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Cyrine made ready to accompany Varnius to the guard base.

Lazarus felt slightly better after having caught a few hours sleep. His clothes were still covered in dried gore from his encounter in the pit though.

Have to do something about that before I hit the spaceport.

"Good luck Varnius. I'm going with the group doing a recce on the spaceport. Figure I should change out my clothes at the train station before I do that though. When and where do we want to meet again? The train station in 12 hours?"

"That should do," said Varnius. "If I'm not there I'm likely to be dead."

Cyrine nodded. "And I'll be able to make a report of what happened if you don't, ah, leave the base in time," she said to Varnius, making the sign of the aquila to ward off that bad luck.

Varnius took the pict of the map. "Okay, let's go. Try not to do anything as reckless as what I'm about to do." He headed for the exit.

Cyrine whispered a small prayer to Saint Drusus, whom she had once heard a priest say was a patron of successful ventures, as she accompanied Varnius out of the Grimlochs' base.

The Grimlochs allowed the acolytes who were leaving free passage, leaving the only obstacle between them and the upper reaches of the hive that of distance.

As the acolytes went further up into the hive, a mute tension filled the air. The normally chatty middle hivers quickly went about their business with a pace suggesting a desire to leave where they currently were as quickly as possible. While foot traffic still clogged the busier routes, there was an eerie silence to the proceeding, the only sounds being that of boot on metal.

Arbite patrols were thinner than normal on the way up, fewer squads with what looked to be fewer officers. The populace still gave them a wide berth when they were around.

On the upper levels, the presence of Arbites increased dramatically. Checkpoints were established and people were being herded. A general announcement could be heard ordering the people to follow all Arbite instructions and attempt to carry out the day's labor in the name of the Emperor.

As she made sure her vox-bead was working, Cyrine said to Varnius, "The Guard won't be able to hear vox transmissions if we make them... will they?"

Lazarus Was as carefull as always heading back up towards to local spaceport. He tried to look out for ambushes and people following him.

Somehow he was able to get through the checkpoints with all the blood stains on his clothing. He quickly changed into a fresh set of local spec fatigues at the train station. The guardsman then went off to the spaceport to start poking around.

"I'm no tech priest, but I believe they will only be able to overhear if they have the right equipment and are actively trying. We are on a different frequency." Varnius tried to sound unworried. If he miscalculated, the end of his mostly miserable life was going to be occur very soon.

The closer to the Guard base the Acolytes got, the more obvious it became that something was wrong. Arbite checkpoints had symbols for biohazard warnings on them, and the Arbites were decked out in gas masks in addition to their usual accoutrement. Individuals wearing guard uniforms or showing guard identification were being shoved into APCs or simply shot if found resisting.

"This is going to be worse than I thought," Varnius said quietly. "Now smile like you're taking your leave from talking with an old friend and head back so you don't attract any unusual attention from the Arbites. I'll keep going."

"Wait," Cyrine said before Varnius could go. "We should try to find out what happened before you go in. They're rounding up the Guard. For all we know, there might not be a base any more."

"I'm adeptus, playing a messenger role," Varnius said. "I have a decent chance of getting through or getting information. If Greis is gone, we're on our own and we have to find that out. If he isn't, we have critical information for him. Either way I have to go further."

"Can't it wait a few minutes to ask around and find out what you're walking into?"

"Sure," Varnius said. "Go ahead."

Gelt had stuck around the base a while after the other groups had left, talking briefly to the adept, and checking in on Verum, although he had clenched his Shock Maul close looking at the man, very tempted to hit him, and had emerged looking worse than he had when he entered. He then went about cornering a few gangers and asking if Grimm was taking visitors at the moment. The man's own story, the whole thing, was important to hear before he set out on his own journey.

Cyrine found a nearby shopkeeper and asked him if he knew why the Arbites were out, and why they were arresting Guardsmen.

The shopkeep was clearly a man who was getting on in his years, and he narrowed his eyes at Cyrine as she entered his shop. Ask she asked her question, he sputtered in disgust, "Oi, this sign don't have nuffin writtin' on it sayin' 'Ask dis bloke dumb shite', do it? Figgers you scum can't read if'n y'can't see or 'ear. They's sealin' off the base, said their's some scummer sickness wot the penal legion brought up from the underhive. Now is you gonna buy somefin', or should I tell them you got the rot too?"

"'Course I'm going to buy something," Cyrine said, nonplussed. "I came to your shop, didn't I?" She picked out a small votive object of no discernable utility and paid for it in small denomination coins before thanking the the shopkeeper and making her exit.

After making her way to where Varnius was waiting, she repeated what the shopkeeper had said and waited for him to make his decision.

"Throne," muttered Varnius. "They won't let us in with a quarantine up so we're effectively on our own. We need to make our rendevous and reassess the situation."

"So you two heard as well."

Havelock's voice was pitched just loud enough to allow them to hear above the hub-ub of the streets.

"I'd call this rather a convenient coincidence if I believed in such things."

The priest had hung back just long enough to say proper rights for all those lost thus far, Grimloch and Acolyte alike in a short, private ceremony between himself and the Emperor before moving to catch up with the others setting out to report.

"The real question is whether this is a genuine outbreak, or merely a falsehood. In either case it's clearly being used to neutralize the ability of the Guard.. something that does not bode well in the slightest for us I think."

After talking to Havelock, Camillia found Quintos and asked him, "Are you going to recon the spaceport? Do you know who else is going as well?"

"Can you think of anyway to sneak a message to our beloved commander?" Varnius asked Cyrine. "I'm drawing a blank. We aren't going to be let passed the gate under quarantine regs."

Havelock shook his head.

"Short of volunteering to tend the souls of the afflicted no.. the problem is if it's a real outbreak I'll likely not be allowed to leave again.. and if it isn't I'll more than likely find myself quite dead or at least locked away and still unable to report my success or failure.. we really do need more information before we can act.. I could be wrong but something smells very wrong here.. and I don't think we can afford to screw it up."