Camus goes on a voyage. Terrel wants to play.
Chapter 41.
The Imperial Palace.
Immianthe came in and her grandfather said, “Where is your companion?”
“Lain Othrond. Jorge needed him for a few days.”
“That’s why you are upset.”
“A bit. I understand that Tad is going to have things that don’t involve me. School, for instance.”
“Your grandmother has heard good things about the school on the estate and it may be possible for you to go there.”
Immianthe brightened up. “I hadn’t thought about that. What about keeping me safe?”
“The estate is fairly secure already for other reasons and Jorge is fairly careful about that. We can have a small staff of guards there and you and the other menaces are already up there frequently in any case.”
“It’s near the Sanctuary and fairly private.”
“You are also upset that you can’t go to Lain Othrond.”
“Yes. I understand that me being there puts Tad at risk, but I want to see the town and tour the dead cities when I can.”
“That would be a good thing to do, at least from the boundaries. You and Tad could go to the Conference of Kings as an Imperial representative.”
“Shouldn’t Uncle Zaos do that?”
“You could go with him. You will be doing such things all too soon in any case.”
“You must be feeling better, grandfather.”
“Somewhat. The Scourging took a lot out of me. On the other hand, the Blight has been negligible this time.”
“Tad is helping Jorge with that. They set things on the Inanimates to mess them up yesterday. The marines and the Mortal Kingdom armies are taking the cities back today.”
“That is good news. At least I have you to keep me company.”
“Is it true that Tad’s family owns the Sanctuary?”
“That is your grandmother’s project. I think that she will have to work hard to convince the Silverin to come out of hiding, but if she manages it, we will all be better off.”
The Petris Estate.
Isarrel looked at her son and said, “Explain yourself, Camus.”
Camus grimaced and said, “Rolin and I had a fight and I decided to hire on with the Shahana. I will be shipping out in a five day and starting what they call the Crusher. So I won’t be around for four moons or so.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because this puts me at sea, in the real world as it is now.”
“What about Sana and your children?”
“Sana is going to be with me for part of it and the kids are grown and can handle themselves. Eamon and Daylor have both been through the program and highly recommended it.”
“What about Rolin?”
“He is at loose ends and won’t be going to sea in any case. House Ravathyra couldn’t put together much more than a sailing regatta and planning raids on the Republic at this point is just going to amuse the gadget operators. In any case, if Rolin and I don’t see each other for a while, maybe we can forget our little spat.”
“What about the Project?”
“Mother, right now it looks as if the Project’s goals are to murder as many innocent people to arrange famine to kill yet more innocent people for something that no one cares about. What happened in Ishendell and now the five cities were atrocities seemingly without any goals other than robbery and murder. Maybe the old admiral could come up for a reason for what happened, but I can’t. As far as I’m concerned the Project is deservedly dead and should remain that way. In any case, in a five day, I am off to sea.”
Camus left the seething Isarrel and she called for Haladaver. When he arrived, she asked rather sharply, “What is the situation with the Blight and the Inanimates?”
“There is very little news. The harvest is essentially complete here in the Empire and the only rumor of the Blight is some talk about Lady Alinis Blighting a field to conduct some tests.”
“Tests of what? Why would Alinis Blight a field?”
“She was doing something with Ammonia apparently. I could investigate.”
“Do so. This is a mystery. I need to prepare a report. Is there anything else?”
“The Imperial bank has put out an alert concerning coin from Lords Palen and Zlymenor. Apparently the coin is what they call radioactive after being involved in the Scourge and could be dangerous. The bank can scan coin and will exchange on behalf of Lords Palen and Zlymenor, who have pledged to take the coin back out of circulation and store it until the radiation decays.”
“That could injure Lords Palen and Zlymenor.”
“Actually they are being praised for doing what they did. The banks are allowing them to use the stored money as collateral until it can be safely used in about ten years or so.”
“The money could be vulnerable to theft.”
“The money is in vaults on the dead estates. I doubt that theft is a concern, since once the coin is stolen, it can be detected and nobody wants deadly coin. In any case, Lords Palen and Zlymenor came into a windfall as a result of some business next door and some new relationships.”
“Anything else?”
“I have a report here. Princess Immianthe is still attached to that slave boy and there are the usual things in the Cloud City.”
Silver Mountain.
Jorhaek looked up as his son came into the office and said, “Was the meeting that you went to interesting?”
Thorald frowned. “It was interesting and rather scary. Tom’s father brought in some people from the Qinvaris and we are going to have to spend some money, but it could save the bank in the long run.”
“What is going on?”
“Apparently the coin from a Scourge is what they call radioactive and in large quantities, can be lethal. The two Houses that had their estates Scourged pulled their coin and the coin had issues that caused some strange burns and at least one death. Both Houses set up with the Imperial Bank and the Exchequer and retrieved most of the coin.”
“If they have retrieved the coin, why is there an issue?”
“Father, five cities were just Scourged. There was coin in all five cities and it will circulate. The banks in the Fellowship, the Empire and the other banks in Silver Mountain have said that they will all cooperate and either not accept the coin or turn it over to the treasuries of Vestia and Apua until the radiation decays in ten years or so. Since none of the proper owners of the coin from the five cities have been able to retrieve coin, any of the radioactive coin that does appear will be considered stolen property and returned to Vestia and Apua.”
“So you are saying that all the coin from the five cities is now this radioactive poison and it could be dangerous?”
“Yes, father.”
“How do you know that this isn’t some scheme concocted by the Fellowship and the Qinvaris to rob us?”
“Father, Roger Bloodfoot brought some coins in a lead lined box, showed us how the scanners worked and how a radioactive coin could be selected out of a stack of coins by running them under the scanner. He also handed a very thorough report done on the effects of the radiated coin found on the two dead estates. As far as robbing us goes, the only coin that should show on the radiation scanner is coin from the five cities or the two estates. Considering that the coin from the estates has been secured, the only radioactive coin will be coin from the five cities. Are you saying father, that the bank will be handling that coin?”
Jorhaek grimaced. “We were going to be handling coin from the Mortal Kingdoms, yes. This is the harvest and loans were made.”
“To banks and counting houses now dead, father. That doesn’t seem to bother you. I know that you went to that meeting and that something important was discussed. So you knew about the planned Scourging of the five cities. Father, you put the bank and the clan at risk. We are going to have to eat the loans to the dead cities as well as the rest of the things that have gone on, I’m afraid. I do not see how the bank could accept the radioactive coin at this point and I expect that if we do not take obvious steps to demonstrate that we are not accepting the coin from the dead cities, our other business will be constrained.”
House Qinvaris.
Richard looked at the three in front of him and said, “You three look very pleased with yourselves. I take it that your caper worked.”
“Completely,” Taenaran said with a grin. “Beinan’s owes these two, though the fact there was no commission involved made the sale. We should see radiation scanners everywhere shortly.”
“You didn’t go down to the Republic.”
“We handled that with a wire to your brother in law,” Roger said. “Mr. Atwater was pleased to pass certain things about coin from the Mortal Kingdoms along and suggest that banks and whatnot obtain scanners from Beinan’s. Actually, all the places want Keryth and I to set them up since we knew how.”
“So they are paying you to set up to scan the money? That sounds like a scam.”
“You can do miracles with a couple coins from the Palen estate, a lead box and a radiation scanner,” Keryth said. “That scratchy noise a radiation scanner makes is rather disturbing and putting a normal coin under it and then a coin from the dead estate makes the point.”
“Did anyone accuse you of faking things?”
“Yes,” Roger said. “We squelched that by placing the tainted coin in a big stack and being able to select it back out again.”
“Where are you going next?”
“Vestia and Apua,” Keryth said. “That was agreed on before we left. We are scanning the coin still circulating there and clearing it. Mike Nerihorn, Betrek Merryhorn and Ruki Axebrew are going with us to get a look at the dead cities and certify what we do.”
“From what I have heard, there is very little coin in the cities themselves.”
“No there is not. There are also powerful disincentives to spend much time looking for coin in any of the cities. Any radiated coin we find is going into a special vault in any case.”
Chapter 42.
Gatherer
Terrel looked across the bridge and grinned. He turned to Commander Seafisher and said, “Quite a ship for a scow, isn’t she?”
“Captain, are you ever going to forgive me for that?”
“Perhaps. In any case, we have this little cruise to Milport where we go over the ship and make some small changes.”
“The five inch gun forward?”
“Yes. I know that Projectors are more elegant, but I want something with a bang as well and while we found information that indicated that the ship had missiles in the past, we don’t actually have any.”
“We never have,” Ayre said. “Perhaps there were some, long ago. We never had them.”
“We will have to get creative,” Terrel said. “Fortunately we will be doing the same sorts of things you were doing.”
Lieutenant Kendell ‘s voice came over the intercom. “Bridge, Information center. We have a Fellie destroyer in the area. She has RDR.”
“That would be the Halamar Beinan,” Commander Seafisher said. “Commander Dennis Oceaiana, commanding.”
“How do you know?” Ayre said.
“The ship is easy, as so far, the Beinan is the only Consul class destroyer equipped with RDR and the commander made a bit of a name for himself during the scrap on the Peninsula. Even worse, he married the Dragonmaster’s granddaughter and has worked in the Dragonmaster’s office.”
“Why is that significant?”
“The Dragonmaster is a rather old dragon, former flag grade officer in the Fellie Dragoncorps as his title suggests, former consul and general agent without portfolio for the Fellie government. He is the person you meet if you are making serious negotiations with the Fellowship, peace treaties for instance, runs his little shop of disreputables, scammers, crooks and spies and knows everybody of any importance. At tour of duty in his shop usually means that you are sharp and get a promotion out of it, as well as a command. This is actually Commander Oceaiana’s second ship since he left the Dragonmaster’s shop.”
“So he is probably very sharp. Considering my run in with him on Collector, I think that very sharp describes him.”
“He also played with the Great Captain for some time as well as Captain Pinch, who I spoke to about the commander.”
‘The Great Captain?”
“Great Captain Paeris Zylvyre, the boogeyman of the Republican navy,” Terrel said. “If the commander was playing around with the Great Captain, very sharp is a good way to describe him. On the other hand, we have full batteries and a pair of drones, Commander Oceaiana probably hasn’t picked up on us, we could use some practice and I am not an idiot, so why don’t we play a bit.”
FNS Halamar Beinan
Dennis came onto the bridge for his watch and Ambilge said, “I think that an old friend is out there. Rather the other one is. Ted picked up a sweep that he had seen before.”
“The Pugs are moving Gatherer from Lain Othrond to Milport. Who does Intel say got the ship?”
“The very lucky captain is Captain Wavechaser.”
“An interesting choice. He hasn’t been active and is not a career officer. What else do the Pugs have out here?”
“Intel says that traffic analysis says that Albatross and two destroyers as a screen, and Mako, a sub. There’s also an airship, but that is inland at present, supporting marine operations.”
“The question is whether Captain Wavechaser knows that we are here, and if he wants to play.”
“We had his folder and if this is the same Wavechaser, he’ll want to play. The bad news is that if he does, he knows everything about the Mark I and Mark II gadgets as his shop invented them.”
Dennis grinned and looked around the bridge. “So, not only sharp, but knows our equipment better than we do and has that ship to boot. I think that I am game, if he is.”
The Arts Mechanical 