Rene ate carefully, aware that his familiarity with the table etiquette made his aristocratic background painfully obvious. He wondered how Ten would react if he began stuffing his face with the quick efficiency soldiers had learned during the grueling basic training courses where meals were frequently interrupted with drills or trumped up punishments. The thought brought a grin to Rene’s face and Ten’s own smile widened, misinterpreting the expression as bloodlust.

“Why do you want him dead?” Rene asked, taking a sip of wine. There was no point in worrying about being poisoned or otherwise subdued. If Ten intended that he had plenty of options, including simply locking the doors and having sleeping gas pumped into the room.  Ten examined his manicure for a moment before responding.

“We have had certain dealings, Octavius Ralch is the son of a minor noble family, a client of the Tan’s and mostly depended on the largess of the Duke and his court. He is not however a favorite son and has, or I should say had, very little in the way of personal resources. For reasons that I didn’t fully understand until now, the Duke appointed him as chief Consul here about 18 months ago,” Tan explained. Solae was nodding along, it stood to reason that the Duke would want to control the PEAs. That was very difficult even for a sector duke, as they were under the control of the Diplomatic corp and the Imperial Fleet, neither of which was particularly vulnerable to pressure from the sector level. The array on Zatis was the sole exception, its unique arrangement meant it was under the control of a consul rather than an ambassador, and consulate positions were appointed by the Sector authorities rather than from Capella.  When Tan had began planning his rebellion, one of his first moves was to put one of his flunkies into the position to secure control of the PEA.

“And he used his position to build up a personal fortune?” Solae asked, delicately prodding Ten along.

“Yes, he charges outrageous fees, bribes effectively, for access to information from the PEA, worse yet he sells information about who takes an interest in what. Some of my rivals purchased such information from him. We use encryption of course but just knowing who is sending and receiving can be used if one knows how. Some of my rivals purchased such information from him and some of my people were killed .” There was a hard edge to Ten’s voice, not upset about the bloodshed, but iron certainty that he would not allow such a challenge to his organisation to go unanswered.

“So if the Duke controls the PEA why does he need Solae?” Rene asked, frowning in puzzlement. If the PEA were to be of any use it needed to be able to send as well as receive. Ten laughed in amusement.

“The only authorized individual on the planet was an old rogue from the diplomatic corp named Kampyr Fenn. He and Ralch didn’t get along, partly because Fenn didn’t approve of the corruption that was going on and partly because Ralch is an insufferable ass. My informants tell me that Ralch killed Fenn in an argument a few weeks ago, but is covering it up,” Ten confided with a slight titter that raised the hair on the back of Rene’s neck.

“I suspect that Tan will have a few words for his flunky about that at some point,” Rene observed with considerable understatement.  The revelation shone light on the events of the past few weeks and explained more than a few things. Duke Tan had intended that Fenn be captured by Ralch at the moment of revolt, an insurance policy if other attempts, like the one on Solae, failed. Tan must be furious with Ralch and it was unlikely that the minor functionary would survive the Duke’s displeasure.

“I am willing to help you reach your goal,” Ten went on, swirling his own wine languidly.

“I cannot claim it will be easy, Zatis is a dangerous place and Ralch keeps are large retinue of body guards. He has to you see, or the people he is shaking down might take steps…”