The Living and the Damned - Part XIII
09 Jan 2018Jellicoe
Carlton McKinley kneaded his temples with his hands and almost groaned aloud while silently cursing the cruelties of fate The deal was all but done, billions of credits were about to flow into Claire Dock with who knew how many more to follow, vindication for his decision to come back to the Pegasi, vindication of his vision for the future of the firm to put before de Verre and the others who wanted to leave the past behind and embrace a bright new future. All he needed was one woman, a woman so insignificant she wasn't even listed as a scientist on the firms staff manifest, McKinley had never been a religious man, years of expensive Federal education had knocked his childhood beliefs out of him, but at that moment he couldn't help but wonder if the old pagan gods of the Pegasi sat in their celestial halls laughing at him. Had it been any of the others it would have been fine, Don de Verre might not have understood the intricacies of macro economic theory or galactic finance but he was still a businessman with an instinctive nose for making money, Locke was not, he was a soldier but he was a straight talker and shooter who had the brains to grasp that his wars had to be paid for with cold hard cash, even if he had little interest in where it came from, either of them would have given him the woman, but Mhera Bathana was the property, property not employee of Marrakech Morgan, pirate queen and living embodiment of the old ways. Marra might wear a sharp suit these days, she might spend more time behind a desk than in a cockpit but she still had a soul touched by chaos, at heart she was still a reaver and ravager and more importantly she was the consigliere of Black Omega and hated McKinley and everything he stood for. And now he was standing at her door.McKinley had agonised over going to see the Consigliere for days, there was no point he told himself, she would refuse just to spite him and what he represented, he'd be lucky if she didn't set that armoured brute she always had at her shoulder on him. No he thought, this Jellicoe seemed a reasonable man, find him someone else, xeno-biological researchers couldn't be that hard to find, certainly easier than persuading Marrakech of the Clan Morgan to do him a favour. Then he shook himself. What did he think would happen when he gave up the comfortable tedium of the Ra Gold Power Network to come back to the Pegasi? Did he imagine the pirate lords would simply melt away like shadows before the dawn of his grand vision? de Verre had warned him it wouldn't be easy when he gave him the job now he had to prove he was up to it, he also remembered his fathers words, disappointment etched on his face when he broke the news.
"Do you think we spent every credit we had getting you a decent schooling away from here so you could come back? We wanted something better for you than spending your life looking over your shoulder, one hand on your gun, never knowing if today will be the day someone catches up with you?"
"The Pegasi's changing Dad," He had replied, "Powerful people want that."
"If I had a credit for every time I've heard that," His father had scoffed, "Pegasi'll never change son. Go back to the Federation, make yourself rich and die in bed." Now was the time for Carlton McKinley to prove himself to both of them and if he couldn't even walk into the Consiglierre's office he really should pack his bags and run back to the Federation.
"Carlton." Marrakech Morgan acknowledged while giving McKinley the kind of look that made him imagine a wolf welcoming an over inquisitive sheep to its lair at around lunchtime, "Can I help you?"
"Yes Consigliere. I erm, well, I mean, that is to say..."
Marra looked impassively at Carlton McKinley. She despised men like this, pathetic little bean counters with neither balls nor backbone, she was actually rather surprised he had managed to pluck up the courage to come and see her at all, it must mean that he wanted something very badly and she would take a great deal of pleasure in extracting as much as she could from this little worm before giving him nothing.
"The thing is errr, I errr." McKinley flailed.
"Yes?"
"I need a girl from Exotica."
"They're all for hire. I suggest you book an appointment instead of wasting my time."
"Not like that!" McKinley blustered blushing bright red. "I want to buy one of them,"
"Don't tell me you've fallen in love with a whore?" Marra said, a disdainful smile on her lips and a wicked glint in her eye. "You know they're only nice to you because you're paying?"
"No! It's not for me, it's a client, an investor, one of the girls is a scientist, he knows her, wants her for his research, he'll pay."
"What's her name?"
"Mhera, Mhera Bathana. He'll pay three times the going rate."
That was the second time Marra had heard that name recently, that claw handed mechanic she sometimes used as an enforcer was trying to buy her as well, and he was much more use to her than this gutless parasite.
"I'm afraid she's a very popular attraction Carlton, and she's doing important work for Doctor Glaboski."
"Four times her value, and she can carry on working for the doctor for the foreseeable future."
Marra looked at the man making little effort to hide her contempt, she had no intention of letting him have the girl, but she would find a way to make him and this 'investor' useful.
"This investor of yours is the man with the Corvette?"
"Yes, well her representative is, she's some businesswoman from the Alliance..."
"Here's what I'll do," Marra cut him off, "We're about to go to war in Wongo, if your man can bring me five million credits in combat bonds I'll see about selling him the girl."
"Yes Consigliere, I'm sure that will be more than acceptable." A beaming McKinly gushed before leaving the pirate queen's presence totally unaware of the mocking smile of pure contempt that followed him.
OOC Huge thanks to Marra Morgan for letting me have her character appear in this episode