Chapter 85: A T'au Empire Travelogue
After a not-too-long journey, the Cogboy arrived at the location given by Inquisitor Fenni. After waiting for some time, the ship's augur array detected a T'au Emissary-class cruiser. In the T'au Empire, this type of ship is often used as a high-speed transport for Water Caste ambassadors, Fire Caste commanders, and Ethereals.
The arriving Emissary-class cruiser was the ship of the Water Caste ambassador who was in cahoots with Fenni. The two of them were currently communicating through the comms matrix, leaving Omega, the owner of the ship, to the side. This annoyed him. When Fenni and the T'au, whose name was 'Flowing Shadow,' had finished communicating, Omega impatiently asked, "Well?"
"Flowing Shadow has made all the arrangements," Fenni told him. "After the prisoners are transferred, we just need to follow her ship. She will deal with any T'au we encounter on the way."
"Fine. What else?" Omega, with his own little plans, asked again.
Fenni knew what he was asking, but she pretended not to hear. "What else?" she asked back.
(>_<): This little wench! You've skimmed the benefits the T'au were supposed to give me, haven't you?
"The minerals and supplies?" Omega asked angrily. He wanted both fame and fortune: fame from the Regent, and fortune from the T'au. But Fenni didn't seem to care about his property at all. How could he not be angry?
"Inquisitor Fenni, if you keep this up, I'm just leaving!" he threatened.
"Magos Omega, now is not the time. This peace talk is a very important matter. Do you want me to ask for supplies from the other party the first time we meet?"
Feeling that she had a point, the little cog-head felt a little embarrassed by his own greed. "...Fine," he mumbled.
"Thank you for your understanding, Magos Omega. In the future, I will specify your contributions in my report. I'm sure the Regent will be very pleased when he sees it," Fenni said with a smile to the blushing Omega.
"Hmm..." Omega grunted, and then stuck his tongue out at the Inquisitor's retreating back.
Ever since the "T'au-style High Gothic" incident, the two of them had been secretly vying for dominance. Fenni had initiated this contest. Through her observation, she believed that Omega's behavior was too unpredictable. He was always doing something unexpected. For the peace talks to proceed smoothly, she had to have the upper hand.
Using the experience she had learned from her mentor, she had discerned that this Magos Omega was a little greedy, but that he also valued his impression on the Regent the most. Using these two points, she had slowly begun to gain the upper hand.
Omega, who never admitted defeat, would not give up so easily. On the way, following the T'au warship, he had launched several counter-attacks on the Inquisitor, but all had ended in failure. After another failure, a sulking Omega said viciously to himself in his lab, "Hmph, I'll design a creature like a goblin, clone a room full of them, and then throw that woman in there! I shouldn't have agreed to her plan. Now, when we get to the T'au's territory, I'll have to listen to everything she says. This is so infuriating! You just wait. I've recorded all your laughing and chatting with that noseless xenos. After the peace talks are over, if you don't want these recordings to get out... heh heh heh—"
Omega, who was becoming a little dark from the Inquisitor's... 'suppression'... was interrupted by a notification on his comms unit. They were about to arrive at a T'au Sept world—Bork'an.
Although the T'au Empire is called an "Empire," this is not entirely accurate. The T'au government is a democratic system built on a meritocracy and nepotism. Officials at all levels are appointed by their superiors or by relevant committees. The supreme leader, the Ethereal Supreme, is elected, and his position is more like a president than an emperor with absolute power. So, in terms of its system, the T'au Empire cannot be considered an "Empire," because it is not an imperial regime at all.
A "Sept" is a trans-system administrative region, similar to a "province." A "Sept world" is similar to a "city." The naming convention, using "Bork'an" as an example, is that Bork is the name of the Sept, and An is the name of the world.
"Oh, I see. Thank you, Lady Flowing Shadow," Omega said, thanking the Water Caste ambassador who was explaining the basics of the T'au Empire to him. On someone else's turf, Omega was always adaptable. The diplomat, who spoke fluent High Gothic, continued, "Bork'an is a center of knowledge and learning. Its system has many rich mining planets, so the Earth Caste has a high proportion of the population on Bork'an. It is very suitable for academic exchange."
"Thank you. I'm already looking forward to it."
For Omega, who was already at a T'au spaceport, the act had to be complete. Although both he and Flowing Shadow knew the true purpose of this trip, the moment he stepped off the Cogboy, Omega had to treat the academic exchange as his real goal. Only then could he fool others and provide cover for Inquisitor Fenni.
Accompanied by Flowing Shadow, Omega and the cog-heads from his ship set foot on T'au soil. Their destination was a T'au academy. The futuristic streetscape was a great shock to the cog-heads. It wasn't because the technology was too advanced for them to understand, but because the ubiquitous AI drones were a huge blow to their sensibilities.
"What blasphemy!"
"Why?"
"Aren't the xenos worried about a rebellion?"
"Their technology is not yet at the level where the AI can rebel."
The cog-heads were all chattering, their words filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred. The prohibitions of the Adeptus Mechanicus prevented any of them from openly driving the "Land Rover" of "artificial intelligence." Now, the xenos were driving it. This was even more unforgivable than a brother driving it.
The cog-heads, feeling like country bumpkins in the big city, had a few who started to revert to their old habits of "petty theft." Several cog-heads who were caught molesting the drones with their mechadendrites were caught by the T'au. This made Omega lose face and feel embarrassed. He could only warn them that whoever was caught doing this again would be sent back to the ship and put in solitary confinement.
The cog-heads: We understand Magos Omega's meaning. It's not our fault if our skills are lacking.
However, Omega's warning did make the Tech-Priests restrain themselves a little. To appease the priests on the ship, Omega had already selectively informed them of the general situation. Although only a few people on the ship knew the whole story, all the cog-heads knew that this time, they had a powerful backer. No matter how they "exchanged," no one would call them heretics. This "imperially sanctioned exchange" was an opportunity they couldn't have found even with a lantern. Those who could get off the ship with Omega today had all beaten a host of competitors to get the chance.
And so, after a series of jokes and accidents, Omega and his group finally arrived at the T'au academy. The arrival of the humans caused a considerable commotion. The T'au who had come to see the "humans" filled every space except for the specially reserved passages.
"Ambassador Flowing Shadow, why are there so many people?" Omega asked, a little curious. The number of people had already exceeded the concept of an "educational institution."
"Unlike you humans," Flowing Shadow explained, "we T'au have no surnames, and we have almost no family structure like yours. Very few T'au raise their own offspring. Most send their children to public creches to be raised collectively."
"No wonder. But I heard you have spouses and the like?"
"The Earth Caste's genetic council arranges spouses based on genetic information to ensure that the genetic composition of the offspring is biologically optimal."
"Err—"
Flowing Shadow's answer immediately erased the little bit of goodwill Omega had developed for the T'au from what he had seen along the way. He, a person from the primary stage of socialism, could not develop a liking for such a system.
Seeing Omega's silence, Flowing Shadow, with her own little plans, immediately added, "Any race, as long as they believe in the Greater Good, can become a citizen of the T'au Empire. Although they cannot participate in high-level decision-making, they enjoy a high degree of autonomy and are respected by society. And as long as it does not affect the Greater Good, any foreign religious or cultural activities are not restricted."
Omega nodded on the surface, but in his heart, he was dismissive of her words. It was impossible to shake his loyalty to the Imperium with just a few words. Unless you offered some real gold... ahem, also impossible!
And so, Flowing Shadow and Omega chatted as they walked. Soon, they met the Ethereal in charge of this "academy city." The first impression this Ethereal gave Omega was a word he had long forgotten: "refined." Omega had not expected to see such a temperament in a non-human. On someone else's turf, you still had to give the proper respect. So Omega took the initiative to greet him. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Thank you very much for agreeing to my impertinent request."
"Those who come with goodwill are our friends. We should naturally try our best to satisfy the requests of our friends. You may call me 'Por'O'."
"My name is Omega."
Ethereal Por'O was very approachable. Not only did he speak fluent and pure High Gothic, but he could also chat with Omega about some human customs. Omega could only agree, as he, a person who had grown up on a Forge World, knew nothing about the customs of remote human worlds. But with Omega's intentional pandering, the atmosphere of this meeting was very harmonious. You couldn't tell at all that the humans and the T'au were currently locked in a deadly war.
Ethereal Por'O gave Omega the title of a visiting scholar, allowing him free access to the academy city. The other cog-heads were not so lucky. They could only follow Omega. As for Inquisitor Fenni, after meeting with Ethereal Por'O, she had left Omega and the others and had gone off somewhere. This left Omega at a loss, because he really didn't know what to do in an "academic exchange." He couldn't just use the methods of the Adeptus Mechanicus, could he?