*Burrows:*

Hello, Monte; how’ve you been?

*Monte:*

Busier than ever. The underworld is like a boiling pressure pot about to explode.

*Burrows:*

And you want me to shoot at the safety valve to open it.

*Monte:*

I wish it were that easy. There’s no safety valve to shoot at. It’s going to take a lot of work to save the human race from complete chaos and tyranny.

*Burrows:*

And it pays, let me guess, 5000 credits?

*Monte:*

You won’t get as much from me; I’m a poor man as you know.

*Burrows:*

Sorry, Monte, I’m not too much of a patriot, and my business thrives during chaos.

*Monte:*

Wait. Does the name Salman Kroiz ring a bell for you?

*Burrows:*

Kroiz... Kroiz... Ah, yes, he used to work for some competitor of Roman Lynch.

*Monte:*

He was Menesch’s right hand man.

*Burrows:*

Is that so? He attacked me when I was delivering some cargo to Siva, Rikel. I was forced to kill him.

*Monte:*

He survived.

*Burrows:*

No he didn’t. I would have seen his eject capsule...

*Monte:*

He had a stealth ejection capsule. Doesn’t show on your sensor unless you’re right next to it. He hid behind an asteroid until you were gone, then made his way to the retro base, Gaia, in Eden. His face was smashed. Retro surgeons tried reconstructive operations and failed; some kind of infection; had to amputate all of his face before the infection spread. Later they made a prosthetic face for him, bio-welded it to the bone, but it looks horrible...

*Burrows:*

He used to call himself “Privateer Extraordinaire”. I guess he “lost face”...

*Monte:*

He intends to not lose face again. Since you killed Menesch, he’s taken over the business of supplying the Retros, has pushed Lynch away from New Constantinople, New Detroit and New Castle, has taken over the Oakham arms supply line, and is using his huge earnings to prepare for extracting vengance from you.

*Burrows:*

Heard that story before. I was in the Retros’ top 10 black list once...

*Monte:*

You don’t understand: Kroiz is possibly the only enemy of yours that doesn’t underestimate you. He’s got a plan of building an entire fleet, to make sure he doesn’t fail this time. Last I heard he had acquired 1 destroyer, 1 frigate, several corvettes, including 2 caernavens, as well as talons and salthis. He is in no hurry, and planning to multiply the size of his fleet. He wants vengance above all else, apparently, and is spending millions of credits to get it.

*Burrows:*

Okay, so, I’m a dead man. Why you send for me, then?

*Monte:*

You’re not a dead man. I’m working on a plan...

*Burrows:*

Alright, what’s my first mission?

*Monte:*

My plan is not ready; I’m working on it, still. One thing is for sure: You’ll need a lot of money. Your mission for now is to work hard and save money. One million minimum. No, make that two million credits, minimum.

*Burrows:*

You’re asking ME for money?

*Monte:*

No, I’m not. That money will be for you, to invest on items that will be yours.

*Burrows:*

Trying to make money is what I’d be doing anyhow.

*Monte:*

Yes, but you’d probably be spending it on ship upgrades. What you need to do is keep accumulating it. From now on, try to resist the temptation of spending all you earn on ship upgrades, other than absolutely necessary ones. Work hard and save every credit you can. Go to Oxford when you’re done; I shall probably have completed the plan by then.

So, that’s your mission for now. Make a lot of money; spend little of it. And once you have about a couple of millions, see Masterson at Oxford; he will tell you where to find me.

Spiriplumber wrote:

My original idea here was that Kroiz would go power-crazy, and use some Steltek device to shut off jump points to his sweatshop-based empire. Since he’s pretty much become a Darth Vader character, he could take up some stereotypical evil-genius mannerisms as a way to reinventing his personal style. The jump point closing (which shuts off some of the grey area to his benefit, which increases his power because now he has the exclusive on a lot of supply routes) would make it easier for the armada portion to exist without interference from other armies – Pilgrims can get past the scrambled jump points, for example.

Chuck_starchaser wrote:

Not sure I undestand, Spirit: 1) Where does the jump-point closing technology come from? 2) With such technolgy, what prevents Kroiz from closing all jump points around Perry, Sol, and all other systems where confeds have military bases, and then rule the whole confederation? 3) How do Pilgrims get through?