Rela Qi Gets in Deep - Part 4 (15.05.03)

[Jasperodus]

Previous parts...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The story continues (and gets complicated...)

Rela Qi Gets in Deep

Part 4

Having recovered from the shock of being captured by the legendary Zola No, the most successful Boron pirate in history, Rela and Sannis allowed themselves to be prodded in the direction of the nearest hatch.
‘You’ll oblige me by opening the hatch, please,’ said Zola No to Sannis.
Sannis turned pale. ‘You must be mad. We’ll be blasted into space.’
‘You would prefer to be blasted by a stream of charged particles?’ asked Zola. ‘Open the hatch, please, I won’t ask again.’

Numbly Sannis turned and operated the hatch controls. The first door opened and they stepped into the pressurisation chamber. The inner hatch closed and a hissing noise indicated that the chamber was equalising with the outside. Sannis glanced back at Zola and nodded. This time he opened the outer hatch without argument.

Rela Qi was still somewhat dazed by recent events and hardly registered the meaning of the hissing. He did realise that the hatch was not open onto the cold, hard vacuum of space. Zola No stepped through the hatch and motioned for the others to follow. Rela and Sannis stepped over the threshold and found themselves in a huge ship hanger, with many fighter and cargo craft at rest in the various bays. Rela was confused momentarily, were they in a station? Then it dawned on him.

‘Gentlecreatures, welcome to the Squid Ink, my home, my base and our way out of this unfortunate situation. Come, we will go to my cabin and talk about BoFu and Queens.’ This last was a Boron colloquialism. Rela thought he could detect a trace of the Kingdom End accent and wondered at the impeccable manners of their captor.
A direct elevator from the hangar took them to a corridor off the bridge. Zola took them into the bridge and motioned them to stop a moment.

‘What’s the situation, Chief?' Zola asked a swarthy-looking Argon wearing a heavily-stained overall.
‘We took a couple of hits from their Hornets, there’s damage to a number of engine subsystems and a fair amount of damage to shield one. It isn’t totally lost but it’s erratic. Repair or replace. You remember we had to fit the spare back in Black Hole Sun. They knew what they were doing, the dogs!’
‘Indeed. I would expect no less of Chin Security. You are recommending a stopover at the nearest dive?’
‘We need it, Boss,’ replied the engineer.
‘Are all ships reporting?’
‘Bayamon Flight Two lost a couple to drones. The Prommies are all back safely.’
‘Good. We may need them again. Carry on, Chief.’

Rela Qi’s ears had dilated at the mention of ‘Prommies’, a nickname for Prometheus class ships. The Paranid heavy fighters were no longer a secret but pirates rarely got their hands on them. How had Zola No acquired several of them?
Zola No turned to his captives. ‘Come this way, if you would.’ They could hardly refuse the gracious invitation and followed the pirate captain into his cabin. Zola indicated seats in front of his work desk and went to a small cubby.

‘Drink? A little something to eat?’ The pirate was nothing if not a welcoming host.
‘I’ll take a glass of water, please,’ replied Rela. Sannis shook his head.
‘Here you are, my young friend. How nice to see a face from the home systems.’ Zola handed Rela his drink.
‘How do you know I’m from the home systems?’ asked Rela.
‘You’re young and your face shows it. Your accent and your naivety only confirm your origin. Life is rather tougher in the Boron new territories,’ replied the pirate. ‘Now then, enough smalltalk. We have something to discuss but first I have something to show you, or rather, to show friend Sannis, in particular.’

Zola sat behind his desk and brought up a briefing screen on the wall to his right. Another control and a comms recording began to play. Sannis jerked forward in astonishment, as Rela looked on uncomprehending.
The screen showed the upper body and head of a well-dressed, rather handsome and somewhat elderly Teladi. This latter condition was signified by a slight dryness of the skin and very pale skin around the eyes.

‘If you are watching this, Sannis, our friend Zola No has plucked you from the jaws of the Chin trap into which you allowed yourself to fall. Frankly, I am vexed and if I had a choice would have abandoned you to the tender mercies of Chin Security.’
Sannis protested inarticulately.
‘However, I am forced to use the material at hand: you. Proceed with the plan according to schedule. Basic supplies have been moved to reference seven. From reference seven proceed to reference ten. Zola No has agreed to supply you with a ship and crew. That is all. Oh, if you allow the Chin to capture you a second time, I’ll supply them with the electro-whip myself.’

The image faded and Zola No shut down the briefing screen.
‘Rather gets to the point, your Uncle, doesn’t he, old chap?’ asked Zola, a wry smile ghosting across his worn features. ‘He paid me to rescue you and he’s paying me to give you the use of a ship and a couple of hearties. Moreover, I’m to execute diversionary raids across the new Split territories as soon as you give me the signal. The Chin are onto things. They don’t know quite what your lot are up to but they don’t like the smell of it. We’re heading for the dive in Chin’s Clouds at best speed. How does that suit you?’
‘We’ll have to move quickly. We have to get to far Boron space,’ replied Sannis.

Zola bubbled in appreciation, the equivalent of an Argon whistling. ‘You’ll need a fast ship. A tough one too. No help for it, I’ll have to loan you a Prommy. Only a loan, mind. My crew will bring it back, once this is all over.’
‘One moment,’ said Sannis. ‘I don’t care to be outnumbered by your space-rogues. Along with the pilot, only another two can possibly fit in a Prommy.’
‘Yes, so? A pilot and a backup. Is that a problem?’
‘I repeat, I don’t care to be outnumbered. I want Rela here to come along. He’s already proved his worth to me. I’d be dead if he hadn’t taken on Pak, who, incidentally, you should eject into space with the rest of the rubbish.’

Rela felt gratified at these words but also realised that the Teladi, wherever he was finally headed, was desperate not to be alone with two of Zola’s pirates.
‘As to Pak,’ Zola replied, ‘he stays in my brig. I’ll have to have a talk with this young urchin before I decide and make no mistake, Sannis, I will decide. Now, go and pick out the ship you deem most suitable. They’re much alike but the Chief will be able to advise on the foibles of each of the dear ladies.’

With ill-concealed annoyance, Sannis rose and left the cabin. Zola turned and looked at Rela thoughtfully. Rela looked back, trying to meet the laconic gaze of the pirate lord. He saw a well-worn but lively face, laughing eyes and a twisting mouth. There were no scars as of legend and tale, no prosthetics either. Zola No had evidently had a good career as a pirate raider. Luck or skill? Rela considered. Zola No had been a legend when Rela had been a child. Over such a long time, it could only be both luck and skill that had sustained him.

‘You did well back on the ship, Rela Qi. Taking on a Split warrior? Impressive. What do you think about accompanying friend Sannis?’
‘I’m not sure,’ replied Rela. ‘I don’t know what the options are.’
‘There are two, well,’ the pirate laughed, ‘there are three actually but we’ll pass over the third with polite silence, yes?’
Rela shuddered, he needed no great imagination to know what the third ‘option’ was.

‘Your main problem is that you don’t know what Sannis is about. I don’t know the whole of it but I have my sources and I’ve pieced together a rough outline. What do you know about Split politics?’
Rela was puzzled. ‘Not much, everybody knows Family Chin and their allies dominate the Split Family Council. The rest is a mystery to me.’
‘In other words, you know no more than the average schoolchild.’
Rela flushed sea-green.

Zola held up his hand, ‘I mean no insult. Very few have studied the machinations of the Families. For me, it is useful. I operate close to their territories and it’s always good to know which way the solar wind blows.
‘You need to know this much: Family Chin is dominant but is opposed by Family Thi. The Thi control Patriarch’s Keep at the sphincter-end of the old Split territories. They also exert influence over the sectors immediately around the Keep. Chin pretty much do what they like in the rest of Split space and that includes the new territories. The reason for this is that the Chin have an ally in Family Njy, who control the most developed sector in the new territories. The Njy are even more brutal than the Chin, if you can imagine such a thing.’

Rela found that difficult to believe but kept his peace. At last he was starting to find out what lay behind this affair.
‘Now, you also have to consider Teladi politics. The Profit Guild has cast-iron contracts with the Chin and therefore favours Family Chin above the Thi. The existing members of the Guild Council have used that constant flow of wealth to freeze out any potential rivals. This is where Sannis’ uncle comes in. He has a very significant fortune but has been blocked from entering the Council. He is also very astute and has seen an opportunity that the Guild Council have blinded themselves to.

‘Family Thi do not use slave labour. They use free labour, poorly paid, but free labour nonetheless. The Chin and the Njy use slaves, like most of the Split. Now here’s the thing: free labour is more efficient than slave labour. Every economic study bears it out. The Thi’s margins are already better than the Chin’s even though they have fewer resources. Give it a few centuries and they’d be on top anyway.

‘Sannis’ uncle doesn’t want to wait and neither do Family Thi. The Thi have got some kind of deal with the Suulaeos clan. I suspect it to be a secret arms shipment but I don’t know. If it is arms, then I can guess the rest. The Thi mount an assault on Family Njy in the new territories using those arms. The Suulaeos get over-the-odds payment for the shipment but more importantly, they get exclusive contracts with Family Thi who will control the entire Split new territories and be on an equal footing with the Chin both militarily and economically.

‘Sannis and his uncle will make billions upon billions of credits. With that kind of money they can buy their way onto the Profit Guild Council.’
Rela’s head was reeling. The crash course in Split and Teladi politics was bad enough but the scope of the scheme he was caught up in was astounding.

‘They’re going to touch off a war?’ he managed to croak.
‘Therein lies the danger. Personally, I don’t think the Chin will sit still for it. If I was them I’d strike at the Keep in response. The Suulaeos are going to cause the biggest intra-Split war since the Family Wars and in all honesty, my naive young friend, I can’t help but make money out of it.’

Rela was shocked. ‘That’s what you’re getting out of this,’ he demanded, ‘the pickings of the battlefield?’
Zola smiled, ‘Oh no, that’s merely a bonus. I’m being paid very handsomely for my role in this drama. Remember, we are to make raids in the far Split space while Sannis puts his scheme into action. My pay will be large. Enough, I may say to triple my fleet and arm it to the teeth.
‘After that, the project I’ve dreamed of for years will become possible. I will be remembered as the greatest pirate in the known sectors, even if I die in the attempt.’

Rela was confused. ‘Project, what project?’
‘Ah, to find that out, you’d have to join up with me. Now you know as much as I can say and must decide. Sannis and his warmongering or Zola No and the glory of legend-making? Your choice, Rela Qi, your choice...’

[Al]

Great stuff. I hope he goes in with the pirates and gets involved in huge dog fights

Al

[KiwiNZ]

Cool read!

Will be interesting to see which side he chooses.


Now why am I not surprised by your comment, Al?


Looking forward to more.

[pixel]

good stuff!

Keep it going!

[johneh77]

Jasperodus This has the makeings of one of the best stories why didnt you finish it.
Would love to see some more!