The Guild Capitol: Chapter Two

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"Now we can find something for kids." Dawn said and moved to look around the place.

Asher forced a moderately friendly smile onto his face at the sight of the snake. "Hello again, Ironscale. We've recently been informed that perhaps you weren't the person we thought you were."

The snake nodded his large head slowly, and after making sure he was alone, his form suddenly shifted, shrinking inward into a ball of pale green as the Entropium revealed his simpli form. "I was not. I had to keep my facade, even around you."

He expended into his snake-like form again, nodding once more.

Kay just glowered and said and wrote nothing.

Mourn didn't seem overly fussed. "get to point!" He insisted.

---

Matt frowned at the sight. "Gods... " He murmured and started instinctively to approach. "Is he conscious?"

Asher kept his face pleasantly friendly. "Well that's good news indeed, Ironscale." He smiled a bit at Mourn's impatience, "I have to agree, I'm curious to know what you're getting at here, Ragnarok."

Starr smiled at Ironscale and dipped her head in greeting but let the others talk for now.

"Conscious, yes, but aware..." One of the Healers spoke softly, "That's still questionable..."

As Mattias approached the man, his gaze slid his direction slowly, before his still-viewable eye sparked with vivid recognition and revival as his eyes widened suddenly. He gargled something, as if trying to speak, but the black sludge that consumed half his body poured out of his mouth. He began to writhe in agony, still gargling as he became aware of himself again. The anamcara began to murmur words of healing louder, but by their mix of desperate voices and expressions, even they couldn't do much.

~~~~~~

Ironscale nodded to all of them, even Kay, but the sight seemed to get the snake to smirk apologetically, as if something amused him. He looked at Mourn. "A good question. Ragnarok, what is the meaning of this?"

Ragnarok smile, "How would Matthew feel about... A private contractor wanting to, hmm... Cripple the Terran android industry for... personal reasons... by... releasing the designated 'cargo'."

Asher frowned, "You mean having Matthew collect shipments of androids and free them?" He asked. "I'd think that might encourage them to produce more androids, and seek a different delivery service."

"Not if it's a series of unfortunate events, not by the consumer, but... pirating, so to speak. Along the trade lines. Matthew is familiar with trade routes?"

Ironscale nodded, "He knows them by heart. The best traffic for, uh, his previous career."

"Hmm," Asher nodded at that. "That could be invaluable in saving androids once the attempt to get the Terran empire to change starts." He looked uncertain though, he remembered Matthew torturing his friends rather clearly.

"they think someone stealing robot." Mourn mused. "Expensive to buy robot, good thing to steal. Make sense. But they just make more to make up for loss, defend shipment better... " Hey, piracy he knew a lot about.

Kay frowned. [Ideally we would want the terrans to reconsider the Android's position as people and not property, a difficult task certainly and one that will take time, but till freeing a few at a time really matter? As Mourn points out, they'll just assume they're valuable cargo and thus a prime target for pirates and thieves. Would there be any way to stop them just producing more to replace lost stock though?]

---

Matt winced, this was horrific. "Is.. is he safe to touch? Is it contagious?" He asked. He got as close as he dared and bowed his head to the Kevali, a traditional greeting amongst their people. <<relax, calm>> He spoke in very awkward Kevali, a language he wasn't overly fluent in as he tried to meet the guy's one good eye.

Ironscale's face curled into a mischievous grin. "Then, we will hit multiple points within a vertical merger. Matthew has... means, to jump across the galaxy quite quickly. The Terran Empire tends to keep their resources close to home. What if we were also to target the materials used to make the androids. As for defensive... Matthew has learned his lesson from the time with the Family. He is still a force to be reckoned with when he wants to be. His drunken vows worry me from time to time, though..."

~~~~~~

"Don't touch him!" Many of them said at once. The fox girl sadly shook her head. "The Sha will dive into your mind and try to consume you in your own griefs as soon as it can. It is best not to touch it at all."

Matt nodded. "Alright." He kept watching the guy, trying to see if he could get him to calm down enough. "It hurts doesn't it?" He frowned. "You can't ease it?" Why were they keeping him alive? He gulped. "do you understand me?" He asked the Kevali directly. "If you understand, nod or.. blink... Don't try to talk."

Asher nodded thoughtfully. "I suspect production will be halted as soon as androids start protesting for their rights, but we'll see. Certainly the androids in the Terran Empire will be in danger, and they'll need to be rescued if possible."

"We're trying the best we can!" One of the Entropium snapped at Mattias heatedly. "Contrary to what outsiders believe we aren't miracle workers simply because we have powerful magic!"

"Forgive them," The fox girl murmured, "They've been trying to ease his pain for days. They don't want to put his life away if they can help it..."

The kevali tried to move again, barely able to breathe through the sludge. After taking several seconds of a twisted face to process what Mattias had said, he nodded slowly.

~~~~~~

"We can get them out, but the movement is in your hands." Ironscale said simply.

[as soon as they start protesting things could turn ugly very fast.] Kay frowned.

Mourn shrugged. "nothing worth doing easy." He grinned. "terran pretty stupid, maybe not connect pirates with loss of resource... or can spread rumour it to artificially inflate price of android on black market." His grin broadened. "Less android there are, more valuable comodity and if no new one being made, people have to buy second hand or black market. Drive price up, become seller's market." He nodded.

Kay looked uneasy and a little sick.

Mourn just shrugged. "supply demand, you want make best profit, drive up demand, drive down supply. Basic economics. Very lucrative. We do all time on old ship. "

---

Matt raised both hands defensively. "Sorry, wasn't criticising you." He looked back to the Kevali and continued softly. "I want to help you. Do you want help?"

Starr nodded and frowned a little, looking around at everyone then back to Ironscale. "Has Matthew said anything about the offer I made him?" She asked, curiously

Asher smiled at Ironscale. "I appreciate that very much, and I have no doubt that your assistance will be vital," his eyes flickered with pain at that, oh this was going to be an ugly revolution, at least for the androids. He looked to Mourn, "Lowering the supply of androids could have some interesting consequences. Prying them from the hands of their owners might be very difficult."

Mourn shrugged. "owners stupid terrans, easy trick."

Again, it was several seconds before the Kevali was able to reply, only nodding slowly with an agonized expression as he seemed to stare incredulously at Mattias, which only agitated the black goo more.

~~~~~~

"No, he has not, Lady Starr, but no doubt your efforts have-- hold a moment--" Ironscale seemed to quickly stuff the communicator into a dusty corner quietly as Ragnarok quickly muted their conversations, the group getting a theatrical view of the room Ironscale was in. The snake stared at the doorway as an angered female voice screeched through the halls. There was suddenly a sound of shattering glass and Matthew's own voice screeched in pain.

"He's been having a little difficulty informing his old contractors that he no longer supplies slaves." Ironscale explained in a whisper, still watching the door. A figure of a dark-skinned female passed by, her form decorated in crystal studs embedded naturally into her skin. Her glare was dark, wrathful and malicious, but she seemed to be quickly heading to the docks along with a group of guards. A few seconds later, Matthew hobbled into the room, where he was immediately assisted by his First Mate. His entire left face was bleeding profusely as a few shards of glass had successfully lodged themselves into his skin.

"Last time I offer her wine." Matthew muttered, his skin around the wounds turning white as he looked quite pained. "Never liked her anyway..."

Ironscale had to abandon the conversation for now as he went to grab a medical kit while calling for the doc with an omnicom. Ragnarok seemed to glower as he recognized the woman all too well.

Asher smiled approvingly at Starr, she had nudged Matthew in a better direction! Admittedly the guy might still not be trustworthy, but at least this was a start.

"How soon his this debate supposed to be?" he asked nervously, not sure how long Ironscale would be fixing Matthew's face. It was hard to assess the damage from here.

Starr nodded then watched the view with a frown as the woman stormed off the ship. Yeah, she wouldn't want to be upsetting them like that, but that was Matthew's business and how he chose to handle it.

Matt nodded back. "Okay. " He wracked his brain for what little he remembered of Kevali culture. They didn't fear death, he knew that much. "I can't do it alone though, you have to fight this thing. It's.. it's feeding on your hurt and your despair." He glanced back to the fox for clarification that this was correct. "If you can't fight it... " He searched for the expression. How'd it go? <<You will not walk>> that sounded right. It was a weird saying he'd always felt, but those who admitted they could not were admitting they were ready to die. I will not walk meant you were a burden, that you could no longer serve the people, that you should die with dignity for the good of all.
The Kevali were, to Matt's mind, an unforgiving and brutal culture. But he supposed they had to be, their lives were too hard and too short for sentimentality.
He looked back to the fox woman. "What's his name?" He asked, realizing he'd never found out.

---

"Who the rock lady?" Mourn asked bluntly, apparently none too concerned about Matthew.

Kay's expression hardened and he held his tablet close to his chest, just watching and waiting.

"She's a noble for the Dark Shardian empire, and an owner of one of the Galaxy's most brutal gladiator coliseums." Ragnarok sounded almost angered at her mentioning. "Not a pleasant woman to contact. I'm now worried for Matthew. What she wants is what she gets, and Matthew essentially just said 'no'.

"It's... starting soon, actually. A little less than two hours. Do you wish to go prepare?"

~~~~~~

"Er, it was..." The fox woman seemed to pause for a minute, "Something like... Mandeep, I think. I can't really remember..."

The Kevali seemed to ponder on what Mattias said for a moment, and finally nodded again.

Matt smiled softly to the Kevali and bowed his head gracefully. <<take heart my friend, you are strong. Stronger than this.>> His Kevali was pretty awkward, he spoke with a lot of starts and stops, translating very carefully in his head a language he wasn't overly familiar with. "Fate would not send you here to die." He tried to sound like he believed that.

"Well that doesn't sound good. Matthew is terribly competent though, I suppose if anyone would be all right, it would be him," Asher said.
He thought about that, "I suppose I'm as prepared as I'll ever be already," he said after a moment. Yeah, no amount of preparing was going to make him less panicky. Oh well, at least he basically knew what he was doing. "I don't need to prepare anything else as far as I know."

Mandeep seemed to look a bit skeptical of that, but nodded slowly again. The black goo seemed to calm down as Mandeep was reassured, and the healers took advantage of this and murmured their magics more willingly. The kitsune prayed quietly.

Matt smiled softly, heartened by this guy's calmness. "I know, I don't much like her either. But you gotta think, what are the odds that of all the people to find, your friend would find me? "