Reviews
Garuda1178
He's a rouge trader so the Farseer can just bribe him. Dealing with the Inquisitor will be the hard part.
Morkail
Not all members of the Inquisition are planet burning fanatics some Inquisitors do good by hunting down dangerous people who have committed crimes on different planets or uncover cults that want to destabilise worlds before an alien invasion. Besides he doesn't even have to leave Planetos and become a full Inquisitor. He can just stay on his home world and hunt evil magic-users, like the kind who castrated Varys.
mmgaballah1999
Mostly it's because I needed Planetos to have something the Rogue Trader could exchange guns for and while the IOM as a whole might have an easy time mining gold that doesn't mean every world in the IOM has easy access to it because warp travel is not dependable. The forge-world which the Lord-Captain is allied with has a demand for it and Ad-Mech are digging up other metals.
Williams1996
Since Rogue Traders operate outside of the IOM they don't have many rules they need to follow so they can pretty much do what they want with non-Imperial worlds. However, once a conquered world is part of the Imperium the Trader can't exploit it as he used to since the planet is now under Imperial protection. He'd be expected to move on or do legitimate business.
In this case, since he has the only ship that can reach Planetos the Lord-General will pay the tithe to the Lord-Captain with Thrax taking some to cover expenses and he'll bring back with him any support the Lord-General needs when he next visits. It will be up to the two lords to decide the details of this after the planet is won. The High-Lords aren't going to care about some feudal planet that it isn't even on star charts.
In the case of Planetos, the Ad-Mech and the Church have also claimed parts of the planet so they'd need to make arrangements and pay a tithe to the Lord-Captain so he'll return later with whatever those organisations want to be taken to or from the planet.
Rogue Trader CYOA Story
"Roll up, roll up, one and all! Sample the luxuries of a distant empire that's closer than you know! However, if comfort isn't to your liking, perhaps I can offer you something to give your enemies grief? All is mine to sell, for the right price."
—Lord Captain Gravis Terrozant, master of the Wayfarer Resplendent
Part 8
The Red Keep. King's Landing.
"Robert we can not afford to anger these people" stated Ned Stark as he and his old friend met behind closed doors in the king's chambers "We can't fight flying machines and men with these guns".
Eddard understood that if this Imperium could simply conquer them then it already would have. There must be some limit to their power if they hadn't already rolled over the Seven Kingdoms., and while they seemed to be able bring about Dooms like that which had befallen Valyria if they'd wanted to destroy the Seven Kingdoms they could have already done that as well.
"They want to give the throne back to the dragon spawn!" shouted Robert.
Ned wasn't so sure about that. This Lord Thrax had come to make demands, but he'd also come to make allies, hence the gifts. By not denying that he had the last Targaryens in his charge, or at least the last ones anyone knew about, as far as Ned knew Jon was safe up at The Wall, Lord Thrax had made it clear that he might challenge Robert's right to rule. Viserys was a threat, he was meant to give Thrax leverage.
"If they were going to do that then why not simply do it?" Ned asked rhetorically "Warning us served no purpose unless they want something".
King Robert listened to the council of few men, thankfully for the realm Lord Stark was one of them.
"This Lord Thrax is as much merchant prince as he is a warlord" Eddard was now saying "Yes he took the Stepstones, but if he could just conquer us then he would. No he wants to bring us into this Imperium and we can do on our own terms".
Robert was at least paying attention.
"We can ally with this Lord Thrax and take his guns" the man from The North was now saying "Then we prepare for war, if we can make the Kingdoms too much of a challenge to conquer by remaining united then we'll sort this out with words. We can ensure that this Imperium leaves us alone as much as possible. Let them battle the Dothraki hordes and conquer the Free Cities who won't lift a finger to help each other, we will not be such easy prey".
While Robert dreamed of once more fighting in the thick of things against a deadly enemy he knew that they wouldn't win a war against people who had flying machines. These Imperials would just rain down death from above like they were rumoured to do when they destroyed Astaphor.
"You're right Ned" agreed the ruling Monarch "We need to prepare for war while playing the role of a good host. We'll wine and dine this Lord Thrax, make him our good friend. We can pay tribute to this Imperium if that's what they want and make an enemy into an ally".
Eddard sat down and for once had a glass of wine with his friend as he needed it.
"We're in massive debt" reminded the king's long time ally "We can't afford to pay gold in tribute or to buy guns. We'll need to find something else that he wants. Maybe land or a highborn wife".
The King cared little for such matters and Eddard knew this.
"I can handle the diplomacy, Robert, but you need to keep Thrax happy while he is here" said the Hand of the King "That means no mentioning of dragon spawn, we can't have this Imperium thinking that your hold on the Iron Throne is weak enough to be threatened by a exiled prince and his little sister".
His Grace had to bit his lip to stop himself from saying something foolish.
"I should not have yelled at Thrax" Robert admitted "You're right it made me look afraid of those white-haired sister fuckers".
Some more wine helped to keep the King somewhat calm.
"I'll make Thrax my honoured guest" promised the man once known as the Demon of the Trident "He'll seen that the Seven Kingdoms are best kept as a friend".
The upcoming tourney would be good for that and while Lord Stark didn't wish to use such methods he knew that any people who could make The Wall shake could destroy Winterfell and he had to ensure the safety of his home. Bending the knee to save what could be saved would be better than burning. Torrhen Stark had understood this when he faced the armies of Aegon Targaryen and if needs be Eddard Stark would bow before Lord Thrax, if only to rise again as an ally. He hoped that Robert would do the same.
(Line Break)
Pleasure Craft. Outside of Kings Landing.
One of the most important members of a Rogue Trader's household is his or her Seneschal, they are an important official of a Rogue Trader dynasty who manages all the various logistics required to keep the House functioning and profitable/ Every detail that might affect a House's business is of interest to a Seneschal, from the amount of dowry offered in a noble marriage to the wars going on in nearby parts of space. Upon becoming a Rogue Trader I'd not been assigned a Seneschal because I'd not needed one until I had a dynasty.
Now that I would be getting married, hopefully having children and had lots of resources coming in, I would need someone to help organise my affairs. Perhaps I could elevate a member of the crew, only it might be better to take someone with no existing loyalties and have them educated as best as possible. I would need someone with a keen mind, who had an eye for details and didn't mind dealing with less than legal matters. I considered Littlefinger as he clearly had an eye for details and mind for planning, but no amount of mind-cleansing would ever make me trust that git.
Olenna Tyrell crossed my mind, her age wasn't that much of an issue as we had ways of extending life and to partly restore someone's youth, but the Queen of Thorns had her own family to look after. Even if I made her granddaughter the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms by marrying her to Viserys, something that was looking more and more likely given how little faith I had in the current leadership, she might want to stick around and look after her family.
I also considered Tyrion Lannister. Although he exhibits self-destructive behaviour, such as drinking himself into oblivion and cavorting with ladies of the night, his quick-wit, natural intelligence and sharp tongue would make him useful to me. Despite their unfortunate relationship, even Tywin recognized his son's potential, and his brief time as Hand of the King proved that he could manage important matters of state.
My thinking had turned to trying to get Samwell Tarly out of the Night's Watch, so that he could be tutored for the role like how the Targaryens were being, when someone entered the study I kept on this ship. Like the one on my cruiser this study was an expression of my wealth and power shown to visitors via opulence. This involved displaying a lot of leather-bound books, having weapons hung up on the wall, and a huge desk made from wood that came from a kind of tree that was probably wiped out of existence to make paper for the administration that ran the Imperium.
"Master, someone is here to see you," said Yara Greyjoy.
Such a pity that the mind-cleansing had left this former pirate-princess so broken she could have made an interesting companion, instead she ended up as a meek thing that existed only to do chores for me.
"Who is it?" I asked.
I had a far few ideas and while I attempted to reach out my psykers powers to get a sense of who was waiting at the ramp of my pleasure craft I only got a vague sense of apprehension and impatience. I needed to practice more with my pysker power, but I had to be careful since the Inquisitor had his own pet psyker who might be able to detect what I got up to.
"The Queen" Yara answered.
Well that made sense. She'd been giving me hungry looks during the brief meeting and with King Robert having badly damaged any chances of our two Houses forming an alliance it was natural that others would try to ally with me. While the queen should be on the side of the stags I knew that Cersei was pure Lannister as were her three children.
"She can board just on her own" I ordered "Bring her here".
The queen wouldn't refuse to met with me, she couldn't afford not to, I'd changed the game and she would need my aid in putting her evil incest baby on the throne. While I didn't really want Westeros to suffer through a civil war it would serve my needs as I could sell weapons to everyone and more easily take over a weakened Westeros. You'd think that me turning up and declaring that the IOM was taking this world would unite them against a common foe, but they didn't yet grasp what they were dealing with. Besides the issues behind the coming war, such as Lannister ambition and Littlefinger's scheming had been building up a kind of pressure for years.
While Stannis would play no role in the coming conflicts there were still plenty who would want to sit on the Iron Throne and as they fought I would make my moves. Making allies, removing threats to the rule of my puppet king and part of that would be the taking of Dragonstone, the ancestral seat of power for the Targaryens, and could play to act out my version the Targaryen conquest when the time was right.
"The queen" said Yara.
I dismissed my servant with a wave of my hand before I invited Cersei Lannister to sit. The most powerful woman in the Seven Kingdoms wore a red dress of very fine fabrics and plenty of gold accessories, a display of wealth and power that I understood. My current outfit felt a little silly in my view. Some of it wouldn't have looked out of place if it had been worn by a high ranking officer at the battle of Waterloo, only my outfit had more sensible trousers and boots.
Knowing her love of wine I poured her a glass of something that could be called wine for Her Grace, only I doubted a single grape had ever been involved in its creation, but it sure tasted good, it went down smooth.
"Where is this from?" asked the queen.
I couldn't even pronounce the name of the planet it had been made on.
"Some world very far from here" I said "I only have a few bottles of the stuff in my possession. You're welcome to one I'll have it sent to you".
I wasn't being generous the gift was a display of how causally I could give out favours.
"Kind of you, but I didn't come here to talk about wine" said Cersei Lannister.
Of course she hadn't.
"I doubt your husband sent you" I reasoned "So you must be here on behalf of House Lannister".
She soon confirmed this to be the case.
"My father will wish to speak with you when he arrives" Cersei was now saying "He'll formalise any agreement between our two houses and I promise you that no noble house will be able to outbid the Lannisters".
Business with me didn't work that way.
"I'll sell guns to anyone wishing to buy them" I stated "But I can ensure that House Lannister get's access to some of the more powerful weapons I have in stock".
Machine guns, rifles with scopes and sidearms for the nobility that were far more decorative in appearance than they needed to be. I could see such things appealing to the lions.
"You'll also need to hire some of my people who can teach your men to use the guns correctly" I informed the royal "That won't come cheap".
Cersei suddenly stood up and walked around the desk so that she was very close to me. I figured that she was about to use sex as a way of winning me around to her side and if I hadn't know her so well it might have worked. However, I knew quite a bit about what this ruling lady got up behind closed doors, aside from fucking her brother she might already be fucking her cousin Lancel Lannister, one of the people she kills with Wildfire, and likely she'd spread her legs for some other people that she'd wanted to win over to her side.
"Tell me my lord" she wished to know "Have you ever fucked a queen?".
I got up and put some distance between us. Her effects at seduction were rather crude.
"Let's not mix business with pleasure" I said.
Her face show disgust for a moment and with my power I could sense that she very felt upset about my rejection. But I had my reasons, no need to stick my dick in crazy. The Lannisters were just a way for me to make money I had no desire to get into bed with any of them literally or figuratively. In fact while my plans weren't set in stone I could foresee several outcomes that resulted in me wiping them all out, or least culling the pride.
"I'll have some samples of my wares set up near this ship and my instructors can begin tutoring your men this very afternoon" I offered "Once you see the weapons in action you'll understand their worth".
Soon I'd do for the city what I had done for Pentos, which was to put on a show. The people who mattered would get to see the guns in action and they'd pay fortunes to possess them. I'd only sell the basics to most houses and keep the machine guns reserved for House Lannister who would think themselves important to me. However should they step out of line it would not be rain falling on Casterly Rock it would death from above.
(Line Break)
The Red Keep. King's Landing.
"Well done, Cersei" praised Tywin Lannister.
In her entire life she couldn't recall her father ever using those words in her presence despite how hard she'd worked to become the greatest queen in the history of the Seven Kingdoms, at least in her view. His praise for her efforts was long overdue.
As to why he'd used those words, both Cersei and Tywin had just left the demonstration area that Lord Thrax had set up outside of the city. Already nobles from all over Westeros who come to King's Landing for the Hand's tourney were circling the Rogue Trader like jackals, but those beasts would not get a chance to sink their teeth in until after the lion had its share. Cersei had gotten their first and staked a claim, or so she thought and her father certainly had that impression.
"Now we have to find a way to pay for as much of the ammo as possible" stated Tywin as he poured them both some wine "if we can control the supply of ammo we won't need too many guns".
The queen who was not as smart as she liked to think felt a little confused.
"I know that Thrax offered to let purchase a lot of ammo" she said "but won't controlling the guns be more important?".
Her father set down a couple of glasses on the desk before speaking.
"Guns are useless with ammo the same way a crossbow is useless with bolts to fire" he explained "But unlike bolts these bullets can't be made in great number by anyone other than Lord Thrax's people".
The Lord of Casterly Rock laid a single bullet down on the desk he was sitting behind.
"Even training with these guns takes a lot of these bullets and while they can brought in large amounts there's a big difference between firing at a target and shooting one of these guns in a battle" Tywin explained to the queen "Ammo sold to the other houses will be used up quickly and if we can control the lion's share then we can deny a supply to our enemies or extend one to our allies, but to do that we'll need to stockpile the ammo in vast amounts".
He already had some ideas about that.
"I plan to offer the Rogue Trader the lands of Houses Reyne and Tarbeck" Tywin informed.
During the Reyne-Tarbeck rebellion against House Lannister, the then heir of Lord Tytos Lannister, Ser Tywin defeated both rebelling houses.
Rather than starve out Tarbeck Hall, Tywin used siege engines to destroy its walls, and he ordered the castle put to the torch. Tywin Lannister then defeated the army from Castamere when it arrived at the ruins of Tarbeck Hall. The ruins had remained vacant since the rebellion as far as Cersei knew, however they could be rebuilt.
The Reynes retreated to Castamere after the destruction of Tarbeck Hall. Tywin Lannister, ignored any offers of surrender and had his miners bury Castamere's entrances beneath stone. The Lannisters then dammed a nearby stream and diverted it into a mine entrance, flooding the underground chambers of Castamere and drowning those trapped inside. Tywin also had the surface buildings put to the torch.
"Lord Thrax clearly values gold" said Tywin "and while Castamere's mines are flooded I can't imagine that anyone who flies around in sky ships and produces on mass this ammo will have much trouble pumping out all the flooded mines of Castamere. As for Tarbeck Hall that can be restored, but I want more than just a place to store ammo. I want the machines that produce these bullets".
Tywin placed another bullet on the desk.
"Notice any differences?" he asked.
Cersei wondered if it was a trick question, she couldn't see anything different between the two small bits of metal.
"No father" she admitted.
Tywin held them up as if to inspect them more carefully.
"That's because there isn't any" he said "There must be some sort of machine involved, something that involves a large amount of metal and produces these bullets. They can't be made by hand, not if they are all alike. Perhaps metal is poured into a mould of some kind".
The queen wondered where the lord-paramount was going with this.
"If we can convince this Lord Thrax to set up the means of producing this ammo on our lands we can take control of the ammo once it is produced" Cersei was told "No merchant prince is going to care much about who pays him for this merchandise".
The queen could see a flaw in this plan.
"If Lord Thrax has conquered the Stepstones then what is to stop him from building his ammo machines on those islands and moving them by ship?" asked the queen "He doesn't even need his flying machines as he controls the trade routes between here and Essos".
Tywin had also considered this.
"We offer Thrax something no one else can give him, at least not in the Seven Kingdoms" said the Lion of Lannister "Marriage to a princess".
Cersei did not like hearing this.
"Myrcella is twelve years old!" the woman protested.
This did not concern the former Hand of the King.
"They don't have to marry now" he said "In fact waiting a few years would be best, it would give Myrcella time to mature and prepare while giving Thrax a reason to stay allied with us. He will see that he has everything to gain by allying with House Lannister".
Cersei's mind raced and came up with something.
"He has the Targaryen girl" she told her father "She's the daughter of the last king and older than Myrcella".
That might not be a concern. Tywin just needed Thrax close by for the next couple of years. They needed him pinned in place by the lion's claws. If he married both princesses and flew off in his sky ship that that was fine with Tywin Lannister.
"For now we'll just make the offer" said the Lord of Casterly Rock "Myrcella might never have to marry the Rogue Trader and Robert should agree to the engagement once I explain the benefits to him. Even he's not foolish enough to keep angering this Imperium".
Cersei would not simply accept this engagement, yet right now there was little she could do.
"If we have the Rogue Trader on our side and your son on throne then it will be House Lannister that rules Westeros" stated the most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms "That is what matters. With control of these guns, allies in the Imperium and Joffrey on the throne then our family could rule for the next thousand years".
Cersei was still not convinced.
"Why can't be simply buy him?" she asked "If he is a merchant then all he'll care about is his profits and we'll find some way of appeasing this Imperium".
Alas it wasn't that simple.
"Because we don't have enough money" Tywin told her "Our last working mine ran dry a couple of years ago".
If the queen hadn't heard of this then her father must have gone to great lengths to keep the information contained.
"So how have we been paying for anything?" she wondered.
The former Hand of the King poured them both some more wine before answering the question.
"We owe the Bank of Bravos a great deal of money" he confessed "and we'll end up owning them more before the debts are settled".
The lord that sink it for a moment before carrying on.
"That is why we need these guns as well as a powerful ally" he went on to say "When the Imperium moves to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, and they will sooner or later, we will aid them rather than resist and reap the rewards. We'll help conquer the other kingdoms and use their wealth to pay off this debt".
This was shocking for the queen to hear.
"But they want to put a Targaryen on the throne" Cersei protested.
Tywin had heard about that.
"No they want someone they can control to sit on throne" her father corrected "By holding Viserys that means they have a replacement monarch ready, he's a piece to played if needs be, but if this Rogue Trader has any sense he'll know that the son may take after the father. All we have to do is prove that House Lannister will make a better ally than the Targaryens who really don't have anything to offer. They have no lands, no armies, no allies. All Viserys has to offer his sister, and a we already discussed we have also have a princess who he can marry".
Cersei did not want her only daughter married off as she had been, and yet she could see the sense in it. She'd go along with this plan. For now.
(Line Break)
Pleasure Craft. Outside of Kings Landing.
Why a ship that had been created for the use of the most wealthy of nobles contained a small torture chamber was something that had confused me if only for a moment. Then it all made sense, the elite would always have powerful enemies and if an enemy spy was captured they would need to be questioned with what the Americans called enhanced interrogation techniques.
The small room had a slab the centre that could be moved from horizontal to vertical as well as a number of tools meant to cause pain hanging on the walls. I'd had them and the hooks removed since I had no need or desire to use such crude implements, and if a captive somehow got free of their bindings the stuff that had been on the walls would have given them a choice in weapons to use during an escape.
Strapped to the slab at and angle that allowed my prisoner to look at me but only by keeping their neck in an uncomfortable position, was Lord Petyr Baelish AKA Littlefinger who'd come to my ship recently, no doubt with the intent of somehow dragging me into his many schemes for power. That had been a foolish thing for him to do.
Someone's spy would notice that Littlefinger hadn't left my ship I just didn't care as no one was going to risk going to war with me over the life of a glorified accountant and pimp. He was a scummy little man with no real allies or friends. Not that he was lacking in value, I wanted to know all about his schemes and about where he'd hidden the money.
I needed the money because when I put Viserys on throne, which was still my plan, he would need to play the part of a good king and if one his first actions was to pay off even some of the debt to the Iron Bank then not only would he look to be a better king that Robert he'd get the support of the Iron Bank who would support his rulership if it meant getting back the money they'd invested into Westeros. It might take a while to pay it all back, but the Iron Bank would get their due.
As for the man I'd taken as a captive I'd already gotten a sample of his DNA taken so that he could be cloned. I did need a good Seneschal and while Littlefinger clearly had the mind for such a role there was no way I would trust him in the role. However a clone, one educated and programmed for loyalty, he might serve nicely. I would have to use my psyker powers to monitor the clone just to be on the safe side.
"Okay then Littlefinger" I said to the bound man "You and I are going to talk about your creative accounting".
The fact that he was gagged wouldn't get in the way of this since I'd been gifted with psyker powers, or cursed with them depending on your point of view. I had no idea what kind of abilities my connection to The Warp gave me, all I felt certain about was I couldn't hear any voices in my head, and when I reached out I could feel minds or maybe it was people's souls, assuming that there was any difference. It could take centuries to fully understand what I could do as a psyker and I knew that I would never learn unless I got a teacher or I experimented a lot.
I worked to clear my mind and not to think about my earlier meeting with Tywin Lannister who'd quickly worked out that out of everything I sold that bullets were by far the most important. He'd already made a proposal that would given his family a lot of control over the supply of ammo in the Seven Kingdoms. He'd gone as far to offer up a princess, his own granddaughter, as a way of uniting our houses and while that was tempting as I could wait for the Lannister Princess to grow up she was the product of inbreeding and might be able to provide me with healthy children for my dynasty. That would make her a worthless person to acquire as a wife. The same could be said for Dany, but Valyrians aren't like other humans and I could always use a little genetic engineering to get around such issues.
Working to stay focused I began to draw on The Warp. All psykers draw their powers from the extradimensional realm known as the Immaterium or The Warp that underlies four-dimensional realspace and is the source of all psychic energy in the universe. Psychic energy comes from sentient minds so it should exist in some form anywhere there are people.
Although the powers of psykers are many and varied, they usually fall into one of several disciplines. The five most common psychic disciplines are: Biomancy, Divination, Pyromancy, Telekinesis and Telepathy. I remained focused on the Telepathy discipline and its use in mind control, because I wished to be able to control or at least influence the thoughts and actions of others. A most useful thing for a Rogue Trader and while some use of psyker powers would be handy in battle I had many weapons, bodyguards, ships and whole armies to call upon. Besides the more subtle uses of psyker powers were less likely to draw attention.
I reached into the twisted mind of Littlefinger and while you can't read a human mind like a book I discovered that you can view memories and see how they link to each other. It wasn't hard to find the source of this man's evil, for lack of a better term, until he became Master of Coin he'd always been the most minor of nobility, looked down upon, and this only filled him with resentment. He wanted to topple the system and put himself in charge to show that he was superior to everyone else. His own ego drove him.
All his schemes were woven together, he'd borrowed from many, given out loans to others, and stashed away plenty of money, some of which was hidden away right here in Kings Landing. Once I had some of my crew coming to this city for shore leave, something I felt that could get messy even with my disciplined crew, I'd send members of my battle harem to collect some of the stashes. They could be subtle when required.
He'd hidden quite a bit away in some place called the Drearfort. I'd have members of my battle harem go there was well with some back up. I'd have to remove all witnesses, but that didn't mean killing anyone as I could just have the people taken and the smallfolk village near the Drearfort sacked so it looked like raiders.
I broke my connection to Littlefinger's mind as the images I'd been seeing had started to go dark. I couldn't let the Master of Coin die, not when he had more information to share with me.
"Keep him alive" I ordered the Medicae I'd brought along "But do not let him talk, he is a creature of lies".
I could practice more with my power later for now I had more business matters to deal with. I'd have to attended the tourney and once that was done I wished to seek out other allies before the fighting started. It would become even without Lady Stark having taken the Imp something else would come along and set off the powder keg. Robert would not live much longer and once he was dead matters would process quickly.
(Line Break)
Sunspear. Dorne.
While I'd not sent any messengers to the Dornish I was certain that by now they something of me since Dorne was the nearest of the Seven Kingdoms to the islands that made up the Stepstones. No doubt they had spies mixed in the pirates and slavers so as to be warned if the scum ever got too organised. The Dornish wouldn't want some pirate-king popping up and start organising large raids of Dornish settlements.
I didn't land to close to Sunspear since that could be seen as a hostile act and since I didn't wish to bake in the sun I waited inside my nice climate controlled pleasure craft until a large group of Dornish warriors on horseback arrived to greet me, or least to figure out what the hell was going on. Since they didn't panic when the ramp lowered and nor they did they attack I figured that they must have some idea of why I was here.
The man who strode up to the bottom of the ramp was Prince Oberyn Martell the famed Red Viper of Dorne if he felt any fear or confusion about myself or my vessel then he hid it very well and I didn't wish to reach out and touch his mind to find out how he felt in case he reacted badly. This man was clever and alert even if he did let his passions get the best of him. Something I'd seen when watching his fight with The Mountain.
This time I didn't bother having anyone announce me instead I introduced myself directly to the noblemen who I suspected would respect me more if I spoke to him prince to prince as it were.
"I am the Rogue Trader Lord-Captain Thrax" I said "You might know me as the new Prince of the Stepstones. I've heard a lot about you Prince Oberyn, such as not to find myself on the wrong end of your spear".
The royal smirked upon hearing that.
"Depends on which spear I use" he joked.
I smiled upon hearing that
"By now I'm sure you've heard of the Imperium and the chances we've been bringing about" I said.
Only the prince looked relaxed, the man he'd brought with him seemed ready for a fight, it would be foolish for them to attack with my battle harem so close by.
"We received a raven just this morning" I was told.
That was fast considering that I'd been in Kings Landing for only a week. Perhaps the ravens of Westeros had a bit of magic in them. It wouldn't surprise me much if the Maesters used magic with the ravens despite them supposed to be having an anti-magic agenda or at least a policy of downplaying the occult arts, bunch of hypocrites.
"Then you should know that we have no intent of invading you" I said.
Even if we had to outright conquer the other kingdoms we'd not try that with Dorne since it never ended well. This kingdom would have to be brought into the the fold using words not swords.
"Instead we wish to wish to become allies and allow Dorne to run its own affairs" I was now saying "We know how foolish it would be to try to force you to do anything".
If we really had to we could turn the sands to glass, however I'd rather let Dorne manage itself as long it paid lip service to the Imperium and gave us some sort of tithe. At some point the Lord-General would come to finalise such an agreement, since I'd agreed to lay the groundwork, only that could be a couple of years from now, so there was no need to rush.
Before the handsome prince could say anything about that I turned to the elderly Medicae at my side, he was the 40k version of a doctor and an expert on the kind of aliments the better class of Imperial citizens could suffer from as his job was to tend the senior officers of a ship.
"This is Medicae Januctus Mokus" I introduced "He's here to clear up your brother's gout problem".
Oberyn lost his smile.
"He wouldn't be the first healer to try" said the Red Viper.
I could well imagine that many had attempted to heal the ruler of this kingdom in the hopes of a rich reward.
"My people are much more advanced than the Maesters can ever hope to be" I stated "Allow my Medicae to try and I promise you will be impressed by the results. It will prove that we have much to offer your people".
The prince considered my words before speaking.
"My brother will decide for himself if he will try your treatment" said the Red Viper.
I felt sure that he be pleased with the result, and I had other gifts as well. By the time I was down here Dorne should be ready to support Viserys when the time came to place him on the throne.