DMHFV23

=Chapter 23=
==Dead Man's Hand: Family Values==
Archons Private Office
The Triad, Tharkad
District of Donegal
Lyran Alliance
9th April, 3058
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"I am sorry, your highness, but there is simply nothing we can do without risking potentially catastrophic consequences." the LIC director stood before Katherine Steiner-Davion, looking very much like a teacher trying to explain a concept to a particularly stubborn pupil, "Spacer's Guild ships and crews account for at least a third of our civilian shipping. And, with so many vessels called up for government service, we need every last one of them."
"Then seize the ships!" The Archon snorted, "Put our own people on them. I want the Guild to rue the day they crossed me."
"Your highness, if I may, the Guild doesn't care who they crossed by stopping our operation on Kowloon. In fact, they may not even know it was one of ours." the director continued, "The Guild has managed to maintain their independence throughout the Succession Wars. Despite the best efforts of everyone from Jerome Blake to your grandmother and even your father. Due to them being simply by being, well, indispensable. A Guild Interdiction, even a partial one would affecting only the JumpShips and DropShips they control directly, would cripple our economy and force us to release appropriated ships back to civilian service."
"But you just said that they don't know for sure that it was us?" asked Katherine
"Indeed, your highness, but that does not mean that they wouldn't find out. The Guild has had centuries to perfect the art of finding out who is responsible for what. If not for the fact that they seem singularly dedicated to their self-professed mission of maintaining interstellar trade, they would arguably be on the same level, power wise, as any of the Great Houses."
"How can such a situation have been allowed to come about, let alone continue for so long?" she asked
"That because, your highness, it is simply easier to have someone else deal with it. So long as the Spacer's Guild is taking care of training officers and crew to the same high standards as was expected during the Star League. Additionally their doing so universally and without distinction for nation of birth, it is one less thing the government has to do. Given just how many millions in there are, either as members of or trained and certified by the Guild, it would be a bureaucratic nightmare. By allowing the Guild to take up this burden of their own free will, it allowed our forebears to concentrate on trying to kill one another. All military and secure government ships are kept strictly free of Guild interference."Forebears
"So, in short, an independent Guild is preferable to a Guild under the control of someone else?" said Archon-Princess
"Exactly, your highness. The Guild is notoriously impartial, and would react the same to interference from anyone."
"Why take such an interest in this child?"
"There I can only speculate, but I have had my people back-tracking the career of this particular mercenary unit, and we have uncovered an incident on the planet Sweet Water. It is one of the more... forgettable worlds in the Bucklands Province. It appears that the mercenaries were instrumental in fending off a pirate attack. After which this Joker, handed a loaded weapon to a young woman who had been a prisoner aboard the pirates DropShip. The young woman then used said weapon to shoot dead the leader of the pirates, before she and an associate gave a very long and in depth accent of the various criminal activities that they had been privy to. It also appears that the young lady was a member of the Spacer's Guild, and they quickly sent a ship to restive both her and her associate from Sweet Water, while the other pirates were all executed."
"So, it's simple quid pro quo. She helped a member of the Guild, and they are now returning the favor?"
"That would seem to be the most likely examination, your highness. Kowloon has a rather substantial 'Belter' community, a relic of their days under the Rim Worlds Republic, so it stands to reason that they would have a noticeable Guild presence in the system."
"So, we can not risk any further direct action at this time." the Archon looked and sounded very much like a spoiled child who had failed to get her way, "Very well. Continue to monitor the situation for now, but I want to know the instant anything new comes to light."
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Port St. William, Coventry
Coventry Province
Lyran Alliance
9 April 3058
"It has been a while." Khan Martha Pryde looked at the face on the screen, "How is Huntress?"
"Cold." Chief Scientist Peri smiled weakly "I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me directly like this."
"Well, Etienne obviously considered this important, if he had you of all people contact me directly." her former sibko nodded, "And to have Kael Pershaw agree? You have my curiosity."
"You remember Star Colonel Nathan Roshak, quiaff?"
"Aff, he was a promising commander who 'allowed' himself to be taken as Bondsman by an Inner Sphere mercenary as part of a scheme to gain insight into, and a leverage over, the upper levels of the Federated Commonwealth."
"Well, he has been in contact with our Watch, and if what he says is true... it could have drastic ramifications."
"You had my curiosity, now you have my attention."
"If the information he has uncovered is true, and it apparently came from... the leader of abjured Wolves. Then while she was in the Inner Sphere, Natasha Kerensky had a daughter. A freeborn daughter. According to Nathan Roshak, the father was also a Mercenary of some... infamy, known only as the 'Bounty Hunter'. Although, obviously not the same individual who is active today."
"So, the Black Widow allowed herself to fall pregnant? Hardly something we can use against the Wolves, as she is dead."
"However, the child, a daughter is very much alive, and is indeed the very same mercenary who defeated Nathan Roshak in a Trial of Possession. She is also currently on Kowloon. The same planet as Nathan Roshak, having recently given birth to a daughter herself. There were, apparently, some form of complications during the birth, resulting in the Mercenary being surgically sterilized. However, her reproductive organs were saved, and are currently being used as a bargaining chip with the same abjured Wolves."
"Let me guess? She wants advanced weapons and OmniMechs?"
"Neg. She has tasked them to find a cure for Degnerative Neural Sheath Annihilation Syndrome, otherwise known as Cholmann's Syndrome, one of the so-called 'Incurable'. It appears that the ruling Duchess of Kowloon, a close friend and benefactor of the mercenary, has the syndrome, and has recently entered Stage Two. If the Wolves scan cure her, they get the mercenaries genetic legacy."
"Nathan Roshak believes that this offer is genuine?"
"Aff And what is more, he believes that she would be open to a counter-offer..."
"We save this useless noble, and we can claim the prize?"
"That is his belief, yes."
"Well, that certainly makes things interesting." Martha Pryde sat back in her chair, "Find out if such a cure is even possible. I do not want to tip our hand with nothing to show for it."
"And if it is?" Peri asked.
"Then we shall see who can make their offer first: us, or the Dezgra Wolves." said Martha.
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Category:Dead Man's Hand: Family Values
Category:Works by JA Baker