Chapter 255 - Three Reports

It was half past six in the morning when a return telegram notified Finn that the return portal would be opened shortly.

Sergeant Bin escorted him through a long hallway and through several locked doors to the transfer room at the center of the station. 

It was a nondescript room with no windows or decorations. At the far end of the room centered on the wall a double wide door frame had been installed. This plain wooden frame was nothing special, but it served as the focal point for the controller in Noga.

At the appointed time a portal opened up, and Finn stepped through.

In the next moment he found himself in the transfer room inside Noga City’s Police Headquarters. 

A journey over a hundred kilometres, which would normally take two entire weeks of carriage travel, accomplished in seconds.

This was a luxury afforded to only the highest ranks in the police and the military. The Special Ops department was also included in that short list, due to their role of tackling sensitive Exalted matters. With the appropriate reason and paperwork, Finn could technically have a portal opened up to nearly any city in the province.

How this was done, Finn could only assume that there was a powerful Exalted managing this process behind the scenes. It wasn’t handled by anyone within the police department, so Finn could only posit that it was handled by the military. 

Finn reported his return to the secretary outside the transfer room and exited the basement level, making his way to the Triple-P offices on the second floor.

“Morning, Finn!” Anne’s cheerful voice greeted him. The plump secretary caught her tongue as she said, “Ah, I mean, good morning Inspector Mackenzie.”

Finn raised an eyebrow, “What’s with the formality?”

“Ah, Chief Luan scolded me the other day.” Anne said, lowering her voice as Finn approached the desk, “He said that I should show more respect to an accomplished officer, that it looks bad on the department to be so familiar.”

Out of the corner of his eye Finn saw that the other secretaries were listening intently to their conversation. 

“If Chief Luan says so, then it would be best to follow his orders.” He nodded to Anne, assuming a humble tone, “I don’t mind either way.”

“I know you don’t.” Anne smiled, before she recalled an important matter, “Ah, inspector. You have a visitor this morning. They said you’re expecting them.”

The other secretaries’ ears perked up as they exchanged discreet glances to each other. Evidently they were aware of the visitor’s arrival. There was a look of revelation and respect in their eyes as they realized that the visitor had arrived to talk to Finn.

“Yes, we have an appointment.” Finn said, “Have they been let into the conference room?”

“Yes, shall I let them know you’re coming?”

“Tell them I will be there shortly.” Finn nodded. “Also, Officer Kim and Niles should be reporting in some time this morning. Please tell them to wait for me in my office, I have an assignment for them.”

“Will do, Finn- I mean, Inspector Mackenzie.”

Finn made a short detour to his office, picking up three files before he headed over to the conference rooms.

This appointment was the reason he had been up late not just last evening but pretty much every night for the past week. His successes on rounding up the Cloud Monastery monks as they fled the province were not the only duties that had been thrust in his lap, but it was an urgent mission that had taken up the majority of his time and resources.

After all, if he didn’t act quickly and find success, those monks would be long gone.

However today he was reporting on a different matter entirely.

The almond shaped eyes of a youthful woman with tanned skin appraised Finn as he entered the conference room.

“You look like a mess.” The former interim Chief of Special Ops greeted him, the bottom of her eyelids curving up in mild amusement, “Did you sleep in your uniform?”

“That would require me to sleep in the first place.” Finn replied coolly, with dry humour, “I’ve decided to cut it out of my schedule recently to improve productivity.”

“There’s a pathway in the Death Domain that does that.” Gwynn mused, “I’d tell you more details but you don’t have the clearance.”

She wore a crisp blue uniform with grey trimmings, the insignia on her shoulder identifying her rank - Colonel. This was a role that was responsible for managing a battalion. This placed her fairly high on the military totem pole, though notably the rank had less responsibility than the Chief position which she had been temporarily appointed to during the Five Kings Festival.

This was a simple reminder of the difference in grade between the military and the police.

“So, how have things been since I left?” Gwynn asked, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs in her usual casual manner, “You get promoted to Chief yet?”

The offhand question about being promoted to the top rank in the police would have sounded mocking coming from anyone but Gwynn. Perhaps if Finn didn’t know her better, he would have even thought she was looking down on the police. However in the short time that Finn knew her he came to understand that statements like these were made with utmost seriousness.

The lackadaisical demeanour which she brought with her was one born out of supreme confidence in her own capability. She didn’t follow procedure because it wasn’t necessary for her success. She joked around and carried a casual air because the matters she was responsible for had already been taken care of.

She saw in Finn the same competence that she herself was rich in, and kept him under her in recognition of that. Finn knew this because she had told him as much to his face.

“I doubt that’s going to happen.” Finn said, “There are more qualified officers than me for the role.”

“You were my second in command when I was Chief, it’s only natural that you step up after.” Gwynn replied with carefree cavalier, “Especially with what I hear about your success in the province.

“You know, I was the one that put in the recommendation for you take on the task.” Gwynn said, “Given that the monks had committed high treason against Lord Noga, my superiors had the intention of making their capture a military matter.”

“It crossed my mind.” Finn nodded, pulling out a file and placing it on the table in front of her. “I assumed that you were looking for a report on this, so I prepared it in advance.”

“This is why I like you Finn.” Gwynn grinned, not moving to take the report. “Always on top of things.”

She looked into his eyes with a deeply confident grin, as if she knew something that he didn’t and was waiting for him to figure it out. 

The compliment from Gwynn was not offered for his benefit, it was a request to get to business. Finn didn’t miss a beat as he took out a second folder and placed it in front of her. This one she reached out and opened, looking through it as Finn spoke.

“I’ve completed my investigation into the twenty five officers under the late Chief Bear who had received Exalted promotions under his supervision. There were twelve candidates who were promoted, as well as eight apprentices. Of the apprentices six of them had long standing careers, while two of them were promoted in succession. The promotions happened over the course of the past two to eight months, increasing in frequency over time. 

“There are also four candidates and one apprentice who have held their ranks for more than a decade and were part of the Chief’s original team. From my investigation it appears they were promoted through official channels and were not part of the other illegitimate promotions.”

Inside the thick folder were numerous reports which detailed the physical description, personal and family background and career of each of the twenty five Exalted officers.

“Looks like it took a lot of work.” Gwynn commented, casually flipping through the dossier. She didn’t seem interested in reading any particular page, not even reading through the summary which he had written specifically to cater to her habit of skimming.

“I assigned two members of my team to assist me with this task.” Finn said, anticipating Gwynn’s follow up questions, “They performed most of the investigation work into the officers. Of course, we kept our efforts discreet.”

“So, what did you find?” Gwynn asked, setting down the papers.

“Chief Bear built a small personality cult around himself, recruiting officers under him which were susceptible to manipulation. The officers all believed they were integral parts of the most important department, and held Chief Bear in great esteem.” Finn summarized, “The other Chiefs had no knowledge of these promotions, as each Chief was considered solely responsible for their departments. Furthermore Chief Bear encouraged a culture of elitism within his forces, making them particularly loyal to himself.”

“How long was he corrupt?” Gwynn asked.

“That’s a difficult question.” Finn said, “The elitism and favouritism seems to have been a natural part of his personality, spanning back to when he was promoted to Chief twelve years ago. However, we now know that he and Chief Vox were both psychologically influenced by Markus Gantt. 

“Chief Vox estimates that Gantt likely first arrived somewhere around a year ago. It’s a very rough estimate because Vox described his change in attitude as feeling ‘natural’. Even now he suffers breakdowns where he can’t discern which parts of his recent thoughts and actions were true to himself and which were planted in his mind.

“In other words, Gantt doesn’t simply force his victims to act in certain ways. He takes advantage of their tendencies and vices to sway them bit by bit into the thought patterns and actions that are conducive to his plans. 

“I’ve tried to look into Gantt’s whereabouts, but even with Vox’s help we haven’t been able to find anything. He could still be in Kumin or he could be long gone, we have no clue.”

Finn noted that Gwynn had gone silent with a thoughtful look on her face. A toothpick had appeared in her mouth at some point, which she chewed absentmindedly. 

“Well, he sounds like a pain to deal with.” She concluded after a moment, grinning with a dismissive shrug, “Thankfully that’s not my problem.” 

She placed the folder with the officer dossiers on top of the file on the Cloud Peak monks. Her eyes fell on the final file in Finn’s hands as he presented it to her. He knew that this was really the information that she was looking for. The primary reason for her visit.

The edge of Gwynn’s lip curled up in a curiosity as she tried to read the expression on Finn’s face, trying to discern whether he had been successful in this most critical part of the investigation before he said it.

“What’s this?” She asked.

“Trade records and ship ledgers for fifteen different shipments over the past year from overseas.” Finn said, “Detailing the origin of some fifty eight restricted ingredients and substances which are critical for the concoction of Spacetime catalysts.”

“Not every potion is accounted for, but I am certain that we found the primary source of ingredients which Chief Bear used to secretly advance his subordinates.”

This was information that had been extremely tricky to track down. For starters, Chief Bear had acquired the ingredients either on the black market or through underground connections. He also could have used accomplices or other secret means. He was attuned to a Space pathway so it was exceptionally easy for him to arrange secret drop offs and meetings. In other words, the trail was already dead from Chief Bear’s end.

Instead of wasting time determining out how Bear himself had acquired the catalysts, Finn tackled the problem at its source, taking advantage of the highly controlled nature of Exalted ingredients. It didn’t take much to conclude that the ingredients had originated from outside the province, so he focused his efforts outward.

Assistance with this investigation was one of the two primary conditions that Sansen Zhao had agreed to in exchange for Char Char’s release, a move which had turned out to be critical in uncovering the ingredients’ origins.

“So you found the source? But it sounds like there’s a catch.” Gwynn said, catching the lack of finality in Finn’s explanation.

He nodded, not intending to hide any facts.

“When it comes to Exalted goods, the Kumin Trade Guild has supreme power. They manage all major imports and exports into the province and have many methods to catch smugglers. They are also quite meticulous when it comes to record keeping. What I’ve found is the suppliers went to great length to obfuscate the origins of the goods, while at the same time maintaining the facade of legitimacy. ”

“The shipments were legitimate, but it turns out that the paper trail only goes so far.” Finn said, summarizing his findings with Sansen. “My source is an influential member of the Trade Guild, and he noted that he had spent a small fortune to access the Guild’s records, and ruffled a few feathers in the Ministry while doing so. It turns out that the guild is quite protective about its operations.”

“Perhaps they’re hiding something.” Gwynn said.

“The thought crossed my mind.” Finn said, “It’s hard to tell, since trade information is extremely valuable to many parties. What we’ve concluded though is that there was an active smuggling operation importing catalyst ingredients specifically for Chief Bear, that either took exceptional lengths to legitimize its operations from discerning eyes or- as you’ve suggested- are part of a deeper corruption within the guild itself.

“The paper trail ends with most of these shipping companies, which themselves are dead ends. However I do have one more lead that can be explored. If my hunches are right and these shipments are all connected, then this could unravel the whole mystery.”

“What’s your hunch?” Gwynn sat back in her chair, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

“The shipments come from somewhere across the Altic sea. Kumin’s Trade Guild is too strong, so they can’t import directly into the province. Instead, they land in Huan and forge the paper trail from there.” Finn replied.

“Ships that travel over the Altic sea are all closely monitored.” Gwynn said, “Regardless of the ship’s final destination, the Trade Guild controls the trade routes.”

“That’s where the trail breaks down.” Finn nodded, “There are no records of those ingredients arriving at the controlled ports on the Altic sea, even if the ships themselves register themselves properly once they land.”

“In other words,” Finn said succinctly, “We’re dealing with pirates.”