Ghreni Nohamapetan was not having a very good day.
Point one: The Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby had managed to make it into the Flow, despite reporting damage to its engineering systems from the bomb Chat Ubdal had by all reports successfully planted, also allegedly blowing himself up in the process. Reports of Chat’s demise had given Ghreni a slight twinge. Chat had been one of his more useful people, which is why Ghreni had used him for this particular and delicate mission. On the other hand, now Ghreni wouldn’t have to pay out Chat’s completion bonus, which would have been considerable. So that was the one silver lining on this particular mess.
Point two: Not that Chat would have gotten that bonus anyway, come to think of it, because he failed to do what he was supposed to: deliver or kill Marce Claremont. Ghreni had thought he’d managed the latter, despite blowing himself up, when the Red Rose messaged that they had taken delivery of Claremont, albeit in a damaged state, and that various tests confirmed Claremont’s identity.
But then, more than an hour later, a message from the Red Rose:
Claremont out of coma and screaming that he is not Claremont but your lieutenant Chat Ubdal. Is in considerable pain, particularly in his limbs
Followed by
Confirmed Claremont is in fact not Claremont but Ubdal. Tricked our scans with contacts and thumb pad and blood replacement in arms. Last serious, may cause permanent damage
Followed by
Ubdal mostly not coherent but says did not plant the bomb and Yes, Sir is fully operational. Moving to intercept and destroy per agreement
Followed by
fucking hell those assholes took your fucking bomb and got it on our fucking ship what the actual fuck
Followed, rather some time later, by
Bomb Ubdal was to plant on Yes, Sir exploded on our ship, causing operational damage. Could not move to intercept and destroy. Captain Wimson unhappy Ubdal’s bomb came onto our ship. Sent Ubdal out the airlock in his medical gurney. Specific message for you from captain: You owe us double for damages and triple for guns now. You pay off damages first. Also says fuck you and your incompetent fucking minions
Point three: Ghreni now didn’t have the weapons he wanted, which annoyed him.
The weapons were part of a shipment authorized by the parliament and the emperox, to help the duke fight his little rebellion. The House of Nohamapetan had been instrumental in helping get the resolution for the weapons passed in parliament; Ghreni had been instrumental in arranging for the weapons to be pirated. That part at least went to plan.
But then Captain Wimson decided to hold on to the weapons, and told Ghreni to pay more to take delivery. This was upsetting to Ghreni, as aside from the principle of the thing, he’d already funded their acquisition out of House of Nohamapetan funds and found himself rather unfortunately illiquid. His plan to fund their reacquisition out of imperial funds hit a snag when the Count of Claremont decided to have ethics, then hit another snag when Marce Claremont’s kidnapping also failed to produce results.
The new plan had been to reacquire Marce Claremont or destroy the Yes, Sir. The former would optimally yield the Count of Claremont’s cooperation; the latter, while far less optimal because it would exacerbate the already-bad blood between the houses of Nohamapetan and Lagos if his hand in it ever came to light, would allow Ghreni to convince the duke to acquire the substantial funds the local Lagos offices would receive from local offices of the House of Aiello, who held the monopoly on insurance. From there he’d skim enough to cover the weapons.
But now the Yes, Sir was gone, and Marce Claremont with it, and the price of the weapons had not only gone up but now there was another debt in front of it he’d have to deal with.
Point four: And while at one point maybe Ghreni could have stiffed the Red Rose on the weapons—they were the ones who reneged on the original deal, that was their risk—there was no way he couldn’t repay the damages to the pirate ship. They’d fucking kill him, and slowly. Neither his noble title nor his proximity to the duke, nor his own security people, would keep them from coming to get him. So he’d at least need to get the money for that, soon.
Ghreni briefly considered trying to track down Vrenna Claremont for her hostage value but then just as quickly dismissed it out of his mind because
Point five: Vrenna Claremont was utterly impossible to find. She’d gone to ground—but not before sending Ghreni a note from her personal address, which read, in its entirety:
Don’t sleep in the same bed twice.
Ghreni had read Vrenna Claremont’s service history. He was aware this was not at all an idle threat.
Which brought him to
Point six: The call he’d gotten from Sir Ontain Mount, operations chief of End’s Imperial Station, which started, without preamble, “What the hell is this I’m hearing about you kidnapping Marce Claremont?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir,” Ghreni said.
“Really.”
“Of course. That’s a very serious allegation. I’d like to know who is slandering me.”
“Reputable sources, Lord Ghreni.”
“It’s ludicrous. For one thing, as I understand it Marce Claremont has left End. On the Yes, Sir, That’s My Baby.”
“This would be the ship my marines tell me was tracked and almost attacked by a privateer just a few hours ago,” Mount said.
“I couldn’t say,” Ghreni replied. “I have no knowledge of these things. We’re rather busy enough down here, sir.”
“Your duke’s not doing very well at the moment, is he?”
“We’ve had setbacks, but nothing we can’t handle.”
“You’re not making a convincing case for the last part, Lord Ghreni,” Mount said.
“The assistance of the emperox’s marines would be appreciated,” Ghreni suggested.
“I’ll repeat what I tell you every time you hint, which is that the Interdependency considers this an entirely local matter.”
“Excepting the arms parliament authorized.”
“For use by the duke’s troops, not mine.”
“A distinction perhaps without a difference.”
“There’s a difference to me, which is what matters. Either your duke will take care of this problem, or soon some rebel or another will petition me to be the new duke when all your nonsense is over.”
“And what will you do then?”
“I suppose that might depend on whether the current duke’s head is still on his shoulders. Until then, a friendly admonition, Lord Ghreni. The Count of Claremont and his family and his lands are under the emperox’s protection. Which means they are under my protection. If I hear any more rumors of you interfering with them, either at the behest of the duke, or under your initiative, I promise that you will see what imperial intervention looks like, and you will not be happy about it. Are we clear?”
They were clear.