Officer's quarters, the Anarchist, March of 163 AL.
Briarios found it surprisingly easy to follow his uncle without being noticed; Augustus hadn't exaggerated a bit when he'd told Osmand how much he'd had to drink.
His uncle stumbled and stammered his way up the command deck to where his quarters were located, just fifty meters from the bridge. Briarios followed him with little difficultly, remaining unseen until his uncle ducked into his room.
He crept up to the outside of the sliding door, a puzzled expression on his face; his uncle had tried to "play it cool," and in doing so he'd looked especially suspicious as he made his way to his room. Briarios knew his uncle well, and every fiber of his being told him that Augustus Grey was nervous, and he was hiding something.
Briarios tried the door and found it locked; his uncle wasn't quite drunk enough, it would seem.
"Oh, what a shame," Hyde whispered as he appeared beside Briarios, a hand on his shoulder, "If only we could hear into his room-oh, what's this?"
The construct did his best to look innocent as he waved his hand, and Briarios heard the lock click. As much as he distrusted the AI, he was glad for the help; the only other person who could open the doors like that was Jaeger, and he wasn't likely to offer help snooping.
Briarios eased the door open just an inch, and from the gap he heard his uncle's voice.
"...I'm telling you, they know about the Deity Project," Augustus whispered worriedly, "Huginn and Muninn need to be informed, we need to secure the prototypes immediately."
"The prototypes are secure," a robotic voice responded. It was overlaid with static and heavily altered; whoever his uncle was speaking with, they went to great efforts to conceal their identity. "Huginn and Muninn are aware of the threat, the Company has covered their tracks."
"You're not listening to me," Augustus insisted, "They know. They know enough that they let slip to Osmand that they're after the Deities. If they know about the Deities, chances are they know about the Company."
"They can't know, otherwise we'd be aware," the staticky voice sounded irritated, "If they knew, we would know by now."
"Do you know where they are?" Augustus asked, though he already suspected the answer.
"The Company has every available operative-"
"Do you know where the Jotunn are right now? Or their draugr, even?" Augustus interrupted, "Right this second?"
"No, we don't," The voice admitted, "But we're working on-"
"Then you don't know everything. Remind Huginn and Muninn of that," Augustus grunted, "He-erm, they don't know everything, and the giants know more than we think."
"The Deities are secure, so is Command," the voice said in hushed tones, "Even if they do find us, we have contingency plans in effect."
"I know, I just," Augustus sighed, "I have a bad feeling about this."
Briarios heard mumbling on the other end of the call, though he couldn't make out much of what they said. All he could make out was a second voice; this one was deeper, it sounded like this man had spent his life gargling battery acid and gravel.
"I know you do," the gravelly voice said, "Trust me on this; they won't find us, and if they do, they won't get anything out of us; the Company is prepared for anything, and so am I."
"Oc-erm, Huginn?" Augustus stammered.
"Aye, it's me," the gravelly voice answered, "We have to go now, the longer we talk the more likely someone will trace the signal."
