Tertius

Servius’ chuckle at Aleister calls attention towards the young man. Tertius, sitting near Aleister asks him in low, concerned tones, “Sir. Is everything quite alright? You seem somewhat distressed.”

Aleister

“I.. Uh… what do you mean?…” Aleister starts becoming quite flustered and furthers avoiding eye contact.

Tertius

Tertius makes a calming gesture with his hand towards Aleister (a patting motion), “Please do not be troubled sir. I apologize on Servius’ behalf for his treatment of you. He can be rather uncouth.”

He straightens back up in his seat and talks at a normal level. “If by specialty you mean those of our team then the aforementioned Servius is a former Arbiter as you can see and has skills in investigation. He has also been hard at work on his calisthenics of late. Theta here is a deadly shot and excellent scout. Thorn we have only recently begun working with but is a master swordsman. I myself am a Xeno-Arcanist, a passable scholar of history, and adept at medicae and the use of technology.”

To Aleister “And what, may I ask, do you specialize in?”

Aleister

Seeming to open up slightly more to Tertius’s kindness and candor, and you think you may have seen a slight smile come across Aleister’s face, Aleister simply respond with “I was blessed with certain gifts and have shown quite a bit of proficiency with said…” hopefully this works

Tertius

Tertius feels an odd sensation in his mind. It feels as if some other consciousness is trying to enter his thoughts. He instinctively resists and the feeling stops.

He shakes his head, which is now aching, and looks back at Aleister, “I’m sorry sir. I just had a troubling sensation. I believe it was an attempted psychic intrusion into my thoughts.”

Aleister

The slight smile that may have been on Aleister’s face is definitely not there any more. Aleister looking down at his lap sheepishly says, “I.. I… I am sorry sir, I do ap-apologize I was merely trying to display one of my gifts.”

Tertius

Tertius, clearly flustered, “I feared enemy agents may have been aboard. I welcome the apology though I fear it will not resolve the headache I now find myself with.”

Theta

Theta turns her head to Aleister, and says in a cold voice “Try to get into MY head, psyker, and i’ll display one of my gifts.” Then returns to eating.

Servius

Servius chuckles again at the sight of confusion at the table. “So Aleister, have you had any experience with Inquisition matters?”

Aleister

Aleister seems to lighten up a little at the sound of the laughter, “Well I was only recently called upon by Inquisitor Graves, and in terms of field work this is kind of a test for me… But I have training with the Scholastica Psykana for pretty much as long as I can remember.”

Servius

Servius responds back to Aleister, “Test? for you? what do you mean?”

Aleister

I look of fear shoots across Aleister’s face… after about 20 seconds he seems to snap out of it and says quietly “Well this will actually be my first field assignment”

Tertius

Tertius is about to respond to Aleister but then stops, mouth slightly agape. He closes his mouth, blinks a few times and says reservedly, “Well… I uhmm… I’m sure the Inquisitor had his good reasons for appointing you to this mission.” He grows quite after this, obviously deep in thought.

Thorn

Yes, I’m sure the inquisitor chose you for good reason. Let us hope your gift is more… reliable when the time arises. However, I am wary of the danger of the warp. Take heed my young companion that you do not do the job of our enemies for them.

Theta

Theta, gracefully stands up, politely nods to the Captain, and walks out of the room.

Servius

Servius watched Theta exit the room with puzzlement then turns back to Aleister, “Psyker powers are not whimsical. You said it yourself that you have been dealing with the Scholastica Psykana most of your life. You maybe undisciplined - like Thorn mentioned - but,… You will fit in with this Inquisition unit. The only thing I wonder is - are you the Emperor’s blessing or the Emperor’s curse?” Servius thing proceeds to give Aleister the matter of fact militaristic “Sergeant” stare.

Thorn

Thorn downs his drink, stands, claps Aleister in the shoulder on his way out of the room.

Tertius

Seeing the others begin to leave brings Tertius out of his thoughts to the present. He neatly folds his napkin and places it on the table. Addressing the Captain, “Sir. I must congratulate you on a splendid meal. I cannot recollect when I have dined so well. Before I depart I would like to request some additional aid for our venture. The sealed report provided by our inquisitor indicates that we will need to journey deep into a cave network and that there is the possibility of temporal distortions. If two servitors could be sent with us to carry ammunition, rations, traversal supplies, and a vox-caster so we may stay in communication with you that would be most excellent.”

He stands and addresses the rest of the group, “I bid you all good evening and the Saint’s blessing upon you.” He leaves and seeks out Theta.

Aleister

Aleister sits in silence as he slowly finishes his meal by himself, he occasionally takes quick looks around the room to see who still remains

GM

The dinner party is winding down as the remaining the guests finishing their food. The captain is recounting the infamous tale of the troopship Vervilix which made a forced landing on planet Mara back in 810.M41. Both Silinus and Samiel are wrapped in attention although occasionally glance at Aleister eating in relative silence.

“…What happened in the five days before the Imperial Navy reached the transport remains largely unknown. But only a few hundred gaunt and haunted individuals survived out of the five thousand Guardsmen that set foot on Mara.” The Captain leans in. “I have heard that comrade turned on comrade. It was a waking nightmare…”

Samiel sits up. “Quite the tale indeed. Although, not exactly the morale boost our fresh acolyte might need at the moment.” He looks over at Aleister with a wink. “Captain thank you for an excellent dinner. It will provide the strength we need and a warm memory to fight the upcoming cold.”

The captain stands, “Quite so. The Word has bested many enemies of the Golden Throne, and in this service she shall not fail.”