The panicked-looking Highlord opened his mouth, yet nothing came out save ragged breathing.
The inquisitor nodded once. "Well, no matter. I believe we shall find the answers we seek soon enough." He handed Carlito a pair of shimmering cuffs. "I am sure you will not mind putting these on, just for appearance's sake, of course, while we clear up these... unfortunate misunderstandings, no? No, not that way. Behind your back, Highlord Carlito. Very good." He frowned as Carlito began to sob. "Really, sir, I must insist you stop. It is both distracting and reflects very poorly upon you. Silence, Carlito. Silence will serve you best right now.”
He patted the trembling man's head before smiling his thanks as Christine wordlessly led him to a terminal that appeared somewhat different from the others. Val would think it an isolated computer off-network, but Dominion technology was both far too archaic and sophisticated for him to be entirely certain. Veri's condescending smile was instantly replaced by a look of alarm before transforming to disgust so intense it was almost palpable as he scanned whatever programs or insights the silver cube was displaying.
Carlito's eyes widened with horror. He screamed and collapsed before Veri's crimson gaze, spasming upon the ground.
"Inquisitor Veri Koira," Christine whispered, more a question than an admonishment.
He gazed her way. Even Christine paled and stepped back, the onlookers' dark amusement turning to expressions far closer to fear.
"Pray tell, what disturbs you so, Lord Inquisitor?"
Words cold as death washed over everyone present. "Did you know, Christine Highblood?"
She paled and swallowed, stepping back before his glare, though he initiated no Ego Crush like what had sent Carlito crashing to the floor. "Stand before me, Christine, and gaze at the monitor. Open yourself to me as you read it. You will do this or I will find you guilty! Are we clear?"
Julia's mother forced herself to nod. "Of course, Lord Inquisitor."
"Then hesitate no longer and gaze upon this monitor!" he roared, Christine immediately doing so, hardly paying attention to Veri yanking free her saber as her eyes widened with undisguised horror.
"No. They wouldn't dare. No one would dare do this!"
He spun her around, a shocked Christine blinking into his eyes. His aquiline nostrils flared as he inhaled. Deeply, slowly, nodding endless seconds later, slowly lowering Christine from the tips of her toes, stepping back.
"Very good," he said, tightly controlled voice making it clear he was holding tight to his fury with every ounce of control. He turned and glared at the Highlords present. "Whoever was working with Carlito the accused, you know who you are. But perhaps you are not aware of just how serious your perfidies were. Come forward, and I will offer you mercy. Come forward and your lives and dignity will still be your own. You will be exiled, your lands forfeit, but your family will be free of shame. Should you refuse to come forth now, I can promise you eternity in a pain vat for the crimes revealed herein, no matter your rank!" He roared the last, everyone present gazing in wide-eyed panic.
For all that he could read no Highlord's mind, Val, as much the room and the space within as the young man hidden in plain sight, found himself able to taste emotions as if they were scents in the air. Yet he sensed only surprise from the crowd of nobles. Save for one man. A smirking Highlord who blended in so well with his peers, though his inky hair and coal black gaze were distinct in that crowd. Fearless, he was gazing almost contemptuously at the inquisitor and Carlito both.
Congratulations! Sense Emotions Rank 1 successfully quantized! A Dauda hybrid could never hope to read the mind of a Highlord, but your perception and insight transcends the physical! You can all but taste the emotional states of others. The data revealed might be crude, but it cannot be resisted! Cost for active use: 5 Psion per minute. Passive use: free! +5 skill check when actively used with Psi-Sense & Shadowmind.
The inquisitor nodded slowly. "Very well. This meeting is adjourned. There will be no charges brought against the Highbloods unless the testimony of the fallen dictates otherwise." He handed Christine back her Psiblade, glaring with contempt at the man trembling at his feet. "Get up, accused. You have not been given permission to rest."
A sobbing Carlito did just that. "I've been set up. I've been betrayed!" His breathing grew frantic, he gazed all around. "Ludvig, you know I was in the cinema for the entirety of the time I was here! You know it's true, we were comparing notes on the girls five minutes ago! This is madness, I am being set up!"
Yet Ludvig, whichever lord he was, turned around in sync with every other Highlord, all of them turning their backs on the man who had misstepped so grievously. Whatever alliances he had struck with his fellows, no one felt it worth crossing the furious-looking inquisitor.
"The man was a fool," whispered one to another as they departed, shadow hearing the murmurs perfectly.
"Indeed. So blatantly was he toying with Christine, he couldn't even see the trap before it was too late."
"A shame," said another. "He always threw the grandest parties. I wonder if his daughters will be up for auction? Fine fillies they'd make. Whelps might make proper Highlords as well."
"I wouldn't touch them. I don't want the stain of his name haunting my family's dynasty."
"Fair point," opined another. "I'll bet they'll go cheap, though."
The inquisitor turned to Christine, handing her his ring. "Go to your daughter. Assure her that all is well. You may show my men this ring. They will understand."
Christine blinked, gazing at the man who would then have access to her lab entire, hesitating only an eye-blink before bowing her head in acquiescence. "Yes, Lord Inquisitor. Shall I have a servitor bring you any refreshments?"
"No need, Christine. Merely someone to guard your doorway upon my exit."
Upon her exit, the inquisitor smiled into the darkness before turning back to Carlito. "You know what happens next, don't you, accused?"
"Please!" cried a panicked Carlito, desperation in his voice. "I can make you rich. Very rich! Millions of credits, land as well! But name your price, my lord. Name your price!"
"You claimed you were betrayed. How were you betrayed, Carlito?"
Carlito paled. "To even speak of them is death."
The inquisitor laughed softly. "When all is said and done, you will be praying for death every moment of your endless torment."
"Oh please, my lord," the fallen noble sobbed. "Please!"
"How were you betrayed, Carlito?"
This time he spoke, eyes glaring with bitter hate. "The Dauda. They betrayed me!"
"Really. And how did the Dauda betray you, Carlito?"
The man paled, realizing he was backing himself into a corner. "I..." He swallowed desperately. "He set me up! I asked him to do a simple job, simple reconnaissance for me, and next thing I know, you're putting me in cuffs!"
"Wrong. You put yourself in cuffs. Because you knew, and I knew, and everyone present knew that you were guilty."
The man lowered his head. "Just kill me and get it over with," he whispered.
The inquisitor laughed. "And spare you the humiliation of looking into your family's horrified eyes as they are sold at auction before your head is cleaved off and dunked into the future Overlord's pain vat? I think not, dear Carlito." His cruel whisper caused the broken man to sob. "Our time together has just begun. Now open your mind to me and reveal your secrets, worm, lest you'd taste the lash of my will yet again!"
"Alright!" Carlito begged. "I'll tell you everything!"
The inquisitor smiled, his demeanor instantly genial once more, pulling out a bronze-gold cube about 3 inches wide he then placed on Philip’s workstation. Val’s eyes widened. Something about that artifact, appearing both impossibly ancient and somehow more durable than any of the equipment around it, the way even the inquisitor handled it with such reverence, made it clear this was a very special tool indeed.
"Very well then, Carlito. Let us start from the beginning. I shall of course be
recording your entire confession. Would you like a refreshment?" A small golden flask appearing like magic, Carlito drinking with such relief that he shook, the scent of fine spirits permeating the air.
"It is true, I admit it. I was setting Christine up for a fall. But that is a Highlord concern and no business of Overlord or inquisitors!"
Inquisitor Veri pinned the trembling Highlord with his crimson gaze. "I would say that highlighting the most vulnerable resonance frequencies and points of attack to be found upon Dominion carriers and battleships is most definitely our business. One could argue, in fact, that there is no greater business any conscientious soul could have."
Carlito paled. "No, wait, you don't understand. The Charpentier clan has no intention of exposing our navy's weaknesses to our enemies. Anything but! We specialize in material science and aeronautics engineering. Researching and compensating for structural weaknesses is our specialty!"
The inquisitor nodded. "Far more logical than assuming a clan dedicated to genetic engineering and rejuvenation would have branched out into aeronautics or military applications. It was an amateur move, Carlito, and one that will likely cost your head. Even if all you intended was the downfall of an opponent and not the Dominion itself, such blatant disregard for security is beyond what any duel of honor could hope to absolve."
"But we know how to compensate for it!" Carlito desperately pled. "We had no intention of throwing this data around haphazardly. Your eyes alone were to have witnessed it! So you could get this vital breach of safety and security to whoever is in charge of the madness that has become Jordia's High Council. By the saints, you could give it to Overlord Caligula himself, for all I care! He may only be seeking to use us, but Phoebe's dreadnought is all we have left protecting our system. We don't even know the malfunction that caused the rupture of our own."
"It was no malfunction!" Veri roared, eyes blazing, crackling Psiblade but heartbeats from taking the trembling lord's head. He glared at the now sobbing man for endless cold seconds before resheathing his sliver of oblivion. "But that is neither here nor there. Cease your blubbering and continue your account."
"Yes, Lord Inquisitor. After my clan inadvertently discovered our military's vulnerabilities, we worked night and day to come up with a solution! It was many years of hard work, discipline, trial and error until I had the brilliant insight to incorporate technology found within a number of dwarven relics sold to us by various adventurers."
A raised eyebrow. "Adventurers?"
The cuffed man nodded. "The tamed Terran spirits populating those synths that specialize so quickly and delight in any acknowledgment or accolade. A game our realm might be to them, but their pseudo-immortality renders them quite useful. Of course with the invasion, those monkeys will finally learn their place in the order of things."
A gloved hand gripped the noble's shoulder so hard he winced. "All the clans are to show them the same courtesy as always, Carlito. This is known. Those Terrans with the ability to resonate between our worlds have been deemed... useful. They have been spared the re-education camps other Terrans shall soon be forced to endure. No matter if you choose to call them adventurers, treasure hunters, or anything else, they are now classified as mercenaries, Carlito. As such, they are protected under the accords. No one is to taunt them with their recent defeat. Caligula and Caesar have both ruled that such would be counterproductive to our shared interests." He patted the trembling lord's shoulder. "Instead we show them the benefits of serving the Dominion, the goal of all competent mercenaries."
Carlito swallowed. "Of course. They are so eager to please and work for a fraction of what a Jordian team would charge to even attempt dwarven ruins. Feed their ego, offer them free use of one's exotics after every delve, and they are happy as can be. Only a fool would mock such useful... allies to their face."
"Precisely. Now continue with your report, Carlito."
The Highlord cleared his throat. "My research, it has finally reached its culmination. I have done it. I have found the formula that will triple our resistances to all forms of focused energy fire! This is why I dared the bold move you see before you. Bitter as I am at my folly, the merit still holds! Our ships are vulnerable, and I have made a nearly indestructible alloy to compensate! I am not a traitor to the Dominion; I am its hero!"
Veri nodded. "Pretty words uttered by a man who, like any man, would do anything to avoid death. What makes your clan's alloy better than the dozens of variants proposed by scores of noble houses?"
Carlito swallowed. "Please, you must understand, Lord Inquisitor, it is proprietary. Potentially worth billions! If I were to utter the secrets here, in the den of my enemies, we could lose everything!"
The inquisitor crouched down before the cuffed Highlord, his gaze strangely gentle as he lifted one gloved hand to stroke the cheek of the man before him. Carlito trembled but didn't dare pull away, for all that he hissed in pain when Veri grabbed his ear, wrenching him forward.
"Then explain to me why I am allowing you to waste my time, when your shaved head could be bobbing in a pain vat for my pleasure as we speak?"
"Lord Inquisitor!"
"Would you like to see it?"
Carlito trembled, saying nothing.
"It is strange. I have had my first acquisition for over a decade, and she still blinks her eyes as frantically as she did when first she screamed her innocence. Those eyes, Carlito. They widen with horror transcending even her agony whenever I gaze into them. They are the most beautiful silver hue. Much like your own." The inquisitor smiled. "I am glad the evidence points to you. Your eyes are far prettier than Christine's."
"Alright, I'll tell you! Altersian crystal! We've managed to incorporate Elementium and Altersian into a micro-thin titanium silicate matrix! It has mech military applications as well, faring better against battle-mech artillery fire than every alternative out there!"
Veri blinked. "You've managed to harness Altersian crystals into a non-brittle format?"
Carlito nodded frantically. "Yes! The very material our ancestors used in their original struggles that proved such a hindrance to the Dominion's righteous campaigns will now serve us instead!"
Veri gave a pleased nod. "This is good, Carlito. Very good." He gazed almost sadly at the trembling man before him, shaking his head. "It is such a shame you didn't think to come to me in the first place, Carlito. It just so happens that I do have pull in sectors that matter. So much could have been done with your clan's technology, with the appropriate... sponsor." He turned to the computer monitor, shaking his head. "But with such blatant evidence before us, I don't see how we can possibly rectify this situation."
The inquisitor patted Carlito's head sadly. "The High Council will take your clan's research, of course, no doubt giving it to their favorite cronies even as your family is sold into slavery and you stuck forever in a pain vat. And all because you didn't think to consult with a clan in the know, like my own. Truly it will be a shame," he sighed. "It could have been such a profitable alliance."
Carlito blinked. He licked dry lips. "Of course I knew you would be here," he whispered. "This was all a demonstration. A demonstration for you! Christine's soiree was merely a useful pretext. It is bitterest folly that I tripped when I did. We both know those silver cubes were research I wanted to hand to you personally after I showed you, and the entire gathering, the beauty of my clan's brilliant new alloy! When nothing was found incriminating our dear friend Christine, I was to take advantage of everyone's attention to showcase my clan's latest discovery before the head of one of the most influential clans in the entire system. Your own! It is, yes, it is bitterest folly that we suffered such a tragic misunderstanding, but now all is easily rectified!"
Pleading eyes gazed at the inquisitor, who allowed himself the briefest of smiles. "Interesting. My clan's influence does not come cheap, Carlito. We demand a fifty percent profit share of every venture we bring before the council. And none of our clients have ever regretted their decisions. You
understand this, yes?"
"Yes, of course! Fifty percent is more than fair. More than fair!"
"And you can speak for your clan entire? You will swear before this inquisitor that you are making this decision freely, of your own will, under no one's influence save your own clan's best interests?"
"Yes, Inquisitor Veri! Absolutely!" Carlito blinked, finding his hands unbound, shaking with relief.
The inquisitor’s smile grew. "Come, Highlord Charpentier. This misunderstanding has been resolved. Now you and I have much to do to prepare our venture before the High Council, no? You shall apologize to Christine for the misunderstanding, and then we shall be on our way."
Carlito swallowed. "Christine..."
"Is a loyal servant of the Dominion, whose rejuvenation research holds fascinating promise."
Carlito jerked a nod. "Of course."
And as Carlito and Inquisitor Veri made their way back to the party, surprised stares turned to smiles and laughter, everyone welcoming Carlito back and laughing over the misunderstanding as if he hadn't been heartbeats away from death.
Never were they out of sight of the odd shadow that tailed them, a merrily laughing Christine bidding Carlito a fond farewell such that one could almost forget the ice in her gaze as he waved off, the inquisitor by his side, the pair conversing as if fast friends already as they headed to the inquisitor’s velimobile, the same brilliant chrome as the other open-domed vehicles the nobles had arrived in, though several times their size.
Brilliant coaster-like wheels made hardly a sound as the inquisitor's armed escort drove them away from the grand villa so very like the one Val had seen in-game only days ago, save for the Highlords even now conversing as the party spilled out the front foyer, a trembling Julia rubbing her neck as she gazed with haunted eyes at the departing vehicle, though she said not a word as they drove away.
Oblivion's Peril Page 8