Dark Heresy: Cell Achates

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Iudex walked with the group through the impressive halls of Master Fantz's home. He watched the Senechal walk in front of him and his eyes couldn't help but to wander downwards. When the group finally reached the room where they would talk, Iudex chuckled at the Senechal's irritation. He took a chair across from her and removed his helmet, placing it on the table next to him.

"My apologies Miss Larrange, if we weren't exactly subtle. I personally am still adjusting to working under this level of secrecy." He relaxed in his seat. "The name is Iudex, and as far as our mission, we were tasked with investigating the recent surge of disappearances and their connection to one another, if any. What really got our attention is how all of the missing persons have had some amount of mutation. Its a concerning trend, as you could agree."
 
"I see." Seneschal Larrange said, flatly, clearly displeased with the information the acolytes had given her. "Heneria is quite particular with her words, so if you-" The Seneschal was cut off when the doors slid open, revealing a portly, extravagantly dressed man who barged in. "Gabby!" He bellowed. "Why didn't you tell me we had guests?"

The Seneschal stood up as soon as the man entered the room, visibly mildly perturbed by the interruption. "I was still vetting them, my lord. I had to make sure that-"

"Nonsense! Any friend of Heneria's is a friend of mine. Besides, it's rude to run guests through your gauntlet of questions and verifications and... more questions, especially if they're Inquisition." The man turned to the acolytes. "A thousand apologies, friends. I am Lucius Kamnenus Archibald Lucullus Fantz XI, Bearer of a Warrant of Trade and the most Cardinal and Preeminent Potentate of the Fantz Dynasty and their Mercantile Flotilla. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintances."
 
Honestly, Canto was not sure what to make of the just-arrived Luxuz Francs. He seemed far more friendly than the initial outpost-armed-to-the-teeth impression had made him think he would be. Was this the truth, or simply an attempt at flattery to stay in the good graces of The Inquisition?

Canto turned towards the man and offered a nod and a serious smile at at the man, "Pleasure indeed. Allies of the Inquisition are ever rare, we thank your receiving us and any assistance."
 
"Oh no, no, no. Thank you, acolytes. You make me feel special in this old age." He sighed. "Reminds me of the good old days, running about the galaxy in our twin cruisers, dodging bullets and lasfire, and worse." Lucius chuckled. "Them, struggling to save the Imperuim and I, struggling to make a profit while helping."

The Seneschal scowled. "What profit? We barely managed to stay afloat financially, even with our pay. We nearly lost the Justice of Eschaton twice and repairs cost three decades worth of earnings."

Lucius put on a mischievous smile. "Ahh, Gabby, but it was fun, was it not?"

The Lady Seneschal gave him a flat expression. "I must begin my inquiries." She got up to leave.

"Oh come now, Gabby-

"Gabriella,"

Lucius continued on, seemingly heedless of her correction. "-don't you have people to do that for you?" Gabriella sighed and sat back down. "I must apologize, acolytes. Gabby isn't normally like this." He leaned in and gave an exaggerated stage whisper. "I think it's professional jealousy. Kinda hard to be a Master of Secrets when competing with the Inquisition." Lucius chuckled while Gabriella made a noise of disgust.
 
One thing was for certain: Gabriella, didn't like Lucius so much. In all honesty, Larl was thrown aback when he well got to see the man in pure flesh and blood. His attitude towards them felt... oddly enough, comforting. Perhaps it was due to a lack of these form of greetings back on his home-planet, but he felt as if he could trust Lucius. He had made too much of a good impression on Larl to start it off with. For once, his paranoia didn't entirely get to him when he saw a new figure, so he decided to simply state their business: Larl's general posture seemed to be more relaxed, his face not showing the same vigilance he had carried before.

" I must say, I expected a more... sinister, figure, yet I'm glad to have been proven wrong, Lucius. We were instructed to meet you in order to request for your aid, as the Inquisition put it- you have still some services we could require, including equipment. Do you know anything regarding the mutants going missing, or are you perhaps able to aid us with the tools to solve this matter with haste?"
 
Wilhelm sat back and watched the display with his unsettling eyes and a sense of vague interest, he had the feeling they were playing good-cop, bad-cop to see how they reacted. It was possible that their interactions were genuine, and if so it meant Gabriella was probably the real brains of the outfit.

He turned to face Gabriella, he wasn't sure she could be trusted, but if her reactions were genuine, it's entirely possible, nay, even probable, that Fantz may be the source of their issues from carelessness.
 
"You feared I'd be like a Clorfor?" Lucius giggled, leading Gabriella to explain the joke: "An sinister and obscure xenos race, now extinct thanks to House Fantz."

"The greedy buggers were sitting pretty on valuable minerals. I tried to deal with them to get the goods, and when they tried renegotiating for a more favorable deal, I bombed their cities and poisoned their atmosphere. But I digress. Mutants, you say? They're largely reviled here on Scaevola, even amongst the rankless. Few, if any live in the cities. Most live in the borderlands or the frontier, in enclaves far from non-mutants or in nomadic tribes. It's not entirely unheard of for the Border Gendarmes to use them for target practice, especially if they start rubbing up against State Interests or the ranked. They live hard lives here, though not much harder than anywhere else, I'd wager. And of course, we'll see that you're outfitted for your investigations. House Fantz cannot be directly involved in these matters, but we can help."
 
Canto furrowed his brow in thought as Fahnns regaled them his bickering, and, more importantly, with this preliminary information. The fact that mutants were barred from the main hive-to-be was not entirely surprising to him. Still, now that this was confirmed, it might make their investigation more cumbersome. Ommnisiah knows how far away from their current location these outposts might be...

Making a conscious effort to correctly remember the trader's name correctly, Canto addressed the man directly,

"We will be discreet, Trader Fantz. Please elaborate on the outfitting: what have you for us?"
 
Lucius smiled expectantly at his seneschal, who began reading and tapping her dataslate. "Firstly, some basic equipment. Comm-beads for those who don't have them, and trust me, you'll want them. Next, a vehicle. I'm thinking a civilian half-track. Large enough to accommodate you all along with your equipment, plus whatever supplies you'd be needing; rugged enough for most terrain and common enough that few will bat an eye at its passing."

Lucius elaborated. "Most of Scaevola is wilderness, and save for a handful of cities like Monument and a few industrial areas, the planet is mostly small farming towns and outposts."

"We'll stock your vehicle with at least two weeks of provisions, plus bedrolls and tents. I can also get it installed with a vox-caster. Slave your comm-beads to the caster and you can all communicate with each other beyond your comm-beads' 1 klick range, so long as you're within the vox-caster's range, of course."

"Gabby, they're not children. I'm sure they know all about how to set up and use proper comm-lines."

"Considering the people Heneria takes in, you never can tell." Gabriella glanced at Tessera before continuing. "As for individual equipment, you'll have to make your own requests. I'll do my best to see that you get what you need."

"Whatever you want, House Fantz can provide." Lucius beamed.
 
Merrez would certainly have preferred a armored vehicle to get around, but he understood the advantage of being incognito. He scratched at his scars for a moment as he thought, before coming up with a request.

"Could we get a heavy bolter or stubber? To keep on the vehicle, in case of a hairy situation. And maybe a anti-armor weapon as well, just in case? I'm not expecting anything, but I prefer to be overly armed and without a challenge, than to face something we can't hurt." He suggested, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
 
"We do have a shipment of heavy stubbers that can afford to lose a unit. I'll make sure it finds it's way onto your vehicle."
 
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"A good start. A missile launcher would also be quite nice. Just in case." He added. "Just in case things get really hairy." He paused for a moment. "And a crate of lho-sticks, in case it gets boring." He added, with a small smile.
 
"One missile launcher and... merciful emperor, a crate?" She rolled her eyes, but smiled understandingly. "Fair enough. Would you like anti-tank or anti-personnel rockets to go with it?"
 
"I'm not the only smoker here. And yes, I plan to share." He said with a smile, looking to the other, before answering her. "A few of both would be preferred, though anti-tank if that's not an option."

"Oh, and thank you, to the both of you, of course." He added after a small pause.
 
With the prospect of access to extremely rare and effective equipment being within reach, Iudex aimed for the metaphorical stars. "I hate to be a burden, but is there any chance you might happen to have a bolter that fell off a truck at some point? If so, that'd be a fairly useful thing to have."
 
"As a matter of fact, I believe we do, though it fell out of a Valkyrie. One of our shipments was improperly secured as it left, so one of the bolters came loose and slipped out the open doors. We bought another for the client, though we hung onto the one that fell out. It's a bit dinged up, but fixed up and fully functional."
 
Iudex sat there for a moment with a stunned look on his face. "Oh. Alright. You know, I was expecting you to laugh and tell me there was no way in hell, but uh, thanks. Now I'm almost afraid to ask if you could help refill my stock of stimm." Iudex looked warily at the Gabriella and Fentz, half expecting them to throw him out for asking for anything more.
 
"Hmm." Gabby scowled at her dataslate, clearly displeased. "I don't think- ah!" Her expression lightened. "I stand corrected. We do have a few doses to spare."
 
Canto was impressed by the the generosity of Loozy Phamx - the group stood to benefit greatly just from the non-personalized equipment. The seneschal was already delivering, too: an entire crate of lho in addition to the heavy weapons for the comrade Merrez wasn't exactly trivial, and finding a spare bolter for the comrade Iudex was nothing short of a miracle.

With a neutral look upon his face, Canto turned to the woman and asked,
"Seneschal, I believe an Auspex would be of great use to us, if you have any to spare."
 
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