“There is an issue of payment that we need to address, Belial,” Altrius’ annoyed, smooth voice said over the commlink, “The person who you trusted to pay us attempted to swindle us by giving us gold painted rocks and glass. That was not the agreed upon payment.”
“She escaped,” came the response, “Why would I pay you for an incomplete job?”
“Do I have to review the contract with you, Belial? Very well. You hired us to kidnap Princess Kiera Sol from the Danelar Naval Officers Academy and deliver her undetected to the planet Dalimar before Reflection, for the price of sixty million Imperial Chips and ticket codes to leave the Dalmian system. Thirty million would be paid as a deposit, with the other Thirty million paid upon delivery by the client. As discussed this payment would take the form of two thousand and five hundred quasar diamonds valued at four thousand chips each, and ten thousand pieces of gold latinum, current market rate at five thousand chips per unit.” Altrius paused.
“We set up the academy for infiltration, from Planet twenty-seventh to the thirtieth, maneuvered the princess into a position where she would be alone at night on Luna twentieth and removed her from the moon without anyone noticing on Luna twenty-first. On Luna twenty-second we faked her death ending the Imperial Military’s search for her. Luna twenty-fourth at six AM local time we delivered the Princess in a tamper-alert cage to Eustace Farbargton who signed the confirmation of delivery, which was sent to you, with the instructions of not to open the cage until payment had been confirmed and we had traveled out of Empire controlled space. Which was listed in section four, subsection D: Payment Confirmation.”
Altrius paused again as if waiting for a response. Not getting one he continued, “Four hours after delivery, before we had arrived at the gate let alone out of the system the cage was tampered with and an alert went out over the Imperial Emergency Channel broadcasting the Princess’s location. On Luna thirty-fourth, the first day of Reflection, Princess Kiera Sol was located in Southsby Duchy in the southern hemisphere of Dalimar on the Ducal Palace grounds. Our involvement ended on the twenty-fourth. Our payments are confirmed at our headquarters. At the latest we would have arrived on the twenty-fifth over a week before the deadline. The ticket codes we were given were false as well.”
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Belial glowered at the commlink, “Your payment is not my responsibility. I contacted you on behalf of another party and gave you the advance as a show of good faith. Any issues you have with it needs to be brought up with the former Dalimarian prince. I heard that he was sentenced to Tartarus so I wish you luck. I’d direct you to Farbargton, but he died before sentencing, an allergic reaction to the prison food.”
“You hired us. We don’t care if you did it on behalf of someone else, your name is on our contract. You hired us to perform a job, we performed the job flawlessly. It was our show of good faith that allowed you to split the payment with a portion before and after the job. Really, Belial. This isn’t the first job we have done for you and you have one currently in progress. Pay us or your identity, location, and what you hired us to do will find its way into Amadeus Astria’s hands.”
“Are you threatening me, Altrius?”
“Not at all, Your Highness. I am informing you of the consequences of your action. The other contracts that we discussed are on stasis until we have been paid, with interest of one thousand credits per Orlanian day. I will give you until Remembrance to make the payment to the same place the first one was made. Just to clarify, if we have not been paid before Meteor first then you will suffer the consequences. We don’t work on Galactic Holidays.” The commlink shut off. It wouldn’t be able to be used for another week, as counted by the Imperial homeworld.
Belial scowled at the device. It wasn’t his real name, of course, just like he was sure “Altrius” was a pseudonym as well. There were hundreds of worlds in the galaxy that retained royalty. Your Highness just informed him that Altrius suspected that he was a royal; given that only the absurdly wealthy could afford the Black Hole Society. Royalty weren’t the only ones who had an abundance of wealth; it was a hollow threat at best. He reached into his desk and took out another long ranged single point commlink. Altrius and the Black Hole Society weren’t the only mercenaries in the galaxy.