On the edge of the Maelstrom Sector, a mysterious battleship is moored in the orbit of the shrine world, Saint Shboleth.
This battleship is completely black and shines with a mysterious brilliance. If you look up the model or serial number of this battleship in the Imperial Navy's establishment, you will find nothing.
Because this battleship is not in the records of any official Imperial agency, it is only subordinate to one goal and operates only for one goal.
Its name is the Holy Word, and it is a "black ship" that belongs to the Black Ship Alliance of the Astrology Hall.
The Black Ship is a technologically advanced vessel covered with anti-psionic shields and armor made of a psychically resistant ebony metal. Most of the time, it is overseen by a High Sister of the Ecclesiarchy, who is also
Called the hostess.
The Black Ship exists for only one purpose - to find psykers.
However, the purposes of black ships with different affiliations are also different.
Black ships belonging to the Psionics Academy are usually used to select suitable psykers for training.
When a black ship approaches a planet, its stewards are instructed to prepare the customary tithes of psykers.
Once the "tax" is collected, the captain of the black ship makes an initial assessment of their "cargo" before moving on to the next world.
When the ship is filled with psykers, they will return to Terra, and then these psykers will be sent to the Psionics Academy for another selection. Those who are not selected will be sent to the Astronomical Hall.
.
The goal of the Black Ship in the Astrology Hall is simpler.
All psykers found by the black ships of the Astronomical Hall will be locked in the cabin behind the psionic shield and then transported to Terra to be used to feed the Emperor along with those eliminated by the Psychic Academy.
Huge psychic needs.
After that, the black ship will set sail again and enter their eternal journey of search.
Most of the illegal psychics who have been found by the Astronomical Hall and have become a threat are also called wizards or witches, so the Sisters of the State Church often cooperate with the black ships to carry out witch hunting activities.
The Black Ships, which are affiliated with the Astronomical Hall and the Academy of Psionics, are completely independent of the Imperial Navy. Only the highest-ranking people in the two organizations know the true size of the fleet and its vast scope of operations.
The Holy Word's target this time is an Alpha-level illegal psyker named Kirubia Knox, who can also be called a witch.
For this witch hunt, the Astronomical Chamber summoned the Ebony Grail Order of the Sisters of Battle.
The Sisters of Battle can be traced back to the Apostasy Era in the 36th millennium.
High Lord Vandire, who ruled the empire with bloody oppression, discovered a warrior group composed entirely of women in the world of Sanlor. They called themselves the "Emperor's Daughters", and then he renamed them the "Emperor's Bride"
, and appointed them as his personal guards.
But later, with the fall of Vandire and the intervention of the Custodes, the "Emperor's Bride" changed back to the "Emperor's Daughter" and personally destroyed the high lord who deceived them.
When Sebastian Saul was promoted to the Pope of the Ecclesiarchy, he began to permanently reform the Holy See.
He convened the senior members of the Holy See to hold a religious meeting on the planet Ophelia VII and split up the forces of the State Church to prevent one person from monopolizing the Holy See from giving Vandil and his like an opportunity to take advantage.
After huge changes were gradually implemented to restore the Holy See to its original role, the most significant event, Sebastian Thor issued the Edict of Taming in the 288th year of the 36th Millennium - this historic event permanently banned
The Holy See has "armed men" (which can also be interpreted as armed men, which is a play on words).
But Sebastian Thor still left a loophole. He organized the Emperor's Daughters into a standing army and renamed them the Sisters of Battle.
Later, Sebastian Thor further reformed the Sisters and divided it into two, one was the monastery on Earth, and the other was the Holy Seminary in Ophelia VII.
After a period of expansion, Sebastian Sol's successor, Pope Alexis XXII, issued a decree dividing the two orders into two again.
The Priory of Terra is divided into the Sisters of the Ebony Grail, with Dominika as the first leader, and the Sisters of the Silver Shroud, led by Sylvana.
The Holy Seminary of Ophelia VII was divided into the Sisters of the Heart of Fire, led by Catherine, and the Sisters of the Heart of Courage, led by Lucia.
By the second half of the 36th millennium, the Sisters of Battle had become synonymous with the power of the Imperial State Church in the world.
They vigorously promote the doctrine, commit themselves to the war of punishment across the galaxy, and always provide support to the Ordo Hereticus as subordinate armed forces.
In the long period of time that followed, each monastery continued to establish new branches and formed various subsidiary monasteries in the main worlds of the empire.
As the oldest order of nuns, the Order of the Ebony Holy Grail has long been cooperating with the Astronomical Hall and the Inquisition and is committed to various heretical punishment activities. They are also fully responsible for this witch hunt.
Although the Alpha-level psykers were so powerful, they were still defeated due to the determined and fanatical fighting will of the nuns.
The person who commanded this operation was Sister Adriana Velez, the commanding sister of the Mission. She had been fighting for the Emperor for 10 years since she joined the order at the age of 16. She won the hearts of her colleagues with her fearless courage and calm command.
With such support, he has already reached the command level at such a young age.
Some people even believe that she will be promoted to a nun in the order in a few years.
After capturing the target on the planet's surface, Velez's report to Captain Tyak was brief.
After she and her sisters captured the prisoner, they immediately escorted him to the Black Ship Order.
The Word is like a majestic cathedral. This huge cruiser once left a deep impression on the Battle Sisters.
It cruised the core of the galaxy for three years, and Velez served on the ship for two of those three years. The black ship carried thousands of sullen Astronomical Hall technicians and their
Captured psykers - as tithes to the Emperor.
It was a sacred duty, and Velez was proud to work for the Emperor.
Once aboard, the psyker was taken away by stormtroopers.
Stormtroopers are regularly tested to ensure their purity and loyalty, and it is their responsibility to protect the safety of the entire ship.
The medical sisters then restrained the psyker with a powerful sedative and placed the psyker in a special container in the ship's dungeon.
After acquiring the target, the black ship left the orbit and began preparing to head to the next destination.
Velez accompanied the prisoners and escorts through the decks.
While the upper deck can be thought of as a vibrant micro-hive filled with devout technicians, the dungeon below is a living hell.
There, the psykers and technicians of the Astronomical Chamber incapacitated the prisoners in a way that Velez could not understand.
In addition to a completely enclosed space, psykers are constantly tortured by noise and dazzling lightning. Without sleep, they naturally do not have a clear mind to summon those evil forces.
Coupled with the large amount of sedatives in the diet, the psychic immediately became very docile.