A small wave of distress sweeps through the bridge of the Terra Incarnadine at Jace's pronouncement.

You draw a deep breath and start issuing orders before anyone has a chance to panic. "Mu'randa, message to the Aegis. My compliments to Zheeves, and he is to survey the inner system. We'll leave the Space Hulk alone until we can bring more serious firepower to bear. Inform him that Astropath Tamefusa will be contacting Lord Pyrus and his associates. If he comes across any hostiles, he is to use his best judgement, but to let the Terra Incarnadine know if we have to leave in a hurry.

"Second message to Kudo. Politely ask him to contact Mr. Ironsides and / or Lord Pyrus and inform them of our initial findings here. Include a notation that more information will follow as we compile it.

"Frank, Place the Terra Incarnadine so that she can head for the exit if any unfriendlies show up, but close enough to the graveyard for Jace to work.

"Simo, Set our Fighters up for Combat Air Patrol for Jace's mining and salvage craft, at least until we confirm no hostiles in the shipyard. Hold the Bombers in reserve for now, no reason to risk more craft then we have to in this mess.

"Jace, get me a systematic survey of this lot. I want to know if any of these hulks are salvageable, which ones are worth looting, and which ones we're going to mark for Lord Pyrus to investigate for himself. Once you have that, first priority is completing the Terra Incarnadine.

"All right people. We have the time to do this right, so let's do so. Take your time and come home safe."

Your crews swing into action. Zheeves pings you with an acknowledgement, and heads off to the inner system. You stand down from combat stations to an active watch schedule, to give your crew time to eat and sleep properly.

Thirteen Hours Later…

You get a message form Zheeves in the inner system. "Sir, I regret to inform you that the innermost regions of this system are rife with peril: Solar Flares, Radiation bursts, and most dangerously Gavitic Riptides, are all present. The inner, warmer, sections of the biosphere are rife with asteroids. Two complete belts and three larger clusters mark the graves of planets and moons.

"However, there is a single surviving planet, and its four moons, in the outer edges of the biosphere. It is currently designated NGC-2051 1, and its moons NGC-2051 1-1 through 1-4, as is standard cartographic practice. NGC-2051 1 is capable of supporting life, although it has no large-scale lifeforms at the moment. It is a vast, cold world, with a few scattered plateaus and mountains jutting up from the depth of its oceans. The atmosphere is about the same as on Dagda: that is to say of average atmospheric pressure and untainted by chemical impurities. It should be possible to base a colony here, as an anchor to salvaging and mining operations in the system.

"As to the moons themselves, 1-1 and 1-2 are small lumps of rock, with no atmosphere and no gravity worth mentioning. 1-3 is small, but dense enough to generate a normal gravity field. The total lack of any water source renders it uninhabitable, however. 1-4 Is nothing but a moon-sized lump of ice, without any atmosphere worth mentioning. Zheeves clear."

You lean back in you command chair. A habitable world, and one with a good atmosphere and no hostile flora or fauna to worry about! Mining the asteroid fields in the inner half of the biosphere alone would provide a sizable income, but the ship salvage here in the outer reaches will add to that quite nicely. You promptly start considering possibilities for colonist sources, supplies, and all of the other dozen and three things you will need to arrange, buy, or transport for such an endeavor to be successful.

Your thoughts are interrupted by Jace, bringing you the short form of the recognizable hulks in the system, sorted into Possibly Salvageable, Worth Boarding / Investigating, and Floating Scrap, and further sorted by origin and approximate firepower. You thank Jace, who returns to directing the salvage of the bits needed to complete the Terra Incarnadine, and look at the first list: Possibly Salvageable Ships. The list begins with Ships of Imperial origin, and you are surprised by the presence of some names on the list.

> The Scutum, A Dauntless-class light cruiser.

> The Vyper, a Sword-class destroyer.

> The Buckler, a Sword-class destroyer.

> The Spatha, a Sword-class destroyer.

> Two unknown Falchion-class frigates.

> Two unknown Firestorm-class frigates.

> Two Loki-class q-ships.

> The Wanderer, a Vagabond-class merchant trader.

> An Orion star clipper.

The Non-imperial list isn't very long, but you are quite leery of salvaging any of the ships, given their chaos-tainted providence.

> A Hellbringer light cruiser

> An Iconoclast-class destroyer

> An Infidel-class raider

> A Soulcage-class slaveship

The Xenos list is a single entry long, but it's an impressive one:

> A Kroot Warsphere

A semi-mobile warp-capable battlestation. Unfortunately, it's Xenos origins make it instantly Persona Non Grata inside of Imperial space. And while it may be the size of a battlestation, it doesn't mount a tenth of the firepower of one.

The lists of Boardable and Floating Scrap Ship Hulks are longer. You go to the Boardable Imperial Ship Hulks list first, as this is where Jace will be pulling the Terra Incarnadine's components from.

> A Lunar-class cruiser, a Dauntless Light cruiser, a Defiant Light cruiser, an Endeavor light cruiser, a Lathe monitor-cruiser, a Tempest strike-frigate, three Sword-class destroyers, three Wolfpack raiders, a Hazeroth privateer, two Loki q-ships, a Goliath-class factory-ship, and an Orion star clipper.

You glance over the list of Chaos-tainted Bordable hulks, already flagging them as to be avoided.

> A Retaliator grand cruiser, Devastation-class cruiser, Slaughter-class cruiser, Carnage-class cruiser, Hellbringer light cruiser, four Pestilaan light cruisers, and five Soulcages.

Likewise, you flag the Xenos Bordables for Inquisitor Ironsides and / or Lord Pyrus to handle, though you do drool at the thought of possible knowledge to be learned aboard them.

> A Kroot Warsphere, an Ork Terror Ship, an Eldar Hellbore, a Stryxis Xebec, a Rak'Gol mauler, and an Ork Brute-class Ram Ship.

You repeat the process with the list of Floating Scrap Ship Hulks, starting once again with the Imperial ships.

> Three Lunar-class cruisers, two Dauntless light cruisers, a Secutor monitor-cruiser, two Tempest strike-frigates, two Sword-class destroyers, three Firestorm frigates, a Falchion-class frigate, a Wolfpack raider, two Loki Q-ships, a Goliath-class factory-ship, two Jericho Pilgrim Ships, two Vagabond merchant traders, and an Orion star clipper.

Chaos-tainted Scrap-hulks, avoid if at all possible:

> Two Hades-class heavy cruisers, two Carnage-class cruisers, a Slaughter-class cruiser, a Devastation-class cruiser, two Hellbringer light cruisers, three Pestilaan light cruisers, an Iconoclast destroyer, and four Soulcages.

Xenos scrap-hulks, for Ordo Xenos to investigate:

> Two Kroot Warshperes, an Eldar Eclipse-class cruiser, an Ork Kill Kroozer, two Eldar Hellbores, two Stryxis Xebecs, a Dark Eldar Corsair, and three Ork Savage gunships.

You notice a two-line entry at the end of the document, and your eyebrow rises slightly:

Estimated mass of Archeotech Salvage (total): 5,335 T

Estimated mass of Xenotech Salvage (total): 2,344 T

You set the data-slate aside and return to thinking about the colonization efforts.