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.
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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.