Chapter 93: The Impostor Inquisitor
After careful consideration and consulting with Magos Laust, Omega finally agreed to the Grand Inquisitor's request to use his name. He hosted a banquet on the Cogboy in his capacity as the successor of Teyedan.
It was through this banquet that Omega came to understand just how unattainable his status was to the common masses of the Imperium. But although he understood, he did not like the feeling one bit. Omega hated to grovel, and he hated it when others groveled before him. Especially when, for the first time, he seriously observed a merchant who had come to greet him and saw the genuine humility in the man's eyes, his disgust was palpable to those around him.
"What's wrong, Omega?" Rhea, who was stuffing her face, asked, noticing his strange mood. The cog-girl, dragged from her lab, had been captivated by the food, forgetting the important task Laust had given her: to watch over the Omnissiah cub and not let him be corrupted by the merchants. Fortunately, she was not the only one with this task. There was also Navigator Kalisi.
"Nothing, just a little stuffy," Omega said, chugging a glass of iced fruit juice to wake himself up.
Kalisi, who came from a noble family, deftly handled the merchant who had just come to schmooze with Omega. Returning to her seat, she overheard the conversation between Omega and Rhea. She smiled wryly at the gluttonous cog-girl and the impatient cog-head. In her time on the ship, she had come to understand how low the emotional intelligence of these priests of the Omnissiah was. But thinking of her mission, she still reminded him, "Magos Omega, watch your expression. It's too obvious."
"Is it?" Hearing Kalisi's reminder, Omega quickly rubbed his face. The lives of several dozen planets now depended on his face. He couldn't drop the ball at a time like this. Inquisitor Fenni, who had been assigned a similar task by the Grand Inquisitor, saw this and, for once, proactively refilled Omega's glass.
But when she looked up, she saw the little cog-head looking at her with a taunting expression. The Inquisitor's silver teeth clenched in anger, but she was helpless. Ever since her meeting with the Grand Inquisitor, this little cog-head had become unrestrained. The Inquisitor, her disguise having been seen through, could no longer "intimidate" him.
"If you look at me like that again, I'll put you at the top of my target list!"
"Hmph, a parasite of the Imperium using public office for private gain," Omega retorted fearlessly.
"You!"
"What about me?" the flamboyant super "second-generation cog-head" said arrogantly. "Show me some respect, little Inquisitor. My father is a Fabricator-General, a capable general of Regent Guilliman."
"..."
This duel ended in Omega's victory. The Inquisitor chose to retreat for now and fight another day. The busiest person at this banquet was not Omega, but Grand Inquisitor Gaius. He was currently moving among the Rogue Traders, probing each of them, to find those who might affect the plan. He had other methods for dealing with such people.
Let's rewind to when Omega had repaired the Inquisitor's mentor's relic. After putting away the relic, the "Inquisitor" had been ready to leave. She wanted to "run away." There were some things she didn't want to face, and she didn't know how to face them. But the person she least wanted to face still appeared before her.
"After your mentor's sacrifice, you dared to decide on your own to continue her mission, instead of returning to the Brass Fortress with the Regent's secret order. That alone is enough for me to execute you!" Grand Inquisitor Gaius's voice was as piercing as the winds of Fenris, as cold as the ice of Valhalla. Fenni, who always held her chin high in front of Omega, was now trembling, her arms wrapped around herself. She understood that even if her identity as an Inquisitor had been acknowledged for the sake of appearances, in front of this Grand Inquisitor, it meant nothing. Especially since it was Gaius who had cleaned up the mess of her reckless actions.
"Fortunately, in the end, you completed your mentor's mission. You have proven that you are worthy to truly possess it." The Grand Inquisitor took out a rosarius with the three-barred I from his robes and gave it to Fenni. Trembling, she took the rosarius from his hands, removed her mentor's rosarius and put it away, and then put her own on. She let out a long breath and only then realized that her undergarments were soaked with cold sweat.
"Thank you for your forgiveness, Your Excellency, Grand Inquisitor."
"I have not forgiven you. You will remember this for the rest of your life!" Gaius's voice was still cold, making Fenni shiver again.
"Yes, Your Excellency, Grand Inquisitor!"
"Thank the Emperor. It is he who blessed you to be able to complete your mission, so that I did not have to personally execute the student of an old friend. I still remember the joy on her face when she told me she had found an apprentice with excellent psychic talent." Gaius's voice was no longer cold, but low and full of reminiscence, like a eulogy for a deceased friend at a funeral. Fenni, who could now truly be called an Inquisitor, also recalled her mentor's face and voice. She also understood that if it weren't for her mentor's relationship, what awaited her might not have been a rosarius, but a bullet.
"Fenni, you were too rash this time. Such an emotion should not appear in an Inquisitor."
"Yes."
"Fenni, I'll be honest with you. Your temperament, ability, personality, and experience are all far from qualified to be an Inquisitor!"
Fenni looked up and saw the Grand Inquisitor's scrutinizing and warning gaze. She quickly replied, "Yes!"
"What do you think of Magos Omega?"
"Huh?" Fenni looked at the Grand Inquisitor with a blank expression, not quite understanding why he had suddenly asked about the little cog-head.
Seeing this, the Grand Inquisitor began to doubt if he had acted on emotion, if he had given the rosarius too early. He rubbed his brow. "Do you not know his identity?"
"The son of the Archmagos of Teyedan," Fenni said what she knew.
"And?"
"Hmm... the master of the Cogboy?"
Gaius now confirmed that he had been too hasty. He looked at Fenni with a headache. "You've been on his ship for so long and you haven't noticed anything unusual? You haven't noticed that the Tech-Priests on the ship are overly respectful to this Magos Omega? For someone his age to be called a Magos is an unusual thing. Can this be achieved just by being the son of an Archmagos? They are the Adeptus Mechanicus!"
...
The Grand Inquisitor's question was a little difficult for the former Inquisitorial apprentice, who had spent most of her life in training. At the time, her mind had been entirely focused on how to complete her sacrificed mentor's mission. She had even put her own life and death aside. How could she have had the mind to pay attention to these things?
"Do you know," Gaius said, "when I knew you had boarded a Mechanicus explorator vessel, I had already considered the mission a failure. When I received the news that you were still alive and had made contact with the T'au, I had for a time thought it was false information released by heretics."
"Err—" Fenni, who did not know how dangerous the cog-heads were, was very confused.
"By the Emperor..." Gaius, seeing the rosarius on Fenni's neck, was about to take it back, but Fenni quickly stuffed it into her chest. "Do you know what it means to be a publicly acknowledged successor of a Forge World?"
"I do not," Inquisitor Fenni answered honestly.
"It means that this Magos Omega has already conquered Teyedan with his talent. It means that those cog-heads, who only recognize technical knowledge, believe that this Magos Omega can completely replace the current Fabricator-General! No Forge World has ever publicly announced a legal successor while the Archmagos is still alive and kicking! Do you understand?!"
Fenni, who did not understand the Adeptus Mechanicus and the cog-heads very well, understood from the Grand Inquisitor's attitude that Omega was very special. Her being alive and being able to complete her mission was entirely due to Omega's kindness and tolerance. To save herself, and to prevent the rosarius from being taken back, she said, "Grand Inquisitor Gaius, Omega... Magos Omega is a kind person."
"Hmm, the fact that you are alive is the best proof."
"He cares about life, he is approachable, and his personality is a bit rebellious—mischievous!"
"Oh, very good. This intelligence is very important."
Before he left, Grand Inquisitor Gaius asked Fenni many more questions about Omega's habits, preferences, and so on. And in the end, he gave her a mission: to stay by this Magos Omega's side, to gather more intelligence about him, and at the same time, to protect his safety.
After Gaius had left, Fenni finally calmed down and began to recall how, not wanting her mentor to have sacrificed herself in vain, she had willfully taken the secret order and had had the crew fly the ship elsewhere as a diversion. In O'nyl, she had originally intended to obtain a secret way to the T'au Empire by interrogating the former Planetary Governor. After learning that the governor had hidden property in the T'au Empire, she had had a sudden idea and had approached the little cog-head.
And then everything that had happened... it turned out that it was just two little fledgling chickens who didn't know themselves and didn't know each other, pecking at each other, and had somehow managed to complete the mission. Thinking about it, it was really incredible.
Fenni, having figured out the cause and effect, had originally wanted to apologize to Omega for his indulgence and kindness along the way, and to express her gratitude. But she had run into Omega, who had just been asked by the Grand Inquisitor to "lend his face" and was feeling pretty full of himself. This had not only erased all of Fenni's apology, but it had also made her realize one thing: you can't be too polite to this little cog-head who shines a little too brightly in the sun. He deserves a beating.