The Kusarian Stalemate

"What brings you to the Corsairs home?" the centurion continued

"As you know, the Hogosha have been your business partners for some centuries now… We even see ourselves as your allies, which is nice…" Kamata said, making a small pause before continuing "The problem is that other criminal factions are starting to see us as your allies too and we are starting to have some problems inside Kusari space…"

The centurion asked Kamata to sit down and offered him a glass of Cretan wine, Muñoz was preparing to leave the room when Allende ordered him to sit down too and have a glass of wine with them. Centurion Allende remained standing, in front of the two men scratching his beard.

"Are the fighter blueprints we gave you being built?" asked centurion Allende

"Yes centurion, they are indeed. And are performing well too! But the enemies keep increasing and our numbers seem to be unchanged, the Hogosha is a powerful political faction but a small one… Besides, the Blood Dragons are very well trained and beat us even with their outdated Dragon fighters." replied Kamata.

The Blood Dragons were the Hogosha's new enemy because the first were notorious allies of the Outcasts, and the Hogosha sided with the Corsairs. Blood Dragon pilots are among the best in Sirius, descending from a long line of elite pilots tracing back to the fourth century A.S. Their well-known lack of money and numbers made them use the outdated Dragon fighter since, at least, the year 800 A.S., which by that time was also used by the Kusari Naval Forces. The Naval Forces decommissioned the Dragon fighters in 843 and by 846 A.S. all the fighter wings were flying the Gojira fighter, the old KNF Dragons were sold as scrap, mostly to Junkers from Liberty, and then resold to Blood Dragons to increase their fleets and to be used as spared parts. Now the KNF are starting to replace the Gojira for the Enenra fighter, and the economic stagnation obligated the government to reuse the Gojira instead of developing a new fighter for the Kusari Police. Police's Obake light fighters, that replaced the Drake light fighters in 819, are being slowly replaced by the KNF's decommissioned and repaired Gojira's.

The Crow region where Kusari was located was indeed rich in raw materials, especially water, oxygen and other mineable gases. Kusarian government abolished the feudal system in 850 and the Shogun absorbed all the power to himself; relations between the two major companies, Samura and Kishiro, were becoming more tense since the end of the Nomad War because Kishiro drew closer to the GMG signing a deal of partnership. The GMG would buy ships and technology from Kishiro and would give in return raw materials sold with a large friendly discount. The final armistice between the GMG and Rheinlander corporations allowed them to enter Rheinland space and soon companies such as ALG Waste Disposal, Daumman and Kruger were buying Kishiro's ships and flying it through the colonies, where the Tennin freighter was a huge success.

This carved a huge separation between Kusari and the Liberty/Bretonia axis, bringing them closer to Rheinland. Kishiro, that was a public company since 806 A.S., was privatized again in 900 when was bought by Hiro Matsumoto, CEO of the GMG, and its business volume increased while the responsibilities with the state were abruptly reduced. Samura saw itself losing market and, fearing of losing the race for future military ship construction, injected capital in the state's coffers in a policy of lost fund. This meant that the Shogun would have millions to develop the nation without worrying about paying it back, the money was never spent because the Shogun died in the end of 901 without leaving any legitimate children. Three options of succession appeared: Hiro Matsumoto, the Shogun's nephew and owner of both Kishiro and GMG; Takeshi Abe, the Shogun's illegitimate son and boss of the Hogosha; and Junya Samura, owner of Samura Industries and, technically, owner of the money in the state's coffers.

"So… What are you asking of us mr. Kamata?" centurion Allende asked

"Kishiro and Samura have heavy arguments… We don't…" Kamata replied

"We don't have money to lend you mr. Kamata, how do you want us to help you?"

"That is what we would like to discuss with the Caesar1… A plan to put us ahead in the race for the succession"

"Optio, what do you think of this?"

Muñoz drank a bit of wine and interlocked its fingers.

"Señor Kamata, the Hogosha understands that our help has a price, right?" Muñoz said

"It depends on the price…" replied Kamata, surprised "Don't forget that we are the ones who allow you to enrich with kusarian money!"

"And I think you and the Hogosha are in no position of threatening us! Without us you would be eaten alive by the Blood Dragons and the Outcasts, you would disappear before you could think about ruling over Kusari!" replied Muñoz "But I'm sure you will do your part and the Caesar will help you out…"

Centurion Allende warned Legate Trujillo that Kamata had an appointment with the Caesar and quickly a Tribune entered the room, Carlos Rubio, to take the kusarian to the Caesar's presence. There were other centurions in the room and the only reason that Muñoz was allowed in the middle was that the young optio was about to be promoted to full centurion by Fernando Trujillo, the Omegas Second Legion's Legate, on the other hand Allende was the most experienced centurion and, therefore, hierarchically superior to the others.

"That was a good speech kid, that kusarian left this place with his tail between his legs…" Allende said to Muñoz

"Gracias señor…" Muñoz replied, hearing a choir of approval from the other centurions

1 Leader of the Corsairs. Corsairs borrow some of the social and military organization of the ancient Roman Legions. There was the Caesar, usually appointed by the Senate. The military had the General, Legate, Tribune, Centurion, Optio and soldiers