“I don’t blame you, but I can tell you Martinh’s administration would have no qualms staying isolated from interstellar economics.”
“If that’s the case, then why don’t we leave them be?” asked Lafier. “I don’t think there’s any need to lose our heads over it.”
“We haven’t.”
“Oh?”
“Do I look that flustered to you?”
“It seems to me like your landworld citizens can take care of themselves; why don’t we just bide our time until they come to the Empire of their own accord?”
“By that time, my debt will’ve reached astronomical proportions,” pointed out Jint.
“That won’t be a problem if we install antimatter fuel factories and itymh (refueling stations). We don’t particularly need the administration’s assistance for that.”
“What, so you’re not gonna say ‘take however many loans you need’?”
“It isn’t my money.”
“But you’re the inheritor, aren’t you?”
“That is a long way off, and my brother might be the one who ends up inheriting, anyway.”
Yestesh cleared his throat. “Your Highness, I’m afraid that plan might not necessarily fly. So long as the landworld Martinh is near the Hyde Portal, its administration’s stability is indispensable. Ships can’t afford to expend time and effort to fly out to Hyde’s sun or to a gas planet further out from the sun than Martinh in order to refuel.”
I dunno, looks pretty stable to me, thought Jint. He did know what Yestesh meant, of course, so he refrained from picking him apart. To Yestesh, a “stable” landworld administration was one that wasn’t ostensibly hostile to the Empire. It was understandable why he might not deem a world where the term “territory-nation “ and the truth of the matter were so estranged as “stable.” That being said, seeing as it was the Empire that dubbed Hyde a “territory-nation,” Martinh’s government felt quite stable, and they probably ought to be viewed as such. (Incidentally, if they ever came to know they were being called a “territory,” they’d doubtless have a fit.)
...Before he knew it, Jint’s train of thought was running in circles.
“Then it’s just as I thought. We should save recruiting vassals for after we’ve gotten a grasp of the landworld administration,” said Lafier. “Or no?”
It seemed this conversation was running in circles, too. Jint chose to make a decision here and now. “Mr. Yestesh, I hereby formally request that you go to the Countdom of Hyde ahead of me. In the meantime, I will stay in the Countdom of Vorlash, and gather some vassals if possible.”
“I accept your request, Lonh-Dreur,” nodded Yestesh.
“It’s your territory-nation, so I have no objections,” said Lafier.
“Then it’s settled. What’ll you do, Lafier?”
“Do about what?”
“You gonna stay in Vorlash with me, or go see my home planet ahead of me?”
“I’m here to keep you company,” said Lafier. “Besides, I couldn’t stand to let you just take it easy without me.”
“All right then.”
“About that, Lonh-Dreur,” said Yestesh. “Where will you stay in Vorlash?”
“I intend to put up at a hotel in the spaceport, at least to start with.”
“To start with?” Yestesh raised an eyebrow.
“I’d like to try my luck staying on the surface if I can.”
“Lonh-Dreur, don’t tell me you wish to stay at an inn run by a landworld citizen?” he asked, a measure of distress ruddying his brow.
“You’re saying I can’t?” he said, somewhat confrontationally.
“Your Excellency is an imperial noble,” he explained, as one might to a child.
Ugh... will the day ever come when people stop getting a kick out of telling me I’m a noble? Needless to say, he knew he was in the wrong. It was all because he lacked a certain active self-consciousness — he didn’t really see himself as a noble. Whether that was ultimately a good or a bad thing, he didn’t know, but it did trip him up when it came time to conduct himself as an imperial noble.
“I think even just the spaceport is rather unsafe. I can post some of my subordinates as your guards, but none of them are dedicated bodyguards. Also, I brought them here in order to investigate Your Excellency’s territory, and so they’d end up in a place far removed from where they’re meant to be working.”
“The spaceport’s unsafe, you say?”
The Bidautec Delctur (Delktu Spaceport) belonged to the Dreughéc Bhorlacr (House of Vorlash), but there was a Star Forces administrative zone as well, with soldiers on duty at all times.
“Yes,” nodded Yestesh. “Landworld citizens are allowed there, and there might be people formerly of UH military rank among them. And even if that’s not the case, there are many out there with wild ideas.”
With those words, Jint grew more and more worried. Now he wanted to collect as much info as possible on the current situation over at the Delktu Spaceport using his wristgear...
Soon, he learned the bœrélach bidauter (spaceport guard garrison) that the House of Vorlash set up was in shambles. “Well, that’s not very good.”
“Besides...” Yestesh flashed a glance at Lafier.
Jint knew what he was getting at. It was painfully obvious. A young grandee jumping into danger at his own risk was one thing, but he could not be allowed to involve a royal princess of the Empire. After all, Lafier would be in a whole different level of danger compared to Jint.
Jint was just a grandee, and one that looked like a normal Lander at that. Lafier, on the other hand, was a member of the Imperial Family, and a candidate for Empress. She was a much more attractive target for agents with an axe to grind against the Abh half of the galaxy. And there was no end to people intent on ransoming her life to make demands of the throne. In truth, it made no difference whether the Empress or a random imperial citizen was taken hostage. The Empire did not negotiate with kidnappers, and that was a known quantity throughout the Milky Way, but endless scores refused to believe that was anything but subterfuge. In fact, the title of “First Person to Successfully Extort the Empire”
