Everyone Has a Price

[Libby]

Spoiler: STORY SO FAR • show

The Zimalian nation gives many oppurtunities to hide all manner of vices. A wealthy Celt known simply as Cairan has taken advanatge of this by buying himself first a tiny island, then a hareem of women known as his nymphs. Finoula, a recently graduated Truthsayer became a victim when, along with her mother, she was kidnapped by people smugglers. Her mother was shot in front of her when she failed to be purchased and then Cairan bid highly on her. During the auction their was some kind of assassination but this went largely unnoticed. An Achkaerin investigation team also has interest in the auction.

Ciaran returned to his island with his new Nymph for a luxurious dinner party featuring a variety of bad eggs from across Mundus. The motive for this dinner was not just to show off his hareem and indulge his fascination for fine dining, but also to set up a network smuggling the untraceable "Black Cociane" a version of the drug practically undetaable. With Whilhemena, a member of the Neu Urbasis royal family seeking to releive herself of a dead body and make a point, Rashid Elwes, the son of Zimalian President agrees to help stage it so the Afolayans take the blame, meanwhile the pair agree to become part of the drug network taking a sizeable profit in doing so. They are further joined by Albanus Ares, an Agira Latinta "Import/Exporter" who seemingly knows that Fionoula is more than she seems.

OOC- Assume the dinner is over, either get off the island or stay the evening and get up to mischief etc. If no one posts by Saturday I'll assume you've all left and carry on.

[Libby]

Fionoa McGregor woke the morning after the dinner party, her body ached and she felt sick, as though her stomach was a great washing machine. As she tried blinking away the throbbing headache she began to feel other pains, reminders of Cairan's use of her during the night. She waited for her eyes to start to focus, things seemed fuzzy and she was sure there was a fient haze of purple. She tried to sit up and found her left arm tied to the head of the bed, she fumbled with the knot but it was too tight for her to unpick. She lay on the right hand side of the bed and could feel someone beside her, she twisted and saw Cairan his arms round Maggie who was still snoozing. Feeling her movement he woke and turned to face her "Good morning my magnificnet nymph" he ran his hand down her naked body making her squirm away. "You were less nervous last night" he kissed her as his hands slid up her thigh, it was clear what he intended and Fionoa wept as he did so the drugs no longer numbing her senses.

After he had taken her Cairan left, talking about apparently having business to attend to for a few days. Once he left Maggie awakened, it appeared she had feigned sleep while Cairan had his way. Over the next two days Fionoa got to know the other girls a little better, they were a real mix a combination of nationalities and each having their own story to tell, some had been sold by their parents as the only way for a poor peasant family to survive the draughts of Zimalia, others like her tourists who had been kidnapped, there was even one girl who had been the daughter of one of his guards. What struck her as odd though was how each seemed now assigned to their fate, after all here was a man who seemed to have the Zimalian government on his side and he was well hidden and protected. During the next few days teh Truthsayer instincts kicked in and she began counting the guards, at first giving each a little nickname to help her remember them, then trying to make a mental list of the names, by the end of the second day she had got around 25 guards, but that was only the ones in the area where she was allowed. Each of them had a rifle, some kind of AK47 and a handgun, a few even had grenades hanging off their belts in a rather unsafe manner. It all indicated these guys were not crack soldiers, but that didn't matter, a gifted amaetur with a rifle could be just as deadly. She next turned her attention to getting off the island, there were no visible boats, not even at the jetty, it appeared Cairans boat was the only one that parked there, but that required a sizeable crew and would be beyond her capabilities even if she could get to it. Then there was Maggie to worry about each of the girls were assigned a partner, a pair, and if one messed up the other was punished too, she couldn't just walk away knowing she'd be responsible for awful things happening to someone else.

She wondered what she could, but at the moment all it seemed was to stay in her captures good boots and favour.

[Norgeras]

Wilhelmina was sipping a cold Glass of Water with some Lime and Ice in her makeshift Office for the building project. For now she was out of Albrecht's reach here, and she still more than enough supporters. He wouldn't dare make a move yet.

glancing over the plans with the pristine white Streets, beatifull Alley and small Parks, she chuckled as she snipped another piece of Buildings from the Cities model and put another street of the new quarter there.
"Yes, yes. We have thought of defense. The whole Area will be Walled in and Secured. No common rubble will be able to penetrate. It wont hold bakc an Army, but it should give time to retreat if needed." Hanging up the phone she picked up the Newspaper and couldn't help but laugh loudly before throwing the Newspaper on the womans feet (https://independentorder.net/index.php?topic=203.msg790#msg790)
"They did picture your Boy pretty well. Don't you think? He is a little Star now."
Hearing the door Ring as her Bodyguards did lead one of Caidan's contacts in she smiled: "Here she is, just make me an offer once you actually have a child. Maybe I'll adopt it and raise it then. Her Kid was incredibly durable."



Back in Neu Uburzis, Albrecht threw the Newspaper into a fire, followed by a bottle of Whiskey from the Shelf. Not that he was drinking, but the Burst of Flames made him vent better.
"She killed someone, just so she could show us that she is still a threat?" Orion had walked into the room, seemingly shaken: "The boy died because he looks like me. She already killed Mum and Dad, is she never Satisfied?"
Albrecht shook his head, allowing Orion to lean on to him: "No. She is not. But she wont dare make a move on you, i promise."

/and that is because i have her children here/ - Albrecht thought to himself, giving the shaking emperor a small kiss on his forehead.

[Achkaerin]

Ayah woke just another day on the island, another day at Cairan's whim or whoever's whim Cairan dolled her out to this time. She looked across the room to where her 'partner' slept this was Livia, the two hadn't been used the previous night something not unheard of but relatively uncommon. Ayah had only been in Cairan's employ as it were a few months, Livia hadn't been around much longer than that and they actually made a pretty good partnership though they both despised their circumstances. That said they both knew it could be far worse than it was so they'd decided to wait and see what happened on the island, keeping their noses clean and staying out of trouble was the best thing they could do no matter how much they hated their surroundings.

There was a knock on the door, Livia got out of bed and answered it, on the other side was one of the guards
"Cairan wants to see you both at once." the guard said, Livia looked at Ayah
"Who do you think it is this time?" Ayah asked
"No clue." Livia said

Elsewhere in Zimalia Ayah's sister Aishia lay next to a campfire lying on the other side of it was Kayleigh Pryde and sat on a nearby log keeping watch was Maki Hamer, the trio had had quite an adventure. Kayleigh had originally been sent to do surveillance on the people trafficking operation by monitoring a slave auction, then she'd gotten captured by the militia that seemed to manage the slave side of things which had resulted in Maki flying out to Zimalia, rescuing Kayleigh and Aishia as it turned out and now they were going beyond their brief, they were trying to track down Ayah, they had nothing to go on except the name Kyrenas - clearly a pseudonym, they also knew that whoever this person was had bought a great many girls at the auctions which to Maki, someone who'd grown up fast on the streets herself, was despised. Kayleigh didn't like it much either it was almost like another world to the two of them, not that they didn't know this sort of thing happened it was just something they'd never delved into, they were used to dealing with terrorists not this.

"So what do we do?" Aishia asked
"With no idea who Kyrenas is there's not much we can do." Maki said
"But we're not giving up." Kayleigh said "We're just going to have to attack the problem from another angle."
"Such as?" Maki asked
"We've got more names than just Kyrenas." Kayleigh said
"You think some of the other clients were careless?" Maki asked
"It's worth looking at right?" Kayleigh said
"Disembowel the trafficking to shake the tree?" Maki asked "I like it."

[Libby]

Cairan had just recieved the phone call he'd long been waiting for, his first shipment of Black Cocaine would be arriving in a few days, that meant big money to be made, however his manufacturer had also rather surprisingly sent him a consignment of pills, supposedly some new super ecstacy or something that was going to be the next big thing. Frankly he didn't care drugs weren't really his thing, woman, wine, music and art where, however to keep himself supplied with those to a level he required he needed money, and deals like this were perfect for that. "Thomas" he turned to his ever present bodyguard type who towered over him. "Please go and get Ayah and Livia for me, and bring four of your best guys.....but ones you wouldn't mind missing." he watched the large man grin as he headed off to carry out his little duty.

Five minutes later the six people arrived in Cairan's office, a room smartly made out with wood panelling upon which works of his own art hung, they were mainly all landscapes of places he imagined you'd see in some celtic paradise, rolling meadows, loch's and highlands and while they would never grace professional art galleries they weren't exactly bad work either, creating them made him happy so that was all he cared about, however the endless stream of sicaphants he surrounded himself with always told him he was a great master of his craft. "Ah my two nymphs" he crossed to them kissing each before taking one in each hand and sitting them on the sofa while he busied himself making them a fresh orange juice, "Gentleman make yourself comfortable" he motioned to various chaires around the room and the four men found seats and cradled their rifles as they sat awkwardly on the fine antique furniture. "I have a little task for you six" he handed the girls the fresh juice before squeezing in between them placing his arms around them. "You four are to escort my beautiful ladies to a meeting, they will be going to Keepton in East Moreland" he announced, the two girls looked puzzled it was not common for the girls to leave the island, "You will ensure their safety" he said firmly leaving the guards in no doubt what that meant. "they and you will be carrying a special cargo." he held up small packages of condoms with pills in them. "Each will be carrying six of these" he announced matter of factly, a few of the guards looked nervous and Cairan leaned forward. "I'm told its no worse than eating an oyster" he ran a hand down Livia's thigh, he often made her consume oysters for their "affrodisiac" properties. "Each of you four gentleman will recieve $1000 for doing this" suddenly the mens nerves disappeared as the sum offered was vast to them. "And ladies you will do it because you love me, don't you?" the menace in his final words as well as placing a hand around Ayah's throat as he pulled her close to his lips left little doubt. "Oh, and if you don't do it these four men will get to enjoy you before they head off and then so will all their friends." He was stood up now and poured a glass of water before returning to the seat, "and if one of you runs the other dies" he was almost cheerful, and "I certainly don't want anything to happen to my beautiful Livia" he handed her the glass as he removed a knife from the back of his belt. He reached into a box and pulled out one of the pill filled condoms and handed it Livia. "Just like an oyster" he smiled as he placed it in front of her.

Livia hesitated and Cairan waited, when Livia still hadn't picked it up he picked up the knife and used it to slide the package closer to her before running the flat of the blade menacingly up and down Ayah's thigh. Livia picked it up, she felt her heart racing and placed the package in her mouth, it tasted awful but she took a sip of water and swallowed the feeling sending a spasm of shock up her spine. "Good Girl" Cairan kissed her cheek, "Five more" he placed another on the table.

It took over an hour for the six mules to swallow all the packages and now they were on the boat heading for the mainland the men in high spirits at the thought of getting paid, meanwhile the girls sat nervously between them. Once on shore a mini van was waiting and the six were dressed as backpackers as one of Cairans' "Associates" explained the cover, "You're students heading back to Keepton" he handed the men some paperwork which had hastily been prepared, "and the girls are your classmates you took home with you" he opened the back of the van and showed a set of rucksacks similar to what students on a gap year would use. "Safe journey" the man waved them off as one of the guards clambered into the drivers seat and the rest got into the back surrounding Livia and Ayah. 

[Libby]

Over the last few days Cairan was nowhere to be seen, Fionoa McGregor was thankful as it clearly meant that she didn't have to put up with his forceful advances. The girls were pretty much permitted to spend their time as they wanted, clearly though they were not permitted to leave the island. Some of them just spent the time doing very little, clearly accustomed to their lives now, others were too stoned or higher to really comprehend any difference. The guards after a while blended into the background for most of the girls, but Fionoa was different her eyes may not have been following each of them but she knew where they were. She had been plotting, trying to find a route off the island but with the land barely visible a swim would probably not be an easy proposition, that was if she could get the thought of being responsible for someone elses death out of her mind, she thought of ways she could get Maggie off the island as well, but the Zimalian girl probably wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough. Fionoa sat one morning trying to mentally work out a route past the ever present guards, she'd have to of course deal with the one who who seemingly man marked her when she went off around the estate and island but she was pretty confident that she could do that. She considered just going for it, after all she didn't really consider Maggie a friend, or at least she told herself that. She tried gauging the distance to the mainland but couldn't really settle herself on it. Then one morning she noticed a sharks fin, darting close into shore it seemingly grabbed something and then was gone, another obsticle put in her way and so for the time being she'd have to stay put.


The van carrying Ayah and Livia crossed the border with minimal fuss, Cairan may be a rather average artist but that was more for his lack of patience with landscapes or people, give him forgery to crack on with and he was a master. He'd made his money producing thousands of documents and various other fakes for Aries Albanus and that had made him wealthy enough to set up his own counterfit currency operation, carefully using legal bookmakers as a means of "cleaning" the money had made him even wealthier until adding his own ill gotten gains to his families already comfortable wealth had seen him living the life of his dreams. Now he was branching out, his contacts had got him into the world of drugs and he was already ahead of most in that area, especially since he'd now managed to acquire Black Cocaine.

Once past the border posts the group drove into the Alps and found the small little cabin just before sunrise. It was specially set up for this operation, the barn had been turned into a drugs lab, the cabin itself home to several of the "factory workers" and an old outhouse a warehouse. Officially the place was a holiday rental home but for the last two years it had been the centre of a drugs network for Alba Karinya. The girls were bundled out of the van and thrown into a room, a special toilet sat in the corner as a man explained. "It filters and traps the packages, it's just like the ones the border forces have for people doing what you are." The girls looked nervous. "Don't worry hun" the man laughed, "We'll not touch you.....at least not until we've got our packages" he chuckled as he shut the door.

It took two days for the packages to be recovered and in that time they'd witnessed one of the men nearly die as one of the pellets had burst, it was only a mircale that had prevented his overdose, clearly the drugs had been quiet badly cut so the dose was rather low. Now with their systems free of any drug the two girls were given slightly more freedom. "Cairan is getting you back tomorrow" the drug factories boss explained, he was beginning to put handcuffs on Livia, "or at least he'll be getting Ayah back" the girls looked nervously at each other. "Tonight Ayah will fly back to Zimalia with this in her briefcase" the man held up what looked like a pack of coffee, "It's black cocaine, we're beginning the first delivery and Cairan wanted a test run." he smiled as he put it back into a briefcase set up like a travelling business woman, "You'll be flying with your associate here" A large black man dressed in a pinstripe suit stood stoicly at the side of the man talking. "He has simple orders, you try anything he rings me" the man produced a hand gun from his belt, "and she dies" he pointed the gun at Livia and pulled the trigger, the girls screamed but the gun just clicked. "We then send Livia here and the same deal, she does anything and well......Ayah becomes shark food." With Ayah on her way home smartly dressed as a successful business woman Livia was left handcuffed to a bed.

Outside the door in the barn several packages were prepared and made ready for their distribution across Mundus, a Black Cocaine flood to sweep the world, undectable and worth millions and Cairan would be making a nice profit along with his business partners.


OOC - In the first parts of this Black Cocaine was introduced, it was essentially based on a RL thing where a Colombian cartel managed to produce a process which essentially made Cocaine untracable to sniffer dogs and so very easy to smuggle if a little clever. Cairan has control over a large processing facility for it and carved Mundus up into little patches. Rashid Elwes got the Alba Karinyan supply, Albanus Ares got East Aranye, and Wilhemena got West Aranye. Each agreed three things, pay Cairan a $250,000 start up fee, give him a 5% share in whatever you make from the stuff, and they can't bid against him in slave auctions. That still leaves a sizeable amount of Mundus open to the trade. If you want in let me know what you intend.

[Gadshack]

Zoketo Enterprise Offices in Boepon

“Worthy competitors it seems.” Watinaba chuckled to himself, as Kalani stood stiffly over his shoulder. She could barely see the tablet’s screen in the dusty sun rays that poked through the blinds, and the dim lights of Watinaba’s office, but she could make out several disorderly notes juxtaposed upon it with the latest news. Kalani walked back in front of his desk, sitting down and taking a sip of Coachnuan wine in hand. “So this Black Cocaine.” she asked. “A new substance on the black market?”

“Indeed, and it looks like it will undercut us here. Cases of overdoses have already been reported in Hounati.” Watin sighed, passing over the tablet. “Unregulated.” he continued disgustedly. “These thugs, have been undermining the legitimate cocaine and cannabis market in Coanchua for years already! We regulate safety and a safe high for customers but the black market, and now this black cocaine is pushing it too far! Before you know it the government with succumb to outside pressure and push strenuous bans on the drug industry!” Watin felt himself entering a rant, so he calmed himself down. “I’m jumping to radical conclusions.” he sighed.

Kalani had been Watin’s closest council, and most loyal. She had stuck with him through hard times and together inherited Zoketo Enterprise, a premier recreational and medicinal drug company. Since the founding of the country such industries have been one of the bastions of the economy, and now the juggernaut of the black market was starting to impede, counterfeiting what Watin saw as his product.

 “We have lobby in the government assuring nothing will change.” Kalani said. “The market is as strong as ever, though you’re right, this Black Cocaine is an issue. Seems to be undercutting us at every turn.”

“What were the new outreach statistics for youth again?” Watin asked.

“The board came to the conclusion that kids like what’s dangerous, and illegal. It’s rebellious and dark, going along with this new age night scene. Repeatedly it’s been attempted to shift our marketing Watinaba, but it’s not happening. We’re losing the youth crowd at least-.”

Watin interrupted her by raising his finger. He wanted to introduce an idea he had for a while to her, though had forgotten to mention countless times in the hustle and bustle at Zoketo. “If we can’t beat them, why not buy them?”

“You want to re-launch lobbying efforts in other countries?”

“No, no. They’ll never get on this country’s level. But perhaps…”

Kalani was on edge, assuming where he was going with this. She shifted uncomfortably and Watin noticed, pausing for her to talk. “It seems way out of bounds, Watin, you’re talking about conspiring with illegal kingpins and…?”

“Bringing them to Coanchua, ofcourse. Think of the sell, coming to such a rich country of opportunity and…”

“Let me stop you right there.” Kalani sighed. “Drugs are simply a local market in Coanchua, it sounds like you want to expand and operate a part… illegal market?”

The two glared in eachothers eyes for moment, Kalani glanced away real quickly after a while. Watin sat in contemplation, knowing what world conquering psyche drove him, he wanted to expand, an irking feeling of ego and ambition. “No.” Kalani ordered. “This hysteria, behind Black Cocaine is no matter. I hope we can put this rest, as I don’t want to bring it to the board. I’ll consider this a small hiccup in your thought process.” she walked torward the door to exit the office, before being stopped by eerie words echoed by Watin’s ambition.

“You know why Lahune disappeared?”

Kalani glanced behind, before exiting the office. “Idle threats don’t scare me and after all these years I’d expect better.” she slammed the door behind her.


OOC: All drugs are legal in Coanchua to clear up confusion, this is a legit private company

[yasha]

Oct 20, 2017, 18:20
Sea of Alucard, approaching Coast of Heimai

"Named rather aptly, they call it black cocaine. They say it's almost completely undetectable if you know how to hide it; not even the dogs can sniff it out." The dimly-lit cabin on the ferry was about as smoky as the air outside was hazy, as one young woman sitting at the table stubbed out a slender black cigarette. "I'll believe it when I see it for myself, I think this madman in Zimalia he's mentioned is full of it. The fact that Grandfather personally summoned him here makes me think he's finally going senile." Daisuke Kazagawa said, carefully examining a picture of Cairan laid out in the middle of the table.  Aya and Mikoto glared at him, resting their hands on their pistols. "Talk of your ambitions all you want, Daisuke. Perhaps Grandfather is being led by his nose, but disrespect him like that, and we'll deliver your head to him; besides, it's not very hard to pretend, is it?" Aya snarled at him, tucking her handgun away into a secret holster.

The ferry let out its horn as it drew closer to Heimai, prompting the three to grab their things out of the cabin and step out onto the deck; Heimai could be barely made out on the horizon through the fog now, as dreary as ever. Fastening his helmet on and opening the seat compartment of his motorcycle, Daisuke ensured the little black case inside was at least partially hidden, before slamming it shut and hopping on. "Still gotta wonder why Grandfather picked Heimai of all places to live, Bykrestan is nice, Dartfordia is nice; but he had to pick this miserable concrete heap." The ferry's gate came slamming down, and the three 14 Masks enforcers came rolling out on their motorcycles, slowly approaching the lone cop in charge of customs on the dock. Without so much as a word, he lazily scanned the three of their passports, forged Gowu ones before lifting the barricade and letting them be on their way.

"That's probably why, the world couldn't care less about Heimai and Heimai couldn't care less about the world, didn't even check for weapons." Aya said, lowering her visor and blasting off into the concrete maze of the city; everywhere they looked was lined with neon signs in some twisty, otherworldly alphabet; reflecting off of puddles on the ground. Storefronts and roadside stalls would show off everything from bootleg electronics, to weird colourful elixirs to esoteric books that are probably banned in the less secular parts of Mundus. Aya gestured with her hand for Mikoto and Daisuke to make a turn, making them funnel into an alleyway.

Rolling up to a secret door, a metal one without a handle and marked by a streak of rust, Daisuke parked his motorcycle off to the side and took his gun case from it. "We'll be nearby in case this Cairan guy tries to pull something; otherwise we'll see you if you get out." Aya said before the two disappeared down the alley, leaving Daisuke alone to impress Grandfather. Taking a breath, Daisuke knocked sequentially on the door. After a couple seconds, a speaker behind him activated. It played a message faintly; "There is no evil." it said, repeating itself once. "Only ambition." Daisuke replied, causing the door to swing open. Compared to the extremely dull, unassuming exterior of the building, the interior was extremely lavish and well-maintained, the walls lined with valuable paintings and the taxidermied heads of endangered animals. Men with carbines patrolled the narrow hallway, glaring at Daisuke as they passed.

His gun case at his side, Daisuke purposefully climbed the staircase of the disguised mansion and went to knock on a set of double doors.

"Please, come in." an old man's voice gently called, Daisuke gulped. Slowly pushing the door open, he bowed as deeply as he could before as soon as he could see Grandfather, patiently waiting on his massive couch. "Thank you for receiving me, Grandfather." he said, his head still down. "Daisuke! It is truly wonderful to see you, how I have missed you." the old man enthusiastically said. Daisuke repeated "Thank you for receiving me, Grandfather."

"We have much to discuss with our guest, Daisuke. Please, take a seat."

Grandfather gestured towards an antique table with a set of chairs in the middle of the room. "Yes, Grandfather, excuse me." Daisuke said, bowing his head again then sitting down at the table. "Remember my boy, I will merely be watching, this operation is yours to negotiate; I know I can depend on you." "Of course, Grandfather."

At the front of the building, Mikoto stood waiting by a garage door, ready to receive Cairan and escort him to where Daisuke and Grandfather sat waiting.

[Achkaerin]

The buzzing of the sat phone woke Kayleigh, though it was Maki who answered it.
"What have you got?" Maki asked
"Nothing on Kyrenas whoever this guy he's still very much a mystery" came the voice of Kayleigh's father Paul Kessel
"So we've come up empty?" Maki asked
"So far yes." Paul said "We don't know who this guy is. But..."
"But?" Maki asked
"But we do have a positive ID on one of the other buyers, apparently someone wasn't so careful." Paul said
"Who and where?" Maki asked
"The name's Jacob Goodman, by the looks of things he's benefitted greatly from the Elwes regime. I'm sending you coordinates." Paul said, Maki glanced at Kayleigh and pointed at the laptop. Kayleigh opened it and a new message was there.
"Got it." Maki said "We're on our way."

Back at Justicar HQ Paul looked up as his immediate boss Nix Williams came down the stairs and into the situation room where Paul had the latest intel up on the wall screens.
"Progress?" Nix asked
"I'd report it if there were." Paul said
"So no progress on who the buyers are?" Nix asked
"Not a whole lot." Paul said "They could be anywhere and if they're hardened criminals then chances are the names are false, we only caught one lucky break."
"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way." Nix said
"How do you mean?" Paul asked

"We're chasing the buyers...What if we chased the missing people instead?" Nix asked
"The ones sold at these auctions?" Paul asked "We've got visual identification on each of the girls from that one outfit that ran the auction we had under surveillance. There'll be more than one outfit though in all probability."
"It's a start." Nix said "Circulate the list to other nations, missing persons APB."

Out in the Mhorish the INS Defiant was out on routine patrol it was early morning so the captain of the vessel Andre Rantonia was just stepping onto the bridge.
"Sir you have to see this" his XO Commander Harwood said
"What am I looking at?" Andre asked picking up his binoculars
"There's a cargo vessel out there." Harwood said
"I see it" Andre said now using the binoculars "The Wayfarer"
"She's flying an Achkaerinese flag." Harwood said "But no such vessel is registered in Achkaerin." Andre looked at the electronic tablet that sat on the 'smart table' in the centre of the bridge and picked it up, this was a standard issue item for all commanding officers in the Achkaerinese Navy, the tablet contained copies of major international treaties, notifications of CTO and CMA resolutions, other agreements and legal interpretations of them. He picked up the tablet and brought up the Fair Seas Concordat.

"Under Article 91 we've got them, Article 92(2) means that ship under these circumstances has no nationality and then Article 110(1d) gives us the right to visit that ship." Andre said "Get us closer and call for backup we've got a stop and search on our hands."

[Libby]

Cairan wasn't really that pleased to have to make his way to  Heimai, he never liked being away from his island and his little "community" for long, especially having to get his hands dirty with this drug business, it was a nice little earner but not his usual style of forgeries, antiques and artworks from which he'd made his fortune. That and the local ladies weren't a patch on his nymphs. He'd spent the morning enjoying a nice spot of room service having said goodbye to some escort he'd found the night before. He wasn't a big fan of the city, too much hustle and bustle, he prefered the nice scenic quiet of the outdoors and the beach. He finished putting on his silk shirt and pinstripe suit making sure his tie was straight and his hair perfect, once satisfied he made his way down to where his driver was waiting. He had them drop him off a street away and he strolled the rest of the way, he couldn't believe these biker types expected him to walk down this alleyway and carefully tip toed around puddles and rubbish as he approached what he assumed must be the venue.

"My names Cairan I am expected" he announced as he casually walked up his briefcase in hand, he waited to be shown in and thanked everyone he meet on the way in, he may be in a rather savage part of the world but manners cost nothing, or so his mother had told him. He was shown into the office where Grandfather was seated. "Nice to meet you, I'm Cairan, I'm here to make you richer than you already are." he had placed his briefcase on the table and undid the catches putting in a combination. He lifted the lid and then lifted somethingout. It was a cling film wrapped cylinder about the size of a small soda bottle, he casually tossed it to Daisuke. "I brought that tucked away in the bottom of my bag all the way from Zimalia." That wasn't quiet true, he'd had one of his guards bring it and have it delivered to him at the hotel, after all he didn't want to get caught with the stuff if someone had been having a bad day in the drug factory, but these guys didn't need to know that. "Undetectable, just as addictive, just as good a high. Now the deal is pretty straight forward, you give me $250,000 today and in a weeks time I'll have you here as much of that stuff as you need. You pay my costs and I get 5% of the profits. A very fair deal, you make money, I make money and if you play your cards right I have other products coming your way." He closed the briefcase, "That one is on the house. Its 500g of the best quality pure Black Cocaine, its worth $25,000 and I've strolled around with it minus any fucks, now you cut that stuff 50/50 with whatever shit you boys use and thats $50,000 pretty much straight away. Nice little earner for you gents, and I walk away with a sweet deal. So how much should I put you down for?" he pulled a notepad and pencil from a pocket rather theatrically. 

[Achkaerin]

Maki, Kayleigh and Aishia arrived outside Jacob Goodman's house. Well house was probably the wrong word to describe it, the place was more like an estate. How much do you pay Elwes? Kayleigh thought, as they parked the jeep.
"Gate's locked." Kayleigh said
"It's quiet." Maki said
"Too quiet?" Kayleigh asked
"Well for somewhere this big and clearly this guy's wealthy I'm just surprised there's no guards." Maki said
"Graffiti on the gates that's tribal." Kayleigh said "I'm not liking this."
"I'm lighter than you aren't I?" Maki asked
"Last I checked." Kayleigh said
"Give me a boost." Maki said

With a little help from Kayleigh Maki was able to scale to the top of the locked gate and drop down the other side, there was one advantage to a somewhat isolated location - there was no risk of being spotted under these sorts of circumstances. She pressed the gate release button on the other side and opened it up from the inside.
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this." Kayleigh said
"Yeah I know it well." Maki said as the pair drew their pistols, a precaution just in case of trouble, they approached the door.
"I kick it you go." Kayleigh said
"Ok." Maki said

Kayleigh kicked the door in, and the trio were greeted not by a sight but a smell and it wasn't pleasant Maki made her way inside only to return a minute later, she looked as white as a sheet as she stumbled past Kayleigh and Aishia and started retching around the corner of the house, Aishia went to check on her while Kayleigh went inside and had she not had more experience of such things she'd have probably been retching as well, she shone her flashlight into each room and her eyes widened with each passing second.

A few minutes later she was back outside and on the sat phone to her Dad.
"Yeah Goodman's is a bust, the place is full of dead bodies, the place smells of burnt flesh." Kayleigh said "I don't really want to know what the heck happened here."
"Are you ok?" Paul asked
"I don't know about ok but I'll survive." Kayleigh said "It's Maki I'm worried about. There are things no one should ever have to see."
"What's it look like?" Paul asked
"Well there was some sort of graffiti on the gate so I'd say tribal division leading to revenge but either way this is a dead end." Kayleigh said "We'll collect DNA samples and get the heck out of here."

They were back on the road an hour later.

Ayah sat in her assigned seat on the flight from Keepton, East Moreland up to Zimalia, her eyes kept drifting up to the overhead storage compartment where the briefcase of black cocaine was stowed, the importance of its survival wasn't lost on her though she had different priorities from Cairan as far as it was concerned, he wanted the drugs she wanted to keep Livia alive. She'd have liked nothing more than to have dumped the briefcase's contents in the nearest river and ran off but not with Livia being held as insurance. That was the other cruelty in Cairan's methodology of pairing his acquisitions up, you might be willing to take the risk yourself to bet your life, but were you willing to bet another's life at the same time? It was objectively an excellent control method on Cairan's part.

She gripped the arms of her seat as the plane shook slightly for a few minutes - turbulence, then the fasten seat belt sign came back on and Ayah hurriedly buckled up, the plane was rapidly descending
"Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking." came the explanation "We've run into some trouble so we're having to make an emergency landing, please make sure you have your seat belts fastened and all luggage and trays are securely stowed."

The buffeting continued all the way down the descent which made Ayah suspect this was something other than turbulence, she didn't notice that one of the shakes loosened her seat belt to the point that when the plane hit the tarmac with a big bump and scrape - this was more a crash landing than anything, she was thrown from her seat hitting her head on the underside of the overhead storage locker. She was out cold.

[yasha]

Daisuke carefully peeled off the cling wrap from the little package. "A little gesture goes a long way, still, let's see how this stuff is." He could feel Grandfather's stare piercing the back of his skull, any slip-up and the old man would have his head, quite literally.

"Oi, Kumagawa. Koko ni kurai." He called off to one of the guards, to which a short, balding man in business casual attire responded, slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he approached the table. "Mr. Cairan, it's a pleasure meeting you." the man said in some heavily accented english before turning his attention to Daisuke. "Nandayo?" Daisuke responded by simply pointing to the opened package of black cocaine sitting on the table. Kumagawa nodded and got to work carefully taking a sample of the black powder with a small plastic instrument. "If we can get this stuff past just about any security, when that trans-Ardia railway gets built, we'll have a healthy profit going without much effort." Daisuke said, stalling a bit. "Shui'ne sa tou!" Kumagawa exclaimed with a whisper, it was the real stuff, and it was top quality. Daisuke gave him a slight nod before pulling up a sleek aluminium briefcase, and resting it on the table. "We've got your upfront costs right here, give us two shipments and we'll have Eastern Ardia begging for more." he said, unlocking the briefcase and gently pulling it open, revealing just over $250k in East Moreland Pounds.

"And I've a question for you, if you don't mind answering." Daisuke said, sliding the briefcase over for Cairan to take. "Our boys have cooked up some nasty new stimulant back home in Himeyama. Twice as potent as the purest crystal meth you can find, and any poor idiot who tries it won't make it a couple hours without needing more. Been quite a success in the East Ardia market, but we wanna know what you think of helping us get it all around Mundus."

[Libby]

Cairan himself was not a big user of drugs, the odd bit of coke and weed every now and again but he kept a decent supply of stuff at home to sate the appetites of his guests and his nymphs, crystal meth however was not something he'd ever brought it was renowned for causing some crazy shit and he'd seen the pictures of users turned it addled monsters, no way did his precious hareem need that. This was however a decent oppurtunity. "I can probably help I have connections in most large cities, I have a fairly decent network of people who know how to move stuff with very few questions. The key would be what's in it for me, I am after all a business man and I have rents to pay" he chuckled. "Now generally in such cases as this I charge an arrangement fee, lets say for each person I line up for you to deal with I'd like....hmm....I think $20,000 would be a nice easy figure. Following that I'd expect say 5% of anything you make from the network I set up for you. Now as things stand I have routes already set up for other.....merchandise.....that would get you into Albion, Alba Karinya, Eastern Ardia and Aranye, a veritable where's where of Mundus. I would however need a sample to show my contacts so they know what their getting."

[yasha]

"Hah, if we can get this stuff into most large cities, we'll be wiping our arses with 18 karat gold." Daisuke said, clearly realizing this would make him rich; knowing better than to get visibly excited though. Glancing back at Grandfather, who was watching his every move with intent, Daisuke quickly muttered an order to one of the armed guards watching the windows outside. "This stuff, they call it yuki-- snow. Normally the labs grind the stuff up for easier packing, but we've got the full crystals in a sample for you. No cutting, no bullshit, it's as pure as it gets." The guard soon returned with a purpose-made glass vial the size of a drinking glass, containing multiple large crystals, covered in sharp, jagged edges that held them firmly against the sides of the container. Daisuke swiped it out of the guard's hands and rotated it between his fingers to examine, then passing it over to Cairan.

"We've given some samples to dealers in Cotf Aranye, they came back with ten times the amount we expected it all to sell for. What did they do? They added ten times its weight in sugar to their product before selling it; and the poor bastards still bought every last gram of it. I mean, it got them rich real fast, but if you wanna keep it classy then we have no objections." Daisuke idly examined the black cocaine sample as he spoke. "Give those to your friends for them to get a taste. We can ship it to your guys from the Horn of Ardia, and let them take over from there; and you'll get your share of cocaine cash. Sound like a deal?"

[Libby]

Cairan couldn't care less if the people he had connections with kept it classy at all so long as he was making good money, which by the sounds of it he would. He accepted the sample and secured it in his briefcase, his mind was already thinking how best to get this stuff back to Zimalia and from there onto the various outlets he had around Mundus. "I'll have it checked, if it all checks out you can expect orders to start coming in within 24 hours of my return back home. Logistics wise it may take a little longer, after all this is a new product, the method for hiding its true nature and origin isn't going to come overnight, however I'd expect you to start making a return about a fortnight from now."

He thought for one more moment before beginning again, "Perhaps you could point me in the direction of a jeweller who isn't likely to ask too many questions." A thought had occured to Cairan, "I'm sure you'd have one somewhere in your employ."

[Achkaerin]

Tommy Walker sidestepped a nurse pushing a bed as he walked the corridors of the Zimalian hospital. Incidents involving planes were always shocking as even emergency landings could lead to injuries, so here Tommy was in his capacity as senior ambassador on Alba Karinya or to give the proper title Prefect, checking on the twelve Achkaerinese citizens who'd been registered as on that flight. He'd brought his wife Sarah with him, the theory being that they could cover more ground, Tommy had just been seeing the last of the Achkaerinese injured when he saw Sarah stood by a pillar

"Is this who I think it is?" Sarah asked in a whispered indicating a bed off to the right, Tommy looked
"No way." Tommy said also whispering "Ayah?" he'd been part of the Liberal Party prior to his ambassadorial days, having been the shadow for the Cabinet Secretary so he knew Ajax Semantar the present leader of the Liberal Party quite well. Ajax was originally from Zimalia, from the tribe that had been beaten down by Elwes so to stumble across his younger daughter here was unexpected.
"What do you want to do?" Sarah asked
"Nothing until she wakes up." Tommy said
"That could be a while." Sarah said "I sneaked a look at her chart, head injury with queried brain damage."
"So not good." Tommy said
"Doesn't look like it." Sarah said
"Let's go make the calls." Tommy said, so much for twelve families now there were thirteen to talk to.