(Eclipse Club, Shvehona City, Dimiya)
I got up to give Elnaril the traditional greeting as he approached. Little touches like that weren’t expected of non-knelfi, but when someone offered them without being prompted, it was appreciated. “Ah, Elnaril my old friend! You’re looking well. And I see your niece has already established herself here on Dimiya. I had hoped she would find her way after that unpleasantness on Jagloth, and I’m glad she has.”
Elnaril smiled as he clasped my hand in the traditional way. “Ah, Mirikon, you rascal. You’ve been holding out on me! Already you have your harem, including the brilliant Raven, but who is this new flower you have attending you? Surely you will leave some of the lovely ladies for us lonely old businessmen?”
“Bah!” I scoffed as I motioned Elnaril to one of the chairs. “As if you don’t have all the women you can handle. Or is your niece cracking down on you, trying to wheedle you into living a proper family life after all this time?” I laughed at the joke, but didn’t let it continue to the point of awkwardness. “But where are my manners! Elnaril Triswyn, meet Liviana Armata, formerly of Terra. She is a lost soul I picked up on my travels during the Civil War, and has made great strides. Liviana, meet Elnaril Triswyn, arguably one of the most powerful men on Dimiya, and certainly the most powerful one in Shvehona City, thanks to his varied enterprises in the less regulated fields, and his strong network of associates stretching throughout the sector.”
Elnaril looked at Liviana for a second, studying her. “Armata? Back before the Terrans had their Civil War, there was a very popular singer who got into some trouble for speaking the truth when it was unpopular.”
Liviana lowered her head, to try and keep the paleness that had flooded her features out of view, and I decided to rescue the poor girl. “Yes, she is the same one. By the time I purchased her contract, she was under quite a bit of strain, you see, and it was best to keep her out of the public eye, but she’s made great strides recently. I was actually going to suggest to her that she might try her hand at singing again, but perhaps straying away from the pop music she used to sing. Something slower, more adult, where she can take her experiences and use them, and people aren’t putting her under the pressure of being a perfect pop princess.”
“Oh hoh. That is certainly an interesting idea you have. Little Alais has shared a few recordings of her pre-war work with me, and while I’m afraid that that style of music did not much appeal to a man of my age, I could clearly hear the strength of her voice, and the skill involved as she sang.” The knelfi man looked over to Liviana with a smile, and said, “No pressure, my dear, but I would be eager to see what you might accomplish in a new style of music.” Then he turned back to me, and said, “But alas, I cannot spend all my time speaking of music and beautiful flowers. It is fortunate you came here this evening, my friend, as I was about to seek you out to confer on you about some troubling developments. It seems your recent successes have upset a few worthies who had hoped to take advantage of different situations, but your actions ruined their plans.”
I nodded, since this was now getting into the actual business of things. “Yes, Raven and I had just been discussing some of those ‘worthies’. It seems someone has taken out several large digital bounties, hoping to get dirt on Black Star. Raven was quick to point out that those information specialists in your enterprises and those in your associates and competitors have remained out of the hunt. This makes me glad, as we have always had a good business relationship, and I would hate to see a cloud come between us and end a friendship because of some idiot politicians.”
Elnaril chuckled. “Ah, yes. You may find it hard to believe, but Nakahara-dono and myself barely had to do any persuasion at all to convince the organized groups to remain out of this battle. The message you sent to the various organizations before leaving on your expedition was received with the intent it was meant, and while the groups will not align themselves with you, they have contacted me, as I have one of the better relationships with you, and wished to make sure that you knew they were most emphatically not aligning against you.”
I laughed at that little joke. “In other words, they remember that my fleet destroyed their outposts as a warning before taking out the Pirate Queen. Good. That was the kind of message I was hoping for. Please tell your ‘associates’ that nothing would please me more than to continue friendly business relationships into the long term, and so long as they do not confuse my amicable nature for weakness, then we shall not have a problem.”
Pausing momentarily for a drink, I continued, “As for those who actually are arraying themselves against me and mine, they shall be dealt with, as Black Star always deals with such insolence. This anonymous bounty business reeks of disrespect. If they had simply come with some kind of open challenge, then I would be content with simply smacking away the threat. But this method of doing business is distasteful, and so I must take more extreme measures.”
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The knelfi smiled, and said, “I believe that will put a great many minds to rest, my friend. I don’t know how much you’ve looked into the situation, but I can tell you that before the bounties were posted, several of the local groups were approached by cutouts who were traced back to Confederate Intelligence. In fact, the cutouts were so obvious as to have no worth as cutouts at all, save on paper. One of my younger talents said it felt as though they were offering up raw recruits instead of seasoned agents for this task of finding some way to pressure the infamous Black Star Company.”
I sighed, and said, “I had hoped I was wrong about that, but the Senator we have our sights on is a member of the Intelligence Oversight Committee. The senior senator from Iylia, whose ‘Shining Path’ will lead her to ruin if she continues her course of action.”
Elnaril nodded slowly. “Ah, yes, I know the one you speak of. She is a troublesome one. She lost family in the last Empire war, you know, and not just in battle. Iylia was invaded briefly during the war, and several transports of fresh slaves had been taken from the planet before they were forced to retreat back to the pre-war lines by the Alliance entering the conflict. The Senator’s daughter was among those taken, and never found again.”
“A terrible fate for any parent, and not one I would wish on even my enemies.” Elnaril raised an eyebrow at that statement, and I smiled. “Oh, the knowledge that their child is possibly alive out there, somewhere, but is being kept from them? That’s just cruel torture without reason. No, I would not do such things. I may kill the parent and leave the child an orphan if the parent moves against me, but stealing the child from the mother is cruelty itself. No, I don’t allow such things in Black Star. But that also means that the foolish woman is most likely a zealot, and will not be persuaded of anything that promotes peace and profitable business.”
“True enough. However, according to those I know, she is the leader of the other members of the Path on the Committee. If she were to falter or fall, then the others could be persuaded, as they are businessmen. They simply see the greatest profits in promoting a war, since their families happen to own several large arms companies. Oh, and the junior Senator from Dimiya on the Committee is the scion of a family who was hurt a good deal by your eliminating the local pirates, as their orders for ‘customs inspectors’ and escort craft went down considerably when there was less perceived need for them.”
“Ah yes. Him and two others were quite put out that I saved the major shipping companies millions if not billions of credits in ships, crews, and replacements for lost cargo. They were even more upset when those companies bought modified Raven-class freighters for their ‘high value’ shipments.”
“Oh, modified how?”
“Removed the stealth settings, and increased power to shields, mostly. They don’t have the greatest cargo capacity out there, but they are fast, and can fight well enough to give a pirate pause. For high value shipments, where the value of the shipment makes it an attractive target for thieves, but it does not take up too much area, it is an extremely effective design, even if they don’t have the smuggling compartments that may or may not have existed on the Raven since before I took ownership of her.”
“Ah, the story of how you got hold of the Raven and your wonderful companion is one I simply must hear.”
“Well, I cannot go into all the details for sensitive reasons, but I happened to be on Luna at the time…”
(Confederate Intelligence Service HQ, Somewhere on Dimiya)
“Are you certain about this, Sir?”
Paxisys shook his head. “No, of course I’m bloody not sure of this! This has to be the dumbest play we could possibly make with the man, but those idiots on the Committee aren’t leaving me any choice. The syndicates at least still take him on his word that he’s a ‘live and let live’ kind of operator. So long as you don’t engage in operations against his people, or encourage others to do the same, he is content to allow you to live, and will engage in business with you. If you work against him, he figures out who was to blame, and destroys them.”
The intelligence officer sighed. “But we don’t have a choice. The Shining Path has too many members on the Committee, and that damn zealot Adynore has them all following her lead, saying that Black Star is a ‘destabilizing influence’ that has to be ‘brought under control’ before they convince other companies to expand beyond the Confederacy’s borders as well, shielding them from potential problems. The Empire’s stance on nonhumans has always been a selling point for the Path, and other polities aren’t known for being inclusive of outsiders, but with Nuevo Edo being a free port, they suddenly see a threat to the controls they’ve put in place.”
“I understand that, sir, but is calling in a mercenary group really the answer?”
“No, but the Committee is demanding some direct action, since the bounties aren’t working, and both the syndicates and the military won’t move. So we are forced to use the ‘pirates’ to attack their ships between Dimiya and the Nania Gateway and simply pray that it won’t come back on us personally.”
His subordinate looked confused. “I’m sorry, Sir, but if this Mollen and his people are as good as you say they are, then if they survive the attack, they WILL be looking for revenge, and the ‘pirates’…”
“Were paid for with shell accounts leading back into the Shining Path’s ‘black’ accounts. I have also arranged for a message to arrive to him through ‘back channels’ letting him know which Senators are targeting him and what they are demanding, but the message will be unfortunately mistimed so that it arrives before the intended time, in enough time for him to blunt or prevent the attack. Hopefully that will be enough.”
“Sir, if you do that, your career may well be over if the Senate finds out.”
“Alred, if I didn’t do that, our lives would be over, and a significant portion of the Confederacy would look like Terra or the Amazon world before we were done. Never underestimate an immortal hell bent on revenge, especially when they have access to weapons that can wipe out any technological world.”
“Good point, sir.”