Emerald Repatriation Society: Calatorii Sigure (Pt12)
27 Nov 2023Vasil Vasilescu
(<--Part-11)I left the villa immediately after the meeting with Octavia and took a VIP shuttle back to Mackenzie Station where I went directly to the Always Lost. It was the only ship I had access to that was not connected in some way to ERS. Having failed to convince Octavia to reconsider her decision regarding Elena, it was the only ship where I could be certain that communications were not being tapped or logged for ERS.
The cockpit lit up as soon as I sat in the pilot seat. “Welcome back, Commander. It has been—”
“Shut up, Jefferson. Record voice message.”
“Recording, Commander.”
Elena, you asked what was the worst Octavia could do. She is invoking abdicare et recuperare. All she needs in an Imperial Seal to make it official, which she will have it in a week or two at the most. I am breaching the abdicare buy telling you this before it is sealed, but I feel you need to know, especially since this is my fault. If I had dealt with this a month ago, I think the worst that could have happened is Octavia would have removed you from the ERS Board of Directors.
I am sorry I did not act sooner. That sounds pitiful given that the recuperare will transfer most of your property to Octavia and make all of your debts immediately due. I hope, one day, you can forgive me. I doubt we will be able to speak again.
“Jefferson. Encrypt message, Hydra-3. Set purge, three hours. Send, priority 1 to Elena Vasilescu-Rimsikov.“
“Acknowledged. Message will be purged in three hours regardless of read status. Message sent.”
I waited on the Always Lost to see if the message was received or purged without being read. An hour later, Jefferson announced that the Hydra-3 message had been received and within fifteen minutes all nine fragments of a return Hydra-3 from Elena had been decoded and re-assembled.
Vasil, I know this is short notice, but I am planning a surprise party for Alex at the lodge. It will be sometime next month, and I hope you can make it. No need to bring any presents. Calatorii sigure.
I sat back I the pilot seat, unsure what to make of the reply until I understood it was Elena’s way of acknowledging my message and protecting me.
A surprise party for her husband, Alex, scheduled for next month, and no presents required: She’d tell Alex about the abdicare but they could probably not protect all of their assets in time, and I should not feel guilty for what is happening.
And then there was the calatorii sigure: a goodbye wishing me safe travels, something usually said when you will not see someone for a long time.
Elena knew it was against the law to inform someone they were the subject of an impending abdicare. It allowed the person time to transfer wealth and pay debts prior to the order receiving an Imperial Seal. The abdicare et recuperare primary purpose was to punish Imperial nobles in the most humiliating way possible, by separating them from their noble family and financially ruining them.
The secondary purpose was to compensate the head of the offender’s family by giving confiscated wealth tied in any way to family money back to the noble house. The fact that noble children received a gift of family money when they turned 21 meant that, technically, any wealth or property attained after that age was tied to the seed money and subject to confiscation.
The abdicare was taken so seriously that helping someone avoid it, or assisting them after it was sealed, was grounds for imprisonment and the forfeiture of all wealth and property. I did not care about my money or investments, but I could not lose the Always Lost.
Hidden in an offline navcomp were systems I had not registered with Universal Cartographics; systems at the end of near-impossible jump paths; systems with pristine, earth-like planets where someone not requiring the comfort, convenience, or noise of settled space could live the rest of their days and never be found.
I thought about disappearing back into the black. In a few hours the Always Lost could be outside the reach of civilization. No nav beacons to register ship movements. No politics. Nothing but wandering a hundred million unvisited systems. It would be easy, but would it be right to just leave?
(Part 13-->)