Pay Me, Bug!

Chapter 21

WHEREIN a Conspiracy is Uncovered, and Needs Reupholstering

Baron Minerva Tyrelos was very young for a Trade Baron. Because common medicine was able to extend the lifespan of humans by decades--and uncommon medicines were able to extend it far longer than that--that youth frequently worked against her. When her father died, and she assumed the title of Baron in his place, it was accepted by the corporations and holdings of Tyrelos Industries on a procedural level... but she quickly learned that many of her father's closest allies within the barony had difficulty thinking of her as anything other than a child. It didn't help that many of those allies remembered when she had actually been a child, or that she was considered beautiful... and therefore, for some reason no one could explain to her satisfaction, weak and malleable. In less than a month, the new Baron Tyrelos realized that her board of directors intended her to be a figurehead only and were maneuvering to effectively dismantle the organization her father had built.

The board was very surprised to discover that she had other ideas. It took years, but in the end opposition gave way to grudging respect, and eventually most of her enemies became her most outspoken admirers. She was a very hands-on baron, had learned the ins and outs of the businesses she controlled and kept abreast of the latest developments in the corporations and research and development firms working within the barony. She knew what her barony was doing, and she knew where it was going. She kept on cautiously polite terms with the larger crime families that operated in her space, and maintained polite but distant relations with the Radiant Throne and the Alliance of Free Worlds.

At any given time she usually knew more about what was happening in her space--especially in her city--than anyone else.

This, however, was not one of those times.

Baron Tyrelos stood in the middle of the Tyrelos Station Operations Center, listening to one of her officers update her on the status of a fugitive who had gone on a killing spree in one of the city hospitals.

"Why is this happening?" She demanded again.

The Baron didn't like losing her temper. Under most circumstances she tried to maintain a crisp, businesslike demeanor. At the moment her demeanor was slipping.

The officer shifted uncomfortably in place. "Reports are inconsistent. Apparently not all of the Station Authority units were using the proper comm channels. We evacuated the hospital and are pumping it full of gas."

The Baron narrowed her eyes. "Do we have an updated body count?"

"It is still holding at eighteen dead, another twenty wounded," the officer answered. "We expect another report any minute..."

"I want that man caught," she seethed, "and then I want him executed. Immediately."

"Perhaps I might make a better suggestion, my lady?"

The Baron turned to see her Chancellor, flanked by two Station Authority officers, approaching.

Chancellor Muringyne was Vage: a mottled icthyoid, complete with webbed feet, webbed hands, and a set of vestigial gills. They evolved from aquatic creatures (or, if you believed the Terran scientists, were engineered out of an aquatic species) but were now an oxygen-breathing race. His eyes glistened with excitement.

"I have, yes, I have hit upon an interesting piece of information about our fugitive," Chancellor Muringyne said, beaming happily. "It appears the Radiant Throne has an interest in this one, yes, and is willing to pay a bounty to have him handed over."

"Not interested," the Baron said brusquely. "That bastard attacked my men without provocation, and I will send a message that such actions will be dealt with immediately and without hesitation or mercy."