Once again, Dorian waited in his suite for a clandestine meeting with his compatriot from Mutelli.

"Good evening Dorian." She greeted him with a smile as she entered. "What do we have planned for today?"

Dorian stood to greet his friend, "Ms. Gray, welcome, please have a seat. I'd like you to join me at the miner's camp if you are free after this. Before that though, I was hoping we could talk some about what Mr. Nejhre said yesterday. If what he said bears truth, it has some interesting implications for the audit."

"I'd be happy to join you." she nodded. "I am quite interested in what we learned from him as well, though I don't quite understand all of it."

"I don't understand it all either, and that's what worries me. As I told Mr. Nejhre, the evidence of Harkonnen malfeasance abounds. They are so bold in their deeds, it hardly takes an audit to judge them unfit to govern Arrakis. So why has the Emperor gone to such lengths to bring in us Landsraad delegates to conduct the audit when the Count or some CHOAM bureaucrat would be more than capable of recommending their sub fief not be renewed and why would the Spacing Guild not support their removal? Perhaps I am a paranoid old man, always looking out for the slow blade, but something doesn't seem right here and we need to be careful or House Mutelli may well be put into a difficult position."

"There is so much going on here, it's difficult to keep track of." she sighed. "Harkonnen and anti-Harkonnen actions are making everything chaotic."

"There is a lot to track, I can hardly do so myself. I've only put some things together after consulting with Edwell. He put together a room to share information, but no one has utilized it, not that I blame them. There's a reason it's just the two of us talking here right now instead of bringing this to the attention of the group. Who can be trusted and what information can be shared without a cost? We each have our own motives and obligations here.

Regardless of the what and the why, House Mutelli has always stood behind House Corrino. If the Emperor wants to make an example or a scapegoat of House Harkonnen, wants to parade their failure in front of the Landsraad as a warning, or was simply insulted by the Harkonnens' audacity, we need to find out the right path to take so that House Mutelli can showcase it's loyalty to the throne. Whether that means finding out if the audit is being manipulated and by whom... or if it means covering up any such manipulation.

We need to sort out what's happened in the last five days and try to make sense of it. We can't sit and wait for things to happen to us, we need to take action."

She nodded. "The Harkonnen will cover up any problem, regardless of who is at fault, making it harder to discern the truth."

"They do make themselves easy targets for people's hate and distrust don't they." Dorian had a look of consternation as he tried to figure things out. "This all started for us with the explosion in Arrakeen. You said you had spared a man at the site and that his father offered a favor in return, either the location of secret base in a restricted area or the answer to a question relevant to our audit? Have you made contact with him again yet?"

"Not yet." she shook his head. "I don't know what to ask for, either."

"That is the million solaris question.

I don't know if it would be advisable to take the Frigate somewhere without clearance. We... I've already pissed off the Harkonnens and can't give them more leverage by going somewhere the audit isn't cleared for.

I think the only sensible thing we could do is ask a question, but what? If we were to ask where the Harkonnens are hoarding their spice or setting up off the book mining operations, we have a similar problem of possibly getting a location we can't take the Frigate to. Maybe, some useful information that wouldn't need to be evidence itself is who are the key players complicit in the Harkonnens illegal spice activities. If this person knows so much, they should be able to tell us who is involved, and then we can investigate those people more closely and know whose information we can rely on and whose we can't."

She nodded. "You understand the possibilities better than I do."

"What is your opinion of the risks? You are the one who dealt with this man and his son.

I'm more accustomed to direct conflict, the dagger rather than the cloak. Challenge me to a duel, or at least attack me if you're going to sneak behind my back."

"He was very cautious." she sighed. "The lengths he went through to contact us were very significant. But, the fact that he went to such extremes makes me feel like his intentions are sincere. I wouldn't expect anything more from him beyond this favor, though."