<strong>Port Wander, 5.271.829.M41</strong>(April 15th, year 40,829 AD, Midnight; date corroborated by psychic link)<br/><br/>(http://fearnoevil.wikidot.com/local--files/port-wander/portwander.jpg)<br/><br/>Port Wander sits in the Rubycon II system, just at the edge of the massive warp storm known as the Maw.  Technically, it is the furthest extent of the Calaxis sector, and the beginning of the Koronus expanse.  The vast structure hangs in the void in immortal glory, bearing tens of thousands of merchants, missionaries, pilgrims, mercenaries, and kroot.  Scores of macrocannons ring the perimeter of the station, while massive lance turrets sit in the central basilica, ready to ventilate attacking capital ships.<br/><br/>(http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp347/leetbeefs/Rogue%20Trader/portwander.png)<br/><br/>Around Port Wander, Free Trader ships flit about like puppies at an animal shelter waiting to be adopted.  As the Imperial guard are to the Adeptus Astartes, free traders are to Rogue Traders.  The ships make periodic stops at Port Wander hoping to be granted lucrative charters to serve the personal colonies of Rogue Traders.  The Lucretia Gate, the warp portal to Mextil, glimmers with a purple light, attended by a Sword class frigate of the Navy.  Today, it's the<em>Bavarian Ear-Spoon</em>, standing watch to dissuade interlopers.  Five years ago, Commodore Aquairre's flagship<em>Corneria</em>became one of the few Imperial ships to fly into an Eldar warp portal and not be permantly lost in the warp.  When questioned about the feat, Aquairre explained "Portals to hell are green.  This one was purple."  Later, the portal was proved to be a stable construct no related to the Eldar at all, even though an Eldar fleet launched through it.  The void is deceptively peaceful today, as the<em>Kobras Aquairre</em>and its attendant escorts are the only Rogue Traders docked at the station.<br/><br/>(http://soulofamerica.com/soagalleries/balt/famattr/Bal_Port_Discovery_int.jpg)<br/><br/>Aboard Port Wander, the Rogue Traders are received like celebrities, offered many many opportunities to spend their considerable sums of money.  Though all requests have to go through Cortez or Senechal Baromir, plenty of factions and investors want to get their fingers into the Rogue Trader pie, and seek any method they can to get a piece of the action.  Much of the activity is centered around The Blind Eye, the favorite tavern of the crew of the<em>Kobras Aquairre</em>.  The Tavern is a small and dimly lit place, currently filled with brightly plumed, slender people in tight jumpsuits, enjoying their drinks and seeking out the next generation of crew mates for their Star Clipper.<br/><br/>In one corner of the tavern, an old man sits, bearing the scar of a Navigator's warp eye, clouded in billowing cloaks.  He seems like a bad omen, and most of the tavern avoids him.  Around the port, he's known as Torvan the Fallen, and has an impressive reputation as the most incompetent Navigator in all of Segmentum Obscuris.  It seems a strange contrast to the formal dinner which Commander Sans invited the senior officers of the ship to, for the next day.<br/><br/>(http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/2010/12/03__01_00_00/SpaceShipCorridor_90_Degree_Angle_13.jpgb886aa0f-7030-4017-aff4-c3253b213c12Larger.jpg)<br/><br/>Deep in the center of the station, the senior command staff receive a coded message.  Message packets go between naval attaches in darkened corridors, passing in front of the eyes of Commander Sans before going to more obscure agents of the Imperium.  Before long, a man in a black robe stalks through the corridors of the station, headed directly for the inner circle of Cortez...