Chapter 21

"I think I'd like a drink," Councilor Estebahn said. "Anyone care to join me?" Everyone but me said yes. "Max?"

"I'm still underage for a couple of weeks, Sir," I told him.

"Fuck that. You deserve one." Taylor nodded his agreement.

"Then if you have a decent porter, stout, or dark ale, I'll take one of those."

He turned off the security, went to the door and asked someone to grab the drinks. He resumed his seat and a few minutes later a man came in with a tray of drinks which he passed around. When he was done he left and closed the door. Councilor Estebahn reactivated the security.

"I think you'll like that, Max. There's a brewery on Prime that I buy cases of several of their beers." I took a sip out of the cold mug that I'd been handed. The dark brew was cold, bitter, and rich with hints of malt and chocolate. Damn good stuff.

Getting back to our discussion, Taylor asked, "Any indications who might be behind the attacks?"

"None and it's pissing the Intelligence agents off. Whoever it is has covered their tracks well," the Councilor told him. "We've tried to find evidence of any other incidents with any other Councilors but have come up blank. So we've either been extremely lucky or we've missed something."

"Any connection between the three Councilors targeted other than just being a councilor?" I asked.

"The three of us are on several committees together along with several dozen other members of the Senate. We started there but haven't found anything definitive."

"So now what?"

Taylor spoke up. "As far as I can see, the Privateers are going to hit a wall soon and not get much further. In light of the information that the Councilor has just provided, we need Empire Intelligence now. We turn over the detainees and see if Intelligence can come up with any further leads. I'll send out orders first thing tomorrow if that's alright with you, Councilor."

"That's fine." Councilor Estebahn sighed a little in frustration. "I can't see us doing anything else right now. We'll just have to see how this plays out." He looked around at every one. "Now, I'd like to talk to you about the incident at UA0262. Sam, you are authorized access to the information regarding that incident and given permission to talk about it for the period of this meeting."

"Thank you, Sir," Sam replied.

"Same stipulation goes for all of you," he said looking around. When we nodded understanding, he went on. "Sam, please show me the ship."

A hologram of the behemoth was projected into the room. It was the first time I'd seen it since Calypso and it still impressed the hell out of me. Councilor Estebahn and Quinn Taylor looked it over even though they'd probably seen it many times. Both sat back and looked at those of us who had been involved. Taylor looked at the Councilor and got a nod.

"I've been given authorization that they can be told," Councilor Estebahn said to Taylor.

Taylor nodded and looked at us. "The assessment that you gave, that the ship may have been waiting for a ship to come through to establish contact, several analysts agree with it. The fact that they initiated the contact through the flashing of prime numbers and then disappearing like they did in front of you backs that assessment up." We all nodded. "The Empire has known about them for close to seventy years."

"What?!" was nearly shouted by Anna, Katherine, and Mari at the same time. Taylor and the Councilor looked to me and Sam.

"You two don't seem to be particularly surprised," Taylor said.

I looked to Sam, smiled, and nodded my head to her. "Max and I came to the same conclusion."

"You were ordered not to discuss it," Taylor reminded us.

"We didn't. You can look back over ever second of my records and it'll prove it. He and I know each other well enough and know how each other think that we came to the same conclusion: That the Empire has known about them."

Taylor stared at Sam and me for a long moment. "Amazing. I have never seen a privateer and an AIA this in sync with each other."

"Sam seems to be a special case," Councilor Estebahn said. "Look up the research of Dr. Nola Hall that has come up recently. Those two seem to be the research subjects she's basing it on."

"Well, back to what we were discussing. The Empire has known about them for close to seventy years. There's been two sightings, both at a distance of several light minutes, both for short durations. Both were in proximity to UA0262, a couple of jumps away, both with barely explored systems connected to them."

"Now," Councilor Estebahn said as he looked at me, "how did you conclude that the Empire was aware of them?"

"The Empire Intelligence agent, while being impressed with the records, didn't seem surprised. Also, the orders were too well thought out for this situation for them to be spur of the moment," I told them.

"The Empire had plans in place if another sighting or something like this happened," Sam added. "I'm sure any space farer, freighter crews, salvage crews, and the like all have orders to keep their mouth shut and contact Empire Intelligence if something happened."

"You're absolutely correct, the both of you," Taylor said, looking impressed. "Now all of you know as much as anyone in the Empire does, which means not much."

We talked a bit more and concluded our business. I was informed that I was on unassigned downtime for the next month. I wanted to argue that with Taylor but all he said was "That's an order." I shut up.

Before Taylor left, the Councilor came up to him and me. "Taylor and Max, I owe you and the Privateers an apology. I have underestimated the Privateers and am ashamed to admit that I took your organization for granted. I have learned otherwise today. I will make every effort from now on to work with and to support you and your people, Taylor."

"It's what we want, Councilor. I'll admit, I've been pigheaded and butted heads too often. I'll be happy to work with you."

We all said goodbye to Taylor and he was escorted out. Councilor Estebahn came back in to talk to us.

"Max, I'll have a room prepared for you to stay in while you're here."

"That's OK, Dad. He'll be staying in mine," Anna told him. I wanted to hide.

The Councilor looked at her for a long moment. "And your girlfriends?" he asked. It was obvious he knew about Katherine and Mari. I looked over at them and they just watched the Councilor.

Anna looked back at her father for just as long and said, "They feel the same as I do. Max stays with us."

Councilor Estebahn looked for a moment longer and then shrugged. "You're all adults and I obviously have no right to judge," alluding to his string of girlfriends. "Very well."

"Thank you, Dad," Anna said as she gave her father a hug. He hugged her back and looked at me.

"I really hope you know what you're getting into," he said to me with a slightly evil grin.

"Probably not, but I'm sure they'll let me know," I said back to him.

"Hell, you've already learned that lesson. I think you'll do fine," he said with a laugh. "Now, in a few hours I have an informal reception to attend at the Senate Building. I'd like for you to come as my guests, and that include you two," he told Katherine and Mari.

The women were excited but then looked to me. I sighed. I knew that if I begged off they'd stay with me. I looked at the Councilor. "Thank you, Sir. I'd be honored to attend as your guest."

"You are so full of shit, Max," Sam said over my implant.

Several hours later I was dressed in my suit that I'd gotten on Amethyst. The councilor assured me that it was fine and showed up in one of his own. The women spent hours in the room that I'd been locked out of getting ready.

During that time, the Councilor, Sam, and I talked about various things and found some common ground here and there. One of those was that he preferred the estate to the city for the same reasons I had. His reactions weren't as extreme as mine but he knew how I felt.

I asked him about the Senate and he told me that while he was a very good politician (i.e. liar) he actively worked to try to help people. He was on one committee that oversaw planetary environmental concerns, butting heads with corporations over regulations regarding exploitation of planetary resources. The Empress was also part of that committee and had a record of siding with environmentalist concerns over business concerns. The reception we were going to was for a group of environmentalists who wished to express their thanks to the Senate for their efforts.

When the time came to leave, the women showed up. I was stunned. I'm guessing that they had clothes here because what they were wearing was something that wouldn't be appropriate in a situation where loss of gravity could occur. Each was in a very nice dress hugged their bodies down to their hips before falling in not too loose skirt to just above their knees. I'd never seen Anna and Katherine's hair in anything other than ponytails but now both had their hair hanging loose, falling to the base of their spine, combed and shining. Each of the women had just a light touch of makeup that didn't hide their natural beauty.

"You are all beautiful." I said as I walked up to them and kissed them lightly. They all smiled at me. I ensured the optical unit was on and in an unobtrusive place on my lapel and Sam had established contact with each of the women via the earpieces before we left.

We were driven back to the city, again in a small convoy, to the center of the city and the Senate Building. I gave my hand to each of the women as I assisted them out of the vehicle and then placed myself at the rear of the group with one of the Councilor's men while Mari took the lead along with another. Mari and I were armed, each a stunner, and we took up our role as escorts while outside.

Inside the building, Councilor Estebahn directed us to an elevator and we were soon on our way up. We stepped out and then walked to a set of double doors that had security standing by. We were all swept for weapons, which four of us had but they passed us on as they checked our permitted status. I think Councilor Estebahn may have fiddled with my clearance because I'm pretty sure that the Senate Building was one of the few places the Privateers weren't permitted to carry, but I could have been wrong.

Inside the room were a couple of hundred people from all over the Empire. I looked the room over and could already feel uncomfortable but I'd survive. The Councilor let us know that he needed to mingle and we could wander where we wished. His two guards took up stations on the wall where other men and women stood keeping watch.

We walked around and talked amongst ourselves and chatting with Sam over our connection, the women not recognizing anyone but seeming to be at ease. We saw tables scattered around the edge of the room with snacks and finger foods. A bar was set up and dispensing beverages where the Anna and Katherine got a glass of wine each and Mari and I stuck with water.

We kept to the edge of the room which was the least crowded and looked around. Anna seemed very comfortable as was Katherine. Mari was relaxed and I tried to. We talked for close to an hour before they said they needed to 'powder their noses'.

"Will you be OK?" Anna asked me.

"I'll be fine. I'll try not to break anyone while you're gone."

Each gave me a chaste kiss on the cheek and left. I stood out of the way with my glass of water when I felt someone approach on my left. I turned my head and saw my first Pericleasian, other than myself, in the flesh.

She was probably somewhere in age as Anna's father and very attractive. To me she looked like a smaller version of Mari in terms of her build, with a little more weight on her but in a pleasant way. She was my height with dark brown hair hanging loosely. She wandered up to me and smiled, "Greetings, son, I see you know Councilor Estebahn's daughter."

I nodded pleasantly and said "Yes, ma'am, I do."

A slight frown crossed her features before it cleared and she asked, "How do you know Lady Estebahn, if I may ask?"

"We met in Amethyst, ma'am."

She looked surprised. "What were you doing all the way out in Amethyst?" Pericles was pretty much on the opposite side of the Empire from Amethyst.

"I was stationed out there, ma'am. I'm a Privateer."

She went from surprised to shocked. "I'm sorry. I'm Councilor Mirrengard from Pericles."

I shrugged. "Maxwell Privateer, Councilor."

"I haven't heard of anyone from Pericles joining the Privateers recently. The last one that I'm aware of was close to a hundred years ago," she paused a moment. "Wait, did you say Maxwell Privateer. What's your family name?"

"I'm not from Pericles, Ma'am," I informed her. "As for a family name I don't have one. I'm an orphan, I was raised on Antigone4."

The look on her face was borderline horror. "Impossible!" she whispered.

"No, Ma'am. I'm proof that it's not." I was starting to get worried. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but what's wrong?"

She swallowed and tried to calm herself. "On Pericles, family is everything. There are no orphans. If something happens to the child's parents, the extended family takes in the child. Children are precious."

"Sounds nice, Ma'am. But it didn't happen that way for me. I was found abandoned in a hospital."

"How old were you?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Three days."

"Have you ever tried to find your parents?"

"No, Ma'am. I never bothered. I was left for some reason. To be honest, I don't care."

She looked close to being sick. There was also anger, not directed at me but at whoever had abandoned me. She looked like she was about to say something but Anna, Katherine, and Mari returned just then.

I introduced them to the Councilor.

"How do you do, Councilor," Anna said.

"I'm fine, thank you. Maxwell and I were just discussing his being a privateer," Councilor Mirrengard said. I looked at her and she gave me a look, asking me to drop the other subject for now. I gave her a quick nod.

"Oh, was he telling you about the pirate attack that he foiled?" Anna asked.