[color=0072bc][b]Guard-Captain Harlock - The Pitt Steelyard, Abandoned Supply Plant [/b][/color] Harlock descended the old steel gantry down into the bowels of the Supply Plant. Two-hundred years of detritus both from decay and the odd Trog infestation had left the place in a state of severe neglect. Pitt slave salvagers had long since scrapped anything of use and aside from sending in the occasional Factory Protectron to clear out the radroaches and fledging Trog nests the building was entirely unused. The plant was one of many such abandoned buildings within the Steelyard. As he approached the basement of the plant, he could already hear the electrical hum of whatever it was that Abaddon had hooked up. He’d secretly hoped that the old codger would have blown himself up by now playing with whatever techno-magic he’d gotten from The Institute but, unfortunately, it seemed he hadn’t. Instead Harlock found Abaddon pacing back and forth excitedly as he read a text display on the device's monitor. “Harlock!” He exclaimed, “It's starting! They’re sending a test payload now.” “The [b]fuck[/b] does that mean?” The Guard-Captain snarled as he leaped down off the railing to skip the last set of metal stairs and strode up next to the old scribe. Bone’s raider crew and his own Haven Guardsmen were all surrounding the device in a semicircle, guns trained on the round pad at its center. None of them were prepared for what happened next though, as a ball of blue energy descended and then exploded on the pad like a bolt of lightning to reveal a pair of mole rats in cages. The raiders looked to one another, confused, and Harlock was about to demand an explanation from the Scribe before the creatures suddenly disappeared once more in a ball of light and were gone. “Incredible,” Abaddon mouthed, “Now watch carefully…” He mumbled, his eyes trained on the display readout, “They’re about to send someone through…” Once more the ball of light appeared and landed on the pad with the same power energy spike announcing its arrival. This time however an older woman appeared on the pad, wearing a blue hazmat suit with a briefcase next to her. The surrounding raiders raised their guns, ready to fire, but Harlock raised his hand, “Lower your weapons,” He barked. “Madison Li…” He heard Abaddon mutter, “Should have guessed….well at least it wasn’t Yearling...” Harlock ignored the rambling scribe, despite wanting to grab him by the collar and have him explain exactly how he apparently knew her, instead he clasped hands behind his back as the Institute woman approached. She explained her purpose for being here and The Institute’s desire to assist against The Mutant threat. Everything the Guard-Captain was hoping to hear and more. Harlock was about to reply before one of the raiders in Bone’s crew, a young woman with streaks of bright neon blue and purple in her hair collapsed to the ground on her knees. Lifting her arms skyward in supplication to an unseen god, [i]“Praise be The Lord of The Pitt, praise be unto his only daughter Marie. Lady Ashur protects us all…”[/i] “Get up….” Harlock growled before walking over and giving the raider a firm kick. Her crewmates immediately gripped her by the arms and pulled her up to her feet, “Get your crew out of here,” The Captain snarled at Bone, before giving a side-glance glare to Abaddon who had an amused look on his face. Harlock then turned back to Dr. Li, “Captain Harlock…” he offered, “Welcome to The Pitt,” He said with a fiery glint in his eye, “As you can probably see your arrival was in some way anticipated. Roving preachers from the Children of Atom have been spreading some new prophecy throughout The Pitt that Lady Ashur will call down divine intervention to fight the mutant army. It’s become popular enough with the slaves and some of our raiders that it's inspiring a whole new wave of zealous devotion directed towards our Lady.” “All of us here,” He continued, motioning towards his guardsmen and Abaddon, “Know that isn’t the case. Abaddon here has told me enough of how your device works that I can at least grasp the idea that it's grounded in some kind of science, though until you demonstrated it just now I still had doubts.” “Your assistance is greatly welcome, and sorely needed - especially now that we’ve just gotten word that a fourth mutant army has appeared and laid siege to Cleveland. I won’t dare to speak for The Lady of The Pitt in regards to everything you’ve just said, but I believe it will be agreeable to her. If you intend to stay in The Pitt,” Harlock finished, “Lady Ashur has commanded that any Institute representatives are to be given quarters within Haven: a great honor.” As Harlock spoke, a loathsome pale-skinned figure could be seen creeping around the upper-rafters of the Supply Plant, beady yellow eyes looking down upon what it no doubt perceived as intruders within its territory. The humanoid thing crept on all fours, perching like a gargoyle atop a gothic cathedral as it loomed on the end of a broken steel beam. Harlock turned upwards in the direction that Dr. Li’s gaze had been drawn and spotted The Trog brute almost immediately, “Ah…yes…we’ll also need to get you inoculated as soon as possible as well.” “I would be happy to make the necessary arrangements with the Church of Ashur,” Abaddon added with a crooked smile that he probably intended to be warm, but came across as anything but, “I’ll make sure they send an acolyte immediately. Filtration suits help….but unfortunately in the past they’ve occasionally proved - ineffective - against TDC.” “If you’ll accompany us Dr. Li - we will escort you to Lady Ashur,” Harlock offered. [hr] Captain Harlock and his guardsmen led Dr. Li up through the abandoned Supply Plant and out into the smog choked Steelyard. Hundreds of slaves and their Pitt raider escorts crawled over the steelyard like ants, scraping and scavenging metal parts and materials from the rubble to be loaded onto waiting train cars for transportation to smelters elsewhere in the city. A few of the slaves looked at the Haven guardsmen and their escort, but quickly returned to their focus to their work - not wanting to draw the gaze of The Queen of the Pitt’s guards. Harlock led the way, with the guardsmen formed up tightly around Li - as much for her protection as to hide her from curious eyes as they traveled. They made their way first through the Steel Mill, ascending a set of metal stairs leading to a network of gantries which overlooked the factory floor. Thousands of slaves worked in the stifling heat to shovel scrap into smelters and operate the many manufacturing lines and ammo presses which churned out weapon parts and ammunition at a blistering rate. All while raider overseers watched the production carefully, ensuring maximum productive output. They walked through the upper levels of the Steel Mill until they exited the building and arrived in raider held Uptown. The city here was bustling with life, wasteland merchants and shopkeepers hawking their wares as brahmin caravans, traders, slavers, raiders, merchants, and more waded through its overcrowded streets. Preachers from both the Children of Atom and the local Church of Ashur shouted sermons at the top of their lungs on nearly every street corner, eschewing the virtues and divinity of Lady Ashur, her ascended Father, and Holy Atom. Their once entirely separate cult beliefs had mixed and mutated overtime, becoming altogether symbiotic as the two separate faiths melded within the fiery crucible that was The Pitt. Who was Atom but the divine nature of Ashur? Who was Ashur but Atom’s flesh given form? And who was Marie but the incarnate God-Kings only daughter whose miraculous birth heralded a new age? The escort passed through the spider-like network of bridges that spanned throughout the mid-rise buildings of Uptown. They passed shops, craftsman workshops, blacksmiths, brothels, residences and more all carved out of the pre-war structures that were once the financial and economic heart of old Pittsburgh. The many children of The Pitt, the ‘miracles of Marie’ as they were sometimes called, ran about Uptown. All of them were free children of the traders and raiders who made up the citizenry of The Pitt. Many of them barely older than ten were training at weapon ranges, firing weapons at bullseye targets down range across the gaps in the buildings - the next generation of Ashur’s army. A few groups of children broke away and began circling the guardsmen, eagerly trying to catch glimpses of the stranger they were encircling and cheering loudly to their playmates when they thought they had. The small procession continued on down to the lower streets as they approached Haven. Here the press of the crowd grew more and more concerning as more people tried to get a glimpse of the stranger. None of them meant any harm, but the sheer size of the onlookers was imposing enough. Harlock continued stoically striding forward, unconcerned, until the forward press of the people began to slow his men’s progress. “Move in the name of the Lady of The Pitt!” He barked, and while the crowd began to slowly disperse, it obviously was not fast enough for the impatient Captain. “I said MOVE!” He growled. The Haven Guard rev’d their auto-axes, sending the teeming mass of people running to the nearby buildings almost immediately and allowing the procession to move on to the Gates of Haven. The large fortified steel gates opened immediately before the escort party to the blaring of a loud horn. Beyond its threshold they stepped into the courtyard of Ashur’s square. Here things were quieter and more peaceful, with only the Haven Guard taking up guard posts at spots around the well-maintained courtyard of the imposing palace. Four heavily armored guardsmen in particular stood silent virgil around the large steel-forged statue of Ishamel Ashur which stood before the steps of Haven. The guard wasted no time in getting Dr. Li inside, opening the large wooden doors and entering into the foyer of the tall gothic building. The inside of Haven gave off the initial impression of a great pre-war cathedral, with the distant sounds of chanting coming from somewhere and the immaculately cleaned and richly decorated surroundings putting to shame even the most well-mainted structure in Uptown. They led Dr. Li on down to the throne room where another pair of guards stood watch, who then opened the double doors for the party to allow them entrance. Marie was seated on her throne at the far end of the great high-ceilinged hall alongside High-Priestess Lulu. Word had obviously already reached her regarding Li’s arrival, and she had prepared herself to greet The Institute’s representative. Lulu raised her hands, one of which held her Werhner-skull totem, towards the candlelit ceiling above and announced loudly, “You stand before Queen Marie Ashur, Lady of The Pitt, daughter of Lord Ashur, she-who-wades-the-three-rivers, Commander of Ashur’s Army, ruler of…” “That’s enough Lulu…thank you,” Marie interrupted as she stepped down off of her throne and approached Dr. Li, “You may go.” The High Priestess bowed deeply to her God-Queen and stepped away from the throne. Harlock shifted anxiously as Marie approached Li, perhaps instinctively uncomfortable with Marie getting this close to anyone let alone a foreign representative, but regardless of any reservations he had he held his tongue - trusting that Marie knew what she was doing. “Dr. Madison Li I presume? I am Marie Ashur. Thank you for coming here directly, we greatly appreciate your assistance. My soldiers are holding the line as best they can against The Mutant Horde, but I’m afraid that without help we might be overcome in time much like The Brotherhood was. I have sent overtures to Commander Sutler of The Enclave as well who is facing the same threat we are…my hope is that we can all come together in some fashion to coordinate our efforts.” “Abaddon has relayed to me your offers and suggestions for mutual cooperation which you told to Harlock. All of them are entirely agreeable to me, and I would like to start right away. For the railway - you probably already know that my raiders have a line that transports goods to DC. We could easily create a branch line which will connect The Commonwealth as well and allow for mass transport of men and material much more easily. Provided, of course, we break the siege of Cleveland quickly and ensure that the ore-road is reopened to allow for production of the rails” Marie smiled, a truly warm one that contained no malice or resentment in it - only gratitude, “If you have any further questions for me - I will be glad to answer them. Otherwise I will allow you to do whatever you need to do to coordinate with your people. As Harlock has no doubt told you, you are also welcome to stay in Haven if you so choose for as long as needed. My handmaids have quarters prepared for you.”