Pygmy glances at the remainder of the squad eying the vessel and chuckles lightly, turns to Trueno and shrugs lightly "Your men can take the official Xeno Alliance tour if they wish, no refreshments will be offered unfortunately. I'm sure our engineer would do so." With that, he raises his voice and screams "JEFF!" in the general direction of the ship. A tall, scraggly haired man pokes his head out of the entrance after a few seconds, glancing at him.
"Curious corsairs here, sonny! Give 'im a tour, just make sure everythin's bolted down." With that, he glances back at Trueno and adds "Last time we did this, we ended up missin' some things. Not that I think ya men would lift somethin' but.. well, don't hurt to be too careful." Looking like he just remembered something, he pauses and says "That's if it's okay with ya, of course."
Following him, he sits down and sprawls out rather lazily. He looks most unprofessional, or just sleepy. Who knows which one. He nods to his first few sentences, then gets a rather grim facial expression at hearing the news. It would make a cancer patient look like they'd just gotten told they were in remission. He shakes his head. "The boys won't like that one bit. Do you have footage of what happened? We aren't well enough endowed to afford those kinda things but you might."
He glances at the glass, shaking his head. Damn the pleasantries.
Trueno empties his glass, offering another round while speaking. "Footage? Err...mi hermana brought him to Myrthos Villa...our home - we value our privacy and that of our guests there quite a bit. Witnesses - si: mi hermanos Anso, Tazo and Medidor were there, too. As for details...we had our doctor give him a quick glance - after all it is...unusual to have dead guests, si? Seems your hermano had quite the taste for liquors and hearty food? Though we did find any traces of drugs, which would have been my guess thinking about Libertonians...seems you `mano suffered from a heart attack... a quite quick and He doesn`t look overly uncomfortable talking about Lanceheads demise, but more surprised at it.
[color=#FFDAB9]"Anyways- if you want you can take his body an look for yourself, he is not yet ..err.. "processed" as we weren`t sure what to do with him.
Actually this brings us back to my original question i had prepared for your hermano and you...what brings you here?"
Preperations for the great banquet were running smooth and going well. This banquet was to be held in honor of the familia’s foreign guests, the Xenos. It was held in honor of their generosity and honorable behavior towards one of the familia’s one Valeria Benitez.
After an accident with a nearby jumpdrive that was activated, she was stranded in Liberty, Colorado system, a place unknown and foreign to her. The Xenos, usually not fond of foreigners at all, however spared her life and extended their hospitality to this involuntary Corsair guest because she had no intention to intrude and initially just wanted to leave again.
Dialogue was held and words exchanged and in the end, a meeting was arranged, if anything to thank the Xenos with the same hospitality they had extended to their Corsair guest. This was why Lancehead was on planet Crete now and why Valeria had her hands full to arrange and organise this great banquet....
“... steaks, check... “ Valeria was reading one of the lists for the banquet. Steaks were a must, Lancehead loved a good steak. It was hard to get but not impossible, she just had to pay a few smugglers very generosly and she would get a fresh steak and if it had to be imported from Liberty with a light fighter on speed.
“... huh.. hey! Don’t forget the sidewinder fang!” She called over.
“The what?” someone responded from behind a crate.
“The sidewinder fang.. or get me all ingredients. I need to be able to mix this drink for our honored guest” Valeria walked over and showed the list to one of the familia’s smugglers. “It is a foreign drink, I hear it is very popular and our guest is mucho fond of it.”
The smugler took the list and nodded. “Well, thats gonna cost you extra.” He said.
“Don’t worry.” Valeria responded. “Creditos are nada a problem. Just be sure to get everything, honorable behavior is priceless.”
It had taken days to arrange everything and start the preperations. She was glad that just recently a diplomatic banquet was held in Myrtos Villa, so the crew knew what they were up for. She had left Lancehead with Trueno and Anso for the time being, while she organised the banquet. They were supposed to show him around the artifact market, Trueno’s specialty, and show him why it was an advantage for the Xenos to be able to starve the cardamine market in Liberty by importing artifacts for a fraction of the price others charge.
By now Valeria was sure they had shown Lancehead around and introduced him to the possibilities of using the artifact market as a weapon against the cardamine market. Now it was time to visit Lancehead and the others again.
Present day...
Valeria walked the corridor to meet Trueno and the other Xenos guest. Si, in the meantime, another of their familia in Colorado seemed to have decided to visit.
This was muchos good... Valeria thought
It meant that the chances of the Xenos and the Corsairs reaching an understanding had increased.
What Valeria did not understand is why Trueno sounded so sad and worried when she spoke to him. But whatever it was, it could not have been so bad. With that she turned around the corner to meet Trueno and Pygmy.
“Buenos dias, hermano, senor.” She respectfully bowed her head to both of them. “It is a muchos unexpected pleasure to see another of your familia here, senor. You arrived just in time for el banquet, a muchos great opportunity to all get to know each other. I even managed to organise a few fresh steaks. Lancehead loves steaks.” She nodded and didn’t notice she started to talk a lot out of sheer excitement. “But thats nada a problem, we have arranged for additional unknown guests, as is tradition among our people when we do things..”
Now she took a breath and looked at both of them who probably looked somewhat displeased. Which Valeria did not understand at all.
“Amigos, why the long faces?!” She addressed them still feeling excited and happy. “You look like someone died or something, cheer up! Lancehead and you, senor, will meet our familia and, perhaps leave this planet with an unexpected friend in the edgeworlds.”
Pygmy glanced at Trueno, listening to his words with a dull and seemingly emotionless facial expression until he arrives to the part about Libertonians commonly using drugs, in which point he glares at the man but says nothing.
"The boys will not be happy about this. I'll be needing to take him home with me, it's good that you did not do anything with him." He raises his gaze to meet his eyes, continuing "And I would be cautious about insulting my people. While some fall prey to.. substances we are not all drugged up weak-minded simpletons by a long shot." He stands up, shrugging at him. "Take me to Lancehead, then. We can discuss business after I see him."
-----
Pygmy nods to Valeria, speaking while simultaneously sizing her up. "Right.. I'm not quite in the mood fer the pleasantries an' whatnot." He raises his eyebrow at her, continuing, "You not heard what happened? Lancehead has, uhm." He pauses, straining a bit emotionally to speak the words. "Passed. Seems 'e ate one too many burgers. We're on our way to see the body."
Trueno nods politely upon Valerias arrival. "Hermana, i am glad you could make it...let me get you updated really quick, si? Lancehead is dead....and his hermano here came to get him back."
He turns back to Pigmy, freezing his smile, speaking rateher quiet and pointed: "Maybe we should do el trado first....so we can optimize ...the logistics afterwards. Now, as i tried to do my best to compensate and make up for senor Lanceheads help to the familia, you are not in the same position here."
He smirks, then draws a notepad out of his uniform and puts it in front of Pigmy, a file is already opened and readable.
"Take a look, this is a small list of traders who bought artifacts from the familia and never reached their destination in Liberty -AFTER- passing the appropriate checkpoints in Rheinland and Bretonia....look:
Estefano Sanchez, capitano of a small transport the Santa Domingo, 1000 Crates of artifacts, good standing with the rogues, not on any "successes" lists from the LPI - gone missing, leaving a familia and quite some debts to us behind."
Jack "the broke" Thomson, a not really broke Junker, flying a huge frigatte- luckily paid in advance- the last transmission he sent out before his hermano salvaged his salvager after days : "Aww hells naw dem Xenos..."
Hiomi Nagate, bella chica from Kusari, buying only the finest things and flying one of those yachts to impress her buyers...her last known cruise was in Liberty, the police seemed to have found no survivors and claims your hermanos were roaming the area...any ideas how many pesetos slip through my fingers with her demise?
Anotehr one? Sir Henry McNuggle, sleazy gringo from Bretonia and surely no bebito to the smuggling business, found dead on Planet California, a dagger in his head, with a note attached " Keep your business out of Liberty, teabag" - his warehouse full of artifacts and who knows what was burned to the ground, too if i may add....
Do you know what i am hinting at? The list goes on and on by the way...so...again senor...what brings you out here?"
Pygmy glances over the file on the datapad, glancing back up at Trueno and pausing for a short moment until speaking.
"While we have not had any past dealings with your.. empire, is it?" He shrugs, continuing, "The xeno movement is quite varied in the amount of groups and their goals, how they reach those goals even. We are but one of many groups, we are the largest but we do not represent all Xenos."
He reaches his hand up, wiping some caked grease under his eyes and only serving to smear it around more, then continues. "What we believe in is quite simple. We believe in a House where the common working man may comfortably work, safe from suddenly being laid off because a foreign worker is willing to work for cheaper or because a foreign company can assemble a part cheaper."
Slipping a cigarette out of his shirt pocket, he pauses to light it. Puffing on it for a moment, he exhales then continues speaking. "After voicing our concerns when this began to happen, we were removed from our homes forcefully and thrown into jails commonly excessively beaten and oppressed. Liberty's government does nothing to fix the situation, so we must. This is, unfortunately through acts that are called terrorism. Foreigners are executed, as well as those poisoning our once great House." He glances at Trueno, adding briefly after, "But make no mistake, we don't have an issue with foreigners as long as they stay where they belong. Corsairs are not generally found in Liberty at all. That is why we see a relationship with your, er, 'familia' as potentially mutually beneficial."
Puffing on the cigarette once more, he sits up and speaks more firmly. "Why is quite simple, you have your artifacts. They're not like the filthy cardamine that the Rogues, Junkers and Lane Hackers peddle in our streets. Commonly, only the rich that damned us in the first place purchase them. No offense intended, but them things basically just shiny rocks. Rich folk willin' to pay top dollar for 'em, and we need cash."
"What I can offer ya is quite simple. Allow us to take over ya Liberty market for artifacts, and I'll see what I can do about spreading the word to leave anyone ya need left 'lone safe. 'S on top of the profits ya be makin' from a steady, uninterrupted smugglin' setup."
Ai caramba, you sure are a tough nut, si? And quick to get to the point!"
Still shaking his head in disbelieve Trueno sits back down, pours two new drinks and continues obivously well entertained. So let me get this straight amigo - you and your group want to take over...the Libertonian artifact market, which is the biggest in Sirius, with not knowing more about your intended goods other than they are "rocks" favored by the rich folks. The very rich folks you try to topple over...and who should become your customers, si? Explain to me how you want to get that done...the logistics, the sale-contacts and all that?"
He takes a breath to down his glass then he gets serious, leaving the smiling behind. "Listen...if it weren't for your dead hermano helping mi hermana and then awkwardly dying here....i would already have muy bueno plans on how you and your crewcould compensate for the losses we had with your Xeno hermanos, affiliated with you directly or not. Then again, i have to think of the Empire first- and it always needs things and only few folks are willing to give.
It would be loco to not hear you out- but think on it...how would you ever out-buy the Junkers who own the Libertonian marked right now, why would we backstab them, as we rely on their trade, here in Omicron Gamma? Why should we trust your group that is at least amigos with gringos who kill off our smugglers...
The Empire is not picky in whom he deals with when it comes to selling artifacts, but the price has to be right. So...what do you say?"
Pygmy puffs on his cigarette once more, tapping the ash off into a nearby ash-tray and nods, starting to speak once more.
"I think you underestimate how big our movement is." He grins slightly, "The Xeno movement is not only the strong-willed men and women who refuse to back down from an over-bearing government that refuses to help its own people. It's also the many independent shipping companies who support us as well as the contracted pilots of the big shipping companies who wouldn't mind signing on some additional unsanctioned cargo, mixed in cleverly with the sanctioned cargo. Word of mouth in the right places can do a surprising amount when finding buyers."
He pauses, puffing once more on his rescinding cigarette and adjusts his seat.
"How do you think we've survived this long without an opportunity such as this? We do not steal credits like the petty Rogues, or the Lane-hackers. We steal cargo in mass amounts and use what we can while fencing the rest in large quantities. I've made arrangements for a large production of transports specifically made for the purpose of ferrying back artifacts to dozens of storage facilities placed near common stops."
He notices his cigarette is down to the filter and flicks it onto the ash tray. He takes the liberty of palming the additional glass Trueno had brought over and downs it, pausing to enjoy it.
"Ahhh. Good stuff, that is. Anyways, as I was saying. Dozens of storage facilities near common stops. This allows the odd stop once in a while to re-fuel and whatnot to also have the additional cargo loaded on go unnoticed. We're capable of taking over a large portion of your trade immediately. In the future, if it goes well, that could be all. Why should you trust us? Well, 's quite up to you. I ain't gonna rant off on how Libertonians are better than filthy Junkers. You'll make whatever decision ya want to, based on actions. Words mean crap in business such as this, as I'm sure ya know."
He grins at Trueno, sliding out another cigarette from his shirt pocket and lighting it.
"Hm, You sure know how to advertise your movement muy bueno. Still - that doesn't erase my memory of lost ships, log term associates and so on. To be blunt here -Libertonian politics are nada of my business, the Empire has no grasp or influence there, the Outcasts and the Rogues rule the underworld, si? Liberty is our biggest market, sales is the only thing that interests the Empire there and how to secure and raise them.
If you want business with us, show us that you are able to get our goods to Liberty on your own, as you said, words are cheap after all. Also - while i know of your grudge with the Junkers and some foreigners...again, your politics are nada of my business...but... shooting down Junkers carrying artifacts while carrying yourself...now wouldn't that put me in a bad spot? Competition in all regards, si - but do that on an economic path, i don't want any dead gringo with a hold full of artifacts! I am not implying you have to ignore the Junkers, if he carries Cardamine, slaves or whatnot, kill him and tell him i sad buenos noches.
But our business partners may not lose their trust in the Empire- trust, honor and deeds over words are our credo. If your group wants to enjoy this you will have to earn it. And THEN we can talk again about those high goals....
"No ship carrying artifacts will be shot down, I will put the word out. Junkers may have their.. 'safety card' in that respect. I will arrange for our transports to begin carryin'. As a bonus, we'll take food rations to Crete on our way over. It's my understandin' that your empire's short on food. We get that as well. So, if nothing else raises a flag do we have a deal?"
Pygmy puffs on his cigarette once more, then flicks it into the ashtray and extends his hand to Trueno after wiping it on his shirt to attempt to get some of the engine grease off.
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