Darktraders by Eluki bes Shahar

Author:Eluki bes Shahar
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780886775070
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Published: 1992-03-03T21:21:11.937000+00:00

10

How to Exceed in Darktrading Without Really Trying

As a planet and a biosphere, there is nothing wrong with Royal. It is capital of the Tortuga Sector so it has a Imperial Governor's mansion, and seat of the Charlock Corporation (which makes Tortuga Sector the Charlock Directorate instead of the Tortuga Directorate, but these things happen) so it has a Corporate Headquarters. It has big blue oceans, fluffy white clouds, lots of chlorophyll and vitamins, and an attractive location relative to shipping and handling.

Probably it used to be some high-glitterborn's home-away-from, hence the name, but the hub of galactic commerce had since moved west, and now Tortuga Sector was Outer MidWorlds only by courtesy.

But it had a downside port, a lunar port, three inhabited planets in its capital system, a asteroid belt full of miners, full weather control, and visits from the Governor-General's pet navy whenever he was in town.

The war it also had, had started like this:

Once upon a time Royal was corporate headquarters of the Brightlaw Corporation, holders of all developmental patents for the next best thing to Libraries, and don't think they didn't walk pretty soft indeed staying on the sunny side of that line. Angelcity her own self had a Brightlaw Corporation brain in her hull; damn near anything that needed to think used their tech.

Well and good. But a sad mischance had carried off every single member of the ruling Brightlaw Corporation members except little Shareholder Damaris. Very sad, Uncle Charlock called in to form a new Corporation, administer the Brightlaw patents, and (in the fullness of time) marry little Damaris off to his son Hakon, after which everything'd be all in the family, so to speak.

Too bad little Damaris hadn't thought so. A couple years back she slipped her leash and started a revolt, with the aim of forming a new corporation of one. Things reached the point that Uncle Charlock appealed to Throne, whereupon the Governor-General (my old buddy Archangel) took the Azarine Coalition mercenaries out of the warpool by slipping in a couple divisions of Fleet on the Charlock side and declaring martial law.

This was supposed to make everybody shut up, but Damaris' partisans hadn't stopped their side of the war just because they lost their professionals. Now Archangel was down a couple divisions of crack mediators and Tortuga Sector was a boom market for artillery.

Paladin once said that the Codex Imperador was the greatest argument for solipsism he'd ever seen. Archangel had superseded the Sector Governor. He had loaned troops to Charlock, forcing the Coalition troops out of the arena. He'd even declared martial law so the Space Angels could arm their weapons and no Company ship would enter the Sector. But still officially it was Damaris Brightlaw versus Chairman Charlock and a private family war, and neutrals that could duck fast enough could come and go with impunity.

It strikes me as a damn roundabout way to collect taxes.

But while there was a war on there was bidness to be done, and

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