X Kingdom: Investigating Kith

Satisfied with the progress Bao is making uncovering Kith Conran’s research, Midian makes an additional request – find anything interesting about the Architect, Alba Kos.


Transportation Department

The protagonists then arrange a meeting with Niki Camen under the false identities (Navigator Malachi and his servant, Manfred Phillips). They find her amid heavy cargo-lifting Sentinels and civilian pattern Landspeeders. Niki is a short blonde girl with almond shaped eyes and blue irises. She is pious (to the Machine Cult at least) and proper. Kith apparently came to her, obviously having heard that she was the best pilot in the city, asking to hire her for trips into the wilderness. This outraged her – she would never waste the city’s resources (fuel, wear-and-tear on her assigned Landspeeder, etc.) for personal gain. The look on her face told Midian that others were not as “by-the-book” as Niki, but she was not one to complain about a fellow pilot. Luckily, she didn’t need to – she was thinking about one, and that put her firmly in Mordecai’s territory.


“Yaroshenko’s Landing” (a Pilot’s Lounge)

The lounge is lit only by narrow-beamed spot lamps, providing areas harsh illumination and shadowy darkness. The protagonists find it unusual, but the regular patrons seem to be comfortable with it, sitting amid clouds of Lho-smoke drinking shots of Rhya wine.
A small gratuity gets them pointed towards Hal Veche, the pilot Niki had thought of. Hal stands out amongst the other pilots, who are mainly short, dark and olive-skinned. Hal is a tall, fair-haired man, apparently in his late twenties. His hair is roughly cropped and his face covered in stubble. He wears a sweat-stained vest and his flight suit is tied about his waist. On one bare forearm is an Aquilla tattoo; on the other, a series of female names, all crossed out (Niki’s is fourth up from the bottom). He sits alone.
While Midian questions him, Mordecai once more exercises his Telepathic discipline:

• Most of the vehicles being demilitarised (only Planetary Defence weapons unchanged) and there were many redundancies (not a good time to be seen as a liability to the city).


• Kith had a girl with him (Mana or Mara?). She was quiet, but pretty and obedient (Hal was quite jealous of the latter).


• Hal took Kith many places – mostly the initial survey sites, frontier outposts and the outlying geologis operations. He came back from these places in roughly the same mood he left, until the last time (to a place called “Perdition”) when he seemed thoughtful, barely speaking on the trip back.

If they need him to take them anywhere he says he can do it for the same rates (Mordecai knows this is a lie – Hal is asking for more, but given the risk has increased this isn’t unusual).


The protagonists' temporary dwelling

Bao voxes Midian, distraught, afraid and angry (so much so that he isn’t thinking clearly – broadcasting on an unscrambled vox-channel). Kith’s research uncovered something shocking, something the Amael would of course want to keep secret, something that could provoke her into her current panicked investigation into the Archive.
Saint Akiah, the Lady of Prudence herself, was engineered to boost morale. The “Saint” supposedly arrived on a ship called “The Penitent Sinner” (which Midian knows is the same ship Lum arrived on), but that name doesn’t appear in The Penitent Sinner’s crew or passenger manifest).
Her three “miracles” were predicting the erosion of a series of dams and organising the safe and efficient evacuation of the people working near it (prudent foresight); toiling in the fields for seven days and seven nights without break (dedication to duty); and defeating the daemon Menqual (destroying evil).
All of these reflect traits one would like to encourage in one’s workforce, if one were willing to commit Heresy (inventing miracles detracts from true miracles). Mordecai muses that in the local slang, the worst criminals – murders, traitors and rabble-rousers – are referred to as having “a touch of the Menqual”, even now.

Maya Zin's part in all this remains a mystery. But, Midian muses, if Kith had access to the Transportation Comm-net, then so does she. Perhaps a signal can be planted to draw her out...