From the Pious Lament in its close orbit around the planet, the Manufactorum is just one star against a backdrop of millions, a bright star, when it catches the light, and one that visibly moves if watched for any length of time, but just another dot of light for all that.

On the auspex screens however, it is a vast and complex wheel, its top surfaces encrusted with towering cubes and cylinders swamped by a bewildering tangle of cables and pipes, some of which could accommodate the Lament herself. Slender pyramids and block like structure rise above the uneven ‘surface’, and these structures cover the tops of all four spokes and become larger, higher and denser at the hub.

Behind the complexity of the Manufactorum is a huge, flat black object, invisible, even on the auspex, but obvious and well defined by its silhouette, this object is large enough and so positioned that it causes a permeant shadow on the planet below and has become known as the ‘screen’.  Once every eighteen hours or so, a tiny sparkle can be see in the auspex view and zooming in on this will reveal another black object being launched towards the ‘screen’. A chain of these house sized slabs stiches its way through space and on arrival each will manoeuvre a little and lock into place on the screen’s edge, making it ever bigger.
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 The Gun Cutter Jak has requisitioned for the operation is capable of carrying some thirty souls in addition to its crew - if they don't mind being rather close - and after consultation with Harmonia, Jak makes his selection of personnel according to the likely needs of the mission.

 Two tall, looming Classiarii form his personal guard, the void-resistant, engineered Skitarii drawn from the tiny number of their ilk aboard the Pious Lament, each a red-robed examplar of the power and technosorcery of the Ommnissiah, heavily armoured and equipped with numerous weapon implants. Supporting them are a squad of ten of the Hypaspists, flak-armoured and bearing lasguns (save for the holy Melta and cherished flamer which round out their squad).

 They're escorting two adepts, one a fabrication specialist of the Drive-room and one a life-systems expert of the Auspex temple, each with three attendants (apprentices, in the case of the latter) who are dressed in their finest robes and armed (of course) with rune-wrought hellpistols and hellguns, according to the weight of whatever else they bear.

 This - naturally - leaves nine slots for Harmonia to fill, eight including herself and Jak is quite content to offer her security drawn from the Hypaspists if she should wish them, according to her preferences.

Meeting up with Jak outside the smaller ship Harmonia pauses to allow the many people cramming into it the freedom to load up in whatever way suits them.

For her own part she has changed into an obviously armored robe, included an attached laser pistol and mono sword that she doesn't so much as fidget with while waiting.

After a few minutes she asks Jak.”Do you really expect to need all of this?
We are effectively a diplomatic mission.”

 "It is unlikely that these individuals represent sufficient firepower to extract us from any peril into which we shall fall and indeed, their primary responsibility shall be to secure our transport. Their secondary responsibility is to add authority to our arrival, demonstrating by their presence that we are to be treated with respect." Tesla explains as the groups convene, the tech-guard squad exchanging light conversation and inspecting one another's gear carefully, the Skitarii standing impassive off to one side and the tech adepts communing - one group in binaric, the other in handsign.

 "When can we expect the arrival of your contingent?" he goes on to ask, plainly ready for then to depart.

Taking another look at the group of men accompanying Jak Harmonia shakes her head.”I think your group should do well enough, Think of me more as an observer or some kind of quality control.”

 Men, women and Skitarii (frankly, at their level of augmentation gender becomes largely inapplicable), all of whom look to be preparing for their duties as Jak tilts his head and considers Harmonia for a moment as he processes her statement, then observes "I council against this course of action. You are Ordained of the Omnissiah-Emperor, Confessor of the Pious Lament. Whatever your preferences, you should - at a minimum - be attended by a small staff to emphasise the dignity of your station."

Harmonia considers the situation for a few moments but decides to stick with her initial impression of the situation.  ”If they do not understand the dignity of my position, or the combined threat and respect I offer them by showing up alone then no amount of emphasis from staff would change anything, let alone a small one.

If any serious conflict arises it will be The Pious Lament that offers real protection, and they will only see additional people as additional hostages.  Obviously we need to be able to negotiate from a position of strength on site, but you have more than accounted for that already.”

Although the doors to space are closed and the industrial lumens shine brightly, the hanger is in a vacuum with a sealed walkway connecting the gun cutter to the rest of the ship. A figure in a distinctive orange and black void suit makes his way through the bustle of workers and vehicles towards the nose of the gun cutter and makes a signal to the pilot, in response one of the crew, the gunner, leaves their station and moves to close the door. Just before he does so, two late commers enter the cabin, both well-armed, one with clerical vestments worn over his vac suit, the other, carrying a huge power hammer, has his void suit heavily emblazoned with clerical iconography.

As these two find seats the gunner closes and dogs the door. There is a faint noise of the clamps releasing as the access tube is with drawn and then just the internal noises of the gun cutter, the whisper of the circulating air, the murmur of the crew running through the endless check lists, the tinny voice of flight control.

The engines wine into life and the lights outside dim quickly to emergency red, then go out altogether as the huge hanger door slide ponderously open. Beyond are millions of bright shining stars forming drifts and clouds by their sheer number. As the gun cutter moves slowly out into space the effect is spoiled by the glowing arc of the planet on one side and the vast, domineering  mass of the sink hole on the other. The cloudy drifts of fainter stars fades to a few thousand brilliant pin points with the added light and the gun cutter accelerates smoothly towards them.

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 "It is not a lack of understanding that concerns me, but a lack of belief. A priest of your standing possesses a retinue, therefore if you lack a retinue, you are not a priest of your standing." Jak points out, but ultimately does concede that it is for Harmonia to set her own staff and - since he did not bring more personnel - the cutter heads out light on personnel, with Jak manfully reciting binary paeans of veneration of the machine rather than doing what he wants to do, which is to utilise his cybernetic implants to link with the machine-spirit of the cutter so that he can kibitz while perfectly competent and qualified pilots do their jobs.

 As they head across the void, more or less the entire Mechanicus contingent - including Jak - sit strapped to their seats like mannequins, something that's likely to be wearying for the priestess, but if you want conversation you probably shouldn't hang out with the cogboys.

 ---

OOC: It would seem to be selling them short to describe the Ecclesiarchy as 'high church' but I'm guessing Anyone who is Anyone has a mob of retainers and incense-wavers and floaty cherubs and other nonsense so everyone knows that they're important. On the other mechandrite, the only thing consistent across the Imperium is variation so Harmonia's humility thing is completely legit, it's just probably going to generate a lot of 'what, really? Her? from folks. ^_^

Harmonia barely even glances at the two missionaries as they come aboard, but sighs and settles back into her seat as the ship at last gets under way.

As the ship settles into its path she almost seems to fall asleep, but it quickly becomes obvious that she is lost in her own thoughts and no doubt prayers for their success.

At the front of the cabin is a small doorway that leads through to the cockpit, it is set to the left of centre on the bulkhead to the right is a large view screen which now lights up with an image of the manufactorum. It’s some distance away but the lights, venting gasses and the occasional spout of flame leave no doubt that it is alive and active.

”Commander Heskith, your pilot here Sirs, ETA about five minutes. There are a lot of empty hanger bays standing open on this thing, should I land in one of those or would you like to board via EVA hearer to the centre.”

As she speaks the image on the screen zooms in on some of the landing bays, there are hundreds of these things, each about the right size for a Gun Cutter, about eighty percent stand open and empty, about ten percent of these are in darkness, the majority are lit bright and inviting.

”We have room on the bridge for one more person , if someone want to take a proper look.”
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It takes Harmonia a moments thought, perhaps two, but no more, to sort out a response to new information.  ”If they are polite enough to leave the front door open we should be polite enough to walk through it.
As far as determining which one is the primary I will leave that up to you, but I recommend one of the centrally located ones with signs of frequent use.”

 Jak has little need to utilise anything as crude as his eyesight to make the connection with the sensors of the Gun Cutter, and utilises them - and the vox unit in the cockpit - to announce "I concur with Confessor Wells. Please bring us to the selected bay.", which is where he flags one of the central, lit sections for the pilot team while going on to announce "I will be utilising the communication system, please hold." as he starts sweeping frequencies for any indication of local, short-range com-bead use, seconding his results to the comm' officer.

 ---

Not sure if it's tech-use or not, or just 'yes you can' but Jak's looking for local coms.

The gun cutter slides smoothly into the indicated landing bay and latches into the holding locks in the floor panels, there is a brief binary exchange between the Manufactorum and Enginseer Micherwhit, (gun cutter grew member), and amber warning lights begin to pulse as the horizontally split bay doors begin to close.

As the long slit of blackness and stars narrows and disappears a vary faint hiss and sound of a distant alarm bell can just be made out but quickly becomes a loud roar of rushing air as the chamber repressurises, then suddenly silence as the air pressure stabilises and the bell stops.

”All clear to disembark,” Heskith advises, ”no threats are perceived at this time,” even so, you will notice that she keeps the engines ticking over.

Meanwhile, Jak has identified at least a score of different comms channels but hears no coms traffic and all of them are unresponsive. ’yes you can’
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 Before the main group disembark, the militant tech-forces do so, the ten-man squad fanning out to search the bay while the two cyborgs remain on-duty by the ship until an all-clear is signaled. When that happens, the guards form up around the Gun Cutter in a protective detail while Jak reports "There are multiple open signal channels on the Manufactorum, none of which are currently in-use." and disconnects from the system, heading down the ramp (with the two tech-adepts waiting for the Lady Confessor to precede them) and moves out in search of a data terminal or communications point, only the two cyborg troopers following along.

Letting Jak do his thing Harmonia waits for the assessment before making one of her own.  Then she turns at least some of her attention to the soldier types almost certainly going through the airlock first.

”This is starting to sound more like a rescue and recovery mission than assault diplomacy.  I recommend using caution and a minimum of force whenever possible, we are going to want to find people both able and willing to provide answers and the less coercion required the more useful those answers will be.”

 "Those are our orders Lady Confessor. The Engineseer Prime brought us to secure the Gun Cutter, the two Thrice-Blessed will be accompanying you and the others." replies the sergeant in charge of the squad, coming to attention while signing the cog over his chest in respect to do so, afterwards adding "Our rules of engagement for this mission are to talk first, shoot second." reassuringly.

 The two looming Classiarii on the other hand, don't say anything - they just stalk over to protect Jak as he seeks the means to interface with the Manufactorum systems. He doesn't expect to be able to link up to the command systems from here, but local information may be accessible.

To those who disembark it is obvious that this bay has not been used in a vary long time, a century perhaps, how these people know that is less obvious, the place is not excessively dirty, dusty or damaged in any way, just ubused.

Jak makes his way over to a termina neer the door to commune with the machine spirit and his guards take station to insure that he’s not interrupted.

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 Jak spends several moments once he locates an acceptable terminal, minutes invested in painstakingly anointing the station with sacred oil and intoning the canticles of access before even daring to link himself to it.

 Once he has done so - to the tinny, jaunty strains of a tune already ancient when Man first converted the stars playing from a speaker on the terminal - he spends several more minutes in contemplation before disconnecting.

 "The manufactorum is producing ablative armour plates as a priority, overriding all other concerns. The system is functioning and there are no significant alert notifications in this sector. I have not been able to discern any evidence of human communication at this juncture. We shall need to proceed onwards to locate the staff." he announces, after ordering his thoughts.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Tue 04 July 2023.

While not out of the ship in the initial wave Harmonia does get bored and come out just before the mashine talking is done.

”Good, see if you can keep anyone from figuring out where we parked, but leave at least one soldier on the ship to protect the pilot if they need to leave without us.  Everyone else should head directly for the area of highest use so we can get this started.”

 "The ten-person security contingent is, in fact here to secure the Gun Cutter. Without it, we are trapped aboard the Manufactorum. Only the two Classiarii and the two Adept parties will be accompanying us." Jak advises the Confessor, echoing what the respectful guardsman earlier said - after which he motions for her to join him at the head of the party (as befits her status) as they press on into the structure, looking for indications of life - and heading, where possible towards the most core regions of the station.

A large, air tight cargo hatch gives access to the interior, and a big open holding area where unused goods might be stacked, about twenty percent of the floor space is covered in ten-foot square, sealed containers, dust lies everywhere here, smooth and pristine, the party leave fresh footprints as they move. At the fare end of the room is another air tight cargo hatch through which is a forty-meter-wide corridor running left and right, it is mostly well lit, but some of the illuminated panels that stud the ceiling have failed leaving occasional pools of darkness. A convoy of three small trucks are passing as the hatch opens, while a small, open backed skimmer in which four men are seated, passes the other way. The passage reaches for as far as the eye can see in both directions and is occupied with light vehicular traffic for the whole length.

The two misionaries stand close behind Harmonia, looking around in wonder.
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Harmonia doesn't really seem to track the significance of the construction queue, rather takes it as key information simply because it was the most important thing to tell her.

”Ahh, that was quick.
I would expect the passenger craft to be full when headed in the direction of where people concentrate, and multiple trucks required for where work is done.
We should start with the people in public gatherings, they should be more willing to cooperate and have more authority.”

 "The difficulty here being that none of these vehicles are stopping, most likely because this is not a recognised stop." Jak remarks, observing the flow of traffic for a few moments and then raising his Omnissiah's Axe, brandishing it not as a threat but as a symbol in an effort to attract the attention of a mid-sized passenger vehicle large enough - in his estimation - to carry their party of just under a dozen people.

Jak’s attempt to thumb a lift prove in vain, vehicles don’t even slow for him and drivers who catch his eye just return blank stares, there does not seem to be anything wrong with them, they are just totally disinterested. The do however swerve to avoid him if he steps out.

There seems little to distinguish the loads moving in either direction equal amounts of goods and personal seem to be moving both ways.

A small and relatively slow moving ‘vehicle’ approaches from the right, (if one has one’s back to the hanger bay), which as it gets closer seems to be a line of half a dozen people, jogging, in step, closer still and they can be identified as seven servitors, all but one carries a grey plasteel box about two foot cube, their clothing is raged an unkept and the one without a box has one arm hanging limply by its side though the other arm protrudes horizontally, palm upwards and fingers curved, as if it would be carrying a box if its arm were not broken. They trot passed in single file without a sideways glance.
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Harmonia gestures to the walking group as it approaches, signaling the escort troopers to fall in as she steps out behind the line of servitors and follows along at their speed but not bothering to try to make it look like she is moving in unison with them.

”That is as good an invitation as any I suppose.”

 Well... Actually, he was axe-ing for one.

 *Rimshot*

 Nonetheless, the lack of effective communication of his requirements to the passers-by results in Jak sampling the digital atmosphere, looking for indications of signal traffic, only to abruptly hasten after Harmonia when she takes off at a steady jog, the Explorator being followed by the two small triads of tech-adepts and the pair of guards (presumably, also the two missionaries) as he jogs to keep up, "But not dignified."

After about five minutes of jogging, the train of servitors turns sharply to the left into a side passage and continues without slowing. This passage immediately turns to the left and then adopts a gentle incline. Other servitors pass the other way, mostly on their own, but no vehicular traffic. By the time the passage levels out you have been jogging for about ten minutes, it seems to stretch out ahead indefinitely but there are a series of regularly spaced passage in the left and your ‘train’ heads down the third one of these and finally slows and stopes by a doorway. Each turning on the way has lead into a progressively smaller passage and the one you are in now is about fifteen feet wide and ten feet high, there are doorways all along and a strip of lumens at the top of the wall on both sides though some have failed leaving dark areas and in one case pitch black where they have failed on both sides at once.

The first servitor enters the room and leaves a few minutes later without it’s box, it goes to the other side of the corridor, facing back the way it came and waits while the second servitor does the same and lines up behind it.

”Hh hum  .  .  . excuse me Confessor, but we seem to have lost Pater, ” says one of the missionaries, referring to the other who is no longer with the party.
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Harmonia rolls her eyes, and sighs a little bit, then without change in demeanor or volume puts the unfortunately incompetent missionary to task.

”This is why I wanted you to stay on the ship, go find him, then come back or return to the gunship, there is no room for liabilities on this mission.”

 "There is a non-zero probability that the missing missionary has an agenda in opposition to, or not in alignment with, our own. Failing to maintain contact with our group en route is indicative of deliberate action." states, his artificially produced vocalisation lacking anything of the puffed-out breathlessness he's experiencing under his robes because who the hell jogs for ten minutes straight wearing full carapace and eighty pounds of cybernetics when there are servitors for that kind of nonsense?

 The fabrication specialist by contrast (and one of his two apprentices) do look actively out of breath, while the auspex trio seem irritatingly fresh. The two Classiarii don't even look to notice the transition from motion to stillness.

 Either way, Jak moves to a position where he can see into the delivery room the next time that a servitor from the 'train' passes into it.

The missionary departs to find his comrade and Jak passes into the small room behind the door.

On the wall opposite the door is a square hatch, just the right size to receive one of the boxes the servetors are carrying. On the wall to the right is a small opening just large enough to accommodate a metal beaker and enough room to grasp it conveniently, the beaker sits in a sludg of thick white material that has flowed down the wall below it and accumulated in a puddle that covers most of the floor. This stuff has been well trampled into the ground and path of servitor footprints leads from the door to the hatch, then to the beaker, then back out of the door.

As he watches the next servitor enters the room, places its box in to the hatch witch as obligingly opened for him, as it closes the servitor moves the beaker, drains it’s contents, replaces it and leaves the room while the beaker is refilled with the thick white fluid.

The next servitor to enter is the one with the non-functioning arm.
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Apparently no more bothered by the possibility of betrayal than the certainty of incompetence Harmonia just shrugs and steps around the last corner to look into the box room.

”We will burn that bridge if we come to it, for now we need to decide if we can gain anything from their food despenser or if we need to go back the other way.”

 "I expect that following these individuals will take us to a location of greater utility to us, although on what timescale, I could not venture to predict." Jak expresses, turning to examine the damaged servitor and - assuming not unreasonably that it will be unable to provide useful service to the Manufactorum going forward - attempting to communicate with its onboard processes through a stream of binary cant, attempting to determine what its orders are and what degree of the station map it has in its cogitators.

As the broken servitor goes through the motions of receiving it’s nutrients without actually doing so, Jak learns from it that it’s duties are to move boxes from point A to point B, receive nutrients and return to point A for another box. There is codding to make it part of a train with fourteen other servitors. The instructions have been in place an infinite length of time and cannot be altered because of the executive priority over ride. Jake can determine the route it takes between points A and B but nothing else.

Having failed to consume nutrients, the servitor leaves the room while the dispenser drops and other ration into the still full beaker which overflows and runs down the wall to join the mess on the floor. Jak finds that the dispensing mechanism dispenses one ration of nutrients to each servitor, an instruction that can not be over ridden because of the executive priority over ride.
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Idly watching the food dispenser fail Harmonia doesn't seem particularly interested in the fate of the broken one.

”Until we find another way in we might as well see where they take us, do keep an eye out for alternatives and we will take them but so far this road is all we have, one direction or the other.”

 "The system has been hard-coded to operate without any capacity for alteration at the local level. This is an extremely unusual circumstance, as demonstrated by the imminent failure-state of the damaged servitor. I have secured the local route information for the convoy however, permitting us to move at our own pace." Jak informs the confessor (and by extension, everyone else) before motioning the group onwards, following in the general wake of the procession but without needing quite their pace (allowing for a touch more dignity to be displayed) as they do so.

 Well, unless they see something more interesting en-route.

Transitioning out of the lead from the front position smoothly Harmonia joins in somewhere in the middle of the new, more cautious, advance without further comment.

With Jaks new found knowledge of there is no need to wait for the rest of the servetors to finish their routine. The route back to the main throughfare is slightly different to the way they arrived but lands them on the other side of the road without having to cross the stream of traffic, (they drive on the left side of the road here, as in the UK and Japan). Traffic is a little heavier now but still no one pays the party any more than a curios glance until they are passed by a well-dressed civilian driving a one-person conveyance who stares at them in wide eyed astonishment as he overtakes from behind

The vehicle drifts out of line then, about thirty meters away, straightens up and accelerates. A small tanker in the outside lane breaks hard when the man drifts accross in front of him and behind that, an identical tanker turns sharply to avoid running into the back of it and crosses into the line of oncoming traffic. A large, empty flatbed coming the other way swerves to avoid the tanker and hits a small, two-man vehicle in the inside lane which spins and is immediately ploughed into by a heavily loaded transporter behind it, this jack knifes into the flat bed and the tanker and the next three vehicles pile into the carnage that is now blocking both lanes on the far side of the roadway.

As vehicles slow to a halt behind the accident a small flame licks up from the centre of the wreckage but is quickly doused by a torrent of water as the fire defences kick in, soaking the whole area and drenching the party. Traffic on the nearside of the roadway continues as normal but claxons are now blaring, orange warning lights are flashing and emergency vehicles strobing in red and blue are approaching at speed from both directions.

As they watch, their train of seven servitors goes trotting passed, this time empty handed.

.
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Harmonia shakes her head slightly at the series of easily avoided mistakes but doesn't dwell on it as she reminds the now stopped and watching group.

”It won't be long now that they know we are here.
Remember not to antagonize anyone, if they choose to welcome us as guests we will play that game for whatever worth we can before we need to change strategies, but don't let them separate or accuse any of us for their own troubles.”

 "This is entirely in keeping with our intentions." Jak replies in full agreement, having watched the chain disaster develop and then - naturally enough - moving to sooth the fractured machine-spirits of the damaged vehicles, his associates fanning out to support his actions in a chattering stream of binaric - two of the apprentices proving to have modest chirurgical skills which they put to use performing methodical triage and stabilising those who seem to be most likely to receive economical repair.

 The two imposing guards don't assist of course, they're too busy watching.

The party, soaked to the skin from the fire suppressant which has now ceased, assists with the injured which are very few, the traffic speed was only around 30 mph and no one was seriously hurt.

Rescue and repair teams arrive very quickly, these are a mix of civilian and mechanicus personal who set to work without paying any attention to the party from the Lament, apart from the occasional "excuse me”, if someone is in the way. The flat bet is towed away, the other vehicles, where necessary, are quickly returned to operating condition and sent on their way and a pair of road sweeping vehicles turn up as the other rescue services begin to depart. Within about five minuets, things are back to normal.

Feel free to talk to any of these rescuers, or accident victims during the course of the above.
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 It more or less goes without saying that the moment someone in Mechanicus garb turns up with the rescue effort they are noted and observed... And once things look to be under control (but before they are completed), Jak sends out a string of high-level Binaric inquiring as to the hierarchy and status of those present, including his own fairly extensive checksum of authority and achievement as a tag-file to the stream. Most notable amongst the binaric is of course, a requirement for said highest-level local to attend him and a request for their identifier of choice.

 While he does this, he proposes to Harmonia "Perhaps you may wish to speak with the chirurgeons while I address my colleagues?"

Not wanting to interrupt their delicate process of rescue Harmonia waits until there is one of them standing around, taking a break, or about ready to leave in some capacity that won't risk anyone's life to interact with them.  Only then does she step free of the group, unseal her armored robe's face protection, and address them as if she was nothing more than another person.

”Excuse me, but we need to make our way to the central command area of this station, as quickly as possible would be best.  Is there any way you can help speed us on our way?”

The electro-priest in charge of this detail informs Jak that his immediate superior is 1138-2929-47315 Beryl whose fiction is overseeing damage response teams in section 315 of the manufactorum, she may be contacted on the communications network, and he provides the necessary details, but he does not know where she is physically.

Harmonia gets a similar, though more chatty response from the human workers, though in this case they do give directions to the office of their supervisor, John Michaels. They don’t offer transport but the location is within a mile.
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 "I have the communication codes for the local damage control priest. Escalating my efforts to interface with higher authority." Jak reports as he secures the information regarding 1138-2929-47315 Beryl, who he promptly attempts to contact, coding his response with an auspiciously numeric selection of priority canticles.

Harmonia leaves the obviously distracted locals to their work and returns to the group she came with.

”Their administration district seems to be close enough to walk, we should make our way there while you are conducting your search.”

 "This would seem to be an efficient use of our resources." Jak agrees, signalling for his associates to accompany him.

 ---

OOC: Is it just me, or do these folks seem distressingly blase about meeting folks from Outside? ^_^

The team move off following the directions given to Harmonia. The location turns out not to be an administration district but an office set in a service depot for emergency vehicles. As they arrive there are forty or so mechanicus personal and ten ley mechanics gathered around a fire suppression appliance mostly chanting the hymns of extraction and swinging smoking censors as the power unit is extracted using a hoist from an overhead gantry. A series of doors along the back of this vast garage space lead to store rooms and offices, one of these is clearly marked as ‘Administrator’.

The people you have met so far, mechanicus and ley, are not aware that you are from ‘outside’ and not particularly interested if you inform them as it makes no difference whatsoever to the drudgery of their day-to-day existence.

.

Neither qualified, nor interested enough, to disrupt the workers from their task Harmonia simply looks around the place long enough to find the signs that point in the direction of offices or administration.  Some signs are written, others unwritten, the general trend for cleaner work spaces, less clutter, and brighter lights are just as clear.

Once she reaches the proper door she knocks on it politely and waits for some response for a few seconds while her companions do whatever it is they do.

 "Communications on the manufactorum appear to have been exclusively hard-wired, whether for purposes of security or clarity I could not currently ascertain. Psycho-conditioning, whether direct or environmental also appears to have erased the majority of the capacity for curiosity from the population we have encountered. These factors point to a response to extreme peril or challenge which may bear upon the construction of the solar shield." Jak explains as they walk, the other tech-priests joining in with his little procession, shadowed (as always) by the two hulking combat cyborgs.

 He spends a moment in appreciation of the ritual process being undertaken around the fire suppression system, and while the binaric he emits afterwards is gently chiding of the junior nature of those performing it, it is also complimentary of their diligence and attentiveness to their charge, a tagged binaric commendation linking itself to the ritemasters noosphere presence as a badge of merit.

 From there, he simply turns to see if the knocking has achieved anything.

While they wait Harmonia does a little bit of clarification, a little bit of thinking out loud, and a little bit of decision making.

”Our understanding of the situation has the planet traveling through the warp for some unknown period of time, it may have taken this structure with it or this structure may be a replacement for one left behind.  In either case there is no reason to speculate about events we had no hand in, nor can influence.

We just need to figure out what is going on here now and what the construction project is for.  If we can determine a way to reorient the production to be more effective for the planet's recovery we may do that as well.”

Knocking on the door produces a rather delayed response, ”Who’s that? What do you want?” The man who opens it is bleary eyed and blinking, obviously just having woken up. He peers at the party for a short while and then asks, ”what?”

The office behind him is in disarray, the desk holds huge piles of untidily stacked papers, some of which have succumbed to the artificial gravity and cascaded onto the floor. Metal filling cabinets around the room are overflowing from half open draws and papers on the floors are soiled from being walked on over an extended period of time. On the desk the cogitator screen is flickering as data spools passed unheeded and in front of it a cushion, still flattened by the weight of this mans head.
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With the long wait over, or at least moving on to its next stage, Harmonia looks up at the man who's office it is after a quick scan of the office itself as visible behind him and addresses him directly.  As she does so she gestures to direct Jak's attention to the scrolling terminal.

”I see you are a busy man, so I will be as direct as I can.  We need to speak to the person, or people, in charge of this facility, we are here to sort out the situation in this system and we don't intend to take any more time doing it than is absolutly required.”

 "To the contrary, I am possessed of significant cognitive capacity which is not utilised in the normal course of social interaction. Speculative modelling of possible situations present in this system which approach a balance of predictive accuracy may later prove to be useful as they are compared to discovered information and refined further." Jak states, almost entirely missing the point of the assessment (although to be fair, it hardly applies to a mind as inhuman as his has become).

 When the door does open, he visibly recoils with a small gesture of anathema, looking - in so far as much as a Tech-priest can be said to look like anything - appalled at the sight, his own background as a copyist (and later archivist) causing him to be horrified at the state of record-keeping in the office.

 What he doesn't do is speak up however, since Harmonia has that well in-hand and he's not entirely certain that he wouldn't find himself bisecting the man before they got too far into the conversation.

For a long while the man’s expression is totally blank as he looks at Harmonia then, after a slow nod he says, ”oh, area supervisor McMartin, level three, block 18/27, green, I think, never actually been there,” and he closes the door.

Several knocks and similar interrogations latter, Jak and Harmonia have direction to a location about fifteen minuets walk away and coms details for area supervisor McMartin and very little else.
.

Unsurprised by the lack of interest Harmonia takes what she can get and just heads off down the path once they have it.

”Let me know when you figure out the overall layout of this place, but until then we follow what clues we can find and try to cause a minimum of disruption until we get somewhere it will matter.”

 "The design of a facility the size of this Manufactorum is unquestionably STC-compliant, but unfortunately without access to the original schematic or, at the very least an understanding of the parameters which caused it to be devised, speculation as to its greater structure is impractical at this time." Jak answers as the little procession sets out once more, following the breadcrumb-trail up the chain of command with every intention of continuing to do so until they achieve a greater degree of access to whatever is going on here.

Following directions back to the main thorofare, Jak and Harmonia see some sort of disturbance in the distance to the right, at the same time an cherubim approaches from the other direction and sings out a question in in a high pitched male soprano voice, “who are you and why are you not working?”

As the disturbance nears it is seen to be a large crowd of a hundred or more people running this way, shouting and waving sticks and other implements in a distinctly hostile manor.
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 Threading his reply with paeans of binaric authority and digital chants of authentication, the Tech-priest answers simply "We are. I am Explorator Tesla, Engineseer Prime of the Pious Lament and we are seeking communion with higher authority upon the Manufactorum. Please explain this civil unrest." while hastily recalling the most recent Large Useful Door they've encountered on the route to get there and whether it's close enough to reach before the mob arrives at the intersection.

Harmonia once again lets Jak manage the techpriest side of things, while that takes place in one direction she pulls the advancing group over to one side of the wide passage where they can close up ranks and steps up to the outer layer herself to be visible to the crowd when they get close enough to make out individual details.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:59, Mon 31 July 2023.

There is a long pause before the cherubim produces another impossibly high-pitched song in reply, “what? You are not from this manufactorum? What civil disturbance? What is going on down there?”

During this time the crowd draws nearer and can now be heard shouting and screaming, it seems to be an angry mob chasing someone.”
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 "This is correct, are your source codes corrupted? My credentials are an integral part of this communication." Jak answers, perhaps a little testily while the two hulking cyber-warriors move into place at the point of the wedge facing the mob, Jak takes up a position on their flank and the other six more to support them, power weapons and sigils of authority at the ready.

 Said wedge then starts to move back down the passage they came up from, looking for a door they can form up on the other side of, just in case things should get out of hand.

As the mob draws closer the subject of their ire becomes more obvious, robes clutched up in both hands and pail, skinny legs pumping like a runaway train, Saul, the missionary comes steaming down the walk way, not even slowing as he passes the party. Those who give chase are an unwholesome bunch, pale and thin as Saul himself but these are pock marked, scared and dirty, malnutrition is evident and they are dressed in dirty rags, like their quarry they pay no heed to the party and unless intercepted, will just carry on passed.

The cherubim meanwhile sings out ”no need to be ruder, I’ll send someone to get you,” although the last word is extended for some time, rising in falling through the upper registers until finally fading away.
.

It actually takes a while for Harmonia to recognize Saul on his way past given his disheveled state but even when she does her only reaction is to sigh and shake her head as he and the mob run past to sort out whatever their own problems may be.

When Jak seems done with his exchange she comments on the whole thing.  ”That doesn't look promising, we will need to figure out why there are so many people with that kind of free time that can't get food instead.”

 Were he an actual part of their coterie, Jak may well have extended a secure protection to the fleeing would-be ecclesiarch but under the circumstances, it would be opening quite the string of difficulties if they were to interfere in a possibly justified lynching...

 ...and in any case, the authority for such intervention lies with Harmonia, to whom he queries "Does the action of the missionary not fall under your authority, and is the trigger which initiated this incident not one which interests you?"

Harmonia shakes her head sadly, then turns away from the now departing mob.  ”While I have no doubt that any forthcoming after action report will be worth reading carefully they have chosen to act without supervision and in direct opposition to the standing mission orders, so until such time as that report is filed they are no concern of mine.  We should press on as soon as the disturbance has passed.”

 "We are waiting upon the operator of the malfunctioning Cherubim. They indicated that a representative would be heading to collect us. Assuming that they will not react with automatic hostility to our arrival, remaining in this location represents the optimal path forward at this juncture." Jak replies, continuing to watch the missionary charge off into the distance with his angry followers in tow, although the Tech-priest does place his axe in the path of one of the rearmost pursuers and inquire "What was the transgression of the one you are chasing?"

The last of the pursuers goes tumbling as she trips over Jak’s axe and would have just jumped up and ran on if someone hadn’t restrained her.

When asked she does not know what a ‘transgression’ is, but once the question is rephrased she ignores it, grins with her few remaining blackened teeth and announces ”we’re gona eat im.”

The whole conversation had been difficult because she had a strange accent and a dialect that bordered on an foreign language.

While contemplating this a bus turns up. Old and a bit battered but obviously well cared for it slides to a halt beside the party and the door in the side opens. Within, where the driver would normally sit is a grey box with a human head fixed on the top and connected by many cables, wires and tubes. The inside is dripping wet and smells strongly of disinfectant and the seating is well worn sheets of perforated metal, supported by metal tubes and contoured to be comfortable for the average human. The water doesn’t matter as the party are still soaked from the traffic accident but the seats are distinctly uncomfortable to anyone who deviated even a little from what the designer thought of as an average human.
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 "Ah, then it is simply that he represents food. Good to know." Jak answers, handing over a small pack of corpse starch from their survival kit by way of 'encouragement' for the answer he's been given and then releasing them to their pursuit in order to board the bus when it arrives, explaining as he does so "The presence of cannibal groups aboard the Manufactorum will necessitate extensive purges, particularly with the risk of contamination from the Immaterium. Depending upon their extent, this may go so far as to require vacuum exposure of sections of the structure. This we will be able to discuss with the command structure when we encounter it."

When the bus shows up Harmonia is among the first to enter, unconcerned by the strange conditions and very nearly the size of an average human even including the bulk of her armor.  ”I am sure we can find ways to bait them into controlled sections of the station before that becomes important.”

The bus ride takes about an hour, traveling at a moderate speed mostly along various highways but slowing for the last twenty minuets as it navigates smaller tunnels and a more complex route. During that time there are areas that seem devoid of life or movement, others that look more like the underhive because of vandalism and gang graffiti. At one point there the road takes an arial route across a vast coal yard where machines and men are hard at work, but many more machines lay idle. Conditions are better in the narrower ‘streets’ towards the end of the trip, here there is evidence of the cleaning and maintenance that has taken place, and more activity, mostly from servitors.

In a passage that is only wide enough for one vehicle in each direction the bus finally pulls in to a dedicated stopping place where it becomes wide enough to let other vehicles pass, here a young lay servant of the mechanicus waits, an excited looking and slightly overweight boy in his late teens.

He greets you with polite informality but does manage a bit of a bow for Jak as he descends to the pavement.

”Hello, hello, this is so exciting, never thought we’d see the day, and so many of you, this way please the master is waiting , and welcome, did I say that? Welcome, this way.”

And he leads off along a side tunnel.
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 "That would be the most economical operation, although it would deny their ready collection for servitor conversion after the cleaning." Jak observes, musing over the possibility while transmitting a report back to the gun cutter team to keep them updated (he can't reach the ship from here of course, but they can) and letting his autocognitive systems keep track of where they are relative to their starting point.

 Dismounting from the conveyance, he pauses for long enough to invoke a modest blessing upon its tired machine-spirit then turns to the lay servant as his team disembarks - the two triads of specialists and his own two guards - and form up around him, before he returns the bow with a polite nod and addresses him directly "You did. But it is understandable under the circumstances that you are less familiar than you might otherwise be with diplomatic niceties."

 As he heads off, everyone (and presumably Harmonia) of course follow along.

Reading the local man's familiarity with the machine style people as a prediction of the future Harmonia lets Jak take the lead.  While it is nearly impossible for someone in any kind of regalia to blend into the background she doesn't mind the opportunity to observe and keep her eye on the surrounding area, particularly watching for people who don't fit the techie mold well enough.

The team are led to a vast gothic hall, its high, vaulted ceilings supported by ornate cast iron pillars and its walls plastered with control panels. Spherical lumens suspended by long chains spread a warm glow over and array of desks and stations manned by servitors and a few young lay assistants. There is a bustle of industry here, all it looks neat and efficient, paint is fresh, brass is polished, lenses gleam, the smell of sacred unguents hangs in the air along with a sound track of subdued voices humming machinery.

The stooped form of an ancient Magos resides on a dais across the hall, a wide range of different appendages and mechandrites protrude from the front and hem of its scarlet robe and great hanks of tubes and cable trail along the floor to various devices arrayed around it. The head that turns to greet you, is a thing of steel, brass and ceramide with dozens of lenses arrayed over a bronze grill from which comes a contemplative humm.

.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:04, Thu 17 Aug 2023.

 The supremely comforting scent of sacred unguents and blessed oils mingled with the soft crackle of electrical arcs and ozone, with the scent of polish and the soft binaric chitter of communing machine-spirits washes over Jak as they approach the dais, a celebratory paean of inquiry and greeting rolling from his personal noosphere, wrapped around with identifying data-packets and digital seals of achievement and responsibility - augmented by those of the two lesser priests in his retinue.

 Verbally, so as to include Harmonia in the greeting he offers a polite, if catastrophically understated "Well met Magos. I believe we have much to discuss."

Taking care to stand behind, and a bit to the side, Jak in a position that speaks more of support than control Harmonia clearly intends to let the specialist manage at least the initial interaction with what are obviously more familiar types of people to him than anything she could claim knowledge of.

”Greetings to you Explorator, I am quite busy, as you can see, what is it you wished to talk about?”

Activity around the Magos continues at a frantic pace, although it might look calm and serine to Harmonia, to whome the myriad of pulsing lights and flickering dials mean very little.

There is a loud clatter somewhere behind them, neer the door, where a servitor, carrying a tray of small parts, falls on his face and lays still, the lay servant who showed you in curses quietly, and quite blasphemously to Jak’s ears, and rushes over to the prone figure along with two others from around the hall.
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 "Indeed, and yet it seems improbable that there are higher priority calls upon your time than the arrival of the first void travelers in your system in generations, particularly given the difficulties that both the manufactorum and the system in general are labouring under." Jak replies with strict, emotionless tone making no accusations and producing no judgement, instead going on to propose a simple solution "The most productive use of your processing cycles would logically to share with us a comprehensive briefing on local conditions and priorities which we can view so that our conversation going forward will cause a minimum of unnecessary disruption."

”Your arrival is an unwelcome distraction,” the Magos replies with a similar lack of emotional content as he continues to operate, ”and I fail to see any purpose in this ‘comprehensive briefing’ as you suggest, or what ‘conversation going forward’ you think is necessary.”

The bulky figure shifts with surprising speed across the dais and an mechandrite reaches out to operate a series of switches on a panel to one side.

””

 Observing the high levels of stress the Magos is operating under and the extreme precision of the adjustments it is necessary for him to make on a continuous basis, Jak renders his arguments into the shortest, clearest possible format in a string of short-form statements, stripped of all but the most basic data-canticles.

"You and your resources are finite".

 "This manufactorum operates on the knife-edge of failure state."

 "We and our ship represent a means of securing additional perspective and resources."

 "An upload of key logs from the stations operation - or data access to such logs - represents the minimum use of your resources for the maximum gain in utility of our presence for your work."

”You intend to assist us,” a small note of surprise is detectable even through the mechanics of Mages artificial voice box, ”in that case you shall have our fullest cooperation.”

The Magos provides Jak with a series of access codes for various documents and files.
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 Jak goes silent for several long minutes. One by one, the other tech-priests around him likewise go silent, their heads falling to their chests as the burden of processing the data that they've been given access to is shared out amongst their cogitators and their attention-span. The two cyborg warriors remain staunchly alert to peril as they do so, and in due course - after some ten to twelve minutes of furious examination - Jak's head rises and he states - in Gothic - without sideband expansion.

 "Priority Alpha 1344 was used to produce a stellar shield to protect the inhabitable world of Gelron from a nearby Xenos conflict. The records imply a stellar nova but orbital mechanics render this improbable. A stellar flare of Gelron's primary seems more likely, given its emplacement and orientation*. One hundred and fifty three standard years ago, the stellar shield successfully protected the planet, but the manufactorum suffered extensive damage, erasing records and rendering mission-critical personnel inoperable. Since no survivor was capable of rescinding or modifying the Priority, construction has continued."

 This, having been primarily for the benefit of Harmonia (and packaged for retransmission to the Trader) he then communes with the Magos once more:

 "Proposal: My associates and I will donate process time to supporting your endeavours. This will free your process time to consider the current situation and assess the information we have gathered. After a period of one standard hour we shall discuss possible solutions to your difficulties. Do we have concurrence?"

 ---

* You don't put a shield between a planet and a star to block an out-system threat. A big enough solar flare would sterilise a world though, so everything still checks out. ^_^

Only those who know here well would have noticed how close Harmonia had come to trying to offer her help in the negotiation, or the relief that briefly flashes over her features that she didn't need to.

With things under way now she turns some of her attention away from the central area with all the machines and starts to look around at the rest of the space, looking for people of an entirely organic nature or at least empty gaps in the room where they should be that might speak to how this place was intended to function.

When the processing has completed and she gets the update in a non binary language Harmonia asks one clarifying question.  ”Is it possible to determine the type and or qualifications for authority required to simply change the instructions?  If so it is likely we have someone in the crew who can be made to fit that need.”

 "Yes. But such speculation is for after the Magos has had an opportunity to assess local conditions. Our highest chance of cooperation in this situation lies in working with, and through local authority." Jak assesses, being basically in agreement with her, but rather wanting to give the Magos a chance to draw the same logical conclusion before alarming him too much.

Jak recives a reply from the Captain. ++See what you can do to have the order rescinded  or modified to help alleviate the situation, I plan on taking the Lament to the disk to determine what the status of it is and gather as much information as we can. I will also have Vormav work on getting supplies discontinued.++
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 Turning a fraction of his attention from the proposal he's crafted and his companion, Jak hastily retransmits, via the voidcraft:

 "This effort is ongoing, but at this time supply levels on the manufactorum are critical. Until such time as a clear picture of need and supply can be ascertained, I counsel maintenance of as much of the current state of affairs as seems practical. This situation can of course be re-examined in some few planetary rotations."

The Magos considers, but not for long.
”There is a flaw in your assessment, what I do here needs a holistic approach and you have not accounted for the time required for someone to gain that information before they can undertake any relief, the time which would be extensive, even for you.”

”Counter proposal, the task which occupies the manufactorum is redundant, find some way to rescind executive priority over ride alpha 1344. You will need to do a deep analysis and work out what constitutes the authority to do that, and then set such an authority in place, with the correct codes and passwords, not an easy task but doable, if one has the time. Currently that override curtails any operation outside of its own function and until it is revoked, we are limited in just trying to maintain the status quo.”
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 "It was my assessment that you were unaware of the altered situation. That you are instead fully cognizant of it simplifies the matter considerably." Jak states, keeping to minimum-bandwidth forms of communication as he does so, "Fortunately your cooperation provides us with the means to secure data access. Further, we can secure limited processing resources from you as long as we return to you more resources than are expended in their provision. Such as the assistance of my staff. We will notify you should we encounter blocks we are otherwise unable to bypass."

 "The most logical place to commence would seem to be the secure quarters and shrine of the former high magos of the system, the one who did have the necessary authority. Is this region sufficiently secure to explore?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:07, Sun 03 Sept 2023.

Sticking to her existing plan Harmonia leans in to speak quietly to Jak so as not to interrupt the overall progress they have made.  ”Let me know if there is anything outside the machines I can help with otherwise I will continue to stay out of the way and watch for other threats.”

”I have not been able to gain access,” the Magos replies.

The Magos has one of the lay servants, an elderly man whose robes are raged, torn and faded, bur clean non the less, conduct Jak and Harmonia to along a short side corridor to a large and elaborate double door with an eight foot cog mechanicus as its main decoration, there are many seals and Omnissian scripts in place and damage, old and new, from attempts to gain forcible entrance.
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 "We shall endeavour to do so with the entirety of our resources, a freedom that you have not been offered." Jak answers calmly, adding a low-key sideband of honest admiration and benediction for the dutiful efforts of the Magos before he turns and accompanies the lay servant, motioning for Harmonia to join him - as well as his staff of course - as he remarks "This shall likely be, once more work for my group to undertake. May I ask if you have any skill in matters of administration, data access or logistics?"

 As he speaks, he's visually inspecting the door seals and the attendant mechanisms, looking for signs of what measures were taken to secure it in days long past.

Unlocking this door without the proper authority and physical key would be an arduous, (+40), task, Jak may make multiple attempts but each on adds ten to the Test Difficulty. The degree of success or failure on the final attempt will dictate how easy it is to physically open.
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While Harmonia doesn't examine the door nearly as closely she does pause to take in the size and damage to it before she steps back to give Jak more room.  ”It is probably best if you try to open this one first.”

 Arduous is one word. Functionally impossible is another, since while Jak is an extremely<i> accomplished tech-priest with an extremely solid grasp of matters metaphysical, there's a fairly major gap in his education when it comes to breaching the great vault door in front of him.

 Having been a fairly good student... No-one ever taught him to pick locks.

 Nevertheless, while the great bolts and seals that hold the door closed are beyond him, he can nonetheless determine which incantations and data-canticles are necessary to assume High Authority, and having <i>those available to him will be of no small benefit elsewhere. Setting his ornamental staff of authority into the central key-hole of the great door, he interfaces with it and begins to bend his augmetic mind to the task of assuming direct control.

 ---

Jak doesn't have the Security skill, so he can't do anything about the mechanical locks (if any), but between his sky-high intelligence, advances in the tech-use skill, his combi-tool, electro-grafts and his multi-key... He ought to be able to work his way through the electronic locks and gain enough information to spoof command authority in other places!

02:50, Today: Jak Tesla rolled 13 -- 3 degrees of success using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 46.  Well, I can see about the data access side.

One by one circuits give way before Jak’s assault, machine spirits concede to his entreaties or intimidations and mechanical tumblers fall away until after more than an hour, he reaches the penultimate hurdle, an organic logic breaker that responds to every attempt with the same answer, ”I do not recognise you, you have no authority here.”

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It doesn't take long for Harmonia to realize Jak will be at this for a while so she starts to wander around again, looking but not touching at a bunch of things.  At some point she disappears from easy view but not loud noises or explosions imply anting inappropriate happening before she returns from a different direction.

”I am no map expert, but there seems to be a smaller, and considerably less damaged, door on the back side of this block of rooms.  Before we try to damage this one further we may want to inspect it more closely.”

 One by one, Jak overcomes or placates the vigilance of the machine-spirits guarding the chambers and - in doing so - secures vital knowledge about what authorizations may be asked for at other doors, as well as what code schemes are used in the Manufactorum.

 He chants, he passes his hands through ritual motions, he engages in verbal, digital and binaric sign-and-countersign, he lays his hand upon panels and plates and seemingly decorative features... And in the end he stands before the last barrier (that he can detect) and casts his authorizations into the teeth of an ancient servitor-mind augmented and tasked with the security of this chamber... And finds himself thwarted.

 So - trusting to the chance that the brain has some level of freedom of action, he presents his credentials in their entirety, includes a report on the current situation and enters a petition for access. After which (knowing that even success will take time) he turns to Harmonia and admits "It had not occurred to me that there might be a back door. An oversight upon my part. Please, lead the way."

Not needing any more invitation Harmonia leads the way to the other smaller door around the back of the section of rooms.

The ‘back door’ is a plain and simple thing, much like any other door they have so far encountered but even from a distance Jak can see that the security measures are likely to be much the same as those already encountered however, as they approach the door opens and a servitor walks out carrying a cylindrical object, there is a long, flexible tube attached to one end of the cylinder and the other end of the tube splays out into a wide, flat nozzle.

You are going to have to go some if you want to catch the door before it closes, if either of you are trying please give me an initiative roll.
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 The fact that the door almost certainly has the same security methods on as the main access route is no bad thing - he's solved almost all of them and recorded the codes, incantations, gestures and inputs needed to demonstrate his credentials to the machine-spirits involved...

 ...but the fact that there are servitors here which also possess those codes and that he didn't think to check for that (or for a back door) before spending the better part of two hours code-cracking and negotiating can't help but leave Jak feeling (in so far as much as he 'feels' a tad testy. As a result he lunges forwards as he sees the housekeeping servitor with the atmospheric-pressure-operated-dust-removal-tool passing through the door, attempting to prevent it from closing.

 ---

03:19, Today: Jak Tesla rolled 10 using 1d10+3.  Initiative.

Leading the way to the back door Harmonia hardly even seems to move more quickly, rather she is just in the right place at the right time, to reach out and catch the door even as it starts to fall backwards into a closed position.  Gesturing for Jak to go ahead of her she holds it open long enough for both of them, and any members of the entourage Jak is leading, to go in.

The door opens onto a large room in the centre of which is a control desk that wraps around the command chair in an almost complete circle, leaving just enough gap to gain access. Seated in the command chair are the mummified remains of a Grand Magos, he, or she is heavily augmented and the only remaining flesh visible is the left hand and part of the left forehead and cheek, in these places the skin is sunken, dry and translucent.

The pack affixed to her back is large, has a plethora of cables and pipes connecting it to all parts of the control panels and the glass encased coil on the top pulses brightly with blue light.

There is a wide space between the walls of the room and the control station and here are the paraphernalia of day to day living, a cot for sleeping, a table to take meals a library and a large holographic communicator currently on but with just static filling the projection space.

That door was supposed to be almost impossible to catch but as Harmonia maxed out her Initiative roll it would be churlish of me not to give it to her.
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 It can't help but be slightly galling for an unaugmented human to so rapidly outrun himself and his companions, especially after she proved herself a more unorthodox (but successful) problem-solver as well, but Jak comforts himself with the thought that he didn't give any orders, his eight adepts are by no means combat-rated and the two combat 'borgs are under orders to protect, not to hold doors.

 Nonetheless, praise where praise is warranted draws a typically flat "Well done Confessor Wells." and a nod of the head as a short burst of binaric send the fabricator, the life-systems expert and their six subordinates to Make Themselves Useful to the Manufactorum command team while the two 'borgs station themselves at the door - since the holy mysteries of the inner rooms of a Magos are not for the uninitiated (except of course, the Confessor who has earned access to them today).

 Smoothly, he crosses the room to examine the Grand Magos for a few moments, reaching out to her implants with polite, surface-level requests for data access and attention before he so much as dares to plunder any deeper.

Accepting the praise with a polite, if not entirely humble, nod Harmonia refrains from going to far into the room or near any of the blinking lights and delicate switches.  Instead she quietly closes the door they came in through so that it won't look out of place to anyone outside the room.  ”Let me know if you need anything else, otherwise I will hang out over here and keep an eye out for any potential problems.”

The door closes with a muted ’click’, followed by another and then a series of assorted mechanical noises as the various complex locks and defences fall back into place leaving Harmonia alone in the corridor, apart from the two hulking borgs who both turn to look at her.

Jak finds the mechanisms attached to the dead Magos compliant, not only that but an echo of the Grand Magos’ consciousness remains within the complex machinery, dwelling within the crystals that once artificially boosted his or her memory.

.

 The two burly Classiarii - neither of them looking even slightly organic and both of them festooned with the sort of alarmingly deadly weapons that would be lethal for an unaugmented human to even carry - settle nicely into their duty stances.

 Jak meanwhile - quite unaware that the door has just sealed - rejoices at his successes, doing the best he can to provide organic run-time for the echoes of the Magos using chunks of his own neural tissue he isn't currently using (thus neatly sidestepping the unspeakable heresy of silicon animus) in order to ask simple, but important questions like 'what was the nature of the problem the shield was supposed to solve' and 'where did you leave your keys?'

With nothing of any use to do in the small side room Harmonia returns to the larger space to look around and see if there are any other hidden rooms, or fully organic people engaged in activities that don't involve the overly complicated running of machines that her allies have well in hand.

 Harmonia's comm-bead chimes with a complex and tonal five-part chime that leads into a recognisable, but extremely vibrant Jak's voice "Success! Command and control codes have been located. Stand by for group conference."*

 ---

* Continued in The Disk.

.

Still poking around the area outside the locked room Harmonia pauses to reply to the short ranged comm bead.  ”It sounds like you are stuck here until we sort this out?
 In that case you should use your temporary control to stop whatever orders you can, get this place back under control and let the disk project end.”

***From the Pious Lament***

Closing her direct input but leaving it open for response then openning another to the Manufactorum based crew ++Magos, Gelron Primary has had a change of leadership and we hear they are attempting to destroy the Launcher mechanism. I am attempting to get troops sent there from the Northern Alliance, I am aware that they possess a skitarii armoured regiment. If you could attempt to convince them to mobilise immediately and head to defend the launcher we are enroute as fast as we can to provide support. If the Manufactorum has any troops and a way to get to the surface that may be prudent. Our shuttles both on the surface and the manufactorum are at your disposal.++

 "At this juncture, it would be premature to alter the priorities of the Manufactorum. It is my intention to confer with the Magos who has commanded the station to determine the most effective way to restore normal operations without causing significant damage." Jak answers, both refusing the request and also explaining the thinking behind his doing so... Just as the message from the Lament comes in, and priorities need to be reassessed again.

 A minimal-content message is sent to the Magos directly, inserting itself into his data-feed in order to explain that command access has been achieved, but not bestowed and that there is a candidate from the Pious Lament who is qualified to receive it as well as the Magos himself. Recommendations are sought.

 After that an attempt to communicate with the Skitarii command structure is made, a series of self-replicating mimetic signals dispatched in order to request that their senior priest contact the Manufactorum to receive an updated situation report.

 Which leaves Jak to propose - to both Searlait and Harmonia - "Further action at the Manufactorum is pending, but in the interim it seems to me as though the matter facing us is predominantly sociological rather than theological. The human population in this system has been focussed upon the manufactorum and the shield for an extended period of time. Simply informing them as brute fact that the situation has changed would appear to be an invitation to chaos. I propose that Confessor Wells is the most qualified to create a psychological buffer to begin the process of returning the system to normal operation and I am willing to place communications resources at her disposal to achieve this end."

While still keeping an eye on the room Harmonia turns the majority of her attention on the comm bead.  ”While I commend you for your confidence both in my ability, and the general ability of humanity to understand it, but I believe this situation may be to far gone for me to resolve without some amount of in person communication, if we can't implement a quick solution here I may need to take the shuttle down to the planet.

I know little of your exact methods, but if your current difficulty is one of authority I recommend creating a new layer of authority to allow the current operator to make changes, but retain for yourself the ability to select a new operator as needed, or even more than one.”

The Magos cogitates for a millisecond or two then responds with congratulations and gratitude, he goes on to point out that although it would be vastly counterproductive to rescind executive priority over ride alpha 1344 it might be possible to modify it, He proposes that as an initial step repair and maintenance of the manufactorum and its facilities be inserted as a means of maximising production of 133A 771 STC 33090/b7 units and that the protocols within the units be updated so that they are simply ‘parked’ in some safe location and do not add to the problem.

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This message was last edited by the GM at 18:29, Sun 17 Sept 2023.

 "It was my thought that a general address utilising planetary communication arrays would be in order, but it would be contraindicated to express my confidence in your capacity to sway the beliefs of a population and then criticise your assessment." Jak answers, which sounds as though it's basically agreement, albeit from a planet a long way away.

 As for her proposal, well "The matter is more complex than can be easily expressed, but in essence command authority is absolute. It is my hope that from this terminal, modifications to the override can be implemented to buy time for a more measured step-down to be completed. Please wait."

 And with that, Jak links himself to the terminal to begin his work.

Jak connects into various pieces of equipment then seems t go dormant as he concentrates his efforts on the task in hand.

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 Jak looks to be more or less completely out of service for the duration, although a screen near Harmonia does light up with the helpful face of a highly abstract Cherub, which circles the screen and - every minute or so - holds up a new 'processing' card in its chubby little vat-grown hands with a slowly counting-down number in it.

 It's currently rather higher than three hundred so she's probably got time for a snack or to make use of the 'comm gear or the shuttle.

Harmonia waits for a while watching the countdown, then decides it is indeed time for some rest, recovery, and or meditation.  She finds a quiet spot to eat some field rations, get more than a few sips of water, and generally avoid the blinking beeping and or whirring of machines for a while.

Time passes but the situations does not change.

Jak is progressing nicley but time in the other threads needs to sincronise a bit.
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 The cherub on the flickering green-and-black screen makes a show of yawning a few times, or performing extremely simple tasks but the cards continue to show the passage of time, counting gradually downwards as Jak attempts to reorder the assignment of centuries of planetary industry and arcane techno-theology in order to progress their mission.

Clearly content to wait Harmonia engages in some meditation, or perhaps silent prayer, or a mix of both, while she waits for the inevitable conclusion the machines must reach.

Time passes, the abstract cherub on the display counts down as Jake begins to carefully reinstall the modified instructions bit by bit, a couple of little hiccups need minor readjustment but all in all it goes smoothly and as the cherubs placard finally shows zero and the Jak finally stirs as if awaking from a long sleep, a distinct change sweeps over the manufactorum, the background noise level relaxes, there is a sort oof sigh as things slow down just a bit, everything is some how less frantic and more perpousfull.

Jak checks various readouts around the command station and all is well.
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++Magos Tesla do you have any update on the situation. We are now seeing potenial assault on the Northern Alliance capital and still several hours out. Vox is being jammed locally can your forces break through the interference and contact anyone in that vicinity++

 For much of the last little while, attempts to contact the Explorator have gone straight to one of his aides, but the most recent message is answered by a string of 'ping' chimes that indicate 'pending' and sees Tesla answer promptly.

 "At the present time, I have no information regarding events on the planetary surface. I have been emeshed in the command canticles of the Manufactorum and believe that I have managed to significantly reorient them towards addressing the problems of the local system. Please hold."

 From there, he jerks into motion and addresses Harmonia "I believe that this is the time when you should offer your services to the Trader while I seek to investigate this jamming." before proceeding to do exactly that and attempting to access the communication systems of the Manufactorum.

Harmonia looks around until she finds the trader in question then addresses him.  ”It seems like we have the situation here well in hand, and should be able to speak to the surface soon, if there is anything you can think of that might help guide them to a more effective stance now would be the time to tell me.”

++I'm only going on what intelligence I am receiving, about Gelron Primary troops heading to the launcher to destroy it, then movement towards the Northern Alliance capital then signal jamming around the capital. Friendly troops were moving to the launcher and I am unable to contact many forces besides Agent Tungsten. I was hoping the vox facilities aboard the Manufactorum would be able to break the baffling to gather and relay information as we are still several hours out.++

 (( No result, boss? ))

Sorry Jak, my bad.

From the manufactorum Jak c establish that there is jamming across all frequencies in the vicinity of the Northern Alliance capital, there is nothing he can do about it from here.
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 "The entirety of the region is blanketed with patterns of disruption and canticles of obfuscation. Only directed lascom messages could penetrate the jamming and no such systems are registered as being in operation." Jak reports after some few minutes of work.

Not really sure where to go from here Harmonia asks the first question that comes to mind, just in case it matters.  ”Is it possible to determine the location of the jamming?  Or perhaps a central control location that could be destroyed?”

 "I believe that the interference is originating from multiple locations, but I shall endeavour to confirm it." Jak replies, experimentally switching to low-power but high resolution auspex systems and tuning them to use comm frequencies in an effort to map the area of the disruption.

 ---

 Just trying to confirm the answer to the question that Harmonia put to us. One central jamming system, multiple overlapping static jamming systems or multiple mobile ones?

From the geosynchronous orbit of the manufactorum the Northern Alliance capital is quite close to the horizon which makes examination difficult. The jamming is coming from more than one source but how many or where they are specifically located, it’s not possible to tell.
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 "It is not possible to localise the interference from this orbit, although it is near certain that there are multiple point sources." Jak reports after several more minutes of careful calculation, then sets up remote access authority for himself - keyed to his own implants - before proposing to Harmonia "Shall we return to the shuttle?"

Harmonia is already up and ready to go, although not yet pacing, when Jak frees himself from the secure room.  ”If you have done everything you can in person here we should return to the shuttle, it would be most helpful if your new authority can provide a faster trip.  I believe we will want to land near whatever the largest source of jamming is, or at least fly past it to determine its location and potential weaknesses.”

 "It should not be problematic to secure transportation." Jak proposes, moving to accompany Harmonia as the two combat cyborgs who form his core escort fall in behind them and he moves around to where the small group of Pious Lament tech-priests and apprentices are busying themselves assisting the command staff of the Manufactorum.

 He doesn't reassign them permanently, but he does task them to assist the Magos-in-charge until things are better in hand and then requests transportation to the hanger in which the shuttle is waiting for them.

Jak and Harmonia are soon in a suitable transporter on their way back to the shuttle, around them the frantic urgency of the manufactorum seems to have relaxed into a more deliberate and purposeful tempo and at one point they pass maintenance work on the lumens of what had recently been a dark stretch of highway.

The quickly reach the gun cutter and Commander Heskith welcomes the aboard, ”all prepped and ready to go Sir, what is our destination?”
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Buckling herself in to one of the cockpit observer seats Harmonia gestures for the pilot to get things going.  ”Everyone leaving with us is aboard, make for the northern country, the center of the jamming if you can find it, or fly just close enough to give them something to shoot at for a while but don't let them do any real damage.”

 The security team isn't left on-station but the gun cutter has instructions to head back for pickup when their current operation is over, leading to Jak agreeably remarking "The confessor has matters well in hand, and I believe that this part of the operation is best left in her hands."