XXIII - Cult

[This chronicle is best read from the beginning.] 

Governor Schrödinger, the Rogue Trader's father, had always feared that his family's long association with the Harlequins might one day be discovered by the Ordo Xenos. And he was wise to be afraid, for the Inquisition would surely have terminated the Schrödinger dynasty with extreme prejudice. But somehow, thanks to the family's precautions (and perhaps the actions of the Monochrome Minstrels themselves), the Schrödingers' secret had remained safe.

Until now...

Schrödinger's Cataclysm had been simply too significant and remarkable an event to escape the attention of the Inquisition - the Ordo Hereticus, of course, had wasted little time in sending Interrogator Moat to investigate. But, unbeknownst to the Governor and his daughter, the Ordo Xenos had also launched an investigation into the rumours of the Schrödingers’ collaborations with the Eldar. Inquisitor Vatzonkrik and his agents (known to some as the 'Little Green Men' on account of the colour of their bodysuits) did not take long to discover the Governor's secret.

However, luckily for the Schrödingers, Vatzonkrik was very much of the radical persuasion, and once he was abreast of the facts, he recognised that the Governor and his forebears had actually acted with unimpeachable wisdom and bravery for the protection of the Imperium of Mankind. He also decided that it was imperative that he protect them from his less enlightened, more puritanical colleagues and so he claimed the case for himself and secretly monitored Schrödinger's Syndicate, so as to keep other inquisitors off the scent.

Thus, despite the Schrödingers' fears, the Ordo Xenos had secretly proved to be no enemy at all, but a more stalwart ally than the Rogue Trader would ever have guessed.

………

Having intercepted Schrödinger’s report of the genestealer infestation of the Five Cyloneans, Inquisitor Vatzonkrik informed his superiors that he would proceeded to investigate the space hulk as part of his ongoing inquiries into Rogue Trader Schrödinger. This he did, wherein his Little Green Men found a single surviving Navis armsman, a Marlinspike, driven mad by the alien horrors. Vatzonkrik interrogated and examined him thoroughly, but it was at this point that disaster struck: Somehow, during this investigation, the inquisitor himself became infected by the genestealers' kiss! 

Perhaps some alien entity, secreted inside the hapless armsman, had burst out and surprised him? Maybe the space hulk was still harbouring genestealers? Perhaps the contamination was caused by some procedural mistake made during the interrogation? No doubt Vatzonkrik's puritanical colleagues at the Ordo Xenos would blame his radical methodology - at least they would if they were aware of this development.

When Vatzonkrik became infected by the genestealers the hive mind gained access to all his prior knowledge. This proved utterly disastrous for a couple of agri-worlds in a faraway sector, but its consequences for Schrödinger’s Syndicate were more nuanced: Barfunweltz-2, the lost planet at the heart of Inquisitor Vatzonkrik's investigation was of course an unpolluted world of verdant fertility, fecund with a rich diversity of bioforms and therefore extremely desirable to the Tryranids. The hive mind therefore directed Vatzonkrik to maintain his cover as an Inquisitor and continue his mission shadowing Rogue Trader Schrödinger. Should she ever locate Barfunweltz-2, his role will be to ensure its biomass is offered up to his many-limbed masters.

'Inquisitor' Vatzonkrik (Brood Brother Commander)

Inquisitor Vatzonkrik's agents would of course have attempted to resist the genestealers on the Five Cyloneans. Some of the Little Green Men no doubt died there and have been replaced with genestealer cultists directed by the hive mind to join him. Others perhaps became infected themselves, or in the case of servitors, were somehow reprogrammed. Whatever their origins, there is still an entourage, clad in their characteristic green-black bodysuits, ready to serve 'Inquisitor' - or rather 'Brood Brother Commander' - Vatzonkrik. How effectively these brood brothers can maintain the pretence of being Inquisitorial Agents remains to be seen.

Vatzonkrik's Little Green Men

Inquisitor Vatzonkrik with Brood Agents Galilei, Franklin, Cox & Darwin

Brood Agents Newton, Curie, Jenner, Hawkins, Einstein & Pascal

Rogue Trader Schrödinger is of course blissfully unaware of all this. She has no idea that the Ordo Xenos had dispatched an inquisitor to follow her. And she certainly has no idea that this 'Inquisitor', now genetically corrupted, is keeping other inquisitors at bay lest they prevent Barfunweltz-2 from being offered up to the Great Devourer! Thus Schrödinger is shielded from the Inquisition, but stalked by a yet more terrifying foe.

Mother Quernoh (Patriarch), xenos servo skulls (psychic familiars) & tendrils (crossfire tokens)

XXIV - Caterers