Post by EmperorMyric on Mar 22, 2021 16:12:36 GMT
When E Pluribus Axioma contacted the Black Sail Organization following the events in Dectrothian space, the message was as short and concise as it could possibly have been. It was delivered by a single YW-class frigate. The vessel had simply FTLd to the nearest freeport and beamed a single databurst before departing through a wormhole. It kept such distance with the freeport that the message took several days to arrive and, when it did, it was a simple but precise set of coordinates and a timestamp. EPA wanted to talk concerning their high-profile .
Upon the arrival of BSO ships to the designated coordinates when the time came, a full 48 hours later, what they found were not the ships of the Operational Maneuver Group or even any of the secondary EPA fleets. Instead it was a single civilian cruise liner floating in deep space, registered to an unaligned flag of convenience belonging to a barely industrialized world despite being colossal in size. It was unescorted, the only ship that traveled alongside it was an equally enormous fuel tanker that was servicing the ship in deep space. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and passengers were onboard the ship, all unaligned civilians and crew. In fact, EPA was nowhere to be seen, which made the pirates first doubt that the coordinates were correct or suspect that it was a trap. However, the cruise ship soon contacted them with an encrypted message telling the BSO leaders take a shuttle to the liner, signed with the same encrypted key that had broadcasted the first message.
Quite strangely for a civilian ship, they did not demand any weapons to be left at the door and allowed Wolfgang and his armed escort in undisturbed. Such was the size of he ship that its interior was more akin to a touristical city, with linear beaches going across the lenght of the ship's massive decks. The interior was walled with hotels, strip malls, water parks and clubs which the passengers enjoyed and enormous holographic projectors made the interior of the ship seem as if it was outdoors on a tropical planet. What security was present were more akin to mall cops who were there for nothing much besides guiding the BSO crew to the first class section of the passenger cabin to meet with their EPA counterparts.
The first class "cabin" was easily the size of a small city. It was a single rectangular open space measuring three kilometers each side and containing within itself a full-size reconstruction of the entire Palace of Versailles and its surrounding complexes, complete with the forested areas, sprawling gardens and its huge cruciform lake. In this palace, security forces were more noticeable. Equipped with military-style gear, assault rifles, attack dogs and even armored cars, there had to be a full battalion of them complete with heavy weapons platoons. Yet they were not EPA either, they weren't even with Rangvald's private security. Just mercenaries from some remote and unimportant system, they kept their eyes on Wolfgang and his crew as they made their way through the Chateau itself and onto the garden. In the entire operation there was only a single EPA member involved, waiting for them at the grand stairway with a fairly informal look.
EPA crewmen, nevermind their generals and influential administrators, were augmented beyond recognition by bionics that made no attempt at even trying to pass off as human. As such they were seen by any other races as grotesque, looking more like an in-progress surgery than actual living people. The representative that met Wolfgang and his crew shattered this stereotype, he was simply a tall, tanned, middle-aged Afrikaner man slightly overweight and with a white beard. He wore a simple white dress shirt and khaki pants, a panama hat shielded his eyes from the enormous blackbody torch that simulated the summer sun above.
"Welcome aboard, gentlemen." He said in a deep booming voice, offering Wolfgang a handshake.
There were few things that could stir Wolfgang to immediate response. He was a cautious man, who’d built his criminal empire slowly and methodically over the course of many years. He wasn’t hot headed, and he didn’t jump to violence or extreme action. Unfortunately the same could not always be said of the rest of the council. Sol was quick to throw his Exiles into harms way when it served some perceived ‘greater good’. Jade would drop everything and fly straight into the Golden Expanse if the pay was good enough and the guarantee of death slightly less absolute… and Lethalon, for all her skills, all her charisma, and all of her well deserved reputation, was head strong. She believed herself to be infallible. Or at least believed she was far less consequential then she actually was.
Had it been Jade or Sol sitting in an EPA black site, Wolfgang would have been content to send out the death squads, the enforcers, and the subjugators to burn, murder, and pillage until a location could be discovered and a prison break mounted. But it wasn’t Sol or Jade. It was Lethalon Fucking Fairwind. The heir apparent and the only other person in the Organization who’d been there from the start.
Wolfgang needed Lethalon, more than she knew, and her incarceration was something that could not be allowed to persist indefinitely.
So, even though it went against his careful, cautious, back-up plans for back-up plans, style of leadership he dropped everything to go to the EPA’s meet. He left his flagship behind, arriving at the designated location in a stolen transport from an unaligned world no one was likely to give much of a damn about.
But that wasn’t to say he’d come unprepared for trouble. Even as the transport pulled away leaving Wolfgang and several dozen guards to go aboard the cruise liner there were already war ships on their way, ready to jump in if things went sideways.
Upon getting aboard the ship proper Wolfgang paused and glanced around the ship. With a wave of his hand most of the guard fanned out, disappearing into and looking for perches and vantage points from which to follow his every move.
By the time he reached the private ‘cabin’ the Black Sail Overseer was accompanied only by two… ‘guards’. Neither seemed particularly intimidating, the one on his left a young man with pale skin, a scruffy beard, dreadlocks, and a guitar case, and the other a darker skinned man with short hair and sunglasses. Both stank of cannabis, and both (judging by their demeanor at any rate) were stoned.
They followed Wolfgang into the cabin at a shuffling gait, cutting a very different figure to the immaculately dressed Rufus Wolfgang in his three piece suit. As they entered the palace itself both of Wolfgang’s tag alongs were immediately by the grand décor, and began poking and prodding at various wall mounts and light fixtures, discussing among themselves whether it was actual gold or some form of synthetic knock off. Both had to be herded along by Wolfgang, who despite the frequent delays, didn’t seem particularly bothered by either of the pair’s lack of focus.
Wolfgang himself spared the décor only a passing glance, as they made their way to the gardens. When their apparent host presented himself, Wolfgang left the two stoners to puzzle over which of the many plants were edible and approached the man, clasping his hand in a firm handshake.
He said nothing for the moment, his face was neutral, his eyes shaded by a hat of his own and further concealed behind the reflective lenses of a pair of stylish sunglasses. He released the man’s hand after an appropriate amount of time and silently waited for him to begin the meeting.
The private security followed Wolfgang's own groups, always keeping an eye on them and scooting around in their armored cars to get to alternative firing positions admist the perfectly trimmed vegetation and marble sculptures of the gardens. The two groups bodyguards, BSO's and EPA's, maneuvered around one another as if playing a game of cat and mouse without firing a shot, always trying to be in the best positions if shit hit the fan. The EPA representative couldn't help but let out a soft cackle at seeing them looking like paintballers constantly repositioning.
"Name's Christiaan De La Rey." He said, turning to Wolfgang again. "I believe anything I say doesn't hold much weight until I show you the proof of life, so let's get out of the way quickly."
He handed Wolfgang a small holo projector containing an image of Lethalon reading out the most recent block hashes from an unaligned blockchain. The blocks she read were mined little over eight hours ago, giving Wolfgang a fairly recent proof of life.
"She and her men are in good condition, our procedures are completely non-invasive and leave no lasting imprint whether physical or psychological." De la Rey said. "Upon her release you can conduct all the medical examinations you want, you'll find that Mss. Fairwind has been treated well."
Wolfgang glanced over the proof of life before handing it back. The situation had been complicated even further it seemed. Not only had Lethalon been captured, but apparently the EPA had been able to extract data from her. That would make things even more complicated. Even once he had her back it would be difficult to deal with rumors that she had been compromised... or whatever increasingly ridiculous rumors would begin to circulate out of the pubs, bars, and clubs.
Maybe he'd be better off just shooting the man where he stood, fighting his way out, writing Lethalon off as dead and cultivating a new second... but no. There was no time for that. It would take years to replace her, and Wolfgang suspected he didn't have years.
"I find meetings like this always go better over refreshments," He said at last. "Some coffee would be nice about now."
He didn't wait for an answer, removing his hat and taking a seat on the nearest chair.
"You've shown my Ms. Fairwind is alive," He said once he was comfortably seated. "But you haven't told me what happened to her vessels, and more importantly, what it is you want in return for her."
"The Dectrothian Empire handed over fourteen ships in total to us." De La Rey told him, remaining standing in front of the bench with a somewhat domineering posture and disregarding his request for coffee. "They did not want to inspect the vessels themselves for fear that their systems had been compromised so they handed them over to us. We lent them out to several companies for dismantling and inspection. The YAC Airframe Factory, Nishibashi Zaibatsu, Yamanashi Zaibatsu, Itokawa Zaibatsu and their subsidiaries. They will be taken apart and examined, the usual stuff. We kept one of the smaller ships to ourselves, assigned it to the 339th Instruction Fleet and it is being fitted to serve as a training aid."
He pocketed the projector and kept his hands in his pockets, looking at Wolfgang with a malicious, subtle grin.
"Her initial incursion into Dectrothian territory was part of a deal with AGA from what we have been able to gather. In exchange, she was to be given a certain type of shield technology by the Union, which I believe has been a recent development of them. Supposedly it is hardened against certain types of weapons used by APP powers, so I believe it is a good condition to set on her release. Give us the technology AGA promised you and miss Fairwind will be returned to you with utmost haste."
Wolfgang dug through the pockets of his suit and lit up a cigarette while the man spoke. He lit it, took a long drag, and tapped the ash off the end before finally answering.
"And this will cover the release of Ms. Fairwind, her crew, and the return of all of the vessels in question?"
De la Rey nodded, reclining against the marble lining of one of the enormous fountains. "Indeed. I believe it is a fairly reasonable offer. The blueprints, a fully assembled unit and a dismantled unit would be enough for us."
"We haven't had the time to manufacture prototypes yet," Wolfgang answered after taking another drag. "The blueprints are quite comprehensive. I wouldn't imagine you'd have any trouble manufacturing the shield with the blueprints alone."
De La Rey slowly shook his head, put a foot on the bench Wolfgang sat on and rested his elbow on his knee, leaning onto the pirate to speak. He was pretty close and looking rather pleased with himself, the way only a negotiator who was confident in his hand did.
"Wolfgang, there are plenty of things that we wouldn't have any trouble doing." he said, his breath smelling like mouthwash. "But this meeting isn't about what we can or cannot do or what is more convenient. It's about what we've considered a proper course of action for you to recover Mss. Fairwind as quickly and with the least problems as is possible. We do not want to have a situation where the shield does not work and we have to guess whether it's because of a manufacturing flaw or if you sabotaged the blueprints. We want two working shields, one of them assembled and the other disassembled. We'll build a third based on your blueprints and test all three. Once they are shown to work we will hand her over"
"Funny," Wolfgang said after another drag. "I don't believe I ever introduced myself,"
He paused to take a final drag on the cigarette before flicking the butt away into the gardens.
"The fact you know who I am despite the fact I've never introduced myself and have kept a decidedly low profile since coming to this galaxy says to me that you've extracted a great deal of sensitive information from Ms. Fairwind's head. You alluded to that much, but the extent of the information that's been compromised is far more than initially implied. The costs associated with... shall we call it damage control? The costs associated with damage control are already astronomical, and now you want me to not only hand over the blueprints to a prototype defensive system, but fabricate two functional prototypes as well. That's something of a tall order, especially when I'm expected to deliver plans and prototypes all in exchange for little more than a promise that Ms. Fairwind will be released."
He paused and pushed his sunglasses up his nose.
"As a counter to your proposal, I will provide you with the plans and in exchange Ms. Fairwind's impounded vessels will be returned to the Organization. When the prototypes are fabricated, I will hand them over in exchange for Ms. Fairwind and her crew and we can avoid beginning our business relationship on an unpleasant note,"
The EPA representative nodded with a pondering expression, staying silent for a moment so that the only noise heard was the rushing of the huge fountains in the palatial promenade and the chirping of the ecosystem of birds that lived inside the luxury cabin.
"I definitely would agree to that myself. I'm sure the administrators can twist the Rangvald Cartel's arm into giving up the vessels instead of dismantling them. There is only one thing that I should note"
He started rolling himself a cigarette, taking a small tobacco case from the pocket of his shirt.
"I would much rather this handover take place off the grid." He continued. "The Dectrothian Empire has been very cooperative in this whole matter and the administrators would like to build upon our friendship but at the same time they also want the ships. They would probably be upset at a mere handover. I prefer for there to be no handover at all." He rolled the paper in his fingers, looking at Wolfgang. "I prefer that an unfortunate mistake in cybersecurity by our logistical contractors ends up revealing the location of the ships to you while they're being transported to the storage yards."
"I am sure your men could use the morale boost of recovering their own ships in a daring raid." De La Rey tapped on the end of his cigarette to get rid of the excess tobacco. "And I am sure your organization as a whole could use a credibility boost after your past two encounters with us."
"I will caution you that the Dectrose's ineptitude can really be quite astounding. Nonetheless your position is understandable and your proposal is workable," Wolfgang answered with a nod. "I can even 'include' any prisoners we take during the raid as part of the exchange for Ms. Fairwind and her crew. Perhaps we can make it seem to any onlookers that the shield exchange never even occurred. You get the AGA's tech, and they're none the wiser. If nothing else a chance to strike back will mean that I won't have to listen to Mr. Cromwell's incessant complaining,"
He paused to think over everything momentarily.
"I'm prepared to agree to these terms," Wolfgang concluded finally.
De La Rey changed his expression to a satisfied smile and acquired a friendlier demeanor, extending his hand to Wolfgang for a handshake to seal a deal he believed the administrators would be satisfied with.
"I believe we have a working solution now, Wolfgang" he said
"So it would seem," Wolfgang said standing and shaking his hand. "I'll have the blueprints passed along shortly,"
***
The tension in the room was thick enough to be suffocating. You didn’t need to be good at reading situations to understand the source of the tension. And as good of a negotiator, and as charismatic as Wolfgang thought he was, he was sure even a deaf, dumb, and blind man could feel the hostility radiating off of Lethalon Fairwind. The so-called ‘Pirate Queen’ had caused Wolfgang no end of headaches recently. She’d gone off half-cocked at the Dectrose which had resulted in her capture. He’d negotiated her release, her crew’s release, and even had her ships returned more or less intact, and despite all that she was still angry.
He’d allowed the deafening silence in the room to persist longer than was necessary, trying to guess as to why exactly it was that the Pirate Queen was so upset. Finally, he decided he’d had quite enough of staring at the raven haired woman in silence.
“You seem upset,” He said finally, breaking the silence between them. She stirred in her seat, unfolding her arms and somehow managing to deepen an already deep scowl.
“Upset,” She said. “I’m not upset. I’m fucking livid.”
He never would have guessed.
“About?”
“About this whole fucking thing,” She growled. “I get locked up and you pay the fuckers off? The fuck is that about?”
“What would you have rather I’d done?”
“Burn the fuckers to the ground until they give up, or there’s nothing left to burn!” She snapped.
“I imagine you’d be much less alive had I chosen to do that,” Wolfgang answered simply.
“That a problem?”
Wolfgang remained silent for another prolonged period of time, mulling over the many lies he could concoct to try and soothe Lethalon’s bruised pride. But in the end he decided lying was perhaps not the best course of action. He’d lied plenty, and to many different people about many different things… but he’d never lied to Lethalon. It felt… wrong somehow to start now.
“Yes,” He said finally. “A very big one,”
He could tell by the subtle shifts in her body language that she hadn’t expected that answer.
“If you were dead,” He continued. “And I couldn’t lead the Black Sail Organization, what do you think would happen?”
“Sol would…”
“Sol would do nothing,” Wolfgang interrupted. “Sol cares for the Exiles first and everything else after that. To keep his beloved Exiles alive he needs Ripper Doc’s drugs. No one would accept Sol as leader because Ripper Doc has too much of a hold over him. And no one wants a drug chemist to be making the big calls for the Organization,”
“Jade then…”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you think Jade can lead the Organization,”
She turned her gaze away and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“It was a good deal,” Wolfgang said finally. “We’ve sacrificed a very contextual piece of technology in exchange for you, your crew, thirteen warships, and the possibility of future endeavours with the EPA. The profits alone…”
“Is it just about the money now?” She interrupted.
“What?”
“Money Rufus,” She repeated. “Is that all we care about now? Didn’t this used to be about more than just money?”
Another prolonged silence.
“Sarah…”
“No,” She said standing. “No, answer the question,”
“Money buys guns, money buys food, water, oxygen… money buys ships and missiles. Money pays bribes. Money is the lifeblood of the Organization,”
“So money is more important than honour now?”
“Money is more important than your fragile ego,” Wolfgang snapped. “You made a bad call Sarah and I bailed you out again. And now you have the gall to sit there and criticize the way I chose to save your ass?”
He regretted the words almost as soon as he’d said them. He could see he’d hurt her, but there was no going back now.
“If I die you are the only person who can hold the Organization together,” Wolfgang said finally. “That was what was really important here,”
Once again they lapsed into a prolonged silence. After several minutes, Lethalon stood.
“Now where are you off to?” He asked with an exasperated sigh.
“I’ve been cooped up for weeks,” She answered. “I’m going to go kill Skalia. Then I’m going to kill Gavin, and once that’s done I’m going to kill that bitch Terri. You know, the thing you should have done in the first place,” She turned and left without another word, leaving Wolfgang alone in his quarters aboard the Black Arrow. Even though she was back, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d lost her.
It didn’t bode well for the Organization. Not one bit.
Upon the arrival of BSO ships to the designated coordinates when the time came, a full 48 hours later, what they found were not the ships of the Operational Maneuver Group or even any of the secondary EPA fleets. Instead it was a single civilian cruise liner floating in deep space, registered to an unaligned flag of convenience belonging to a barely industrialized world despite being colossal in size. It was unescorted, the only ship that traveled alongside it was an equally enormous fuel tanker that was servicing the ship in deep space. Hundreds of thousands of tourists and passengers were onboard the ship, all unaligned civilians and crew. In fact, EPA was nowhere to be seen, which made the pirates first doubt that the coordinates were correct or suspect that it was a trap. However, the cruise ship soon contacted them with an encrypted message telling the BSO leaders take a shuttle to the liner, signed with the same encrypted key that had broadcasted the first message.
Quite strangely for a civilian ship, they did not demand any weapons to be left at the door and allowed Wolfgang and his armed escort in undisturbed. Such was the size of he ship that its interior was more akin to a touristical city, with linear beaches going across the lenght of the ship's massive decks. The interior was walled with hotels, strip malls, water parks and clubs which the passengers enjoyed and enormous holographic projectors made the interior of the ship seem as if it was outdoors on a tropical planet. What security was present were more akin to mall cops who were there for nothing much besides guiding the BSO crew to the first class section of the passenger cabin to meet with their EPA counterparts.
The first class "cabin" was easily the size of a small city. It was a single rectangular open space measuring three kilometers each side and containing within itself a full-size reconstruction of the entire Palace of Versailles and its surrounding complexes, complete with the forested areas, sprawling gardens and its huge cruciform lake. In this palace, security forces were more noticeable. Equipped with military-style gear, assault rifles, attack dogs and even armored cars, there had to be a full battalion of them complete with heavy weapons platoons. Yet they were not EPA either, they weren't even with Rangvald's private security. Just mercenaries from some remote and unimportant system, they kept their eyes on Wolfgang and his crew as they made their way through the Chateau itself and onto the garden. In the entire operation there was only a single EPA member involved, waiting for them at the grand stairway with a fairly informal look.
EPA crewmen, nevermind their generals and influential administrators, were augmented beyond recognition by bionics that made no attempt at even trying to pass off as human. As such they were seen by any other races as grotesque, looking more like an in-progress surgery than actual living people. The representative that met Wolfgang and his crew shattered this stereotype, he was simply a tall, tanned, middle-aged Afrikaner man slightly overweight and with a white beard. He wore a simple white dress shirt and khaki pants, a panama hat shielded his eyes from the enormous blackbody torch that simulated the summer sun above.
"Welcome aboard, gentlemen." He said in a deep booming voice, offering Wolfgang a handshake.
There were few things that could stir Wolfgang to immediate response. He was a cautious man, who’d built his criminal empire slowly and methodically over the course of many years. He wasn’t hot headed, and he didn’t jump to violence or extreme action. Unfortunately the same could not always be said of the rest of the council. Sol was quick to throw his Exiles into harms way when it served some perceived ‘greater good’. Jade would drop everything and fly straight into the Golden Expanse if the pay was good enough and the guarantee of death slightly less absolute… and Lethalon, for all her skills, all her charisma, and all of her well deserved reputation, was head strong. She believed herself to be infallible. Or at least believed she was far less consequential then she actually was.
Had it been Jade or Sol sitting in an EPA black site, Wolfgang would have been content to send out the death squads, the enforcers, and the subjugators to burn, murder, and pillage until a location could be discovered and a prison break mounted. But it wasn’t Sol or Jade. It was Lethalon Fucking Fairwind. The heir apparent and the only other person in the Organization who’d been there from the start.
Wolfgang needed Lethalon, more than she knew, and her incarceration was something that could not be allowed to persist indefinitely.
So, even though it went against his careful, cautious, back-up plans for back-up plans, style of leadership he dropped everything to go to the EPA’s meet. He left his flagship behind, arriving at the designated location in a stolen transport from an unaligned world no one was likely to give much of a damn about.
But that wasn’t to say he’d come unprepared for trouble. Even as the transport pulled away leaving Wolfgang and several dozen guards to go aboard the cruise liner there were already war ships on their way, ready to jump in if things went sideways.
Upon getting aboard the ship proper Wolfgang paused and glanced around the ship. With a wave of his hand most of the guard fanned out, disappearing into and looking for perches and vantage points from which to follow his every move.
By the time he reached the private ‘cabin’ the Black Sail Overseer was accompanied only by two… ‘guards’. Neither seemed particularly intimidating, the one on his left a young man with pale skin, a scruffy beard, dreadlocks, and a guitar case, and the other a darker skinned man with short hair and sunglasses. Both stank of cannabis, and both (judging by their demeanor at any rate) were stoned.
They followed Wolfgang into the cabin at a shuffling gait, cutting a very different figure to the immaculately dressed Rufus Wolfgang in his three piece suit. As they entered the palace itself both of Wolfgang’s tag alongs were immediately by the grand décor, and began poking and prodding at various wall mounts and light fixtures, discussing among themselves whether it was actual gold or some form of synthetic knock off. Both had to be herded along by Wolfgang, who despite the frequent delays, didn’t seem particularly bothered by either of the pair’s lack of focus.
Wolfgang himself spared the décor only a passing glance, as they made their way to the gardens. When their apparent host presented himself, Wolfgang left the two stoners to puzzle over which of the many plants were edible and approached the man, clasping his hand in a firm handshake.
He said nothing for the moment, his face was neutral, his eyes shaded by a hat of his own and further concealed behind the reflective lenses of a pair of stylish sunglasses. He released the man’s hand after an appropriate amount of time and silently waited for him to begin the meeting.
The private security followed Wolfgang's own groups, always keeping an eye on them and scooting around in their armored cars to get to alternative firing positions admist the perfectly trimmed vegetation and marble sculptures of the gardens. The two groups bodyguards, BSO's and EPA's, maneuvered around one another as if playing a game of cat and mouse without firing a shot, always trying to be in the best positions if shit hit the fan. The EPA representative couldn't help but let out a soft cackle at seeing them looking like paintballers constantly repositioning.
"Name's Christiaan De La Rey." He said, turning to Wolfgang again. "I believe anything I say doesn't hold much weight until I show you the proof of life, so let's get out of the way quickly."
He handed Wolfgang a small holo projector containing an image of Lethalon reading out the most recent block hashes from an unaligned blockchain. The blocks she read were mined little over eight hours ago, giving Wolfgang a fairly recent proof of life.
"She and her men are in good condition, our procedures are completely non-invasive and leave no lasting imprint whether physical or psychological." De la Rey said. "Upon her release you can conduct all the medical examinations you want, you'll find that Mss. Fairwind has been treated well."
Wolfgang glanced over the proof of life before handing it back. The situation had been complicated even further it seemed. Not only had Lethalon been captured, but apparently the EPA had been able to extract data from her. That would make things even more complicated. Even once he had her back it would be difficult to deal with rumors that she had been compromised... or whatever increasingly ridiculous rumors would begin to circulate out of the pubs, bars, and clubs.
Maybe he'd be better off just shooting the man where he stood, fighting his way out, writing Lethalon off as dead and cultivating a new second... but no. There was no time for that. It would take years to replace her, and Wolfgang suspected he didn't have years.
"I find meetings like this always go better over refreshments," He said at last. "Some coffee would be nice about now."
He didn't wait for an answer, removing his hat and taking a seat on the nearest chair.
"You've shown my Ms. Fairwind is alive," He said once he was comfortably seated. "But you haven't told me what happened to her vessels, and more importantly, what it is you want in return for her."
"The Dectrothian Empire handed over fourteen ships in total to us." De La Rey told him, remaining standing in front of the bench with a somewhat domineering posture and disregarding his request for coffee. "They did not want to inspect the vessels themselves for fear that their systems had been compromised so they handed them over to us. We lent them out to several companies for dismantling and inspection. The YAC Airframe Factory, Nishibashi Zaibatsu, Yamanashi Zaibatsu, Itokawa Zaibatsu and their subsidiaries. They will be taken apart and examined, the usual stuff. We kept one of the smaller ships to ourselves, assigned it to the 339th Instruction Fleet and it is being fitted to serve as a training aid."
He pocketed the projector and kept his hands in his pockets, looking at Wolfgang with a malicious, subtle grin.
"Her initial incursion into Dectrothian territory was part of a deal with AGA from what we have been able to gather. In exchange, she was to be given a certain type of shield technology by the Union, which I believe has been a recent development of them. Supposedly it is hardened against certain types of weapons used by APP powers, so I believe it is a good condition to set on her release. Give us the technology AGA promised you and miss Fairwind will be returned to you with utmost haste."
Wolfgang dug through the pockets of his suit and lit up a cigarette while the man spoke. He lit it, took a long drag, and tapped the ash off the end before finally answering.
"And this will cover the release of Ms. Fairwind, her crew, and the return of all of the vessels in question?"
De la Rey nodded, reclining against the marble lining of one of the enormous fountains. "Indeed. I believe it is a fairly reasonable offer. The blueprints, a fully assembled unit and a dismantled unit would be enough for us."
"We haven't had the time to manufacture prototypes yet," Wolfgang answered after taking another drag. "The blueprints are quite comprehensive. I wouldn't imagine you'd have any trouble manufacturing the shield with the blueprints alone."
De La Rey slowly shook his head, put a foot on the bench Wolfgang sat on and rested his elbow on his knee, leaning onto the pirate to speak. He was pretty close and looking rather pleased with himself, the way only a negotiator who was confident in his hand did.
"Wolfgang, there are plenty of things that we wouldn't have any trouble doing." he said, his breath smelling like mouthwash. "But this meeting isn't about what we can or cannot do or what is more convenient. It's about what we've considered a proper course of action for you to recover Mss. Fairwind as quickly and with the least problems as is possible. We do not want to have a situation where the shield does not work and we have to guess whether it's because of a manufacturing flaw or if you sabotaged the blueprints. We want two working shields, one of them assembled and the other disassembled. We'll build a third based on your blueprints and test all three. Once they are shown to work we will hand her over"
"Funny," Wolfgang said after another drag. "I don't believe I ever introduced myself,"
He paused to take a final drag on the cigarette before flicking the butt away into the gardens.
"The fact you know who I am despite the fact I've never introduced myself and have kept a decidedly low profile since coming to this galaxy says to me that you've extracted a great deal of sensitive information from Ms. Fairwind's head. You alluded to that much, but the extent of the information that's been compromised is far more than initially implied. The costs associated with... shall we call it damage control? The costs associated with damage control are already astronomical, and now you want me to not only hand over the blueprints to a prototype defensive system, but fabricate two functional prototypes as well. That's something of a tall order, especially when I'm expected to deliver plans and prototypes all in exchange for little more than a promise that Ms. Fairwind will be released."
He paused and pushed his sunglasses up his nose.
"As a counter to your proposal, I will provide you with the plans and in exchange Ms. Fairwind's impounded vessels will be returned to the Organization. When the prototypes are fabricated, I will hand them over in exchange for Ms. Fairwind and her crew and we can avoid beginning our business relationship on an unpleasant note,"
The EPA representative nodded with a pondering expression, staying silent for a moment so that the only noise heard was the rushing of the huge fountains in the palatial promenade and the chirping of the ecosystem of birds that lived inside the luxury cabin.
"I definitely would agree to that myself. I'm sure the administrators can twist the Rangvald Cartel's arm into giving up the vessels instead of dismantling them. There is only one thing that I should note"
He started rolling himself a cigarette, taking a small tobacco case from the pocket of his shirt.
"I would much rather this handover take place off the grid." He continued. "The Dectrothian Empire has been very cooperative in this whole matter and the administrators would like to build upon our friendship but at the same time they also want the ships. They would probably be upset at a mere handover. I prefer for there to be no handover at all." He rolled the paper in his fingers, looking at Wolfgang. "I prefer that an unfortunate mistake in cybersecurity by our logistical contractors ends up revealing the location of the ships to you while they're being transported to the storage yards."
"I am sure your men could use the morale boost of recovering their own ships in a daring raid." De La Rey tapped on the end of his cigarette to get rid of the excess tobacco. "And I am sure your organization as a whole could use a credibility boost after your past two encounters with us."
"I will caution you that the Dectrose's ineptitude can really be quite astounding. Nonetheless your position is understandable and your proposal is workable," Wolfgang answered with a nod. "I can even 'include' any prisoners we take during the raid as part of the exchange for Ms. Fairwind and her crew. Perhaps we can make it seem to any onlookers that the shield exchange never even occurred. You get the AGA's tech, and they're none the wiser. If nothing else a chance to strike back will mean that I won't have to listen to Mr. Cromwell's incessant complaining,"
He paused to think over everything momentarily.
"I'm prepared to agree to these terms," Wolfgang concluded finally.
De La Rey changed his expression to a satisfied smile and acquired a friendlier demeanor, extending his hand to Wolfgang for a handshake to seal a deal he believed the administrators would be satisfied with.
"I believe we have a working solution now, Wolfgang" he said
"So it would seem," Wolfgang said standing and shaking his hand. "I'll have the blueprints passed along shortly,"
***
The tension in the room was thick enough to be suffocating. You didn’t need to be good at reading situations to understand the source of the tension. And as good of a negotiator, and as charismatic as Wolfgang thought he was, he was sure even a deaf, dumb, and blind man could feel the hostility radiating off of Lethalon Fairwind. The so-called ‘Pirate Queen’ had caused Wolfgang no end of headaches recently. She’d gone off half-cocked at the Dectrose which had resulted in her capture. He’d negotiated her release, her crew’s release, and even had her ships returned more or less intact, and despite all that she was still angry.
He’d allowed the deafening silence in the room to persist longer than was necessary, trying to guess as to why exactly it was that the Pirate Queen was so upset. Finally, he decided he’d had quite enough of staring at the raven haired woman in silence.
“You seem upset,” He said finally, breaking the silence between them. She stirred in her seat, unfolding her arms and somehow managing to deepen an already deep scowl.
“Upset,” She said. “I’m not upset. I’m fucking livid.”
He never would have guessed.
“About?”
“About this whole fucking thing,” She growled. “I get locked up and you pay the fuckers off? The fuck is that about?”
“What would you have rather I’d done?”
“Burn the fuckers to the ground until they give up, or there’s nothing left to burn!” She snapped.
“I imagine you’d be much less alive had I chosen to do that,” Wolfgang answered simply.
“That a problem?”
Wolfgang remained silent for another prolonged period of time, mulling over the many lies he could concoct to try and soothe Lethalon’s bruised pride. But in the end he decided lying was perhaps not the best course of action. He’d lied plenty, and to many different people about many different things… but he’d never lied to Lethalon. It felt… wrong somehow to start now.
“Yes,” He said finally. “A very big one,”
He could tell by the subtle shifts in her body language that she hadn’t expected that answer.
“If you were dead,” He continued. “And I couldn’t lead the Black Sail Organization, what do you think would happen?”
“Sol would…”
“Sol would do nothing,” Wolfgang interrupted. “Sol cares for the Exiles first and everything else after that. To keep his beloved Exiles alive he needs Ripper Doc’s drugs. No one would accept Sol as leader because Ripper Doc has too much of a hold over him. And no one wants a drug chemist to be making the big calls for the Organization,”
“Jade then…”
“Look me in the eye and tell me you think Jade can lead the Organization,”
She turned her gaze away and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“It was a good deal,” Wolfgang said finally. “We’ve sacrificed a very contextual piece of technology in exchange for you, your crew, thirteen warships, and the possibility of future endeavours with the EPA. The profits alone…”
“Is it just about the money now?” She interrupted.
“What?”
“Money Rufus,” She repeated. “Is that all we care about now? Didn’t this used to be about more than just money?”
Another prolonged silence.
“Sarah…”
“No,” She said standing. “No, answer the question,”
“Money buys guns, money buys food, water, oxygen… money buys ships and missiles. Money pays bribes. Money is the lifeblood of the Organization,”
“So money is more important than honour now?”
“Money is more important than your fragile ego,” Wolfgang snapped. “You made a bad call Sarah and I bailed you out again. And now you have the gall to sit there and criticize the way I chose to save your ass?”
He regretted the words almost as soon as he’d said them. He could see he’d hurt her, but there was no going back now.
“If I die you are the only person who can hold the Organization together,” Wolfgang said finally. “That was what was really important here,”
Once again they lapsed into a prolonged silence. After several minutes, Lethalon stood.
“Now where are you off to?” He asked with an exasperated sigh.
“I’ve been cooped up for weeks,” She answered. “I’m going to go kill Skalia. Then I’m going to kill Gavin, and once that’s done I’m going to kill that bitch Terri. You know, the thing you should have done in the first place,” She turned and left without another word, leaving Wolfgang alone in his quarters aboard the Black Arrow. Even though she was back, he couldn’t help but feel that he’d lost her.
It didn’t bode well for the Organization. Not one bit.