Ronaldo arrived at the door to the Don's office, straightened his uniform, and nodded at the guard. The doors opened, and he caught glimpse of the Don.
Carlos stood and greeted the Commandante warmly, before slowly lowering himself back down. He was surprised to see Ronaldo had chosen to arrive in full, formal dress normally reserved for major ceremonies. His chest bore the Commandate's insignia, above three rows of gold and silver service-ribbons, each representing awards earned during Ronaldo's impressive career. "What's the special occasion, hermano?"
Carlos glanced at Cezar, who was seated in the corner of the room, near the door. "Leave us" exclaimed Carlos. The doors swung open, and the Don and Commandante were left to speak in private.
"You were summoned here in this manner..." Don Carlos replied "because it was necessary for the Benitez Council of Elders to be informed, in no uncertain terms, that I am back in action."
Carlos was surprised at his friend's attitude. Clearly the abrupt arrival of his personal guard in the Council chamber had ruffled some feathers. "I wished to speak to you in private, hermano. I certainly couldn't have come down there myself."
Carlos pulled the neck of his shirt down, revealing a network of pads and wires.
"It seems, though, that you wish to skip straight to business. A shame, but if you wish, I'll cut to the chase." Carlos looked down at a pad on his desk, then back at the Commandante.
"A few weeks ago, you recovered a pilot from a drifting Zoner vessel. A pilot... of unknown loyalty."
"A lost hero." Ronaldo interjected,
"So he claims to be! A long lost explorer, of OUR familia, no less, who happens to have been holed up on Malta since the time of my predecessor! A lost hermano, who happens to be totally dependant on cardimine!"
Carlos paused for a moment to calm down, and began again in a more moderated tone.
"Since this man was recovered, the familia has devoted significant resources to his rehabilitation, and his protection, yet we have no proof that he IS who he claims to be, or that he is sincere in his claims to be loyal to this familia, and to the Empire. An individual who has provided every possible reason to be mistrusted by us, has had familia resources lavished upon him, and has been given free reign of this facility"
The Don paused, trying to stem his growing breathlessness.
"You are Commandante, hermano, and I accept your right to make decisions concerning the day to day business of the familia. I may not agree with the wisdom, but I must accept that such decisions are yours to make."
Carlos glanced towards the door, then returned his gaze to the Commandante.
"But what I cannot accept, is that since the arrival of this individual, one threat to his safety has sparked a witchhunt within the familia. Accusations have flown around, and honourable, trusted members of this organisation have been made to feel like traitors. Have your investigations uncovered anything concerning the threat to Mr de Orellana? Or, as I believe, are we being manipulated?"
"Mi Don, compare the morale and intel possibilities to what we've spent on the recovery of our lost hero. Include the flying experience of the piloto and you end up with a clear profit.
We may not know his complete story yet senor but we are in the process of gathering that. For one, his injuries and body showed a lot of time in space and clear signs of incarceration in a not too friendly way.
I've seen the Mollies that were after Franco! I've stared down their blasters myself! Drunk buggers they are, they meant business. Someone within our organisation has hired them and he'll have to answer to me for what he's done. This might sound like a large scale witch hunt however nothing has leaked from the Council chambers yet. Nothing at all other then what the soldatos already know. Not that many people knew we were moving him. Even fewer people knew we were taking him to London and the ones that did, are all part of La familia. We had a complete communication log delivered a few minutes before you summoned me so we haven't been able to sift through that but I suspect it will give us a clear idea to look in which direction. "
There used to be pictures here
once known as Richard Farbridge, OBE and Ronaldo Benitez
Francisco marched down a long corridor in Myrtos towards the Don's office, a datapad in his hand. Knocking on the door of the office twice, he entered before it was answered. He did not intend to spend any longer in this end of the Villa than was required. He walked in and saw Ronaldo sitting opposite a serious looking, narrow man in his fifties. Their eyes briefly met and Francisco saw what could only be described as hatred, burning through, even from across the room. Don Carlos. The man who'd taken Familia Benitez by force and right of birth.
Francisco marched across the room and turned to face Ronaldo.
"Commandante, Senor Trueno asked me to put this in your hands. He says that he has highlighted the relevant parts”
Francisco handed the datapad containing the communications logs to Ronaldo, turned on his heels and marched out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Ronaldo looked at the datapad. His face turned white.
"Mi Don, I think we may have found our leak. He, she or it is someone in your personal staff. Look at this Data traffic log. Prior to the mollies appearing a message was sent from somewhere on your ship to the London Message Proxy. This must have been the bounty being placed. There is no other explanation, we've looked elsewhere before.
Would you mind if I had my data and comm specialists take a look at the Yachts comm systems mi don?"
There used to be pictures here
once known as Richard Farbridge, OBE and Ronaldo Benitez
Carlos snatched the datapad from Ronaldo's hands, pouring over it intently. He waited for a moment, then looked back at Ronaldo.
"Encrypted messages go to and from all the time, particularly with our business partners in House space. What makes you think a single message and credit transfer sent from my vessel, via the Battleship Talos' communications array and a relay station in Bretonia, is evidence of any wrongdoing?"
Carlos paused again, briefly glancing back to the pad, then glaring at his counterpart. "Why should I allow investigators onto my ship? Such a request is highly irregular. If I didn't know better, hermano, I might think you were accusing ME of being involved in this."
" Mi Don, we've gone over all transmissions. Other then a few staff members on your yacht and staff members of the elders no one knew of the move of our hermano to Trafalgar station.
The first place I looked was with my own staff and with the other elders. Everyone who had this intel was accounted. Either unable to send everything at all or on Benitez property. These were the only transmissions that were sent to Bretonia from Benitez Holdings, these are our only leads!
The fact that I even bother asking you shows that I don't suspect you mi don, if I did I wouldn't have asked you for permission. We're talking about Treason here, putting out a hit on a fellow Benitez. Normal penalty for this means death by kielhauling!
There used to be pictures here
once known as Richard Farbridge, OBE and Ronaldo Benitez
![[Image: H1mZW7e.md.png]](https://iili.io/H1mZW7e.md.png)
