The company vehicle leaves the Docks behind, carrying Sanguine and Gremlin while the dockside broker remains with her sealed inventory and witnessed catalogue. Alexei stays at Bulwark’s hardened console, working remotely.
Alexei
The warrant request is moving. Meridian’s public filings show contract audits, but the procurement trail identifies repeated purchases for protected worker systems.
Alexei opens a compartmentalized evidence board through the secure channel. Supplier certificates, worker-protection terms, and Meridian’s payment routes align without displaying a single protected name.
Sanguine
Darling, their paperwork is polished enough to pass a ballroom inspection. Fortunately, polished things make excellent surfaces for fingerprints.
Alexei
I have the lawful path. A sealed inspection order can identify the responsible contracts and freeze further disbursements without exposing the workers who triggered the review.
The court portal accepts Alexei’s filing and returns a verified authorization. Meridian’s accounts enter temporary review, while protected worker records remain behind sealed access boundaries.
Alexei
Meridian will answer for every contract, payment, and concealed obligation. The workers remain protected, and the accountability record is now ready for inspection.
“I review Meridian’s sealed inspection authorization”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Gremlin opens Meridian’s sealed inspection authorization through the hardened channel. The document unfolds beside the sealed data wafer, its court seal and access limits preserved in matching custody records.
He reviews the named scope, temporary account freeze, protected-worker exclusions, evidence handling rules, and judicial expiration date, cross-checking every clause against Alexei’s filing.
Gremlin
The order protects the workers, limits the search, and leaves every contract answerable.
No hidden expansion appears. Meridian’s permitted inspection is narrow, auditable, and sufficient to identify concealed obligations without exposing the people who triggered the review.
Alexei
Confirmed. The authorization says exactly what it should, and nothing more. I will execute it under sealed custody.
Sanguine
Darling, a villain’s polished paperwork finally turned into a cage for the truth. How satisfyingly bureaucratic.
The review closes with the authorization authenticated against the wafer and Alexei’s console. Meridian’s accounts remain frozen for lawful examination, while protected workers and their records stay beyond its reach.
The company vehicle rolled away from the Docks as sealed authorization glowed between them, every boundary intact.
Gremlin
Narrow scope. Temporary freeze. Protected workers excluded. Evidence rules, expiration date, all clean.
Sanguine
Funny. All that paperwork, and it finally became a mechanism for accountability.
Gremlin
A quiet one. The kind that holds.
Behind them, the broker remained with sealed inventory and a witnessed catalogue, while Meridian’s accounts entered lawful review. The workers stayed protected, the records stayed preserved, and the trail of responsibility could no longer be buried. As the Docks receded, Gremlin let the authorization fold shut, its narrow promise kept.