A Degree of Separation

[Cannonshop]

A Degree of Separation

"You know they're not going to listen to you, Milord."  Kath Cinereal254 fretted.  "They won't listen to anyone but-"

"They'll listen." I told her,  "if I didn't think they'd listen, we'd already be leaving for greener pastures."

I adjust my 'outside' clothes.  A black suit that hides the skinsuit layer and light medical exo under it.  "How do I look?"

She frowns at me, "You look like a man in an ill-fitting suit, sir."

"Well, that can't be helped." I tell her, and collect my cane from the clamps securing it.  "It can't be helped now."

In 3050, my brother Henry vanished to the Jade Falcons on Blackjack.  My oldest brother, Patrick,  died on Tamar only a couple years after that.  I was attending studies on Spider Moon when that happened, mother's suicide caught me by surprise.  At least Uncle Danny was available to handle the funeral arrangements.

I need the cane, because I'm a gravity-sick, brittle bone cripple with a congenital defect who needs help being comfortable on a planetary surface now.

I'm not supposed to inherit Kowloon, and given that I'm a cripple with a wasting disease? I well may find that being the sole survivor of the family line isn't enough to keep it from being given to a foreigner from the Federated Suns.  IF I'm very persuasive, they may consent to giving Kowloon itself, at least, to my mother's relatives instead of an imported foreigner…

The supports in the suit are there, to keep my fragile bones from breaking under the strain of one earth gravity on Tharkad.  It spoils the cut of my suit, but what else is there??

I have been summoned to the Capital, to face the Archon and her foreign husband.

My mother named me 'Elijah', and I am the last heir of the Ngo family, possibly forever, Heir to the Duke of Kowloon and Baron of Spider Moon.

It's gonna be  3054 soon, I'm seventeen years old, and I probably won't live to see forty.

---

Tharkad Spaceport keeps a number of pads and landing strips for smaller craft, and while I could have traveled here aboard something that needs the fifty meter blast pits, or the five kilometer long landing strips, I didn't.

This isn't to say I didn't make an impression.  Coming to the center of the Lyran Commonwealth aboard a Mako class corvette centuries after the last one was listed as 'lost' causes a stir, taking a modified Mark VII shuttle to the surface from that old warship?

Well…it is, as they say, attention getting.

I should've brought the Tracker class we salvaged over Herbania instead, that one has drop-collars, but I'd rather have the outer system militia using it for official duties.  The Mako's kind of useless for anything we really need ships like it for, other than furthering the family's reputation as lucky salvagers, and it'll make a decent bribe to the Archon to buy some favor, maybe.

Thing is, coming to a planet's surface after spending most of your life away from them, smells wrong.  Everything is too loud, and it's like you can really get the stench of unfiltered air that's gotten full of chemical leaks and gas phase excrement.

Even Kowloon, the 'habitable' world in my home system that I am technically heir to now that Pat's confirmed dead?  Smells wrong to me these days-but that might be more emotional than anything else.  Grandfather took charge of me when mom couldn't handle a handicapped child AND her duties to the Crown-when he died, she didn't put up much fight when the will put me with the Cartwrights out in the outer system.

I step through the concourse carefully.  Brittle bones means even a casual bump can be a medical emergency if it's hard enough to get through the shock layer on the skinsuit, and the exo's got very little padding to protect passerby who run into it (at least, hard enough to get through the wool and kevlar weave of my outer suit.)

It's a courtesy thing-you don't take up more space than you have to out in the outer system.

The Customs officer looks at my Eyedent, and at the long medical exemption tags linked to it, then she eyes me with something I've never wanted from a woman-pity.  "You're Clear Your Lordship." she tells me, "Please follow the red line through the terminal."

"Thank you." I nod to her, and shuffle my way on the carpet, the cane helping me look less foolish (I hope).

The Archon's summons said a week, so I'm only stuck her for a week…

It's going to be hell.

***

perspective shift to third person

Meanwhile in the Palace…

"Exempt? Why is this one on an exemption?"  Katherine was helping her mother go through the files on a group of nobility that were arriving to take charge of their fiefdoms.

"What is the coding?" Melissa asked offhand.

"Four M…"

"That is a medical exemption from service,dear, it means whomever it is, they may not survive training, never mind deployment.  A four category, you see? Unsuitable for any position in the LCAF, never mind the AFFC…which one is it?"

"Ngo, Elijah James."  Katherine commented. 

"Oh…ja…so he got his great uncle's sickness then. Pity about that.  There had been some hope that the defect died out for them.  Your grandparents on our side, his grandfather sacrificed much to protect them against Alessandro.  The Ngos are loyal."

"My grandparents, mother?"

"Dinh Ngo suffered for two years keeping the secret of where your Grandmother and Grandfather had gone off to in the periphery, his brother helped supply them while he was being tortured in Blackgate Prison." Melissa explained, "Mother used to get a bottle of the most horrifying liquor from old Dinh Ngo every year after his release.  I think she only cracked the seal on one, and that was when the Old Duke came back to Tharkad on a visit."

Katherine studied the image on the file, of a young man who was too thin, with hollow eyes under black hair.

Visibly sickly, she felt a surge of disgust at the sight. "Loyal?" she asked.

"Very loyal, also very problematic, his being the last one, their family firm provides much of the industrial tooling that has kept the Realm's factories going through four succession wars, Katherine, I'm not going to set you up with him, so stop worrying, Victor says you're making time with Galen Cox, and I approve."

Katherine laughed, "he's Arthur's age anyway-practically a child!  Maybe more appropriate to consider Yvonne!"

"I would not do that to Yvonne." Melissa said quietly, "not with what that boy has."

"What is it? Leukemia? Cancer?"

"Cholmann's syndrome.  That young man will die in agony before the age of forty, and there's nothing anyone in eight centuries has been able to do about it.  If he were healthy, however, I would consider him for your sister-Ngo Enterprises is a major tooling and shipping contractor in the realm, and Elijah there? Look at his testing stats.  Upper ninety ninth percentile for raw intelligence."

"Which is worth..what?" Katherine asked.

"His GT score is higher than Doctor Banzai's posted numbers.  If that young man were healthy, he would still be worth more to the realm away from any battlefields…and he brought a warship here, for the realm."

"A…Warship??"

"It's a salvaged Mako class recovered from a dead system in the periphery, but his efforts got it working and he's brought it as a gift for the nation." Melissa stated, "I assume, because he wants something."

"Mother…can I take a break?" Katherine asked, "If it is alright for you?"

"Go ahead, I think I can finish this pile of paperwork on my own, go have some fun dear."

***

"He needs to be in a hospital, Mels." Hans Davion said, scowling, "not limping into court to swear into a job you, or Victor, are going to have to re-fill in less than twenty years!"

"What's really bothering you, dear?" Melissa asked.

"The kid brought a salvaged warship and invited an inspection team to start the process of acceptance trials." Hans said sullenly, "He's valuable but he's also spent maybe a grand total of seventy hours planetside since his grandfather died eight years ago."

"You want him for NAIS." she said.

"I do." Hans nodded.  "His GT score is higher than Banzai's and he's medically unfit to go haring off on dangerous adventures, which means he can be stuffed in a lab and kept working."

"I prefer him working where he's working, dear." she said sweetly, "This ceremony's a formality, He's one of the reasons our munitions are on-time to the Clan front, and your man Stonecipher swears he's a 'talent' for administration, not just the hobby engineering he does on the side."

"Hobby engineering, you mean the warship." Hanse nodded.  "He didn't salvage it, did he-or if he did, it wasn't in exactly flyable condition when he found it."

"Exactly, dear and my Lyran pride tells me that I ought not let you drag all of the talented geniuses to New Avalon…besides, if you can find a way to drag his brother Henry back…"

"Henry's been a Jade Falcon since 3050, Melissa, you may as well ask me to figure out how to get your cousin Phelan back while I'm at it-actually, Phelan would be easier, he might actually want to come home."

***

[Cannonshop]

[out of story/author's notes]

Yeah, there's no Lizzie the Black Duchess in this version, instead it's Elijah Joshua Ngo, third son of the late Duke David.

Changing Liz into a guy changes a shit ton of things, both in terms of who he's going to know, and what those relationships are like.  Among other things, after his grandfather died, he wasn't sent to live with mom-and-dad as a military brat, he was fostered to the people of the outer Kowloon system instead.

I'm still prodding to see what other things change radically, but one of the big ones, is that as a sickly, frail and draft-exempt man, Elijah's not likely going to get the same kind of slack Lizzie got by being an underestimated woman.

[Cannonshop]

Archon's Christmas Ball, 3053…

Elijah Ngo was one of the few men here who didn't have an Academy Rag or a Uniform.   He limped awkwardly, leaning on his grandfather's cane-a bit over a meter of Elbar bluewood with a silver handle and a flexible tip.

One would almost miss the medical support exoskeleton under his outer garments.

He didn't take a drink from one of the passing stewards, he simply limped awkwardly in his own 'space', like a shadow lurking through the crowd.

Well, slowly lurking, maybe 'shambling' would be more appropriate.

"Eli!!" a familiar voice attached to a familiar face. 

Daniel Brewer had a tall girl on his arm.  "Daniel.."

"Daphne, this is the guy I was telling you about, Eli Ngo the only kid I've ever seen kicked out of boarding school for bullying the Bigger boys."

"It wasn't bullying-Francois was just a dick." Eli said, "You've been duke since '51, Danny, what's up?"

"Her Majesty sent the invitation and Marshall Gareth-my Regent, told me I should come."  Daniel told him.

"Were you injured?" Daphne, his friend's 'date' asked.
"Seven years of low gravity environments." Eli told her, "turns out there's side-effects."

"Daffy, that Mako out in orbit? Eli here brought it to give to the Royal Family!" Daniel asserted, "Eli, they letting you keep the whole system, or are you just 'baron of Spider Moon and the Outer system'?"

Elijah shrugged, "Don't know yet." he said, "I'm pretty sure Her Majesty's going to want to find someone for the main planet, being as I haven't been downside there since Granddad died except to talk to Colonel Stonecipher about some grievances from the rural areas."

"How did that 'talk' go?"

"I taught him some ballistic math and reminded him where the 'mech hangars are-he agreed to ease up on the farmers." Elijah said blandly.  "I expect Her Majesty or Her Majesty's foreign husband will want to put someone else in the Ducal seat after that-one is not supposed to threaten one's Regent with orbital kinetic bombardment over a bunch of tax protesters."

"Told you, Daffy, Eli's a tough minded little son of a bitch, I'm damn glad we're friends." Daniel said it in that tone you hear from a guy bragging about being friends with the bass player in the band.

"SO YOU brought the warship to Tharkad? How did you afford it?" Daphne asked.

"I helped salvage it.  We found it in the outer oort of the Herbania system where it had drifted, we found a few others, but that one was in best shape, it'd been there since she was lost during the Commonwealth/Rim Worlds conflict.  The hull was shot up, the sublight drives were a mess, but the core was intact and it wasn't really that hard to fit helium tanks and get it working well enough to bring it home to the service yard in the Kowloon system." Eli said awkwardly.  "Just…y'know, doing the work.  I figured giving it to the Crown would keep them from just taking it.  That was when I was fifteen, after I'd already threatened my Regent. Took most of the last two years to get it dried in and repaired."

"Why were you out there?" she asked, fingering her Sanglamore rag.

"We were looking for shipyard parts..well, the guys I hired were, anyway.  My family are famous for salvaging industrial gear and reconditioning it for the Realm-Danny's folks buy from us pretty often."

Daniel frowned, "We're all Lyrans here, Eli.  You do more than just 'salvage'."

"Gotta start somewhere Daniel." Elijah said, "I've got good engineers, but if we're ever going to recover some of those capabilities having a look at what WAS done before helps, and I can't just go ask Ioto or Lockheed to let me tear their jumpcore machinery apart to satisfy my curiosity-not with a war on."

"Did you find it?"

"You looking to go into the warship business?" Elijah asked, "Because I'm not inclined to become target number one for the next round of nuclear annihilation, but I'll be happy to sell to anyone who does…"

"What?" Daphne was a little shocked.

Daniel stepped in, "Ngo Enterprises doesn't make weapons, Daffy, they make the tools for others to make the weapons."

"Oh.."

"We don't compete with our customers because if we do, they stop being customers." Elijah added, "I got some info, like how the Rimjobs were able to build their Pintos so inexpensively, especially compared to everyone but the Terrans, and I'll be putting that up for sale as soon as we've proved it out…so yeah, Danny, the trip was multi-productive stuff."

A Guard approached, "Elijah Ngo?"

"That's me."

"The Archon will see you now."

Elijah nodded to his old acquaintance and Ms. Rowe, then followed.

***

"...salvaged a warship and restored it, so I want to know what you're holding out on." Her Majesty Melissa Steiner-(davion) stated tartly.

"Just the one, your majesty." Elijah said, "So far."

"So far?"

"We're confidential here, Majesty?" he asked, "I mean, no servants besides your bodyguard, nobody who'll talk?"

"I assure you, discretion is intact."

"I think I know how to build more of them." he told her, "For a lot less than the realm is spending on the Fox, and maybe, some of those methods can make the foxes cheaper to build too."

"What's it going to cost me?" Her Majesty asked.

"Permission, mostly." Elijah said,  "a funny thing about being the chairman of a corporate board for a firm with its own industrial espionage department.  Kowloon needs an heir who isn't going to die young, and my company spies tell me Henry was spotted on Tukayyid, fighting for the enemy."

She blinked, "that's classified."

"Yeah, hence my questioning your security, Your Majesty-if i could find out that, what else is leaking out of Mount Asgard…or even the Palace itself?"

"You want to risk a mission to bring your brother home?"

"I want permission to organize it, equip it, and launch it, because national resources must be devoted to National Priorities, and getting my brother back and deprogrammed from this cult he's joined is not a national issue…but launching that kind of mission might be a problem for your foreign policy if we're caught, or even if we aren't."

"If I say no?"

"Then you told me not to." he said, "I understand there are larger considerations, and I accept it, but I have to ask."

"Are more ships contingent on that?"

"No." he shook his head in denial.  "They're separate considerations, Ich Bin Lyraner, Your Majesty, and the realm is invaded.  I will not hold back in supporting my nation against an invader…especially not for personal, selfish,  reasons.  I will build the shipyards and if you let me, I will build ships for the realm, I will HAVE to charge something for them, but I doubt it will be excessive, seeing as profits aren't worth much to people wearing a bondcord."

"The matter of the Ducal seat for Kowloon, Elijah." she said, "You're going to die young, we both know that…"

"Yes, your majesty." he said, "I would ask that you consider Evelynn Mosovich for the position, she was Patrick's…fiancee, and would have been his wife if he'd lived…"

"I'll consider her for the position." Melissa promised, "are you certain?"

"I'm seventeen, I'll be eighteen in February, I know enough to know that I've got to address this before someone 'older and wiser' addresses it for me-and I asked people whom are older and wiser about it, Evvie's on patient status and she's going to be needing reconstructive surgery for several years, so she's not likely to be killed in combat between now, and when she needs to take on the job."

"And your own barony? Have you given any thought at all-"

"Yes'm." he said, "I'm sure someone will crop up who can tolerate me sooner or later, but if the right girl doesn't turn up, well, a sperm sample in the freezer and hire someone to contribute the other half.  In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly what the ladies would call a Catch Your Majesty.  I figure a political marriage with someone who can hold off the nausea long enough and it's taken care of."

"That is…remarkably cynical of you, Elijah."

"I can see holovids, I know what's considered attractive. I ain't it so any 'match' isn't going to be like yours, your majesty-love matches aren't in my cards, so I'll go for somebody looking for crass things like wealth or influence instead.  The syndrome's a recessive, so the odds are against my kids having what I have regardless of who steps up to carry them in exchange for financial security and what little political influence a border lord who can't wear a uniform has."

"My finding then.  You will be swearing in as the Duke of Kowloon.  My command to you and your commission, is to build the infrastructure for the fleet.  Your choice of backup is acceptable to the Crown for the moment."  Melissa told him, "and thank you for not carrying out that threat on your Regent.  Colonel Stonecipher will be reassigned upon your return."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Elijah bowed his head.

"Just…one thing…would you have?"

"Eh, we don't know do we, because he caved so I didn't have to-but if I had to? Well…in 2769 we dropped rocks on the Rim Worlds garrisons as part of the independence war against Amaris, and I know where to find more rocks." he said, "but I didn't have to throw rocks to pull your husband's man back onto the straight and narrow, so we don't have to find out, do we?"

"Quite right."

Dismissed from the personal pre-swearing meeting, Elijah left the office.

Hanse stepped through the secret door near his wife's desk. 

"Well?" Melissa asked.

"The kid has potential." the First Prince observed.  "He didn't ask for the waiver."

"I never let him lead the conversation in that direction." Melissa stated.
"He's got more salvaged warships. He's going to want to use them." Hanse stated, "I know that, because when I was seventeen I'd want to."

"I know…he doesn't know yet though. There's time." Melissa stated.  "The report on his brother, that was your leak?"

Her husband shook his head, "No, and it does suggest we've got a few leaks more than we can afford."

She frowned, "Molehunt?"

He nodded, "yes, we need to call in the molehunters."

To Be Continued

[eriktheviking]

An intriguing change in casting that left me wondering how this will influence events.

[Euphonium]

I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[lowrolling]

Count me in on this ride, I will be here cheering on Elijah and the molehunters. Hanse's man narrowly missed out on a pretty unique rock concert.

[paulobrito]

Color me interested. In this timeline variation Hanse is still alive? Interresting.

[Daryk]

Yikes!  I am SO behind on editing!

[Cannonshop]

Yikes!  I am SO behind on editing!

NOt your fault, I had a long night of no sleeping last night and it kind of churned through. (though I didn't post EVERYTHING...yet.)

[Daryk]

I'll catch up when I can... I'm a little toasty from work today, but I should be able to focus tomorrow (plus, I don't have to work on Friday, so I don't have to worry about spinning down at a reasonable hour). :)

[Dave Talley]

Tag

[mikecj]

Thank you, this is a nice jaunt through the tesseract of the Ngo Saga.

[DOC_Agren]

Tagging on the Elijah Ngo story

[Cannonshop]

Donegal, February, 3054…


"...of course Your Grace." Elijah was on layover, doing a service call of a sort.  Margaret Doons was one of his Grandfather's friends from long ago, and a reliable client of Ngo Enterprises.

"So how does the title feel now you're carrying it for real?" Margaret asked.

"Heavier in standard gravity, ma'am." he confided.  "I can't move the planetary capital off the planet to Spider Moon, because now I have to do the damned job-they're recalling Stonecipher."

"And you'll have to repair the damage he did." Maggie Doons observed.

"Yeah." he winced, "Less than I might've.  Li's people surface-side have been keeping me updated along with Vanh's people, and I decided not to push on the theft when I could address the issues that were destabilizing things instead."

"It's a good thing you didn't go overboard, young man."

"I threatened him with orbital kinetic kill weapons and showed him the math for targeting." Elijah confessed, "also told him we had an experimental targeting apparatus that could maybe hit his Marauder from a thousand kilometers up-someone must be working on it, because he believed me."

"You did have that Mako." she noted, "The one you gave the Archon."
"Yeah, but I also know orbital bombardments from warships require getting into the interphase and that blinds sensors."

"He probably didn't know that." she said, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

"And lose a perfectly good threat? No." he shook his head.  "Her Majesty asked if I was really ready to carry through on it…and I told her that it was good I didn't have to find out."

Maggie laughed, then sobered, "You would."

"I don't know that." he admitted.  "I was angry enough…maybe.  But I really wanted him to take the offer instead.  I was armpits deep in a restoration project and I really truly did NOT want to clean up the aftermath."

"You're still going to be cleaning up an aftermath, Elijah." Maggie told him.

"Yeah, but this one doesn't come with civilian deaths.  I can live with spending a lot of money on rebuilding a few services and some infrastructure, rather than paying off grieving families because I had to do something drastic."

"Speaking of spending a lot of money…" she prompted.

"I can offer you seven billion Kroner for the rights to Donegal's cometary belt, as part of the infrastructure project Her Majesty charged me with." he said.

"The..cometary belt?"

"Rare earths, minerals, and water-ice." he explained, "it's almost untouched but it IS your property and I want to buy the rights to lease out.  What I've been charged with by Her Majesty is going to be resource intensive and frankly, if I rely on surface-scratch mining it'll take me longer than my projected lifespan to even get started, never mind finished."

"I want a royalty on all finds." she stated.

"Two percent."

"Five or no deal."

"It's unsurveyed, Your Grace, and you don't have the Spacers.  Two and a half."

"Three, and I'll expedite support for your wildcatters, Elijah." she offered.

"Three is doable." he nodded.  "I'm going to be financing them with loans, is there going to be a problem getting the product to market?"

"I don't think so." she said, "Bob Langenecker owes me a few favours, and making him owe me more is a lovely game."

"Seems like a dangerous game." Elijah noted.

"Seems and is are two different things, Elijah, I know your grandfather taught you to be a castellan, not a Lord." she asserted, "You're a Lord now.  Do you know what a Lord without followers is?"

"I know this one, 'A Noisy and obnoxious beggar'." Elijah answered.

"Well, Old Dinh didn't leave you completely ignorant." she said with an approving look.  "You're not gay are you?"

"Ma'am?"

"No publicity, no girlfriends…" she counted off, "You're eighteen and the press never so much as caught you going to a prom."

He blushed, "Ma'am, I'm not gay, I'm just not attractive-girls don't go for guys with spun sugar bones and short lifespans who can't wear a uniform."

"Lies." she said.  "Media Lies, mostly because the Realm wants young men to idolize soldiers so that they'll show up for induction to be sent to the front lines in hopes of attracting pretty women who will want to have their babies."

"I'm also defective, ma'am."  He said seriously.  "The same thing that killed Great Uncle Truk."

"So how have you been managing it-the urges, I mean?" she inquired.

"Escorts." he told her, "No emotional ties, they're usually on contraception and aside from previously agreed upon payment, there's no expectations.  Nobody grieves when I die screaming, like an animal, no wife to become frustrated because of the hours I must work to get everything done.  YOU were Grandfather's guest when the decision was made, if you recall, he took custody for reasons, and those reasons didn't stop being reasons when the decisions were made on where to put me after his death."

"You Goat!" she laughed delightedly, "You're so considerate, maybe it IS a symptom, your great uncle was the same way!"  she sobered, "It didn't work out well for him in the end, Elijah.  You need to think more dynastically."

"Meaning what, exactly?" he asked.

"You won't die without leaving a ripple, Elijah, no matter how hard you try to manage it.  Nobody who uses their potential ever does."

"There's always a first time, Lady Doons." he said.

It only took the lawyers forty six hours to finalize the legal details, by which time, Elijah was already heading to the jump point to catch a ride on a commercial hauler on the Donegal to Coventry route.

***

MS Lorra Nieves, Donegal to Coventry route, day 21…

Elijah's shuttle was in a rented space docked in the jumpship's small craft bay, while he was in the main habitation ring of the old Star Lord class vessel, a passenger paying a premium rate to the ship's master…

And a creditor reviewing a mortgage.

"Captain Stiers, good morning."  Elijah floated into the command deck.

"Is it?" Percival Steirs knew the mild young civilian in a way the contract crew didn't, mostly because Eli Ngo didn't 'throw it around' that he was aboard this ship to review their profitability in preparation for a possible refinance of a ship's mortgage and insurance that had begun sometime in the late 29th century.

"I think so, you have six collars, all loaded with paying customers, I've got some doubts about some of the maintenance conditions, but nothing that will cost too much to correct, and your books looked good when I examined them last night.  I'm inclined to intercede with Ms. Whyte to get you that interest reduction loan."

"Interest Reduction?"

"Loans exist to be paid off, at least, when you take one-of course, for those making the loan, keeping a debtor in debt perpetually is more the inclination.  Your application for a maintenance refinance will be approved as soon as we reach Coventry and I can get on the horn to the Loans and Insurance department, but I want to sell you a different loan, one that has a more liveable percentage rate and easier terms." 

"What's your catch?"

"There will be certain obligations with it." Elijah admitted, "Nothing that will screw you over, but they will be obligations."

"Nothing illegal I hope?"

"No, you might even say these obligations will be patriotic in nature.  They'll include certain exclusive jobs that will pay, at least, if you have issues getting enough decent transits-enough to keep you solvent…and you'll have to stop off periodically to have maintenance done at facilities of my choosing."

"So charging on the maintenance?"

"No." Elijah shook his head, "More like 'getting maintenance so you don't have to smuggle sezzanine precursor in the tool cabinets next to number five Sail pylon to make your budget'."

Percival froze, "that is oddly specific…"

"Yeah, I found it when I did my spacewalk yesterday." Elijah said, "I don't mind if a debtor takes on some contraband work, what I mind, is when someone I'm hoping to do more business with, feels they are forced to carry one of the hardest, most addictive drugs known to man in order to stay afloat.  If you were choosing to do it for a little extra? Who am I to judge?  I'm not going to report it…but, if someone is forcing this? Then I have a problem…with them...I'm not going to ask you for a cut, but I will insist you put more effort into concealing it in the future, and part of my conditions is that we're going to make sure if you do any more smuggling, it's because you want to, not because you  feel you must."

'And part of that is offering me…"

"Free or Cheap maintenance and upkeep, regular safety inspections, and extremely legal and legitimate work from time to time that is profitable-and a low interest loan you might be able to pay back in your lifetime, something your ancestors were unable to secure."  Elijah explained, "See, I knew you'd be carrying something illicit when I came aboard, because small operators don't make enough to be fully self-sufficient in the current environment.  As I stated, I have zero problems with you choosing that, if it's actually your choice.  God only knows, it's hard to succeed well enough to find a comfortable retirement, after all, especially with the levels of debt small outfits have to live with-outfits like yours where the capital investment in equipment is more than some Dukes can afford…so is it the Malthus, Von Jankmon, or Morrison syndicates I have to come to an understanding with?"

"I…they'll KILL ME if I talk!'

"Oh, Malthus? Lovely.  You must have a contact man, you will make introductions." Elijah said, "and in return, your mortgage will be dropped to point-three percent interest, with a chit for annual safety and maintenance inspection at the Kowloon Boojum Yards in the Kowloon system for next year's Decade-level check, free of charge, with a reduced rate on any parts or component replacements so you're up to full snuff."

"If I say 'no'?"

"I hold your mortgage, I am in this to make money, Captain.  I can make a fast profit by collecting the bounty on a smuggler and auctioning the ship, or I can make a steady profit helping you make lots of money legitimately without fear of Malthus leg-breakers showing up to force you to carry their goods free of charge.  Your choice.  If I leave it to Ms Whyte, you'll be in front of a Magistrate on your way to Blackgate as a smuggler, and generations of your family's toil will be sold off, likely to one of the major lines, at a loss to you, since you'll still be on the hook for your debts, but in prison with no way to pay them."

Elijah held each hand open as he spoke, then, "I prefer it if you remain in business, paying a lower interest rate to carry legitimate cargoes, but…it's your option.  As a man who's raised with a family business, I have a soft place in my heart for family operators, especially the ones who've stood up to the big corporations."

To Be Continued...

[nerd]

I'd rather have a mortgage through Ngo Industries subsidiary than Hortalez et Cie.

[DOC_Agren]

I'd rather have a mortgage through Ngo Industries subsidiary than Hortalez et Cie.

Not remember them at the moment from Traveller, more info??

[Cannonshop]

Interlude: Criminal Syndicates in the Commonwealth, 3047-3054…

The Various Malthus Cartels

What is often overlooked in the crisis of the Clan Invasion, is the influence of criminal and illegal activities within the Lyran Commonwealth member-state of the Federated Commonwealth as an alliance.

While the once-nearly ubiquitous problem of the Malthus syndicate was nearly eradicated by Clan Jade Falcon's conquest of Dustball, many of their subsidiary or 'satellite' operations continued in the Commonwealth proper, especially in the coreward regions of Coventry Province and the Protectorate of Donegal.  The massive disruption of the central leadership left local leadership with openings for advancement in the remains-and a lot of competition, not a small amount of which resulted in a series of 'shadow conflicts', gang wars, assassinations, and betrayals often concealed from public view by the impact of the Red Corsair raids and the national state of emergency.

With the power vacuums that resulted the factions that got too noisy trying to fill them found out very quickly how bad an idea that was so close to an active front with so many federal troops now in the region.

This created a process of natural selection that left groups, many technically splinters trying to make their own names for themselves. Many of the ones left were now all the more dangerous as they knew how to avoid getting too much attention while still enforcing their rackets. Others were more than happy to hand over information about the Clans in exchange for officials looking the other way, how accurate or out of this information was varied syndicate to syndicate but with LIC working overtime it was often accepted at face value in an effort to gain any sort of advantage on the Clans during these early years of the Invasion.

Further away from the front though new opportunities arose. With federal and militia forces focused on the Clan threat the likes of Hopper Morrison found an influx of new opportunistic business partners along with the survivors of the bandit kingdoms helping bolster their numbers creating yet more strife and havoc for ordinary citizens to endure with little respite or response from the central government that was now suddenly too busy to do their usual anti-piracy patrols.

The Von Jankmon Cartel

While they had no direct connection to the Von Jankmon bloodhouse of Clan Jade Falcon, the Von Jankmon cartel took the name out of a strangely patriotic spite against the foreign invaders.

Their main racket was highly risky but highly profitable smuggling into and out of the occupation zone. In goes narcotics and luxury consumer goods that are now in short supply in the invasion zone.

How long this cartel can keep this up is an open question as each jumpship seized is one closer to their cartel being permanently busted which causes them to heavily ‘lean’ on independent merchant vessels and co-opt them into their illegal smuggling rings with various intimidation tactics.

In the meantime they are more than happy to supply information to Lyran officials.

Available information indicates a high likelihood of this syndicate being headquartered on Barcelona.


The Territories-[cartel]

The Cartel most often referred to as 'The Territories' is suspected by Lohengrin to be headquartered or affiliated with Morrison's Extractors along the Lyran Periphery.  This organization is known or suspected to be involved in crimes including human trafficking, fencing of stolen property, and money laundering.  Unlike the Von Jankmon Cartel or most of the fragments of the Malthus Syndicate, this organization is suspected to exist, but there are no hard leads on membership or leadership.  Rumours however, extend to possible international activity including the name turning up in the Free Worlds League and Magistracy of Canopus, as well as rumours as far away as the Capellan Confederation or Taurian Concordat.

The Territories is also suspected to be involved in ship-jacking and direct piracy, with some evidence of their activity having been found on captured vessels in Bandit hands along the Free Worlds border.


Der Bankier

Beginning sometime in 3049 or 3050, the organization of 'Der Bankier' or 'The Banker' has been linked to, or suspected, of a number of white-collar rackets including but not limited to extortion,  bribery, Dataslicing, blackmail, and financial skimming. Lohengrin's financial crimes unit has yet to identify this figure, and information on The Banker remains somewhere suspended between myth and rumour.  This individual and/or his or her organization is noted mainly for irregularities cropping up in the Periphery region of the Coventry Province, with impacts generally suspected, though unproven, in financial losses and shortfalls that cannot be explained through normal means.  Unlike the other criminal cartels on this list, 'The Banker' seems to prefer to target other criminals, though the collapse of two minor noble houses and a number of suicides among officials under investigation by LIC and Lohengrin, have been attributed to their efforts.

LIC's domestic bureau has elevated Der Bankier to the highest priority, surpassing even investigations into Hopper Morrison's organization or the Von Jankmon Cartel in importance.  Persons that can be identified as working with, for, or as Der Bankier are to be specifically targeted as a potential threat to the Federated Commonwealth's government and central bank, and the reward for information leading to their identification and capture is significant.

[End Record]

[worktroll]

I just wonder who Der Bankier might be ... (whistles innocently)