Congregating in one of the ship’s larger halls the regimental command and senior officers waited to be introduced to their new lord and master.



Amongst the nervous smiles, all of which turned to grimaces of terror when the face’s owner was certain the inquisitor wasn’t looking, there was a seemingly endless stream of jokes about the Colonel’s skills at the slice table. For some this was just an opportunity to punch up a little whereas, for the more serious gamblers, this was also a rare chance to seriously consider whether he had to take the bet. The general consensus was that, given the stakes, only an idiot would have folded in his position: after all, the odds were good that he would win the hand and the bet was in his favour. A few even whispered that it was probably for the best that the colonel had lost - after all: the inquisition were not reputed to have a laid-back attitude towards loss.



For his part, Colonel Harkok was stood at the front of the hall, by an aquila-fronted podi…