Imperial Pyrats?
17 Dec 2015Monolith Preacher
At the end of last cycle, Springheel Jake invited me into his study for a chat. He motioned me to sit by his desk before taking his seat and leveling a stern gaze at me with his right eye. His left eye had a patch, but not to cover blindness. It had sensors built in to scan vitals and electronics, access to varied databases, and the ability to hack low-level security with the right wetware. He already knew everything about me, and I wasn't carrying anything electronic, so this fact didn't bother me much. That being said, his sardonic demeanour was still enough to slightly chill my nerve."I've had a meeting with the brass in Harma, and they've got a mission for ye." He leaned as if struggling to hear something, and I heard the doors lock behind me. His voice dropped by a few decibels. "Ye just came back from the core, and berks often go a bit barmy once they're back. This puts ye in a position to have what we'll construe as..." he grinned, showing his new Sothis Gold incisor "..a crisis of faith."
He paused with that stupid look on his face, and was seemingly disappointed by my lack of reaction. He continued unabated. "Yarr gonna go rogue for a while, lad. They're gonna send ye off as a "religious diplomat" to help show them we're civilized. Yarr gonna pretend yarr gone rogue. We'll send a few token ships after ye, so just stay low. You're known for you're charity work, and yarr mainly managed to keep yarr smuggling off the radar. The brass think this means yarr story will work if ye leave presently.We're sending ye to the Empress just long enough to stock up on some of her Hammers."
His tone and composure remained unchanged as he spoke. His constant need to ape the oldest trope in the book still made me want to knife him between the shoulder blades. I spoke none of these concerns as he continued.
"That's on the record. As far as Gcirthi's concerned, we're not gonna let ourselves get behind the competition. You're going to get one of their lovely Imperial Couriers, load it up with those Hammers, and bring it back for us to disassemble."
He leant forward slightly, his scarred hand flicking to his jacket to bring out an e-cig. He took a long draw before blowing a waft of the new 'head in my face. "Any questions?" I would have thought at this point, but Springheel Jack doesn't like thinkers. I leave my thinking for before I enter the room, but I hadn't expected this. I had no choice but to agree.
Flash forward a week, and everything's going better than expected. The Empress has been most accommodating. As recognition for defecting, they awarded me the title of Count. After throwing a rather decadent party that lasted from Thursday 'til Monolith Day they further awarded me the rank of "Earl". Everything's been proceeding a bit quickly since then. A few random dignitaries have informed me that whilst it's all well and good donating in Aymifa, a few long-range smuggling missions wouldn't go awry to show their military I've got some usage. As a Preacher, I've not progressed beyond a Novice combat ranking, and I don't plan to any time soon. As a pyrat, they know I must have some knowledge of smuggling. Works for me. Apparently Fehu is the place to do it. I didn't ask if they knew it was named after a rune meaning "wealth".
So I've put a good day's work in, and I've got a letter from a gentleman called Orpheus. Apparently, he's to be my liaison with the Imperial high-ups now I'm "one of the flock". I've been converting slaves to the light of the Monolith in Imperial territory since I first left home, but their penchant for purple prose never ceases to amaze even myself. And I've been known to be a bit preachy.
Apparently he's to meet me this coming Monolith Day. At least that'll give me the weekend to get my head together. And it'll also give me time to find out what Hammer Time's been doing, if I can track the madman down. For now, I'm going to see if any of the local bars have Rusani Old Smokey kicking about. I could do with taking a bottle to a megablock awning and just watching the rain glitch the holographic adverts. Sometimes its the simple things that help you unwind once your feet touch the ground again. Guess I'm back, but I'm not going to be home for a while...