Magos Pinel caused a lot of... irrational emotions... in the higher echelons of Isohedron. Anger, contempt, curiosity, - a Magos that young was an anomaly and, as such, bound for some non-average reception.

Nepotism hires were a sure sign of the political system slowly slipping into decay, the Mars-Draupnir fracture growing deeper and the powers that be growing ever more desperate to claw a fraction of representation for themselves. With Draupnir's lineup being represented by Tiefebronn and his mangled duplicate, it called for someone with more... original... approach to counterbalance the replicaes talking over each other in garbled echoes. Rosella, the old beast, could counteract both of them on a sunny day, playing their differences all along the way - Biologist had this unique knack for understanding all living things under the Omnissiah's sight. Perhaps this is why she decided she could understand everything else. A pity. That just ensured that nobody was keen on seeing another Magos of her caliber calling the shots.

Instead, they thrusted Pinel into position after years of negotiations and plotting that were likely to have started before her birth. Cheery lobotomizer, Magos Pinel was logis-prophesied to become a brilliant specialist in something like a couple of ages. A gifted talent, coupled with young energy and unbound curiosity, Toros never denied that Pinel had all signs of a rising star. Deep inside, she was never dismissive of Pinel.

For deep inside, Archmagos Toros was scared. 

Power corrupts the soul and burdens the mind. The second one ensured that Pinel was never to tap into her full potential, her Magos rank pulling her back. The first one, coupled with Magos data privileges, provided an everlasting temptation for the overly curious youth. Pinel would have been a jewel in the council, if she was given time to mature. Toros tried to fight this appointment, going as far as daring to write a carefully worded missive to Collegiate Extremis - it has been met with the same cold silence that she got used to ever since daring to call in Astartes during the Rosella incident. The silence told "You decided that you can afford independent judgement, it is your problem now, Archmagos. And if it spills over, you will not have the time for calling outsiders in, and we will have the justification against you and Draupnir as a whole."

Pinel was an albatross hung on her neck instead of being taught to fly. Toros tried guiding her. Secunda was not sure how well she managed, all things considered. Fortunately, Pinel had yet to enter the autumn of her soul, and the sun of the optimism in her mind - as irritating as it was - preserved the purity of her judgment. Partially, by distracting her with petty, almost harmless, little endeavours. 

Like this new voice with its freshly demonstrated range. Secunda knew that spinto soprano. Half the cogdamn sector knew that spinto soprano and all of the troops sang along. It's just the loyal ones got shot for singing along too loudly. Secunda was moderately sure that she herself had an original vox-recording of "Star-Barghest Aria" in this very lab somewhere.

"Magos Pinel, last time I checked, Lady Leontyne Tebaldi was tucked safe in the melodium of Hollzenstein's flagship behind some layers of plasteel and respectable security protocols. [i]How?[/i]", Secunda did not need to feign bemused respect as she raised her eyes from the megascope. Reimplanting the vocal cords? Securing the biosample for off-the-books partial replicae in-vitro? Just crafting a vox-synth, approximating a pitch [i]by the ear[/i]? It was a stroke of brilliance either way. She could afford to admire Pinel, even as she was still afraid.

Still, she could not afford to lose a lot of time, so she returned her tiring biological eyes to the megascope while switching off the vox-catcher line. Sororitas was absolutely right. After all, the last time Adeptus Mechanicus and Adeptus Sororitas joined forces, Terra itself got con... [i]liberated[/i]. 

"Lady Kota, 'acquainted' is a nice way to put the fact that I owe you my life and my initial access levels. Assisting you with your hunt is the least I can do to repay you. Especially since you just so happen to hunt a void-travelling non-human beast warp-jumping around the halls of my cog-damned Cathedral and killing me.", Secunda zoomed in on the blood splatter. Something dark coiled where it shouldn't have. "Right now, we have a full third of the Isohedron council on the line. Notably, the most mellow, least dangerous third, the ones most likely to commiserate and trade knowledge instead of brushing us off or using us up. We'll get everything they know and move on. I hope that I'll get to finish with this analysis in the meanwhile. Pinel liked you, Stoll is puzzled by you. Feel free to join on in."