and the laborers was far less tense than on other vessels he had visited.

Even the Shipworkers looked healthier than those on other ships.

With enough to eat, these people who had once starved in the Landing Port were gradually recovering.

Gao Yi set new rules as soon as he took office as Rogue Trader.

He increased rations for the Lower Deck, improved living conditions, and forbade arbitrary exploitation and abuse of these Shipworkers.

With the help of the SCVs, the renovation of the Lower Deck went especially smoothly.

The old ventilation, lighting, life support, and heating systems were all overhauled under normal physical rules by the SCVs.

At the very least, the air on the Lower Deck was no longer so foul, and the environment was no longer so dim.

Ian also spotted the soldiers clad in CMC armor. What struck him as strange was that some of these soldiers—called Rangers—had clear threads of fate, while others, like Gao Yi the Rogue Trader, had none visible at all.