When we last left the agents of House Viracocha, they had identified a couple promising candidates to hire as mercenaries for House Runasimi's war against House Orlok:
- The Eyeflashes, warrior hypnotists who could induce seizures in their targets
- The Watchers, observant fighters who carefully observed their targets to learn their weaknesses
The next step was to make sure that whoever they chose didn't sell them out, and figure out how to get the best possible price. The team planned their next move in the flying bar at the end of the lounge, attached to the suspensor platform where the conference was taking place.
The agents queried the elderly drug addict Mentat Joe about the loyalties of the two mercenary outfits, hoping he might remember something useful. Joe recalled that the Eyeflashes were majority owned by House Rust. House Rust was a House Minor on Geidi Prime, always trying to imitate their masters' gift for scheming. It wasn't a good idea to hire them as mercenaries. That left the Watchers as the obvious choice. Sister Victoria could use her truthsayer powers to determine whether the Watchers were on the level, and then the group could workshop how to get leverage over them for a better price.
Huascar stayed at the bar while the group went to the Watchers' arena. He'd been identified by Alan Nomad, Hetman of the Bomb Knights and agent of House Orlok. Being seen with the other agents would identify them as well. His decision was prudent, as the rest of the team passed the Lady Zulima Thoss and her two Iron Maiden bodyguards on the way out.
In the arena, Beg MacAdder at Tam was fighting a watcher in a shielded claymore and dal match. The basket handled broadswords were cumbersome weapons in a shield fight, and while the Beg was a skilled fighter, the mercenary was holding his own.
The head of the Watcher demonstration group, Jumping Spider, was watching the conflict with interest. The agents watched Jumping Spider. They realized that he was using the arena trials to gather information on the fighting styles of various imperial nobles and their retainers attending the conference. Dr Ichuri also noticed that Spider had a pair of Tleilaxu cybernetic eyes. They looked almost exactly like the real thing, which was unusual for a Tleilaxu product. They were probably connected to a recording device somewhere on his person, taking video of everything he saw.
Tost told Jumping Spider he wanted to hire the Watchers. Mentat Joe checked a nearby tent for traps, Spider activated his cone of silence, and negotiations began. Tost laid out the situation that he needed the Watchers' help with. Jumping Spider quoted a figure twice the agents' budget. Mentat Joe used his gift for innuendo to guide the conversation toward the Watchers' true allegiances, allowing Sister Victoria to assess his honesty. She learned that Jumping Spider would not betray them, but also that the lowest he'd go on negotiations without serious leverage was 1.5 times the total budget. She knew that the Tleilaxu wouldn't just give him cybernetic eyes without some kind of horrible tradeoff. They were controlling him through the supply of an antirejection drug necessary for the eyes' function. A drug that Dr Ichuri could replicate. Tost told Jumping Spider he'd be back tomorrow with a decision, and the agents left the tent.
Back at the bar, Huascar ordered a Jungle Bird and watched a group of House Rashomon guardsmen play cards, clad in the odd silk mummy wrappings that characterized their uniforms. The Lady Zulima Thoss and her two bodyguards came down the escalator into the lounge, the pair of Iron Maidens gliding on tiptoe in their suspensor armor. She ordered a woodchip at the bar and stuck it in her cigarette holder before lighting up and sitting down at Huascar's table. He realized when she exhaled in his face that it was a spliff of burning elacca wood. He got his shield up, but not before inhaling a lungful. Huascar felt a disregard for his own safety clouding his mind as Lady Thoss explained the situation.
Iron Maiden
The Hetman Alan Nomad had told her that Huascar was at the conference. Lady Thoss looked him up and discovered he was masquerading as a film student making a documentary, along with the rest of the Viracocha delegation. She contemplated selling this information to House Orlok's agents, but wanted to give Huascar the opportunity to convince her otherwise. Huascar threw down an Ixian damper to silence the conversation, and asked what would convince her. She offered three possibilities
- Money
- A favor
- Convincing Figaro to hire a person of her choosing
Options 1 and 3 required Huascar to write checks he couldn't cash, so he asked what favor she wanted done. Lady Thoss asked if he had ever killed anyone. He hadn't, but she suggested he start with Savant, a minor mercenary with the Minor Iris delegation who had inconvenienced her. Huascar was suspicious of her offer. Alan Nomad knew that he was on Gamont, and Nomad also worked for House Orlok. Wouldn't he just tell them anyway? Thoss dismissed his concern. She'd take care of Nomad. The old blood glutton was more interested in achieving titles of nobility than faithfully serving the Orloks anyway.
Lady Thoss gave Huascar until the end of the conference to do the deed. If the Viracocha agents tried to run, she'd make sure they never reached the spaceport. Then she took her two thugs and left, right as the rest of the group got back from talking with Jumping Spider.
Huascar explained the situation on the boat ride back to the private island where the agents were staying. Lydia the disguise artist chopped up a pineapple in the main kitchen, while Jasper the house guard lounged drunkenly on the beach. The team debated what to do. They went back and forth on killing Savant, or refusing and calling Zulima's bluff. Sister Victoria decided to try a third option. She had a contact in the Imperial Court whose name carried a lot of weight, Lord Baltar. Sending a message to Kaitain and getting a response back would take more time than the agents had, but she could always drop his name for the intimidation factor. The others agreed it was worth a shot. Victoria hopped in a powerboat and motored across the shallow sea to Zulima's casino on the coast.
Victoria heard gunshots from somewhere in the casino. The slave at the door ushered her up to a balcony, overlooking a pit where two groups of combatants stalked each other with firearms, separated by a shield from the spectators wagering on the outcome. Zulima Thoss emerged to parlay with Victoria. The Bene Gesserit Witch told Zulima she was aware of her blackmail attempt against House Viracocha. The Lady Thoss nervously adjusted the poison flip dart on her signet ring, fearing violence. Victoria spotted a concealed guard through a hole in the exterior wall, no doubt aiming a projectile weapon at her. Undeterred, she warned Thoss to leave House Viracocha's agents alone. If House Thoss wanted to step into the conflict between House Runasimi and House Orlok, Victoria would be happy to file a proces verbal (a semiformal accusation of a crime) with Lord Baltar on Kaitain. Counter-blackmail thus delivered, she left Zulima to her schemes and returned to the island.
Tost gave Mentat Joe a huge hit of drug bugs and instructed him to calculate whether the plan to bid down Jumping Spider to a price within their budget, with the offer of a steady supply of synthesized anti rejection drugs for his prosthetic eyes, would work. Mentat Joe spent an hour scribbling calculations and then crashed for the night. Tost inspected his work, and found that the plan itself would probably work fine, but Mentat Joe was afraid of some other threat - one he passed out before identifying specifically - that promised to fuck everything up at the next day of the conference.
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