054. Huu and retaliation. Surprise Ninja.

July 2993, New Oslo.

"Mairi. Comstar is fucking over my Kingdom. My people, but I can't do anything about it because they control the communications in the Lyran Commonwealth. How long until we reach message reliability in the Commonwealth, as we have in Rasalhague?" Huu Eggers, King of Rasalhague, said, his voice filled with... barely suppressed rage. The report before him basically amounted to 'we don't know who did the communications trick to try and get the Eggers Shipping Fleet to fire on the ambassadors, but the list is really short, like one group long.'

"At least four more years at current production numbers, my Lord. Rasalhague has 60 worlds. However, the Commonwealth possesses hundreds of worlds alone, not including moons, and asteroid stations. We currently do not have the saturation necessary to replicate Rasalhague's connection on a wider scale." Mairi, his loyal Vice-Lord, head of his Veelvraat replied.

"And the whole Inner Sphere?"

"Much longer lord."

"Glory?"

"We could punish Comstar for their actions, but it will result in blowback from the Commonwealth for acting unilaterally, as well as the rest of the Inner Sphere. We will find little in the way of allies if we act early."

...

"They've been fucking us, Glory. They have been fucking my people, three captains, ninety crew, and one Kommodore are dead because of this. One incident, and my people are dead, how many incidents have there been? How many more before it's clear that Comstar won't leave us alone? It's quite fucking clear, in my opinion... that a message needs to be sent. We can't declare war on them, but after that Margrave died, and Marzio, the rat traitor, we haven't had problems with LIC and the LCAF have we?"

Glory, sitting at his side, answered this time, "no Lord, they have been avoiding us after your display of... dissatisfaction."

"So, let's think about this critically. What is a nice... proportional retaliation against Comstar that teaches them the message that fucking with my people has consequences? Tide us over until we can destroy them without worry about an Interdiction. So, we can stay on everyone's... good side. Until it comes time to crush them utterly." Huu asked, hands spread out wide. Said hands coming down to rest on the cheap bamboo table, the floor, ceiling and walls covered in a thin bamboo veneer. The entire room was so cheap that it didn't count as an asset, which was important! No antiques here, no hardwood, nothing that might up the value!

"Brainstorm time, people, we need to think about this logically."

Mairi at his right said simple, "if we kill enough of them, they will naturally learn the lesson. Even Comstar does not have the numbers to continue what they are doing. Recruitment numbers have been drastically reduced, and they are struggling to fill crew HPGs from their publicly available information." Which, again, had its appeal. Kill them. But that was too low key, he wanted to make a statement after what they had done to his people.

Glory meanwhile shook her head.

"We are retaliating against Comstar for their actions. Given how they attempted to force grand treason upon the King through the death of a diplomatic team, we must respond with greater force. Comstar operates several facilities within Commonwealth space that can be used as a focus for an attack. If we land and annihilate them using Battlemechs, they would not be able to blame us, who they associate with Automachines. Or, alternatively, we can destroy targets outside of the Commonwealth. However, in doing so, we will be unable to alert Comstar that it was us who did it, while maintaining plausible deniability." Glory's response was, as always, simple and effective... which had its appeal. He wasn't going to lie.

A pause in the conversation before Mairi added another comment.

"A little known service that Comstar provides is the explorer corps. Ships that chart out the worlds of the Inner Sphere that have been lost to time... and to seek civilisations that have survived the Succession Wars. The last time that the Combine and Comstar clashed... an explorer ship was reported missing a year later." The voice was quiet but Huu felt, that yes This... this was proportional no? Mairi really did come through this time! Never mind how he knew about it, Huu now had a target!

They blew up three of his ships, or force him to blow up three of his ships.

He would destroy three of their explorer ships.

Equal trade no?

"Right. Right. So, these Comstar bastards, have been doing all they can to screw us over. We've been taking it because they are the ones who can do Interdictions. But. Really, if they can't declare open war, and instead do everything through backstabbing fuckery... I think that it's only right that I do the same. These explorer ships? The ones that travel the periphery? A few going missing outside our borders... that sounds like a message that we need to send." Huu said after thinking for a while.

Really, those fuckers had it coming.

This cycle had a month left, and it was going to make him profits. He had accepted that. In fact, one might say, that it had awoken him to the fact that he had been going at it easy. So easy, in fact, that he hadn't really had to put in the effort in the last few cycles. But this had awoken him to the very real fact that things could... and did, go catastrophically wrong. This was the Inner Sphere, where wars were common, where interstellar nations just did not do things like peace. Which meant, in simple terms, that he couldn't rest on his laurels, or he would be fucked, just like this cycle.

More ways of losing money were needed, more avenues of future-proofing his lost-making. The biggest of which were the Space Colonies. Enormous, space, blah blah blah.

What was important, was that while they counted as assets, educational or otherwise. The people, he had on board, would be paid at three times the normal rate. In other words, danger-pay for living in space. And since it couldn't be classified wholly as educational, only the blocks that had school structures in them, he had to pay enough to outweigh the asset rated profits.

Which... really... gave him a horrific premonition. If this applied to civilian space colonies... what would happen to his Eggers Cradles on the planets in the future? Would he be doomed to make infinite profits!?

But! But, the pay for the people would ensure he would lose money either way. He had forgotten the single truism of his past life and this life. People cost money! Invest in people, ignore crazy technology! Pay people more, give them more, and you will make losses!

Only for fuuuuuucking Comstar to come in and nearly ruin all of it by trying to get his Construction leaders killed. In fact, he had a great appreciation for Gaudlig (he really appreciated the germanicisation of her name, he could actually spell it in his head now). The cheaper she made the construction... the less the asset would be worth! The more efficient she made things, the less the asset would be valued at.

It was too bad he had been too short sighted to realise the benefits he had gained from having her around as part of Construction.

In any case, she was nearly killed as well! Fucking Comstar!

And Erwin, with that wobbly, unstable mess of a tank? It was the perfect money waster. And they wanted to kill him too?

So.

"So. A message. We will send a message to Comstar that they cannot ignore. The more they fuck with us, the more accidents their people will suffer. Untraceable, just like them, poetic right? It's like the world rhymes." He finally said after he rose out of his thoughts.

"A message that says, do not fuck with my people. Or there will be consequences. There won't be any evidence... but Comstar should get the message. And if they don't, we'll keep repeating it until they do. Glory get those orders out, I think Rasalhague Actionable Intelligence Directorate... that's a good name right? Yes, RAID needs to start planning its first... international operation." The King of Rasalhague was deadly serious, leaning forward, eyes narrowed.

A clapping sound spread through the room before Mairi and Glory could say anything in reply. One followed by the words, "I applaud you, young Dragon. Allow me to introduce myself."

Coming from everywhere and nowhere, the accent tinged German filled the room. Before him, as if emerging from a mist, appeared the form of an old woman. A cane in her hand, standing three metres distant from his desk. In an instant three greatswords were at her throat while Mairi interposed himself before his King. Glory, meanwhile, had a pistol out, pointed at the woman.

Old. Wrinkled. Looking as if she were... just any other old woman of Japanese descent. Something you could tell from the cheeks and nose. Huu as a current and previous Vietnamese descended individual could tell, it being rather... obvious if you knew what to look for.

"Since I'm not dead, and you were invisible... I am assuming you wanted to meet me for something... and this is not an elaborate attempt to kill me?" He asked, staring at her with a raised eyebrow. Looking at Mairi's back as he did so.

Right. Leaning over the table he tapped his chief bodyguard's waist, he needed to be able to see her for his expressions to work right?

"Yes young Dragon. I am... an Inquisitor, you might say. Of the Order of the Five Pillars, tasked with ensuring the moral purity of the Draconis Combine as a whole." At her words, his Veelvraat tensed even further.

Was this something he should be worried about? Was the Order of the Five Pillars something dangerous? They were just the morality police, right?

"However, as of your defeat of Hohiro Kurita the previous year, his son, Takashi Kurita, has betrayed all that represents the Dragon. Worse still, he had demanded the Dictum Honorium be rewritten, desecrating centuries of tradition. Of moral purity that has now been corrupted. The order has split, and I come here, now, to you. To the one that broke the Dragon. There is much to hear, to feel... to think. But, for now, there is much I have to offer. Qi." Her words were simple, her blazing with a rather creepy light.

That wasn't just him, right? Could the others see that light?

"Right, that's interesting and all, but how did you even get in here without anyone knowing?" Mairi interjected, the bulk of his body still in front of Huu. "What is stopping you harming our King? Especially with powers some consider to be Combine legends."

"Ah. That is but one of many... aspects... that I offer. Qi, the power of life. One that allows one to heal, to prevent others from dying... Qi is a pathway to many abilities that some consider to be... unnatural."

"Can it be learned?" Huu asked immediately. An inkling of a future loss-making scheme in his mind. If it were easy to learn, he would have heard of it by now. Instead, it must be really hard... which meant... that he could train up thousands, offer them pay to study... and get nothing useful from it!

"Yes, but it is an arduous task that requires great concentration and willpower, not a concern for you, of course, young Dragon."

Fucking perfect!

This cycle was going to fail, no matter what... but the next cycle? He had two secret weapons, his colonies, and this new Qi stuff.

Everything was coming up aces!

"Lord, we must verify her story before I can allow her anywhere near you." Mairi said.

Oh right, that too.

Woops, focusing on profits so much could have gotten him killed!

He could imagine his past life, thousands of people across the globe learning how to 'martial arts' in the hopes it would grant them nigh-magical abilities.

Ha! Here, at least, there was some hiding-in-plain-sight ninja stuff... but how much of it was actually useful outside of edge cases?

A few dozen agents? Sure, whatever.

A thousand, ten thousand? Ha, what the hell could he even use them for? These... shadows would be utterly useless once he got past a few hundred or so of them.

What a perfect way to lose money, one that had nearly literally dropped in his lap!

"Please, verify. This sounds very... interesting."

Maybe he would be able to make losses next cycle even if there was an emergency!

"Lord... the ambassador from the Magistracy is waiting for her appointment outside... what do you wish for us to do with this Inquisitor?"

Hmmm?

"Just send her out, ask for volunteers, let's see if Inquisitor is all she says she is. Keep an eye on her, of course. But, we do need something to bring us up, so idiots like Comstar stop thinking of us as pushovers, don't you think? We can't just shoot them every time they do something stupid, we'd stop being able to make HPG calls if we did that."