You speak aloud for the first time in six or seven minutes. "I think we need to investigate this ship closer, but there is no point in taking anyone not familiar with the Eldar. Which means myself and Yasha. Mu'randa, Jace, I don't like leaving you behind, as we will probably lose communications if we get too separated, but someone needs to survive if everything goes to hell. Mu'randa, don't even think about arguing. Your knowledge on the Eldar may be better than mine or Yasha's but I can speak their tongue, at least the rudiments of it, and Yasha is the only psyker we have here."

Jace doesn't react, but you just know he filed those facts away for future reference if needed.

Mu'randa sighs. "Can't really argue with you there Sir. We'll be here if you call."

You nod your thanks, and approach the ship with Yasha. You can’t help but to voice a question aloud."Is it just me or are you getting the feeling that we're about to meet two old friends?"

"It’s just you"

"I was afraid of that."

You approach what looks to be a hatch. Well, it at least has the outlines of a hatch or doorway, but there is no evident hardware,. You scratch you head, and begin feeling around for a seam to start trying to force the hatch open.

Yasha defaults to thinking aloud, trying to get you to brainstorm with her. "If this ship belongs to who you think it belongs to then the hatch is probably psychically activated."

You oblige her, not slowing your search. "Ariavari may be a psyker, but I don't think Anai is, so the door should have a mechanical means to open."

"If it is the two of them, then we should be getting out of here post haste. Every time either of them has been involved, you have lost far more than you gained."

You continue feeling about, dropping to squat down as you check the bottom of the hatch. "Well, let's walk that through. We met Anai first, though we didn't know it at the time. She was bound into the Terra Incarnadine at the time, and you spoke to her.

"Then I met Ariavari on Vrenna, where I called down the orbital strike that cost my eye. That episode also locked in a tacit bond with the Deathwatch, a not inconsequential power for all of their secrecy.

"The next contact was indirect, a warning passed from Ariavari letting me know that Danus was going to be poking his nose into our affairs. Passing that warning on to Lord Pyrus also deepened our ties to the Deathwatch, and may have had something to do with their eventual recruitment of Danus.

"Then Ariavari healed you after Kamas blew your guts out past your spine. She didn't have to, but she did anyway, risking Emperor knows what in the attempt. Discovery for sure, as well as giving away the fact that she could sneak aboard the Aegis at any time she wished.

"And they both helped when Kamas infiltrated the Terra Incarnadine. Ariavari did something to free Anai, just before we showed up. Again, she revealed that she could slip onboard the Terra Incarnadine with no one detecting her, despite the presence of Lord Pyrus and the Dark Angels. Then she knocked us out by showing us a vision and a warning. It showed just how much she and Anai were bonded to each other, the danger of that Shard, and gave her a way of getting away that left us not under suspicion of 'cavorting with the enemy'. Then Anai gave us the Brass Scarabs at the end of that episode. And again, we found ourselves bound ever closer to the Deathwatch.

"The pair of them may have been playing us for their own ends, but you have to admit that we have done well in the bargain, despite the damage."

Yasha stood and chewed on that for a while, her eyes glazed over in a thousand-yard stare as she replayed the events in her mind. "You may have something. but I think Ariavari was playing more than just us. Why did the one Deathwatch team and Ordo Xenos Inquisitor who might be willing to form a partnership of sorts with us just happen to cross our path so many times?"

You pause in your investigations and frown. "You may be onto something there. Ariavari did have me pass a message on to Lord Pyrus. Something about a debt repaid, if I recall correctly."

Yasha Shakes her head. "She is playing all of us for her own ends. Like my mother before her death, and Matron Saurlance before Vir, Morrigan, and Zheeves tore her apart."

"Perhaps. Scratch that, definitely. But I see two things in her favor. One: all of her pawns and cat's paws gained in the bargain. Even Adam, despite his blind hatred causing his downfall. And two: Ariavari was playing for the highest stakes: her lover. So If she is here, then perhaps she knows more about the Malignus Maximus."

At that point you fall over onto your butt as the hatch irises open in front of your eyes. No one is standing on the other side. Small spurs of that chromed-metal hold smaller gemstones, glowing with a soft blue inner light, dimly illuminate the corridor in front of you. A particular one glows a slightly brighter green instead, just by a shadowed archway that may just be a door. You climb to your feet. "I think we just got an invitation."

Yasha snorts. "You think? and how are we to know where to go without a guide?"

"See that green light? I think we are supposed to turn there."

Yasha cocks he head slightly, her black eyes squinting in the dim light. "I think your eyes may be better than mine in certain respects."

You can't help but double over laughing. "You? Who sees more clearly that I ever could? Ah well, follow me then my lady."

You lead the way into the crashed ship, turning where the green light indicates. As you suspected, another one glows a short distance away by another doorway. You turn there and are greeted by a set of homely living quarters. What looks like a fur is draped across another archway, blocking what you presume to be a bedroom from view. There are the usual clutter of table and chairs, desk and datacrystals, a kitchen half-visible through another archway. All of it in the same bone-and-chrome, excepting the fabrics and gems. But everything is slightly off, ever so slightly out of place. "Yasha, lend me your insight here. Something is off but I can't put my finger on it."

Yasha cocks an eyebrow, but looks about the room. "You are right. It's almost like a hastily set stage, everything almost in its place."

"Or if this place was searched thoroughly, then put back together quickly. Someone else has been here before us."

Yasha lowers her eyebrow. "Not. Good. Alright, room by room. Look for things left behind or things taken. We don't know what is supposed to be here, so I guess we look for holes. Empty drawers, vacant mounting brackets, something that is more out of place then its fellows."

You take a moment to let Mu'randa and Jace know what's going on, and then you take your time searching. The main room takes a good half-hour, and you find only a shortage of datacrystals in or near the desk. The ones on its top are the only ones present, despite the two shallow drawers that are padded and notched to hold more. The kitchen takes less time, but all of the cupboards are empty, the cooking surface is dusty, and one of the lights has a thin severed wire dangling from it, probably the remains of a voice-thief listening device. You re-join Yasha in the main room before carefully checking over the fur drape for traps.

Yasha just stares at it. "This is out of place."

You stand back and consider it. "Yes... none of the other doorways were barred, except for the outer hatch. And we saw no mechanism to open it or close it again."

Yasha shakes her head. "Simpler than that. Why use a heavy fur to cover a doorway? A simple door or hatch works best if you want a solid barrier, while a curtain is light, corded, or both. That fur is heavy and solid, but doesn't do nearly as good a job of blocking the doorway as wood or metal. Or the bone-and-chrome stuff this ship is made of. That fur was placed there."

You stare at it for a moment longer. "It's a marker, meant to draw attention. And its not out of place the way the rest of this room is. Not moved and then put back. I'm thinking Ariavari and Anai left, someone searched their place taking the datacrystals and leaving a voice-thief behind in the kitchen. Ariavari and Anai came back, discovered what had been done, cut the voice-thief in the kitchen, and set something up in the bedroom. Which means that they left something for us to find in there."

Yasha's eyebrows raise at this last assertion. "Left it for us? What makes you say that?"

You shake your head. "I don't know. But that door opened only after we had been there for a while. The lights guided us right too the only furnished room in the ship. And Anai and Ariavari, presumably, came back and set all of this up. Only thing for it is to open the door as see what they left for us."

Yasha nods, pulls the drape aside, and stops dead in her tracks. "Well, I didn't expect that!"

You look past her and let out a low whistle of appreciation. "Whoo-eee. They don't do things by halves."

The room is definitely a bedroom, stripped of all furniture, trappings, and decorations with the exception of the bed. It isn't like any you have seen before: a platform of that bone-and-chrome material easily wide enough to hold two people with room to spare. In speculation, you glance at the fur curtain. It's about the right size to cover most of the bed, but your eye is drawn back to the few items that are sitting on the bed.

The chrome forms a circle at the exact center of the bed. Inside of it sits a square cloth of pure white. On the cloth sits a trio jewelry cases just big enough to hold a ring. tucked between two of the cases is a single slip of parchment. Yasha plucks the parchment up and tries to read what is on it, then shrugs and hands it to you.

You glance down and see the curving shapes of Eldar runes. Not many of them, but enough to make you groan. "Dammit, this is going to take hours to make sure I have it translated properly. Hours we don't have."

Yasha shrugs. "Take a stab at it? Even if you don't get it right, we should have a better idea of who this gift is intended for."

You shrug and stare at the runes again. "Alright, I'm getting perhaps one rune in three without the pseudo-dictionary I had to make, and all of these are context sensitive. At the same time, this looks like a lot simpler construction then some of the other scraps I've had to work with. Here goes. 'joy/greeting Wanderer. Something something gift given to someone, someone, and self. Sadness at inability something something. Singer/song changer/changed and older/oldest something.'"

Yasha shakes her head. "Ok, that confused the hell out of me. What can you make of it?"

You put the note in you pocket. "Best guess? Ariavari and Anai left these as a gift for someone, and probably intended me to find it. Ariavari has called me 'Wanderer' multiple times in the past. In fact, I think that is all she ever called me."

Yasha scoops all three boxes up in the cloth and puts them in a belt pouch. "We take them back, you translate that message, and we figure out who to give them to. In the meantime, I think our report had better be a little short on the details. Ship found, Eldar in origin, but construction we haven't seen before. That's not saying much, given that we haven't seen an Eldar ship up close before. Ship abandoned, though there were indications that it had been occupied post-crash by something sentient and probably sane, given that the habitation looked neat and organized. No food, water, or weapons present, so whatever was there is long-gone and not coming back. Flag it for further investigation after whatever is in the center of the hulk is cleared out."

"That sounds good to me. Let's gather up the others and head back."

You do just that, and spend a few more minutes writing up your report before heading back to your room. There you pull out the parchment and stare at it for a long moment. You pseudo-dictionary is in the trunk that got brought over with your effects in the fourth or fifth wave of landings along with all of the other supplies. You could stay up late translating the message, but you would feel dog-tired during tomorrow's excursion to the core of the Malignus Maximus.