The Quicksand Singularity ArQive: Array.init:0

A0T5.3 The Ëchüha Incident (Part 4)

"Indeed," Fhá confirmed.

"Oh, Katzali, you beautiful zealot," Tví sighed.

"You...." Fhá began.

"I...sent him to that sector," Tví explained, with some hesitation, as though choosing her words with utmost care, "this was his speciality, he would have been assigned the Inquiry."

"Of course," Fhá replied.

"Apologies, it has been a trying day," Tví added, "I should not have interrupted. That was impolite of me. Please continue."

"Details become somewhat fuzzy after about the sixty-third anno of His Highness' Governance," Fhá continued, "what records were recovered from Katzali seem to indicate a rapid decline in sociopolitical stability following an event described as 'The Evaporation'."

"Were you able to determine what The Evaporation was, exactly?" Tví asked.

"Not exactly," Fhá explained, "from what Katzali found, it seems a number of influential politicians and businessmen disappeared. I presume The Evaporation refers to the manner of their disappearance, but there's really not a lot between anno 63 and anno 91 that survived the subsequent events. After 91, everything goes dark for about a hundred anno until the IMI launched their inquiry. Somewhere in there a massive war broke out."

"Was my son among the dead?"

"It's hard to be certain, but from what was there, it does not appear so. You did say he had reached out a docade ago, did you not?"

"Indeed," Duchess Tví said, "imprecise language, I'm afraid. It was a letter written some centuries ago, but was detained with its courier."

"I think I heard this story," Fhá recalled.

"Smuggling contraband in a Post Barge," Duchess Tví sighed, leaning back in her chair, "I apologise for the confusion. Please, continue."

"I managed to get through all of the preliminaries, the dispatch order, inquiry assignment, and Katzali's initial assessments and probes," Fhá continued, "it's not looking great. From what he was able to gather from orbit, he was able to confirm the planet is...well, kaput. Descriptions varied, but both Katzali and his ex-military muscle agreed that the aftermath was indicative of a civil war, but the destruction profile was Rimworlds-scale annihilation."

"That....hmm..." Duchess Tví cogitated, her brow furrowed in thought, "Katzali was meticulous. To a fault, even. He was as loathed by his acolytes as he was loathe to delegate anything to them. A zealous inquisitor. Too much for his own good. I presume he left a preponderance of raw Memarqs."

"He..." Fhá stumbled.

"He did," Duchess Tví said, her tone shifting ever so slightly displeased, "Ngèza did not, then, provide the appropriate NeuroSync for that assessment."

"I'm sorry, m'lady," Fhá replied, "I don't believe I received that requisitions order."

"Oh you poor dear," Duchess Tví reacted, "rest assured, I will see to it this oversight is corrected."

"Shall I prepare a 6514(e)-99 Incident Report, m'lady?" Fhá asked, her voice cracking.

"No," Duchess Tví said, firmly, "Leave this matter to me. I will attend to it personally."

"Should I continue with the Memarqs?"

"Yes, please," Duchess Tví replied.

"Most of them were just Katzali's—" Fhá began, before choking up.

"It's okay," Duchess Tví encouraged, "you're fine. Take your time."

"I'm sorry, m'lady," Fhá apologised, clearing her throat.