Count Stern Vaughan sat boredly on the emerald throne of the Minas Theater. This was a work of art carved from biological teeth and aquamarine, with silky jade threads woven into the joints.
Then, the ruler of Vaughan Hive, the largest hive in Sagan, let out a sigh and used his armored fingers to wrap around a strand of hair hanging down on his wig. It was braided into long braids. The bright turquoise interweaves with the rough texture of gold, which is the color of the Vaughan family.
The Sagan system was originally a sub-system of the Badab system. The Empire slowly established several important Imperial outposts within the Maelstrom region during the 38th and 39th millennia. These outposts served as imperial influence in the region, as well as swaying beacons. The general defensive power has become increasingly prominent.
Three of the important star systems have formed a distant trade chain, allowing resources in the Maelstrom area to continuously flow into the treasury of the human empire. These three star systems are Siniax, Sagan and Badab. This shows the importance of the Sagan galaxy.
Especially after the Badab planet was ravaged by the flames of war, and the Sineax system was severely damaged by the Chaos war gang, the Sagan system became an important supply and trade node for the empire in the Maelstrom region, and its status continued to rise. It also brought immeasurable wealth to the local ruling family.
Usually, ruling families like them are also called trade lords. In principle, they accept the supervision of the Inspector General of the Star Territory of the Ministry of Interior. However, in fact, as long as they pay sufficient tithe tax and chartered trade tax and do not openly oppose imperial rule, who It doesn't matter what they did.
The initial cause of the Huron Rebellion that year was his conflicts and frictions with the trade lords in the Maelstrom region, which eventually attracted the attention of the empire's top brass.
The count moved his body, resting his chin on his knuckles, looking at the show in front of him.
The dancer, with a shining bun on her head, runs across the stage like a mermaid, spinning among scattered groups of female warriors wearing hoods and male warriors wearing ceremonial armor, moving like silver fish.
The female dancers all wore black body colors that represented sadness, and their long black hair was also arranged into a fishtail shape. Then the male and female dancers' bodies rippled, and began to rotate gracefully as the ribbons were dragged down from the long poles. .
However, his thoughts were not on the stage, but on a letter in his arms. The letter came from the smuggler and pirate giant who served him. The content was very simple. Huron, the overlord of the Maelstrom, was preparing to convene a new pirate meeting. Alliance, business may be affected to some extent during this period.
But Stern Vaughn didn't care about this benefit, he just cared about why Huron suddenly came to do this.
Although the Vaughn family is loyal to the empire, in an area with entangled interests like the Maelstrom, absolute loyalty is difficult. Sometimes you have to swim in gray areas. After all, the Vaughn family can firmly hold the position of ruler of the hive city, not only Thanks to the family's conveyor belt of interests in the upper echelons of the empire, and also due to the fact that one of their ancestors once served in the former Star Claw Chapter. Although all the information about that person has been erased, Stern probably knows that he That ancestor may still be alive - in another identity.
But so what?
The interests of the maelstrom that occupies the center of the galaxy are so huge. The Terran bureaucracy, Mars, the Ecclesiarchy, the Rogue Traders, the Tribunal, the Assassin's Tribunal... every institution and even everyone is involved here, and every effort is made to Strive for the greatest benefit possible for yourself.
Just the scale of smuggling in a single Sagan system, Stern deduced, may be close to one-fifth of the trade volume in the solar system, and this does not include some "semi-legal" smuggling.
"The Black-Hearted King... is playing some trick again. I heard that he seems to have gotten something from Abaddon."
Stern stared at the dancers, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, then picked up the wine glass on the table and shook the handle of the flute wine glass with his left hand.
The next second, a girl holding a conch-shaped hip flask came to his side almost immediately.
She looked to be only about thirteen or fourteen years old, with a slender figure and a special sense of vulnerability. She had beautiful blue eyes, beautiful blond hair, and skin as shiny as ivory. She wore a sleeveless short skirt decorated with sequins. It could barely cover her buttocks.
Stern looked at the girl, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked away before holding out his wine glass.
The girl flinched at the sudden movement, but when she poured the wine, she did not let any precious drop of wine spill. After all, this bottle of wine was more expensive than her life.
"Is this all you need, my lord?"
she asked in a whisper.
"That's it for now."
Stern dipped his slightly dry lips with the wine, but did not drink it directly.
"But don't wander too far."
He watched the dancers absentmindedly while the bartender left like a breeze.
Taking a sip of wine, the count tried hard to think about all the recent events in the Maelstrom area. The Black-Hearted King seemed to be more active than before. In just half a year, he plundered several surrounding galaxies, destroyed a pilgrim world, and desecrated He destroyed the saint's church and made the top leaders of the state church furious.
Listening to the rumors, it seems that the National Church has mobilized several nuns to counterattack. However, although the National Church is powerful, their power in the Maelstrom is not strong. Retaliating against Huron may not be an easy goal. At most, they will take out a few unlucky pirates. Vent your anger.
"I don't know what kind of wind Huron has -"
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps interrupted Earl Stern's thoughts. He turned his head and saw three people walking straight through the passage and coming to him. One of them smiled and said hello from afar:
"Count, have we disturbed you?"
Knowing that there must be something wrong with the other party, Stern just smiled and shook his head.
"Of course not, please sit down."
Only these three people can act like this in this place.
The first, a middle-aged man wearing a silver-trimmed dress, is George Shatelle, the president of the Silver Oak System Chamber of Commerce. This chamber of commerce almost monopolizes all trade routes in the Sagan system, and as far as Stern knows, They also run several smuggling chains and even control two or three pirate groups. They are really a group of guys who take both black and white.
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The second one, a somewhat old-fashioned guy wearing a gray-green military uniform, is Admiral Busby Garrett, the senior commander of the local guard of Sagan Prime. His family is another small hive, Ewing Hive. It is said that the illegal drug business and human trafficking are booming, and this guy looks serious, but Stern knows that this bitch not only has more than 20 wives, but also likes to take family slaves in private Engage in hunting activities.
The third one is dressed in a gray robe, looks ordinary, has a bald head and a featureless face. His apparent identity is just a grain merchant named Bartola Keita, but he is actually the largest gangster organization in the galaxy.' The deputy leader of the Thirty Silver Coins Society, they monopolize the entire gray industry of Sagan Prime, such as brothels, casinos, underground bars, gladiatorial arenas, etc., and they also own several special smuggling chains that can provide the upper levels of the hive. Such as alien creations, special alien beasts and other things that cannot be obtained through ordinary channels.
