In the year 2012, explorers on Mars discovered ancient writings of a senile alcoholic writer. In the decades that followed, these writings revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis of this technology was the shear power of awesome.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy called it…
Mystery Five: Quia Peccavi Nimis
Part One: Questions
Two nights a week, I spent several hours sitting in the office of my best friend and technical business partner, Kenji Setou. I spent most of my time reading in a chair while he did the real work for his private investigator job, unless he needed a ride somewhere, or an extra pair of eyes on what he was looking through. As a scientist, I’m pretty good at connecting things. I’m also good at eating pizza and drinking scotch, both of which tended to happen in moderate quantities while at his office. It’s a nice office, really. Well lit and well organized, although the yellow paint really annoys me. It looks like stale mustard, and it’s all over the place, mocking me with its yellow-ness.
This particular night, while I read the latest article about Sarif Industries’ recent research, Kenji was examining a large white board he had purchased. Lines and abbreviations were all over the place, in a pattern and meaning only the two of us -hopefully- understood. There was a layout of papers on his desk next to his laptop. As winter had died and slowly turned to spring, Kenji had spent hours upon hours printing papers and reading them, his weary eyes mere inches from the paper- out of necessity, not obsession. The obsession was there, though. Ever since we had nearly died trying to spur the Knights Templar and the Illuminati into destroying each other, Kenji had scoured the data we had retrieved to form new plans of action, track the war’s progress, and find new avenues of attack that didn’t involve a living Adeptus Astartes nearly stabbing me in the face with a blade the size of my spinal column.
“Anything new in the last five minutes?” I asked him.
Kenji scoffed, “I still haven’t been able to get through all that data, man. And this case from that woman isn’t helping. Find the body of her grandfather, she asks. Does she have any idea how many Japanese soldiers died in China?”
“Roughly one million dead,” I reminded him; he had lectured me on the Second Sino-Japanese War enough times that the casualty reports were seared into my memory, “I told you not to take that case.”
I saw Kenji nod absently as he looked at a series of scribbles, “my contacts aren’t made out for this, but if they’re right, the Templars have been severely weakened in South East Asia, the Caribbean, and southern India.”
That was significant; all those locations were major Templar strongholds, “if the Illuminati have just taken over there, we’re in worse shape then before. We need to keep them fighting each other to death, not absorbing their defeated foes resources,” I said.
“That’s the thing. The Illuminati have lost ground in northern Africa, Central America, and Russia. When they’re taken out, gangs take over, and thanks to my contacts, local police have their hands full dealing with them. The weird thing is, the Hospitaller are growing in all those places, too. In fact, it seems like the Knights Hospitaller’s strength has practically tripled.”
I put the journal I was reading down and stood up next to Kenji to examine his charts, “that’s perfect.”
Kenji turned to me and smiled maniacally, “I know. With their strength increased, they can fight a more open war with the Templars and the Illuminati. A three front war is the best thing we could hope for right now. Well, that and some of your wife’s Thai pasta.”
I smirked and nodded, “come over next Thursday, she’ll be making it then, I think.”
“Excuse me?” someone behind us said. We turned around and looked down the short hall that led to the front office door. A young woman with long brown hair held the door half open. She was wearing a sharp black suit that probably cost more than both our brown suits combined, along with my car. Kenji turned to me and waited for me to react to the newcomer, since he couldn’t see her.
“Welcome to Setou and Nakai Private Investigate Services, how may we help you?” I asked.
The woman stepped forward and I motioned for her to sit in front of Kenji’s dark wooden desk. She took the chair on the left while I scooted the other one back and sat down. Kenji slowly took his seat behind the desk, leaning forward until he could finally see the newcomer.
“I have heard you two are rather capable at dealing with certain… obscure problems,” she said. Oh great, one of these types.
Kenji sighed, “that may be true, Miss…?”
She smiled, “Audrey Chapelle. I’ll be happy to get to the point, but before that I have just one question.”
We raised our eyebrows, “yes?” we said together.
She turned to me, and I noticed her green eyes were bright and blazing, “who are you?”
This was getting creepy, “I’m Hisao Nakai…”
She shook her head, “that’s your name. Who are you?”
I thought for a second, “I’m a high school science teacher?”
She shook her head again, “that is a job, a title. Who are you?”
I sighed and pinched the bridge of my noise- I had students like this, “I am a happily married man with two kids who enjoys learning what new thing has been discovered about the universe today, and what terrible thing is going to happen that will seriously ruin my day.”
When I looked up she was smiling, “very good, Mr. Nakai. Now you, Mr. Setou, who are you?”
Kenji took some time before answering, frowning and fiddling with his suit’s lapel. Finally, he leaned forward, “I am the bane of those that seek to ruin this world from within, those that try and undo everything that my best friend has worked so hard to achieve.”
Her smile grew wider, “excellent, now we can move forward. I suspect you have a few questions for me first, though?”
Kenji crouched down lower to his desk and I frowned- he looked like he was reaching for the sawed-off shotgun he kept under there, “I’d ask who you are, Miss Chapelle, but I have a feeling I already know that. So how about I ask you what the hell you’re doing in my office?”
Miss Chapelle inclined her head slightly, and a few of her long brown strands loosed themselves from behind her head, “my employer wishes to hire you to help with a delicate matter that needs to be resolved. He would also like certain information that he believes you may possess.”
“What sort of information?” I asked. Kenji hadn’t moved.
She slowly reached into her suit jacket and slowly pulled out a folded sheet of paper. She placed the paper on the desk and pushed it toward me. I opened it, my eyes growing wider as I scanned down the page. I handed the sheet to Kenji, who finally straitened up and brought the page close to read. For a few minutes he just sat there. After a stretched silence, he lowered the sheet so that only his thick glasses peeked over them.
“You’re a member of the Knights Hospitaller.”
The woman smiled and nodded, “very astute, sir. Now that you have pieced together my true identity, perhaps you can answer another question for me: what do you know of the war between the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller?”
I sighed. Kenji was many things, and a master orator was one of them. Worse, he knew he was, so he never failed to jump at the chance to pontificate on any given subject when given the chance. Kenji smiled, cleared his throat, and started his monologue.
“When the Templars became too powerful, they were ordered to be disbanded. A few of them managed to go underground, continuing their Holy Work in secret. When they finally realized the Crusades had failed, they directed their efforts at a new target: the Vatican. They decided that if one of their own was proclaimed Pope, they could control all of Europe in secret. Doing so would not only get them the military power to conquer the Holy Lands, it would lead to eventual world control, a control where war would be completely unnecessary.
“At the same time they were going underground, the Knights Hospitaller were slowly declining. Within there last bastion of Malta, they came to learn of the Templar’s plot. They, too, went underground, vowing that no one should rule the world in secret. They focused their efforts on stopping the Templar plot, and, when they learned of it, the Illuminati plot. Only when the two Societies were defeated could the Hospitaller’s vanish into the night, their mission complete.
“The Hospitaller’s were not prepared for the Templar’s might or the Illuminati’s strength of numbers. The war dragged into a stalemate, the Hospitaller never able to tip the balance of power in their favor. Until, that is, several weeks ago.”
Miss Chapelle clapped and nodded, “very good, Mr. Setou. Several months ago an Illuminati listening post in Thailand was infiltrated by Templar assassins. Information was stolen and two suits of stolen Templar Crusader Power Armor were seriously damaged. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
Kenji scratched his chin for a moment, “I do recall learning of something like that from one of my informants. He was a bit vague on the details, though. Why do you bring it up?”
“My employer is willing to pay very well for copies of that data, the specific items in question are on that sheet I gave you. In addition, I have a job that may interest you.”
Kenji frowned and shook his head, “not interested, Miss.”
Miss Chapelle raised an eyebrow, “will you at least hear me out?”
“No,” we said together.
Miss Chapelle sighed, “please listen. I assure you my employer means no harm to you or your families.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Kenji said, shoving the paper back at her.
Miss Chapelle’s eyes narrowed, and I swore I saw her eyes blazing in emerald fury, “we know where you work, Mr. Setou. We can force you to help us. Wouldn’t you rather we handle this equitably?”
Kenji scoffed and smirked, “what happened to your high-minded ideals?”
“Ideals don’t win wars. Tactics do.”
“Does that help you sleep at night?” I asked.
Miss Chapelle’s eyes returned to their normal state, and she gave a sad smile, “not really. Please, just hear me out.”
Kenji glanced at me, his face pretty clear on his state of mind. Still, she was in the office, what could go wrong with just listening to her?
I sighed and nodded, “go ahead, but we promise nothing.”
“I understand,” she paused to clear her throat, “besides the requested information, my employer would like your help infiltrating a regional meeting of major Templar leaders. Infiltrating this meeting will allow us to further destabilize their power in Asia. Doing so disguised as members of the Illuminati will also lead to an escalation of their war, while diverting their efforts further away from us.”
“I see,” I said, “so, to be clear, you want us to dress up as members of the Illuminati, infiltrate what will be a very heavily defended meeting, murder people, and pretend what we did is a good thing?”
Miss Chapelle rolled her eyes, “please, Mr. Nakai, don’t pretend your hands are clean in this mess. People are dying on a daily basis because of your efforts. How is that any different from pulling the trigger yourself?”
“With or without us,” Kenji cut in, “they’d kill each other anyway. We’re just speeding the process along. The sooner we end this damn war, the sooner we save lives, instead of ending them.”
Miss Chapelle smirked, “very nice. Does that help you sleep at night?”
Kenji nodded, “absolutely.”
Kenji was always surer about the darker side of our efforts then I was. Miss Chapelle probably noticed this, since she seemed to focus more on him as she continued.
“Then you should easily see the benefit of our plan?”
“To you yes, but to me, no,” Kenji said, and he jabbed a finger at her left arm, “the problem here is your employer is a little too willing to bend his principles, and I don’t feel comfortable helping him replace the Templars. I want all the Secret Societies annihilated, and I sure as hell don’t trust the Hospitallers to just fade away after absorbing the remains of the Templars and Illuminati.”
Miss Chapelle frowned, “so, you won’t help us?”
Kenji snorted, “on the contrary, I am helping you, on three conditions.”
Miss Chapelle smiled, “and they are?”
“One, you don’t get my data, that’s not for sale. Two, going into this, you and your employer understand that this does not mean a peace between the Hospitallers and us. The enemy of my enemy may be my friend, but not forever. Three, you leave Hisao and his family out of this.”
“What.”
Miss Chapelle nodded slowly and stuck out her arm, “deal.”
“Hold on,” I said, “I can’t let you do this alone, you’ll be killed!”
Kenji shrugged, “That’s better than both of us dying.”
“I assure you, Mr. Nakai, no harm will come to your friend,” Miss Chapelle said.
I jabbed a finger at her, “bullshit. You can’t promise that, and you know it.”
“I’m not letting you get involved in this, man.”
“I’m already involved! I’m your partner, damn it, and I’m going with you. And that is final.”
Kenji turned to me and glared at my right ear. I glared back, and for a while we silently battled with our force of wills. As Kenji’s face strained and contorted into silent fury, he slowly relaxed and sighed.
“Fine. He’s in,” Kenji grabbed her arm and quickly shook it. He wiped his hand on his pants as she shook my hand.
“You will receive more information by the end of the week. The infiltration will take place Saturday night on a remote island near southern Russia. You will be escorted by four Hospitaller soldiers, all of whom will die to protect you.”
“They better,” Kenji said, “and as to our fee…”
Miss Chapelle stood up, gracefully lifting herself from her chair, “you will find forty pounds of gold bullion coins mailed to this office within the week. That should prove satisfactory payment?”
We both nodded, “we should still fill out the paperwork,” I said.
Miss Chapelle seemed a bit caught off guard, but after some clever half-truths we managed to fill out the proper paperwork. Once she was finished, she stood back up, and, with a smooth, precise bow, she strode out of the room, her long hair swishing away as she departed.
Once the door had closed I turned to Kenji, his face deep in thought, “so how do you plan on sticking it to the Hospitaller?”
+++
Next Chapter
I’m getting all philosophical on you now. Creepy, I know. I like making people uncomfortable, it diverts them away from my mustache. Nonetheless, rest assured no message is meant to be conveyed or emphasized within this fic. Except that I need a liver transplant. And that Babylon 5 was a great series.
