The void of space is a terrible thing.  A dark thing that corrupts and flows through the mind of men with little concern, just as a wave crashes to the shore with no concern for the tiny creatures seeking to survive amongst the currents.  There was little that could be done to soften the blow of translation into the Warp as even the most skilled Navigator could do no more than watch as others delved into the horrors of their own minds.  Protected as he was from the dangers of the average mind, Arban Benetek knew that his own trials were soon to be faced while theirs were only now beginning.  Were he to fail during these perils those now insane would wish their own insanity was the only Hell they might suffer.  So it was that they left the hospitality of House Itugan for the coldness of the void and the desolation of the Warp.<br/><br/>Surveying the charts, Arban knew well they ventured into the unknown.  A star cluster had been purchased long ago by House Itugan, or at least purchased in the only way such a thing could be.  Rights to excavate and explore with Imperial protection had been bartered for and won.  This had become one of the grand jokes of the century as the moment the rights were given, the Imperial Navy was soundly defeated in all sectors of this star cluster.  Tides of xenos descended upon the area to wipe out the resident Imperial command and bases to a man while the native inhabitants of the system suffered a similar fate.  Tyranids and Tau were said to be among those aliens that came to rest in this system, but few could confirm such reports.  Instead rumor and conjecture were all that could be gained from talks with other voidsmen and Navigators.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20101212220131/deadspace/images/c/c4/DS2_Necromorphs.jpg)</div><br/>House Itugan had wasted their resources as the entire area descended into chaos and war.  There was no profit to be made as their pleasure and trade ships were fired upon, raided and torn asunder.  Apparently the Patriarch wanted such space reclaimed and drew upon the old contracts, forcing the Imperial Navy to recognize those rights.  As such the Navy agreed to support the endeavors there, but only after the fact.  So Xanatov and his crew would be the first to explore this space after the disastrous battles and fights waged.  Such wars, Arban was aware, left their mark on the Warp and such were the dangers he faced as he pressed forward through the chaotic mesh of the ether.  At night his dreams were haunted with the screams of the victims as were any that could brush the immaterial with their thoughts.<br/><br/>Nikolai Volkov felt such pains as he slept and even as he woke.  Fear gripped his chest during odd moments, such times seeming to focus on the marching of troops along the hallways and the presence of military trained troops onboard.  The men and women Axis was training during the voyage seemed to stir an odd sort of desperation in him that soon turned to an intense hatred.  A burning would fill his veins and the scent of charred flesh reaches his nose.  Nikolai knew these were the men and women that burned homelands he had never seen and killed family he never had.  At night he dreamed so vividly of their demise and suffering while awake he could only feel that taste for vengeance.<br/><br/><div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/56DtUYP.jpg)</div><br/>Such hatred he felt was little compared to the horrors that tormented some of the voids men and women of the ship’s interior.  Katarina and Axis were forced to end the lives of no less than twelve during the journey.  Each of the men was found with the flesh of another in their mouths and on their bodies.  The men ranted and raved, screaming about the living to eat and the need to feast.  One, so filled with human meat, was bloated and dead before she even had the chance to give him holy release.  Most chattered their teeth when confronted, leaping to tear into the man nearest them while screaming “We eat!”  Yet her dreams were filled with the same hunger as they felt and for a time she could feel their need.  A ravenous desire to consume and eat, to take into her the scents and life of everything around her touched her mind so that at times the waking world was only a dream and the dream was the real.  There were moments however brief that she could feel the scent of those closest to her between her teeth and feel her stomach growl with protest that she was not tearing away their skin.<br/><br/>There was a blessing to be had that such things that haunted this pair disappeared the moment the ship passed from the Warp and into the real world.  Such relief was short lived as Katarina’s console along with those of Xanatov grew alight with warnings.  Explosions rocked the void shields of the ship and debris filled their vision through the massive screens and windows of their ancient bridge.  From the ghosts and the hauntings of the Warp they now descended into the ghosts of space as a graveyard of House Itugan faced them and ancient mines, long deactivated now rocked their ship to announce them.<br/><br/>The time of maidenhood was over.<br/><br/>--OOC--<br/><br/>Katarina if you wouldn't mind making a Difficult (-10) Pilot (Space Craft) check to avoid damage to the ship.  Unfortunately you can also pick up 2 insanity points from your horrific dreams as well.