"I need to travel to House Hayek's frontier holding, the planet Kalles on the eastern edge of the Ultramar Sector, and complete the charting of the star routes along the way."
"This is the great rite required for ascension to Heir."
Hearing that, Gaia could not help taking a second look at Mitchell.
Navigators were usually divided into recognized houses, and those houses in turn formed great clans through blood ties. Within each great clan, the most powerful Navigator was known as the Scion, while each house's Heir was a candidate for that position.
These ancient great clans had been guiding human ships through the perilous Warp since the dark age before the Emperor's light ever fell upon mankind.
Because of that, whether by seniority or by actual capability, Navigator Houses held extremely high status. They even possessed a seat among the High Lords of Terra.
The High Lord representing the Navigators was known as the Paternova, the most respected figure chosen from among the Scions.
In other words, this Mitchell had the potential to become one of the High Lords on Holy Terra, one of those who held the roads of the Imperium in their hands.
"This task should originally have been carried out by one of my family's escort ships, but all three of them were lost in Warp turbulence not long ago."
He lightly tapped the floor with his staff, then continued calmly,
"I saw loathsome shadows lurking in the dark, waiting for a chance to strike their prey with lips and teeth as filthy as if they had fed on refuse."
"This journey is fated not to be peaceful. I require strong escorts, and you clearly possess that capability."
"And this transport's propulsion is already essentially crippled. Transferring to another vessel is the wisest choice."
His pale red eyes shifted to Solomon, and he said in a tone that brooked no argument,
"Agree to become my escort and help me complete the rite. In return, I will give you thirty percent of the treasures in my vault."
"Oh, and do not entertain thoughts of killing me and taking all of it."
"You should all know that vaults like this are protected by cogitator lock arrays, and the treasures within are fitted with self-destruct measures."
Hearing that, Solomon stroked his mustache and narrowed his eyes.
From certain details of this rescue and from Mitchell's vague remarks, he could already sense that traveling with this Heir-candidate might drag them into enormous trouble.
What looked like an ordinary pirate attack very likely concealed a much greater vortex behind it.
Could his little shrine really carry a god that large?
After thinking it over carefully, Solomon finally shook his head.
"I'm afraid I can't accept that..."
"Unless you make it forty percent."
"It stays at thirty percent, but you may choose your share yourselves."
"Deal."
And so Gaia watched, a bit speechless, as Solomon and Mitchell reached an agreement in the strangest way possible.
For her part, she naturally welcomed Mitchell coming aboard.
After all, that meant he was, in a sense, a free Navigator.
And the place Mitchell intended to travel to was the edge of Ultramar.
That region just so happened to include one of the planets Gaia had already intended to visit.
San Leor.
At this moment, San Leor was still just an ordinary agri-world. But right now, a branch of Emperor-worship born after the rise of the Imperial Cult was already stationed there.
Its name was the Daughters of the Emperor.
That was exactly the destination of Gaia's second plan.
She glanced at Mitchell. He was currently issuing orders to his attendants, preparing to move everything still worth keeping from the transport over to the Spear of Destiny.
Gaia's eyes flickered.
She knew very well the extraordinary status and influence of Navigator Houses among the stars.
Even pirates living outside the law respected the Navigators' ability to guide ships through the Warp.
This pirate attack had been far too abnormal.
Solomon, on the other hand, had already stopped caring about that. His eyes had practically turned into Throne Gelt symbols as he excitedly used his comm-bead to tell the Spear of Destiny to draw closer and receive their wealthy patron's people and cargo.
Once both sides had finished giving orders to their subordinates, Mitchell planted his staff and walked over to Solomon, giving him a slight nod.
"Good. Follow me. Your payment is in a very secluded place."
Mitchell's guards and servants tried to follow, but he drove them back with a single look.
An excited Solomon, a curious Gaia, and a silent Lena followed behind the Navigator noble, preparing to glimpse the private wealth of this Heir-candidate from House Hayek.
After reaching the upper deck, Mitchell ignored the corpses strewn across the floor and walked toward a section that had clearly been the site of fierce fighting.
Along the way, whether deliberately or not, he kept stepping over pirate bodies, occasionally prodding their remains with the butt of his staff as he passed.
At the end of the corridor, he stopped before a heavy wall riddled with bullet holes and splashed with blood, then tapped it several times in a deliberate rhythm.
With the sound of gears turning, a hidden compartment popped open, revealing a slender needle gleaming with cold light.
Mitchell took a small vial from his robes, pulled out the stopper, and drank it down in one swallow.
After tossing the empty bottle aside and shattering it on the floor, he lightly extended a finger and let the needle prick his fingertip.
As blood from the needle dripped into the hidden compartment, a heavy vibration ran through the wall. To the others' surprise, cracks suddenly appeared across the thick plating, which then slid inward from all sides, revealing a hidden door behind it.
Gaia recognized it at once.
This was the kind of blood-seal lock often used by noble families, something that only a legitimate blood descendant could open with their own blood.
And some families, in order to make the blood-key more complex, even required the user to first drink a specially prepared liquid.
"Welcome, descendant of House Hayek."
A cold mechanical voice came from a lone servo-skull set into the door.
"Open."
At Mitchell's command, the door slowly trembled and then began to open.
The moment it was fully unsealed, the golden light shining from within almost blinded Solomon.
"So many... so many treasures!"
The accumulated wealth of an ancient Navigator House, even when only a small portion belonged to a relatively ordinary noble of the family, was enough to shock a typical planetary governor. And Mitchell was no ordinary minor noble.
A vast diamond-shaped gallery opened before the three of them, with display cases lining both sides, each one filled with rare treasures and ancient relics.
Solomon lunged forward in a single step, already trying to judge which items would fetch the highest price.
Lena, meanwhile, was drawn toward several pieces of ancient technology, vast streams of data flickering in her eyes.
Gaia's gaze, however, passed over the grand hall filled with precious exhibits and landed deeper inside the vault, on a pile of miscellaneous items casually heaped together because they had been judged of relatively low value.
Her hands itched.
She really wanted to go pick through the junk.
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[+500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter]
[Thank You For Your Support!]