Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Wrapping up

Eredius III, Ede prime, Arbites interrogation room

"Why did you aid the cult?" Vex's interrogator slammed his hands onto the desk in front of the traitorous woman. Markos accent was heavier than usual. A deliberate move to made him sound even harsher.

The high examinata had cast aside her initial shock. It had finally sunken into lady Audessa what she had done. And she understood that she was staring at her executors. Vex was the grim reaper that would end her life. And she faced her demise with all the self respect she could muster.

"I didn't knew what they were. I... I loved them. All of them."

"Love?" Vex's voice was low and neutral, a sharp contrast to make Markos voice appear even harder.

"Just abhumans, they said..."

In her own happy world, Lady Audessa had never realized what she had done till it was too late. All the cult had to do was offer her a few girls to have fun with. And her decadency had done the rest. She was not of the cult, had never received the genestealers kiss. She had aided them only because of an exotic fetish, enhanced into false love by the hybrid women's pheromones.

But lady Audessa wasn't blind. It finally dawned to her that she had been their puppet. She had taken the girls in and they in return had kept her docile. Their effect had drugged her enough that she was easy to manipulate but could still fulfill her duties.

"And you love abhumans?"

Audessa bit her lips and stayed silent. But her expression told Vex what he needed. This woman had an unhealthy interest in the exotic. Her collection of artifacts and abhumans were just another expression of that.

"Will... will you hurt the others too?" Audessa felt for them. Her mind was still addled by whatever the xenos cultists pheromone bombardment. A blood sample had already revealed that.

"Why should we let them live?," Markos thundered. "They could have prevented this. They choose not to. They are accomplices."

Lady Audessa cringed and pressed her lips into a narrow line. But she did not replied.

"Not all are illegal mutants," Vex added the softer note. "They will be interrogated. But I am willing to make a deal. Their life for all you know."

Audessa didn't even hesitated and nodded. This was not just the unique effect of the pheromones that made her more malleable. Her desire to protect them came from heart. The high examinata's compassion had been the cult's way to get its claws into her. That and her dangerous xenos interest.

Vex and his interrogator continued to crack lady Audessa. The inquisitor's neutral tone just enhanced Markos forceful one. Markos as a former feudal warrior knew how to wield force like a weapon. And it was a powerful weapon in Markos hands.

Using force alone might even have been faster to break lady Audessa. But this was as much an interrogation as it was Vex's tutelage for the honorblade. The interrogator also needed to learn the finer nuances of interrogation. Especially if he would once day interact with nobles and people of power without the guidance of Vex.

And together they squeezed everything out of Audessa. The high examinata had been used by the cult. She didn't even had a clue that the maintenance plans had entered her villa. But what she knew painted a good enough picture for Vex to fill the gaps. Two of the cultists had stayed at Audessa's side, bathing her in pheromones and playing the lady's kinks. And the last of the women had roamed the spire tip. With a docile high examinata at their disposal, it had been easy for her to get hands on the maintenance plans and relay it back to Cornellius station. And the Beloved Heart in return had used that plan to get Cassilia into position.