And finally, Odysseus and Rotbart contemplate the most dangerous situation they will inevitably face in this post-Incursion era...
Actions Have Consequences
Odysseus was not particularly happy about having been grabbed on one of his few breaks and brought to Governor Rotbart. Generally he enjoyed Rotbart's company, and was glad to respond to his summons, but sometimes the Own got a bit paranoid about Rotbart's safety. Being called in in the middle of the night to heal a paper cut Rotbart had gotten "just in case it got infected or the pain distracts him at a key moment," was not a good reason to interrupt his sleep. Even if he had enjoyed the mortified look Rotbart had given him while he was being bullied into accepting his help, as well as the countless chances to tease him about it.
Recently Rotbart had been a bit morose. Not that he could blame him—between the losses his people had taken to the daemonic incursion, the helplessness he had felt at being separated from them, and the deaths of three of his friends and advisors, especially Henry, his son in all but name, Rotbart had more than enough reason to feel down.
Not that those who didn't know him well could tell. His normal coping behavior tended towards shutting down a bit emotionally and throwing himself into his work even harder than usual. Odysseus only knew the extent to which he was hurting because the normally present banter when they were in private and had nothing specific to do was noticeably absent. Well, that and he was clearly stopping himself from micromanaging everyone in an effort to keep busy all the time and looked at the paperwork that he was brought almost as a salvation rather than an unpleasant but necessary chore. Normally the only people who could effectively get through to him when he was like this were Syr, Saint Lin, Gerald, and Henry—one of whom was off the planet, two of which were busy, and the last of whom had died.
Upon reaching the Governor's quarters, Odysseus immediately thought that something was wrong. Rather than barely-concealed irritation about having people fussing over him or the somewhat worryingly focused expression as he tried to think of nothing but his work, Frederick was clutching some papers and looking almost afraid. Wondering what could possibly be bad enough to get through his emotional shells at this point, Odysseus began closing quickly to get a look at what he news had gotten this response. But before he had even reached him, Rotbart quickly turned and grabbed his arm, looking up at him pleadingly and saying "She knows. She knows. I tried so hard to keep her from finding out, but she knows."
This sort of response was entirely out of Odysseus' expectations. While he knew full well that underneath it all, Rotbart was still human with human emotions and weaknesses, at some level he had achieved an almost supernatural reputation. While he was certainly in favor of Rotbart coming out of his shell of emotional deadness, it would be catastrophic if he had finally cracked. Quickly Odysseus began cataloging his options—first he should try to get a hold of Saint Lin, busy or not this took precedence. He should also scan for any sort of toxins or plagues—there were several known, and likely countless unknown—that included strong emotional effects on their victims.
But before his paranoid planning could get out of hand, his brain at last kicked into gear, presenting an option he had completely neglected to consider before. Calmingly, he asked, "Who knows, Frederick?"
"Syr of course. I tried to hide it from her—she gets so angry when she hears about the near-death experiences I've had, especially since we lost her mother. I'd had damn near everything about the fight classified at the highest level, complete with need-to-know precautions and hard files only. I'd gotten the images and videos sequestered based on the risks of memetic corruption. I even did my best to keep the reported details vague, claiming I didn't want to taint the sacrifice of others by overplaying my victory. But somehow, she managed to snag the unedited reports and footage from a back channel she had set up—I blame Oakheart for that, she was never that sneaky before her influence—and now she knows!"
"Knows what, in particular?" Odysseus asked, although it seemed his suspicion had been right.
"Knows I ended up facing that Emperor-damned Keeper of Secrets alone and might have died if it hadn't been so over-confident, of course. I'm not going down alone though—you lot let me, after all." Shaking his head a bit, Frederick calmed down significantly. "Anyway, I figure we've got about two or three weeks before she actually gets down here to tell us off in person. We have time to figure something out to deflect her anger. I'm thinking pointing her at Gerald and leaking her the confidential reports about his fight with the Daemon Prince. What do you think? And remember, you're in the same boat as me."
"Are you really going to throw Gerald to the wolves like that? You know how much he blames himself for Henry's death. I thought you didn't blame him too."
"Of course I don't blame him, and neither will Syr. Instead she'll yell at him for taking such stupid risks afterwards, and how she doesn't want to lose any more family because he's feeling guilty for something that isn't even his fault. Trust me, Gerald's just digging himself deeper by taking point on every psyker hunt and cultist assault he can right now."
"Well, that is a reasonably good plan," responded Odysseus. "Don't you think we can get out of this by pointing out that the Own did an excellent job guarding you on the whole, that taking out the Greater Daemon proved invaluable to the overall defense of Dis, and that there was no way to reasonably avoid or plan around the situation?"
"You honestly think logic will save you?" replied Frederick dismissively. "No, while the fact that our group came out of this mess largely intact is certainly a blessing, the only way we can avoid her wrath is through deflecting it onto worthy targets. On that note, do you think we could spin Oakheart's rather rabid defense of The Fens as reckless? Plus there was that dangerous attack Saint Lin lead in defense of Unseen University…"
