Chương 53: Chapter Forty-Six - Missed Detail

"Uh," Alexis said as she was suddenly the focus of everyone's attention. Things had been going pretty well, at least, she thought they were. The only issue was that she was having a hard time keeping up with some of the political talk. Still, the end plan of becoming part of a Rogue Trader's retinue was very appealing. It was a bit of a strange position for a member of the Mechanicus to be in. On the one hand, it meant a lot of personal freedom, but at the cost of servitude to a master that wasn't part of the cult.

On the other hand, a voice in the ear of a Rogue Trader was very valuable. There were parts of the Adeptus Mechanicus that really, really valued xenotechnology, and obtaining it was far from easy... for just about anyone but a Rogue Trader. There was also the considerable value of simple wealth. The Mechanicus didn't put much value on personal wealth, but keeping the machines of the Omnissiah functional wasn't a cheap affair, and few people in the Imperium had as much wealth as the large Rogue Trader dynasties.

Even a smaller, more humble dynasty such as the Caduceus had an entire homeworld and at least one ship to their name. Being the one able to communicate directly with a Rogue Trader wouldn't be a bad spot to be in. It would be a lot of work, and it might be awkward, but it might also be worth it. At the very least it would mean constant contact with some of the higher-ups in the order, and if she played her cards right... Then she'd gone and mentioned daemons and the entire conversation was derailed.

"Can you explain, Tech Acolyte Alexis Lambda-3?" Claire asked. Alexis shifted in her seat.

"Ah, well, when I asked Vyper about threats on the ship, that was one of the things she mentioned?"

"Vyper, can you confirm?" Vena asked.

"I can, both the statement made to Alexis and the fact that there are somewhat intelligent beings onboard the vessel that have been summoned out of the immaterial. I have been observing them. They are what I would consider a threat to civilized life, though that level of threat is rather low. Still, eliminating them would afford you a small bounty of points."

"Nice," Octavia said. She stood up.

"So, we going?"

"Did I miss something?" Claire asked.

"Forgive me," Vena told her.

"Our... patron informed us that there are daemons onboard. Vyper, can we know where they are? Their disposition? Numbers?"

"I'm afraid that I can only give you so much information. They are located on the middle-upper decks, in a part of the ship most considered to be part of the Medicae Decks. They are currently at rest, though there are several humans working with these figures. As for their numbers, there are between one hundred and one hundred and fifty of them onboard. They vary in size and from what I can tell, power." Vena repeated most of that to Clarice, who went appropriately white in the face.

The conversation continued and Alexis was a little lost. They... weren't going out to kill them. Apparently, with the big meeting coming up so soon, it was more politically wise to wait and then use the existence of the demonic threat as a playing card of sorts. They were immediately split on the issue. Alexis felt that it was unwise to allow warp taint to infest the ship for any longer than necessary. For all she knew, they were destroying important infrastructure, or corrupting it.

There were servitors on every level that didn't know what to do about daemons! And menials too! Octavia wanted to go out and burn them. Alexis suspected that was more because she found that fun than any other reason. Alexis and Octavia both made the case to go out right away, and eventually won over... more or less.

"If you can discover where they are, then come back to report it, we'll have some extremely valuable intelligence on hand," Vena said.

"It might be what we need to give you the credibility you want, Lady Caduceus."

"If barely," Claire replied.

"But yes. I can see that working. Give me an hour. Gabriel, fetch me my stationery, please? I'm going to write a letter to some of my contacts with the Navigators. They are usually quite sensitive to changes in the warp. If they haven't noticed anything yet, then they might once we point it out." Alexis found herself tapping her foot on the floor for the next hour, though once food arrived, her impatience was set aside by the delightful distraction that came from tasting new things.

She'd never tried fancy noble person food before, and she found that she liked it quite a bit. Though... Vyper's rations were still better. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Mostly because the rations came in easy-to-eat squeeze bottles that were very efficient compared to the noble meals that required three different utensils and a lot of delicate maneuvering to eat.

During that time, Vena left with Clarice, then returned, a serious frown on her face.

"The situation has changed somewhat. The Navigators confirm a disturbance on the ship and a general location. Near the rear-most sections. If we combine that with Vyper's own directions, we have a general location."

"That's good," Alexis said.

"For you, yes," Vena replied. She looked at Octavia.

"Alexis can move nearly anywhere on the ship without raising suspicions. I don't know if you can do the same."

"What? Why not?" Octavia asked.

"Um," Alexis said.

"Because you look very unique?" Octavia paused, frowned, looked down at herself, then crossed her arms.

"Okay, and?"

"And we want to play this close," Vena said.

"No, you want that," Octavia pointed out.

"I want to do my job." Vena opened her mouth to reply, then paused and closed it. She looked away before finally nodding.

"You are... correct. I'm sorry. I've been planning a lot. Scheming, really. I want to claw out the best position I can get as quickly as I can. This seems like a golden opportunity. But you're right. I don't have the authority to tell you what to do."

"Yeah, cool," Octavia said. Not meeting any resistance seemed to drain the motive force from her capacitors, so to speak.

"I won't stop you if you want to go with Alexis to discover the exact location of the nest. I would ask that you keep me informed, however? Constant communication between us couldn't hurt, I don't think." Alexis nodded. She was enjoying the constant contact with her servitors, and wouldn't mind the same with her new friends either. Well, maybe not quite as invasive?

The dinner ended soon enough, and then there was this long, awkward moment that Alexis filled by prattling on to Octavia about all of the upgrades she'd done to her friends. She was pretty sure the Sister of Battle wasn't following half of those, but that was fine. Eventually, she decided that she'd take off.

"I, ah, don't know how I'll find them, but if I have a good idea of where they are, I'm sure Vyper can help me," Alexis said.

"I guess I'll stay here, then," Octavia said. She looked annoyed, then that disappeared as she grinned.

"I'll keep the mini-Trader on her toes. Maybe you should go with her, Longlegs?"

"Is that supposed to be me?" Vena asked.

"Yeah? Your legs are as long as I'm tall, of course that's you," Octavia said.

"If my legs were as tall as you are in your entirety, I think that would bring me closer to average," Vena replied. Octavia gasped, looking so insulted that it looped back around to making her look amused. With that set in motion, both Vena and Alexis just... up and left. It was rather awkward, but Alexis waved her friends over, and then simply walked out. None of the guards did anything but stare, and Vena casually kept pace with her.

"So, we're going to the place where there's probably a cult of daemon worshippers?" Alexis asked. It was less for confirmation and more to make conversation.

"Essentially, yes," Vena said.

"Though... I don't know how good your education in such matters was in the Mechanicus, but my own rarely speaks of warp-related matters except for a curriculum on healing warp mutations and handling warp madness."

"Oh. We don't talk about it too much, but it's a thing," Alexis said with a nod.

"I've studied it a little? Sometimes a servitor will become possessed by something, and you need to know the signs. That, and there are always... weird things that happen to machine spirits in the warp. Sometimes they just don't like it, so they act up unless you give them more attention, but some of them can be cursed." Vena shivered next to her.

"I don't like such esoteric things." Alexis bobbed her head in a quick nod.

"The world is much easier and better when things make sense," she said.

"It's one of the main reasons we chose to search for the certainty of steel and the guidance of the Omnissiah. Ah, but don't worry, Miss Vena! If there are daemons around, me and my friends will keep you safe!"