Not owing anything...
Set after The Ties That Blind.
Knotting the Ties
"Ah, Mr. Valentine! What can I do for you?"
Raphael Valentine stepped through the doors to the captain's office and closer to the desk, his eyes resting on the tall figure in the impressive if old-fashioned black uniform, who was inviting him to take a seat. With a sigh the dark-haired man let himself fall on the offered chair.
"I just came to say my good-byes..." he finally ventured, aware that the blue eyes of Andromeda's captain were fixing him in a friendly, yet slightly impatient way. The expressive eyebrows belonging to those eyes rose in astonishment.
"Already?" Dylan Hunt inquired in a surprised voice.
"Yes, yes... There's... Well, some business I have to take care of."
"Nothing too unpleasant, I trust?"
"Nah, just some old debts I still need to raise funds to pay for..."
The High Guard captain chuckled, standing up from behind his desk to pour both of them a drink and then offered Beka's brother a glass half-filled with an amber-coloured, aromatic liquid.
"Don't tell me that – after successfully conning both the Restorians and the FTA – you still don't have enough to clear all debts!"
"The stupidity of my opponents in that game we played – and the extent of my debts... They both give one a good sense of how infinite this universe can be," Rafe retorted with a twinkle in his eye. "Besides: I need to organise myself a new ship: even upgraded by your engineer, the Om-Shanti is not quite the fancy ride I need."
"I'm sorry that our capabilities can't meet your standards, Mr. Valentine."
For a moment Beka's brother was rendered speechless by the tone of sincere regret without the tiniest shred of sarcasm swinging in the other man's voice. But then he quickly regained his composure as a broad grin appeared on his face.
"No apologies needed, Captain," he offered in the same vein.
It was Dylan's turn to be taken aback. A sentiment that grew exponentially as he heard Rafe continue.
"I was thinking – I believe you can help me out..."
"Really? How? As far as I know we don't really have any currency still in circulation."
"No, but I know some people interested in old currency – and willing to pay a lot for it. How much do you have?"
A surprised whistle escaped Rafe when Dylan told him.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Do you realise how much cash you can get on that? And what you could do with it?" A weighing look into the face of Andromeda's captain answered the question for him. "No, of course you do not. How could you? Well, Captain Hunt, Sir – I have to inform you that you are a very, very wealthy man."
"I am?"
"Oh, yes! Provided of course, that you know the right persons interested in buying this kind of... artefacts from you; which – I presume – you don't."
"But you do?!"
"Indeed I do, Captain... If you so wish, I could provide you with... enormous pecuniary means."
"Legally?"
A blank stare was the only answer Dylan got on that. He grinned.
"Figures..." The High Guard shook his head. "I... really don't think so, Mr. Valentine. However..." The blue eyes set disconcertingly far apart weighed Beka's brother, as an idea seemed to form behind them. There was a brief silence, spent by Rafe in an almost endearing attempt to meet Hunt's scrutinising look with the most sincere expression of his own while trying to hide any uneasiness he felt stirring deep down. And then, to his further amazement, he saw Dylan setting himself back down behind his desk and reaching for a flexi he began to encode, seemingly forgetting about the older Valentine's presence altogether.
"What are you doing?" the dark-haired man inquired after a while, his eyes narrowed in puzzlement.
"I'm encoding a payment order instructing Andromeda to hand out to you the amount of cash you need to get yourself 5000 thrones from... whomever you think might be interested to buy it from you. Or shall we say 10000 thrones? It's a... rounder sum, isn't it? And please, do me a favour and make a list of all of your and your family's debts for me, will you?"
"What? Are you crazy?"
"Wasn't this what you came here to see me about?"
"Yes, but... 5000 thrones????"
"Mr Valentine, I want my Commonwealth, and – make no mistake – I will get it. Your sister is my XO and right hand. But more than that, she is the closest tie I have to this universe of yours and that new crew of mine..." Dylan began to explain, holding in on his task, leaning back in his chair and throwing Raphael an open, direct look.
"Ahhh..." The other man's face lit up. "I get it," he said with a broad grin. "Well, in that case... I normally don't borrow that kind of money from people I know by chance, but since this sounds more like family..."
"...you're willing to let me in on the privileges of a Valentine-clan member," Dylan concluded the thought for him with a slightly amused expression creeping into his gaze. "Well, then please let me in some more and put up that list of debts for me."
Rafe was even more amazed. "Really? ALL of them?" he asked back, in a manner clearly announcing that he by now considered the captain more than just slightly nuts. "Well, that's awfully decent of you, old chap, but I'm afraid that this is completely out of the question."
"You alarm me..., old chap. Since you said that I am a very wealthy man: would it surpass my means?"
"The problem is that I have myself no idea about how far they reach..."
"My means or your debts?"
"Good grief, man – the debts, of course! I don't think that I can come up with even half of them. Not Beka's, that include the ones she inherited from dad... and certainly not mine. I tried a few times to get them all together, but the minute you think you're through with them, some bill from years ago that you've completely forgotten about shows up... There seems to be no end to it. No, the best thing is not to start honouring any of them at all. Pay the damned things as they show up – that's my motto."
"It is?" Dylan said slightly surprised. "Didn't sound like that from what you said."
"What I mean is: I pay when some huckster or other finally sends goons or bounty-hunters or bailiffs after me to get their money. But not a moment earlier. Please! Pay all debts at once? Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"Nonetheless," Andromeda's captain remarked dryly, returning his attention back to the flexi, "you will humour me on this one, yes? Your sister being held accountable for your debts and arrested on your behalf the second she stands by my side while we sign up the first member-world for the Restored Commonwealth is not a prospect I would look forward to very much."
"Oh, really?" Rafe grinned at the mental image. "Well, in that case, of course... But I have to warn you: I'm pretty far over the deep end..."
"So then 10000, yes?"
At that point, however, Beka's brother sat himself up straighter and became serious to the point of almost dignified.
"Five," he said. "Since it's so important to you," he then added with a broad gesture implying utmost generosity on his part, "may they receive five thousand, but deliver 10000 thrones to a mob of shop-keepers... That's something I can't and won't do!!!"
"Ten," Dylan opposed him one last time, both his tone as well as the quick look he threw him firm, while he proceeded with encoding the flexi.
"But... that's an almost... depraved thing to do, Hunt! I mean, not that I'm opposed to spending cash, but I don't like to see it thrown away unnecessarily. You know, I could put this kind of money to better use..."
The High Guard completed his task and then held the flexi out for Beka's brother to take, his eyes meeting Rafe's dark gaze in a strange combination that seemed both serene and determined to the point of steely, a small and oddly chilling smile on his lips:
"And yet I know for sure, Rafe – I may call you Rafe, yes? – that you won't put it to any... better use."
The elder Valentine quickly assessed the situation correctly. He held in for a moment, but then reached out and took the flexi from Dylan. "So that's the way you like to play things, eh? All right, all right, I get it... But I still don't like it. And neither will Beka."
"Why don't we just keep this between the two of us?"
"Eh?" Raphael exclaimed, completely nonplussed. "You mean... But, man, don't you think that – when it comes to Beka's past, men and finances – you should at least wonder..."
Andromeda's captain, who had by now gotten up and come around his desk to stand next to him, let a heavy hand drop on Rafe's shoulder.
"There are some aspects of Beka's personality about which I prefer to not think and not wonder," he stated lowly. He squeezed the shoulder under his finders almost painfully, but very briefly, patting it lightly a last time before letting go of the other man. "Whenever you feel like calling in again on your sister: you're welcome aboard the Andromeda. Until then stay safe. I'll be seeing you around the universe."
Beka's brother remained seated, flexi in hand, eyes fixing some point straight ahead, slightly shaking his head in amazement.
"Boy, he sure is a weird one," he at least murmured to himself.
Flickering up next to his elbow, Andromeda's hologram raised a reprehensive eyebrow at him.
"The correct term is 'gentleman', I believe," she informed the startled man in a crisp voice. Rafe snorted.
"Yeah," he grinned a bit ruefully. "And I can see why he is so keen at keeping Beka at his side and out of trouble."
"I'm listening?!"
"Without her – and the way he is... In a year's time, if he continues like this, the correct term to describe him would be... 'dead'. Or – with you at his disposal – a tyrannical madman."
/
He bowed down to kiss her cheek.
"Stay out of trouble, Booster Rocket! And... take my advice, keep an eye on that captain of yours, and don't pull too many pranks on him. I... I've this strange feeling that you might come to regret it, if you did."
The blonde returned the kiss and turned up to her brother huge, inquiring eyes, then shrugged when he didn't elaborate.
"Bollocks," Beka said.