Editing Story:Pax Imperialis (section)

== Preparations ==

Vyn walked through the medicade bay alongside Balthezar. Balthezar wore a blood splattered smock and gloves, and looked bone tired. Here, the bloody price of the minefield was clear in a way that was easy to ignore in the command decks. Vyn came here to remember the price of…

''Of my mistake'', Vyn thought.

Most of the men still here were the survivors who had been maimed and were being refitted with augmetic attachments. Gleaming brass legs, whirring and clicking arms, new eyes. They were ugly, brutal, functional attachments, but they would work. Vyn spoke a few kind words to the brave men whose only painkiller was grog dosed with half a syringe of morpha, to extend the ship’s ration in the face of the agony filling her.

“We lost Kelvin McConnik,” Balthezar said, once they reached the noble casualties. There were three midshipmen here: Two had been badly burned in a plasma fire in the mid-decks. They were still unconscious, wrapped in rejuvenating bandages. The third was covered with a sheet.

Vyn closed her eyes. “Damn. Damn it all…” 

“I heard that you and the McConnik Clan were close?”

Vyn rubbed her hands over her face, sighing. “The McConniks are a [[Rogue Trader]] family. I got my start serving on their ship when I chucked a spear through my half-brother during a negotiation with Kelvin’s grandfather. They wanted to buy Aquiousian whale blubber.”

“Blubber?”

She nodded. “Apparently, he made a profit on it, enough to send his youngest into the Navy. Figured they’d learn good voidman skills there for when it came time for them to become Traders. Now…now I have to write him and tell him that his grandson is dead. And for what?” She looked at Balthezar. “A minefield and a faulty power conduit.”

“It’s not your fault, ma’am.”

“It damn well is, sawbones.” She shook her head. “But I didn’t just come here to wallow in pity.”

“I am aware,” He spoke very softly, glancing at the beds, then back at her. “I’m not sure if I can, in all good conscience…”

“Sawbones, the enemy outnumber us four to one, you were at the dinner.”

“I know,” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “But we need what you plan to give to the enemy for free.”

“Yes, I know,” Vyn sighed. Then, she smiled. “But we’d enjoy it a great deal more.”