The Pious Lament floats in space, illuminated in purples and reds by the great torus of the Sink Hole whose churning prescience that dominates all of the space behind it. Ahead lies what is thought to be the planet Gelron and the strange object that sits between it and its newly adopted star.

For now, the great battle Cruiser is still, awaiting orders and some solution to the Eldar ship currently clamped to it’s back over a five-meter hole.

I’m relying on you guys to drive the story from here, just let me know what your character wants to do.
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Gregory orders a fresh company of men to set up a perimeter around the xeno boarding plank tube, covering it from multiple angles with heavy stubbers and other implements of destruction. He rotates out the units that have seen action and prepares more of them for a proper boarding action; he knows it's going to happen and he wants to be ready for it.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:04, Fri 14 Apr 2023.

It was not a matter of minutes to repair the damage done to body and cybernetic systems both internal and external but for now the Navis Primaris was stabilized and had opted to seat herself now at her station. Her breath remained labored and her ribs now added to the cacophony of agony that wore forever at the edges of her mind and will, still her focus held as she watched the stellar landscape stretch out before them. The enormity of the anomaly that was the Sink hole held her attention as she continued to calculate, re-calculate, and further re-factor those calculations in turn as she charted each possible approach and path to best skirt the gravimetric and metaphysical distortions. At least per the somewhat arcane laws that governed such places where the Endless Sea bled into reality proper.

When her mind was not consumed by numbers, she was certain to check on those heads of staff closest to her along side her kin. It was both a matter of propriety and simple common sense to ensure that there was no changes to her understanding of the organization structure.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:26, Thu 13 Apr 2023.

 Jak takes some modest amount of time to secure the Eldar cutting device that's mounted on the floor of the Temple-chamber - sealing fluid is used to impede its process and demolition charges are attached to it to ensure that it can be 'deactivated' in a heartbeat, after which a team of tech-savants with a range of auspexes are deployed to gather information on the filthy xenotech and its operation, as well as determine how it may be safely deactivated.

 The Explorator meanwhile, sweeps from job to job until most of the emergencies and fires have been put out, then devotes himself to arranging for a means to address their ship problem. Now that there's time, he has several grav-lifters fitted to a selection of hull plating in the temple-chamber, positioned so that they can rapidly clamp over the hole should decompression occur (with redundancy of course), after which he authorises a handful of voidsmen to leave the ship to acquire pict-images of the Eldar vessel from the outside, hopefully letting them see how the cursed thing is actually attached and to provide insight as to how they're going to pry it off.

It's during this process that he first gets made aware of energy build-up in the hull of the Eldar vessel, something which he orders re-examined since it is well known that the perfidious Eldar do not use technologies of the sort most commonly associated with those energies, but in due course he brings his findings and recommendations before the Captain "The Xeno vessel appears to be gathering power in a fashion most commonly associated with the opening of a breach into the Immaterium. This is not consistent with known patterns of Eldar activity, but my knowledge of Xeno technology is minimal at best and I am not able to provide informed recommendations at this time."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:58, Thu 13 Apr 2023.

Hadrian had been very busy since the Eldar attack. Many people had been injured, some minor but many not so minor. There had been a backlog of patients from a couple of the hotspots and it taken a while to make sure the staff had been both adequately stationed and spread out, but also supported and not driven to the point of making mistakes due to exhaustion and stress. It was a very fine line to walk really.

Then he tried to make sure people were rotated out as frequently as he could to get everyone on his staff back up to full strength and effectiveness.

He had made sure, at one point, to send a report up the chain of command of his findings. The bodies of the people. The Eldar weaponry. The remains of the Gate. He wanted to make sure everything was dealt with properly.

Then he had collapsed in to about a full day of sleep to recover his own strength.

“Inventory everything!” Holt directed the factors as they moved about their assigned sectors. “I want the dust from the sanitation servitors analyzed for chemical composition. Recycle the machine oil from the vats. The debris from the oil can be baked into the adhesives used to repair microscopic hull fissures and other support maintenance protocols.”

Holt thought he heard someone snicker as they shuffled by, but he did not lash out in anger. Let them think whatever they wanted so long as they produced the results he wanted. “Profit is not a word around here as much as a divine calling. Every Throne that gets added to the pile is going to end up in someone’s pension packet. Work like your life depends on it because at some point, it always does.”

That was enough of the motivational rhetoric. Holt shifted to checking his data feeds. The information that was flowing through the ether-sphere would prove valuable in their entire mission regarding Gelron and the Sink Hole. Materials were drifting through that torus in both directions and for Holt that meant profit both coming and going. He paused to make a note to check with his black market contact and cycled through his audio comm channels to catch the latest mining and shuttle reports.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Fri 14 Apr 2023.

The Captain stood in the centre of the flurry of activity, watching the senior officers do their job with her need to directly input her will. The Tech-Priest gave his debrief then she nodded "Do you believe we can use the guncutters to launch sufficient ordinance to cripple the Xeno's vessels propulsion. I wish to cripple them then openly threaten to dive into the warp and shear away their boarding tube. I have heard they are even more afraid of the Immaterium then even we are and wish to used that to our advantage."

Returning to the war zone that was once a beautiful temple Harmonia is in much the same condition.  While unhurt she is covered in a thick layer of fine ash, some of which is still falling from her informal robes as she rushes up to the Captain's side to take advantage of the clear space and better vantage point where she can survey the damages.  Catching the tail end of Jak's explanation but not any of its context it still doesn't take long for her to put it together with the big hole in the ceiling that leads her gaze up past what should be the hull of the ship.

”As brilliant as that plan is it doesn't seem like they are likely to communicate or wait long enough for it to unfold, we should close the breach in the hull as quickly as we can, and do it in a violent enough way to get that thing away from the temple before it explodes or rips a hole in reality or whatever it is trying to do.”

Searlait nods at the Confessor's suggestion and says "Yes that contraption needs to be removed before we run out of sealant for it to atomise. Try to safely deactivate it, failing that, try to launch it up their boarding tube into their vessel." she tells the tech-priest before moving off and calling over a mobile vox-operator. Taking the vox-horn she tells the woman to connect her to Wing commander Simian Laurel ++Wing commander come in, how are your birds faring?++ as she receives the response she takes it in then asks ++Is it possible for you to strike the xenos' vessels? return to the launch bay if you need to rearm, refuel, and repair.++ waiting for further response before departing and making her way to the bridge again.

Once on the bridge she heads for the communications pulpit and the Commander Mr. Yorick "I need you to send a focused vox blert, try to work with the Mechanicus to override their voxnet to play across as many of their voxes as possible. Record the following "Crew of the Emperor’s Glory, your Captain has led you far from His guiding light. He consorts with Xenos slavers to destroy his Imperium, and once just retribution is brought upon him he will turn on you, his crew, selling you to the xenos in exchange to save his own perfidious hide. Rise up and seek redemption! Overthrow the traitorous scum and I will ensure redemption for all, In the name of the God-Emperor! you know what must be done for your souls"

Once that message is done she gets him to do another lower powered transmission directed at The xenos craft to play 1 hour after the bombardment of the crafts engines "Surrender and tell us the plans that Galvin Vexel had. She will leave their vessel where it is and call off her fighter craft. Should they refuse, she will prepare the Pious Lament to jump into the warp in such close proximity to the vessel as to draw it in, but outside of the protective gellar field, opening you to the raw immaterium. You have 20 minutes to reply"

Gregoire’s perimeter is established with well-armed fresh troops in defended positions while the remainder of the forces withdraw to rest and re-arm so as to be ready for whatever happens next.

Meanwhile mechanicus personal swarm through the vast, now ruined building in numbers not seen since the last refit and quickly  secure unstable masonry, repair fractured pipes and splice in new sections of cable, one team is dedicated to the alien device while other start shipping in large panels of armour plating  on grave lifters and begin fabricating a ‘patch’ for the hole in the roof.

Hormonia returns to her beloved temple to survey the devastation wrought by the invaders.

++ All fighters and gunships are intact Ma’am, only minor damage sustained, ++ the reply comes back to teh Lady Captain from the Wing Commander, ++ I’m not sure about taking out their engines though, you’d better hear Cpt Rathnyr’s report regarding that ++

OOC Just to make it clear, the device in the back of the temple that is trying to cut through the floor into the Engineerium has nothing to do with the build-up of energy in the Eldar ship, they are two totally different and unconnected things.
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On the bridge Cennet conducts her head count and is satisfied, Grund and herself were the only ones to take damage and Grund is now in capable hands at the Hospice.

Searlait enters the bridge and passes her orders to the Master od the Vox, who replies eagerly to her first instruction but doubt creeps over his face on hearing the second.

”I’ll try my Lady, but I don’t think the Eldar use the same communications technology so I can’t guarantee that they will receive it.”

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The tall figure of Tungsten steps up beside the Lady Captain from where she had been standing at the back of the bridge.
”I’m afraid Mr Yorick is correct my Lady, communication by vox caster will not be possible.”

”I am not a xeno-psychologist but do have access to information not usually available to the general public," she nods towards the frail form of Obsidian who nods back in return, ”and we have delt with this race before. My concern is that they are defeated now, and the survivors will not want to fall into human hands so, as they have nothing to lose they may attempt to take this ship down with them.”

”I understand that there is a build-up of energy within that ship and, with your permission I’d like to take my team aboard to see what’s going on and what might be done about it.”
This message was last edited by the player at 07:09, Sun 16 Apr 2023.

Whilst her attention was upon the reality distortion that dominated the void before them, Cennet wasn't unaware of the conversations. It was again a matter of, well, expertise that made her slow to contribute commentary. That and despite the certainty that she would live breathing remained a notably and unwelcomely painful affair as she shifted in her seat to glance back towards the lady captain and her intended threat. Such dives into the Endless Sea without all due respect and calculation was a recipe that had played out far too many times in the history of warp navigation... To do so whilst also attempting to calibrate or modify the Gellar Field Array and the dimensions of the projected bubble were perhaps even more alarming.

"I would hope you don't intend to go through with that threat?" the Navigator asked of the Lady Captain. Her voice carefully coached with due respect and an affectation of professional concern. "A less... dangerous option might be to gravity sling shot them into the Sinkhole. Without propulsion they wouldn't be able to decelerate and one would presume, a dangerous thing I suppose regarding the Aeldari, that without said they would also not be able to escape the drifting tomb of their ship once we break whatever is holding their vessel to the Pious Lament."

Almost as though on cue, Gregory sends a vox message.

++Ma'am, I've got my breachers ready in case you feel the need to take the fight to the xenos. Standing by in the cathedral beside the perimeter.++

 "I do not believe that it is practical to attempt to cripple the mobility of the Xenos vessel alone, not without significant risk of its destruction. Eldar spacefaring technology appears to combine heretical gravitic systems and a sophisticated, but theologically unsound application of the solar sail principle. Both these systems are more widely distributed than plasma engines." Jak answers, after several moments of furious cogitation.

 "The cutting device is being analysed. When analysis is complete, it will be safely disabled." it's all he has to say with regards to the Xenos thing in the shrine - apparently it's a low priority for him right now, despite the fact that it's been trying to cut a way into the engineerium.

 Which leaves only the statement by the Inquisitorial acolyte to process, one which makes Jak thoughtfully observe "If their fear drives them, an announcement at maximum volume through the Temple-shrine that they will be owned to leave would reach them, but the opportunity to destroy a Xenos raider should not be passed up. I recommend entry through the hull however, rather than via their own, no doubt by now heavily defended access passage."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:20, Sun 16 Apr 2023.

Leaving the tech priest to his technology, and the soldiers to their preparations Harmonia hurries herself over to one badly damaged stained glass window, flagging down a helper drone or two on her way.

When she gets there her expression seems to confirmed suspicion, not a sudden realization.  Directing the helper drone to help like a third hand she lifts up a single delicate piece of stained glass from the wreckage and gently tugs it free of the last stands holding up what turns out to be the Face of the Emperor, now preserved alone of all the other sections in that window.

Rathnyr opens up his vox with a flip of a switch on the control panel of his Fury Interceptor. ++ Umbra One. If this ship is built like their fighters, I'd wager that their wings are their form of propulsion. It's sustained enough damage that I don't think it's going anywhere under its own power. It's missing one wing, and the second is just barely hanging on. If we can cut it free, I think it would be stuck adrift. ++ Umbra One slowly circled around the damaged Eldar vessel, leading the rest of Umbra Wing in a steady patrol.

"Do what you can Mr. Yorick, I just expect your honest attempt, that's all you can do." she says before Tungsten approaches informs her that the vox broadcast wasn't possible she belayed that order and proceeds to her strategium indicating for her to follow. "If you would like to take a team aboard that is your perogative and I will not stop you but if that vessel intends to attack us or rig itself to blow us up I will have to distance us and potentially destroy it at range. If you accept the risk and wish to partake in the mission I will offer you troops should you wish."

++Acknowledged, standby. potential mission is under consideration++ she responds to Asgard.

To Cennet she answers "The less they know about what we can do the better, If I can scare them into submission I will, and I think the thought of falling into the warp unprotected would convince them. I will think of it as a last result, otherwise I can order its destruction in the classic means."

To Jak she says "I am not fully aware of their abilities, or really many of their abilities. Please determine that mining device's real purpose and shut it down if you can. The Inquisitorial staff wish to take a look at that abomination and I'll let them, but I'll take your advisement, can you have your staff prepare boarding equipment for the guncutters and perhaps some defensive servitors that are void safe to rear-guard the team"

”Thank you my lady, perhaps a team of breachers on stand by and a gun cutter in readiness in case we are set adrift,” Tungsten bows and backs away a few paces before turning and leaving the bridge. The rest of the team also bow and follow her.

On the bridge the three-dimensional tactical display of planets and space ships has been replaced by an image of the Pious Lament, with the Eldar craft latched on to its back, it doesn’t sit square but at an angle of about thirty degrees and the damage that Cpt Rathnyr mentioned can be clearly seen along with other scars, burn marks and several quite large holes. The back of the vestal tapers to an elegant point with no sign of any thrust tubes or devices of that nature.

A short tube protrudes from the bottom of the ship and although it looks ridge it conforms to the curve of the Lament's hull, side by side, all around the bottom of the tube, heart shaped claws dig into the armoured plating clamping the two ships together, the seal is not total however and here and there between these claws, jets of escaping gas are visible, though not enough to cause concern.
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 "It is likely that the gravitic system resides in the wings of the vessel, I was not aware that their existing damage was so extensive. Immobilising them and then releasing the docking tube begins to seem far more practical, perhaps using extensive melta-charges emplaced around their boarding tube." Jak states as further Auspex information starts to come in, adding as he does so "The mining device is neutralised for the moment and there is no barrier to permitting Inquisitorial analysis run in tandem with our own."

While the rest of the senior staff dealt with the Elder ship directly Garu was setting his own operatives in motion.  These Xenos were known for their deception so he tasked his men to split into a few squads and head to locations on the ship that were out of the way and where an enemy could infiltrate unnoticed in the short term.  He would be more than happy if they came back with finding nothing but better safe than sorry.

While Obsidian takes up station in the temple, the rest of the inquisition team, and one of the servo skulls, utilise one of Jak’s grave lifters to rise up into the Eldar ship, as they neer the hole a black clad figure joins them on the platform from a hiding place high up in the ruined stone work. Within a moment they are lost to sight within the xenos vestal.
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Despite being cooped up in the Choir-chancel for the most part, Faith attempts to keep abreast of developments on the ship through Nevermore and reports from sympathetic voidsmen. However, the sight of the damage to the Temple-Shrine dismays her, and after instructing the rest of the choir to stay put, she changes into a sensible voidsuit and heads down to see how bad it is.

In a word, yes. The xenos were thorough in their desecration and the ship's defenders were more concerned with cleansing and purifying their taint as opposed to preserving the decorations. Faith puts her hands together and offers a quiet prayer to one of the few intact bas-reliefs honoring St Rybel Gorth, the Watcher in the Dark.

Even without her powers, she can sense the void-armored breacher behind her. He seems to be giving her time to finish her prayer, however, for which she is grateful. Once she finishes, she turns to face him, and he salutes upon seeing her Chorister Secundus badge.

"Uh, Ma'am, you shouldn't be here," he says. "Commander Asgard says we might be mobilized soon and there'll be fighting."

Faith nods.

"Very well. Thank you for giving me time for my communion, at least."

"Uh, you're welcome, ma'am," he says, and Faith leaves the Temple-Shrine so as not to distress the young man further. Still... what can she do to help? According to the breacher, they might be mobilized soon... which means an impending attack. Would it not be better if she could consult the Emperor's Tarot for insight? But then who can she speak to about the matter... probably Scarlet, yes. Anyone else would be overstepping her bounds.

The Navis Primaris was, perhaps, not fully pacified by the Lady Captain's assurances but it was enough for her to drop the matter for the moment with a polite bow of head and thanks for the assurances. Silently, Cennet began to make the necessary calculations regarding what she knew of the Pious Laments Gellar field dimensions and what of the immediate stellar phenomenon might impact such a translation. With the shutters in place, there was no other way to do it then stare through the lens of her third eye. The crew spares the worst of it by the exquisite mask that hid her withered visage from the crew. Still, one could sense that the eye was open in that pervasive and perverse sixth sense for the unnatural that any void farer possessed.

It was all she could do in the moment barring more warp devilry the Aeldari might draw upon. A fact that chafed at her already wounded ego but at least there was solace in the certainty of mathematical ritual albeit applied to the impossibilities of the Endless Sea

Some hour pass as people busy themselves with the recovery, Jak’s ‘plug’ for the hole is ready in it’s most basic of forms and is now being refined and improved. The energy build up in the rear of the Eldar ship has stabilised but there is enough energy there to vaporise the rear half of the Pious Lament.

It's a bit quiet right now so I'm just moving things along.
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Searlait receives a message. ++My Lady, we have discovered three survivors on the ship and they wish to negotiate.++

++If you can please take them aboard, through their boarding tunnel if possible, ship if not, I will have troops standing by to assist++ She voxes back to the Inquisitorial agent.

Not being well versed in the use of machine spirits Harmonia keeps her focus on the spirits of the living, their morale in particular.  Gathering those few who escaped injury she spends most of the first hour after the fight organizing them and having them distribute supplies to the wounded, even going so far as to prep a few longer range parties of those more familiar with the quiet parts of the ship to go search for wounded in unusual locations just to make sure the Xenos didn't cause to much trouble elsewhere on the ship.

After a short while the inquisitors team appear in the opening and descend on the grav lifter, with them are three Eldar and the man in a black body suit who joined them when they entered. The Eldar have a graceful elegance about them, even though one of their number is badly injured with a serious burn on his neck and one side of his face and several deep cut wounds. They are dressed in lose flowing robes of some silky substance, in pale muted colours, the blood soaking through the robes of the injured one seems to be a brighter red than human blood.

“Your people have much savagery and skill,” one of them says, stepping forward a little towards Searlait, ”we are thoroughly beaten and our lives are forfeit.” There is hardly any accent in his voice but it is very hard to read any emotion into it.

”We would ask one small boon from our conqueror and in exchange will not vaporise our ship along with your own,” the voice remains steady and free from emotion.
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"Savagery as claimed by someone who attacks those without call as they arrive into a system." she says coldly to the Xenos leader. As he makes his request for a boon she says "State your request, I will not hold be beholden to it until I know what is asked"

 Explorator Tesla has relatively little to do with significant policy decisions at this juncture - he has provided advice regarding the Xeno vessel but circumstances have overtaken it, and it is not really his place to decide larger matters of policy, so he instead focusses his considerable augmented intellect upon matters of repair and refit, improving the efficiency with which the Pious Lament can be expected to recover from its recent trials.

” Each of us carries a stone like this,” the Eldar indicates a pale blue gem on a silken cord around his neck, ”they might be considered as the ‘dog tags’ your Militarrium wear. Gather these from all of our dead and let just one of us return them to our people. We have an auxiliary craft that is still intact and such a merciful deed would be known by the all of our race and could influence any future encounters. Without this, our souls as well as our lives are forfeit and all we have left is the bitter bile of vengeance.”
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 There has always been something of a mystery regarding the gemstones which feature so prominently in every single Eldar suit of armour - technotheologically dead, for the most part and yet wired into the most fundamental systems of the suit by anathema-adjacent circuitry, but when the Eldar mentions 'souls' Jak looks up from where he's plugged into the cogitator network to express his opinion of the matter.

 "If the loss of these gemstones represents a loss of the soul of these Xenos to the Immaterium, then this is in effect, a hostage negotiation. I counsel against the destruction of the stones, of course - feeding the creatures of the Immaterium is never wise - but to permit the recovery of these hostages in exchange for all Imperial data the Xenos have access to, up to date information regarding the system or even a ransom of stolen Archeotech drawn from the Xenos contacts would all be appropriate in this situation." he states, "Assuming that our Inquisitorial associates declare it acceptable to do so."

"Please, act as you see fit in this matter, there will be no reprocusions from the inquisition."

Searlait pondered on the Eldar's request for a few moments and listened to the Inquisitorial agents comments on no repercussions as to her response and the Tech-Priest's caution of the stones destruction and data to be gained, she replied "I counter your request for the stones safe removal with the following, 1. I will allow you to recover as may stones as possible from the dead of the ship attached and on My vessel, 2. I will allow a search of the debris of the other vessel under close guard to recover any survivors and stones of the deceased. 3. I will take one in ten stones into my protection to ensure you do not further harm my interests, Any of your kind currently alive will be allowed to stay as such, should you wish up to two of you may stay on this vessel under close security to maintain vigil over these remaining stones with the rest being returned to you people at my earliest convenience at a mutually agreed upon spot. 4. Any information you possess about the plans Gilvan Vexel has and what your part was to be in it an why you agreed. 5. Cessation of all hostilities of your people against me and mine, failure to do so will see forfeiture of their safety and lead to the destruction of the Stones in my possession. Agreeable?"

”You are generous with your terms Lady Saoirse and we will comply with the understanding that I can only speak for my crew, not my race, regarding the cessation of hostilities.”

True to their word, on this occasion, the Eldar power down their ‘bomb’ straight away, and also the hole cutter at the back of the temple is deactivated is by strolling one of the legs in a series of complex gestures. Solestones are gathered from all the deceased on the ship, but only two are recovered from the other ship which had literally been blown to bits, the Eldar have no interest in the bodies after that, or any of their materials, including their damaged ship. Once Jak has patched the temple roof and ensured it air tight the Eldar, (with permission), close the hole in their own ship and realise the clamps so that it is floating free, after retrieving an auxiliary craft about the size of a gun cutter.

When questioned they tell of an association with Galvin Vexel going back fifteen years, starting with a trade of Eldar artifacts that he had obtained with some human artifacts that their previous leader had obtained and developing into a mutual piracy pact in which Vexel would supply details of a human ship, the Eldar would raid it for slaughter and slaves and Vexel would come in afterward and loot the ship’s carcass. It seems that twelve ships had met this fate and they had also raided four human settlements. They give precise details on each of these collaborations, including the locations and dates. This latest venture was a little different to the rest as Vexel wanted the Pious Lament intact. I had been easy for them to smuggle an agent on board with the cooperation of Master Fesian, the previous Captain’s aid, and Blake al'Duath the High Factotem. The agent was complicit with Fesian in the Lord Harington Velspar’s death but the plans had to be changed and bought forward when Lady Saoirse was so quickly instated as the new Captain.

The intention when attacking the ship had been to blind with an attack on the auspex capability, to ‘decapitate’ it if by taking out the bridge and senior crew and to board and cripple it by taking out the drives. None of those things went to plan, the attack in the auspex fin failed, the attack on the bridge failed and their ship, although cloaked, was spotted and fired upon which disabled its gravity wings, as a result it barely made it to the Lament and ended up on top of her, rather than underneath, cutting through to the Temple rather than the Engineerium, and coming up against the heavy resistance that thwarted them.

While this goes on, life in the rest of the ship continues, the pious Lament drifts along is previous heading towards the planet with it’s drives powered down, and on-board people pick up the pieces and try to get back to normality.

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As the state of crisis resolved itself and reports filtered to the bridge, the Navigatrix allowed herself to acknowledge her own condition. The efforts to stabilize her by the emergency response teams had been sufficient to allow her to ignore the true extremity of her injury and, perhaps ill advisedly, ignore it through effort of will and testing of her withered and treacherous form. The continued pain of breathing, articulation of any sort, and the dull, agonizing scraping and pulling of battered ribs, shattered carapace, and bloodied clothes had driven the point home, however, that she was of no further use until properly administered to.

It was quiet conversations via microbead with her heads of security and peers then that arranged for the rotation of duties as they applied to her station and position as an interim solution... and to ensure she had sufficient escort and support to endure the journey to come. Her strength was dubious at the best of times in matters of the physical... to test it further now seemed to invite the indignity of a collapse in some transit station between here and the Hospice. A fate that was best not explored if only because one addled mutineer or another might take one last opportunity to wound and disrupt the smooth operation of the Pious Lament.

++I suspect it's not a surprise but for now I'll retire to see about repairs and addressing my... varied injuries. Lady Sheridan shall stand in should any assistance be required from House Shiraishi in the interim.++ the Navigatrix offered via both spoken voice and vox channels to those departments and officers that might be impacted by a duty rotation among the Navigators of the vessel. Her tone civil and composed but still breathless and tinged by a certain, concerted note of effort to keep it that way.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Sun 23 Apr 2023.

Searlait has the entire story recorded by servo-skulls, servitors and adepts while having a member of astropathic choir to assist where needed. Once the chronicle is complete she has a secondary copy compiled unto a data-slate and hands it to Tungsten "I believe this should be the evidence needed to declare Galvin Vexel Excommunicate Traitoris" she says.


"Asgard, gather a guard unit and escort the Eldar to gather their stones, make sure none are hidden "

++Wing commander Simian Laurel, return the fighters to their decks, rearm and refuel. I will probably need you to take some guests to investigate that wreak++

"In six hours, barring anything untoward, we start moving in system towards our target of Gelron to spread the light of the God-Emperor!" she addresses the crew before departing and making her way back to her quarters, quickly disarms and sees to her frightened child.

As it happens, Faith is the member of the choir who helps with recording the testament. Despite her outward expression of calm professionalism tinged with just a hint of eagerness, she's actually quite intrigued by the Eldar soulstones. To think, one can store an entire person, an entire spirit, inside a shiny bauble! How fascinating!

After properly recording the statement and ensuring that the First Officer's sub-office gets copies, Faith returns just in time to hear the Captain hand off the search and recovery operation to the Master at Arms, whereupon she volunteers her services.

"I have some experience with the divinatory arts; I believe my last waystation graded my proficiency at the Silver Aeon. I believe I could be useful in your search!"

Gregory is a little unnerved by meeting an actual real-life xeno outside of battle for the first time, but the Captain has ordered him not to kill them, but to help them, and as a military man, he understands the significance of dogtags as a remembrance of fallen friends. Between professionalism and empathy, there is little room for animosity and soon that is forgotten as he shifts his mind to carrying out his duty.

"Understood, ma'am," Gregory replies with a salute before turning to Faith.

"So, you're one of Scarlet's girls, then? You're welcome to help, but-"

One of the Eldar points out that there might be soulstones in space, and Gregory nods.

"Well, like he-" Gregory is briefly at a loss as to whether the xeno he is addressing is indeed male or female; the void armor isn't helping "-Or she said, there might be soulstones in space, and frankly speaking, our boys aren't that good with zero-G stuff yet. I can lend you some of my breachers; they have void training and should be useful for grabbing stuff from the void. Will that work for you?"

When the ceasefire had been agreed upon, Rav repositioned so that he could assist in the search for whatever these Soul Stones were that the Eldar seemed desperate to retain and protect. When WC Laurel called for assistance in the retrieval, he'd volunteered his craft to assist immediately. He'd never seen the inside of an Eldar craft before.

Rav initiated a return to base. Several of his Interceptors were badly in need of repairs. The rest of his wing joined him in returning to the Pious Lament's hangar bay so that repairs, refits, and refuels could be performed on each of the vessels. Once the Umbra I touched down and mag-clamped their landing gear onto the hangar bay floor, Ravandio Rathnyr powered down the vehicle and got up out of his chair. He hadn't realized how tightly he'd been gripping the control sticks on his craft until he finally uncurled them and the joints ached. He laughed softly. It hadn't been from nerves. He hadn't been nervous while he was out there in the void. It had been from excitement.

Rav 'kissed' the tips of his fingers (or rather mimicked the action since he was stuck in a helmeted void suit) and slapped it on the hatch that opened up out onto the flight deck. Umbra I had kept him alive once again. He made his way to where it was that WC Laurel had instructed him to muster for boarding the vessel and assisting in search.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Mon 24 Apr 2023.

 With the Eldar having little interest in the remnants of their wrecked vessels, once these 'soul-stones' have been collected, Jak occupies himself in a number of tasks of varying degrees of urgency.

 Extensive auspex scans of Eldar technology in use, in operation and being shut down are gathered, annotated and cached for transmission to the next Forge-World that they visit - as well as copied for his personal records - along with a report containing an extensive supposition on the nature and importance of the gemstones that they're gathering, with a specific observation that the perfidious Xenos may well place so great a value upon them that securing them from battlefields may well give the Adeptus the means to compel them to return long-lost archeotech held by them.

 He also serves as the central hub for the repair efforts, not so much by physically going out and welding anything himself, but by standing next to the biggest communications station he can find and linking directly to the local ships cogitators to coordinate resources, staff and reports to maximise the effectiveness of their damage control operations.

 One modest aside sees him propose to the Lord-Captain and Ordnance Master Vanlen that the tumbling wreckage would make a serviceable gun-crew-by-crew training target in the time they have before acceleration can commence again and they begin to pull apart.

Faith nods eagerly as Master of Arms Asgard lays out her assignment. One would think she had just been freed from a decade-long oubliette from her response.

"No problem!" she replies, making a mental note of what she'll need for this endeavor. Voidsuit, magboots... runabout? She vaguely remembers how to pilot one of those, but she would much rather let someone competent do that instead. She listens attentively to Gregory as the latter talks to the flight boss and sends word to detach a squad to report to the Flight Deck for their assignment, then quickly briefs faith on what she should be doing.

Half an hour later, after leaving Nevermore safely secured aboard the ship, Faith meets half a dozen breachers on the Flight Deck, outside Docking Bay 4, where Ferrum Aeternum is docked. A techpriest has already laid out some kind of strange sheeting in the main hold of the guncutter and is reciting the prayers of engine-activation over its drives while the pilot is complementing his efforts with tbe Litany of Preflight inside the cockpit. The breachers are a little nervous about being in such close proximity to a "warp witch", but Faith can tell that there isn't much malice there; after all, they've seen the Master at Arms being all chummy with Scarlet and that's gone a long way to defusing the misgivings they have about her. While they are of the opinion that six people to assist Faith in recovering Eldar baubles is five too many, orders are orders, and the extra Thrones for zero-gee work are always welcome.

After everyone has emplaned and Ferrum Aeternum is awaiting takeoff permission from the Lament's void traffic control, Faith briefly outlines a flight plan that she'd like the pilot to follow. According to the Emperor's Tarot, this unconventional course has the highest chance of yielding success in their endeavors. The pilot is somewhat confused, but reasons that Faith must have her reasons given how insistent she seems to be about it.

The first waypoint is almost two full VUs directly above the Lament and well beyond the limits of a conventional search pattern. Faith is so eager to urge the breachers to "prepare to catch it!" that she's on the verge of opening the hatch and heading out into the void herself. The puzzled breachers nevertheless set up the salvage nets used to keep large components from drifting away during open void repairs, and almost immediately they see it; a damaged chunk of the xeno vessel heading their way, followed by several xeno corpses in voidsuits tumbling through the void. Whatever Faith did to get this informatio, it was accurate enough to set them up on an intercept coursefor it despite everything having happened a few hours ago. The breachers are so surprised by this that Faith has to tap their helmets to get them to bring the bodies - and their attendant soulstones - back inside. Once she's satisfied with the haul, she directs the pilot to head to their next waypoint.

This one is a tiny asteroid little larger than the guncutter itself, which the Lament's augurs would have disregarded as an auspex glitch or otherwise insignificant detritus. With expert maneuvering from the pilot, the guncutter matches velocity with the asteroid, holding course less than 10 meters away from it, which is enough for Faith to jump out of the hatch (attached to a spool of climbing line, of course) and make landfall. Upon landing, she pauses briefly, then heads straight for a little hollow on the asteroid's surface and emerges with a void-armored xeno's body. Its armor's maneuvering thrusters are broken and it apparently died from a ruptured air supply. According to Faith, the last thing it did was bury a small cache of soulstones underneath it, which she found and retrieved.

The third stop is closer to the Lament; almost zero degrees on the Lament's horizontal plane and nearly 180 degrees straight behind it. By now, the breachers have been convinced of the efficacy of Faith's powers of prognostication and they don't question her request for them to voidwalk and collect the Eldar bodies tumbling slowly through the void. Unfortunately, it seems they were killed by sprays of shrapnel and as such, most of their soulstones are cracked or destroyed.

The rest of their time is spent following a more standard search pattern, recovering individual bodies and soulstones whenever Faith's divinations tell her there is something to find. However, the constant course corrections and maneuvering burn through fuel much faster than their previous plan of heading to specified points, and by the time Faith shrugs and says she can't pick up anything else, the pilot announces that they're bingo on fuel. Having made a good-faith attempt to recover as many soulstones as possible, Faith agrees that they should return to the vessel.

In total, they come back with 25 largely intact soulstones; not a bad haul for several hours of work. More importantly, the breachers appear to be much more comfortable around Faith now; some of them even smile to her as they make their way out of the storage hold after dropping off what they've recovered.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:13, Tue 25 Apr 2023.

With the current troubles seemingly having been taken care of Garu signals his teams to cease current operations and go back to preparing for the arrival on Gelron.  He does re-route Gleece to accompany him after hearing that Asgard has been given orders to escort the Xenos.  Making his way to him the Master of Whispers remarked to Asgard, "Asgard...if you don't mind a few of mine coming along to help with the search on the ship to help out that would be appreciated."  The man wasn't wearing his usual noble garb; beautiful robes and tunics, expensive shoes and glistening rings with rubies.  Instead it was far more menial looking in nature as if a scholar or academic with a satchel and some tools.  The same could be said for the four others that were there with him.

Gregory turns as he hears Garu addressing him.

"No problems there," he says. "Could use people who know the underdecks well. If you don't mind, could you spread the word? I know you and Vormav have... connections among the crew. Tell them that anyone who's taken anything from the xenos' corpses or the corpses themselves will be duly compensated if they turn the items in to your people or mine, no questions asked. I don't blame people for seizing opportunities, but the Lady gave her word, and I'd rather not have one of her people make a liar out of her."

Gregory holds no illusions that he can find everything and everyone with just the armsmen - the disruption to normal operations would be too great. Might as well enlist the crew as well. The flip side of this arrangement is that if Gregory or ship security finds anything which looks like a precious xeno gemstone on the crew, it's immediate confiscation and brig time for the crew member in question. Classic good-cop, bad-Arbites routine.

While he's gearing up for the search, he receives word from Virk about losses incurred during the recent combat. They require attention, especially since might be an upcoming planetary landing...

++I'll speak with Mr. Church about it later. Need to take care of this soulstone business first.++

Then he turns back to Garu.

"We'll be moving out in about half an hour. I'll see you at the Temple-Shrine."

***

After getting reports on where the xenos were sighted, Gregory allocates platoon-sized units of fresh armsmen to go around recovering xeno bodies and weapons, bringing them all back to the storage hold that's been designated as xeno containment. That way there's a centralized location for Enginseer Jak Tesla and their Eldar "guests" to visit and check the effects of whatever they've recovered.

Then, it's time to collect corpses. Quite a few of the bodies have spittle or other, more noxious substances on them; the xenos did a fair bit of damage and the survivors were understandably upset at the killers of their comrades. Gregory loads them all up into the "meatwagons" (corpse transport trolleys) that have been reserved for the purpose. Crew corpses go into their own meatwagons, so the Ecclesiarchal contingent can commend their souls to the Emperor before their fleshly shells are rendered down into corpse-starch. It's a tedious process, but a necessary one, and eventually, it is complete. Maybe some of the bodies or some of their trinkets have been spirited away, but that's for Garu's people to handle.

It doesn’t take long to locate all of the xeno bodies, there were only four bodies and one prisoner left on the bridge after the assault there withdrew, the agent who was killed when trying to access the warp gate that Hadrian had destroyed and nearly two hundred in the chapel. Only fourteen Eldar had survived and their leader confirms that all of his crew are accounted for.

The other Eldar ship that had been blown to bits by a well-placed broadside did not fare so well, there were no survivors, apart from the fighter pilot crews who had fled the scene, and only twenty-five of their sole stones recovered by Faith, non the less, the Eldar captain seems very grateful that the humans had taken the trouble.

Eldar bodies are laid out in the Temple, seeing as that is where most of them are to start with, Human bodies are removed to the Mortarium, there are eighty-two of these including those who died on firing the first broadside. The Mortarium has a limited number of viewing tubes but as it is a dedicated area in the corner of the Hall of St Gothren rather than a separate room, space is not a limiting factor and the remaining bodies are laid out on medical gurneys, tables and whatever else comes to hand, once draped in a white sheet it matters little what they are lying on, equal respect is afforded even to the lowliest loading serf. Five of these bodies are of Mechanicus personal, (three from the gunnery accident, two who died defending the auspex cogitators), these are placed on white draped gurneys to one side of the Mortarium.

Meanwhile Mr Yorick, (Master of the Vox), has been monitoring vox coms on the planet and reports that there are several public service broadcasts and that everything else is heavily encrypted in one of a seven different syphers. The manufactorum on the other hand is broadcasting a continuous series of three dimensional coordinates at quite a low power.

Paklor Ank, (Master of Etherics), has identified several areas on the surface whose auspex signatures are consistent with conflict in progress.

OOC Do any of you guys have skills in cryptology or anything of that nature?
.

Garu nodded, "I will pass it along."  He gestured to those that were with him to proceed with their work while he asked Mr Yorick to patch through some of the vox comms for him to process on the data-pad while quoting things to his auto-quill to write so he could make quick comparisons.


ooc:
08:54, Today: Garu Finnigan rolled 3 -- 5 degrees of success using the Only War system with a target number of 46.  Challenging Trade (Cryptographer).
:P

OOC:
Faith is a trained cryptographer too (SLore Cryptography) because all astropaths may have to process coded communications. Can she assist Garu? It would reduce the difficulty of the roll by 10 and give +1 DoS if he suceeds. Though it may be a little unfair/unnecessary since eh already rolled...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Tue 25 Apr 2023.

Later in the evening after Shireen is put to sleep, she spends another hour with Medb, just lying together after the stresses of the day. After that she had a duty to return to and she got up wearily and heads to her offices and the mountain of data-slates, scrolls and petitioners that the adjutants corral, correlate and prepare in the priorities she would seem most important.

Before taking any of these she sends a quick missive to Asgard to attempt to have all weapons returned to their armouries and checked for clear function, have all xenos weapons, armour & equipment collected, catalogued and stowed together in a guarded store-room until further notice. Have the Xenos put into another room with a guard platoon on protection and incarceration duty.

Once done she calls to the adjutant to send in the first of the petitioners, a member of the ships Chirurgeon with current tallies of deaths, injuries and missing, sectioned into the work crews then sub-sections. She accepts this, thanks them for their work and dismisses them to rest as the next is lead in, and the litany of status updates go on for hour a few hours. Once done her chrono chimes indicating that her own timing has been hit and she feels the reactors in the ship power up to full as they begin to move in system.

Making her way to the bridge she watches as they leave the debris of battle. All their ships recalled but prepared for short notice launch. "Status Report" she says taking a seat unto the command throne.


OOC: Spend time w/family. have xenos stuff collected. Have info about the planet relayed to her

Gregory delivers a quick rundown of the number of bodies found, equipment and soulstones collected, as well as Faith's contribution to the deep void retrieval operations. He also informs the Captain about losses taken during the boarding action and states his intentions to supplement them with twists and other undocumented denizens of the lament.

He does add one last question at the end; "May I ask how you intend to dispose of the xenos and their effects, Ma'am?"

Vormav makes an appearance on the bridge. He takes note of Mr. Asgard's intention to use the undocumented. "I was preparing a report on that topic but interdepartmental negotiations have been slow going in the wake of the battle. The undocumented insurgents that we captured. They seem to have been psychically conditioned by the Aldari. I'm yet to determine if the damage can be undone by the Astropathic department on board. I've made my concerns about the undocumented no secret but any we recruit should be thoroughly vetted both by medical and by our telepaths."

"I'm also curious to know the intended fate of the xenos materiel. I know a few wealthy officials who would pay a healthy stack of gelt to have one of those trophies mounted on their wall."

"Hm, nobody told me about that. Well, if they were compromised by the Eldar, we can use them as penal troops. Better them than someone actually loyal to the Dynasty."

"Not that I'm strictly opposed to the concept I would have to look at the numbers there is probably a reason most ship's security favor quality over quantity, but without the customary det-collars or something similar penal troops are just armed disgruntled crewmen. Not hard to acquire in general but not something we have on hand. I had considered asking the mechanus contingent what their capability was outfitting them as servitors but I expect with the losses at out previous port of call they won't have the components necessary for the number of prisoners we have on hand."

Garu's mind, pad and auto-quill were still working on the syphers that were going on as well as cataloguing what he had been able to recover from his investigation of the Aldari.  Dressed back in his usual clothing and accountments as he returned to the bridge and hearing about the psychic conditioning that had been done on individuals he added in to the mix, "When we do any of those in depth vetting by the medicae and telepaths I would like to be present for some of them or read the results and view any pict-vid taken to see if some other...tics...can be found both in noticing them in the future or used to our own advantage."

Shortly after Garu enters, Faith turns up with a dataslate in hand.

"Greetings, ma'am, sirs," she says politely. "Mr. Finnegan asked me and the rest of the astropathic department to help out with the cipher decryption and I believe we've finished our portion. I also couldn't help but hear something about psychic conditioning and vetting of unregistered crew via telepaths... Will there be a lot of people to process?"

To Asgard's question she responds "I haven't decided quite yet, for now contain and store. Some may be awarded as prizes of war, others may be sold or exchanged as needed." she tells the Arms-Master "Is there a request you wish to make of them?"

"Restore them if you can, the penal systems you devise should suffice and is approved I have a feeling we will need combat troops soon."

"Garu you have my blessing to be present at any vetting processes that go forward from these undocumented"

Ravandio was more than a little excited to cross over onto the eldar craft to search for their soul stones. He didn't exactly know what a soul stone was, or what it looked like, but it gave him a chance to see the interior of the alien craft. From the outside they had been impressive vessels, all curves and lethality. Rav still didn't understand how they had flown through the void. They didn't have any sort of drives that his tech-priest had been able to identify. The 'wings' on their sides seemed to be some sort of propulsion system, as when they had been damaged or destroyed the craft had lost it's drive. Or perhaps they were some sort of power plant. It seemed like bad design to make something so crucial to the operation of your vessel so completely vulnerable and frail. They relied too much on speed, hit-and-run.

Bolt pistol in hand, he crossed over into the Eldar vessel and started a systematic sweep alongside the others that had been volunteered as a temporary search party. He didn't find any of their soul stones, somewhat disappointingly he would have to admit later. He'd have liked to have a look at them and try and figure out why they had been so important. Rav did find something else that caught his eye, though. He looked it over carefully, and when he was sure that there were no one around, Rav stuffed it carefully into the pack that he'd brought with him. He continued to search the craft until the search was called off and retreated from the Eldar ship.

It was certainly an experience that would stick in his mind for a while. With no soul stones to report, Rav retired to his own personal quarters. He shrugged off the pack he'd been carrying and set it down on his bunk and pulled out the object. Ravandio didn't dare mess with it, unsure of what it did. It would certainly be worth something if he could find the right buyer. He took the object and stowed it away in his secure footlocker, carefully padding it with some of his old clothes, locking the chest back up when he was sure that it would be safe. He sat down on his bunk and kicked his feet up, leaning back. It had been a long day so far, and some rest would be useful. He cradled the back of his head with his hands, fingers interlocking. Thinking back over the last many hours, the combat out in the void and then the search of the enemy craft, Rav drifted off to sleep. It didn't last long. A couple of hours later, he sits straight up in his bunk, his body drenched in sweat. Hopefully no one had heard him scream.

Garu dipped his head to respect Searlait, "Thank you m'Lady.."

Looking over to Faith he nodded, "If I might?  I need to validate one of my analysts or disprove and start from scratch before I give the decoding spirit to the Master of Vox to illuminate what is being said ahead." he reached his hand out to see the dataslate and what her choir had been able to come up with and compare it to what his own teams had been able to figure out.

While the temples, in particular the now ruined one, are her domain Harmonia's access to the rest of the ship is largely through the conduit of its people rather than paperwork.  To make the best of her limited resources and time she decides upon a clever way to overlap them.  Instead of this seventh day's service in the Hall of St Gothren she schedules an event, identified as a demonstration of faith open to all it's intent is not particularly subtle.  Redirected to the broken temple, and provided with simple easy to use tools, tarps, ropes, and wagons of various shapes and sizes she helps organize a veritable hoard of devoted followers to help with the clean up process of the massive temple turned war zone.  Those with actual skills are put to work doing their specialized tasks but many people are just picking up debris and or dusting off or repositioning the least damaged furniture into some configuration that might be at least moderately functional.

While it may seem window dressing to some the addition of free food and a ready supply of water and healthy high energy drink options is a well coordinated form of magic from the perspective of what is still technically a volunteer workforce, bolstering both their moral and their own assessment of their spiritual devotion.

"Prizes of war is exactly it, ma'am," he says in as dignified a way as possible. "But it is your prerogative to dispose of them as you see fit and I didn't want to assume anything. I was thinking one of each class of weapon, provided it is not too excessive."

Vormav pages through some screens on his data slate and then looks up at Faith "Oh, I'll forward the details to you. There are a fair few. My hope would be that once you identify the effects they will become easier to spot, as Mr. Finnigan implied, but I have no idea if that will be the case."

"I've yet to perform the evaluation. But I expect that if we were to sell the xeno-tech in bulk one or two weapons would not make a notable difference in the equation." Vormav says off-handedly by way of advising the captain.

EDIT:

"Speaking of the xeno-vessel. Would a surface level salvage operation not be appropriate? Obviously the vessel itself will need to be destroyed but there are no doubt other artefacts on board?"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Fri 28 Apr 2023.

 The provision of the Mechanicus for their dead is straightforward - according to expressed preference they go either to the Servitorium or the Plasma conduits, after appropriate mourning and remembrance (during a mandated shift break, the labour must go on, after all) - and barely breaks the massive flow of work that is passing through their particular subculture, teams of tech-priests, adepts and laymen rushing hither and yon in order to bring this or that damaged or faulty system back up to its pre-battle status.

 Jak himself is at the pivotal centre of this effort, rarely seen outside of his work - although he does express the highly orthodox position that while using xenos weaponry when good, Imperial arms are available is borderline heretical at best, but that the Adeptus Mechanicus could care less (within certain understandable limits) what a rich person chooses to hang on their wall or display on a plinth - and his reports are equal parts regular, complete and bafflingly unhelpful since he doesn't quite seem to know how to step down from 'technotheocraticly correct' to 'comprehensible to someone who doesn't have a kilo or two of molecular circuitry serving in place of one of his lobes'.

 His recommendation that the tumbling wreckage be used for gunnery practice remains on the books however... With one notable exception, as he emerges from his symbiosis with the machine-spirit to observe "There is nothing of value to the orthodoxy in Eldar construction or techno-sorcery, but it is possible that they have seized trophies of their own. An expedition would not be inappropriate."

"Extend the time to departure by an hour, bring over search teams and salvage anything of value, or that is human in origin that may be important. Asgard can provide forces, Tesla if you could perhaps detach a tech-priest or two for each search party to ensure no xenos tech-sorcery will infect the Lament." she tells Vormav

Looking to Asgard she says "Eyeing a piece for your wall eh? fine, you can take three weapons, mark them in the ledgers once they are finished and take them then, but remember they may look appealing but nothing beats solid Imperial tech" and with that she pats the Volkite serpenta at her hip.

"Thank you, Ma'am. And of course, you are correct about Imperial tech. Still, it is good to have a physical reminder of the folly of xeno ways." Gregory nods. "I'll let you know the items I'm requesting once we finish a final inventory of everything. Vormav, will a company of breachers be enough for an escort?"

He briefly considers what else they'll need, and then a thought comes to mind.

"Didn't one of our people, Ravandio, I believe, lead an expedition into the xeno vessel before this? Maybe we could consult him on his experiences or enlist him on the expedition if needed."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Sun 30 Apr 2023.

 With the senior crew securing their 'trophies' and a task at hand, Jak considers the problem for several tenths of a second and then chimes in an agreeable fashion "The deployment will be a short one, but it should be possible to detach a flight of Servo-skulls equipped with auspex units and there will be some of the ordained who are willing to risk exposure to Xenotech in order to have the chance of recovering lost artefacts of the Omnissiah. I shall have them dispatched to the hanger bay."

Garu had been looking down at his datapad and quietly speaking to his auto-quill up until a moment ago.  Looking up he offered the datapad to Vormav, "These should be the ciphers for the encrypted communications coming from Gelron thanks to Faith and the Chorus' skill at picking apart important pieces of the planets encryption."  He offered a nod to Faith and seemingly passed along the credit to her and her team without a hitch.

Shifting back to the detailed search of the ship he added as he offered, "Seeing as I went on board to help locate the soulstones and am at least basically familiar with the layout I should be able to help expedite things a little while my teams work on sorting through the communications once they are decoded."

There were certain levels of protocol when it came to the medical care of a Navigator. The nature of their genetic deviations from the norm, the dangers represented by certain aspects of their anatomy, and more beside all ensured that there was a careful vetting process as part of any contract with any of the Houses of the Navis Nobilite. This also meant, as a matter of courtesy, that the Navis Primaris' arrival and needs had been pre-announced to the attendant staff of the Hospice. The question only remained as to how quickly they might attend to her wounds given complicated nature of post combat triage.

Especially when one considered some of the more delicate work that would demand the attention of other departments. After all, the ceramic encasement of her form was not something... typical of the greater breadth of the Imperium and presented a complication all it's own when it came to the task of attending to her medical needs. The thought of it brought with it a deepening of the ever present headache that crawled it's way up through the length of back and neck... and complimented the other agonies that wormed down from shoulders and hips. The wretched treachery of her body every present and ever eager to remind with each step and motion as she and her escort drew upon the beleaguered offices and desk that managed intake.

"I would hope one more patient won't overburden your teams?" the Navigator asked in a voice that remained civil but strained and breathless after the journey. The various numbing agents and medications long since flushed from her system since re-translation and the betrayal. She was eager to be about the matter so she might pay a visit to Master Grund... and then return to what duties there may be for her in the moment.

While a future sortie back into the eldar space craft was being discussed elsewhere, Rav reached over and took hold of some cloth that was just lying around. He bunched it up and wiped it across his forehead and his neck, sopping away the sweat that had drenched him in his sleep. Frustrated, he threw the cloth against the wall of his private quarters and reached for his bottle of amasec. He uncorked the brown bottle and took a nip before replacing it next to his bunk. He leaned forwards, resting his head on his hands as he struggled to get his breathing under control.

Once he had calmed himself, Ravindio pushed himself up from his bunk and slipped back into his boots. He leaned over and laced them up, standing straight and pulling his belt back on across his hips. Out of routine, he checked the magazine in his bolt pistol, ensuring that a round was chambered, and reholstered the pistol. Rav punched the button on to release his door and stepped out into the hall. Maybe he could go to the mess and get something to eat.

Vormav nods, "More than sufficient, this whole endeavor is a bit unorthodox. But I suppose if everything that will be taken will end up as trade goods and the enemy is already dispatched then it should fall to me."

After the Mechanus contingent give their support he says "We will make haste, this is hardly the most important thing that needs doing."

"I'll send one of my boys down to see if the Wing Commander's up for the trip. I assume we'll be entering through the Temple-Shrine again? I can't imagine Miss Wells is going to be too happy about armed men tramping in through her services... Anyway."

The order for 1st Company (the one which went into the auspex fin with Gregory) to suit up and prepare for a boarding action is not met with much enthusiasm (they have, after all, just been through a vertical battlefield), but they know his attitude toward such things - "you don't have to like it, you just have to do it" - and soon close to a hundred men are armed, armored and ready to deploy.

Meanwhile, Gregory sends a vox message over to Ravandio: +Captain wants to sweep the xeno vessel one last time before we push off. Know anything that could help us out?+
This message was last edited by the player at 03:24, Thu 04 May 2023.

While not inherently a happy person Harmonia doesn't seem any worse for wear with the addition of still more armored individuals to the temple.  Today's service, such that it is, seems to be progressing nicely with volunteers from all over the ship working with the uninjured temple staff to clean up after the brute force repair jobs that did little more than repair the structure of the ship's hull.  The only pieces left significantly damaged now are the stained glass windows, which will take a lot more time for the ship's artists to reproduce in the appropriate quality.

Turning away from the organized chaos she has set in motion to address the new mission she asks whoever presents themselves as in charge.  ”Should we prepare for more hostilities in the temple, or are you merely here to pay your respects before passing through?”

The cleaning up and repair to the Temple continue, in place of the two regular seventh day services, the Ship’s Confessor has drafted the congregations from the Hall of St Gothren to help with the effort, of course that may people won’t actually fit into the Temple but they do manage to clear away all the debris for recycling and sweep, clean and dust the rest until the remaining wreckage is spotless. Meanwhile there are still eighty-two bodies lying in the Mortarium so a service of commitment to the Emperor is conducted by one of the lessor clergy.

A looting expedition into the Eldar vestal is conducted and retrieves everything that is not nailed down, plus a few items that are, resulting in just over two tones of Eldar artifacts. Two light boats are found during the search, not easily identified at first as they are integrated into the rest of the ship, these are left intact.

Faith has aided Garu and his team in deciphering the messages from the planet surface and deduced that there is a war going on between two factors, one calling themselves the Northern Alliance the other the Gelron Primacy. The uncoded civic broadcasts contain music, news, drama and chat shows, all heavily laced with propaganda for one side or the other but all containing an appropriate proportion of Empirical Cult content and no suggestion of heresy except for an occasional dig at the opposing side. The encoded military signals revile little without appropriate geographic context as the concern troop movements and logistics on the planetary surface.

With repairs to the Pious Laments hull completed the surviving Eldar, along with the majority of the soul stones, are let on board and permitted to leave in the small craft, they obligingly release their ship from the back of the Lament before doing so and the wrecked Eldar vestal is left floating in space.

Auspex operators report that the Emperor’s Glory has entered the warp but just before doing so let of a huge amount of local defence fire for no apparent reason.

As the time approaches to move in system the crew assembles on the bridge. Accompanied the canticles for safe passage chanted by what is left of the choir, and the blessings of the ship’s confessor the drives come online and the background noises of the Pious Lament take on a deeper rumble that is felt as much as heard. Above the furiously working tech priests the Nixey display shows fourteen hours, twenty-two minutes and fifty-eight, fifty-seven fifty-six seconds as it begins counting down for arrival in orbit.

.

Rav was wandering down a hall, intent on making his way to the mess hall to get something to eat when his personal vox chirps and someone starts talking to him. +There is nothing really to it, sir. I do not know that we left behind any of those soul stones or whatever, if that is what they are concerned about. I can suit up and join you crossing over if you would like.+ Ravandio was really hoping that Asgard would say yes. It was an interesting craft, and there was likely something else he could pick up and stow away for a rainy day if he went over into the Eldar craft one more time. When would he get another chance?

+Join us at the Temple-Shrine, then. We've got the breachers with us so it shouldn't be too dangerous.+

***

Some time later, Gregory arrives at the Temple-Shrine just in time to hear Harmonia's question. He smiles to her and replies, "I do apologize for running the lads through the basilica so often. Rest assured, this will be our last visit here as militants for now, though some of us will continue visitng as part of the faithful."

He glances into the distance, at Slab, the Ogryn bodyguard and Katyusha, his minder. They are currently engaged in clearing the last of the debris, and they have done so while being remarkably unremarkable. Then he looks back at Harmonia and offers her an oblong package wrapped in shiny tan archival plastic.

"A small token of our sincerity," he winks.

Harmonia accepts the package offered her and tucks it away into a pocket of her robe to be opened later.  ”Do not make proclamations you can not keep.  There will come a time when the militant are needed again, and they too will serve in the required capacity.  Your faith is welcome but you must be as mindful of the manner in which you may best use it, not the way in which others do.”

As the vessel gets underway, the massive drives powering to full and the xenos craft tumbles away Searlait realises just how tired she has become, having been awake for the better part of a full day and much of that time spent fighting, both physically and mentally while trying to coordinating the resistance. "Officers of Primus watch, we have all suffered a trying day and should with faith in the God-Emperor and humility in service we have triumphed against our foe as we make way to our target. I now relieve you of your duties for the day. Return to your quarters, spend time with friends and family and enjoy what your fruits have given you, Secundus watch will take your place as we recover."

As the shifts exchange positions she makes her way to first the auspex pits and quickly talks to Paklor Ank "Mister Ank, please have your people continuously scanning both the planet and the area of space our foe has evaded for, with the brief firefight as they left I wonder if there are other hidden threats in system."


Once done in the auspex pit she heads to Vox rostum and tells Mr. Yorick "Mr. Yorick, please have your crews coordinate with the Scarlet and her staff to maintain vigil on the planet, gather as much information as you can. If we get active notifications of our arrival has brought notice have notice brought to my offices, I will look at them in ten hours time and see how we will figure out our response."

Once the crew start shift change Searlait makes her way back to her quarters to spend some much needed time with her family.

 Jak continues to push himself to work to a degree which would seem punishing to a flesh-and-blood individual, his recreational hours spent joining repair teams at the forefront of the effort to restore far-flung parts of the vessel and it's perhaps unsurprising that he's seen only rarely by senior officers during that time, although reports requested of him are promptly and diligently responded to as swiftly as he can be located by Vox.

 His one significant contribution to 'things to worry about' at this juncture is to request that a copy of the sensor logs for the 'inexplicable defensive fire' of the Emperor's Glory be processed by the in-system navigational servitors and officers to see if there's any possibility that they were attempting to bombard something far-off - an effort which soon sees him report to the senior officers "The Emperors Glory launched long-range salvation pods before leaving the system. It also engaged these pods with its point-defence. While they have deactivated their transponders, it is possible that we may be able to acquire them with our auspice by arranging our course to run along the straight-line path from their last position to the inhabited worlds, although without being able to confirm their destination, this is a speculative proposal at best."

 ---

 Although since we're going to be a few weeks in flight, it's safe to assume that he might well attempt to rope folks into the odd hull-delve looking for interesting old compartments.


This message was last edited by the player at 07:46, Sun 07 May 2023.

With a second excursion into the eldar star vessel under his belt, Ravandio was reminded that he'd been interrupted in his hunt for sustenance. After completing any sort of reports after the trip between ships, the grizzly looking space pilot started to make his way back towards his personal quarters. Through his feet he felt the start of a familiar vibration as it moved throughout the ship, an indication that they were under way again. He was pleased that they would be resuming their mission once more, but the Eldar had been an interesting distraction.

After stripping out of his expeditionary gear, Rav holstered his pistol and made his way towards the mess. A massive migraine was starting to throb behind his right eye. Grinding the knuckle of his middle finger against his temple eased the growing pain marginally. Food and companionship should solve the matter though. Ravandio advanced into the mess hall, looking for his wingmates.

Paklor Ank reports no further activity from the Emperor’s Glory’ mandeville point.

He publishes his auspex findings for all officers to see and reports some localised combat taking place in two locations on the planet and the launch of a single, large missile or pod from the planet’s equator, aimed towards the manufactorum and traveling at relatively low speed. The launch process is of interest as it uses a huge static electromagnetic rail built into the landscape for initial acceleration then simple rocket motor to take the missile into orbit. The manufactorum is in radio silence but it is now apparent that they are launching small, flat objects at a rate of about two a week, these are drifting in a line towards a large, black object that sits between the star and the planet and is assumed to be an accumulation of many thousand of the smaller objects.

Scans of the planetary surface show it to be slightly smaller than Terra but considerably denser, it has a breathable atmosphere with some industrial pollutants that make filtering advisable. There is one ocien, long and narrow it covers about twenty percent of the surface and stretches from the equator almost to the north pole. The land is quite flat across most of the planet's surface but there is an extensive mountain range over the south pole and much of the southern hemisphere. There is one hive city on the equator and seven conventional cities scattered around, all surrounded by extensive manufacturing facilities and all linked by rail.

There is no indication that anyone on the planet is aware of the Pious Lament, and the nixie clocks have counted down to four hours, twenty-seven minuets and twenty-five . . . twenty-six . . .  twenty-seven seconds.
.

"Auspex, find out what those objects being launched are, have the flight crew adjust should you need a better view, full authority to re-direct us towards it to get a better view"

"Vox, keep picking up their signals and if anything changes let me know"

***Nearing Orbit***

As the Pious Lament moves towards orbit of Gelron, with at least an few hours to go she calls a meeting in the central strategium for all major section heads, senior officers, (all PC and MNPC), and Tenvar under guard to attend to a meeting about the potential actions to be taken soon.

(OOC: Feel free to show up, I'll add more when I get a few more minutes.)

As usual Gregory is one of the first to arrive, with status reports of the ship's fighting strength ready. He seems quite eager to make planetfall, though he might not be aware of the extent of their mission...
This message was last edited by the player at 09:34, Sat 20 May 2023.

The circumstances of her physicality almost ensured that Navigator Cennet Melek Shiraishi wasn't first to any meeting, merely punctually present as good manners and etiquette dictated. It was obvious that she had taken great pains to change and render herself presentable once more despite her injuries but it was also, abundantly, clear that the armoured shell that she'd ensconced herself in was still in the process of being repaired. Such careful and exquisite cybernetic systems, after all, were rarely so easily mended as the flesh... Even flesh as disagreeable as that of a Navigator.

Regardless, she was ever resplendent in robes of the hue of her house that seemed as much maps of the void as any chart she might reference. The staff of her office held tightly and leaned upon to ease the many pains that tore through up through treacherous muscles and deep into neck and mind beyond. The distraction held at bay by the formidable will that had witnessed and suffered far worse though was still not unscarred by the blows to pride and vanity. As ever, her face remained hidden behind and exquisite mask but one could not ignore that palpable weight of the terrible organ that made the woman and her ilk indispensable to the Imperium.

As ever, one of her attendants was near at hand with data slate at hand. Of course, this time it was no one recognizable as she'd ensured Grund would have all the time he might need to recuperate. A pittance for the service he had done beyond the expectations of his duty.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Sat 20 May 2023.

Dressed in her formal, but not fancy, robes of office Harmonia arrives with a minimal amount of fanfare.

Taking stock of the other early arrivals she offers a polite nod to each before assuming her customary place for the strategy meeting.

One of the many duties of a Astropath Secundus is to hold down a place for the Choirmaster, a task that Faith is all too willing to handle. She has a small velvet box with no label under her dataslate as she presents herself for the meeting, giving the impression that she's ready to take notes at any moment.

Vormav reports to the strategium as requested. He was still dressed in his usual heavy long coat over his silk slacks, vest, and cravat. As usual he was armed, heavily. Given the recent troubles there was exactly one person on board that could tell him to do otherwise. His hellgun was more of a decorative piece anyway, he liked it, and it really brought the outfit together.

Conference room (deck 3)

The long grey table that dominates the centre of this room could easily seat sixty people and like most things in the senior officer’s area, was ancient but well cared for and still fully functional. The room itself has a high ceiling painted with trompe l’oeil clouds against a pail blue sky that can been seen through the grey marbled arches that support it. The walls are clad in abstract tapestry with a muted repeating pattern in blue, grey and white that seems to suggest the taming of the warp and the chairs and other upholstery are covered to match. Doors, frames, skirting and the table and chairs themselves are all made from a rich and highly polished exotic grey coloured wood. The whole effect is tranquil. Electronics in here, including privacy devices, are accessed via local interfaces built into the table at each station.

Those who first enter find tech priests and some of Garu’s operatives finishing off a thorough inspection for ‘bugging’ devices.

.

 Jak of course, argued for the implementation of St Faraday's Pattern, but tearing out the entire conference room and taking several months to produce and inlay sufficient glyph-worked wire to blanket the entire structure and then install the necessary power units and secure terminals inside it simply isn't something that they've the time for just now, and so the great has not been permitted to become the enemy of the good - although he still requires a full report of the busy inspection be delivered by the mostly red-robed nomadic Transmechanic and the mute tech-priest of the Aspectum Cohortis working with them.

 Seemingly pleased with what he 'hears' in the short binary streams they're exchanging, he moves to take his assigned seating and - Yasha hovering at his shoulder - continues to work on repair rotas and department reports while waiting for everyone else to arrive.

An Eldar enters the room, his hands are shackled and he is accompanied by two men from the honour guard in their dress uniforms, they move quietly to the side of the room. The Eldar seems composed though his eyes flick constantly between those at the table, while the guards stand of to either side, eyes fixed on the exenos weapons across their chests and looking decidedly edgy.

.

Once the last of the officers arrive and the Xenos is brought she orders the doors shut and begins the meeting. "Greetings all, as you are all aware we are getting close to Gelron, the Emperor's Glory has retreated and there appears to have been a combat near their mandeville point, Tenvar I can assume that is the work of your people?" She says part question part statement, leaving enough of a pause for an answer should he choose to give one.

"As we get closer we have had no contact with the planet as of yet and I believe that may lack the means to detect us as we approach and while we are sensing launches into the manufactorum, we haven't seen any shuttles launching into orbit that I can tell but there appears to be a conflict between two to three major factions. I intend to make orbit over a border or neutral territory and attempt to initiate communications with the leadership of each faction, inform them of the mission we have received from the High Lords of Terra that we are here to reaffirm the Dominion of the God-Emperor on this world. Do any of you have any comments, recommendations or concerns you would like to add?"

”My Lady, I am certain that there are no other Eldari ships in this system,” the Eldar looks puzzled as he responds to the Captain’s question.

.

Completely forgetting that she had yet to inform the senior officers she adds "Addendum. Tenvar and a few of his associates will be staying aboard to maintain a bargain that will see several of the soul stones remain aboard this ship to assure the Aeldari will not attack us again. Tenvar, these are the senior officers of the Pious Lament, officers, Tenvar."

"As for further Aeldari ships we had auspex reports of local defence fire as they were transiting to the warp, you can confirm that was not your people?"

Tenvar looks around the people at the table on being introduced, whith a little nod and murmered greeting for any who catch his eye, then returns his attention to the Captain when she asks here question.

"Definatly not 'my people' Lady Saoirse,"
.

Gregory is mildly surprised as to why the Captain is on a first-name basis with the xeno, but then again he's addressing her with the proper respect and she IS the Lady-Captain after all. He nods with deference to the man's rank, but his attention remains focused on the Captain.

As for the L-C's plan... well, this is why his people have been compiling stats. He slides his dataslate over to the Lady-Captain.

"This is our current order of battle, Ma'am. I would recommend we secure orbital fire superiority if we are to undertake any direct action, because our ability to move men is fairly limited."

Ravandio was still sitting in the mess around a table with his squadmates, enjoying a drink and a spirited game of cards. He was enjoying himself. He was loosing money to the others gathered around the table, but he was glad to be out of his bunk and to be doing something. He tossed a couple of losing cards out onto the table, and suddenly his comlink chirped, indicating that someone was trying to reach him. He excused himself from the table and answered the call.

---

Ravandio opened the door to the conference room he'd been instructed to attend. He looked over the rest of the people that had been assembled and eased himself into a seat about halfway down the table. The Interceptor pilot from Umbra Wing paused in this movement when he saw the xenos that was present. He eyed the creature for several seconds before finally slipping into his chair. "Wing Commander Laurel regrets to inform you that he won't be able to attend as he is overseeing the repairs being done to the ships gun cutters."

Harmonia waits patiently for the meeting to start, and introductions to pass before she asks a question about their situation as much as about the plan.

”If the planet is divided into multiple waring factions that are unable to detect a ship of this size is it possible that they also lack the ability to communicate with us from orbit?  If that is the case we might need to arrange multiple simultaneous landing parties.

If the people on the planet are not yet hostile I recommend we be careful to not frighten them more than absolutely required. ”

"It seems we might be able to play each side against each other," Faith notes. "Though I am sure Mr. Vormav and Mr. Finnegan would know how to do that best. In any case, we are in a position to play kingmaker here, unless, of course, the Emperor's Glory is involved in this. "

The arrival of the Aeldari and the beginning of discussions in full was enough to pull the Navigatrix's attention away from some of the stellar cartography that adorned the chamber. The presence of such maps of the most holy of systems a curiosity all it's own that warranted some attention later but for now... there was the complex feeling she held for one of the architects of her present state of being and the consideration of the planet's divided factions.

"There's also the consideration of what may have transpired since the planet's original disappearance. Such warp disruptions as exist in this stretch of void are not kind to any material they can drag into their vortices. Has there been any detectable vox signals that we might tap into under contained and quarantined parameters to better ascertain their temperaments and, shall we say, stability?" the Navigatrix asked after some consideration between the various thoughts already presented.

"The drive plume of The Pious Lament will have been visible for the entire course of our journey. There will be little or no question on the planet that we are inbound. If they have made no effort to contact us, this may represent a lack of ability or will upon their part, not one of awareness." Jak reports, without touching upon other matters for the time being - his remit begins and ends with matters of technotheology, not politics or diplomacy.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Fri 26 May 2023.

"Once we reach orbit I intend to send vox communiques, as well as tight beam lasers and if need be astropathic communication to what appears to be a capital of each nation. Should all else fail then we will need to descent and do it in person." she tells the  assembled command crew.

"Tenvar, did Vexel give you any information about this system and what he planned here?"

“Right then ladies and gentlemen, in spite of the best efforts of Galvin Vexel and his Eldar allies, we have arrived at our destinate and are just entering orbit around Gelron. This planet used to orbit a star in the Fordoom Sector, way over in Segmentum Tempestus, it was thought lost over twelve hundred years ago when its star went Nova but just over a year ago it emerged from the 'Sinc Hole' and drifted into a stable orbit around the only star in this vicinity where we find it now.”

“How that happened is not our problem, our job is to see what conditions are like here after so long in the warp and reclaim it for the Empire.”

Searlait pauses to look around the assembled faces.

“This planet used to be a highly productive manufacturing world with enough agriculture to feed its own people. The reason for this is that much of its output was created in a vast, orbital, manufactorum which we find is still in orbit and still operating, but I’ll come back to that.”

“The surface still seems to be habitable and populated but, the people here are fighting eachother in some sort of civil war. Since emerging from the warp they have not made astropathic contact with anyone and not responded to attempts to contact them by that means. They do have vox coms which we have been monitoring, so we know that they don’t seem to be aware of our presence here, and that might have something to do with the war that’s going on. It seems that there are two main factions with a third, smaller group looking on and they are fighting over food resources.”

“Even though fighting, all sides are still cooperating in the manufacturing process and there seems to be regular deliveries from the planets surface to the orbiting manufactorum using a mag rail to launch rocket assisted pods. The manufactorum is also operating, it is producing thousands of,   things, we are not sure what, but they are being launched into space where they join together and have created a large flat object that’s just hanging in space, its function is unclear at the moment but its effect is to cast a large and permanent shadow on the face of the planet.”

“One very important thing that our monitoring of the vox coms has revealed is that the Emperors word still rules here, there is no hint of corruption in any of the broadcasts, everybody signs off with an appropriate supplication and the Ecclesiarchy broadcast services regularly.”

Searlait pauses to let this sink in, “before I get into any details about the war, does any one have any thoughts or comments?”

Either lost in thought, or focused on some part of the information other than the reactions it causes, Harmonia takes a moment to return her focus to the Captain after the briefing is over.

”If they have indeed evaded corruption then it is possible the planet experienced very little or no time within the warp itself, and the food riots are a result of having abandoned their original orbital farm, what we see now may be how they plan to replace it.

In any case it is likely that whatever they are building is of immense importance to all three factions and having control of it before we engage them will focus their attention on what we have to say.”

After a pause Searlait uses the controls set into the table to conjures up a holographic sphere that rotates slowly over the centre and depicts the planet below. One large ocean stretches from the north pole down passed the equator in a rough ellipse that covers about twenty percent of the planet’s surface. There is a wide equatorial belt and the land to the south of it is rough and mountainous. The belt iself, and the rest of the land in the northern hemesphere consists of rolling planes and tundra.

There are two large cities here, on the equator is Gelron Prime, a large hive that is centre of a massive industrial complex that stretches out in all directions across most of the planes but is interspersed with farm land and small towns.

At the north pole is Gelron Secondus, a vast but conventional city, also surrounded by industrial plant but with a much higher percentage of agricultural land, significantly this land looks to be green and fertile while that near the equator has a brown and baren appearance.

In the South of Gelron are several cities set amongst mountain and lakes, there is industry and agriculture squeezed in between the geographical features and also the scars from large, open cast mining operations.

In orbit around the holographic planet is the manufactorum, no bigger than a match head in this scale and dwarfed by the other object in orbit, a huge, flat, black disc the size of a saucer. Although the systems star is not depicted, the light it produces is and it can be seen that the disc cast a shadow onto the equatorial belt which probably gets little or no sunlight as a result.
.

Ravandio leaned in to have a look at the display brought up for them to view. He studied it for a couple of moments, mulling over the information provided by the Captain. "If both factions, despite the open hostilities between them, are still cooperating with the manufactorum for what ever it is that they are constructing, perhaps that is where we should make first contact. The retrieval of the manufactorum is our primary goal anyways, is it not? Regardless, Umbra Squadron will be ready when you need it. Your shuttle as well." In his role as flight commander for Umbra Squadron, Ravandio had also seen to the piloting of the Captains personal shuttle as well in the past.

 Jak, through the course of the briefing primarily satisfies his curiosity by processing information relating to the settlements, measuring their radiated heat and predicted energy expenditure to estimate their productivity... Right up to the point where the manufactorum is starting to be displayed and his efforts are dedicated to that instead, repeating the process of estimating heat dispersal and energy throughput.

 He does however thoughtfully ask "Is anyone on this team familiar with stellar life cycles? I am curious about the production of a solar shield."

The Navigatrix was quiet again as there felt to be little that she might contribute to the conversations of war planning, diplomacy, and similar but when the Enginseer mentioned the topic of stellar life cycles that was a topic was she was, by necessity, well acquainted with. It was on this note that she opted to fixed her attention whilst still taking careful note of the direction of the broader conversations, her grip tightening ever so slightly on the staff and symbol of her office as she straightened despite the protests of treacherous muscle. The protests of overburdened skeletal structures noted in kind.

"I can certainly assist on the matter of stellar life cycles and offer some anecdotal insights into examples of ancient solar shields should it be needed, Engineseer Prime." Cennet offered with her typical care in intonation and gestures to ensure meaning and invitation were clear. Her experience with the Explorator fleets from her early pursuits of a 'cure' or aegis against the treacherous nature of her deceitful genetics leveraged in the moment. "Has there been any more detailed auspex scans regarding the climate of the planet itself or the parent star? A solar shield, to follow the logic the Enginseer is expressing, would imply an attempt at climate correction."

Faith has not had much to contribute recently. Even Harmonia has brought up her point about a lack of psyker outbreaks.

"By solar shield, are you referring to that big disc? It seems... unusual. Perhaps we should make sure it's not some kind of orbital defense platform?"

As some talk of stellar cycles, something she knows very little off she continues with the known military information.

"Thanks to the work done by Garu and his team we also know the following about their leaders and military forces ‘Gelron Primary’ is led by Lady Anastasia MaCregge, Planetary Governor general, the military is led by Sir Damion Ply-Morrison, Commander in Chief, Gelron Defence Arm, (GDA), Brigadier Willax Clune, Commander in Chief, 1st Brigade and Arch Bishop Miksza holds sway over the civil population. Their forces consist of an armoured brigade, two infantry brigades two militia brigades and an air wing. Gelron primary seems to control the equatorial region and about half the land mass in the northern hemisphere.

Sir Norman Cecil is First Minister of the ‘Northern Alliance’ and General Peliaxe is head of armed forces, the Minister of trade, Loriel Green holds sway over the populous and ‘Sharon Skeet’ has been in the news recently as hero of the alliance.

The NA has three armoured brigades (one skitarii), one infantry brigade, an air wing and a wet navy. The Northern Alliance seems to control the north pole, large swaths of land in the northern hemisphere and the planets only ocean.

The southern hemisphere seems to be controlled by a private company, Manistee and Volt Minning, which is run by John Manistee and Patricia Volt. There military operations involve only defence against raiders from Gelron Primary and are headed up by Marian Volt. The forces consist of static guard positions and guerrilla patrols though they do have some aircraft."

”My Lady, if we can be of assistance we are at your service.”

.

"If you or your cell have any information or expertise in any matters, you are of course fully allowed and encouraged to speak up. Should you deem any members present below authorisation to hear, please let me know."

 "There is no pattern of which I am aware that would necessitate an orbital defence platform of this configuration. The same investment in materials would be able to produce a defence-in-depth and mobile forces of far greater capacity than any single structure. The configuration of the disk, and its alignment with the planet makes it apparent that its purpose is, or was to shield from stellar radiation, although the need for it to do so is currently unclear." Jak answers, focussing his attention upon the manufactorum and the possible-shield, looking for signs of transit from one to the other, whether as evidence of ongoing maintenance, disassembly, assembly or indeed, anything else that might be going on.

Ravandio was a pilot and not much more. He studied the holoprojections and listened as the others at the table provided their own expertise or conjecture. His eyes roamed over the motley crew that was assembled here currently, eventually falling once more on the xenos that was present at their strategy meeting. And then the Inquisitor's retinue that was comfortable with the xenos presence as well.

He replies to Faith when she posits the possibility that the orbital disc might be some sort of defense platform. "If the three factions down on the surface are at war with one another, then it would not make sense for them to be working together on some sort of weapon that one of the others could use against them."

Gregory has been considering the situation and their resources, and he has come to the conclusion that his talents might not be terribly useful in this mission, given that their ability to project force is rather limited. Unless, of course, a case comes up where 100 well-trained troopers might tip the balance one way or another. Either way, he will do his best to support the others where needed.

He makes a note of the three factions and the important people therein and takes notes...

---

Spoiler text: (Highlight or hover over the text to view)
GELRON PRIMARY
- Lady Anastasia Macregge: Planetary Governor General (official authority)
- Sir Damion Ply-Morrison: CINC Gelron Defense Arm/GDA
- Brigadier Willax Clune, CINC 1st Brigade
- Archbishop Miksza (Harmonia?)
- 1x Armored Brigade
- 2x Infantry Brigade
- 2x Militia Brigade
- Air Wing

More men in general? More complementary for our forces?

NORTHERN ALLIANCE
- Norman Cecil: First Minister
- General Peliaxe: Head of Armed Forces
- Loriel Green: Minister of Trade
- Sharon Skeet: Hero of the alliance (hot?)
- 3x armored brigade (1 Skitarii - Jak?)
- 1x infantry brigade
- Air wing
- Wet navy (only naval power on the planet?)

Better at field ops? Unable to secure gains made due to lack of manpower?

MANISTEE AND VOLT MINING
- John Manistee (joint leader)
- Patricia Volt (joint leader)
- Some air assets?
- Sentries - primarily intended to defend against northern raiders?

Resources are useful - seem to be trying to lay low

---

"Will we be making an overt or covert approach? That is to say, will we be trying to infiltrate in a low key fashion or come in pomp and circumstance style? Or both?"

"Jak would you or your personnel be able to infiltrate the orbital facility with appropriate security to investigate their standing and if they are operable or recoverable? Rav can coordinate flights and coverage" She asks the Magos before moving to the next task.

"Paklor Ank and Garu, locate points of military significance, coordinate with Roscar and Eawynn for firing telemetry and best solutions in case it comes to that and they don't wish to rejoin the Imperium peacefully."

"Mr Yorick, keep your team scanning the planets vox-net and maintain notices of troop movements as well as senior officials and their movements."

"Agent Tungsten, could your operatives be able to handle the senior officers of MANISTEE AND VOLT MINING corporation should they need to be removed and have a more...compliant... industry head installed?"

”As you wish my lady, we will keep you informed of progress and any useful intelligence we learn.”

 "It would be the most logical use of our resources to send a team to the Manufactorum, and I am by far the most qualified to do so. What other officers and staff will be joining my expedition and what mission objectives beyond examination of the facility and its production records do you wish to propose?" Jak answers, already planning ahead to the possibilities inherent in the orbital facility.

Harmonia clearly isn't a particularly military mind, and letting the others do their thing works for her, for the most part.  When Jak brings up the question of the orbital facility however she offers a different kind of insight.

”The orbital facility is almost certainly operating with a smaller population and on a smaller scale than an entire world, it would likely be best if a very small group go there, to that end I will go myself to ensure whatever needs to be done is done appropriately with a minimal level of interference.”

"Agent Tungsten, please feel free to use any small ship you require and pull additional staff as required, should you require fiercer back up the Lament can reposition as needed." she tells the agent as they prepare to depart.

"Good idea, try to keep the landing team to a guncutter's worth, part mechanicus, part ships crew, have guards ready" She says to Harmonia and Jak.

"Rathnyr and Asgard I want you both to find the best place to land at each forces capital for a diplomatic convoy as well as recall under fire should it come to that"

"Navigatrix Shiraishi while you recover from the ordeal could you if possible reaffirm the route we took to get here for follow-on movements as needed, and should you require anything please take it on my authority."

"Vormav, gather info on the leaders of each party and we will formulate a good balance of landing party to talk with them, I intend to try diplomacy before anything else but I want contingencies."

"At once my Lady, Obsidian will remain on board as our liaison, we have our own means of communication and you can contact us directly if required."

The Arbitrator makes a small bow before quietly leaving the room.

"Certainly, Lady Captain. I've already completed the first drafts of our route for transmission to House Shiraishi. Will there be anything else required of me in terms of landing delegations or the like?" the Navigatrix replied and questioned in kind as she continued to lean on her staff. The aforementioned wounds addressed after a fashion with timme being the only remaining component of the remedy. That and the necessary repairs to her ceramic shell. Not quite a trifling detail but easy enough to address with the present facilities available.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:39, Mon 12 June 2023.

Gregory nods.

"Will do, ma'am," he replies. Then he glances over to Ravandio. "Looks like we'll be going over orbital maps, then."

He drums the fingers on his left hand on his left thigh a few times as he mulls over his assignment from the Captain. Ravandio nods and looks over to Asgard when he addresses him. "Of course. We can use the ships gun cutters to transport crew down to the surface, leaving Umbra Wing to protect the ship while we are working down on the plant. Cargo should give us enough room for surface transport, whatever we might think that form should take."

Faith is aware that she's one of the lowest-ranking people here, but she would be remiss in not mentioning this.

"Madam, I or any of the astropath contingent might be useful during negotiations. If they have not had issues with psykers for a long time, they might not be ready to deal with them, and I believe literally knowing their thoughts would be a helpful trump card."

 Turning to Harmonia, Jak states - with relative diplomacy, given his augmetic nature - "It would be most logical for Mechanicus forces to form the majority of this expedition, but cooperation does leave room for personnel from your staff. Have you recommendations?"

"You may form your party as you see fit, but please have several non-mechanicus personnel should there be standard humans present, they tend to find the amount of augmentations terrifying. Co-ordinate with Faith to have an astropath in case of jamming equipment. Determine whats on there and whats salvageable. Should you encounter armed resistance or mutants beyond sanction you are encouraged to terminate and should it prove too numerous exfiltrate and away reinforcements."

Looking to Faith she says "I would be honoured if you would join the lead team for the first encounter once we are ready. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed to your duties, should you require me come to my offices and I will see you as I can."

Harmonia doesn't seem surprised that Jak wants to fill the mission with mostly his own people, perhaps she even expected it.

”I don't expect we will need many people, even security should be fairly light.  In any case I will go myself, there are plenty to observe down on the planet, and I wouldn't ask any of my people to go somewhere I wouldn't.”

Faith bows slightly to Searlait.

"The honor is mine, ma'am. I will prepare myself for landfall as soon as possible."

Once she is allowed to leave, Faith immediately heads back to the Telepathica spire where she begins briefing the rest of the choir on their situation, including assigning one extra person to listen for planetside communications in addition to stellar-range communications. She wonders if Scarlet is well; she's been indisposed recently...
This message was last edited by the player at 13:59, Sat 17 June 2023.