Jak Tesla sits in his study amongst his cogitators and slave readouts that convey information on processes from all around the ship. All is not as it should be. His sacred charge is to large and complex to be considered as a whole, but that’s what he must do to understand why all the working parts of the vestal are not meshing together, there is conflict between various machine spirits, and so many things that need attention, things that don’t perform as they should or are broken all together. In addition, and according to his research to date, there are areas of the ship, untouched for centuries, containing mechanisms whose intended functions have been lost to time. Some of these are cold and dead, others work as they should, performing without maintenance or attention at some unknown tasks that for all anyone knows is critical the ships welling. Apart from all this there is a list of several hundred items bought to his attention by various subordinate and amongst them two, which are probably connected, one a routine request, already sanctioned, for addition power and data access points in a large office suit on deck 19 as it is to be reassigned as a laboratory workshop, the other a note from the Lady captains office, informing him that they have taken on board an Exploritor, followed by Arius' identification code and a note that he will be independent of Jak’s command but she was expecting mutual cooperation between them.

Arius Draccius settles into the work rooms ha has been allocated to the stern of deck 19, not laboratories yet as he has not unpacked his gear, it stands stacked in the middle of the first of his rooms, still in the crates, on top is a thick brochure entitled ‘The Pious Lament, induction hand book,’ and alongside four general purpose servetors allocated for his use. The brochure has the first page carefully removed but otherwise contains a brief history, ship rules and regulation, ship routines and operational procedures, health and safety regulations, a disclaimer re personal injury and the contact details of all the departments and key personnel, at the rear is a perforated sheet stating that the signee has read the document and agrees to comply with the contents, please tear out, sign and return to the admin office.
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Arius wondered at the quaintness of the brochure. It contained some information of trifling use but otherwise was a tertiary concern. His primary one was getting set up on the ship that would be his new base of operations. And while he had been the passenger of a voidship before, he had never been one of its long-term residents. On his list was acquainting himself with the vessel's parameters, capabilities and opportunities that might enhance his research efforts. But first he would unpack. His vox-box bursted commands in techna-lingua moved the servitors to action. He himself wasted no time and contibuted using his enhanced frame and strength to good effect to move about heavy objects. As he unpacked he found his servo-skull and set it to task finding ports for the motive force so they might share their blessed conduits with him. Cabling was laid, some suspended from the ceiling and interfaced with his armor so he might continue work without risk of exhausting its limited capacitator. His work desk was unpacked and assigned a prominent place within the room so he might oversee it while working. It too received the blessing of the motive force so its cogitator within once again roused from its slumber. From there it was a matter of securing cabinets and workbenches. He sent a requisition order to the ship's quartermaster, finding the details in the ship's brochure. He made sure to include several items he felt he would need sooner or later; A variety of tools, a modest cogitator array, a large hydropod to suspend specimens in and some scanning devices.

That added up to a few hours well spent. Instead of waiting for the additional items he went to find another resource he required; skilled staff. Servitors were a useful tool, but the explorator required assistants that had a higher intellectual capacity. Those were best found within the Adeptus Mechanicus contingent of the ship. He decided to visit the Enginarium to make his request in person and pay obeisance to that Shrine of the Omnissiah. Thus his massive frame lumbered with heavy, uneven step from his new laboratory to the nearest transit hub so he might speed his movement through the massive ship. As he moved he was like a giant, his power-armored frame massive and his power axe used as a walking aid. Lesser crew had to step out of his way for he cared not for them and he would not slow in his purpose. As he went he examined panels and cabling in passing, sensing the greatness of the Machine Spirit around him.

The elevator rides downwards towards the rear core of the vessel were uneventful. Finding the Enginarium was an easy task, for it was vast. As he neared it, he found his path blocked by a blast door and gun-servitor aiming its weapon at him, announcing he was unauthorized. It seemed his authorization had not been processed yet. An annoying oversight. He stepped back and entreated a comm-panel, finding its servitor more accomodating at contacting the Enginarium. He allowed it to pass his binaric message inside the hallowed shrine of the Omnissiah.
++This is Explorator Arius Draccius. I require audience to procure assistants and materials.++

 There is no greater and more sacred responsibility to be found - outside the most sacred confines of a Forge-World or perhaps those of a shipyard halo - than to stand as the representative of the Deus Mechanicus in attendance upon an Imperial Voidship. The greater the age, sanctity and provenance of the vessel, the greater the weight of its holy service and the more intense both the obligation and the responsibility. The Pious Lament has seen nine and a half thousand years of loyal and worthy service to the Omnissiah, nine thousand of those years in His navy, a mere five centuries as a voyager under the aegis of a great dynasty.
 In that time, she has seen countless Enginseers Prime and the skulls of many - those fortunate enough to have died aboard her in service - line the far wall from the door, each constantly thrumming with the soft binary recitation of their deeds in a fashion that overlaps into a soothing, stirring chant of background process to remind the one sitting in the chair before them of their duty.

 Which is of course, where Explorator Tesla comes in.

 He arrived aboard not three day-cycles ago and after a brief, reassuring service in the great Engineerium-Shrine (repeated by vox-cast to the many stations throughout the ship at which communicants worship) he pledged his service to the Pious Lament and rededicated his oaths to the Omnissiah, commanding the many over which he has oversight to continue in their duties while efforts are made to address the needs of the ship.

 Something which he knew would be a challenge even before he first sat back and linked his implants with the myriad of data-feeds set along the spine and arms of the chair, a position from which he's barely moved in a day, save to ingest nutrient broth and attend to the maintenance needs of his meat.

 The countless demands upon his attention are, at least a relatively reassuring presence since they are known problems, and being known can be assessed and addressed and he's drawn deeply on the cooling systems of the chair as his cranial implants and brain have hummed and beeped their way through the massive stack of missives and documents, data-psalms and pious attestations of tasks complete as - slowly - he's started to develop a program of work to start assessing the needs of his role.

 And then there's Arius.

 Explorators are not bees - there is room for two Queens in a hive - but there is no room for the idle and it would be an act of supreme foolishness for Tesla not to take advantage of a second mind and a second pair of hands... To which end Arius's request is answered with a swift eight-tone 'higher authority override' chime and a polite burst of binary chatter to the effect of ++ Enginseer Prime Tesla, for Explorator Draccius. Please follow the servitor-skull to my office. Resources may be arranged ++
This message was last edited by the player at 02:24, Thu 01 Dec 2022.

Arius turned to the opening bulkhead grinding open. The gun servitor raised its weapon upwards and shifted its vigilance down the hallway. With a hiss of a piston Explorator Draccius lumbered forwards into the hallowed Enginarium. Immediately he was met with long-extinguished candles and the soft whisper of prayer papers hanging from the walls disturbed by the shift of airflow. The blessed smells of incense and sacred unguents wafted towards him. From the darkness beyond the single glowing red eye of a servo-skull approached him. A welcome guide. While he was sure he could find his way towards the core components of the Enginarium, finding one particular office would be impossible on such a great vessel. Behind him the blast door ground shut with a heavy clang.

As he walked the hallways he came closer to the source of the thrum that filled the ship and its vibration slowly intensified in strength. He came at last to a great hall overseeing one of the plasma reactors. Arius paused a moment to appreciate the sight and store it in his logis engine. The heat here was great and below on the decks countless serfs and servitors toiled under the stern eye of their taskmasters. Ah, to stand so close to the engines of blessed fusion was a pilgrimage for many a tech-priest. Mighty were the works of the Omnissiah.

After this small pause he once again continued after the servo-skull. It unerringly led him to the office of the Enginseer Prime. Upon entering Arius noted the mounted skulls and their purpose. To be interred for thousands of years in such a shrine did them honor, forever accompanying the shrine they served in life. Even in death they served the Omnissiah through their hymns. But he had not come for such sentimentalities. He turned to the Tech-Priest who was in charge of this hallowed vessel and made the sign of the cog.

 Explorator Tesla does not at first respond - in person - but at the entrance of Arius into his domain, the immobile (and quite obviously plugged-in) priest triggers a cascade of call-and-response data-streams that interrogate his visitor for both their qualifications and their sanctity (both of which are ably demonstrated by the merest brush of autonomic systems, but serve to imply that the Engineseer Prime has intentions without openly voicing them at first.

 It frames the meeting as equal parts interview and 'social' gathering when - with a series of audible unlocking noises - the Explorator disengages from his chairs machine-links and rises to return the cog-sign with smoothly moving limbs before offering a polite (to a member of the Cult Mechanicus, for whom straight-to-business is the courtesy of kings) "No resources are available at this time for non-critical functions; All equipment and qualified personnel are required to trace and correct shipboard anomalies. In order to free workshop, laboratory and personnel time higher-value labour will be needed to offset their potential contribution. Mindful of the time this may call from your work, higher-value labour can be arranged from otherwise downcycled individuals with appropriate qualifications."

That the Enginseer Primus saw need for his considerable skill came as little surprise. And while Explorator Draccius had no intention of becoming a member of the Enginarium's staff, he did see the value in working in its confines briefly in return for the resources he required. After all, he currently had exhausted his avenues of research until new specimens could be procured and the Omnissiah abhors the idle.

"Affirmative. My current workload allows additional tasks. In return, I require adequate research facilities and staffing to be provided."

 A second Tech-Priest of comparable rank would of course be an intolerable snarl and source of potential difficulty in the Engineerium... But an associated adept, working on other projects yet available to address such problems as arise outside of the norm?

 That's an entirely different matter and to which end, Jak communicates his agreeability by activating the hololithic display set into his desk with a short burst of binary, causing it to glitch a few times before presenting a fuzzy but discernible image of the Pious Lament. Exploding the image, deck-by-deck Tesla causes a number of areas to be illuminated, explaining "These sections are sealed and contain devices of uncertain purpose and considerable antiquity. It is my assessment that a productive use of your assistance would be opening, examining and - where necessary - repairing them. This will free resources to equip a suitable workshop."

 ---

 OOC: If we've got mystery boxes on the ship, why not send the Archeotech experts after them? ^_^

Arius leaned closer to the hololithic display to take up the details of the map within his Logis implant. As the map lit his deathly gray face he took note of the size of the task. It would be considerable. And seeing these areas were uncharted they might be unsafe. However, the prospect of finding ancient forgotten technologies was always of interest, especially on such an ancient ship that nearly went back to the Great Crusade.

"A work and security detail will be required. I will commandeer them to secure and map those areas. Depending on the technology found, and the willingness of the Omnissiah, I shall rouse their machine spirits once more."

 "The resources for such things are available and have been assigned. You will be taking the role of lead Engineseer on whichever team you select to join. I will accompany you for the initial assessment, you will then take the lead on repairing, restoring or prioritising the chamber you have broached before moving on." Tesla explains, thereby assigning himself an opportunity to make an initial assessment of whatever's being examined - and a chance to size up his colleague - while dumping the majority of the work* on Arius.

 ---

 * Which is to say, the 'what are you doing in downtime' part, before we get exciting story-element things to do.

The decrepit eyes of the Explorator stared a moment at the Enginseer before he nodded his affirmative. In that time he wondered why the Enginseer Prime felt the need to accompany him. Not that it mattered. The Enginseer was free to go where he wished.
"I will commence."

OOC
Nice. Please give me a breakdown of who will accompany you and any weapons or special equipment you wish them to take, also anything else you wish to do before you proceed.

Your target is a large area between decks 8, 9 & 10 on the port side of the ship, from the prow and stretching back over the first macro cannon of the port broadside where the equipment has not bee serviced for over 300 years.
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This message was last edited by the GM at 17:03, Sun 04 Dec 2022.

OOC: Other player concerns aside, I wrote the forces we have as being 'just about enough to do their jobs without having much slack' so let's assume we have a small group and that, absent the expectation of actual combat we won't be bothering the Keepers of the Altar Omnissiah.

 Say four servo-skulls (RT,p375), four of the Cult Guard (Hired Guns, RT p370) armed with three lasguns and a flamer then eight actual Voidfarers (RT, p371) to lift, carry and suchlike as needed, armed with Ironclaw shotguns and blazer shells (just in case). For us, probably our walking-around kit.

Flamers? On a voidship?

Only you can prevent shipboard fires!

I'm good with taking that for a simple exploration tour.

OOC: I'm thinking of them as handy to use in the event of swarms and having low penetration risk - Imperial construction is not exactly fragile, but even so...
This message was last edited by the player at 05:18, Mon 05 Dec 2022.

Two transit pods are required for a party of this size and those used by the Mechanicus differed from the norm in being totally unitarian and having provision for manual override. The ride of just about two miles through the tube is accompanied by the wine of electric motors, the rushing of air and the rhythmic clack-clack as the wheels passed over joints in the rails. The tubes support rings flash passed giving an exaggerated impression of speed, which is actually around 30mph and the ride is quite smooth, except for a little sideway lurching as points and junctions are negotiated. Speed slows and the ride becomes less smooth after the pods leave the main loop onto a rarely used side track towards the end of the trip, here, the sound track is accompanied by occasional screeching protest from the wheels and there is a tang of ozone that accompanies the frequent sparking reflected off the walls.

The team leaves the transit pods on Deck 10 on a short platform thick with dust and grime and silent, apart from the never present ‘hum’ of the Lament at rest. There movements leave distinct tracks behind them as they move to the Elevator and stairs that will take them up to Deck 9 where the entrance is.
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As Explorator Draccius stepped off the transit pod his ceramite greave stepped into muck not disturbed for centuries. He reached within his robed and retrieved his helmet, a bulbeous, angular monstrocity and a far cry from the sleek helmets worn by the Astartes. He put it on and with a click and a hiss it vac-sealed his armor. Immediately he saw the ship through the eyes of the power armor's blessed machine spirit.

An Explorator was a valuable asset for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Far more so than the tech-priests seconded to the Imperial Guard or who fought in battles with the Skitarii legions. Their loss was already calculated for, and would not hamper the Quest for Knowledge. But an Explorator carried the sacred duty of retrieving the ancient wonders of Archeotech. Their loss on such a mission was a grave injury. Thus Explorator Draccius had been fitted with a suit of power armor, a rare and valuable commodity even to the Priesthood of the Machine who crafted these hallowed suits. Great things were expected of Draccius. His armor was a constant reminder of this.

His heavy tred did not change and he continued to lumber forward unevenly, using his power axe for balance still as his helmet sensora compensated for the darkness ahead..

 The wine of electric motors is - fascinatingly - a rather ozone-heavy beverage that's created around a ferrofluid base but it's far from being a popular beverage and so Jak abstains from partaking of it while they ride in favour of going over what little is recorded in reliable fashion of this battle-section of Deck Nine and Deck Ten (a battle-section consisting of one of the largest structural compartments of the ship, one that's cofferdammed by large bulkheads and surrounded on all sides by heavy armour which can, in an emergency maintain near-complete autonomy in most respects, even if the other battle-sections around it have been breached) - which is of course precious little.

 He's nothing like so well protected as Dracius - his own lighter armour instead fashioned of ten thousand individually blessed scales of durable adamant and ceramite, individually etched with canticle and prayer - but his role has suited him for other augmentation, which is why the stream of binary instruction and command flowing from him is seamless and consistent no matter what he's doing, suggestive of an extremely ancient set of cortical upgrades above and beyond those possessed by even the most notable of their kind. He's not come without his bolt-gun and cogwheel-axe of course... That would be positively neglectful.

 When they dismount, he simply chirps a command-stream at the Servo-skulls which promptly rise, playing lumen-glow around their route and recording everything with their onboard auspex systems (none are combat models, instead all being of the scan-and-record variety) while his own personal skull 'Yasha' stays close to the group, serving as a command hub.

 Each of their companions has a lumen of course - the cult-guards being underbarrel ones, the void-crew's hand-and-helmet-held - and they move through a dusty world of stark shadow as Jak moves from machine to machine (whether pipe or outlet vent, door or speaker) to examine purity-seals and date them appropriately, trying to get a sense of just how long it's been since this region was investigated in earnest while they advance on the Deck Nine entrance.

Dust rises up around Arius’ feet and trailing robes as he moves towards the exits to this disembarking chamber, the lumens in the ceiling are active but about 30% have failed entirely and many of the others are dull or flickering. Ahead of him Arius is faced with the choice of an ornate but fragile looking spiral, cast metal stair case or the dark hole of the lift shaft now protected by an equally ornate scissor grill, both thick with black dust that obscures the seals and prayer scrolls. The journey is only one floor up but the lift cabin could be anywhere in the shaft that the mechanical indicator shows to stretch from deck 8, all the way down to deck 17.

Jak's review of available information does not render much new knowledge, the surviving data refers to hard copy plans not in his position. He does find reports of work done on a gellar field node forward on deck 10, which has a twin on the starboard side. There is much more information regarding the starboard side and if symmetry is maintained Jak would expect to find the area dominated by heavy support struts intended to spread the load if the ramming prow is ever used and prevent the front of the ship crushing under impact, built around these he can expect a fairly substantial accommodation hub, air and waste recovery plants, an emergency generator and a series of large plant rooms containing miscellaneous machinery.

There are no machines in this chamber for Jak to inspect apart from a control panel on one wall where the shuttle pod exited and another beside the elevator, both are mostly free from dust as they are recessed into gothic arched hoods, both feature skulls along with the dials and switches, that by the lift being a Cog Mechanicus while that by the track, human, the live brain inside used to monitor rail traffic. There is also a large number of ducts, pipes, tubes and cables, along with junction boxes and meters in a variety of shapes and sizes. Tags, seals and inspection stamps mostly date to a particular week about four years ago.

OOC So, elevator or stairs?
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This message was last edited by the GM at 02:14, Wed 07 Dec 2022.

Explorator Draccius briefly considered the routes ahead. To rule out one option, he attempted to summon the elevator..

The elevator is designed to operate with, or without a gravity field, it is self-powered and uses a rack and pinion on either side of the car to move up and down the shaft. From somewhere below the noise of the car echoes up the darkened shaft as a soft hum accompanied by a gentle tick, tick ,tick of the gears engaging but, as it gets louder and nearer it suddenly changes to a screech, a loud ‘pop’ and then nothing, just the background hum of the great battle cruiser at rest.
.

Turning away with a brief glance at the Enginseer Prime who undoubtedly had already added sending a work crew to repair the elevator to the duty list, Draccius moved to the stairs. He examined the structural integrity, keeping in mind his own considerable bulk and with a power-assisted hand clamping the railing he stepped down..

 The data-slate (and its backup on Yasha) are indeed being updated from moment to moment with pict-captures of the purity seals as he comes across them (and of course, it is not merely devices which boast such adornment, but several structural members attest to their passing muster when deep-scanned, as do any number of ducts and pipes), causing Tesla to be a touch slower than Draccius in his progress.

 Upon arrival, he eyes the failed elevator and remarks "Unfortunate. It would be for the best if we did not over-burden the stairway before it was tested. I will examine the elevator while you proceed." before starting to do just that, beginning by attempting to access the manual door override so that he can send a servo-skull or two down to examine the elevator itself to assess the nature of the problem.

The scissor gates on the elevator shaft are physically locked and manually operated but it is a simple safety feature, not designed to be challenging and easily overcome. With the gates pushed back the roof of the car can be seen just a few feet below and the problem is obvious, debris built up on this rarely used section of the racks are preventing the pinions from engaging while rotating brushes that should keep the racks clean, have had their bristles entirely worn away, under the overload the breakers have popped. Resetting the breakers and cleaning the teeth on the racks will have the elevator back in action in short order but the brushes will need replacing later, if that state of affairs is to continue.

There is a pile of debris on the car roof, mostly small ‘litter’ items but including two human corpses, one is just bones, gnawed by rodents and scattered, the other intact but mummified.

Although it looks fragile, the staircase should have no trouble taking Arius’ weight, he might have some difficulty negotiating the narrow, partially enclosed spiral in the bulky armour but it could be done.

OOC Fixing the elevator will take 1d10 + 5 minutes, please let me know which method is used to ascend.

The chamber on Deck 9 seems to be the same size and dirt level as that below with identical elevator and stair access, both of which carry on to the floor above. There is no rail track here and the floor carries on level to the far wall where there are two doors, heavy oval things with a central wheel to operate latches all the way round via the exposed push rods. There are similar doors on the forward and aft bulk heads though these just feature the wheel and heavy riveted ribbing as their mechanisms must be on the other sides. The door through the forward bulk head is plastered with an excessive number of seals, prayer scripts, from both the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Adeptus Ministorum, and warning signs not to enter, it has also been welded shut.
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 Tesla reports the failure with a short busy of binary cant and sets about making the necessary repairs - in the short term at least - while two of the attending voidsmen unroll a couple of standard, ship-issue corpse bags into which the remains are respectfully transferred with a brief benediction, after having been searched to make sure that they're not carrying anything which should be recycled.

 Later, they'll go to a plasma tube or local shrine but for now, they'll be left near the train to be picked up later.

 That gives Arius a chance to examine that imposing wall of seals and warning signs first.

Standing in front of the sealed gate Arius pondered why the Enginseer Prime would bother with the trivial task of repairing an elevator himself. Surely his time could be better allotted.

That left the task of examining the sealed entrance to him. And it was well it did for he immediately deduced that it was likely sealed to contain a Moral Threat. Why else would both the holy Mechanicus and misguided Ecclesiarchy apply their seals? He would have expected that the nature of the threat was kept in the ship's logs and be known to the senior staff but with centuries, maybe millenia passing in the interim, the knowledge was lost. It also seemed likely the threat was long gone although one could never be sure with the creatures of the Immaterium. Regardless, if it was still there, it was about time it was purged. Thus he set the work crew to task with the plasma cutters while he awaited for the Enginseer Primus to join him. With a burst of binary he shared his suspicion.

 The answer to the unasked question is an almost trivial aside to the concurrence Tesla answers with, a binary threading of agreement and concern for the possibility of their needing to retreat at haste - making the elevator directly useful - coming with it (and, in the reediest of side-bands, an additional admission of the genuine pleasure to be found in taking a simple fault and completing its repair).

 Shortly thereafter, with the actinic light of cutting tools casting stark shadows in all corners, Tesla joins Dracius at the door and - after cautioning the tech-guards to be wary - proposes "Servo skull assessment seems most appropriate, followed by remote examination of likely data sources."

Task complete the work crew move there equipment out of the way. One of the Cult Guard turns the wheel and pulls open the heavy door while the others cover the opening with their weapons. The passage within is still dimly lit by those flickering lumens that have survived the ages, it wide enough for two people but only one Arius, it stretches on for a hundred yards or so to another door, similar to the first but this one standing open.

Within the second door is a large chamber, two decks tall and mostly filled with a complex and gothic looking piece of machinery that has pipes and cables branching off every which way. There is grided balcony on the level of the deck above and multiple doorways on both levels. There is much dust here but it is a clean grey, not the dirty black associated with the rail lines, there are also tracks in the dust, especially around three particular doors and the bottom of both sets of stairs the lead to the level above. The tracks are hard to identify, just smudges and drag marks for the most part, but accompanied by thousands of tiny ones perhaps made by something akin to a rat.
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There was something alive down here. Possibly some wretches or mutants, such things were not uncommon finds. But Arius wondered how they had gotten in. Because that meant whatever was in here could also get out.

But there were more important matters at hand. The first was identifying the purpose of the ancient machinery this vast hall had been built to house. The Explorator turned his attention fully to mapping its modules and attempting to deduce its purpose..

---

OOC: Forbidden Lore: Adeptus Mechanicus or Tech-use test?
This message was last edited by the player at 14:37, Sat 10 Dec 2022.

It takes Arius just moments to confirm that he is looking at the geller field node which is esentual for maintaining the form and strength of the field around this area of the ship. This particular node has not had any attention or prayers for nearly 200 years yet it seems to be functioning perfectly and no calibration is needed at all.

Doors on the forward bulk head are all labelled as leading to the living quarters all bar one are open or ajar, the exception is specifically labelled as 'dinning room'.

Doors on other walls are mostly labelled with code numbers, or routes to code numbers.
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 Four of the voidsmen are assigned to the door that has just been breached - instructed to repair its function properly so that it can be resealed at need - a process which includes replenishing lubrication and properly chanting the canticle of service (and which, incidentally guards it to prevent anything from slipping out undetected) while the remaining four and the four guards accompany Jak up to join Arius, while the four servo-skulls fan out to start mapping the chamber meticulously, scanning the inside of each adjacent chamber (through the doorway) to build up a map.

 As concerned with orthodoxy as function, Jak takes a moment to check over the purity seals and function indicators on the Geller node - correlating whether or not they match (since it is unlikely that a heretec repair would have proper sealing wax and sacred oils for marking the holy machine) while remarking "The section is inhabited but I perceive no signs of damage, praise the Omnissiah."

"Whatever dwells here has no interest in the hallowed machine." Arius agreed.
"The Machine Spirit has surely watched over this vessel, allowing this hallowed node to function without ministration for so long."

The Explorator looked around pensively, looking for further guidance from the Omnissiah on the mystery of this abandoned machine.
"Your predecessor would not have abandoned this node lightly. Failure of this node would potentially open a gap in the Gellar Field leading to the likely demise of this hallowed vessel."

He turned back to the Enginseer Primus.
"We would do well to ascertain why this was done."

The geller field node has been recertified and the door bought back to proper function, though some signs of minor surface corrosion on the inside will need addressing at some stage.
.

 "Indeed we would. The servo-skulls are scanning the adjoining chambers and developing a map. I propose closing and sealing hatches in sequence until one path forward remains then advancing along a secured line of advance toward the most active signs of habitation." Tesla states, while the humming sound of servo-skulls bobbing about continues from around them.

"<Binary burst of Acknowledgement>"

Arius takes up position next to Jak to proceed.

 And that's exactly what Jak does.

 Each room which has an open hatch off the hallway they're in has the other side of it scanned to build up their map and the door is closed - sealed if there's a manual option to do so.

 The ones which have the most sign of transit are, meanwhile watched by the guard team.

 Once they're ready - and have secured their route - the team checks in with the workers on the big, once-sealed hatch, makes sure that they know they're on guard (and cleaning duty) and then presses on through the one remaining path, looking for the ones who made the tracks, servo-skulls continuing to scan the area as they go, adding to their map.

With the exception of the door that is closed, all the doors off of this chamber lead to rooms that have have one or more doors leading off of them, some are linked by doors to each other but further routes lead off in all directions from here and for the most part all these additional doors are ajar. The doors around the first-floor walkway tell much the same story. The drag marks also proceed throughout all of these rooms, some fresher than others none of it particularly dense and none of it particularly recent. The rooms adjacent geller node hall are mostly empty with little indication of their original use, apart from the accommodation rooms where some furniture has been left and a bathroom and mess hall can be identified.

The door that is closed, and doors in adjoining rooms that might lead into the space beyond are all physically bared from the other side, it can be ascertained that a rod, or some other obstruction has simply been pushed through the wheel that operates the lugs all around the door and in all cases, these lugs are on the other side.

OOC I am assuming that so far, you have only explored the rooms directly adjoining the geller node hall, no specific line of advance has become apparent..
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OOC: We used the servo-skulls to scan each open door off this two-level chamber while we were examining the generator. We didn't send them into those rooms, just added them (and their obvious doors) to our map.
 There were three doors which showed signs of being most used, presumably those three are the blocked ones?

The three particular doors were not the closed ones, there are no tracks at all around these.

Tracks within the three particular doors disperse inside those rooms.

Some of the exit doors from those rooms seem to have a concentrate of tracks going through them but there is no discernible pattern to these and there are never tracks around doors that are closed.
.

 OOC: There is a long chamber, two levels (I'm imagining a big room in a Fallout vault like: https://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/me.../718392/84811352.jpg)

 Doors lead off of both decks.

 It's dusty (but not very dusty). There are many tracks in the dust. Three doors have a lot of tracks around them. Mostly these tracks are drag marks and rat-like prints.

 The fore bulkhead leads to living quarters and almost all the doors on it are open. One of these doors leads to the dining room, and this is the only one which is closed.

 All other doors leading port, starboard and aft are labelled with code numbers. All of these doors are open and all lead to rooms with other doors, which are mostly open.

 All the doors which are closed (some in other rooms, and the one on the far bulkhead) are barred from the far side in some fashion.

 For the three doors with the most tracks, the tracks disperse in the rooms they enter without seeming to go anywhere.


 Okay!

 Close all of the port, starboard and aft, then dog them from this side.

 Send the servo-skulls to map the rooms beyond the fore hatches while we work on the dogged fore hatch. Off-hand, I'm thinking that we need to dismount it or cut it open.

 Draccius, sound good?

OOC
The door that is closed on the forward bulkhead does not lead to the dining room, that door is open. You do not know what is behind the door that is closed.

Otherwise all is as you say.

Correct in every detail.
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This message was last edited by the GM at 01:18, Sat 17 Dec 2022.

OOC: I 'm good with that. A systematic sweep of whatever is on this deck and mapping it for other exits is foremost on his mind right now.

 With the servo-skulls buzzing about on their anti-grav systems, mapping the immediate vicinity, Jak leads the small voidsman team in carefully dismounting the sealed door - choosing to take a little extra time to do so properly, rather than simply carving it out of the bulkhead, since the simple machine-spirit involved has only served as it was made to.

After some discussion a hole, just large enough to take a servo skill, is cut through the door with the intention of sending through a skull to check the place out before simply reaching in and removing whatever is preventing the latching wheel from rotating. This takes about eight minuets during which time the remaining servo skulls continue to map the nearby rooms which mostly seem to be empty though another cluster of closed doors is discovered, all leading into the same location. Also, a partial skeleton of some bipedal creature probably about three inches tall.

Once the hole is cut the plug of metal is carefully removed and set aside to be welded back into place later, peering through it seems that there were many tables in here but they are currently stacked in a pyramid formation in the far corner of the room, in addition there is a strange and pungent smell emanating from here. The skull that scans this room finds a stack of chairs in the opposite corner that could not be seen from the hole in the door, also other items of furniture that might be expected in a canteen, the dust here has not been disturbed and there are three other doors leading out, all of the doors in here have had their latching wheels wedged by broken off chair legs, it is a simple job to remove the one in this door and, although the wheel is stiff from lack of use, it is soon opened.
.

 The partial skeleton is recovered in a small cannister for subsequent analysis by a qualified Magos Biologis, after which the full team is gathered for the opening of the door, a task accomplished with the application of apologetic oils to the mechanism and a brief cant of promissory-repair.

 Air purity monitors are brought up to analyse the strange aroma when one of the voidsmen comments upon it, and with the four voidsmen who accompanied them before repairing the hatch (and the four who repaired the original hatch now taking their place), Tesla moves on, likely with Draccius accompanying him to examine the three new doors, which are in their turn scanned through and two sealed before the third - whichever seems most likely to lead to interesting regions - selected for progress.

Entering the room, two mummified bodies are discovered, one in the corner behind the pyramid of tables, the other in the opposite corner behind the pyramid of chairs. Further examination reviles that two people had survived for some years in isolation living off of preserved foods they had gathered from elsewhere before locking themselves into a series of about five rooms. They had water and waist facilities which are still operational in the bathroom that they had included in their domain, also waste disposal, bedding, spare cloths and plenty of preserved rations remaining in a room they had used as a store. How they had died and why the bodies were behind such elaborate structures is not clear.

Other locked doors lead to isolated sections that follow the same pattern, in fact five of these isolated couples are discovered throughout the accommodation area, their bodies all behind similar pyramids of furniture, mostly of chairs or tables, one of bed frames but never mixed.

After six hours the team has completely mapped the accommodation area and discovered one operational lateral thruster control room and one defunct atmospheric thermal adjustment plant. Apart from the bodies and the one small partial skeleton, nothing has been discovered that might account for the drag marks in the dust, nor any other sign of tiny bipeds. Of particular note is the lack of any insects or animal droppings, rat droppings and cockroaches in particular would be expected along with a whole host of spiders, flies, worms and Emperor knows what else. There are plenty of small gaps and holes where small bipeds might hide, but removing inspection panels still reviles no sign of them.

Beyond the accommodation area are three further doors, one on deck 10 is welded shut and carries many mechanicus seals, one of the two on deck 9 leads to a 100 foot long passage with a locked door that has been welded shut from the forward side, it can be deducted that this door is known about and is the other end of the sealed up section, the other on deck 9 is locked with a simple padlock and is labled 'waste plant, FP22', along with various reference numbers.
.

Thus far the exploration had revealed some ship components of importance that were in dire need of ministration, but it was the odd rooms that pressed on Arius' mind. Multiple rooms. Each two people and pyramids of furniture. It reeked of profane ritual. The absence of vermin apart from mutants was another concern. IT was as if this entire area had been sterilized of life and remained so.

He shared his concern with his colleague.
"The complete absence of any lifeform is concerning. An unknown factor must linger that prevents the return of lesser creatures. I calculate that the highest probable cause is that the moral threat may still be present in some form."

In truth, he could think of little else that might cause such a phenomena other than a complete airtight seal of the environment..
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Mon 19 Dec 2022.

 The bodies are subjected to a brief examination and scan that checks for obvious, large-scale trauma, radiation or toxin exposure and any form of identification such as tattoos, badges, sigils or suchlike and then they're bagged for later disposal and lined up in the hall for later disposal.

 The control room is added to the schedule of inspection-tours, the thermal plant to the rota for resanctification and repair at an appropriate point. Which leaves them with three locations to look at. With the second seemingly leading to the other end of the sealed section, Tesla occupies himself for about three minutes with a chain of servo-skulls making sure that the distance-calculations are correct for the spaces involved and then returns Draccius's speculation.

 "The most concerning possibility would be a breach in the Geller field permitting intrusion from the Sea of Souls. This is counterindicated by the functioning generator. Conventional psychological degradation would not account for the section being sealed as it is. My current speculative hypothesis in the absence of evidence is xeno-generated neural compulsion, possibly through sporification but this is purely hypothetical and should not be considered a formal proposal... Regrettably, my biologis training is minimal and I am unqualified to examine the bodies for further evidence. In lieu of which, I propose searching the reclamation area first."

Arius considered the Enginseer's hypotheses a moment. The study of the empyrean was dangerous and all but forbidden, even among the elite of the Adeptus Mechanicus. In such study inevitably lay the dangers of corruption, as the past had proven.

"Agreed. In addition, I propose destruction of all biological samples at the conclusion of this exploration."

 "While laudable, this precaution will not illuminate what transpired here with the Omnissiahs Light. I concur with the impulse, but propose biological decontamination be enacted upon all personnel, followed by the transfer of all samples - sealed - to Chief Kennek for analysis with this section remaining sealed until the conclusion of their analysis." Tesla counters, perhaps more adventurously than Arius.

"I do not believe this vessel likely holds the facilities to conduct such research in a safe manner. Re-sealing of this section is undesirable. It requires purification. Too long has the hallowed machine been bereft of ministration. To leave once more may well anger the Machine-Spirit." Arius accented the last statement with a firm tap of his power axe-turned cane on the floor.

 "A point of contention, but one that is resolvable. Neither of us is biologis-qualified, and therefore proper assessment is in the hands of Chief Kennek. In the event that they concur destruction of all samples will be undertaken. In lieu of this, purification of this area is entirely justified." Jak contends, laying out a path that neatly threads the needle between 'knowing what is going on' and 'burn the blasphemer' - which is nice.

 On the assumption that that assessment holds, Jak opens communications with the Chief Chirurgen and awaits a response 'ping' from the nearest wall-mounted vox as they head for the padlocked door.

OOC
Hi Guys, where do you wish to proceed from here, I got a little confused.

Also a reminder that there are statis chambers on this vestal and also you do have Biologis Adepts working in the Hospice Servitorium.
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This message was last edited by the GM at 09:37, Fri 23 Dec 2022.

OOC: Jak is going to pass all the auspex-scans of the corpses to the Chirurgeon because he's a PC and then they're going to go pop the padlock on the recyc chamber, because that's lower-risk than breaching the sealed area while he looks over the scans and tells us how much trouble we're in. ^_^

The padlock is easily dealt with and the doorway to waste plant FP22 grates on unlubricated hinges as it is swung open, sending a wash of stinking effluent flooding across the floor causing near panic in the cult guard and void farers. The mess only covers half of the space before slowing to a trickle but the room beyond the door is still eight inches deep with the stuff as it laps against the raised lip of the door opening.

Undaunted by the sight or stench the servo skulls buzz quietly as the enter the chamber and begin scanning, soon reviling a split effluent pipe as the cause of the problem but reviling another in that the chamber had only filled to the level it had because any additional material had been exiting the chamber through a grill in a wall panel and ending up emperor knows where.
.

 "This of course, is why voidsuits are issued." Tesla states as he carefully judges the torrent flowing out through the opened door and then steps back to just beyond the point where it will cease to flow, then monitoring the take from the servo-skulls and emitting a sighing series of binary-cant excoriations of previous generations of adepts.

 The voidsmen are tasked to helmet up and - assuming volatile vapour levels within the chamber are safe for repairs - sent into scan and repair the split effluent pipe (which service will in fact grant them certain modestly increased privileges, not that Jak is going to tell them that) and open the grill, so that a servo-skull can go and find out where the outflow has been going.

 The second team, meanwhile is called up to summon a fluidic harvester (or 'shop vac') on the monorail and begin to clean up the mess so that it can be poured back into the tank and the machine put back into service.

 That leaves a still-clean Tesla to turn to Draccius and ask "This leaves only the sealed chamber. Pending an update from the Chirurgeon regarding the cadavers, do you wish to breach the chamber now?"

The gap behind the grill where the effluent had been draining away is only four inches wide and contains several vertical cable runes, some of which are unsecured so not enough room for a servo skull.
.

"Additional assistance in aethetic matters may be warranted. An examination by the ship's astropath may be prudent before proceeding. In addition, you may wish to inform your Lord-Captain of our hypotheses."
As the ship's Enginseer Primus, this was definitely Jak's bad news to bring in Arius' opinion..

 "It seems premature to do so before a consultation with the Chief Chirurgeon. At the present moment, I have only a tentative hypothesis, absent evidence to support it. Analysis by one of the Astropathic Choir does have merit however. I continue to believe that contagion from the Immaterium would have prioritised damage to the Geller node, but there are possible countervailing arguments." answers Jak, while reports are coming in from the hovering skulls - notably including the difficulties regarding the grill.

 That is going to require cleaning the area up and dropping a probe on a cable-line to see what's going on down there, although there's little doubt in the organic parts of Teslas mind that what they're going to find is going to be pretty horrible.

 "The chirurgeon has indicated a desire to directly analyse the remains. I have declined to despatch them for the moment, since I do not wish to risk the spread of any hypothetical contagion. I will contact the astropath."

Jacklyn tapped her microbead as she descended on the elevator down to the Techpriest's deck "++Alright, I'm in the elevator on the way down, you said there was some sort of warp-tainted material you couldn't identify?++" She said over the vox as the elevator slowed to a stop and she stepped out, stretching a bit "++Anything, in particular, I should be worried about down here beyond that?++"

 There is a truly foul aroma issuing from the hall out of which Jak and (presumably) Arius exit, the former Tech-Priest explaining as he approaches "Not exactly. This section was sealed against intrusion and there were mysterious deaths here. The bodies have been sequestered and we are concerned about the possibility of biological or psionic contagion. Your expertise was therefore sought. I trust that you have worn a sealed suit, Choir Master?"

She nods and taps the faceplate of her armour "Aye, void ready, once the helmet is on." she glances around the hall as she walks over to greet the two, grumbling under her breath as she puts down the faceplate to cut off that foul stench "Ugh, that Is horrid..."

 "There is an organic reclamation station which has been leaking into the hull spaces for an undetermined period of time, through a fractured pipe." Tesla explains as he guides the Astropath (once she's sealed up) through their explored section, showing her the chair-shrines and the bodies (msg #43 & #45), "No sabotage appears to have been performed on the Geller node in this section, so I do not suspect wilful immaterium corruption, but prudence - and Exploritor Draccius - calls for your judgement to be rendered on the area."

She gagged a bit as the stench took a few moments to cycle out as her suit switched to its own internal air supply, her voice slightly distorted as it comes out through the voxcaster on her faceplate. "Well... they certainly got the stench of certain warp entities correct, but let's see what I can glean from these guys..." She said as she focuses, her missing eye glowing a pale blue as she sees beyond the material realm, looking for any signs of warp interference, Daemonic or otherwise.

Ooc:
19:17, Today: Scarlet rolled 19 -- 3 degrees of success using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 52.  Psyniscience .

Explorator Draccius failed to understand the obsession with a mere burst pipe of effluent. A more pressing matter was at hand, and the reason the astropath was called for. His rough static-laden artificial voice directed the astropath to the matter at hand..
"The leakage is irrelevant. Multiple rooms were found in similar configurations of stacked furniture and decomposed bodies. The observation of ecclesiarchical and Mechanicus wards attached to this section's sealed entrance and the absolute absence of any lifeform leads us to the hypotheses of a possible presence of a empyrean entity. Your analysis is required."

Scarlet examines the rooms with the pyramids of furniture, adding a chair to a pile of tables at one point, then removing it.

She frowns deeply as she continues tinkering with the stacks and seeing how they react, shaking her head in concern as she does so. Eventually, she stops and pulls away, shaking her head worriedly as she turns to the techpriests. "I cannot detect any particular warp entity currently, however..." she trails off as she looks back at the deliberate stacks "The warp was undoubtedly involved in some way or another during the creation of these piles, either from a psyker on the side of those residents who died here or from a Warp construct of some kind." She shifted nervously as she spoke, before continuing "These piles, they're quite effective psychic blanks, even just 1 item of a different type significantly reduces its effectiveness as a warp dampener, while I obviously have no proof about the mindset and intentions of the dead, its too... deliberate to be a coincidence that they stumbled upon a psychic block like this, so I can only theorize they were purposely making a Psychic block for some reason"

The Explorator turned to his Enginseer counterpart.
"Hypotheses: A psychic damp in direct proximity to the Gellar Field generator may cause disruption of the Gellar Field's operation."

It was an estimated guess. The factual knowledge how a Gellar Field actually worked was long lost to the Imperium. For now the Mechanicus considered it was enough to know that it did and that ship-producing forge worlds retained the rituals on how to construct the devices.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:17, Fri 30 Dec 2022.

 In truth, there is absolutely no reason for Draccius to care about the shattered pipe and the effluent - it is more properly the concern of the ships Engineseer Prime to be concerned about such things, since there's no knowing what secondary disasters are waiting in the depths to be uncovered as a result of the build-up of corrosive fluids and potentially flammable gasses.

 And of course, it's become very evident as a result of this expedition that Explorator Tesla is an absolutely helpless addict when it comes to problem-solving and repairing things... Which is probably why he got this job.

 "This is a non-zero possibility. The individuals present here remained alive for an extended period and made no effort to breach their containment or sabotage the Geller node, but absent an analysis by the Chirurgeon, we shall not have further information on their status. Attempts to duplicate the psychic barrier phenomenon in other locations will be worth attempting at a later date however." he states, turning to Scarlet "We have a set of seals to breach to continue the investigation. Are you willing to remain to provide assistance?"

 Assuming a 'yes', then the two teams of Voidsmen are left to work on the damage and the security team is led off to the heavy sealed section.

Scarlet sighed softly, but nodded to Jak's request, she wanted to go get a hot bath and sleep off the wear and tear of being shot at, but she knew this was more important "Sure, why not, It's not that hard of work" She comments as she follows the two techpriests, giving a soft yawn as she checked the air gauge on her suit, should be good for a few more hours, but you never knew with these sorts of things.

The mechanicus complete their survey of the sealed off area, enacting long overdue rights of maintenance, replacement and repair and are confident that all is working within acceptable parameters.

Not so clear cut are the other mysteries, why there are no insects or rodents? Why the inhabitants left behind when the area was sealed starved to death in their make shift psychic barriers when within apparently easy reach of food and water? And what causes the drag marks in the dust, as it is observed that fresh trails have been made after the investigators have passed through, there are many places where foot prints have been smuggled by drag marks passing across them.

The question is, in what state should the area be left, should it be sealed up again, reopened and restored to original purpose or something in between?
.

As far as Arius Draccius was concerned their hallowed duty to the Omnissiah demanded that they reclaim the hallowed machine. And perhaps sending in some expandable menials to clean up the area would uncover further clues in time..

 Taking Arius's advice on-board, Jak does exactly that.

 A small group is put together to reclaim the section, while another is tasked to investigate just where the grill that all the... 'fluid' goes to went. The former team includes several extra militia-trained individuals and is the subject of fairly regular health-checks by the medical staff, with admonishments to report anything remarkable that may come to pass during their time of service there.

 In addition, a regimen of twice-a-shift check-ins is implemented and a couple of servo-skulls with recording devices despatched to monitor the area for signs of anything unusual - a precious resource, yes but since this is going to be a test-bed for the procedure to unlock other sections, one invested rather than expended.