<div class="floatright">(http://cache.desktopnexus.com/thumbnails/871071-bigthumbnail.jpg)</div><strong>Shipside - Enginarium</strong><br/><br/>Deep in the bowels of the ancient destroyer, the cavernous hall of the Main Enginarium hummed with activity. Mists of sacred incense wafted through the air and intermingled with thick clouds of smoke and steam. Servitors sat in front of consoles, chattering to each other in Tech-Lingua Binary as their tech-priest overseers alternately watched, chanted, and applied rhythmic blows to component panels with their combi-tools. At the center of it all, the colossal robed bulk of Explorator Malakai watched from atop his elevated platform. A bell rang from one of the displays in front of him, and he echoed a feedback screech from his vox implant through the room to draw attention, and his booming voice crackled through the enginarium.<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">"We are once again materially stable - Let us begin the Rite of Systems Check. Warp Drive."</span></strong></span><br/><br/>From deep to one side of the room came the reply. "Warp drive powering down, no damage reported. The flesh is weak."<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">"Put your faith in the machine. Plasma Drive."</span></strong></span><br/><br/>From another corner of the Enginarium,<br/>"Plasma Drive at full power, thrust output within nine-nine-point-nine-seven-nine-two-five percent of optimal values. All praise to the Omnissiah."<br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><br/><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">"Eternal glory to the Machine. Shield Status."</span></strong></span><br/><br/>"Void shields charged at standby levels. The machine is our shield."<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><strong><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;">"And so shall it guard is from harm. Weapon Status."</span></strong></span><br/><br/>"Sunsear lasers at full charge. Sunhammer lance primed for activation. Targeting spirits ready for acquisition. The machine is our sword."<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><strong>"And so shall it smite our foes. Life Support."</strong></span></span><br/><br/>"Atmospheric recyclers functioning at acceptable levels. Consumable supply reserves within projected margins. Not all of flesh are beyond salvation."<br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: courier;"><strong>"Then let the Light of Mars illuminate them in the darkness. So ends the Rite of Systems Check."</strong></span></span><br/><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>"<em>Praise The Machine</em>."</strong></span>The final prayer echoed off the walls, and tech-priests at all stations returned to their duties. Malakai himself descended slowly from the great lectern, through specially expanded doors into his private sanctum. Settling in the reinforced chair that served him for a rest point while his organic components recovered strength, the Ogrynesque Enginseer beckoned to the servo-skull hovering in a corner. With a chirp, it flew closer, and he reached out to adjust the pict-recorder and vox-speaker jutting from its mouth. A flip of a switch, and a wave of vertigo swept over Malakai as he regarded himself through the MIU connection while simultaneously looking out through his own eyes. "Go now, Mur-Rai. The Lord Captain will be calling his council of officers to partake of a meal, and you shall be our ears and voice in those tiny chambers of tiny bodies."<br/><br/>Another chirp, and the skull flew off, out of the Enginarium and into the labyrinthine corridors of the Pride of Phobos.