The moment Jessica began speaking, Winston started typing her requests into his dataslate. One of the many reasons Blayne had attained his position was due to his ability to multitask, but also his knack for being able to instantly respond to new demands. "Much of what you have asked for I've already authorized to be loaded onto your transport My Lady." He said after Jessica had finished. "The rest I'll have put together immediately, and loaded before you're ready to drop." After a moment he added, "I've also managed to procure a pair of servitors for your party. They're not designed for combat or maintaining the machine-spirit, but they'll certainly be able to haul your gear wherever you need. I hope that meets with My Lady's approval."
"It does, and you have my approval of a job well done, now I'd best get to that shuttle, Gods be with you," Jessica said, and set out at a ground eating lope for the shuttle bays. On the way she patched herself into the coms chanel for her quarters and downloaded into her helmet systems a handful of select audio files, things to help her on her sojourn dirtside, mostly classical music, such as "In The Halls Of The Mountain Queen", by Edwina Krige the Younger, itself based on a now lost work of great antiquity from Holy Terra...
Lola isn't the type to stop helping someone when she puts her mind to it whether they tell her to stop or not. She goes to find the servitor's loading the cargo.
(I've talked this over with Omega and they're fine with it, just thought everyone should know that in advance...) All those in the shuttle bay are surprised by the appearance of an unusual individual: a person in a replica of an Imperial Army space suit walks up to the shuttle calm as you please and starts directing a handful of servitors to stow a few extra pieces of gear. Thing is, the space suit is heavily modified, because it has four arms, and an extension for a tail... The mirroring on the visor means you can see nothing of whoever's inaside, but its clear that this customized void suit is high quality...
'Hmmm, tailed humanoid? Interesting. Might be fun to fuck. I can overlook the four arms. Also, good grav-suit: probably important, or at least noteworthy.' Varis Kar thinks. He stands up, walks over, and greets the person in the suit with a polite "Hello, I'm Varis Kar."
"Hello, good to meet you 'Varis Kar'. My present Alias is 'Nacre Sigil Freedwoman', but please, call me 'Pearl'. I headed over as soon as I heard my liege would be leading this mission, where she goes, I've sworn to follow, but I'm happy to see she has a charming man like yourself along with her..." She says extending her upper left hand, fingers together, palm down, while her right pair continues to tap instructions to the servitors on a data-slate that is clearly possessed by a 'calamari-dick', one of the least spirits of slanesh. You notice that the tips of each of the space suits fingers and thumbs are equipped with a small steel blade, oriented as though they are a sharpened sheath for her fingernails...
"Real name Pearl, assumed name Nacre? You must know your way around beauty." Varis Kar bows slightly.
"Heh, I try to keep up my beauty regimen, yes." The woman says, stowing her carry-on suitcase under her seat. "Is 'Varis Kar' your real name then?" She asks, her tone of voice hungry, though for what you couldn't say... She finally opens the visor of her spacesuit, and you see her face for the first time: The Following picture is more-or-less what you see, except that the hair is neon-blue, the stripes are dark-gray, the fur is coal-black and the eyes are a greenish-yellow. She turns to address the other two people nearby. “Heritech, Warrior, may I know the terms by which I am to address you as well?” She asks, in a polite tone...
"The general idea is that I'm Lola. It sure seems like it, anyway." With Lola's profound insight out of the way, she stops to look at the life form in front of her and think about what the case with this creature is.
"Yes, Varis Kar is my true name. Not the name I was born under, nor possibly the name I will use on the planet, but my true name." Varis Kar states.
"Greetings Lola, I look forward to a long and fruitful association," Pearl states before turning back to Varis. "An interesting distinction, but one I can appreciate, tell me Mister Kar, what is our purpose on the planet we now approach? I know only that my Liege is being sent, and I perforce must, therefore, go also..." The cat-woman asks.
"We have three tasks on the planet. Firstly, to acquire ship parts for our current vessels, secondly, to acquire more recruits, especially those with the potential to become Astartes, thirdly..." He pauses, thinking of how to frame their hidden goal. "...To acquire several items from the planet's vaults."
"Humm, well, this can be done easily enough, the first two anyway..." Says, taking a seat, and beginning to buckle in. It is at this point that Jessica shows up, and looks over at her 'vassal'. "Ah, Pearl, are you coming on this mission too?" She asks. "Where you go I follow My Lady," Pearl replies. Jessica smiles. "I see, well, it will be good to have you along..." Jessica replies and straps herself in as well.
Cassandra loads her bag into the shuttle. Her bags clinking with assorted pieces of armour and arms. Once she buckles herself in she closes her eyes. Wanting to get as much sleep as possible before they hit planetside.
With it's passengers loaded the pilot, a human who looked more like a child as he sat in the pilot's seat of the craft which was clearly designed to be operated by an Astartes, fired up the engines and the ship rumbled to life. After running through the standard authorization checks, the shuttled lifted from its perch before eventually leaving The Deceitful Truth's bay entirely. The voyage down to Bralix was relatively short, but upon the descent the group was able to view the landscape from the shuttle. Worlds in the outer vortex for the most part resembled worlds in real space save for a few fascinations, and Bralix was no different. Bralix was a rocky mountainous world for the most part, there were a number of large bodies of water that several rivers flowed into, but no oceans to speak of. As such the settlements that did exist tended to cluster around the lakes and rivers that dotted the planet's surface. From orbit, and inside the atmosphere, Bralix appeared black, gray, and red as the near barren world strolled by. Trees and forested regions looked to be non-existent from the groups vantage point, or perhaps were simply on another part of the world. Small herds of wildlife could be spotted as the shuttled moved closer to the ground, but those clustered around the waterways. As the shuttle approached the surface, eventually Jinra came into view, and it was quite something to behold. Within the Screaming Vortex the warp does strange things to the matter around it. What the laws of physics say are impossible, aren't so impossible within warp storm worlds, and oftentimes are actually quite commonplace... Jinra was situated atop a floating landmass, aloft nearly a kilometre in the air. Water poured over the edges of the city in some sections, eternally renewed by some non-existent force. Large boulders, big enough to house acreage homes rotated around the city in unpredictable patterns, while unending lightning cracked between the city and the boulders creating a pathway that one could... walk!? between the two. Glittering spires of onyx and obsidian, which should have absorbed all light instead, radiated a shower of near blinding blaze to any who looked upon them. It truly was a warp world. The shuttle touched down on the city's small starport, and as the party disembarked the ship they were greeted by an automated system sounded from a nearby speaker. "Welcome to Jinra travelers! The Em-CRRZK welcomes you this this lo-ZZRKT world. This is the directory. Please direct all questions regarding questions to this unit!"
As usual, Jessica was quick to assert her dominance over the situation. "Greetings, I and my companions represent Captain Malquisidek DuLac, of the Word Bearers 5th Grand-Company Reclaimed Battle-Barge "Deceitful Truth". We are here to negotiate on the Deceitful Truth's behalf for resupply, re-crewing, and the ability to screen local youths for induction as new legionaries. You will reneder all possible sasistance in this matter or you will suffer Captain Malquisidek DuLac's extreme displeasure to the tune of multiple-kiloton-ordinance being fired upon yourself, specifically, do I make myself clear?" Jessica said...
Varis Kar disembarks, waiting on the platform, privately concerned about Jessica's lie (did she think she could pass herself off as a Word Bearer in the wrong-coloured armour?) but keeping his concerns too himself, lest he break the illusion.
Cassandra was more than happy to let the others take the lead in this. This was the first time she had ever stepped foot on a truly damned world. As she climbed out of the shuttle and took in the world around her she could feel itching behind her eyes. The same itching she had felt for the first few weeks on the ship. Yet here her skin felt like it was somehow too small, she squirmed in her clothing. Trying to ignore it.
