by Bruce Marcom
Galaxy of Empires
Merchant Wars Episode #1
Bruce Marcom
Copyright ©2015 by Bruce Marcom
United States Publishing, LLC
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Author: Bruce Marcom
Editor and Proofreader: Laura Peterson
ISBN: 978-1-943917-02-0
US Copyright 1-2781753491
www.galaxyofempires.com
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter One
Evella Noctu, carrying her electronic accounting pad, walks briskly down the hall. She is trying to get to the conference room in her cruiser before the other captains arrive. They have just landed on the reptilian home world of Hosan, her home base of operations. As she comes up to the conference room door, she spots her assistant, 42, standing there waiting for her. Her assistant is a tall Android with a highly polished, blackened chrome paint job.
Being a reptilian merchant is not only a dangerous job just by its nature, but trust is one thing that never exists—at least among reptilian merchants. Eve never believes anyone, particularly because she is a half-breed: part human and part Snake. That was one of the reasons she decided to get an Android assistant instead of using a biological one. It is unlikely that an Android would ever betray her unless the Android had been tampered with. Besides, it is doubtful that any reptilian could keep up with the accounting better than an Android.
“Is everything ready, 42?”
“Yes, My Lady. I have all records in order and available for review for your meeting.”
“Excellent. Your efficiency never ceases to amaze me, 42, even after all these years.”
“Thank you, Ma’am. I try to do the best that I can.” The Android, in a humble fashion, adds, “There is one thing I would like to bring to your attention…. There are some irregularities with one of the captain’s records; he appears to be short on one of his accounts.”
Eve responds with interest, “Oh, really? Let me see the records you are referring to and we shall see what the captain has been up to.” She grabs the accounting pad and scans it with scrutiny. After a few minutes, she looks up at 42 and says, “You are correct, of course, and this will have to be dealt with. I want you to follow these instructions closely.” She gives 42 some instructions.
***
“Order, order. Take your seats, captains, and let us get on with this. I do not have all day.” Eve barks loudly to get everyone’s attention as she glares at all the reptilian captains.
“Now the first thing on the agenda is last month’s profit goals. Everything seems to be in order following a very profitable month last month. Captain Bly had the highest profit margins out of all six ships in our fleet, with raw minerals being at the top of the list.” The captains begin clapping in recognition of this achievement.
42 speaks next. “The following is the list of profit margins by each captain: Captain Bly in our minerals division had a profit margin of 42.0%; Captain Kuhn in our arts and crafts division had 39.5%; Captain Fujima in our food division had 21.3%; Captain Jezikar in the small arms division had 37%; Captain Terinad in the ship weapons, armor, and shield generators division had 36.9%, and Captain Bloodtail in our smuggling department had 39.4%.”
“As Bly, Kuhn, and Bloodtail have all exceeded their projections, they are the only ones who get bonuses this month,” Eve remarks with contentment. “Captain Fujima, your production level has been disappointing these past three months. You should be making a killing with the famine in Sector Three. You could have easily charged three times the average price for food because those starving people would have paid anything for it.”
Captain Fujima replies nervously, “There has been a lot of competition, not just from me, but from the Buscar Merchant clan as well. They are one of the biggest food distributors in the region, which makes it hard for me to compete with them.”
Eve says with a commanding voice, “A good merchant can always make a profit under any circumstance. Instead, you make excuses. However, what I am concerned about is your inventory, which was audited along with your bookkeeping. The audit discovered that you are missing two full shipping containers of food. I had those containers tracked and found that you gave free food to those starving children.”
The other captains gasp when they hear the word free. A reptilian merchant giving away merchandise is the most forbidden taboo in the merchant industry. It is a good way to get a merchant license revoked permanently, not to mention incurring fines and penalties.
“I…They were starving…. I felt sorry for them…,” Captain Fujima sobs.
“You are a disgrace to reptilians everywhere. You know what the penalties are for giving away merchandise. There will be no leniency whatsoever. The merchants’ guild has given me the power to strip you of your merchant and pilot licenses. In addition to the merchant guild’s penalties, your employment contract with me states that any captain is to be held liable if he loses merchandise because of negligence, theft, destruction, or any other reason. The employer, which is me, can exercise the right to liquidate all of the employee’s assets to recover the losses incurred by the employee.”
“What? But…” Fujima shrieks in protest, but he is cut off.
“And since you like to work for free, I have arranged for you to work free for the remainder of your life.”
Two large Crocodile men in leather armor with whips and handcuffs attached to their belts walk in the room and approach Captain Fujima, grabbing him roughly. “These two fine gentlemen are from the slavers’ guild; I have sold you to them to help compensate for my losses. Since that was not enough to cover all of your debts, the rest of your assets have been liquidated as well. Unfortunately, that was not sufficient, so I had to sell your wife and children into slavery as well.”
As the captain struggles with the large Crocodile men who are handcuffing him, he yells out, “You half-breed piece of crap! I will kill you if it is the last thing I do….” The Crocodile men start to drag him out of the room, but suddenly stop when Eve sternly says in an angry tone, “What did you call me...?”
The other captains start backing away from the offender, who is now struggling to get up off the floor. The last time somebody used the “H-word” in reference to Eve, that person’s head exploded from the inside out. The word half-breed used in a negative tone is the most offensive word anyone could ever say to her.
Eve stands up from the table and extends her hand as if trying to grab Fujima. An invisible force hoists the captain up into the air where he begins to choke, violently thrashing around to regain his breath. Eve is a telepath and a powerful one at that.
“You are in no position to threaten anyone, Captain. I did not just sell your wife into slavery, I sold her to a brothel that needed someone to give freebies to all of their new clients as a sample of their services. Just think of all those satisfied customers who will get to sample your wife for free. But then again, she will probably get more satisfaction from them than she ever got from you.” Eve’s voice remains level as she continues.
“The slavers’ guild would not take your
newborn baby. Therefore, I had to go and try to sell your new baby on the adoption market. However, on the way over there, I ran across a human who said he would offer me twice as much as the adoption market would. He said that he needed some food for his dragon lizard pet and the baby would be perfect. So I sold the baby to him and watched the dragon lizard devour your little gremlin until it was gone.”
She releases the captain and he falls to the floor, gasping for air. She starts to turn around and sit in her chair, but stops and says in an even tone, “Screw the money….” As her eyes light up with a blue glow, suddenly the captain’s head explodes from inside out as the mind blast completes its effect.
“Take note, Captains. I do not take kindly to people who betray or insult me. In contrast, I reward those who respect me and are productive. After all, we are all in this to make money. Do not get sidetracked by becoming too greedy or not staying focused on the objectives I have laid out. Dismissed.” The captains leave the room in a hurried fashion, none wanting to become the new target of her wrath.
“Sorry, gentlemen, for making you waste a trip. I tell you what: I will give you a hundred platinum bars to dispose of this mess, so at least you’ll get something out of it.” The sound of platinum bars makes the slavers happy, so they began to clean up what was left of Captain Fujima on the floor.
“On second thought, put the meat in the freezer box that my assistant will get for you. I will feed the captain to my giant snake later tonight.” She walks out of the room and back to her private chamber.