35 years ago, inhabitants of the planet Arros in an outer system, far away from the Imperium's reach has finally discovered warp capable technology. Several successful probe missions proving the technology could achieve faster than light travel. The most recent probe mission having successfully returned a living mammal. This was huge as it proved living beings could survive warping across entire systems. So long as the beings were kept in suspended animation then their brains wouldn't shut down.

Preparations began to create the biggest ship Arros had ever constructed, a generation ship capable of achieving the velocity required to hit warp speed while housing scores of families. They had a destination, a plan and willing fertile and intelligent participants. Five years later, the the ship was created and named the New Frontier.

Among those selected for the New Frontier, was a young couple Pontius and Ferrah Biscari. These two astrophysicists were selected in large part because they had worked on the subsequent probe missions and were paramount in the navigation side of the project. They were of course even more sought after when they discovered they were expecting a child months before the launch of the New Frontier.
A total of sixty families were selected, numbering around 250 parents and children. A large mix of vocations and skills were amassed. Teachers, poets, scientists and doctors were added. The best of the best were chosen to bring the people of Arros to the far side of the galaxy.

The New Frontier took off and commenced its month long orbit of their plant and neighboring moons in order to commence the longest part of their journey. In order for this heavy ship to achieve the required speed for the warp engine to work, the ship needs to complete a series of intense gravitational sling shots around the three stars of Arros' solar system. These maneuvers will take ten years to achieve. Once that has occurred, the inhabitants would be placed in suspended animation during the estimated month of faster than light warp travel.
Pontius and Ferrah give birth to a healthy baby girl while in orbit around one of the moons of Arros. They name her after that moon, Merra.
Over the next ten years, Merra is raised and taught. She seems to show great aptitude for astral sciences, she spends much of her spare time staring off into the stars. Talking to the constellations, they were the toys of her youth.
Her tenth birthday marks Warp Day - the day which the New Frontier has reached the terminal velocity needed to warp. The ship is poised and the crew are prepared for suspended animation. Her family all says their excited good byes, they will see each other on the other side of the galaxy.

Merra dreams heavily once she goes under, her dreams consist mainly of her floating alone through space, off in the distance she can see a cross shaped silhouette surrounded by flashing lights and stars. Behind her, encroaching darkness. It takes all of her strength to stay her course towards the cross, but the darkness seems to always be catching up.
The darkness meets her, she wakes up.

Merra wakes to find only she has been released from suspended animation, everyone else seems to be still in their pods. She notices that the gravity is back to 1G, which means they're no longer warping. She checks the logs and it looks like it has only been a week since they commenced warp. She tries to unlock everyone's pods, but the systems backup measures think they're still in warp, so they wont wake up the others.

Up in the cockpit, she looks out and they appear to be in a strange solar system. The sky is a deep violet colour with large tendrils of clouds snaking out from a larger mass of orange straight ahead of the ship. Feeling very uneasy, she tries to access the flight logs. They reveal that while the ship thinks it's still warping on course, it is in fact well and truly elsewhere. While she frantically tries to figure out a way to wake up the others, the orange behemoth collides with the New Frontier. She is knocked off her feet.
When she comes to, she hears loud alarms and sees flashing displays. Radiation Contamination breaches in the pod bays, the life vital displays for all inhabitants flashing red with a single word DECEASED. Panic sets in, she rushes to her families pod. But it's too late, they're all gone.
Time passes as she traverses the entire ship, top to bottom. Trying to find survivors. She only finds quiet.

Why had she lived? That much cosmic radiation should have killed her, like it did for everyone on the ship. Medical scans reveal that while her DNA had been altered, her immune system was still holding firm.

Merra poured through all of the text she could understand, trying to find a way to control the ship. She found a way to reboot the system and engage the warp. But in doing so, the navigational systems were completely useless. They had used Arros, the predicted trajectory and their destination as reference points. But the ship was no where near any of those points. She were truly lost.

Five years pass, she had not given up. She maintained her sanity with exercise, reading and talking with the constellations like she had done as a child. She had many new friends to keep her company.

The fifteenth Warp Day celebration came, marking her fifteenth birthday. She spent the day staring out the cockpit into the vastness as she had often done. She started talking to the constellations. Suddenly one of them talked back.

Not with words, but with light. A crooked line flashed, connecting two distant stars. Then another flash, those starts connected with another line. Zigging and zagging, each of the stars lit up with one another. Merra's eyes roll back as she reaches out. With each connection she follows, they end at a large sillhouette - of a cross shaped object.
She connects up to the navigation system and points the New Frontier on this new course. The ship enters warp, she gets knocked to the ground. She wakes up to a blinding light coming through the cockpit window. The artificial gravity is off, this likely means they've come to a complete stop.
As the blinding lights turn away, it reveals a large rust coloured wall of metal. She presses her face against the glass, a large rosette is visible on the side of the structure. It reads Ordo Malleus.

Merra is taken in by a large man decked in ornate armor and signets. He identifies himself as Inquisitor Markus, he has commandeered this ship under the wing of Ordo Malleus. She is taken away as his men start rifling through the cockpits main consoles.

Over what could have been days or weeks for all she knows. She is kept segregated from contact. Apart from very brief interrogations by Markus. During these interrogations, Markus is always flanked by a quiet bald man with large cables and wires protruding from the side of his head. His stare fills her with anxiety and unease. Anytime she responds to a question, Markus seems to look to the bald man as if asking him a silent question, each of these questions are met by a subtle shake of the head.
That is until she is asked how she knew to find this system, once Merra told Markus about her visions of the linked stars the bald mans eyes widened and he gave a knowing nod to Markus. The interrogation was ended then and she was left in her thoughts.
Days passed as Markus enters her chambers, he explains what his order is. What they do, who they work for. She is confused by this greatly until he begins to explain what happened when she saw his ship in her visions. The warp had mutated and touched her mind and body. She was interconnected to it. He explains that they tend to execute unsanctioned psykers on sight as they pose a serious threat to all around them. But as it seems she has only been touched recently by the mutation, she could control it with schooling and training.

He gives her the choice of being admitted to the sanctioned psykers, or an alternative which she likely wouldn't enjoy.

She chooses the former.

It has been 15 years since that day she was captured and Merra (now going by the assigned name of Castella) served on Markus' ship as an Astropath. Right until he and his crew met decimated on Cadia as they were ambushed by Chaos. Markus' final orders to her and the crew was to bombard their location and return to the fleet with their cargo.

She has been reassigned to a new Inquisitor, the annihillation of her previous crew has made Castella wary of being a bystander. Having witnessed the doom of Cadia first hand, she is incised to avenge Inquisitor Markus and uphold the Imperium of man