Chapter 1: All These Wayward Children [The Ties that Bind]

[Kaji-Oni]

The older man discretely returns Joren's glances "Ofcourse you are in charge here, you are the butler after all. In this house that means you outrank all of the surviving servants, all relevant files are waiting for your perusal in your private chambers." he smiles with a gentle hint of "You aren't the only ex-military servant onboard this ship, so I would check the attitude. My name is Carson by the way."


Mr Carson bows and responds to Ethan "Right away your Lordship, we will arm the weapons and set course for Haxby immediately. Now if I may be so bold I would like to ask if the family members prefer to have luncheon now, rest in their quarters, or observe the workings of the ship on the bridge"


The servant glances are indeed a wonderful thing if I must say so, so much passion can be communicated with just a few eye movements. I just hope this new fellow isn't as good at poker as the other servants.

 

[solyrflair]

"Thank you, Mr. Carson. I think I would prefer some time for my stomach to settle before beginning a meal. Do you think I could get a glass of rosé wine?" She considered the possibility of sitting in her quarters but too much focus on their immediate problems seemed far more prudent. "And I would prefer to be in the bridge, or do you say on the bridge? I never had that opportunity."


In truth, she probably could have a few times during her touring as a music icon, but too many times she was already so tired that she didn't imagine it to be amusing. Perhaps being n the bridge would help relieve her stress about being on board the ship and the possibility of being attacked again.


"Ethan, or should we call you 'Your Grace', is there anything we need to do to get all this sorted out? I am willing to lend a hand, but I don't have the finances to foot a large war against a multi-stellar organization."

 

[Lord of Chaos]

Joren smiles faintly and nods respectfully at Carson, throwing him another Glance before following the nobles. Sorry about that, wanted to see if you had a spine. Do you play poker?

 

[Kaji-Oni]

Carson nods "Right away your Ladyship, I will fetch the wine immediately. Francis and Thomas will guide you to the Bridge" He turns and heads towards the wine cellar. The two footman standing at attention open the door to the Main Hall and wait for your passage. As you pass through the doors you step upon a luxurious and ancient red carpet that rests on a hardwood floor, an unusual luxury even aboard the vessels of the wealthy. The hall is two stories tall and brightly lit, with a large fireplace and a grand staircase and gallery supported by large stone pillars being its most prominent features. The room is decorated with portraits of various family members from previous generations, as well as a grandfather clock and other antiques. The entire room bears the heavy weight of history, as you imagine your ancestors spending their days here.


After a moment a door swings out from the wood paneling on a far wall and the soft glow of computer terminals can be seen in the distance. Francis and Thomas move from behind you to stand next to the door. Francis clears his throat and speaks "Lords and Lady's we do apologize for the lack of preparedness. The circumstances regarding your arrival has taken the staff off guard and we are getting the ship back into working order. If you would please follow me I can give you a tour of the bridge." As you follow him into the room you see before you multiple computer terminals and work stations which bathe the room in a soft blue light. A few members of the staff plug away at their work then stand at attention as soon as they notice you. A captain's chair sits behind the helm and directly in front of a large view screen that displays the ship leaving orbit over the planet. Two helmsman are busy entering coordinates into their terminals "Coast is clear, no ships are on an intercept course, plotting warp to Haxby"


The lift to the Bridge opens and Mr Carson stands ready with a silver platter and a glass of Rose for her Dari, he approaches and offers the silver platter to her Ladyship. The helmsman look up with a smirk and jump a little when they notice you. Mr Carson gives the crew a glance and they quickly form a receiving line for you.

 

[Xaantiaz]

"Well we're out of one fire, maybe we won't jump in another for a while." Aldric was taken aback at the extravagance of the vessel. He has spent plenty of time aboard all different ships, but none had stone pillars before. He ran a hand over one as they passed, feeling that it was natural stone. He smiled at that and followed the others, "So what do we know about Haxby? I can't say my business has ever taken me there." As they entered the Bridge he quieted, taking the surprise of the receiving line in stride.

 

[solyrflair]

"Haxby is a world and a city. Billions upon billions of people living in a city that covers pretty much the whole planet. Its probably the best place to make money, or earn a living. I had over 30 concerts there. Good turnout, descent crowd, sold a lot of t-shirts. Never had much of an interest in opening a business there. But now I have one, so I should probably check in with it." People probably wouldn't have thought that the renegade punk rocker from Bellerophon would had such a strong practical side.


"Haxby is so crowded, in fact, that each of its moons has its own commuter situation. You need to get highly restricted passes to get to Haxby these days otherwise anyone trying to make a cred would head there." It is why she preferred some of the other planets in the sector. It had a much better distribution of clients. Haxby was slowly becoming an overly expensive location. Still, when it came to real estate, you couldn't do much better. As it became more and more populated, many of the poorest were forced out, either through cost of living or eminent domain. At least one of the moons was a notorious slum world run by gangs rather than government.


"If you didn't have business there, you have been living a secluded life. By the way, what type of business are you in?"

 

[Xaantiaz]

"Most of what I did was out of the sector. As to what I did, would you believe I am an unassuming businessman who lived an simple life?" He smiled at that, briefly lost in memories, "No? Well I guess you can say I worked in corporate security and I can appreciate the need for a escape plan for any office."

 

[solyrflair]

"So says the man who shot down a gunship with a hand pistol." She smiled back, a coy but disbelieving expression. No man could shoot down a gunship without some sense of what its weakness could be. "And I appreciate that you did. You seem to be a very competent security person. And we will probably need it. I have a personal bodyguard, but most of my issues deal with over-zealous fans and a stalker every couple of years."


She wasn't without her own test of combat situations, but it was unlikely that someone from outside the sector would have heard about. Still, she learned quickly how to use an energy pistol to defend herself. But even now, she relied on other to keep her safe. "But with this sudden change of situations, I think you might be more qualified to keep us all safe. Somehow, we have all been put in the middle of this corporate loan sharking system, and we need to stay alive long enough to figure out what needs to be done."

 

[Kaji-Oni]

You are all greeted and introduced to all of the crew members who will be serving you aboard this vessel. Each member has served the family for a number of years aboard other vessels or in other endeavors and they express great pleasure for the opportunity to work aboard the Cleopatra. After pleasantries are exchanged Francis gives you a complete tour of the ship, showing you the Library, Garden, Gameroom, Gym, Family Quarters, and Dining Room in turn. It seems far more a palace than a space craft.


"Now that the tour is over, refreshments are available in the dining room. The Helmsman has informed me that the will arrive in Haxby in two weeks, in the mean time if you need anything of us just ring." With a bow Francis departs and leaves you alone in the dining room. A light meal of fruit, sandwiches and champagne has been prepared for you. You are free to plot galactic domination your next moves.

 

[solyrflair]

Dari took a glass of champagne and thanked Francis. She walked around the meal prepared for them, looking over the food and deciding what she might want to eat. Food looked excellent, which she would have expected, but she wasn't exactly sure if she was hungry. She took a seat and looked over the room. The opulence was more than she was used to. Not a whole lot more, but a degree better. Even the crystal of the glass has gold frosted edges.


"Two weeks to Haxby. That will be a while." At least that will give her enough time to adjust to the position of Baroness, to the fact that they are being hunted, and to the fact that she just might be richer than she imagined. A small gallery on Haxby could be worth more than all the rest of her businesses combined.


"I guess it gives us two weeks to figure out where the family stands, what its debts are and to whom, and lastly, how do we want to approach them. Some of these debts might require a bullet in the knee caps, and others might be honest loans. We will need to sort that out. We also may want to keep the Cleopatra out of the main space lanes and try to hire a smaller ship to scout out our debtors before we go in."


She didn't really know who she was talking to. Or if anyone was listening. It was a practice she had learned when she was writing songs, just speaking words and lyrics to get the ideas out of her head so she could sort them as she went along. She had been very successful that way, so maybe it would apply here.

 

[Paeniteo Azrael]

Ethan awoke with an incredible hangover. Goddammit. Well not something I'm not used too... He grabbed a few painkillers of unknown variety and went onto the bridge to check on the crew. "Lord, how long was I out? We're already in warp to Haxby? I must have spent the last ten hours just drinking." Finding the rest of his depleted family members in the dining room, he joined them and took a few glasses of champagne to ease the pounding headache he already was suffering.


"Dari, just call me Ethan. Between family there should be no pretensions. As for the loans our family inevitably owes? I don't know whom he owe them to or just how aggressive they'll be in collecting back payments. I for one think we need to put together some sort of financial plan. We all have a fair quantity of money to throw around, but we need more to bring our name the glory it deserves." Hah. Glory. Here I am, having just passed out after who knows how many Manhattans, and now I've just had three glasses of Champagne to drink the pain away... "Anyways, your beliefs about Haxby are quite correct, but with my status we should easily be permitted to land there. Haxby will have a veritable buffet of goods available for us to perhaps make some money on - the ultimate goal, of course, is to buy a few ships or companies to make money for us."





Of course, Ethan was also thinking about protection. He had already set up a simple trade line is his head - he may have goofed off for most of his life, but he had learned much about how to make a buck on the frontier, even if it was while being on every drug known to man. Speaking of drugs, he knew of a planet close to Haxby which they might be able to profit wonderfully off of... though their eventual destination might lead them near an Imperial Scout Base.

 

[Xaantiaz]

Aldric helped himself to the food arrayed before them. Running and gunning always takes it out of a person. "I have some contacts I can call on to give us a lead on those who hold our debts. See who needs the carrot and who needs the stick, as it were." Tasting some of the champagne he paused and thought, "I sent a quick message to some of the firms that were suggested asking for broad bids for construction on Haxby. We will need someplace safe to do business and a number of hidey-holes in case Hericide Financial or another of their ilk come-a-knocking. Hmm, we will need more people we can trust: security, financials, crew, loading and unloading,..." He trails off making notes of the kind of recruiting they will need.

 

[solyrflair]

"I have a group I work with for security. Very reliable. I can get on comm after lunch." She wasn't happy that she would spend two weeks on this ship, then again she would want for anything.


"Mr. Carson, hypothetically, how much would our staff requirements increase should we bring on a security team. Do we have quarters for a team sufficient to guard a vessel of this size?" For Dari it was most important to be safe, for they wouldn't be earning enough if they would have to bribe their way through port customs each time. And that wouldn't even count ship repairs should someone choose to fire upon them again.


"We need to engage in earning enough to pay back the family debts, but that won't happen easily until we can get the creditors off our back. Once we sort through the finances, we can look into payment plans. The bet are taking our most reputable creditors and offering them payments in the future in lieu of locking our accounts. The less reputable we will need to get them interested in something other than us. Possibly turn them against each other. Planting small bits of information along the media lines could buy us enough time to consolidate a security detail to derail their efforts to collect. Then, we can negotiate better terms, once we have the stronger hand."


Dari understood the finances game to a degree. She had organized her own band and run her own label for years, learning the hard way that you only made deals when you had the power to back it up. Promises were the best tool, even if you had no intention to keep them. Once you were in position, you had much better capability to renegotiate, even if the plan was just to renegotiate again later.

 

[Kaji-Oni]

Mr Carson walks past the table with a bottle of champagne to top off your glasses once you place them down "Your Ladyship several of the staff members aboard this vessel have served in the sector navy before they began serving your family. If attacked by a pirate vessel of some sort this ship is capable of holding them off until our warp drives can be engaged. Boarding actions and ground security are another matter, I would hazard that only six of us possess any skill with personal weapons. If this crew is insufficient we can rearrange some storage space in the crew decks to make space for ten security personal on very short notice, and we can accommodate an additional twenty if we house them in the cargo hold. "

 

[Paeniteo Azrael]

"Dari, sorting through the finances should be the first priority, but paying back loans which we may not have to should be our last. I would venture that our dear departed Grandfather may have borrowed with some questionable people, and those are who tried to kill us, but our legitimate creditors may not have actual claims against our house." Ethan's skill at manipulating financial records to appear less negative than they really were was legendary among his family. He always seemed to be both broke and flush with money. Of course, he neglected to tell people about the massive estates he had been funneling money into while he was making a fool of himself on galactic media.


"Mr Carson, would you please bring Linda and Francis with the family's full financial records? I want to see just how much our grandfather borrowed, and how much he borrowed against our properties. Oh, and when I say all records, I mean all of the records. Not just the ones we show the tax agencies." And maybe see if I couldn't manipulate the numbers a bit to come out ahead...


"As for protection, Dari, I don't think we'll be needing a full complement of marines. I have some skill in combat, as does Joren, not to mention my bodyguard and the crew of this ship. We are adequately protected for what our ship happens to be, and I don't see a need in wasting space and money on a full complement of security personnel to parade around the galaxy with. On the other hand, security personnel would be quite useful for whatever we build on Haxby." Ethan's laissez-faire approach to security seemed to put Dari on edge, and he could understand why, what with some sort of "company" trying to murder them recently. But all things said and done, Ethan had had his fair share of experiences on the other side of a gun, and always came out on top. He began thinking to himself...


Hmm. Dari seems particularly interested in not getting killed... Why not kill two birds with one stone? "Why don't we just form our own security company? We could profit off of being surrounded by mercenaries!