Warhammer 40K Fluff Discussion XV: You Must Be THIS Tall To Witness The Grimdark

[Wraith]

Outside the Imperium, the entire situation is reversed. The whole point of a Warrant of Trade is that it grants the bearer neigh-unlimited authority to act in the Emperor's name beyond settled Imperial space - in uncharted and frontier space, Rogue Traders are the Imperium, and the potential for even vaster wealth is the carrot employed to expand Imperial territory. Whereas an Inquisitor venturing beyond settled and civilized space has nothing but the people and the ship they brought with them; to leverage their authority they need to find the nearest source of Imperial power, and in all likelihood...that will be a Rogue Trader.

It is fairly common in 40K for Inquisitors (especially Ordo Xenos) to have Rogue Trader allies at least. Eisenhorn had Tobias Maxilla. Amberley had Orelius. Covenant (Ordo Malleus in this case) had Duke Von Castellan.

How I interpret it, is that this is what happens when you're an intelligent Inquisitor, especially one who recognises that their badge only works as long as the target believes it does. Trying to bully people and forcing them to do what you want only works for so long, until they find an opportunity to escape or dispose of the Inquisitor in question.

The clever Inquisitor realises that he shouldn't always tell people what to do. He should ask them and give them an honourable, but not necessarily favourable, way out so that they don't grow to resent him for undermining their own authority in the long run.

Not all Inquisitors are this intelligent, however - all of the Ordos have their bad guys, but I think Hereticus are among the worst as they spend so much of their time dealing with people directly and only seeing them at their worst, which breeds a specific kind of jaded contempt.

Gideon Ravenor explained this well in his dealings with Captain Preest of the Hinterlight.
He paid her well for her services and he left the running of the ship to her, because it was HERS and the crew were ultimately loyal to HER, and his interference was neither needed nor appreciated. He eventually realised that some of his missions had brought a lot of harm to the ship, and that it was better for him to release Preest from her contract as amicably as possible rather than force her to remain retained and in a position to resent him for it (even though he absolutely could order her to do it, if her wanted to).

Ravenor treats her with respect and compassion, and she's ultimately more loyal and disposed to aiding him in times of desperation for it. Meanwhile there's the guy from The Emperor's Gift who tries to make demands of the Grey Knights - even though their loyalty is cast iron guaranteed, even they start questioning his intentions and orders, going so far as to instigate a policy of following orders to the letter and not a step more out of... not protest, but certainly dissatisfaction.