FJ 3.2 White Scares: Talking with Dubiers

	Arkalest	Sabina She hits you not five minutes later. [What is it?]
	Sabina	[The white scars are aware of your planed operation against them, and of the location of your staging ground. They are very interested in disrupting it, in particular with compromising your drone nexus.]
	Arkalest	Sabina [So they are.]
	Sabina	[I felt it prudent to warn you, in case you were not aware.]
	Arkalest	[Why did you do this?]
	Sabina	[The White Scars are criminals, you are the police. Why would I not warn you?]
	Arkalest	[Yes, but this will make your objective utterly hard now.]
	Arkalest	[Whyy does your sense of morality barge into play now,  and not  before?]
	Sabina	[My orders were quite clear last time. This time I have more room to maneuver.]
	Arkalest	[Ah.]
	Arkalest	[Still, you baffle me. In a good way, mind you.]
	Arkalest	[This may sound weird, but you are a cut above your coworkers,  Norland.]
	Sabina	[We both want the same thing here Dubiers. The White Scars gone and the city made safer.] Sabina rolls her shoulders [While there may those of us here who would like to make you look bad by breaking the White Scars under your nose, I would rather have us not working at odds. You have a stronger pool of local forces to break their operation in the city, whereas we have the reach to track down...
	Sabina	...their sources and off planet cells.]
	Arkalest	[You are not going to buy my piety this way, Norland. ]
	Arkalest	[This is a simple matter of revenge, espoused to a far more noble cause of ridding this city of  the corruption clinging to it.]
	Arkalest	[Or rather, most of it.]
	Arkalest	[I am willing to close an eye for you, Norland.  But  beware.]
	Arkalest	[Do you  really think Tuissant wants them truly gone?]
	Sabina	[If such is the case then she will have to give me a trully good reason for them to remain. If she cannot then I will do as my duty dictates.]
	Arkalest	[Don't you understand it, Norland? Tuissant needs them. She needs an in into their activities, into whatever pool of resources they have. Do you truly think she couldn't have annhilated them if she wanted to?]
	Sabina	[[I do not doubt that. But I am not Tuissant either.]
	Arkalest	[But you willingly serve her, and there is a point at which your moral fiber will clash with her intentions. ]
	Sabina	[I know. And I cannot say what I will do when I reach that point.]
	Arkalest	[I am not  saying I am willing to offer an out.]
	Arkalest	[But the SCPD does need more telepaths of your caliber there.]
	Sabina	[But my people do not need me at the SCPD.]
	Arkalest	[Then perhaps yoou should look just into what made your people consider Tuissant.]
	Sabina	[Do not call into question the integrity of my people Dubiers. Or you shall find yourself with another enemy.]
	Arkalest	[I am not saying that, Norland. I am merel saying that there are reasons why people do things.]
	Arkalest	[It's not a question of moral integrity, Norland. It's not a question of whether they were good or  bad people. Whatever went down between the two of  them could have been morally questionable or not, but it doesn't change the underlaying fact.]
	Arkalest	[It was a transaction.]
	Sabina	[And what do you know of it?]
	Arkalest	[Do not fall for that old dog's tricks. Behind all the grandeur and mystery and promises of forgotten knowledge there is a shrewd realist. She is like a banker in this regard, Sabina.]
	Arkalest	[[She expects things out of people. And the bigger the loan, the bigger the return.]
	Arkalest	Sabina [Who do you think helped build  this world before the Coreworlders came with their Compact and their promises of a gilded age?]
	Arkalest	[Who do you think rules from above, in the shadows?]
	Sabina	[Your suggesting that. . what? that the Tuissant family is some sort of shadowy cabal ruling things behind the scenes?]
	Arkalest	[Not that, Sabina. Actors are the main centerpieces of an opera, but the backdrops have their place too. And it's  her hands there, in the shadow.]
	Arkalest	[On the levers that move the world.]
	Arkalest	[Her flair for the dramatic hides a political agenda  the reaches of which i can't even begin to imagine. She has her own vision of how this set is shaped, how this stage is built.]
	Arkalest	[And what do you use ti build a stage?]
	Arkalest	{Tools.]
	Sabina	her right hand twitches
	Sabina	[What was my price?]
	Arkalest	[I don't know.]
	Arkalest	[Neither I knew mine.]
	Arkalest	[Nor I know Mr. Taylor's, when his family was sold out to Coldsteel.]
	Sabina	[If. . . If, gods forbid, my clan sold me without good reason then. . . clearly they are no longer suitable to guard the Instrument. And I would need to find someone who is.]
	Arkalest	[But let me tell you something, Sabina. This has been a long time coming.]
	Arkalest	[Your clan, your duties. Tuissant's. ]
	Arkalest	[It's all coming to fruition, a plan God knows how many years, decades- Even centuries in the making. She is old, Sabina.  She  has been at this longer than I or my kin have, and if there's something she wants?]
	Arkalest	[She'll damn well get it. Even now,  her ropes are tightening. Can't you hear her machinations coming to fruition?]
	Arkalest	[Can't you hear them, sniffing and howling and pursuing a design that makes sense only to alien minds?]
	Arkalest	[The hounds.]
	Arkalest	[Wolves kill for sustenance. Hounds kill because their master taught them.]
	Sabina	[. . . Where would you suggest I look then? If I wanted to. . find out for myself if what you say is true about Tuissant?]
	Arkalest	[You are not going to find your answers in the habitat. Spiral City still  holds some remnants of her presence.]
	Sabina	[Where.]
	Arkalest	[There is an old place in District Talossana, a run-down precinct the SCPD doesn't use anymore. ]
	Arkalest	[There is someone there who  has been lookingt into her history. Not on my behalf, no. They aren't willing to talk to me. Think of me as tainted.]
	Sabina	[Whereas I might be more pure?]
	Arkalest	[Yes.]
	Sabina	[I would be in your debt if you passed me a means to contact them.]
	Arkalest	She sends over a bunch of topological data, showing you how to access the precinct, and the name of the contact.
	Arkalest	It's  not a name.
	Arkalest	It's  a rune- A square, and inside a sun-like symbol with three dots on its crown.
	Sabina	closes her eyes, fixating on the image, holding it in her mind, as she sends the image to her Ancestors. Listens to their whispers and caresses.
	Arkalest	Sabina |there was a promise made between the Sun and the Moon and the Stars. |
	Arkalest	|It was broken by the Stars, and now only the sun and moon remain. Only their children do.  Beware, little one.|
	Arkalest	|The womb of the sky has fallen silent.|
	Arkalest	|And the Gods sit on their quiescent thrones.|
	Arkalest	|And all,  but all, is right on the verdant earth.|
	Sabina	[Dubiers, I have but onre more faovr to ask of you.]
	Arkalest	[Yes?]
	Sabina	[I want you to pass on a message to my Brother. Discretely, and to his work address, not the clan one. If at all I'd rather Tuissant be unable to track it.]
	Arkalest	[I can try.]
	Sabina	[Ask him to. . . find out what the Clan paid for me to be sent here. And to be careful, as they not be acting as their duties command. And thank you.]
	Sabina	*may not
	Arkalest	[I will. ]
	Arkalest	[Stay safe.]
	Sabina	[As safe as  can be in this line of work. You as well.]
	Arkalest	Sabina After the end of the message- Five, ten minutes- You receive a message from Tuissant.
	Arkalest	[Is everything alright down there?]
	Sabina	[Everything is fine. I worked out a deal with Dubiers to give us some more breathing room. The SCPD are going to turn a blind eye our way unless we truly raise hell.]
	Arkalest	[Good, good! I am kind of happy you've managed to show this much initiative]
	Sabina	[Thank you ma'am.]
	Arkalest	[Did  Biax cause any problems?]
	Sabina	[Not yet, though she seems to have found a stash of stims somewhere, thankfully Alex seems to know how to handle it. There also was a small issue earlier but I think I can smooth it over.]
	Arkalest	[Don't lie to me, Sabina.]
	Arkalest	{I've been at this for a long, long time. Have seen a lot of variations on this opera play out.]
	Arkalest	[Now tell me]
	Sabina	[Biax is rather upset that Alex and Sarah are. . . sleeping together. She took it rather poorly.]
	Arkalest	[As someone who  has the best intent of her people in her mind, I assure you- I will be blunt.]
	Arkalest	[Oh thanks god.]
	Arkalest	[I thought she had nicked some stims off a SCPD police cruiser]
	Sabina	[Oh no, that would hardly be a minor issue ma'am.]
	Sabina	[I do plan to talk to her later and sort try to take the edge off things. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do right now though.]
	Arkalest	[Very good. I'd have done myselrf, but I've been awfully busy as of late.]
	Sabina	[Of course, you have a lot on your plate.]
	Arkalest	[have a nice day!]
	Sabina	[You as well ma'am.]