adunaphell@shaw.ca wrote: >>> "But it's pretty clear that the commerce flows to Montrose, >>> they're the rich folks sitting in the nexus of a nice bunch >>> of trade routes. >>> >>> "The question are they rich because of the trade or because >>> of the tolls? What do you know about the Montrose Combine, >>> Jac? Fat Merchants or Robber barons?" >> >> "Combination, from everything I've seen." Jac says, "There are >> several merchant houses associated with the governance of >> Montrose, and from what the Mark government has picked up they >> are pretty aggressive toward ships that aren't part of their >> Combine...that would include us." > > Lysia sits quitely through the discussion, *Better to be though > of as a fool, than open your mouth and remove all doubt." She > thinks. > > "Jac," she says finally speaking up, "which systems are most > likely to have individuals with strong ties to our," she makes a > little shrug, "well, gung ho friends?" > > "Where are we also going to get decent port security, I mean > something a little stronger than a guy with a straw hat shotgun > and a narcaleptic dog?" "Jez, we don't know a lot about the systems out beyond Montrose." Jac says, "We'll have to learn as we go, so to speak. However, if we are right about the terrorists being connected with the Zeristu, then they probably won't have any more contacts out there than we do." "The Zeristu have been pretty much bottlenecked by Mark, Osbeorht, Skypr, and in some ways by Newton, from getting from their homeworlds out onto the Quental Main." Jac says, "All three of those worlds have maintained their independence, but it is getting harder and harder, and we all might have to decide whether to join the CSA or the Zeristu someday." "When the Zeristu develop Jump 3 they'll be able to jump past us to Serbia, and that is a day we all dread." he continues, "Already, some of their warships are already 2 plus, so I expect Serbia is going to start changing from a backwater to a front line state. They don't know it yet, but it's coming for them." "Montrose is the wild card in all of this." he says, "We know so little about them...they are rich, have large merchant fleets and naval assets, but they have concentrated their expansion and sphere of influence coreward, so we have had almost no contact with them. If they decide to move rimward they would come into immediate conflict with the Zeristu, the CSA, and we'd be right in the middle of the area of friction." He smiles, "But that is probably more than you wanted to know. Newton will have excellent port security. Why do you ask?" Eris AKUS
