The politics of the situation was clear as day, though. Saburo Himura had spent sixty years running the Masu-kai. He was getting tired of riding herd on a bunch of rapacious thugs, and he really wanted to retire to someplace private and spend a century or two indulging his various hobbies. But he couldn’t just hand things over to one of his subordinates, because he’d always be a threat to them. No matter how much it looked like he was just puttering around in his bonsai garden they’d be sure he was watching everything they did, ready to step in and take over again if he didn’t like how they ran things.
From what I could gather of the old guy’s personality that was a pretty reasonable fear, too. He didn’t seem like he’d let go of control easily.
So Saburo had decided to have a son to pass on the headship to. Still risky, but if you raise him right he’ll put up with a little backseat driving from his old man, right? It also meant that the new lord would still carry the Himura name, which was a big deal to these people.
Unfortunately, forty years ago Himura had decided it was a smart idea to cement his relations with the other leading Masu-kai clans by having a bunch of daughters and marrying them off to the other clan heads. The Masu-kai weren’t the sort of society where a woman could hold power in her own name, of course. But technically the line of inheritance should have passed through Ai, his oldest daughter, to her husband Noburu Yamashida.
Looking up Lord Yamashida was enough to make me feel kind of sympathetic for Akio. He was in charge of the Masu-kai assassination, espionage and counterintelligence operations. Supposedly he was Lord Himura’s most reliable supporter, but getting passed over like that had to grate. How hard would it be for him to arrange a discrete assassination?
Even if he didn’t want the job, Ai had to be pretty mad about being passed over. Then there were the other clan lords to consider. Seven of them were still married to Lord Himura’s daughters, and two others were his grandsons. They probably all felt like they had a better claim than Akio.
Maybe that was why Saburo had gone so crazy with the mods for his heir? Akio was even more buffed up than Kavin. His muscles and bones weren’t even organic, and he had some kind of fancy micro-fission reactor powering them. He could probably lift, what? Fifteen tons? Maybe twenty?
Mmm, now that’s what I call muscle.
I shook my head. Why was I getting so distracted by this guy? Hadn’t I already decided Kavin was probably the one for me? Was I really that fickle?
Well, it’s not like I made any promises. But pining after some crime lord would be a really bad idea. Why would he even be interested in me? He probably just thought my enhancements would make me a good assassin detector.
What if he did want to hire me as a retainer?
At first glance that seemed like an amazing opportunity. Akio was filthy rich, and household retainers were practically family. It was a ticket to the best training and equipment money can buy, and a life of luxury in exchange for a pretty reasonable level of service. I’d probably end up having minions to lead, and I could even start a clan of my own if I wanted to. Sure, I’d have to kill people sometimes, but I’d already learned that I could handle that.
But he was a yakuza boss. Working for someone like that was a lifetime commitment, and it was just so… distasteful. I was better than that. Heck, I kind of thought he was better than that. It still bothered me that someone with his bloodline was involved in something this skeezy instead of ruling a respectable colony.
I was so wrapped up in my worries that it was a complete surprise when the captain came to check up on me.
Azalea announced him, of course, and settled us in the sitting room while Iris and Freesia bustled about serving tea. The routine gave me a moment to gather my scattered thoughts, although I wondered at how soothing it seemed. I’d never had anyone wait on me before, so you’d think it would be a strange experience for me. Instead it felt completely natural. More so that the chaotic bustle of the orphanage ever had, that’s for sure.
The captain smiled as Freesia retreated from the room with a bow. “The staff here seems quite taken with you.”
“Yeah. I’m not quite sure how I went from being ‘Miss Alice’ to ‘my lady’, but I’m not complaining.”
He seemed amused. “You carry it off well. I suspect word of your display with Lord Akio has something to do with it as well, although it seems it has landed you in a bit of a predicament.”
I groaned. “Don’t tell me everyone knows about that.”
“Servants always gossip, Alice. It’s practically a law of nature. I understand you are expecting an invitation?”
“Oh, I already got it, sir.”
I filled him in on the situation. He listened thoughtfully, and asked a few questions about what I was doing to prepare. He seemed kind of impressed by my answers.
“Your adaptability is serving you well here,” he said. “Should I expect to receive a resignation soon?”
“What? No, sir! Everyone on the Square Deal has been really good to me. I don’t want to leave the ship.”
“Even if there are better opportunities for you elsewhere?” He pressed.
“Money isn’t everything,” I said. “I’d like to be able to live with myself, too. I’m not sure what someone like Lord Akio would want with me, but it probably isn’t going to be a pretty life. A lot of people are going to die over this succession business, and I bet most of them will be innocents.”
“Innocents are in short supply on Taragi, Alice. Aside from the children, perhaps, but they blood them young here. By the time they reach your age they’ve all been swept up in the endless struggle of clan intrigue, and begun plotting terrible fates for their rivals. Most of them are involved in the business side of their clans as well, and I don’t have to tell you how unsavory that is. It would be easy enough to find justification for any act that might be necessary.”
“That’s an even better reason to stay out of it, sir. Maybe it’s just that I was raised on Felicity, but I’m still kind of ashamed that I can stand to hurt people when they deserve it. I don’t want to get in the habit of rationalizing that kind of thing. I’m kind of afraid of where it might lead.”
“I see. Has the fate of Mr. Desh been bothering you?”
I shook my head. “No, and that’s what worries me. I could have captured him if I’d wanted to. But I was too mad for that, because I thought he’d killed Emla. So instead I beat him to death with my bare hands, and I didn’t even feel bad about it afterwards. I still don’t. I just sort of feel like I ought to feel something.”
“Alice, what do you think we would have done with Mr. Desh if you had taken him prisoner instead?”
I shrugged. “Question him, obviously. After that, I don’t know. I guess there aren’t any peacekeepers out in dark space.”
“Indeed, there are not. I would have ordered his execution, Alice. Merchants do not allow pirates to escape to repeat their crimes. If no one has commented on your actions, it is only because we all feel you acted correctly. Although in the future I would suggest that you finish your battles in a more expeditious fashion. It is never wise to give an enemy the opportunity to turn the tables.”