After making their way off Bannockburn, the characters decided that Criticorum would be their next destination. They opted to take the shortest route there, which involved jumping through the Gwynneth system. While in the Gwynneth system, Myra whined a lot about wanting to visit Gwynneth, so the others agree that a short vacation would be nice, and head toward the planet. While on Gwynneth, Myra reveals to the boys that it's really Kantarra that she wants to uh, well you know (she's *ahem* tired of males), and in order to accomplish this, she blackmails a Hawkwood noble into inviting Myra and Kantarra to a ball. Phalton and Pitt go purchase some fine Gwynneth cigars and LOTS of intoxicating beverages. While Myra's busy trying to mack on Kantarra at the party, Phalton and Pitt are busy getting blasted drunk, and decide to go "crash" the party. So the two show up with blood in their alcohol, the girls decide it's time to leave when Phalton and Pitt basically start reinacting the restaraunt scene from "The Blues Brothers," and that's that. The next morning they head off toward the gate to make the jump to Criticorum.
Pitt pretends to be a reporter in order to gain entry into the ruins site. He has a little trouble with the al-Malik and Muster guards, but eventually he gets in by promising to show them photos of other Ur ruins. He shows them one section of the map they got from Bannockburn, which doesn't really help them much since they don't really know what it is. Pitt pokes around a bit but eventually concludes that what they're looking for isn't there, so he heads back to the landing zone. Phalton is dropped off in Ostgard and meets with Jarnar. Jarnar tells him that the local Engineers Guild is working with the al-Malik on several projects, one of which he thinks is not very legal. He heard that some Eskatonics wandering the southern forests happened upon a hidden cooperative project between the Engineers and the al-Malik, but the priests weren't killed because of superstition, so the Eskatonics are suspected to know something they shouldn't, though they haven't acted upon it. He doesn't know what they saw, only that all Eskatonics are to be closely watched because of this incident. Also it is rumored that a team of Charioteers and Scravers got a hold of some ancient 2nd Republic computer virus which could disable anything from cybernetics to ship computers. These Charioteers and Scravers are believed to be looking for passage off-planet where it will be almost impossible to track them. Amidst all of this is the revolution going on in Acheon, which is a likely hiding place (albeit a dangerous one) for anyone seeking to avoid detection. Jarnar himself is not too sure about all of these rumors, but he was appointed to inform other Engineers about these developments, as well as recruit potential allies to take care of these problems. Phalton is pretty non-committal, saying they'll keep an eye out, but no promises are made. He calls for the others to pick him up in Ostgard so they can see what's going on in Acheon.
The group reunites and lands the ship far enough from Acheon so they won't be seen, leaving Myra alone in the ship (she isn't suited for combat). Pitt, Kantarra, and Phalton make their way to the city, killing an al-Malik patrol on the way in, and Pitt leads them back to Arabi's bar. After dodging several al-Malik patrols, they make it to Arabi's and hear more rumors. Arabi has heard that a Dorgak, a beast native to Vorox, is loose somewhere on planet, though he doesn't know how it got to Criticorum. Arabi also has heard that the al-Malik have blockaded the local Amalthean sanctuary because they found the Amaltheans healing rebels and al-Malik alike, and decided that it should be shut down until the conflict is over. Finally, he has heard that an Inquisitor was killed in the city recently, though he doesn't know how.
And so they decide to head to the local Avestite Temple to see what they have to say about the matter. Upon reaching the temple, they convince the Avestites to let Kantarra in so that she may discuss their situation with Brother Battle. Kantarra learns that the Brother Battle monks are gathered in an abandoned section of town, possibly preparing for a major strike against the Avestites. The Brother Battles apparently claim that the Inquisitors were causing too many unwarranted deaths and with the revolution going on, the Brothers had to take it upon themselves to solve the problem. The Arch-Inquisitor of Criticorum suspects that there are darker forces involved. Kantarra and the others set off to find the Brother Battle encampment. Upon finding them, Kantarra realizes that her old friend and ex-lover Ryshard is leading the 20 Brothers who are responsible for attacking the Avestites. Kantarra and Ryshard have a short talk, during which Ryshard explains that they've sat by and watched the Inquisition do too much for too long, trying to convince Kantarra to join them. Kantarra leaves, infuriated as always, and the group sets up an ambush to take out Ryshard. Pitt, being the adept sniper that he is, takes up position in a building nearby while Kantarra and Phalton provide a distraction. When the time is right, Pitt takes a head shot on Ryshard, mortally wounding him. The battle grinds to a quick halt when Ryshard is hit. At Ryshard's request, some of his troops carry him out to see Kantarra one last time and he dies in the arms of a crying Kantarra (awww...). Some of the Brothers flee, while most are wounded and surrender. The group begins the trek back to the Avestite temple to inform them of what has happened. On the way they watch some Symbiots do a hit-and-run on a heavy infantry platoon, and another group of Symbiots attack some Grimsons, making them wonder if there really is a rebellion at all. The Arch-Inquisitor requests (more like commands) their help in another matter - the liberation of the Sanctuary Aeon shrine in town, blockaded by the al-Malik. The group agrees, and after heading over to the shrine, find a small platoon dug-in around the shrine. So the group, 3 Inquisitors, and the Arch-Inquisitor (who is suspiciously unarmed) begin demanding the release of the shrine. After their requests are denied, a short firefight (no pun intended) follows, with the Arch-Inquisitor spewing flames from his bare-hands, and the al-Malik platoon is left a smouldering pile of seared flesh as a group of Li Halan knights who apparently had the same idea (but were too late) show up.
After liberating the shrine Pitt recieves a call from his superiors on a private channel, ordering him to leave the city at once to be picked up by a shuttle. Pitt and the group make their way out of Acheon and find the shuttle, which takes them to a luxury liner in orbit. On board they meet Salandra Decados (or someone who claims to be Salandra), who tells them that the Decados incited and funded the rebellion in an effort to sway Criticorum under their influence. Unfortunately, one of their operatives was captured at an inopportune time, and the plan (known as Operation Core Breach) has little chance of success now. Salandra wants them to recover the lost agent (Agent Yellowstone) and return him to her for "debriefing" (which in this case means execution by gruesome torture). Pitt returns to Acheon with the group to free Agent Yellowstone. Pitt uses an al-Malik officer uniform to infiltrate the holding area, only to find that Agent Yellowstone is not being held at all, but is talking casually with his captors. Pitt gives a Decados countersign to inform Yellowstone that he's come to retrieve him, Yellowstone follows, but just outside the door he pulls a gun on Pitt and says "I'm not going back, in fact, you're coming with me." At this point Pitt gives the signal "you don't want to do that" over the whisper pin, which brings Kantarra and Phalton in, guns blazing, and another small firefight occurs. Just before the firefight however, another al-Malik patrol comes in, bringing Phalton's Engineer-friend Jarnar with them. They badly wound Yellowstone, deciding that Salandra should hear about this, and free Jarnar, who tells Phalton that the al-Malik are doing something with Symbiot weaponry at one of the labs and he was brought in because he wouldn't work with them, and the al-Malik feared that Jarnar would snitch on them. The group returns to the landing zone and is taken back to the Luxury Liner, where Salandra has several Kossacks waiting (which makes Pitt VERY uneasy), and they turn over Agent Yellowstone to her. Pitt asks Salandra if she knows Myra, and Salandra is shocked, saying that they should kill Myra at any opportunity if they ever meet her because she is a powerful psychic who may have bonded with them already. The Decados suspect that Myra may be working with Natasha Decados against the House. Pitt also spills the beans about the Ur-artifact they're hunting down, and Salandra puts him on a special mission under her personal orders to recover it. The group returns to their ship to deal with Myra, though Pitt is quite reluctant to take any action because he doesn't know who is lying to him anymore. Eventually after some discussion they take Myra to their friend the Arch-Inquisitor, who takes one look at her and torches her on the spot, saying "she had no light. She was only shadow." Pitt begins to feel the weight of the darkness he has spread in his lifetime. They tell the Arch-Inquisitor about the Symbiot lab, who orders them to assist him in destroying it. Phalton and Pitt scout the area first, finding it heavily defended and well-hidden. Pitt sneaks in under the cover of darkness and plants demolitions on the perimeter defense guns (scoring critical successes on several of them!). While he is doing this, Phalton notices an Engineer wearing Symbiot battle armor, having various weapons fired at him to test the armor. After the tests are finished, the Engineer finds he cannot remove the armor, and a short struggle occurs, the group decides to use the chaos to attack the lab, Pitt blows up the gun emplacements, and the Inquisitors pour in torching everything in sight. The Engineer in Symbiot armor proves difficult to take down, but is eventually dispatched, and the group takes "vacation photos" with the Arch-Inquisitor in the smoking rubble of the lab.
Pitt recalls seeing another ruin in the arctic regions, so they begin heading that way, Kantarra becomes more and more apathetic. They reach the proper coordinates but nothing is there...Pitt swears that he remembers seeing an Ur ruin here though. They land and check out the area, but still find nothing, and eventually decide it's time to sleep. Phalton and Pitt awaken to the sound of Kantarra calling out (or something), they go outside to find her standing on top of the ship (still landed), holding her arms out and yelling. After getting her down, she starts saying she knows where they need to go, fires-up the ship, and starts flying. They reach an island in the inland sea of Isharam - the island is just big enough for them to land on. The island consists of a sandy area (where they land), a large stone "needle" obelisk sticking up about 30 feet, and a small stone "vault" in the grass around it. They open the vault and go inside, entering a small circular tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is a room similar in size and layout to the last ruin they found, with an altar in the middle and many strange pictograms on the walls. On top of the altar is a silvery dust (picture gunpowder, only a little more shiny)there is a small gargoyle in the back of the room, and the entire place is lit by a faint purple light, but they can't figure out where the light is coming from (ie, no shadows exist anywhere). In the wall is a small "window" with a blue light shining through it. There seems to be water in the window, whose surface is flush with the wall (ie the water "completes" that section of the wall). Within the "window" is a small dish-shaped artifact, most probably the thing they are looking for. Phalton and Pitt both enter the room as Kantarra is reaching into the water to pull out the artifact. As she does this, time slows down to a crawl, and they see Kantarra has giant, white, feathery wings. They watch for what seems like hours as she pulls forth the artifact, which is a large plate-shaped object. Pitt and Phalton sit bewildered and amazed for a time, I recall Pitt telling her that she looked like an angel, with Phalton backing him up, but Kantarra brushes it off as some weird trick of the "light." Anyhow, Kantarra, who is back to normal now, hauls the artifact back to the ship with Pitt, Phalton stays behind to check out the ruins. Phalton hears a growling noise coming from the gargoyle, he decides it's time to go and runs back to the ship. Back on the ship Phalton starts to explain what went on to Pitt and Kantarra. Pitt leaves to "go to sleep" and Phalton is left talking to Kantarra, explaining the growling noise and the gargoyle. Kantarra says the only other place she knows of with a gargoyle is Nowhere, which Phalton hears as echoing when Kantarra says "Nowhere". Phalton tells her of the "echo," suggesting that Nowhere be their next destination, and they head towards the gate.
Pitt doesn't really go to sleep, but rather searches Kantarra's room in search of the black crystal they found on Bannockburn. Upon finding it, he removes his ever-present gloves and touches it (you may recall he never had direct contact with it before). He begins to experience strange visions, the first of which shows Kantarra dressed in a long purple and white dress with the Li Halan symbol on the front. Her hair is very very long, and she is very young. A woman stands next to her - they are at a starport on what Pitt believes to be DeMoley - Kantarra's home planet. A Li Halan noble, more specifically Pitt's father, comes through some doors and begins yelling at them. Kantarra begins crying and the woman next to her looks as if she is pleading with the noble. The noble then rips the Li Halan symbol off of their clothes and storms out of the room. The vision switches to Kantarra, a bit older, shaving her head bald. Behind her in the distance is a large Brother Battle monastery, which she turns to face. The next vision shows the galaxy dimming, and all of the stars fading away into blackness. Pitt awakens a short while later, and looks through Kantarra's belongings. The only thing of value he really finds is a picture of Kantarra with the woman he saw in his vision. Pitt comes to the conclusion that the woman is Kantarra's mother and the noble was her father, and therefore Kantarra is his half-sister.