The Spiders Nest
The next morning Astarte prowled into the meeting room in the Yard house with a feline grace and an easy glow of life. Bell and Lucile noted her easy glide with hints of confusion, and Karega just gave her a knowing smile. Exactly five minutes after Aster entered, Modius strode through the doors still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. If anyone noticed that, or the slightly darker shade of purple bruising under his eyes, no one commented.
Last night had been a very grounding experience for her, they had pleasured each other well into the morning. Both of them passionately working out their stress. And when they were all done they had just laid there in each other’s arms, softly talking about anything. It wasn’t something she normally let herself indulge in.
Normally she was all passion and fire, but closed off emotionally. The last time she had laid with someone and opened up had been with Greyson, and that hadn’t ended well for her. But with Modius it was easy to relax in his presence and let some of her mental walls down. A
“If we’re all assembled then let’s begin” Her mother said sternly, snapping Aster out her own head. “Captain Bell if you’d please”
“Right” Bell said as she stood up and began to pass around manila file folders “Only an hour after we arrived the Aunviry marauders made their initial move. They have filed an official complaint against us for our unwarranted attack on the Coiled Strike, they are claiming that we acted without provocation and are demanding the Astaroth as recompense for the loss of that ship. They have already submitted the video evidence of your hostile boarding actions to the Council of nine”
That was expected. They had been hoping to make the first move, but the Aunviry had apparently beaten them to it.
“We should file charges of our own then” Aster said as she flipped through the case book “We have more than enough evidence to refute their claim of an unprovoked attack, and even more to prove that the Eggads were in the wrong.”
Lucile frowned “Counter charges will force the council of Nine into Arbitration, if it comes to that do you think we will have enough of the Nine on our side?”
The Council of Nine were one of the Confederacy’s oldest institutions, Nine retired pirate lords who served on the station full-time resolving disputes and guiding the Confederacy. Any who wished to join their ranks had to first gain the influence of enough pirate factions to support their bid for a seat, or grow their own faction strong enough to claim a seat on their own. Of those Nine seats of power it was known that the Aunviry held two seats by their own power and had deep ties with two more. That meant there were five contested seats that the Hellworlders needed to wrest from Aunviry control if they wanted things to go their way.
“I have a hunch that the Shadow league will support me, Ah’ared killed one of their own when he tried to have me ambushed on Femeri.” Aster said with confidence. Not much was known about the Shadow League, only that they controlled the greatest network of spies and informants across the Union, had deep pockets, and didn’t take well to people targeting their agents. The only members most ever met were the ‘Contacts’, mysterious and influential people who held great sway over whatever station they controlled. “And its well known that the Wrethren Terrors are openly opposed to the Aunviry after Kazlum killed and ate their previous leader”
There was a collective shiver around the table at the mention of the terrifying leader of the Aunviry. 8 meters tall with black beady eyes and regenerating tentacles that hung from his bulbous head like a writhing beard, and it was no wonder why most feared them. Aunviry looked like the worst horrors from H.P. Lovecraft’s pantheon of dark elder gods. Even being a Hellworlder wouldn’t put them on equal footing with the Aunviry’s natural strength and speed, essentially making them super-deathworlders. This was one conflict where the Hellworlders wouldn’t have the upper hand in physical strength.
No one knew where the Aunviry came from, or what they were. Dissections on the few intact corpses that weren’t completely destroyed only revealed vague hints towards major genetic alterations in their past. They had torn through Union fleets with ease and descended upon the undefended citizenry of the core worlds and revealed their terrible bloodlust for all to see. They had carved up the core sectors into their own private chiefdoms and were only expelled from the core when the Aunviry began to war with themselves and were weakened enough for a Union counterattack to actually succeed. Only a few pockets remained clinging to broken planetoids in the void, and were considered a part of the caste of Voidlings like the Kruhur.
No one knew where the original Aunviry pirate, Ithuth, had come from. Only that he arrived one day with a host of Aunviry wariors and took over a small band of pirates before officially joining the Union. That small band had grown into one of the Confederacy’s most powerful and influential pirate organization, and had only grown in strength since Kazlum took over and brought in the Eggads to serve as cannon fodder.
“That’s still only two” her mother said breaking the silence.
“If we can get three then they can pressure the remaining two to our side” Bell added.
“Yes, but which one is most likely to side with us” Modius said.
They wondered out loud which of the three might be swayed to side with them. Aster watched it all and her cleared her throat to get their attention“There’s one more person we haven’t considered.”
“We’ve discussed every member of the Nine.” Her mother said testily.
“Right, but we haven’t yet considered someone not on the Nine who has great sway over the council”
Lucile’s eyebrows shot up “You can’t be proposing that we proposition him, no one knows his allegiances, and furthermore he will demand a steep price.”
“There isn’t a price I’m not willing to pay for the Hellworlders” Aster shot back, and Lucile’s eyes darted to her daughter’s eyepatch before quickly looking away. “Besides, he’s someone that Kazlum also wouldn’t have considered. He’s probably already putting pressure on the Council, and might have some dirt on them that we aren’t anticipating.”
Bell caught on to Aster’s subtle implications and took some of the pressure off of Lucile. “Yes, but there’s no guarantee that the old spider would even deign to meet with us. He has so far refused any of our deals in the past, and has twice now opposed our efforts. If anything I think we should count him as an enemy.”
Aster pursed her lips “I potentially have something worth offering him, and I might even have identified a potential weakness.”
“What are you suggesting?” Lucile asked coldly.
“Pandemonium” Aster said softly.
The table erupted in anger. “Absolutely not, we have everything riding on that. If you offer that up then all our efforts over the last seven years would be for nothing!” Her mother shouted over the uproar.
Aster just fixed her dark eye on her mother until people began to calm down enough for her to explain. “I’m not proposing we abandon Pandemonium, nor am I suggesting we hand it over. What I am suggesting is that we offer to bring him in on the secret as another secret investor, we have already shared the secret with plenty of Martian billionaires, and they are just as morally dubious as he is.”
Lucile’s glower darkened even further and she idlily began to tap her fingers, she gritted her jaw “it might be enough” was all she said.
Everyone around the table exchanged nervous glances with each other. Modius sighed “I’m sorry, could someone explain who the hell we’re talking about?”
Bell turned to her former subordinate “Domnall Clancy, leader of the local Irish mob, former commander of the Terran Pirates, and the man who personally trained the most feared human Pirate in Union history, Byron Greyson. Who was his son in-law, and-“
“-and a man that I personally killed” Astarte finished for Bell. “In fact I still have Greyson’s skull on my shelf”
Modius’s eyebrows shot up “You keep a real human skull on your shelf as a bookend, I thought it was fake!”
“No, its real” Lucile sighed “And Aster’s right, Domnall might be our only hope at victory.”
“Its not the first devil we’ve had to deal with” Aster said.
“No,” Lucile said icily “but he is the worst. Just walking into that bar of his will snare you in whatever web he’s weaved. He doesn’t even accept meetings without first making sure that he has you by the balls. Whoever goes into that lair of his has to be someone he wants to snare.”
“I know” Aster said “That’s why it will have to be me, I am the one who killed his son-in-law and destroyed his pirate faction.”
~~~*~~~
Clancy’s was packed as always; it was the only place on the whole station anyone could actually relax without fearing for their lives. Domnall had established this place as his seat of power during his career as the greatest Terran pirate, and he had the place built like a citadel. It rose above high above the filth of Great Hollow market and spread its insidious grip over every business and vendor within the old cargo hold. No one did business in the Great Hollow without permission from the Irish mob. They either paid a sum of credits up front, or acted as lookouts and informants for the mob, making every vendor in this market a potential snitch. And at the center of that great web of informants sat Domnall like the old spider he was. Using that gathered info to bully his competition and influence the market.
Astarte had ventured forth from the Hellworlder hanger wearing a heavy cloak over her armor and a personal privacy field that obscured her face under the cowl of the cloak with a field of dark static. She had approached the bouncer and produced a simple gold coin marked on one side with a cross, and a lyre on the other. She pressed the coin into the large man’s hand and waited only a second as the man felt the prints on the coin, before being motioned for another armed guard to escort her to the fourth floor of the building. He led Aster to a room with plush green velvet carpeting comfy but expensive looking leather chairs, and an ornately carved mahogany table with a marble chess set inlayed within.
Domnall only kept her waiting than a minute before he softly opened the door and examined Astarte up and down, she in turn did the same. She had met Domnall before when she had temporarily served as Greyson’s personal enforcer and secondhand man. Just as before, she got the distinct feeling that she was facing a devil masquerading as a man. Nothing specifically jumped out at her as devilish, if anything his light green eyes, soft balding white hair, and kind smile could have made him seem like a kindly pastor or a friendly grandpa. But something lying just under his skin didn’t feel right, and sometimes the look she caught in his eyes wasn’t human at all. It was cold, calculating, and completely without mercy. Like the eyes of a shark.
Today he wore a simple vest and slacks, and he moved through the room without showing a hint of his ninety years of life. The almost magical medicines provided by the Union had easily extended the lifespan of humans by nearly half, and they did one hell of job at retaining ones youth. Lucile was forty-three years old but didn’t look a day older than her daughter who was twenty-seven this year. But that age always showed itself in other ways that were hard to define, a fifty-year-old woman would feel worlds apart from a twenty-year-old one despite looking the same age. But something about the way Domnall held himself hid that venerable near century of life which made her uneasy, it would be all too easy to forget who he was and relax.
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“Good afternoon miss Maidens-daughter, care for some tea?” he asked, his words dripping with a well cultured Irish accent.
“Yes please” she said, mentally reminding herself that she too was a devil in human form “No sugar, but a little cream.”
He smiled and brought over a silver platter with a fine silver and porcelain tea set, he poured a cup for himself and one for her, added the cream, and passed it to her. She sniffed the contents of her cup discreetly but detected no unknown substances besides the rich smell of black tea. Still she waited until he sat down in the his chair before she sipped the had a sip. It was pleasantly rich without being too bitter, and had she not been a devote worshipper of coffee she could have seen herself drinking tea like this every day.
“Delightful isn’t it, I spend a fortune to get it shipped here from Mars” he said casually as he sipped his own before setting it back down on the saucer.
“All the way from Mars? I hear they have some lovely tea-like plants here in the core.” She said mildly setting her own cup down. Though their words were very casual every sentence out of their mouths was a careful step in a deadly game. She remembered that whenever she had stood next to Greyson during meetings like this one that Domnall wouldn’t even address her presence. She and the old man before her had never actually spoken one on one, this was her chance to make a real first impression.
“Yes they do, but they lack a certain something that is only born on deathworlds like Earth.”
“I happen to have a few spare cases of Torweni tea if you’d be interested in trying the leaves of other deathworlds”
“That would be a real treat, but I’m afraid I must decline” he said softly, giving no hint as to why he would decline. Instead he turned the course of the conversation “tell me lass, do you play chess?”
She smiled “Of course, it is the ancient game of kings, once a tool used to teach young princes strategy, now a tool of strategy itself. One can’t do any business on Mars without knowing the rules to chess.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his cold eyes “a game of strategy, or a game of memory? One only needs to master a few opening gambits to become any good.” He challenged her softly, the first genteel incision in her ego. All carefully considered to tear her character apart and leave him victorious, she had seen him do it many times with Greyson.
“It’s a game of impressions, in negotiation it’s not about winning but how you challenge your opponent.” She countered smoothly.
A gentle nod of the head “Good, but if it’s all the same, I do hope you will try to win”
“Always”
They both set their tea aside and began to focus on the game before them, the old man took white and made his first move by moving a pawn in front of the king. A textbook move referred to as the Sicilian defense, she knew better than to trust any textbook response to the move. She had seen him and Greyson play this game many times, and it was always a loss on Greyson’s part. That was because Greyson had foolishly believed the old man’s jab about needing to memorize only a few opening gambits and had studied those moves hard in an arrogant attempt to beat Domnall. She had noticed very early on that Domnall only appeared to be making a textbook opening move, when in reality it was just a variant cleverly disguised as a textbook move. Of course she never told that to Greyson.
As she had learned to play chess she always referred back to those games between the two Terran pirates and used them to craft her own style of gameplay. One that often won her the match, and won her whatever deal she was trying to strike. She had known that she might one day need to dual with Domnall and had spent many hours coming up with a strong strategy for this day. She had the advantage because she had seen him play many times before, and he had never once before even spoke with her.
They made their first opening moves and after a few silent minutes he looked up from the game and fixed her with those dead eyes of his, reassessing his earlier opinions. “I see that you were watching us closer than I had thought. I’m curious how you managed it since I don’t remember you ever directly watching our games”
Aster smiled “the light behind me shines in such a way that I could always watch it in the reflection of the glass.” She said giving up her secret in a bid to earn a slight bit of respect from him.
He chuckled softly to himself “Clever, I will have to remember to close the blinds next time” he looked back down on the board and moved his rook to counter her most recent move and put her in a tough place. He always played like this, keeping the pressure up on his adversary throughout the game when a few different moves could have ended it much sooner. He did it to softly instill fear and dread into the hearts of his victims. But Astarte had stared down death far too many time to be played with like that though.
They passed a few more minutes in quiet contemplation, a clock on the mantel ticked by and right on cue he broke his attention once again to banter with his opponent “You know I must say I was surprised when the little ‘har who seduced my son in law came asking for a favor.” He said stressing the intonations on the word “‘har” to try and shame her. “It has been so many years since you betrayed him that I thought you were afraid to face me” he said tauntingly, now allowing a little of his devilish nature come out to play.
Astarte rolled her eyes with dismissal “I wasn’t the first young girl Greyson took to bed, but I certainly was the last” she said, letting her own devil out.
“No, but you are the one my daughter found out about, you’re the one who broke her heart.” He challenged, murder dancing in his eyes.
“Greyson slept with anything that vaguely identified as female and he never let his Missus know.”
“Are you saying he deliberately let his infidelity slip?” he growled.
“Yes, think back on the timing of that little revelation. It was only after I had parted ways with him and proven myself to be someone worth fearing that it came to light. Knowing him I say he was hoping you would kill me for him.”
His face frosted over “my daughter was inconsolable and heartbroken for months, and then you killed my son in-law before she could ever spit in his face”
Aster quirked an eyebrow “If you want, I still have his head. I can have it sent over if she needs the closure.”
His glower lasted a second longer before he barked a harsh laugh “Ye’ve got balls girl I’ll give you that.”
Aster smiled to herself internally, she had just navigated another dangerous gambit, and it had succeeded. She knew that there was no love lost between Donmall and Greyson, the bastard had usurped Domnall’s place as commander of the Terran pirates and had absconded with his daughter. Aster had watched firsthand as the man had demeaned and belittled the kindhearted woman, watched as Greyson tore apart her confidence and wore away at her self-respect, and then found a pretty pair of legs to jump into the moment she turned her back. At the time Aster had sneered to herself at the pathetic woman, she knew exactly who Greyson was and couldn’t find it within herself to pity her.
Aster reveled in her little victory, but kept her face still with some effort and made her next move. This one was designed to happen after that victory and used the old man’s tactics against himself.
Domnall softly shook his head “That whelp never knew how to treasure the truly priceless things in life. He was stupid and only desired money, woman, and booze. But you’re different aren’t ya. You know the true value of things. Tell me girl are you religious?” he asked as he now looked down at the board and saw the difficult position he had been placed into. His brows furrowed for a second before relaxing and moving one of his rooks.
Aster glanced briefly to the rosary around his neck, he always kept it on him and only rarely let it out. She knew that trying to curry favor by appealing to his apparent faith in God was a mistake, he could see through true impiety with ease and thought little of true faithful servants of God. This man had been a ruthless pirate for so long that any faith he still had was far too warped to make heads or tails of. He was a catholic man, but a wholly wicked one who sneered at what he called ‘blind sheep’.
“My mother was catholic and brought me to church regularly, and my other mother is an on again off again Christian. But I myself always identified more with the philosophies of Toolism, their more nuanced views on heaven and hell always seemed the most realistic to me.” She said truthfully.
He nodded, “Yes I could tell it was something like that, with names like Astaroth, Lucifer, Succubus, and Pandemonium, it was hard not to guess”
Astarte was about to move her queen when she heard him say Pandemonium, she jerked her head up a stared at the grinning old devil. She was so distracted by what he just said that she put the queen down on the wrong square.
He laughed softly “Oh yes, I know all about your little project.” He looked down and noted that she placed it down in the wrong place and instantly took advantage of that. “There wasn’t any secret of Greyson’s that I didn’t already know. When I heard that his little ‘har had turned on him and destroyed the pirate faction I had spent decades building, I wondered what had become of the world he had made into his base of operations? After what you did to the rest of the Terran fleet I expected to find only ashes, imagine my surprise to find that not only did you claim the world of Greyland for yourself, but you had even begun a proper colony. You even went so far as to have the planet renamed to Pandemonium, the name of the Devil’s palace in Hell.”
Aster’s eye twitched at this surprise revelation, “Better to rule in Hell than serve in heaven” she said trying to regain some control over the conversation.
“How arrogant” he moved a piece and took out her now exposed rook, four turns until checkmate. “Do you really think you can keep the existence of that place a secret forever? Eventually someone is going to leak the information, then what will you do? Are you planning to wage war with the Union to defend your little colony?”
She moved a piece to try and cover her king “I don’t need to keep it a secret forever, just long enough for it to be self-sustaining and developed enough to continue growing. After that then there isn’t much the Union can do to stop me, this won’t be like what happened on Trappist.”
Trappist had been the first extrasolar colony of humanity, a 11.5 deathworld only forty or so light years from Sol with titanic mammalian life. After many nations slowly began to join the Union warp technology began to circulate, and the Chinese government used that technology to establish their own colonies on some of the worlds larger islands. When the Union learned of this they sent a fleet to blockade the world, cutting off supplies to the planet, and embargoed China entirely.
Without regular supplies the colonies slowly disbanded and sent out calls of surrender to the Union and served an eight standard year sentence for illegal colonization. And the people’s republic of China disbanded after a refugee crisis caused by rising see levels flooded their coastal populations. The crisis and embargo turned into a civil war and genocide, which had required a Union occupation to end.
He moved his knight, two turns until checkmate “That’s not what I was asking girl, if your colony is discovered will you fight for it?”
She moved another piece to hold off his advance, three turns until checkmate “If I must.”
“It’s not a war you can win” he shot back and moved away one of his bishops defending the king to break her defense.
“Not alone”
He nodded his head serenely “So you do have allies among the Torweni. I had my suspicions. But they won’t be enough, what makes you so sure this won’t end in flames” he moved another piece, in two turns he would put her king in check.
Astarte glared at the board and saw the opening she had been hoping for “because I have been planning this for ages, and I don’t plan on losing.” She moved the ‘misplaced’ queen to capitalize on the opening he had made. “Check” she said softly.
His eyes widened and shot down towards the board, there he saw the opening he had left open. His eyes shot back to hers “you never really made a mistake, that queen was exactly where you wanted it” he hissed in shock.
Aster leaned back and picked up her teacup to take a sip, she enjoyed the sweet taste of caffeine and victory before setting it back on its saucer “I have been planning our match for years, I never came to face you because I knew it could only ever work once.” She said softly
His face darkened into pure murderous rage, Aster tensed her whole body and readied herself for anything the old devil had up his sleeve. They held each other’s gaze for a tense second before he broke down in laughter, not the hearty or polite chuckles he had shown before, but a mad cackle. “Years spent planning one chess match, and you want to waste it on petty revenge!” he barked incredulously.
“They hurt my crew; I will do anything to return the favor” she said darkly.
“Then you’re a fool girl, there are greater things in life than revenge!”
Her eye twitched. “You said it yourself, Greyson never knew how to treasure the truly valuable things in life. I do, and so do you.”
His cackle faded away “What are ye implying girl?” He asked venomously.
She smiled at him “Only that your grandchildren will love living on Pandemonium.” His pupils dilated and he clenched his fist, she noted all these signs of impending violence and pushed on “I have been working on a lovely new town just northwest of Temple city, Acheron. Beautiful red brick buildings with a charming gothic façade, and the trees native to the area turn the most vibrant shades of purple in the fall. Small town vibes mathed with all the amenities of city life. It would be an excellent place to raise kids, I think we just finished work on the school as well. Let see, Able will be turning six soon right, it would be nice for him to make some real friends.”
Rage boiled through the old mans veins and his hands began to shake “How long have you known?” he whispered hoarsely.
“Since the very beginning. The first is obviously Greyson’s, the second was from her new husband. He seems like a much better man than Greyson ever was.” She took another sip of her tea, watching him for any sudden moves.
She watched as he visibly calmed himself down with several deep breathes. “Which council votes are you certain of?” he asked.
“The Wrethren Terrors, and the Shadow League.”
He nodded “I can sacrifice a few pawns to gain the votes of Geshtum and Karis” he said, naming two of the three other council votes they had been hoping for.
“That should be enough to snare the remaining swing vote”
“It will, but what do you hope to gain from all this, any open war between you and the Aunviry would be disastrous. Victory would only come after great cost.”
“Open war would be too costly, I only want Ah’ared’s head and to take an exorbitant settlement out of Kazlum’s hide.” She had a lot of time to consider how she was to achieve her vengeance and concluded that they wouldn’t be able to gain any allies in a war against Kazlum, even the Wrethren Terrors wouldn’t want to join on her side. She had to settle for a symbolic victory that would further her goals.
He smiled “After all the trouble you have gone to get my support that’s all you want from them, and I thought your were smarter than that”
She held her hands out “My hands are tied, unless you have something to sway X’thar”
Most day-to-day matters were handled by the lower courts, civil disputes, petty violations of the Code, and other lesser misdemeanors. Major cases like her conflict with the Aunviry were handled by the Council of Nine, they were the balancing order to the whole confederacy. And above them was the leader of the Pirate Confederacy, King X’thar. In the code the position was supposed to be an elected post that was held for life, but in reality it was an inherited post held X’thar’s ancestors since the birth of the confederacy. The sitting King had so much influence over the affairs of the Council of Nine that he could essentially chose his successor. Officially the post was called the Office of the Grand Chairman, but since it has been passed down from one Chairman to another, everyone dispensed with the charade and called it what it was. The King controlled all the money that flowed through the station and gave it away to the people below him to maintain his power. He even had great control over the fleets of the confederacy and could command them in case of war.
The old devil smiled “In fact I do.” He withdrew a sealed envelope from within his vest and slid it across the table.
Aster took the envelope and looked through the contents held within; she felt her heart skip a beat as she realized what she held. “Why would you hold onto information like this?”
“Never had the right pawn to sacrifice, but you have just proven yourself worthy to bring this to X’thar’s attention. Everyone knows that Kazlum has been eyeing the king’s throne for years, this here should be enough for both you and X’thar to levee the power of the confederacies fleets against Kazlum. We might even be able to get some of Kazlum’s councilors to switch sides, or have them replaced with more suitable ones. And all I want is a tenth of whatever loot you take.”
It was at this moment that Astarte had realized that she had been played. She may have won their little match and achieved some symbolic victories over the old man, but none of that mattered. He had intended to use her from the very beginning to strike at Kazlum, and should she fail then the consequences would be on her, not him. Worst of all, Aster had no choice but to accept his offer and play whatever games he wished. Otherwise she would have gambled her one shot at true victory away.
“One tenth?” she asked.
“One tenth, and I would like to be allowed into Pandemonium and a guarantee of my family’s safety”
She extended her hand “You have it”
He took her hand and shook it firmly “It has been a pleasure playing with you, maybe when this is all over you and I can play another game.”
She stood up and replaced her hood and privacy field. Her mind raced with all the things this implied. Pirate wars between powerful factions were long and costly, and to defend the Capitols secrecy they were to be conducted far away. But if she did things Domnall’s way then all hell would break loose, if she went about this in the right way then she could sabotage Kazlum’s heavy hitter the Igrathoth and borrow the Confederacy’s power to destroy the rest of his faction. She and her fellow captains would have to plan things down to a tee, and use whatever advantage they could get their hands on. But when the dust settled there was a chance that they could stand victorious over Kazlum’s ruined empire.