(Administrator’s Suite, Madrigal Base, Madrigal System)
I’ll say one thing for the former administrator of Madrigal Base: he certainly knew how to live in style. While nothing in the suite he had used before his demotion screamed ‘lap of luxury’ on its own, together the whole thing came to a very comfortable bachelor’s pad, like you might see rich frat boys have when they were starting at whatever job their parents gave them. The fact that it wasn’t a gaudy flaunting of riches at least told me that the Administrator knew enough to not slap people in the face with how much he was skimming from the running of Madrigal Base.
Thankfully, despite the fact that it was a pirate base, the Administrator insisted on keeping records, so that he knew what was happening on his base. It didn’t take long to find both the public records and the REAL records, including some lovely hidden bank accounts in other parts of the sector that soon got added to Black Star accounts. Now, I was going through the paperwork, with Raven’s help, as I decided what to do with this lovely little fortress we’d captured.
Sure, part of me wanted to keep it. The idea of having a heavily fortified, easily defended base appealed to me, for all kinds of reasons. But I wasn’t a pirate lord. Running a base like this was expensive, and the pirates going out and bringing back spoils helped pay the bills. I wasn’t going to be doing that. And the things that made Madrigal Base so easily defended also meant that it was a crap location for legitimate business interests. It was too isolated to get good traffic, and anything that helped open it up would eliminate the fortifications.
There were some uses to the base, of course. I was already planning on having multiple groups in this part of space, so if I stationed the Fourth Group here when it was ready, I would have a decent staging point, since there weren’t any Gateways nearby. There was also the idea of using the shipyards here for building ships that weren’t going to be public knowledge. The shipyards at Dimiya and Nuevo Edo were larger, better equipped, but they were in plain sight, and it was getting harder to keep things secret.
The chime on the door sounded, and I checked the screen on the wall, which showed Captain Zylna outside. That’s right, her ‘liaison’ period was almost up, and she’d be returning to the Confederate fleet. I called out, “Open,” and the door automatically slid open to allow her in. “Good evening, Captain. What do you think of Madrigal Base?”
Zylna stepped inside, and did a quick look around the room. “Well, it wasn’t what I had expected, that’s for sure. I’ve been on pirate ships before, and seen the aftermath of when pirate bases were raided. I did not expect it to be this… clean.”
I nodded. “Pirates, smugglers, and even ‘honest’ merchants generally fall into two categories, in my experience. The first tends to get by with just the bare minimum of maintenance. Maybe they’re lazy. Maybe they don’t know how to maintain the systems. Or maybe there simply isn’t any profit in military-level maintenance schedules.”
“The other kind, they’re the smart ones. They keep things maintained and running smoothly, because they would rather spend a little now than have something important break when they really need it, like in the middle of a fight. Oh, perhaps they don’t keep to ‘military’ standards, but they don’t let things get out of hand like the other sort.”
“You can see some of both in the ships we captured. But the ‘cheap’ pirates tended to be from smaller clans or independents, while the ‘clean’ pirates were from the larger clans. The smart captains, the ones who led the clans and the ones who followed them, lost a little profit in the short run, but when things happened, they were less likely to lose everything.”
“Until they met you.”
I smiled at Zylna’s words. “Yes, until they met me. But it didn’t have to be me. With the way they let things get out of control in this sector, there was always going to be some kind of response. The only question was how bloody things would get. That’s why you see that, while other sectors have seen a rise in piracy, it hasn’t been anything like on the level we saw in this sector. They got greedy, and didn’t keep their younger and dumber sorts in line. And so they all paid for that mistake.”
Captain Zylna nodded. “Yes, sir.” Something was bothering her, but she didn’t seem to know how to just come out and say it.
I put down the tablet I had been reviewing the paperwork on, and said, “Well, that’s enough ‘Admiral’ hat for the moment. So, what’s on your mind, Captain? It is about time for you to head back to the fleet, isn’t it? I expect you’ll be extremely popular with the other commanders of the Assassins that the Confederacy has purchased.”
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Zylna nodded, and said, “Yes, sir, it has been an interesting experience working with Black Star, and I’m eager to put that to use helping to train the new commanders as we establish Navy guidelines for the use of the Assassins. There hasn’t been a change like this in the Navy for over a hundred years, as far as I know.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, your Navy is going about it the right way, trying to change with the times, instead of fighting to keep things as they were.” I looked at the young captain, and sighed. “Captain, you’re wound so tight you’re going to break something.” I pointed to the other end of the sofa I was sitting on, and the table with a bottle of some alcoholic beverage and some glasses on it. “Sit down, pour yourself a drink, and tell me what it is that is on your mind. You didn’t come here to talk about how your ‘liaison’ job went.”
Zylna sat down at the other end of the couch, and said, “I’ve been… instructed by my superior officers to ask what you intend to do with the Kythaela Daven, and this station.”
I smiled at her, and said, “Asking is always free. Whether I answer or not is a different story, as is whether your superiors will like the answer. Now, you’ve got a lot of good qualities to you, Captain, but a master negotiator and spy you are not. So why don’t we cut through all the bullshit and games, and get to what whichever Senator is behind this really wants.” Her eyes went wide as she looked at me, causing me to laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, my dear. Nothing has leaked from your end. But the people in the military side know enough about me, and my methods, that they would have sent someone I’m familiar with from Naval Intelligence or the like to simply ask what I intended, and go on from there. That you look so uncomfortable means that some other crap is going on, and someone with power is leaning on people above you to lean on you. Did I get it about right?”
Zylna sighed, and said, “It is frightening sometimes, the way you work through these situations and come up with the truth.”
“Ah, I have experience with bureaucracies, and I’d already made it perfectly clear to both Naval and civilian intelligence that I was willing to be reasonable, depending on what they asked of me. Reasonable, of course, does not mean that I’ll blindly agree to anything they want, of course. It just means that I’ll approach deals with an open mind, and a long memory for betrayal.” I paused for just a moment, and then said, “Now, what did they want from you? We can start with the ship, that’s almost certainly going to be the easiest one to deal with.”
The captain took a deep breath, and said, “Well, and this actually does come my superiors, they would like the ship, of course. It was a CNS ship, and deserves to be brought back to the fleet, either for decommissioning or to refit it and return it to service. We have the remaining records from the Kyathaela Daven, showing how the ship was caught by pirates after they were disabled in a spatial anomaly. They’d like to honor the crew.”
I nodded. “That was to be expected, after all. Since your ship led the attack, and disabled it, and your Marines took the cruiser, I see no problem with the Kyathaela Daven returning with you as a ‘war prize’, to be returned to the Confederate Navy. I was actually going to do that anyway, since it would make a lot of people happy, and I don’t really need the ship. Now, what about the station?”
Zylna shifted nervously. “Some of the Senate, as you guessed, is putting pressure on the military to ensure that the station does not remain in Black Star’s hands. They feel that you have far too much power already, and don’t like what you might do with a fortress like this. Ideally, they would see you kicked off the station by the Navy, but the one putting pressure realizes that is unlikely to happen. So they ‘asked’ me to do anything in my power to ensure that the Navy had ‘access’ to the station.”
“Ah, yes, it would be something like that. This wouldn’t happen to be from the same group who thought sending an attractive female captain to liaison with my forces would be a way to try and get a hold on me, hmm? Of course, a honeypot trap only works when the target doesn’t have a ton of honey already. Oh, don’t worry, I’m not judging you. So, what kind of access do they want, and what were they willing to give for it?”
“They want to be able to have a Navy ship here, or at least Navy personnel on board to ‘supervise’ things and ‘liaison’. I think they also want to have some Marines on station as well.” She paused, and then said, “The actual details of compensation and the like would be worked out at a later date.”
“And they expected you to try and seduce me into this, hmm? Yes, I can see it on your face. Well, in that case, you can tell them that, in the interests of being a good neighbor, I will allow a single person from Naval Intelligence to be chosen by and reporting to Lieutenant Zumrora (and him alone), to act as a liaison and contact should the Navy or other services wish to purchase ships away from the public eye. That is ONE person. No Marines, no warships in my space without leave, and so on. We will allow Confederate ships in need of repair access to the shipyards for standard rates, but the station and the shipyards will remain under Black Star control and jurisdiction at all times.”
Zylna’s eyes went wide at my pronouncement. I shook my head, and said, “Having a known intelligence officer in the midst is not nearly so annoying as having to ferret out the ones who try to worm their way into my organization. Zumrora has worked with me before, and knows what limits to put on his people. Frankly, I’m less surprised that anyone made this play, than that they forced you into doing it so late.”
Zylna nodded her head, and said, “I believe that is because Zumrora wasn’t there to tell them it wouldn’t work, like when I was getting briefed for this assignment. The Admiral will be happy to get the ship, but the people up the chain are not going to be pleased that they didn’t get what they wanted.”
“Well, if it becomes troublesome, you have proven yourself a talented and skilled commander. There will be a place in Black Star for you, if you decide to resign from the Navy, or are kicked out. You and your whole crew, actually. You’ve all done excellent work while attached to the Black Star Fleet.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You do that, Captain. Now, finish your drink, and when you’re done, you may return to your ship to start organizing the ‘prize crew’ to take the Kyathaela Daven home. Or you can stay, and try your hand at seducing me, without the orders hanging over your head.”
Captain Zylna blushed furiously, finished her drink in a single go, and then practically ran from the room.