Disco Inferno
The team engage in a long running investigation into a Xenos drug ring. Starting with mysterious dead bodies in Cetus Major and culminating in four regiments of Imperial Guard assaulting an underground cave network in Samalut in the neighbouring sub-sector. Nadiya gave the order to gun down fleeing civilians, including children, and is demoted from Interrogator back to Agent in response.
Briefing
Magistratum Detective Tasha Mines requested Inquisitorial oversight on a dead body in Hive Sejanus. The body had been found dead in a hotel but with strange glowing fungus growing out of its orifices.
Mushrooms
Ekaterin Malo, Acid and Atticus Kirriad investigated. They discovered that a new drug, Mist, was the cause. It was popular in the mid-to-upper hive as an upper that also suppressed appetite. This led to it being very popular within the modelling industry. They learned that it was a refined derivative of a down-hive drug called Blitz, which had a much stronger rage inducing effect (a minor side-effect of Mist).
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Inquisitor Michael; Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: I want to try to grow an Ork
Hear me out. I’m not expecting it to work, I just want to be sure.
I’ve attached Atticus’ very boring report but the summary is that we’ve found a new drug that contains some Orkoid biology and spores grow in its users. We’ve already seen that someone who uses it once or twice but then stops does after a month or so stop having spores in them. We also have a frequent user who has a lot of spores in them and a fungal mass growing in their stomach. That’s still under investigation. Finally we have an extremely dead corpse of someone who took a lot and died and their corpse grew glowing mushrooms that were a mix of Orkoid and victim. Messed up stuff.
As far as we can tell, there are no signs of birthing sacks growing in the corpse, suggesting the process is not viable for causing Ork reproduction. But even if they don’t grow in the victim, what if they could grow in more ideal conditions? I think we should transplant some of this fungus into more ideal growing conditions and see if there is any chance of this shit growing Orks. We know there must be a source of Orkoid fungus somewhere to be producing this drug, and we’re looking for it, but we have to know if the hive is going to be overrun in a month or two because the drug takers have been shedding Ork spores in placed where they might grow.
I want to set up some experiments to try and grow these spores in soil. According to Saliya’s work, a shady but bright spot in sandy but nutrient rich soil at least 3m deep is perfect growing conditions. I figure if it doesn’t grow a pod there we’re safe. Theoretically it would be a better experiment if we also repeated it with a pure Orkoid sample as a baseline, but we don’t have a sample and I appreciate people probably don’t want me growing an Orkoid with a high chance of success.
Assuming it does grow something, and honestly I don’t think it will, I think if it could we’d have seen a growth pod in the corpse, but if it does it’s likely to be a squig. Nevertheless, just in case, I propose setting this up in one of the heavy cells, and rig it up with some purge system. Just incinerate the entire thing if there’s any problem, and certainly once the experiment is completed either way.
Obviously I’d have done this already, but these Hereticus folks are being silly and tell me I can’t without permission. As if I don’t know more about Orkoids than everyone else in the building! So… could one of you authorise this please?
Thanks,
Winifred
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: I want to try to grow an Ork
Max, there’s more. I didn’t want to bother the bossman with it.
That second user, the one with the lump in her stomach. Atticus is trying to kill her. Slowly.
Ash gave Atticus the mission to let him try out, a good idea really, investigating weird drugs is pretty low pressure, give him a chance to try something out. He’s wasn’t bad, very posh and horney as a Fangkoon in heat, but he knows when to listen and make use of other people’s talent and experience. Flashed the badge a bit much though, freaked out a bunch of civvies down at a mag station.
Anyway we brought back this user who’d been taking the drug so Oscar could see what effect it’s been having on her. He found a lump of fungus in her stomach. Obviously he wanted to extract it for her health, but also we could dissect it and find out what it is. Atticus doesn’t want him to, he wants to just leave her and see how it kills her. Even if you forget about morality and empathy, it’s not a good representative test anyway unless you’re going to continue giving her the drug, and since we’ve told her it’s deadly she has stopped, so that would actually mean forcing it into her.
Obviously Oscar said no, and planned to remove it anyway, so Atticus asked me to hack the lock so Oscar couldn’t get into the cell to see the patient. Obviously I said no, I’m absolutely not going to start fucking up Obelisk security just so he can stop the doc from seeing to his patient. Atticus has run off to Ash to plead his case and get her to overrule Oscar but… I don’t like where this is going. When will you be back? This is clearly a xenos case, you can give Atticus a well done and a firm pat on the back and take over and maybe turn down the murdering of civilians for no reason?
Also, also, how is it ok to grow mystery spores in a living victims stomach “for science” but I’m not allowed to plant them in soil?!?! Fucking Hereticus man, we’ve faced litteral demons but as soon as there’s an alien involved they freak out!
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent A Kirriad
+++TO: Agent M Kirriad
+++SUBJECT: AITA
Mads,
It’s time for another round of am I the ass hole?
Ash put me in charge of a mission. (Damn right your bro was boss man for a bit. Let’s have a drink to celebrate when you are back in).
It was to investigate a dead body with a strange organic mass going out of it. Long story short (read my report if you want details) someone somewhere is making a drug which contains traces of ork. Side effects of long exposure to the drugs include death and a shit ton of fungus growing out of you. It’s actually fascinating. This hot detective sent me some photos of the body. Pretty cool if you fancy a look?
Anyway, we apprehended a model who had long exposure to the drug for testing. Turns out she has a mass in her stomach.
Oskar wanted to remove the mass. I suggested that we keep it in. Oskar loses his shit. Shouting that he won’t endanger a patients life, blah, blah. I get it. She would die but can’t he see the bigger picture?
We could study the mass. Find out how long it takes to be terminal. Learn how it grows. It seems to grow in the stomach but where next? Is it painful or does it go unnoticed? If so, for how long? We could even do further testing to find a cure. What’s one life against so much knowledge? What do we risk losing by taking it out? I dunno. Mum always said that the mission comes first.
I tried to get Acid and Ash on board. Acid looked at me like I was the biggest ass hole alive. Ash listened but went with Oskar in the end.
So, Oskar hates me. Acid thinks I am the biggest dick ever. Ash hopefully would see my intentions.
I mean I am only trying to learn more about people smoking fucking orks and whether we may have an infestation on our hands but whatever.
So, sis am I the ass hole here?
Atti
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann; Inquisitor Michael
+++SUBJECT: Re: I want to try to grow an Ork
Well: That's a new one.
Ash is right to be a bit cagey- it's massively illegal and has a less than zero percent chance of unleashing Orks on a heavily populated world. Not to mention what would happen if a more puritanical Inquisitor ever found about it. Remember that guy that was hunting the radical? He'd dust us for trying this shit, whether it went smoothly or not.
Personally, I think it's worth the risk. Depending on how long it's been around (Atticus' report said your earliest related police filing was from around 9 months ago, right?) We can probably guess that it doesn't grow in less than ideal conditions, but we need to know for certain. As long as you, Acetae and the other magos feel you can maintain an appropriate level of containment (and that if anything does sprout up you will burn the everloving piss out of it and dispose accordingly) I would give it my clearance.
I know Michael will say if he disagrees, but just to give him chance to respond you might want to give it a few days. If this 'Blitz' has been around for 9 months at least and we don't have an infestation already, we can afford to wait a little longer.
Keep me posted and take care.
Interrogator Drent
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: Re: Re: I want to try to grow an Ork
I don't like it either. Not one bit.
I agree, I don't think we'll learn much from leaving it in this girl and nowhere near enough to warrant her death.
I'll be home in the next few days, warp travel dependent (I've got some bits of a wraithbone cogitator to show when this dies down. Only slightly singed). Hopefully that's enough.
Ash will probably bounce it to me when I get back, but I'll request it if not.
Do me a favour- Keep an eye on him, if you can? I can't see Oskar letting him anywhere near his patient, but it's best to cover our bases. If you see anything weird, go straight to Ash.
Keep Safe.
Max.
P.S. I guess one is already there, and the other you're doing on purpose? I dunno, I'd take a weird gribbly over the malefic any day.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent M Kirriad
+++TO: Agent A Kirriad
+++SUBJECT: AITA
Atti!
I read the report: what in the name of Terra are these hivers doing?!? It's enough to make you miss Kaprun.
I can see your point, there's certainly evidence to be gathered from her. Mum would have absolutely gone for it, but they don't work like that here. One sample study isn't enough to provide a reliable hypothesis of disease progression and a lot of the other questions you pose could be gleaned from patient interviews, or an autopsy.
Also, if I might, I think it's a case of choosing your audience. A doctor (particularly one as caring as Oskar) whose job it is to save people is never going to be receptive to that kind of suggestion. Similarly, Acid doesn't strike me as the type either. When we were looking through all those notes from the Paracus experiments she was horrified. Maybe next time take these pragmatic suggestions straight to the Inquisitor?
I understand that you're here to make the hard decisions, and Mum will probably be incredibly proud, but in this instance you were probably slightly off the mark? At least with this crowd.
Aside from all the greenskin smoking and colleague agitation: How did you enjoy command?
Maddi
P.S. Obviously I want to see pictures, but you think there's someone hot on every case you work. You're a hussy.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: Re: Re: I want to try to grow an Ork
“I guess one is already there, and the other you're doing on purpose?”
Ok so this though. This is what it’s all about. Doctor Barra told me about this famous hypothetical problem called the maglev problem. It goes something like this:
There’s a runaway maglev and it can’t be stopped. Downline there’s four innocent people tied to the line, and the maglev is gonna crush them. You, in this weird hypothetical situation, can’t stop the maglev, and you can’t free the people. All you can do, is pull a lever to divert the maglev before it hits them. If you do, it will take a different route and hit a single innocent person.
So you see, the problem is “already there”, if you do nothing four people will die. Whereas you could act to kill one person “on purpose” and save more lives overall. It’s supposed to make you think about, like, what inaction actually is and that kind of thing. If you don’t pull the lever are you guilty of killing those four people? Does pulling the lever make you a saviour or a murderer?
Dr Barra says that fundamentally this is one of the main tasks of the Inquisition. Inquisitors have to pull those levers on the planetary scale.
It’s also, incidentally, why I think I’m fundamentally unqualified to be an Agent, and absolutely unqualified to be a Senior Agent. I’m smart enough to understand the lever needs to be pulled but… well, you were there when we left the Dammerung the first time.
Something to think about if you’re going to make Inquisitor.
In this case, the “other track” is a “grow your own Ork” kit with my name on it and I’m pretty adamant that pulling the lever and diverting the maglev away from “hive overrun by Orks” is the right thing to do and I’m keen to pull it.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent A Kirriad
+++TO: Agent M Kirriad
+++SUBJECT: AITA
Mads,
I take your point! I should perhaps choose my audience a bit more carefully next time. It’s painfully clear how different things are here. Granted it has its advantages. Still we mustn’t forget who we are and what we our duty bound to do.
Also, it’s isn’t necessarily going to be one sample. There is a list of models who are in the same partying set and who may have had long exposure to this drug. My next step in the investigation is to apprehend them all. That way we have more case studies to go on and from there can get reliable data of disease progression. We have samples of the drug and could test out exposure and deterioration rate. It would be the sensible and logical thing to do.
I am not sure they would go for it though. At the very least they can’t complain about apprehending the models? Makes sense to learn as much as we can from a wider pool.
Despite a difference in opinions and methods all in all I am looking forward to seeing how this all pans out.
I am sure it comes as no surprise but I have enjoyed being in charge. A good leader is nothing without his team though. Ekaterin is an excellent investigator and was extremely useful throughout. It doesn’t hurt that she is easy on the eyes. Though my chances of her thinking the same is about the same as Oskar ever wanting to be in the same room as me but Emperor knows I love a challenge.
Acid is not the company I would usually keep. Strange creature that she is. Yet it can’t be denied that she is the smartest one in the room. Her general demeanour will take a bit of getting used too. No airs and graces there. More like blunt force trauma every time she opens her mouth. Still, she is handy and I should try to convince her I am not an ass hole. Another challenging task ahead.
When you next back? Be good to grab some dinner and have a catch up.
Atti
P.S. I think you will find I have been very respectable since being here. A man can appreciate a good thing without having to automatically fall into bed with it.
Though that being said the hot detective does want it. Keen would be an understatement. Kind of hot to be so wanted. Who am I to deny such wanton desire?
P.P.S. Don’t think I don’t notice the way you look at the oh so kind doctor.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent A Kirriad
+++TO: Inquisitor A Lear
+++SUBJECT: Next steps
Inquisitor,
I thought it would be prudent to keep you updated with the plans that I have for the next step of the investigation.
Once I have assembled the team this morning I intend to question and the detain the attached list of names. They are all associates of the deceased and have been known to take this Emperor forsaken drug.
In questioning I would hope to establish a list of suppliers and then the hunt for the source of the drug will truly begin.
In detaining we may be able to learn a bit more about the nature of the drug. It will also be a wider pool of inflicted for the medical team to try to establish some sort of cure or counter drug.
I will also try to make amends with Dr Sorakin. Whilst our methods may differ and we do not see eye to eye on this matter we are on the same team and I would not want any ill will between us to become long standing.
I appreciate the trust you have put in me to lead this investigation. I will not fail you and will get to the source.
Agent A Kirriad
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Inquisitor Lear
+++TO: Agent Atticus Kirriad
+++SUBJECT: Re: Next Steps
Hi Atticus,
Thanks for this. That sounds like a really sensible way to proceed – with just one hitch, which is that your presence is now required over on Baetan. That daemon relic has surfaced again. There’s been a sighting, and numerous deaths. Come to my office ASAP and I’ll give you the full brief. You’ll need to leave this evening, let’s talk in person about who you’re taking with you.
Interrogator Drent is returning to the Obelisk, so he’ll take over the Orkoid case. Don’t worry about Dr Sorakin – you're both professional adults, I can trust you both to continue a professional relationship.
I can see your logic in opposing him. But I’d rather he put his energy into trying to cure it, given that the girl you brought in is the only candidate we have for a cure right now. I believe he’s already feeding her various things to try and kill it, and he assures me he’ll set up a proper experiment with laboratory conditions to study the long-term effects of the drug.
See you in my office,
Lear
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent A Kirriad
+++TO: Interrogator M Drent
+++SUBJECT: Investigation 45/MC12-16A
Interrogator Drent,
Please find attached my full report on investigation 45/MC12-16A. I have also taken the liberty of including a detailed list of recommended next steps. I am sorry not to be able to discuss this at length in person but I have been called away to Baeton.
You should also be aware that one of the agent’s (Acid) has put forward a proposal to transplant some of the fungus grown in the first victim into a climate more suited for growth of an ork/orkoid. This would of course have to be heavily guarded and monitored at all times.
I have been considering the proposal and am inclined to agree with Acid. I do not think I need to spell out the consequences if this fungus was to develop into an ork or some orkoid/human hybrid. I would recommend conducting the experiment for a period of time to be agreed with yourself and the agent in question. After that time the samples can be incinerated and sent back to the fiery warp scape they first came from.
Acid and Ekaterin were instrumental on us getting this far. Ekaterin has a steady focus and a keen eye for this sort of investigation. She also is well connected with the Cetus Mag. Acid’s ability to manipulate technology is second to none and I was impressed by her proposal. Emperor knows we need to know as much about this drug as possible.
I wish you well in the investigation and look forward to reading the report on how you stamped out the source and delivered justice to the heretics who invented it.
Agent A Kirriad
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator M Drent
+++TO: Agent A Kirriad
+++SUBJECT: Investigation 45/MC12-16A
Agent Kirriad,
Thank you for the extremely detailed report. I'm sure it will prove invaluable.
I also agree with Acid's suggestion, which is why I signed off on the proposal. Fabricator Acetae has been brought in to help keep the project as secure as possible, both during the study and at disposal. The three of us will review the situation when I arrive.
Whilst it's always pleasing to know my colleagues performed well in the field, I have to say I'm not surprised: they are both heinously talented and are always a credit to themselves and the Ordos. Still, I'll pass on your compliments.
Likewise, I wish you well in your visit to Baetan. We can discuss things at length when you return.
Take Care,
Interrogator Drent
+++MESSAGE ENDS
The Informant
Nadiya, Acid and Ekaterin went to a down-hive club called Zerin to meet an informant Max had managed to find. Unfortunately the informant was a mutant and a group of puritanical cultists wearing purple cowles, knowl locally as the Hang Men, attempted to eliminate her before the team could get the info they needed. With blitz extremely prevalent, a huge brawl soon occurred. The conflict ended when the team ambushed the pursuing cultists and Acid, somewhat traumatised form her past as a potential victim of underhive mutant purging zealots, killed them all with her hand flamer.
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Dr Barra
+++SUBJECT: Quick update
Hey Doc,
I’m still on a mission so I won’t be getting back anytime soon, but I wanted to dump my thoughts and feelings a bit. I’ll try to be brief.
Went on a mission to meet an informant in a downhive club. Strongly not my cup of tea, as you know, but my role was just to keep a lookout and be backup. I did ok, blended in and kept an eye on things. Let the rest of the team know when some scumbags started going for our mark.
Didn’t do quite as well as backup, I tried to distract them and buy some time and just got totally ignored. I know Ash would have just walked up behind them and dropped them one by one, but whilst I might have a similar gun-in-my-arm now, I’m not Ash.
So I’m a bit miffed about that, like, I went to all the effort to build a secret laspistol into my arm and got it past security and then just… don’t use it? It definitely made me feel more confident in the club on my own, knowing I was armed, but if I don’t use it when I could, is it just a comfort laspistol? Things worked out for us fine, but… maybe I should have done something? Where’s the line between being a smart agent who knows her own limitations, and being afraid to act?
So we make it out with the informant (I’m skipping over a lot of drug induced fighting in the club and general madness, don’t go clubbing whilst hopped up on Orks kids) but the arseholes are following us.
Rewind a bit. These arseholes are “Hangmen”. Psycho-cultists who like to spend every Sanguinalia running around the underhive and murdering anyone they don’t like the look of, who uses a different prayerbook or who was born a little different. What with the pollution and shit, there were a lot of us who were born a little different down there. It’s fair to say I have more than a little personal beef. And our contact had severe polycoria and, erm, a pretty fucked up mouth. No idea what the right term for that one is. Giant spiky teeth cutting up her own lips. Quite pretty otherwise though, quite a delicate face and a cute nose. So they were gunning for her the same reason they would have gone for me before I was fixed up. Lots of beef. But I tried to keep a lid on it and stay professional.
Another rewind. We’re on a mission to hunt down drugs made from Ork spores, and we needed to take low-tech weapons to blend in down hive. I took a hand flamer. Seems sensible at the time.
So we run off and set up an ambush for these creeps. Nadiya does her thing and distracts them with psychic visions. I was hiding behind cardboard, and we knew they had guns, so I was pretty scared of being very shot to death. Clubbing clothes don’t really allow for much in the way of combat armour, so sitting in the rain with a cold bare midriff I was feeling pretty fucking exposed.
So when they got in range, I torched them with the flamer. Got them all, hard and fast, and dropped them before they could fire a shot. I could have used the arm laser, but I knew the flamer would get them all in one go and be the most effective weapon in the situation.
I killed them for the Emperor, as was my duty to the Inquisition. I killed them for my own self defence and to protect my teammates who were equally exposed. I killed them like they would have killed me if they’d ever found my hiding spaces, each year for 11 years of my childhood. And I feel fucking awful.
Burning is a horrible way to go, and I just keep seeing the leader’s face, his plastic mask bubbling and melting over his skin until he couldn’t scream anymore. I can’t get the image out of my head. I did everything right, but I feel like it was wrong and I’m both proud of myself and also horrified. I’m left spinning.
The mission isn’t over, and the spores are still an issue, so the flamer continues to make sense but… I don’t want to carry it anymore.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
Mercy Mission
Oskar, Atticus, Mira and Jentiva ran a medical outreach program in the underhive to gather more information about the usage of Blitz.
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: Blitz Progress
Hey Grotface,
How are you feeling? The last two days have been eventful. This is the informal run down, see the Michael friendly version if you want the professional stuff.
Oskar liked the med hab idea and agreed to run it! I was half expecting him to say that isn't how science works, but he was on board!
Oskar requisitioned the Obelisk for some equipment for the med hab and ended up with Atticus, Mira and Jentiva of all people to help run it. The good doctor looked less than thrilled about it. He told me later they were all fine. Well, mostly. Mira ended up shooting two guys who kicked off outside the hab. Naturally they didn't have any more problems from patients, but one of the dead guys did belong to gang. Jentiva ended up spending a bunch of time keeping an eye on the above mentioned gang so she could get the team back to the Obelisk but before they could come looking for retribution. Apart from that they were good nurses/nutrigruel chefs/doormen (doorpeople?) and it was mainly just Mira and Atticus flirting, which is fine.
Jentiva on the other hand was not nursing and in between gangwatch, found herself near one of those ratty, underhive chapels where Deacon Firenze happened to be preaching. We've had tabs on him for months and he has never gone down hive. Why now? Jentiva said the preaching was fairly par for the course: follow the righteous path, purge the unclean, abhor the witch, mutant and heretic, yadda yadda yadda. At the end however, he pulled out a melted, purple mask, and started singing their praises. Jentiva said the crowd was pretty into it. Oskar thinks he could have something to do with Blitz and is trying to wipe out the underhive. Jentiva said he could just be a true believer, but also wants to join our Deacon Surveillance. I reckon we could probably get Oskar too.
Speaking of Oskar, he ended up getting data from about 50 people; is that good/enough? He also found a weird one: an older lady that came in with her grandson. The mushrooms weren't growing in her stomach but under her skin, and up into her ears and nose. She'd been on blitz longer than anyone we've come across and he couldn't say if it was caused by prolonged exposure, a new strain, or just her. The kid was riddled too, but in the way we'd expect. He ended up bringing them both back to the Obelisk. The grandmother didn't want to go and he ended up having to sedate them.
When they got back, he and Stendhal (and Atticus, who had a couple more arguments with Oskar in the process) had a look at her and ran some tests. They decided the only way they'll learn anything (without just waiting for her to die a horrible death) was by dissection. Oskar and Stendhal were absolute pillars throughout and I didn't think I could respect them more than I did (do not tell Stendhal, I'll never live it down). The kid is still alive and in solitary. We're waiting to see if his mushroom presentation goes away by going cold turkey.
The upside is that we did end up getting some new information from it. Turns out the oldest mushrooms in her body had juvenile spore sacs, Terra save us. Inspired by you, Oskar wanted to take a cutting of the variant from Nana and implant it into a vat grown human (I know because Atticus immediately wrote a report to me. I may not agree with the guy, but he is scarily efficient). I passed it up to Drake but he didn't feel like that level of radicalism was strictly necessary and canned it.
Oskar was pretty shaken by the whole thing. I was going to scrap the med hab after that first day, but Mira suggested she and Stendhal take the hab back down just to use up the medicine we'd requested where it would be needed. She hides quite how many fucks she gives pretty well. Atticus went too. I suspect he gives fewer fucks, but they seemed pretty happy.
Lastly me, Nads and Malo finished our recon on the warehouse. I'm satisfied we've got a clear picture of the place and the sentries. I'm organising the raid for tomorrow night. You and salty are welcome to come, but no pressure?
Max
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: Blitz Progress
Yo Braindrain,
When you say "kicked off", what do you mean? If it was anyone else I wouldn't ask but I can kinda believe Mira might just shoot people for arguing loudly outside.
Also, Atticus and Mira?? I wouldn't have thought he'd go for her. What happened to the detective, has he snagged her and now is moving bored and on? As far as I can tell his "type" seems to be anyone he doesn't know for sure has a boyfriend who could break him in half with one hand.
At least, that is how I choose to interpret being the only female in the Hive he hasn't made a move on. Hmm… possibly Ash too I guess. Although Michael could break him too, maybe not with one hand though.
The Dickon was down hive?! Whaaat? But his shiny gold shoes might get sullied!
Hmmm… melted purple mask. Like, melted as if by a hand flamer? Was he… using that to justify bad shit? How illegal is publicly praising a murder gang? When does inciting civilians to violence become something the Inquisition can act on? But if we can tie him to Blitz we can definitely nail his balls to the wall.
Somewhat unclear, but as you saying Atticus was advocating for disecting Grandma?? But… spore sacs… that's real bad. Odds of them randomly finding the oldest users on the Hive are near zero. If people have been taking this and dying in wierd dark places we almost certainly have some squigs growing somewhere…
I'm up for the raid. Is there room for Salty?
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: RE: Blitz Progress
Dearest Mini Mind,
Kicked off here is being defined as "starting a fight with each other which included eye gouging and smacking each other's heads off the rockcrete." Her reasoning was she didn't want the rest of the queue to get sucked into the violence after what happened at the club. It's an extreme response, but if the alternative was the hab and the three of them getting ripped apart, I have to prefer the former.
I've never seen it myself: does he really flirt with that many people?!? Also, do you want him to hit on you? I didn't think he was your type, but I wouldn't have thought he was Mira's either, so what do I know? I guess being a handsome little shit helps.
The Deacon I have no idea about. He's never shown any interest in outreach before, so the whole thing is extremely sus'. Jentiva assures me everything he was doing at the sermon was above the law, even if he was being a shit about it. We'd need to do a proper investigation if want to try and link him to Blitz, and that would probably be Ash's or Drake's wheelhouse, unless you have other suggestions?
From what Oskar said they were all on team dissection, I don't think he liked the way things were being suggested. Drake doesn't seem to think we should lose our heads just yet. She's the only one we've found this way, and we don't yet if that's due to length of exposure, or a variant in her, or something else.
I've sent all of this on to Michael, so we'll see what he thinks.
The attack on warehouse will be fine, but the initial assault will involve some stealthing, so we might have to put our heads together to accommodate Salty.
Max
P.S. Michael could definitely do it with one hand.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: Blitz Progress
To his Emminence Maximus Plank,
I haven't spent that much time with Atticus myself, so maybe it's an unfair sample size. Then again it matches the scuttlebutt. Needs more data. How was he with Jentiva? And no, if I was going to break up with Amon for someone else it wouldn't be Milord Mummy's Boy. I'm not bothered by the lack of attention, I turned not being noticed by men into an artform, and it definitely saved my arse when I was a kid (litteraly and figuratively).
I have no suggestions about the Dickon, that one is very political and as you say, Hereticus work. My plan is to quietly seeth and wait for him to mess up and maybe occasionally pray that if the Emperor isn't too busy with the important suff, or maybe wants a little light relief, he might see his way to dropping a lightning bolt onto him.
Salty is an asset, not a crutch, if the mission is better off without him we can go without him. I can be pretty sneaky. Not exactly very killy, but if you need technical support in the first wave I can look after myself.
A(|D
P.S. I think of the bossman as more skill than raw power, but he was always pretty buff and I'm still unclear about just how much stronger he is after the Astartes fixed him up.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: RE: Blitz Progress
Madame Tech Toots the Third,
Oskar didn't say, but surely it's physically impossible to flirt with Jentiva? She'd have your head if you tried. And are you sure? I love Amon, but Mrs Milord Mummy's Boy would suit you down to the ground.
Well while you wait on the Emperor, I might pass this on to Ash and see what she thinks. Let's hope she doesn't mind us spying on a senior member of the ecclesiarchy for months.
As for what you can do with the first wave: what are the chances of you taking someone out with a servo skull?
His Eminence
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: Blitz Progress
Dearest Match,
What a male response. "Jentiva will kill me if I flirt with her". Maybe if you are extremely allergic to withering scorn? Otherwise I think any true servant of the Emperor is perfectly safe. Probably.
As for Sir Flirt-a-lot suiting me… come on Max, I deserve your A game. Sass me like you mean it. Work in some arch personal commentary on me whilst you're at it. WWNS (what would Nadiya say)?
Skull wise I have Simon with a silenced stub pistol, who I did build for sneaky work, but there's not a lot of penetration with a stub pistol so it would need to be a carefully placed shot. I have Larry with a laspistol that is the same but less subtle.
If you really want a guaranteed first kill, and can get close enough, there's Sue 2 with a plasma grenade. Very likely to kill pretty much anything within the blast but at that point surprise has gone, as has Sue 2.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
Warehouse Raid
Nadiya, Ekaterin and Acid join Max on a raid on the primary manufacturing base of Blitz on Cetus-Major. Two key leaders were captured:
Kurigov Syoll
- Originally from a Cartel in Samalut that is the original source of the drug.
- Here to ensure business runs smoothly.
- Steadfast loyal to the cartel and incredibly hard to crack.
Stefvan Mhundi
- Running the Cetus-Major end of things.
- Has been running a shady business for years smuggling goods, but has always been small fry.
- Jumpy, eager to please, will throw anyone under the bus and say anything to walk away from this.
The team learned that a drug cartel named the “Scarlet Reapers” were producing the raw material on Samalut IX, which has plenty of Ork corpses since the Ork invasion. The drugs are brought from the capital city Sathis, up through Port Damas and across to Cetus via the cargo ship “The Argent Will”.
Boarding Action
Nadiya and Acid boarded the Argent Will next time she visited. Captain Kharla Von Gritt was determined to be ignorant of the drug smuggling, and despite her culpability as Captain, was given leniency in exchange for future service to the Inquisition. The lead smuggler was her first mate, Hector Wrath.
During the arrest, Hector managed to break one of Salty’s lamps with a kick from his peg leg. In response Acid snapped off the leg and kept it as a trophy. From Hector the name of the leader of the Scarlet Reapers was learned; Rina du Myr.
Cleansing the Warren
Travelling aboard the Argent Will, Nadiya and Acid proceeded to Samalut to shut down the drug trade for good. They met with High Arbiter Leth Giltlock of the Adptus Arbites to find out when he knew and he (technically breaking his promise to keep their presence secret) introduced them to Magistratum Detective Cora Lear.
Using ground penetrating radar to map out the network of tunnels underneath Sathis that the Scarlet Reapers were using, the team determined the only way to clear out the problem was a huge coordinated raid on “The Warren”. They contacted the commander of the current theatre of war against the Orks, General Morst Skardol, and arranged to use four regiments with tunnel fighting expertise. Lieutenant General Adita Sarel was placed in military command of the operation.
The majority of the cartel were captured or killed, and the operation shut down. Responsibility for preventing a re-occurance of this activity, and of managing the propaganda message to the populace to stop using the drug, was passed over to Samalut#Planetary_Governor_Suhaniya_Singhe Planetary Governor Suhaniya Singhe. Lord Greyhold, a local landowner, was found to be colluding with and funding the Cartel.
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Nadiya
+++ENCRYPTION: Theta Sigma Prime
Max,
Fuck. I sent you my official report separately but…
The gang responsible for all this shit lived and worked in a huge warren of tunnels and caves. It kept changing, and was full of traps and stuff. We got a rough map, and 4 regiments of Guard to surround and make a synchronised assault. But we agreed we would not get everyone, or even most, but the mission priority was to smash the operation, grab the leader if we could, gather as much evidence about the backers and just… stop them right now.
We knew people would get away, and there was nothing we could do to stop that, or prevent them from trying this again, but they’d be doing it from scratch and with the locals much better informed and prepared. Nadiya set out the rules of engagement. The troops were not to take risks, but if possible take prisoners and capture non-hostiles.
We had troops coming in every tunnel we knew about, they were penned in as much as possible, but again, we expected people to get away. Our group, Nadiya, myself and… er… ask me about the third person later, headed down the main tunnel. We got a skull in and discovered this large place was largely full of sleeping people, and also children. Lots of children.
Nadiya says no worries, she’s already told the troops to spare non-hostiles, as long as the kids weren’t grabbing guns it would be fine.
We bust in, Nadiay does the whole “This is the Inquisition, lie down and surrender and you won’t be harmed” thing and, well, people panic, start running. I’m thinking “no worries, that clears out the non-hostiles and we’ll pick up most of them with the other teams coming in the other tunnels. We even had troops left on the surface to make a cordon and catch some of those who get out via tunnels we don’t know about. So I figure we’re going to get about 80-90% of these guys whatever, and we knew that going in and basically everything is going to plan.
But Nadiya. She tells everyone that her orders were to lie down, and anyone running is defying the Inquisition. And obviously people are people and scared and act like people and most of them keep running. So… she orders everyone to open fire. Running, unarmed civilians. Children. Families.
Afterwards there were just, bodies. Everywhere. Some of them moving, some of them still. I had to pick my way over them.
I didn’t shoot Max. There were armed gangers fighting us, I shot a bunch of them, and there was a hairy moment with some explosives in a tunnel, but everyone I shot was an active armed hostile. I didn’t shoot the runners Max. I didn’t shoot kids.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Inquisitor Lear
+++SUBJECT: Family
Hey Ash,
So… er, we’re on Samalut. Hanging out, smashing xenos-drug-peddling gangs, the usual. We met this senior Arbites Judge, and he took us for tea and… well anyway we met your, well, probably your sister? Maybe? Korra Lear? Investigator in the Magistratum.
She looks a lot like you. I’ve attached a picture. She’s the one arresting the crazy lady. The one who looks just like you.
Nadiya told her she looked just like Inquisitor Ashar Lear, so, you know, that all came out pretty quickly. She said she had a sister called Ashar Lear who got sent off to the Scholam very young, so, you know, it all seemed to check out. She, er, she thought you were dead.
Sorry if I’m being blunt, this mission was pretty… stressful, and I don’t want to not tell you this, it feels like if I don’t tell you now then I’m keeping it a secret, but maybe it would have come out better face to face. Or just if I waited. Maybe I’ll just not send this.
Anyway Nadiay mentioned your “gift” so I kind of ended up explaining about Pariahs and stuff. I tried not to say too much, I know this is personal stuff for you and not my place to get involved, and I don’t really know how sibling stuff works anyway.
She said, let me remember, of your seven siblings, there are three farmers, a vet, a Magistratum officer (her) and two soldiers. One of the soldiers is dead. I’m sorry Ash, I don’t know if you knew that.
I have her contact details if you want them. I didn’t give her yours. I realise that means you’d have to make the first move, but it also means if you don’t want to be in touch she can’t approach you.
For what it’s worth, I liked her. She reminded me of you, but not entirely.
There’s more, we were with her for about 3 days. I’m happy to tell you everything in great detail if you want to know, but I don’t want to dump every detail on you if you’re not interested.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Inquisitor Lear
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++Subject: Re: Family
Hi Acid,
Thank you for letting me know.
My father is still alive. I can’t tell you how little interest I have in seeing him, or my mother, again. There’s only one sibling I remember fondly, my older brother. But he’s still connected to our parents, and I want no kind of relationship with them.
You running into Cora feels like a sign that I should contact her. I will, so that I can make sure any pariah born into the Lear family has someone to go to.
This probably sounds abrupt, and like I’m angry with you. I’m not. It’s just the only way I can write about my family. I find it very hard. Sorry.
Thank you.
Ash x
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Inquisitor Lear
+++SUBJECT: Re: Family
Hey Ash,
I don’t mind abrupt. I’m not good at talking about family either; it’s funny how dumping “my parents were murdered in front of me” can kill the conversation.
Cora had no idea what a Pariah was and, when I explained, did wonder why she wasn’t also a Pariah. But she did think that everyone in your family was genetically very similar (also that maybe I have no siblings because I was a defective birth, so by that same logic I guess she doesn't consider you defective).
I’m sorry to be the bearer of uncomfortable news, I’m glad you’re not angry.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: Nadiya
+++ENCRYPTION: Theta Sigma Prime
Of course you didn't. You did the right thing. Holy Terra… Of all the things you were going to report back, I'm not sure I was expecting that.
You had the stormtroopers with you, right? Did they shoot? How does Nadiya seem in the aftermath? Does she seem like this was a mistake? A bad call in the panic of the moment? Please tell me the ones that stayed weren't then mowed down.
Malo and I are heading back to the Obelisk now. We'll probably arrive a day or two before you. How many people know about this?
Are you ok?
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Agent Dietersmann
+++TO: Interrogator Drent
+++SUBJECT: Re: Nadiya
+++ENCRYPTION: Theta Sigma Prime
Nadiya directly ordered everyone to open fire. The Stormtroopers are well trained, they opened fire. I don’t blame them, and Michael won’t either. The Guard we had with us did too, a little more hesitantly maybe. I figure when the Inquisition says shoot you shoot, right?
The ones who surrendered were arrested. Some that ran but didn’t get shot got arrested too, once they ran into the other teams and found themselves surrounded. She didn’t hunt them down and execute them after they ran or anything.
Nadiya… well I don’t know. I’ve kind of avoided her a bit. When we’re working we’re working, and she hasn’t specifically mentioned it other than that those who ran and got arrested will have a harsher sentence than those who surrendered.
I know there are harsh calls in the Inquisition. Sometimes we do necessary bad things to prevent much worse bad things. And I know that I’m no good at that, just one of many reasons I’ll never be an Inquisitor (praise throne). But this didn’t feel like that. This felt like a massacre for absolutely no reason. I think this time I wasn’t being weak, I was being right.
I just… I keep remembering when we made friends. We had a night out, and she and I clashed a little about where to go. I wanted to go down, she wanted to go up. Class clash in a big way. She was a little bitchy about clothes and stuff. The next day we patched things up, she invited me to lunch somewhere mid hive (i.e. way below her comfort zone) and Ash helped me buy my very first skirt to wear. We made peace and became friends. Not the best, we’re very different, but it was a major turning point.
I have this specific vision of her, out in the open air and these little cafe tables made of curly metal and glass, consciously opening herself up to me and being a bit less spikey. I got a peek Nadiya under the spikey shell a little she hides under. That’s the vision, right, her hair wafting in the breeze, this soft pink flowy skirt, elegance without the arrogance. There’s a street musician in the background and the smell of coffee and pastry. This was Nadiya, the real Nadiya underneath, my Nadiya that she didn’t show to most people.
And now I have this other vision, it’s a dark damp cave, lights glaring harshly off all the wet surfaces. Nadiya, impenetrable in her reclaimed power armour, taken from the bodies of dead Sisters, her eyes still glowing from when she melted the brains of half a dozen guards, her face lit up red from the las-fire as she orders dozens of troops to gun down helpless fleeing children. The sound of screaming. The smell of burned flesh. Is this Nadiya now?
I can’t make them fit together.
A(|D
+++MESSAGE ENDS
+++FROM: Interrogator Drent
+++TO: Agent Dietersmann
+++SUBJECT: Nadiya
+++ENCRYPTION: Theta Sigma Prime
You’re right, the troopers and the regiment were doing their jobs. I’d be interested to see what they think. Michael hardly keeps a bunch of yes-men around.
It doesn’t have to mean that. That this is the new, puritanical Nadiya. I’m not saying what she did was right, in any axis, but she’s still Nadiya. She’s still the person in the cafe: people don’t become bastards overnight.
We have to talk to her, or at least I do. We have to know what the fuck she was thinking, we owe her that at the very least. I’ve done some things that I will never stop regretting and, so far, no one has branded me as a monster.
I have no idea what Drake is going to make of this.
Also, It wasn't a weakness: It was the right thing. You were right.
Get back safe.
+++MESSAGE ENDS
Demotion
Eidan Drake re-read his interrogator’s words in dismay. They didn’t improve.
The chamber under the city’s water treatment works was filled with people of all ages. Families, it seemed. They were not enforcers, or pushers, so I deduced these people had to be involved in production. For the most part I was unconcerned about low-level scum evading capture, but if these people were to escape, their knowledge would spread and persist. I offered clemency to any who would take it, and warned them against flight. Some heeded my offer; many simply sank into mindless panic at the presence of the proper authorities. I appealed to their parental instincts, given the children present, but to no avail; these self-serving low-lives seemed more concerned with their own ability to perpetuate injustice than the safety of their fellows and their progeny, and so I instructed our forces to engage any who fled. In so doing, I believe we have drastically reduced the pool of expertise needed to manufacture this lethal drug.
It should be noted that Agent Dietersmann did not comply with the order to engage. I did not reprimand her laxity, for I sympathised with her decision; she has been frank about her distaste for the more callous actions required of our organisation, and remains an excellent asset despite this limitation. A number of the crowd still escaped into the warren, and will no doubt spread news of our harsh methods. This, too, I consider a boon. Those who consider rebuilding this evil trade shall surely think again, knowing the righteous wrath that awaits.
The door chime sounded. With a heavy heart, Drake invited Interrogator Nadiya Zelenko in. She greeted him with an eager smile; the smile she wore on those occasions she was pleased with her performance and sure of his approval. The smile faltered when he did not return it.
‘Have a seat, Nadiya.’
‘Thank you, Eidan,’ she said, uncertainty creeping into her voice.
‘Before we begin, I should be clear: in the broader sense, I am pleased you were able to deal such a blow to the manufacture of blitz, and that you caught their leader alive. An impressive haul.’
She nodded in hesitant gratitude. She was clearly anticipating the however.
Drake did not keep her waiting. ‘I thought I taught you better than this. Fear cowes some, but what else does it do?’
‘Hardens resistance,’ Nadiya recited without conviction.
‘You disagree,’ Drake stated.
‘Every text, every treatise available to the Ordos, speaks of breaking the will to heresy,’ Nadiya said. ‘These people wouldn’t do as they were told. Someone disobeys an agent of the Throne, and we’re supposed to just let them go? What kind of message does that send? We’d look weak. Utterly weak.’
‘I didn’t say to let them go. I said the use of fear is often ineffective, and you proved it. They fled in terror, and you lost them.’
Nadiya threw her hands up in frustration. ‘I offered them clemency!’
‘No you didn’t, you issued an ultimatum.’
‘That’s more than they’d get from most Inquisitors,’ Nadiya said, exasperation creeping into her tone, as though on some level she expected the argument.
‘You’re capable of a higher standard than that, and I hold you to that standard.’
‘And lose the benefits of word of mouth?’ Nadiya asked.
‘If you are reliant on word of mouth, what was the point of the public trials?’ Drake asked.
‘The trials show we are a society with laws. But they do not show everything; they do not show the Emperor’s divine wrath; that can only be expressed in battle.’
He didn’t recognise the line, but he recognised parroting when he heard it. ‘Are you saying you are His divine wrath?’
Nadiya replied with alarming conviction. ‘All loyal subjects of the Emperor are, of course, but as an agent of the Throne—’
‘As an Agent of the Throne one should not simply be a mouthpiece for the Ecclesiarchy’s most elementary platitudes,’ Drake told her. ‘You have expressed this idea before; that you are a conduit for His justice. In my experience, true saints are not self-proclaimed. The power that flows through you is not the Emperor, it is the warp. It is the power in which you were trained. I’m searching your face, Nadiya, for any shred of doubt or regret at the violence you unleashed, and I see only the certainty of a zealout.’
Nadiya sat perfectly still in her chair, and for a moment, Drake could not read her. He wondered what had happened to the nervous, industrious and promising young woman he’d met years ago.
For her part, Nadiya knew her younger self would have felt some paranoid fear, but these days she knew she was too valuable an asset. This was a dressing down to make her experience the pointless second guessing with which Drake always tortured himself after operations concluded. For all his brilliance, he could take no joy or satisfaction in his work. She had finally found her own methods, and like any stifling parent, he just wanted her to do things his way. That lives had been wasted was sad, of course, and she had not relished the carnage, but it had been necessary. Agonising over it would only lead to future indecision. She did not fear this reprimand; it was simply something to put up with until he eventually admitted she was ready for the final promotion. A cautionary tale from a man who had nothing left to teach her.
‘And that is why,’ Drake continued, ‘I am demoting you from the rank of interrogator to agent.’
Nadiya blinked. She opened her mouth to speak.
‘You heard me,’ Drake said. ‘I cannot profess to believe in my own philosophy if I will not hold my underlings to it, nor will I look our Cetan colleagues in the eye having taken no meaningful action. I have always espoused the value of giving transgressors a chance at redemption. The people you killed were almost certainly trapped by circumstance, and may yet have had ways of making amends, but of course we’ll never know now. I can see some of the logic you suggest, but your fervour is what concerns me. This is an organisation that allows freer thought for a reason. Think on that, and perhaps you too shall regain my trust.’
Back. He was knocking her back. She had slain a room full of criminals, and her reward was demotion. She swallowed her fury. ‘Understood,’ she managed through drawn lips. ‘I will take my leave, then,’ she said. He nodded approval, and she left.
She soon reached her quarters. With a determination leant to her by her anger, she opened her comms terminal and hammered out a message.
+++TO: <RELAY 73-GAMMA-34783>
+++FROM: Nadiya Zelenko
+++SUBJECT: You were right
You did warn me, and I couldn’t see it at the time. But I do now; I purged a room full of xeno-drug manufacturing criminals, and he’s demoted me for delivering His wrath to heretics. Too sure of myself, he says. The crimes of these scum endangered the capital world of my sub-sector; if youths were caught in the crossfire, it is a small price to pay to safeguard loyal, hardworking families elsewhere. If they were truly innocent, the Emperor will show them mercy.
If you’ll still have me, your offer of a transfer has just become a damn sight more tempting.
Yours in faith and respect,
N
+++MESSAGE ENDS
Ever since Eidan had told her about Nadiya's demotion back to agent, Ash had been trying to work out how to talk to her about it. Max, she would have brought cake and beer and demanded they hash it out. Nadiya was a very different creature - brittle and often uneasy. Ash knew she would have to approach with caution.
So she'd donned workout clothes, and knocked on the door of Nadiya's Obelisk room. "Nadiya?" She called. "It's Ash. I'm going for a run, want to come?"
When Nadiya emerged from her room she seemed joylessly calm, but her running gear served as an answer to Ashar's question.
"I'm fine," she said, before Ashar had even asked. "Let's just run." She paused, and a flicker of contrition crossed her face. "You look well," she added.
"Thanks," Ash replied with a nod. "So do you." They fell into step. "I suppose I could pretend that I haven't come to check on you, but I won't. Eidan told me what happened." She looked over at Nadiya, one eyebrow raised. Curiosity, rather than pity. "Want to talk about it?"
Nadiya paused in her steps, and half turned to go back to her room. Reluctantly continuing onward, she said, "That depends on what you think about the situation."
Ash considered the statement. "I think it's hard to know what call you would have made, if you weren't there." She gave a small shrug. "It's easy for me to say I might have done it differently, but I don't know for sure." She put on a bit of speed. "Would you do the same thing again?"
"If I knew of a way to prevent the drug makers' panic, I would do that," she said. "I'm sure Drake would have found a way," she added bitterly. "Much as it turns my stomach to shoot when there are children in the line of fire, far more children would be harmed by the drug's cooks escaping. Their enforcers might have been more dangerous to us, but the cooks... the cooks were more deadly to the population. And they were fleeing justice... and they had ignored the orders of an agent of the Throne."
Panting, she stopped running and bent over, her hands on her knees. "Sorry, too much talking while running, not enough inhaling."
She regained her breath a little, but then stopped breathing entirely for a moment, her fingers tightening, a precursor to the rant that followed. "We wouldn't even be having this conversation if it had been a question of a daemonhost escaping, and yet even a foe that terrible would struggle to achieve what happened in the underhive of Sejanus. This fucking drug! So do I regret my decision? I know I'm supposed to, but you know what? No. No I don't! We're not here to gently coax the population into compliance. We are His wrath, His justice. If I tell someone I'll shoot if they run, I don't want people running away in the knowledge that the Ordos make idle threats. So for all those reasons no, no I don't regret it. If you offered a better way, I'd take it, but I didn't see one. We were there to crush expertise, not infrastructure. Just breaking their grow labs wasn't going to have long-term impact! These heretics, these scum, will just spread out and start again. So I showed them the consequences of noncompliance, and they'll tell others. You'd have to be mad to go back to making that poison. Some will, I get that. But most? Most of them just wanted the easiest money they could get, so we showed them.... we showed them the money wasn't as easy as it looked. Not anymore!"
By that point, her tirade was echoing down the corridor. Several orderlies had entered the corridor, seen Nadiya ranting away, and turned on their heels. She didn't seem to notice them; she was staring intently at Ashar, straight in the eye, sweat dripping from the tip of her nose and chin as her breath slowed.
Ash blinked at Nadiya, taken aback by her vehemence. She was looking at a puritan - and after the business with the cloned daemonhosts and the Inquisitor who had been seeking them, Ash had been forced to revise her opinion of puritanism. Not completely, but enough to think that spending lives needlessly was not what the Emperor wanted.
"That makes sense," she replied, deliberately calm in the face of Nadiya's fervour. "I suppose the difference for me, is will. With a daemon host or chaos cult, the infection is total. Anyone left over would have the will to continue it." She made to start walking again, hoping Nadiya would follow. "With gangs, people might have the knowledge, but they're less likely to have the will. Cut off the head, and the operation will crumble. The people on the bottom matter less in a gang than they do in a cult. And you can save resources by focusing on the head."
Nadiya didn't follow at once, but after a moment of indecision jogged to catch up.
"I note that a great many kingpins have been rounded up by the Magistratum over the years, and yet the drug trade persists," she observed. "People will stoop to all sorts of lows if there's money to be made. This isn't a cult, it's a business, and where there's demand, someone will provide the supply if they think there's profit in it. We have to show them it's more dangerous than they thought. You can't appeal to drug dealers' better natures, and if they think the boss is the only one to get it in the neck, there's not much disincentive, surely?"
"You say if there's money to be made as if they're doing it purely for profit," Ash countered. "People on the lowest rung, the cooks, they're doing it to survive. And teaching them that they can be killed for it isn't going to stop them from doing something illegal for money, because they can't get legal jobs. There are barely any legal opportunities to make money when things are that desperate." She shrugged. "We need to solve the poverty of the underhive if we want to stop the drugs trade. We need to pump money into Samalut so refugees aren't reduced to making drugs for money, because at least that way they get a bed and a meal. Hell, we need to solve the problems that make people take the drugs in the first place, because they're so hungry and taking a bit of blitz is cheaper than food. If you punish the people on the bottom, you're punishing the wrong people. You're punishing them for their circumstances, not their actions."
"A fine sentiment. How would you solve underhive poverty faster than this drug is destroying the city? And what money are you pumping in to Samalut? These are things that would take decades to fix, as I understand it? I'm not saying they shouldn't be done, but you don't work on a patient's overall long term fitness at the expense of stopping an arterial bleed. We aren't trying to fix systemic injustice, that is the remit of the governors. Our job is to make this particular drug less the least tempting one."
Ash considered the question for a moment as they walked. "I suppose I'm saying that I don't know the answer," she admitted. "We can't solve everything. All we can do is act in such a way that one day, when we have to explain our actions to the Emperor, we can stand in front of Him and say without doubt that we did everything in His glory. To defend His people." She shrugged. "We all do it differently. You and Eidan have different methods." Ash tilted her head to one side. "Have you ever considered going to Hydraphur?"