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[_DivideByZero_]

"It's all very diverse I assure you." Raioyris emerges, confronting the guards.

Raioyris looks soldiery, familiar but he's clearly not a lifer on the station. He might not be the greatest speaker, but this time he has cards to play, things they might want to know. In turn he can find out about things out here on the station.

"Ask away."

The guards snarl with excitement. Their expressions seem to be stuck halfway between suspicion and awe. Ingenuous, they are.

First question: "Is it true that a single Astartes can turn the tide of a battle? I heard they were quite terrifying to behold..." (Easy)

[You roll 74 and pass with 0 degrees of success]

"Bringing the light of the Emperor to the darkness of the Void is both our pleasure and duty. If there is suitable soil to plant the seeds of humanity in this newly discovered land, then nothing could bring me more happiness than breaking the ground myself. And if that soil is overgrown with weeds, or if the plant is present but has grown wild and chaotic from neglect, then I will tend to the task as any gardener would." The trader punctuates this overly long metaphor with a sip from his drink, and a couple of bites of food. "To be more blunt, exploration, colonization, and neutralizing threats to the Imperium is what a Rogue Trader is born to do. Even if there is nothing suitable for human habitation, there should be enough exploitable resources that it will be worth all our efforts. I wish to begin our journey as soon as possible."

"Fantastic," says the head scholar.

"By the way," the scientist once again juts in. "Are you aware of our station's other activities? I'd have thought you'd ask why we didn't have radio records prior to the discovery..." He takes a sip of wine.
"Well, I can't imagine you are all aware. Allow me to bore you with the details: Our station specializes in recording messages broadcast across the galaxy millennia ago.
Those signals still travel the void as we speak. We can learn a lot through analyzing those transmissions and pinpointing their location.

That said, our arrays are usually aimed toward the galaxy itself."

Maxwell asks for the friendly astropath to share what they have been able to gather about this mysterious new light in the sky.

"We would be glad to share with you, brother.

The stargazers and statisticians surmise that there remain human settlements in the cluster since before the age of the great crusade. We have recently tuned our efforts toward listening for evidence of warp communications coming from the cluster.

Thus far, we have gleaned nothing of value. But that information may be valuable in itself. If there are indeed fellow brothers in the cluster, then there must exist a great veil in the warp blotting out our communications. Be warned if you go there. If you manage to communicate upon piercing the veil, however... we would be honored if you spoke of your exploits upon returning."

[Caellath]

Tork gulped down some wine and paid attention to the conversation going on, just in case remembering parts of it turned out to be necessary.

[HighEndNoob]

"So, you had this vast array of powerful sensors that could hear messages from across eras... and you heard nothing from Animus because it was pointed the wrong way." Void messaging was an art Lucius would never understand, though he didn't doubt how vital it was to the Imperium. Still, it was rather interesting... and slightly infuriating.

[WunderKatze]

Useful.

"Has not the Emperor blessed this station with the presence of the Astartes? The arrival of the Astarte on the fields of war does not signal the turn of a battle, nay, rather the end of a battle. The strength of an Astarte is second only to their nobility, their guns serve only to pronounce justice upon the evils that have taken hold in the universe, a true, faithful servant of the Emperor can entertain only thoughts of fearless duty in the bearing of the Astartes. In their presence we know no terror."

Raioyris gives the back of his head a scratch. Maybe he over did it, he's starting to sound like some kind of clerical goon. He folds his arms.

"Tell me. What weapons does this mighty station bolster. From what worlds do her garrison hail?"

[Sirus]

Maxwell bowed to the astropath.

"Thank you for your time, brother. Should I return alive, I will be glad to return the favor with some information of my own."

Return to the ship and dine in private.

[Stirk]

"My sources on your station are hardly comprehensive, but I do believe I have a handle on the fundamentals. As engaging as your equipment is, the object of your observation is far more fascinating to the likes of myself and many of my friends here. Animus and the Asigoth cluster are like precious gems to our eyes, perhaps in need of a skillful hand to carve them from their resting place and craft them into something priceless. The tools used to examine the jewels are a necessary component of the process, but that is your duty. Ours is the harvest, and our minds naturally focus on our targets." Another overly long and pretentious metaphor is washed down by small portions of food and drink. "Speaking of harvest, it would seem it is time for your labor to bear fruit. Have you found anything of worth about our objective, barring what we already know?"

[_DivideByZero_]

Useful.

"Has not the Emperor blessed this station with the presence of the Astartes? The arrival of the Astarte on the fields of war does not signal the turn of a battle, nay, rather the end of a battle. The strength of an Astarte is second only to their nobility, their guns serve only to pronounce justice upon the evils that have taken hold in the universe, a true, faithful servant of the Emperor can entertain only thoughts of fearless duty in the bearing of the Astartes. In their presence we know no terror."

Raioyris gives the back of his head a scratch. Maybe he over did it, he's starting to sound like some kind of clerical goon. He folds his arms.

"Tell me. What weapons does this mighty station bolster. From what worlds do her garrison hail?"

"I heard some Mechanicus talk about a laser or something."

"That's for communication with the telescopes, fool."

"My sources on your station are hardly comprehensive, but I do believe I have a handle on the fundamentals. As engaging as your equipment is, the object of your observation is far more fascinating to the likes of myself and many of my friends here. Animus and the Asigoth cluster are like precious gems to our eyes, perhaps in need of a skillful hand to carve them from their resting place and craft them into something priceless. The tools used to examine the jewels are a necessary component of the process, but that is your duty. Ours is the harvest, and our minds naturally focus on our targets." Another overly long and pretentious metaphor is washed down by small portions of food and drink. "Speaking of harvest, it would seem it is time for your labor to bear fruit. Have you found anything of worth about our objective, barring what we already know?"

The head scholar looks surprised. Frightened, almost, at your voice, his words quavering somewhat. "Yes... it's about time,

Unfortunately, our charter does not permit us a chance to monitor the cluster at all times. However, we received an exemption courtesy of our sponsor, allowing us two standard months of observation. That exemption has since expired, and we do not know if we will be able to use the observation equipment again in the near future. However, we have mapped out signals from within the cluster to enough of an extent that we can assure you there are multiple spherical clusters of signal sources of intelligent origin."

"There are five," says the scientist, "Five potential sites from whence the cluster's current inhabitants originated. This seems more like human diaspora, or at the very worst, xeno settlers."

"From the Animus system," continues the chief scholar, "We detect a clearer signal whose meanings can be deciphered with little data. This is because the strength of the signal is much greater. It is unusual."

He nervously places "At the current rate, with our data cut short, we estimate that the signal can be decrypted in a matter of years."

[Stirk]

Tristan listens casually but intently, nibbling on his food and sipping his drink.

"I see. I appreciate the report." The trader then sets his silverware down, carefully wiping the corners of his mouth politely before turning his head to his advisors. "It seems we have enough to work on, perhaps it would be best to investigate with our own eyes. Working to devote more of this station's resources to the area might give us a better account of the region, if we decide to be more cautious. Any recommendations?"

[Caellath]

Tork swallowed down the last mouthful of food and turned his attention to the Rogue Trader. "Star charts, maps, anythin' to tell us about possible obstacles 'round the area? Sure I don't expect anythin' detailed 'cause they haven't gone there and scanned, but anythin' could help." he pointed out.

"We should get there fast, tho'. The Indecent is gonna blaze the first trail up there."

[Devastator]

Sub interjects for the first time since the meal began.

"Pardon me, but it seems like you've done a lot of work through the proper channels, and have done a very good job of establishing a chain of evidence for everything you know about on the fringes, but it is also true that everything that is known officially is not all that is known.  Seeing as we're going to be heading out there, and poking around unexplored areas, is there anything you can tell us unofficially?  I'd rather not accidently stray on some lost secret of the Mechanus or fall into some random Xenos trap that you needed to find about officially before it can be properly dealt with.  Much better to sort that sort of thing out before heading there, even if it's off the record."

[_DivideByZero_]

Tristan listens casually but intently, nibbling on his food and sipping his drink.

"I see. I appreciate the report." The trader then sets his silverware down, carefully wiping the corners of his mouth politely before turning his head to his advisors. "It seems we have enough to work on, perhaps it would be best to investigate with our own eyes. Working to devote more of this station's resources to the area might give us a better account of the region, if we decide to be more cautious. Any recommendations?"

Sub interjects for the first time since the meal began.

"Pardon me, but it seems like you've done a lot of work through the proper channels, and have done a very good job of establishing a chain of evidence for everything you know about on the fringes, but it is also true that everything that is known officially is not all that is known.  Seeing as we're going to be heading out there, and poking around unexplored areas, is there anything you can tell us unofficially?  I'd rather not accidently stray on some lost secret of the Mechanus or fall into some random Xenos trap that you needed to find about officially before it can be properly dealt with.  Much better to sort that sort of thing out before heading there, even if it's off the record."

The scholar regains his former complexion as a colleague, having the dark pitted eyes of an Astropath, enters the chamber. "I was told to appear..." he says quietly.

"Yes!" the chief scholar exclaims. "You are free to explain your findings on the nature of the warp surrounding the Animus system. Go ahead--our guests must know."

The astropath sighs and speaks. "If that is an order..."
He pulls a chair from next to the wall and sits on it, abstaining from the opulent provisions before him.

"If the cluster is populated with human diaspora, as states the leading theory, then we would expect to intercept some of their telepathic communications.

As such, we believe there to be a source of interference between us. It could be Animus that is interfering, as the star is directly between us.

It could also be a more deeply-seated phenomenon... While Animus holds concern in particular due to the unusual nature of its formation, there is a possibility that Animus is merely a side-effect, if you will. The result of a greater phenomenon, something powerful enough to interfere with any message that would be sent."

[GiglameshDespair]

Camilla suddenly interjected.
"+You mentioned potential xenos settlers. Did your signals analysis reveal anything about what potential aliens we may encounter? Numerous intelligent xenos species do not rely on telepathic communication.+"

[WunderKatze]

Raioyris listens idly to the guards' loopy conversation.

"I see..."

He's getting the impression that these guys poorly suited for combat. I guess explore some more.

[_DivideByZero_]

Camilla suddenly interjected.
"+You mentioned potential xenos settlers. Did your signals analysis reveal anything about what potential aliens we may encounter? Numerous intelligent xenos species do not rely on telepathic communication.+"

"That is not something I can answer."

The scientist answers instead. "The reason that humans are the working theory," he finishes a pizza crust, "Is the distribution of the signal sources.

We have a map in the next room, if you wish to see.

The population of the cluster is further subdivided into five spherical regions, with the most population at the central part of each subcluster. Owing to the similar size of each subcluster, we surmise that there were five colonizations, of roughly similar speeds and capabilities. It is true that they could hypothetically be xenos settlers, but a xenos civilization capable of colonization across such vast distances would be abnormal. Records of such a candidate elude us."

[_DivideByZero_]

((Gonna bump so we can get going))