Emperor's Fist

The Emperor's Fists is an Inquisitorial Black Ship attached to the Inquisition's Occidentine Conclave Fleet of Sector Occident Prime and is presently assigned to the service of Lord Inquisitor Malleus Skotus.

Class
The Fist was built out of a Cardinal Class Heavy Cruiser hull suitably modified for its specialized use. Modifications include unusually heavy armor plating, excessive Geller Fields, flight decks in place of port and starboard gun batteries and belly turrets for planetary bombardments. The Fist is rated as a carrier with space for four full squadrons of attack craft.

Appearance
Like all Inquisitorial Black Ships the Fist is painted dead black and has no running lights. Ports are polarized to prevent interior light from escaping. She is effectively invisible to the eye and her communications cogitator is programmed with a whole repetoir of false ID beams.

Her interior spaces vary from the luxurious to the strictly functional:

Personnel
Crew: The Emperor's Fist is officered and manned by Imperial Navy personnel seconded to Inquisitorial service. For security reasons the ship is heavily mechanized and stocked with huge numbers of servitors to take the place of indentured workers allowing it to function with a much smaller and completely professional crew.

Attack Wing: The Fist carries the officers, pilots and support personnel for four full squadrons of attack craft; Gold and White squadrons comprise Furies; Blue and Red squadrons are made up of Starhawks

Supercargo: Also for security reasons there is a body of civilians permanently aboard including the families of officers and crew, shipboard suppliers and any number of hangers-on smuggled aboard at various times. Getting on the Emperor's Fist  isn't that difficult. Getting off - alive - is however nearly impossible.

In addition to ship's crew and the attack wing the Fist carries a full commandery of Sisters of Battle and on occasion hosts those Knights of the Watch operating in the Sector. Launch bays in the prow have room enough for the Sisters' Valkyries and the Knights' Thunderhawks.

Captain Matt Auberon
Captain Auberon has been commander of the Fist for six years. He was hand picked for the post by Lord Skotus having distinguished himself in his previous command of a light cruiser squadron attached to the Donorian Sector Fleet. Auberon's bionic eye, which was an elective augmentation, is linked to data processors giving him full scan capability and also pict-taking for later analysis. His bionic left leg on the other hand is the result of battle injury.

Commander Horatio Bush
As executive officer and Master-of-Arms of the Fist Commander Bush is responsible for internal security and has command of the ship's armsmen leading them against boarders and occasionally on ground missions. His hot head would be dangerous in a C.O. but as 2inC he nicely balances Captain Auberon's chilly and cerebral style.

Lt. Commander Olga Ostrokova
The Senior Deck Officer is responsible for drawing up duty rosters and assigning watches also setting the chronometers and keeping the Ship's Log. Olga wears low cut uniforms because high collars make her feel choked. Captain Auberon allows it because he has noticed the view has on the whole a positive effect on crew morale and the distraction element is within tolerable limits. Other than that Olga is very regulation and a bit of a martinet.

Sr. Lt. Colm Forschner
Chief Gunnery Officer Lt. Forschner is a 'mustang', one of the rare officers promoted from the ranks. Making his climb to officer class even more impressive is the fact his parents were impressed workers aboard the Glory of His Name. However they both eventually achieved the status of ratings which allowed their son to start his carreer as a Voidsman 1st class. Tempermentally Forschner is the exact opposite of Lt. Commander Ostrakova but he admires her qualities greatly - both of them.

Sr. Lt. Dania Galhardo
As Chief Ordnance Officer Dania is responsible not only for the ship's armament but for maintaining the attack squadrons at constant readiness. This requires her to work closely with the Wing Commander, fortunately the two women get along very well which is not always the case between carrier officers and the fighter wing. Dania was formerly Captain Auberon's Flag Lieutenant on his Light Cruiser. Her current assignment is more a lateral career shift than a promotion but she doesn't mind as working with ordnance is what she enjoys most.

Commander Tarha Khase
Wing commander of the Fist's compliment of attack ships and Gold Leader. Tarha's parents were Chief Petty officers aboard the Imperial Battleship Decurion. Tarha herself was selected for officer's training by the ship's assessors and sent to the Segmentum Academy on Mars wehere she was picked for small ship pilot training. She made squadron leader at the age of twenty-two and has been wing commander on the Fist for the past five years.

Lt. Commander Rogero Gordun
Executive officer of the attack wing and White Leader. Rogero is about a decade older than his C.O., steady rather than brilliant, and a good balance to her rather impulsive aggressive style of combat. Rogero has been married for fifteen years to Gellica Gordon and is the father of two children; a son Dale, nearly old enough for pilot training; and a five year old daughter, Deering.

Adeptus Mechanicus
Due to its high level of mechanization the First carries an unusually large compliment of Enginseers, Transmechanics, Lexmechanics, teams of Reclaimators and four shifts of Rune Priests to keep all those machine spirits happy. The mechanicus contigent is headed not by a humble Engineseer as would be usual but by a full rank Magos Technis.

Lev Nakhimov/Mergildo Ducati
Magos Technis Nakhimov-Ducati is in fact two people; Lev Nakhimov and Mergildo Ducati a pair of senior Magi who about a century ago elected to undergo the rare binary cortex operation. In their case this involved grafting Mergildo's trunk to the back of Lev's torso in a full spinal connection allowing both to operate their four hands and two legs as well as cranial connections. To say their appearance is disturbing would be an undestatement. One can get used to it - presumably - but very few normal human beings feel inclined to try.

Effram Zimbliss
As Enginseer Prime he is the primary contact interface between the 'meatbags' and the Adeptus Mechanicus, almost all of former prefer dealing with him to having to look at the Magos Technis. Zimbliss is the usual occupant of the Bridge Mechanicus station where he spends his time reading ancient codices and in 'meditation' (ie: tinkering with the instrumentation). Zimbliss' speciality is scanner and sensor technology and he can get truly miraculous results from the instruments.

Shang Geilgud
Pontifex of the Rune-priests aboard the Fist. Keeping the multitude of machine spirits controlling the ship happy and co-operative is no small job and Pontifex Geilgud's teams are kept busy with prayers, offerings and hands on maintenence work. Shang himself is something of a mystic and has created many unique - and quite effective - rituals of dubious orthodoxy. Fortunately for him Magos Nakhimov-Ducati is willing to overlook moderate heterodoxy if it gets results.

Silene Taycie
Reclaimator Senioris aboard the Fist. Her teams of low ranked tech-priests are tasked with the endless minor repairs and maintenence necessary to keep the ship flying. Reclaimators also handle battle damage control and are responsible for salvaging parts and materials from worn and damaged machines. Reclaimator Taycie runs an on-ship black market of spares. Enginseer Prime Zimbliss is aware of this and has elected to overlook it. Captain Auberon, on his advice, does so as well.

Navis Nobility
The Fist carries three navigators for the security of redundancy, especially necessary as she often travels into warp-disturbed areas. Naturally they have as little to do as possible with the 'Blinders' but maintain social relations with the Lord Inquisitor and his entourage mostly because of Cassi.

Lord Darien Mirza
Principle Navigator and the most senior of the three. Now well into his third century Darien is unfortunately suffering from multiple mutations, the price of the Navigator's power, which have begun to interfere with his duties. To add to his troubles he is not at all impressed by either of his subordinates. He regards Flaminius as 'frivolous' and a disgrace to his great and ancient house. Zenevieve is even more troubling with her strange whims and even stranger remarks. So far her work has been satisfactory. So far.

Lord Flaminius Quincux
Second Navigator. A relatively young man, not much past fifty, he is still normal looking, in fact handsome, and more than a little interested in Lord Skotus' savant, Cassadane Roshene as a marital partner. She remains cool to the idea despite Flaminius' admitted good looks and impressive ancestry. The Quincux are one of the oldest Houses of the Navis Nobilite still in existence. The Quincux can be documented all the way back to the Age of the Great Crusade and claim that the founder of their House had the honor of navigating the Emperor's own flagship.

Lady Zenevieve de Anero
Third Navigator. Quite a young woman, only a few years older than Cassi and quite as lovely. Her body is normal and healthy but her mind may well be a different matter. Her behavior is almost as disturbing as that of Skotus' Psyker Ilia Cobol Both Darien and Flaminius keep a close eye on her. This is her first assignment as navigator and may be her last.