Lorik took the stack of documents Macharius had brought, and leafed through them. "These... seem to be in order. I shall have to go through them in greater detail, of course. I will also inspect the records as to the activities of Quinn. He's all paid up on his tithes, of course. I checked."

"Can it?" He asked, in regards to the ship's machine spirit. "Influence your decisions? I have heard a great number of unusual things about ship spirits, you know. Shrikes in particular. The Meritech wars, piracy, odd rumours tend to circulate. Is this a list of modifications you've made to the ship, since its original registration? Most interesting."

He continued flipping through the paperwork, making the occasional note, while the chronometer on his wrist ticked loudly. "What's this, then? Jupiter class? Why have I..." he trailed off, looking up from the papers and frowning across the desk at them. "Are you prepared to render the tithes here, or would you prefer they be calculated here and then rendered upon your arrival at Scintilla? Fifteen per cent is standard, for wealth accrued from activities beyond the stated legal boundaries of the Imperium. There is an additional two point five per cent import tax for the articles of Xenos manufacture. Normally it would be forbidden entirely, but the conditions of your warrant are quite clear, in that respect."

His expression made it clear how he felt about this detail, and perhaps about warrants in general.

"You are being suspiciously above board about all of this, actually. Which brings me to the next item on the agenda. I have recieved a communique from the lucid court regarding your vessel. Were you, perhaps, aware of this?"