"I do not think a secure means of communication is needed to find this Confessor. I believe it would be perfectly ordinary for two Sororitas and a priest to seek out a Confessor. If we simply ask around the Imperial Navy personnel we are sure to find someone of pure faith without raising much suspicion."

Balthazar then turns to Inelia once again. "But we absolutely should use only secure communicating channels to report back to our superiors. Milady, what methods should we use to contact your subordinates while you are occupied with matters in another part of the galaxy? And should we be self-sufficient, or can we count on Inquisitorial aid when the time comes to strike at the Emperor's enemies? I am used to operating without assistance from higher authorities, but having backup available in dire situations would be reassuring."

"Once we have our contact within the Navy, I am sure we can build a wider network providing us with all we need to progress further. A Confessor is unlikely to be able to grant us any direct access, but he will know who can."

"what would be the best way to contact a ship's Confessor? Do you have a secure means of communication which we could use?"

"But we absolutely should use only secure communicating channels to report back to our superiors. Milady, what methods should we use to contact your subordinates while you are occupied with matters in another part of the galaxy? And should we be self-sufficient, or can we count on Inquisitorial aid when the time comes to strike at the Emperor's enemies? I am used to operating without assistance from higher authorities, but having backup available in dire situations would be reassuring."

Inelia turns to Father Throne after glancing at the two sisters, "I am a subordinate, I'm not your inquisitor by any means. I'm just a middle woman in the web of a network. You're the outer fringes. Should I be called away another handler will get a hold of you, as I will be more than occupied with what I will be handling. The inquisitor is understanding of that, my leaving won't be at her bequest. I will be here until the foreseeable future, I may go down to Desoleum to get more...grounded accommodations.

You should always be self sufficient, but in times of need you have personal resources to call on and get the assistance you may desire. ((always strange trying to in game justify Reinforcement Characters and the Influence system.))

For the time being I believe the two novices should be enough to get you most of what you need, a Sororitas full sister or no has quite a bit of pull among the faithful, and your experience in dealing with the intricacies of the Ecclesiarchy should prove greatly beneficial."

Estelia was not eating anymore. She was not hungry. She nodded as Ariel spoke, adding, "We could just ask people for directions to the station's chapel, and talk to the priest there."

Balthazar nodded in approval. "Then unless you have any other requests, we shall begin our investigation on this station. Lady Inelia, it was an honor to meet you, and we will not fail in carrying out the Emperor's will." He stands and makes the sign of the Aquila, his face set in a stern but confident line.

"Perhaps we will be able to find who we are looking for just a few steps past this door? This facility seems to host a lot of people; they have to conduct holy services somewhere."

"We could just ask people for directions to the station's chapel, and talk to the priest there."

"Then unless you have any other requests, we shall begin our investigation on this station. Lady Inelia, it was an honor to meet you, and we will not fail in carrying out the Emperor's will."

She inclines her head to Father Thorne and returns the sign, "Then it would seem that, for now, our business is concluded. You're dismissed Estelia and Ariela, keep each other safe, and remember your training. It can save you in more ways than you'll ever realize. Father Thorne, a parting word."

((I'll assume the two leave the room at least at the sister's request.))

Inelia looks Father Thorne directly in the eyes, "Balthazar, you are being tasked with a very grave duty. You must keep these two novices safe during these trials as they are going to be. They have fire, and zeal, and each other, but there are things in the galaxy that even these things will not stop...you know this just as well as I."

She looks down at the table, "Protect them."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The security overseer startles at the two leaving the room, "Now what do we have here," he motions to a tech right at a few controls near him, "Try and get some more of their faces if you can we need to see where they've come from."

The wright inclines their head their servo skull puffing out a waft of incense.

"What do we have on the rest of the time period for the room?"

The servitor inclines their head to a dataslate they are holding and it is snatched away from their hands.

The overseer pours over it, "Nothing, nothing, useless, boring, nothing..........." his eyes go wide and he throws the dataslate into the far side wall shattering it, "REDACTED?!"

The tech wright winces and yelps in pain for the slate.

The overseer's assistant hesitantly asks, "Are there any order sir?"

"Just...bring them in when they want to leave the station, and when the three have left the meeting room send a team in and bring whoever's in there in." the overseer replies.

Estelia stands, bowing to the Siser and making the sign of the Aquila. Then, nodding to Ariel, she moves to the door, opens it, and walks outside.

The Novice stands to one side of the door to wait for the Father, glancing around, now wishing that her weapons were not underneath her robe, out of reach.

As Ariel ((I assume)) closes the door behind her, Estelia says, "since we will be going to the priest as Novices of the Adepta Sororitas, I would like to return to my quarters to change," she grins, "I haven't had a chance to wear my Flak Armour yet."

After the Novices leave the room, Inelia addresses Balthazar directly. He solemnly nods and replies: "I swear on the Golden Throne that I will protect Estelia and Ariel with my life. I will guide and teach them as best I can, but above all I will make sure they return safely. I swear that neither of them will fall while I still draw breath."

She nods and inclines to the door, "Then go, and good luck. As I said, for the foreseeable future I'll be aboard the station, but I may make planetfall later on depending on the direction your investigation takes and if I get called away."

((At this point it's on you to make the next move for me to react to in your plan.))

Estelia speaks to the other two as Balthazar closes the door behind him, "so, we need to find a chapel now. Should we simply ask for directions? It shouldn't seem out of place, but it might draw additional attention to us."

Balthazar joins the other Acolytes outside. In response to Estelia's question, he replies, "We should keep a low profile when moving about the orbital, as some people might grow suspicious if we start asking too many questions. I am sure we can find a chapel on our own without much difficulty, but if not asking for directions is still an option."

((Do we need to make a Navigate test to find the chapel, or will we be fine by following orbital maps?))

((No, no roll. I feel like there'd be some signage of some sort directing people around and it wouldn't matter if you got lost anyways, you'd eventually end up there. But I'll wait for Lyn to post for a full response.))

A brief, uncharacteristic look of confusion flashed over Ariel's face.

"Is it not normal to ask for directions when needed, or to go to mass?" A feeling of confidence returning as she voiced her criticism, she added: "The station must see a lot of travellers who do not know their way through its corridors."

The trio began to move, their conversation subdued and minimised to the smallest amount possible as they merged with the flow of people. It felt weird to the novice -- certainly, she was used to speaking with a low voice back in the convent, out of respect for her fellow Sisters and the hallowed halls through which they would walk, but not to conceal her thoughts from other people. Everyone else seemed to be loudly speaking their mind, if in some cases in various dialects that Ariel found difficult to understand, and she found it surprisingly hard to not simply follow suit.

"so, we need to find a chapel now. Should we simply ask for directions? It shouldn't seem out of place, but it might draw additional attention to us."

"We should keep a low profile when moving about the orbital, as some people might grow suspicious if we start asking too many questions. I am sure we can find a chapel on our own without much difficulty, but if not asking for directions is still an option."

"Is it not normal to ask for directions when needed, or to go to mass?" A feeling of confidence returning as she voiced her criticism, she added: "The station must see a lot of travellers who do not know their way through its corridors."

As the trio move away from the meeting room they begin to follow the various signs, posted in many different dialects including high and low gothic as well as the hive dialect specific to Desoleum's three separate hives, that eventually lead to a small shrine that indicates it is dedicated to the Imperial Creed, specifically speaking the Oath to the Emperor.

This small chapel has 6 pews, three on each side wide enough for ten persons each and a bit of room in the created three rows that would allow many more individuals to pack themselves into the chappel. Currently there are a little over 20 individuals in the chapel with a priest seeming to finish up a sermon.

In what the audience would recognize as an Irish accent he states, "And so, children of the Emperor, as always we must remember our oaths. To whom do we owe this galaxy? To whom do we owe our lives? To whom do we owe our servitude?" He bows his head and makes the sign of the aquila. "Imperator in nomen,"

"Imperator in nomen," echos Estelia making the Sign of the Aquila; already she feels more comfortable in the familiar confines of a chapel. Standing aside from the door to make way for the exiting parishioners the Novice looks to Father Thorne, thinking it appropriate that he approach the local priest first.

((I hope it's OK that I assumed the people where leaving. Also, would Estelia have been given any of the local currency? If she does, she's going to put some of it in the offering box/tray/basket/whatever (if there is one, and since the Ministorum collects tithes from planets I don't see why there wouldn't be) ))

((It is what it is you can do what you'd like, You have your influence score of course, but you can have the pocket change necessary for an offering box. You don't gain anything mechanically from it and as long as you aren't trying to drop big bucks to make a show or something it's fine.))

"Imperator in nomen," Balthazar intones, making the sign of the Aquila and sliding into a rear pew. He waits respectfully for the service to finish before approaching the priest.

As he draws near, Balthazar smiles and makes the sign of the Aquila in greeting. "Good day to you, Father. I hope the Emperor smiles upon your congregation today. How are things in your parish?"

((I hope it's OK that I assumed the people where leaving. Also, would Estelia have been given any of the local currency? If she does, she's going to put some of it in the offering box/tray/basket/whatever (if there is one, and since the Ministorum collects tithes from planets I don't see why there wouldn't be) ))

The priest finishes and nods his head in kind inclination of Estelia's offering, but turns his attention over to Balthazar as he approaches him.

As he draws near, Balthazar smiles and makes the sign of the Aquila in greeting. "Good day to you, Father. I hope the Emperor smiles upon your congregation today. How are things in your parish?"

The priest smiles in kind and nods inclining to Balthazar's staff returning the sign, "Oh the same as ever, either travelers hearing our brand of the creed, or those leaving hearing it for the last time, but what is a man of Thaur doing over at Desoleum? Come to collect the bodies yourself now?" He bellows with a laugh meaning the comment in a purely joking manner.

Intrigued by the look of the chapel, Ariel allowed her gaze to wander. Certainly, many things appeared similar to the shrines she used to pray at, in particular the many benches -- yet various details were off, minor signs of cultural differences between the Askellian branch of the Ministorum and the Ophelian mainstream as propagated in its scholae, administered by centrally appointed Drill-Abbots rather than the Frateris Clergy handled by the local Cardinals. It was difficult to say, however, just how much of it could be down to minor differences in religious interpretation, or simply a different sense of architectural aesthetics.

Ariel definitely notices that a large part of Desoleum's ministry at least is heavily laced in cog like figures, lots of interconnecting pieces that form a greater whole. Things like devotional seals inter fitted into one another lots of phrases in sentences built on top of one another.

((I guess this first line is a bit out of sync here . . .))

Estelia notices an offering box by the door. Remembering that she had been given some local currency before disembarking onto the station, she digs around in her pocket with her hand. Looking at the unfamiliar coins, she shrugs and drops about half of them into the box, unable to think of any better use for them, but unwilling to leave herself completely broke.

Belatedly, Estelia moves to where Arial and Father Thorne are speaking with the local priest, standing attentively beside the other Novice as the holy men exchange greetings.

((eh, no worries, it all depends on how you describe it ))

As Estelia did so moments ago, Ariel had of course noticed and could not help throwing her a critical look. The moment the fellow novice took her place, her companion leaned over to her side, voicing her judgement under her breath so as to not disturb the priests.

"Need I remind you that these coins come from the Church's coffers in the first place? What are you giving them back for?"

Rolling her eyes upward to study the chapel's roof - which sadly did not come close to the monumental halls of the Convent Sanctorum - she sighed and finished with an atypical pun:

"I know you just want to 'pay your respects', but you should not take things so literally."

Balthazar smiles at the priest's joke and replies, "It would be unfair to expect them to complete the journey on their own, now wouldn't it?

"But that is not why I come here today. I am looking for an old acquaintance of mine, a man whom I heard was now a Confessor in the Imperial Navy. Do you know where I could find men of his station?"

Balthazar smiles at the priest's joke and replies, "It would be unfair to expect them to complete the journey on their own, now wouldn't it?

"But that is not why I come here today. I am looking for an old acquaintance of mine, a man whom I heard was now a Confessor in the Imperial Navy. Do you know where I could find men of his station?"

The priest looks quizzically at Balthazar, "And where'd you meet this to be confessor? Sounds like a story worth hearing."

((Roll me a +10 Deceive, the priest would like to believe a fellow clergyman wouldn't lie to him.))

Estelia's eyes widened just a bit. She had not thought about where her money had come from. After thinking for a bit she replied, "I suppose now this particular priest has a little more to spend on his chapel." Then she noticed the pun Ariel had made and smiled quietly.

Listening to the priests' conversation, the Novice wondered if Father Thorne really knew a Confessor in the Navy. Her gaze began to wander around the chapel, from the litanies carved into the stonework to the . . .strange cog iconography. It reminded Estelia uncomfortably of the emblem of the Mechanicus. She looked back to the priest, examining him for the telltale bionics of the adherents of the Cult of the Machine.