rogues

Regional Date Notation: MCM +7.528
Terran Date Notation: Estimated 6.013.014.M42
Location: Administratum Orbital Station Emissicus

[Administrator Dex Cholmley] By the grace of the God-Emperor, this meeting is hereby called to order.  The Houses of the Rogue Traders present for this assembly have all set forth claim to being the best candidate for the leadership of the joint deployment of their assets to aid in the coming war in the Scordia’s Star system.  Hear ye all comers, the meeting is now in session.  I, Superintendent of Affairs Pertaining to Warrants of Trade for the Greater Cloudburst Region, Dex Cholmley, do hereby call the roll.  We shall begin to my right and continue around the table.
[Fox Zutash] Aye, Fox Zutash of House Zutash.
[Madeline Prinz] You don’t need to announce your name, boy, we all have holocards.  Aye.
[Patrice Calivera] Aye.
[James Walken] Aye.
[Munyaradzi Atongwë] Aye.
[Beneficent Goro] Aye.
[Lovis Rondlee] Aye.
[Giuseppe Arins] Aye.
[Erleissa Marcus] Aye.
[Ayiid Brasmel] Aye.
[Cholmley] As this is not a formal gathering of the Lords Trader of the region, but instead an informal assembly to determine whom shall lead the pack, as it were, any person present may call for a vote to establish the leader, and a simple majority shall suffice.
[Zutash] You know, Madeline, I didn’t announce myself because I thought you didn’t know who I was.
[Prinz] Surely.
[Zutash] I announced myself because I think we can be done here right quick.
[Prinz] And why is that, pray tell?
[Zutash] Because there are only two realistic choices, of course, my Lady Prinz.  Myself and Lady Marcus.
[Arins] Speak for yourself, whelp.
[Zutash] I daresay I just did.
[Marcus] Such confidence, Fox.  What’s the occasion?
[Zutash] An inter-Sector invasion, by all accounts.
[Goro] Where the hell is Walsh?  He lives for this sort of scrap.
[Walken] Thomas Walsh?  Whatever do you want that loose cannon around for?
[Goro] I didn’t say I wanted him.  I said he lives for this shit.
[Calivera] Never met him.
[Marcus] He’s not here, and it doesn’t matter where he is.  Munyaradzi, you look like you have a question.
[Atongwë] I suppose I want to know why young Fox here thinks he’s the equal of old bullheaded Brasmel.  Ayiid, you’ve conducted this exact campaign in the past, no?
[Brasmel] Damn right, Atongwë.  And I don’t appreciate some upstart coattail-rider like you telling me I’m not good enough, Fox.
[Zutash] Why, surely, if you were so well-qualified to lead, Ayiid my good man, you’d be able to tell us how.
[Brasmel] How?  I’ve spilled an ocean of heretic blood for the Emperor, boy!  I’ve been killing his foes since before your daddy fucked your mother!
[Cholmley] Informality of the occasion aside, Lord Brasmel, you will compose yourself.
[Marcus] Well, Atongwë, I’d say that answers your question.  As for me, I appreciate the vote of confidence.  I can lead these forces, I can stage an invasion.  I’ve got the mud of a thousand worlds in the tread of my boots.
[Walken] Hah.  So you do, Erleissa, but have you ever crossed swords with anybody on this scale?  I mean as a part of a much larger force?
[Marcus] No.  First time for everything, though.
[Walken] How refreshingly frank.
[Arins] Cholmley, has the Navy offered terms?  Are we being paid for this?
[Cholmley] They have.  The Navy will compensate you at the standard rate for the transport of troops from worlds in Cloudburst to Scordia’s Star upon the securing of a safe LZ on the worlds of the system, the standard rate times one point five for securing the outer orbitals, and standard Naval contracting rate for engaging enemy ships in direct combat.
[Arins] Hmph!  They’re not taking this very seriously.
[Atongwë] Cash and a half isn’t serious to you?  Cheeky.
[Prinz] If we’re quite through measuring penises?  I call for a vote right now.  Let’s see where we stand.
[Cholmley] So be it.  Each of you has a minislate.  Press green for your own ballot, press red to abstain, press white and then type a name to choose somebody else.
—Zutash:2 Prinz:1 Atongwë:1 Marcus:1 Brasmel:1—
[Atongwë] Goodness, somebody trusts me.
[Rondlee] I haven’t voted.  I’m not going to.  Not until I feel somebody is up to the task.  So far, I’m not impressed.
[Marcus] Shocking.
[Zutash] Apropos, Lovis, I have a thing I wish to mention, and was going to, before the vote was called.  I am diverting sixty percent of the entire House Zutash fleet to this project.
[Prinz] Come again?
[Calivera] Beg pardon?
[Goro] You what?
[Rondlee] Trying to give your old man a heart attack, Fox?
[Zutash] He approves, not that it matters.  He didn’t cede the Warrant to me for nothing.
[Calivera] What kind of assets are you talking about?
[Zutash] Fifteen ships, eight hundred mercenary boarders, and the strategic bomber squadron Black Falcons.
[Marcus] Showoff.
[Zutash] I’ll send them whether I’m in charge or not.
[Rondlee] You smell money here, Fox?
[Zutash] Don’t we all?
[Atongwë] Goro, you’re quiet.
[Goro] I suppose I don’t have much to say.  These people don’t seem much like heretics or Chaotics.  It’s just a war.
[Prinz] No such thing as ‘just’ a war, Goro.
[Zutash] Precisely.
[Arins] This is a waste of time.  I’m the only one here with the experience to get this done properly.
[Atongwë] Apparently not.  Superintendent, will the Lord Primarch be leading us?
[Cholmley] No.  From what I have read, the Lord General of the Thimblan Army Group will be in command.
[Atongwë] Ah.
[Arins] How faithless, Atongwë.
[Atongwë] Merely making sure, Guiseppe.
[Marcus] Well.  I feel like I know where this is going.  Cholmley, I call for another vote.
[Cholmley] Very well.  The same protocols apply.
—Zutash:5 Marcus:1 Brasmel:1 Arins:1—
[Cholmley] The Lord Zutash has it.
[Zutash] Thank you for your trust, my colleagues.
[Arins] Don’t fuck this up, whelp.