Vex Chronicles 1: Infection

Celebrations

Eredius III, Ede prime, high spire, landing platform

Markos stared at the spectacle that happened above their heads. Ede Prime had powered up the void shielding. A massive waste of energy. And Eredians hated wasting stuff. Light rain fell and created a spectacular show of colors. The people called it a blessing. Rain was always a good sign for the farmers. No need to pay for water if it was raining.

Rain on a holiday was treated a double blessing. People enjoyed the celebration even if most didn't even knew what they celebrated. And there was no reason to tell the populace. A happy worker worked twice as hard. And a worker that worried about xenos cults and genestealers could not be happy. And not knowing also made it easy for the inquisitor to just disappear. Vex didn't liked those kinds of official tribute festivities.

But the inquisitor couldn't go without his own kind of goodbye. Vex stood on the edge of the platform and looked out to the sea of yellow and brown. Markos followed his gaze. This was what they had saved.

"Calling this done... You put a lot of trust into the list, master." Markos rarely used that title. But now it slipped out. Maybe because he felt uneasy.

"You don't trust the result?" Vex looked at his interrogator with a questioning glance. "We crossed everyone from the list. We found out how they planned to get into the spire. And we stopped them."

Markos sighed. "Kressman's tarot warned us of a great threat. This was not a great threat."

"There is always a threat. And divination is a finicky thing. But I wonder. You are ususally not the one to believe in the tarot."

"I know the facts, master – Vex." Markos corrected himself. "I have worked hard to reach this far. I refused to let knowledge be implanted to not lose my instinct and my soul."

Vex grinned. Markos knew that he sometimes must look primitive in Vex's eyes. But he was and would forever be a honorblade. Serve in honor for the job he was paid for. Just that his new job was not paid by a rich noble or a lord. His reward was the safety of the Imperium and the fulfillment of his life-debt to the inquisitor.

"Implanting memory is a perfectly safe process. But what really irks you?"

Markos couldn't really tell what irked him. He just felt... something that he just couldn't explain logically.

"Partly your fascination for the xenos... I trust you. My life is yours, Vex. But your choices will bite you. But that isn't all. There is this feeling. My logic agrees with your scientific opinion. The cult is dead. But my gut tells me that we are missing something."

"We went through all data thrice. We cross-referenced video feed from stations and checkpoints. We back-traced every step of the cult. And all was as we expect it to be. You, the warpriest and I all came to the same conclusion."

Vex gestured towards the spire behind them. "The cultist women were let in by that deviant of a high examinata. They dulled her mind and worked their way into the maintenance planning office. They used lady Audessa's farm inspections to passed the maintenance plans back and supply the deviant woman with more girls to play with. We found camera feeds where Cassilia walked all the way through the disabled checkpoints. We saw when the cultists moved in to the water station. We know that what we found is the truth."

"I know... There is just this feeling..." Markos had problems to put it into words. He was a man of actions, not vague feelings. "Something feels odd. Something is missing. The cult had bought weapons in the past. Why die they make the error of doing it so openly? Those deals lead us to them. I think I made an error somewhere."

"Don't sell yourself short. I picked you up not only for your skills with a blade. You are my interrogator because of your exceptional memories and your analytical instincts."