While Badab was under fierce construction, Hans and the Lamenters Chapter's outer-patrol fleet had already arranged their logistics and entered the warp, heading toward the Badab System.
To show courtesy and also to display their strength, Hans invited the Lamenters to tour an Astral Claws strike cruiser.
Originally, the Lamenters Chapter wanted to dispatch a Techmarine as a shipboard escort and to take a look around.
However, Chapter Master Forlorn was also itching with curiosity and wanted to witness the Astral Claws' fleet situation in person.
So, in the early stages of the voyage, he boarded the Astral Claws strike cruiser in the name of "friendly communication."
As expected, the person who received him was still 2nd Company Captain Hans.
Hans wore a ceremonial armour covered in decorations and sashes, his sleek silvery-grey breastplate gleaming under the warship's lights.
At a glance, Forlorn could tell that this set of ceremonial armour bore not the slightest trace of repair, having never participated in battle, and was a purely ceremonial item.
This also made him harbor a few doubts: were the Astral Claws really this rich?
"Chapter Master Forlorn, welcome." Hans executed an aquila.
"Thank you for your hospitality, Captain Hans." Forlorn returned the salute, his gaze constantly sizing up the surrounding corridors.
These corridors were so pristine they looked as though they had just come off the assembly line, and they were flooded with lights, differing entirely from their own sent strike cruiser, the Restless.
Hans led him toward the fleet's logistics warehouse.
Along the way, Forlorn discovered that the surrounding corridors were unexpectedly much the same as the ones he had seen when first boarding the ship.
He had originally thought the Astral Claws had only temporarily renovated the boarding port, but now it seemed that the entire warship had