According to Te Kahurangi.
The Void Stone was an artifact that the Crow King Corax had given to the Carcharodons to guard before sending them into the outer darkness. The Primarch had not disclosed its function. He had left only one instruction: that it could be used in the Chapter's most desperate hour, and not before.
More than a thousand years ago, the Chapter had lost it.
The Chaplain assigned to keep it had accepted the responsibility of recovering it personally. Whether the rest of the Carcharodons were angered by the loss or shamed by it, the result across the centuries since had been the same: a hunting team working with diminishing resources, increasingly distant from the warband, pursuing a trail that had gone cold long before the galaxy had begun its current disintegration.
Nolan listened to all of this in silence on the metal throne. Then he looked at the assembled Carcharodon leadership ranged before him in the ancient hall, let his eyes rest on Tyberos's still face for a moment, and moved to the oldest veterans at the back.
"I can understand that the Chapter's situation has been difficult, and that when Corax asked you to keep the artifact, he left you with instructions that were not exactly straightforward to interpret." He kept his voice level. "But you were planning to simply let this pass. To muddle through on the assumption that no one would ask."
He raised his hand and let it close into a fist. The fist came down on the armrest of the throne.
The sound of vibranium against ancient metal rang through the hall and did not fade quickly.
Every Astartes in the room, including Tyberos, went to one knee simultaneously, heads lowered.
"Please calm yourself, my Lord Primarch."
"My Lord Primarch, the Carcharodons Astra in those years genuinely could not address this matter. The Tyranid incursions into the Ghoul Stars, and certain other presences in this region, demanded everything we had..."
Te Kahurangi raised his head first. His dark eyes found Nolan's directly, the pale Librarian's composure carrying through the weight in the room without difficulty.
"My Lord Primarch: this may now be a genuine opportunity. The Great Rift has changed the strategic situation throughout the galaxy. The Tyranid pressure on this region has become more severe, not less. If the Void Stone has any application, even a partial one, it could serve not only here in the Ghoul Stars but on other battlefields that the wider Imperium cannot adequately address."
A brief exchange of eye contact between Nolan and the Chief Librarian. Brief enough that neither of them would be able to say with certainty it had happened.
"Bring the Chaplain in. I want to hear the full account."
Nolan leaned back against the throne and indicated with a motion of his hand that the assembled leadership should stand.
They rose. A few moments later, an Astartes in power armor that had seen considerably more decades than it had been rebuilt moved through the doorway of the ancient hall, his hunting team ranged behind him. The armor was old in the way that working armor gets old, every repair visible as a slightly different shade or texture against its neighbors.
"Chaplain Tangata Manu of the Carcharodons Astra." He dropped to one knee, and the hunting team behind him did the same without needing to see it to follow it. "The sinner who lost the Void Stone presents himself before the Primarch."
"On your feet, all of you. We have things to discuss before anything else."
Nolan let his expression settle into something neutral and attentive.
"I understand you have been searching for the Void Stone for over a thousand years."
Chaplain Manu straightened. His dark eyes came up to meet Nolan's steadily.
"One thousand, four hundred and fifty-three years, my Lord Primarch."
"And in one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three years, have you found any trace of it?"
"Once only, my Lord. Just before our return."
"Then why was it not recovered?"
Manu did not hesitate, but he took one measured breath before he answered.
"By the time we found confirmation of the artifact's location, we were already late. The Void Stone had been taken by a Dark Eldar Kabal called the Pierced Rose."
Nolan's posture shifted, barely perceptibly. He sat slightly forward.
"Why would the Dark Eldar search for an artifact belonging to Corax?"
"The Pierced Rose does not know what it is, my Lord Primarch. They believe it may be a treasure of sufficient rarity to earn favor with their Archon." Manu kept his voice even. "We still have a viable path to recovering it. But it requires support that our hunting team alone cannot provide: either from you, or from the Chapter."
He bent his head toward Nolan on the throne.
Nolan turned his eyes to Tyberos.
Tyberos had not moved. His lightning claws were at rest at his sides, but there was a quality in how his weight was distributed that suggested they were not far from operational. His dark gaze was on the tall back of Chaplain Manu.
"My Lord Primarch. The Void Stone is an artifact, nothing more. Its value is significant, but it does not justify further allocation of the Chapter's limited resources and combat capability." The voice was without inflection. "To believe that a sinner who has failed for one thousand, four hundred and fifty-three years will succeed where he previously has not requires a foundation I do not find convincing. A clean judgment would serve the Chapter better than another extension."
His lightning claws activated for a moment, the blue light running along them, and then subsided.
Nolan returned his attention to Manu.
"Chaplain. Is there anything further you want to say?"
Manu raised his head fully.
"My Lord Primarch. Chapter Master. Brothers of the void." He spoke at the measured pace of someone who has prepared these words over a long time and is delivering them exactly as he intended. "I am a sinner who lost what was placed in my keeping, and I do not contest that judgment. But I come before you now with something I did not have in any of the previous thirteen centuries."
"I know which member of the Pierced Rose took the Void Stone. I know which Archon they serve. There is one remaining trail to follow, and I know where it leads." He held Nolan's gaze without looking away. "I ask the Primarch and the Chapter Master for authorization to continue the hunt. If I fail, I will accept immediate execution. If I succeed, the Chapter recovers what Corax entrusted to us, and we gain whatever Void Stone was meant to provide in our most desperate hour."
He lowered his head again.
"That is my petition."
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