[The Lord Inquisitor]

Scene: At the port, looking for transport to the Administratum.

Busy, thousands of people going in and out of the docks, desperate beggars and hawkers trying to obtain money. People attempting to steal luggage, or bribe passage off-world. Local Arbites nearly overwhelmed by volume of traffic, but used to this.

Go! (Feel free to mill around for a while, but you guys should be able to figure out what to do).

[Kynia G'Kal]

Kynia eyed the man walking by her side. Tall, regal. Misformed. Maybe they could complement one another. Her unthreatening posture, reassuring uniform and bureaucratic reasoning, his disdain, well-spokenness and frightening visage.

So, the tasks on hand. Transport. Entrance. Getting to the grid. Hacking it. Finding the relevant information. Relaying it and go to a stand-bye for the other two teams. The problem was somewhere in the middle, between getting to it and finding the information.

[Kynia G'Kal]

She decided to take the initiative, and walked up to the nearest Adeptus Arbites. The cut of her uniform, the insignia and her off-wordly accent should make it quite clear she was much, much higher ranked than the officer, regardless of his own rank. Dodging a half-track guard transporter, she approached the officer, a servitor.
"Good man, my.... bodyguard and I are here for the Aministratum. Directions or a ride are appreciated!" she shouted in Low Gothic, carefully and slowly pronouncing each word to make sure it was hearable above the traffic. The servitor waved her on, indicating the general direction of the command post, a concrete bunkerlike bulge in the pavement, armed officer standing at watch. She nodded, then waved Justinian on.

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

The woman had decided to take charge, which suited Justinian fine. It left him better able to scan their surroundings and in general keep his eyes open for the trouble that was sure to come. As they struggled through the traffic of the port he noticed two men dressed as dock workers following them. Many would think that it would be easier to follow someone in a crowd, but nothing was more noticeable than people walking against the flow, and these two were. They kept a little back, but held an unwavering, parallel course.

Justinian considered for a moment to double back and deal with them, but here as with the stalkers he would stand out and they'd realise they'd been spotted long before he could reach them. No, better wait and see what they planned to do. He turned to Kynia to see what she wanted to do only to discover she was deep in thought and probably hadn't even noticed. Another schemer.

"Hey, woman. Wake up. We're being followed."

[Kynia G'Kal]

"Let's hitch a ride to the Administratum. That alone might ditch them. If not, they see us going in, but not what for." She paused, looked at his stance. "Or do you propose a more.... direct solution?"

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

After a few moments thought Justinian responded
"No, I think it better that we let them think they have not been discovered. It will make the ones following us next less careful. If they have watchers here there can be little doubt they have watchers at the Administratum."

"When we get there though..." Justinian's ghastly grin seems to twitch, if only for a second.

OOC: Is there any procedure for catching a lift there, or can we just say that we do? I'm not very knowledgable about the workings of the imperium

[Kynia G'Kal]

"Seems fair enough. A dockside brawl is hardly what I am looking for. Let's go and talk to the local Arbites-commander. Judging from the servitors running the whole dock, he will likely be a corporal, at the highest a sergeant. It should be quite easy to commandeer a vehicle."

OOC: The Arbites are cops, the Guard the peacekeepers, the Administratum and its bazillion divisions are running the bureaucracy, headed by a governor.
As long as I outrank people and can state I'm here for legitimate Adm. business, we should be able to utilize the government machine.

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

"Very well. Lead the way. You do the talking and I'll deal with any nuisance."

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

OOC: Sorry about the double post, but I figured this be just as well.

The commander turned out to be a sergeant of the unimaginative and servile kind. All Kynian had to do was to demand transportation while Justinian just glared threateningly at anyone attempting to protest, or just look at them for that matter.

The vehicle turned out to be a hover-craft, which at least provided for a smooth ride. Justinian settled into his seat and emptied his mind. It was going to be long trip.

[The Lord Inquisitor]

OOC: My apologies.

A small drinks servitor approached the pair from its compartment, body rigid and molded into the shape of an ornate decanter. It's head was in place of a cap or cork, and it hovered, seemingly without arms or legs, as the manipulator tools it used were hidden behind panels in the chassis. It silently proffered them a drink and refreshment menu, one of the arms popping out of its compartment.

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

A drink servitor? That feels unlikely. .. As the Servitor approaches Justinian kicks out, hitting it just bellow the manipulator with a satisfying crack. It bounces off a wall and comes to rest at the opposite end of the cabin. with a pathetic little whine.

He turns and shrugs to Kynia who stares at him in puzzlement.
"It felt wrong"..

[The Lord Inquisitor]

OOC: Nice of you. My poor drinks servitor...XD

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

OOC: It looked at me funny

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

As the hoover slows down to land, Justinian for the first time takes notice of the uncharacteristic silence of his companion. He can sympathize with the wish for silence, words lose their meaning if used to excess in his opinion, but the parameters of this mission is something he's not been suited for in some time. He'd rather not dredge such knowledge from where it was locked up so long ago. He looks at Kynian again: still no response. Ah well, there's nothing finesse can accomplish that violence cannot manage equally well.

The Administratum had clearly been warned of a high ranking official arriving. As the doors to the hoover slid open several low ranking bureaucrats nearly came to blows to be the first to greet the newcomers, hoping to be the one chosen to guide these foreign dignitaries if such was needed. The appearance of Justinian came as quite a shock, and watching the big man folding out of the small doors and rising to his full height was enough to terrify much stronger men and his glare sent the poor clerks running for what might very possibly have been their lives.

Someone in the past history of Caligula had seemingly had aspirations of glory, and the Administratum's massive marble columns and intricate carvings of the Emperor's many victories seemed the crescendo of this obvious failure. Justinian marched purposefully up the stairs -Kynian following as the pretend bodyguard- and slammed through the doors with an echoing boom. Clerks fled in all directions but one was not fast enough and before he knew it Justinian's hand had locked around his neck and lifted him off the floor. As from a nightmare, the poor clerk found himself rising to come face to face with the old noble's terrible visage. The little man wailed and piss ran down his leg in a golden torrent.
"Your superior" Justinian rasped in his most intimidating voice.
"Bring us to him"

He was starting to enjoy this.

This post has been edited by Justinian Funus Obitus: 08 December 2010 - 01:11 PM

[Kynia G'Kal]

She turned sideways, pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers.
"Scissors are certainly one way to cut through the red tape..." she mumbled.

"Hey, you," she turned to the clerk who was scrambling for the doors. "Bring someone who has access to the comm-grid. I'm here on official business from Terra."

They did not keep them waiting. A nervous man of indeterminable years, probably in his early thirties, sporting too much fat to really fit comfortably in his uniform approached them. "my name is Sub-Ordinatus Plumbus," he said, "I monitor the comm-grid. What can I do for you and your..." his voice broke as he eyed Justinian "esteemed... colleague?"

"My name is Ordinatus K'Gal," she said. "Valuable supplies have been stolen from the Administratum. Our response being efficient as usual, we have managed to cut the amount of interstellar ships they could be on, down from thousands to mere dozens. The cargo being so valuable, the Administratum decided to dispatch officers. Your planet is one of the possible destinations for several of these ships - one is never certain with the warp after all."

She paused for effect. "I am one of those sent out. I require from you the whereabouts of the personell of the following seven barges: Flame of Destiny, Sceptre of the High Priest, Shadow of Mars, Guardian's Oath, Pride of Calderis, Star of Luna and Primus' Pulse. I want their past boarding locations, their contacts, the places they are likely to spend time, the trade contacts of their captains and the destination of every last crate on board."

Furthermore..." she paused. "What is your clearance level, good sir?"

"Upsilon, Ordinatus."

"And how long have you been at this level?"

"Three months, Ordinatus."

"What about Phi?"

"Six months, Ordinatus."

Time to apply the honey.

"Oh, look, Justinian, we have found ourselves a capable member of the staff." She turned to the sub-Ordinatus. "You may make it to Clearance level Tau in the next month if you perform well. I may give you tasks way above that level, going into colour codes even. I am sure you know what that means for your career.
I want you to do the following:

And now the stick.

"You will search for the barges mentioned. You will obtain access to the archives and the comm-grid for my colleague and I. You will do this in the next thirty minutes and present me with a preliminary report. You may redirect your superiors to us, but you are not to give up your search for data no matter their orders, even if they seemingly outrank me. I have my orders and they come straight from the heart of the Administratum, which is something they can only dream of."

He wrung his hands. She arched an eyebrow.

"the clock is ticking," she smiled.

He ran away.

"I think I pulled all the rank I can," she said to Justinian. The barges are a simple early assignment, to show we are actually following a lead from Terra. Once their suspicion is gone, we can search for whatever we feel we need, maybe even employ a staff member or such. However, we are neck deep in trouble if someone really high up the ranks, I mean someone comfortably outranking me, takes interest."

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

"We are, ignoring some minor technicalities, the Inquisition. There are no authority on this planet above our own". Justinian looked away from Kynia and pointed threateningly at a clerk who shrank from his glare.
"You! Bring us to an office with access to the com-grid for reviewing of data."
"I don't think you can..." The clerks terrified whine was brought short by a threatening growl from Justinian.
"You will not think. You will obey."


OOC: I am massively hungover right now. I really feel connected to Justinian's personality.

This post has been edited by Justinian Funus Obitus: 09 December 2010 - 12:44 PM

[Kynia G'Kal]

He led them to a room, all the while trembling in fear. "Tell sub-Ordinator Plumbus to report to us here," Kynia instructed him, then pushed him out and closed the door firmly.
"Technically, I just disassociated our mission with the Inquisition, to prevent any chaos sympathizers shutting it down," she said, in an attempt to answer Justinian. "While our fat friend Plumbus is busy dragging up reports on a fair few hundred interstellar sailors, we can do some research ourselves. Good idea."

She went to one of the datascreens. "This would go much faster if we had a techpriest here to commune with the machine spirits," she sighed.
You any good with data and files?"

With one hand, she entered T-A-L-I-C S-T-A-R-S-E-A-R-C-H into a datapad. Justinian caught the last bit of code, raised the eyebrow above his artificial eye. She flashed a devilish grin in reply. "I find it hard to let such things just slide by," she said. "Might be an idea to keep an eye on our the esteemed Inquisitor and our colleagues, too, from here."

This post has been edited by Kynia G'Kal: 09 December 2010 - 12:57 PM

[Kynia G'Kal]

OOC: I'm perfectly happy to let the scene roll on a bit, but I guess we can also receive the Inquisitors vox cast and try and hurry to the bar, with or without the cultists trying to ambush us here. Up to you and Silencer, really.

[Justinian Funus Obitus]

Justinian's chuckle sounded like something dying deep in his throat.
"When that is done, what would a chaos cultist chose as designation for the cargo containing illegal material? They would pick something that would be fairly typical of this place. Something that would raise no suspicion, and not make the cargo a target for pirates and mercenary bands. "

[Kynia G'Kal]

"I do not have much experience with this kind of thing. I mostly deal with transport of delicate goods to Terra. But for a coven of cultists, they need a secure place with enough room and rooms to accomodate the worst of their valuables, mutations and priests away from prying eyes, while providing easy access to their believers and giving them room for worship.
It could be something like a natural cave, but several hive buildings linked together with their internal walls knocked out and rearranged would work as well."