‘Chettamandey Brobantis,’ Vass said. Her voice seemed to come from a long way away. Chetta was staring at the hololith in horror, transfixed. ‘The reason you could find no mention of rogue trader Indrinian Vass is because the woman is a total fiction. Please allow me to introduce myself.

‘My name is Zaretta Ngiri, and I am a loyal member of His Divine Majesty’s Holy Inquisition.’

A Shot in the Dark

A Shot in the Dark

‘Why didn’t you just call them in?’ DeShelle asked. It had been a while since she’d had a laspistol strapped to her right hip, but the weight of it was comforting as they hurried along the richly carpeted corridor, flanked by miniature Turraken palms with their constantly moving yellow-green leaves.

‘If you’d been passing information to someone outside who was using it to kill Navigators, and you were called in for a non-routine briefing by the head of security, would you go?’ Krane pointed out. He wore a bolt pistol, and The Wolf was mag-clamped across his carapace backplate. ‘I’d have an escape plan if it were me, and I don’t want to bet that we can predict it.’

It was a fair argument, DeShelle conceded. Luc had called up staff rotas and had hastily analysed which servants had access to all of the Navigators who’d been killed so far – Tanomariel, Zulantis and Avomarr Du-Choi – and would therefore have been able to communicate their comings and goings. For the moment, they were working on the hope that there was a single culprit. If each victim had been sold out by a different servant, then the odds of tracking down those responsible were minuscule.

The halls of Brobantis Palace were quieter than usual. They were down to a skeleton staff, due to most of the servants being given leave to cele­brate the Feast of the Emperor’s Ascension. DeShelle felt ashamed that she’d not yet taken the time to offer up proper worship to the God-Emperor today, but she was hunting down His enemies, and she simply had to hope that He would understand.

Unfortunately, the low staffing levels applied to security as well. The palace was far from undefended – that would never happen – but certain things had been prioritised. External security, at gates and landing pads, was of course still at full strength. Likewise, the celebrations for Brobantis Navigators – minus Lady Chettamandey and Lord Vittariel, who’d been invited to the governor’s feast – would be well guarded and patrolled, in the main dining halls and leisure chambers. But the incidental security, the armed guards standing at corridor junctions or located in the small guardhouses throughout the complex, was less prominent.