Editing Warhammer High (section)

== A matter of security ==

Quadriga marshalled his patience.  “No, Commissioner, I suspect I have grasped all there is to grasp in your argument,” he said flatly.  “There is inadequate personal security at the starport.”

“Inadequate?  That was the opposite of my argument!” the Commissioner said irritably.  He looked at Skuratova for support, but she just rolled her eyes.  “What mechanism of bypass do you anticipate an off-world assassin employing, good Custodian, that a smuggler, a recidivist, or a local troublemaker could not?”

“Whether or not we know every possible avenue of infiltration is impossible to know, Commissioner Ralt,” Quadriga replied.  “Therefore, there are avenues of which we are unaware, and must pre-emptively secure.”

Ralt, one of the very few assistants to the Director whom Malcador had not personally hired, rubbed his eyes.  Arguing with Quadriga was an exercise in frustration on the best of days.  “Kindly do not lecture me like a neophyte, honored Custodian, I’ve been capturing enemies of the Imperium since before the end of the Crusade.”  He glared at the table, as that was safer than glaring at a Custodian.  “Of course the starport at Albiona Hives is heavily secured, and of course you want to layer more security on anyway to ensure the safe commutes of the Daughters Primarch and their families.  As I am attempting to explain, the issue of disruption of local commerce and travel shall clearly be an infrequent one, and therefore not the basis of the starport administrator’s objection.”  He tapped his dataslate and brought up a road map that stretched from the starport outside the hive to the larger Albia residential and educational district.  “The problem is twofold.  The starport can handle infrequent disruption for security reasons.  I mean, look at the damn thing, it’s the size of a city!  The problem is unscheduled disruption, sir!  You served in the Crusade, you know how much logistics can back up when there are unexpected delays.”

“And yet endure the backing up they shall, because the security of the Sub… Daughters is of both higher urgency and greater delicacy than ensuring the hovertrains run on time,” Quadriga said.  Gold light glinted from the shoulder designs of his pauldrons as he pointed at the image on the slate’s projector.  “Those roads could house an army in rank.”

Skuratova appreciated the brief disruption in Quadriga’s unyieldingly intense scrutiny of her job performance from her subordinate, but now it was her turn to attract his annoyance.  “I would hear the second objection, then,” she said lightly.

Quadriga turned his gaze on her long enough for Ralt to catch his breath.  He was a lifer, forty five years in the Protective Detail office with under a month of vacation time in the whole span, and ultimately his Commission to Secure the Imperial Household commanded the Treasury plainclothes that shadowed the mortal ‘mothers’ and transhuman Daughters of the Royal Family.  “The second objection is my own, actually,” Ralt said.  He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.  “I suggest we simply put a few plainclothes Treasury agents in with the baggage taxi drivers on the public ramps.  We can give them fake name placards, so the passers-by don’t bother them.  They can be staring at the Daughters and their parties with no problems, since everybody else will, and nobody will bat an eye.  We can even put a few Mechanicus bomb-sniffers in the boots of their cars.”

Skuratova nodded her head.  “Hmm.  Workable, cheap, unobtrusive.  Not a poor suggestion, Ralt.”  She turned to Quadriga.  “So how does it not measure up?”

“I have voiced no opinion,” Quadriga said curtly.

“I pre-empted it, I suppose.  My fault.”

Quadriga glared behind his mask.  Mortals.  “Yes, in fact,” he ground out.  “It is not enough.  A few plainclothesmen?  What if the enemy employs marksmen, or a mechanical trap on the exit ramp, with no chemical components a bomb-sniffer would find?  What good would Treasury covert personnel be if the foe were using a Chem that granted kinetic power, such as Psyk?”

“Well, then, the Daughters’ hundred other mechanisms of security would intercept them,” Ralt pointed out.  “There’s no need for you to implement your suggestion.  A wall of Custodians between the terminal and the cars is impractical and horribly intrusive.”

“To guard the Royal Household from all possible avenues of harm is our task above all others, Commissioner Ralt,” Quadriga said firmly.

“Yes, I know.  I was there when the order was given, nineteen years ago,” Ralt snapped.  He felt his ire rising at the Custodian’s presumptuousness.  “Quadriga, you suffer from the same ailment that took me twenty years of introspection to overcome.  You can’t accept a good idea that isn’t yours.”

Quadriga felt a muscle twitch in his palm.  He had had veteran Imperial Army officers discharged for speaking to him in that tone.  Before he could vocalize his disgust, however, Ralt pressed on.

“The Emperor’s orders were explicit, and I am following them,” he insisted.  He set his hand down on the stone tabletop between them and gestured emphatically at the pile of binders in front of his boss.  “Besides, I don’t feel like obstructing the Emperor’s direct plans.”

“Plans?” Quadriga grated.  “Kindly inform me of the tasks with which you have been so burdened by His Imperial Majesty of which I remain deeply ignorant.”

“Not ignorant, sir, I didn’t say that,” Ralt said.  A moment of hesitation crept up on him as he suddenly realized what he was doing, aided by Skuratova’s wide-eyed stare, but he pressed on.  “But the Emperor created the Daughters to serve as the ultimate bridge between the transhuman masters of Humanity during the Crusade and the civilian government of the Imperium after the bulk of the fighting was over.  How can they get the kind of… of social connections, life experiences, and education they need to fulfil their role in the Emperor’s master plan if they have to peer past a slab of aurumite at every turn?”  He sank back in his chair, feeling deflated.  “Just… consider it, that’s all.”

The Custodian sat in silence for a moment.  “Your transparent attempt to appeal to my sense of duty is both unconvincing and irrelevant, Commissioner,” Quadriga finally said.  It was perhaps not entirely an accurate declaration, but he felt the need to exercise his authority.  “Nor do I appreciate your attempt to superimpose your particular interpretation of the Emperor’s will over our collective responsibility.”

Skuratova spoke up.  “Why not, though?  The Emperor wouldn’t have given the Daughters the appearance of normalcy if he didn’t want them to live as close to normalcy as possible,” she pointed out.  “Nor is the Commissioner’s point unfair, honored Custodian.  Realistically, it’s just not possible to plan for every variant of approach vector to Their Highnesses, nor is it possible for them to gain the life experiences they want and deserve if we take the measures to obstruct all those vectors we can think of.”

“Their personal preferences are equally irrelevant,” Quadriga stated firmly.

Ralt snorted.  “Sure.  That’s why the Lord Regent Malcador felt the need to assign them covert bodyguards on top of my people.  Because the girls haven’t expressed their unhappiness with a ring of armed guards following them around a thousand times.”

“More, for Furia,” Skuratova chuckled.

Quadriga felt a stab of genuine irritation enter his mind at their flippant tone, although he could tell that he was no longer the subject of their resentment.  “Regardless, their safety can’t be ensured through your covert proposals alone,” he pressed.

“I think the point the Commissioner is making, is that it’s literally not feasible to ensure their safety absolutely,” Skuratova said.

“And my proposal will get as close as possible,” Quadriga riposted.

“While making the Daughters all the more motivated to try to escape it later, which surely poses no security risks at all,” Ralt said disgustedly.  “We’re talking in circles.  Are you overriding my proposal to implement your own despite the drawbacks, or are we doing it my way?”

Quadriga hesitated.  Ralt’s remark about the Emperor’s design had struck a chord closer to his mind than he had allowed them to notice.  Still, he had his orders, and they were to oversee the implementation of the others’ orders.  “No, we shall play things out as you recommend, I think, but there shall be a Custodian present in the terminal for this transit, and that is the end of it,” he said.

Ralt shrugged.  “Yes, sir.”