Part 14: Back to the office

"We go back to the office. Vince needs to be told about this and the three of us aren't going to be enough. Telemacus, can you find us a way in the city that avoid any checkpoints?"

"I'll do what I can, but we're on the wrong side of the river compared to where the office is located."

The sun is setting as you drive across the mostly deserted city, painting the empty streets red and orange. Guided by Telemacus, you successfully avoid most checkpoints, except one on the bridge crossing the river. But thankfully you arrive there at a shift change between two different units and in the confusion, your bribe stays discreet. The rest of the drive is just as uneventful.

You park your car a block away from the office, before approaching on foot, mindful on how enforcers might be at the H&M office, since you were formally identified as members when you were at the Administratum earlier that day. But it seems the Emperor is still with you and you can enter the building unimpeded. Once inside, you quickly make it to the comm room, but you order Telemacus to keep an eye on anything happening in the street.

As Electryos is initiating the activation sequence of the long-range communicator, you ask:

"What do you think Vince will send us to deal with the Mechanicus here?"

"I don't know, maybe he'll find us a few expendable guns-for-hire." answers Telemacus from the next room. "But this will be a tough nut to crack, by the Emperor."

But before the conversation can move any further, as the communicator's display indicates it is ready, you are surprised by a voice coming from it.

"Do I speak with the pretended agents of the Department of Health and Mores?"

The voice is monotone, as if its owner had forgotten how to use inflections in his speech, but without the electric cracks common with servitors. At your silence, your interlocutor continues:

"I knew you would come back there to contact your masters, whoever they might be. Though who they are and where they come from is of no matter at this juncture."

"Who are you?", you ask cutting your interlocutor.

"Magos Biologis Zhou of the Genetor Order of the Adeptus Mechanicus. My work here in Wahun is crucial, without it Brocante will fail meet the requirements of the tithe, so I demand you to stop interfering with it. I know you are guilty of the homicide perpetrated upon Basam Damdu and your infiltration of the plant in Kaesong district has disrupted the operations there."

"You are responsible for gathering the diseased and transforming them into servitors? If you know of the plant in Kaesong, you must know what is done there."

"These boors here have never understood the Glory of the Omnissiah, stuck in the mud as they were, but perhaps with their recycling as servitor, they might catch a glimpse of the true magnificence of the Machine. And the virus has allowed me at long last to deploy some proper agricultural apparatuses, as the peasants are now too few to muck in the dirt as before."

"Were the mass graves worth it? Thousands are dead because of the virus and if it is your doing, their deaths are on your hands! All because you couldn't do your fraking job properly!" shouts Telemacus from the other room.

"I do not see what you are talking about. The virus is an opportunity that I used to finally accomplish my task of industrializing the agricultural production of the region. Once it is done, it will produce enough to cover the tithe to the Imperium. But my work is not yet done and if I am stopped or disturbed, the peasants will reverts to their superstition and the production will fall back to its anterior, primitive levels."

"Unsanctioned servitor conversion is a grave crime that must be prosecuted. Their lives weren't yours to take, even in their state they still belonged to the Emperor, Who hadn't given leave to treat them like this. You will have to face justice for this. And if you are responsible for the virus, it is a crime even more grievous." you continues

"What are the lives of a few peasants, when fulfilling the Glory of the Omnissiah? Anyway, that is why I am demanding you to stop interfering and to leave the region. If you do so promptly, I might even hand out a trinket befitting of your station. And if your masters are unhappy, they might deal directly with me and stop sending agents looking in the matters of the Mechanicus here in Wuhan."

Before answering, you take a look at your acolytes: Telemacus is still incensed, full of barely contained fury, but is letting you take the lead, whereas Electryos is silent, perhaps frozen while facing a high ranking member of one of his parent organisation or maybe he's even considering Magos Zhou's words.

AN: Obviously at this point, the choice was what to answer the Magos, with refusal winning. (though a few players voted to say yes, but while lying)