Timestamp: 6.043.997.M41

Location: Corscala Division, Tiergon Spire sub-levels, Northern Quadrant, Metropolitan Area, Hive Sibellus, Scintilla, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Recently arrived by rail in Corscala Division.

Body: So it was that ten hours (Terran standard) later two Coblast Assay operatives arrived by rail at Corscala Central Railhead. One was a big mean motherf'er called Ben. A man with a lot of attitude and an even more extensive personal grooming kit. Completely shaven from head to toe, fake tan and cosmetics layered heavily. His companion, little Richard ,hardly warranted any attention at all. Not that he didn't come across as competent, but of you asked a casual observer afterward he would have been hard pressed to remember any details about Richard - except his small stature and unassuming nature.

Corscala Divisions is one of many wedge-shaped vaults arranged in a circle - and there are several circles, and layers of  newcircles atop the circles - neatly arranged by Mechanicus engineers so as to support the great bulk of the Tiergon Hive Spire above. To the untrained eye, however, nothing of this is apparent - to such a viewer Corscala Division is just a huge interior space, lined with endless rows of massive hab-blocks rising from ground level up to the roof high above (each block intricately linked into the greater system, helping support the great mass above).

There are countless places like it in any Hive. But as divisions go Corscala had certainly seen better days. Clearly in the end phase of its current life-cylce - it would take a mircale to reverse the current decay, better to let it all rot and then later rebuild - it had once been a good place to live. Most of the inhabitants had worked for the Tantalus Combine, a semi-large manufacturing corporation, either directly in one of the many manufactorius, or indirectly by supporting the local population in secondary and tertiary roles. But the fortunes of Tantalus had declined and Corscala has seen the plants shut down one after another. Unemployment skyrocketed, so did substance abuse and violent crime. It went downhill from there. Thouse who could, left, those that remain try to get by as best they can.

When the two operative arrived they found the place largely deserted. Out of every hundred hab-units only a few were populated; by the sick, the old, the stupid, or the unlucky. Fires had gutted quite a few hab-blocks and many of those remaining had clustered around the rail-head/communal square area, keeping that section of the division alive, but leaving the more distant areas more or less completely abandoned. Jobs were hard to come by, but Scintillans always try, even these people. So they set up their little shops and hawked their wares, tried to make a Throne. A few Tantalus plants continued to process, an a system of work by drawing lots had developed. And there was the Tantalus Alms House of core, which kept thouse who had nothing left fed and alive...

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It became clear that something was amiss from the moment you left the train. A couple of Magistratum greencoats were hanging around, checing up on the new arrivals. Everything about them was wrong. To be posted down here...not a sign that your star is one the rise...but these greecoats came across as tough professionals. Killers. Haxtes needed only one look at the way their carrierd their simple, but utilitarian auto-carbines to know that they did not belong. Too competent. Too dangerous. The sweet smell of Mechanicus-blessed weapon oil. Only something use by well-paid professionals. You were not afraid of these men, but you knew that to provoke them in the open would only lead to a fight - one you'd loose. So you smiled, present your Assay IDs, asked to see the local officer, and then walked away.

The Magistratum office was not far, just a few hundred meters to the left of the main square, with the rail station at your backs. You found more muscle there. And the officer in charge. Warden Locan. His office reeked of obscura. Clearly he was not the real leader of these mercenaries. Perhaps he even was a real police officer. You know, bad personal hygiene, corrupt, obscura addict. You walked out of the office having made your presence and purpose known - hunting for bounties. A right plausible cover. You would not be suspected as long as you kept a low profile.

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More later