M01E02 - The gospel of St. Sebastian

Justicar Jonas seems surprised for a moment, then puts her serious face again.



She quickly picks the acolyte rosette and examinesit closely under the yellowish ceiling light. She quicly rises from her chair and goes to the exit door.



An hour passes until she gets back. She enters the room slowly, and she throws the Inquisition rosette on the table in front of Leitbec. She picks the chair, puts it facing the table, and sits down again, then motions the Arbites in the room to go away and close the door, which he does.

Jonas turns to look Ash directly in the eye with a stare that could freeze a well of promethium.



She lets the question hang in the air for some seconds, then she rises from her chair and continues, strolling back and forth inside the room. She reminds you of a caged feline, trying to assess her possibilities to escape from there.

Justicar Jonas seems relieved, and can't help but hint an amusement smile at Ash's honest bluntness.

Jonas scowls when she hears Leitbec talk about the "degrees of guilty".



She uses her right hand to part the venetian blinds on one of the walls, and she peeks through the glass behind it into the arbites offices.



Then she turns swiftly and snaps her right hand fingers.



She sits again, letting her shoulders sink a little bit, like they carried the weight of the whole world on top of them.

Jonas stands up and pours a caffeine mug for herself. She also offers the jar to Ash, who was drinking his.

Shortly after Red's call, someone else calls Justicar Jonas. She gives explicit instructions to bring "everyone and everything" in, and stop by the doctor first.

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Titus returns. "To be honest, I was hoping to keep this incident under the radar from even you, since I have no idea yet whom I can trust. There are many things about this case so far that don't make sense." He shrugs, and slowly eases himself down into a nearby chair. He winces as he does so, keeping his right leg locked straight. "Still, what's done is done, and I appreciate the help."

"Turning to matters of the investigation, however, I couldn't help but notice that our detainees had one or two curious items--most notably an injector with a compound I didn't recognize. Do you have any word on that? I'm guessing it had something to do with their feral behavior, and I'm very interested to learn more.

"Additionally, and this one worries me the more...whoever these men were, they were looking for us specifically, and knew where to find us. Red and I talked to very few people on our way down. Someone is already keeping tabs on us." He glowered in thought, cataloging in his mind the faces of people who saw Red and him leave. "And considering the shock mauls, I'm not even sure if they want us alive or dead."

(Titus will also use his remaining fate point to heal 1d5 wounds to bump him up to light wounds. He is currently at 7, with a toughness bonus of 3.)

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Leitbec eyed the girl calling herself Mowhawk, how very typical for lower castes to name themselves wothout reference to their family or lineage. Although they really cant be faulted, they probabaly have no idea. However a native would be useful,if her records are clean.



He went on to describe what the Justicar has shared. At the end he turned to the Justicar.

Red let loose one of his characteristic big smiles when he was escorted to the canteen, and has been stuffing his face ever since. He has attracted a few stares, in part because of his overly large appetite, and in part as he doesn't really seem to get the difference between condiments and main course, eating everything equally. When Bazl strikes him up for some friendly arm wrestling, he has already finished off at least 3 full trays of food, and is in the middle of upending a bottle of spicy mustard and squirting it directly down his throat. He smacks his lips appreciatively as he empties the bottle, and sits back, satisfied for the moment.

"I tell ya, I've been hungry all day, and there's nothing like a good fight to stoke a man's appetite. Soldier knows to eat what he can, when he can. Never know when your next meal will be. Food here is better than I expected, got some kick to it. Yeah, Mohawk, I'm thinkin we'd best take it easy on your hand there, but I bet we could go do some target shooting out back. Emperor knows my pistol work is crap, and it looks like you handle a gun just fine, maybe could give me some pointers. Then I can show you some bladework, and we can swap war stories."

When Leitbec comes in all stiff and proper, Red grins, then lets out a cough when he catches wind of Leitbec's heavily applied perfumes. "Don't have a nickname for this smelly bastard, haven't been in a fight with him yet, and the shared bloodshed is something of a a prerequisite." Red smiles a conciliatory grin at Leitbec. "Don't worry, I'm sure it will come up." Red looks around the room. "He's nice enough folks from what I've seen, I'm sure we'll all hit it off sooner or later." Red looks around the room for Ash, and when he doesn't see him, his hands drift towards his knife, his eyes narrowing. "Somewhere around here you'll see the fourth member of our little posse, distrustworthy little bastard. First words out of his mouth were a promise to betray and murder us if given the chance." Red ponders for a moment, then takes his hand off his knife. "Of course, I reckon that if a man was really serious about betraying and murdering his squadmates, he might not just announce it to them straight up front like that. So maybe there's a bit of honesty there, or maybe he's just crazy. Either way, jury's out on him. You'll recognize him by the couple brace of blades he wears, and the warts that cover his face and hands."

Introductions done, Red turns to Justicar Jonas. "Evening Ma'am, thanks for the chow! Nice place you've got here. I was talking to one of your men before, Jimmy I think he said his name was, big bastard. I was telling Jimmy I don't think I've ever seen a Guard battalion half so well supplied as your arbites. That armor is mighty fine. What's a guy got to do to get a set of that?"

Red is earnest, but completely without tact, oblivious to the fact that he is talking to the head Justicar of an entire system as if she were a line soldier he was bumping into on the way to the privy. Then Red seems to remember that he hasn't introduced himself yet. His oversized hands are sticky with the remains of the food he's been shoveling in his face. He looks around for something to wipe them on, but seeing nothing, satisfies himself by wiping them on a cleaner spot of his blood splattered shirt. Then he etends his massive, ugly hand out for a shake.

"I'm Red. Lance Corporal with Catachan Regiment XVIII of the Imperial Guard, out on loan to 'you know who'." Red gives a wink. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Justicar Jonas gives Bazl a stare of incredulity.



She begins pacing around the cantina, stopping randomly to look through the windows facing the precinct building's patio, where most vehicles are parked.



Jonas is going faster and faster around the room, like a really pissed off feline. Leitbec and Ash notice that it's a habit she seems to have. In the middle of a rant, she seems to be interrupted by a communication on her earpiece, and stops.



She turns to look at you. Her pupils are dilated and her left eyelid twitches a little bit. She is clenching both her fists, and grinding her teeth.