Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Merchant's Diary (fiction from Warhammer 40k)

I wish I had never stepped foot on the Tau vessel this morning to negotiate the trade deal.

True, it was worth about 3 billion dollars, but when my life's on the line, hey, I'm out the door before you can begin to say "the Emperor protects".

But of course, things didn't turn out the way I expect today. As usual. Good thing I had that funny feeling when I was getting dressed this morning, and that frak jacket under my tunic probably saved my life at least once today. Not to mention my laspistol, which was given as a gift from that old friend of mine Demento Cain, a son of the famous hero of the Imperium, Commissar Ciaphas Cain. He said that this was a blessed laspistol which had shot insane Chaos worshippers, maurading orks, scavenging tyranide creatures and even a daemon from the Warp. Perhaps it was this pistol that really saved my life today, though I doubt such a small arm would have mattered in the scale of things.

Let me start at the beginning, I'm getting ahead of myself once again.

My partners and I were negotiating a deal with a Tau trader over a couple thousand barrels worth of amasec, as it seemed like our alien friends had developed a taste for fine alcohol. Though few humans would dare to trade with aliens and their unknown intentions (not to say that human merchants were any less scheming and would rob you blind the moment you let down your guard), I found this Tau merchant to be exceptionally trustworthy. We had brokered several deals before, and he or rather it, had never renegaded on its promises to deliver payment and goods as according to the contracts. M'kdash was its name, though I could never pronounce it properly, settling for a easier nickname "Dash" for it (which it appeared to like, though I never knew why).

So there we were, a group of human and Tau merchants, merrily doing business aboard the Tau vessel (we were getting quite a bargain, a ship load of new machinery and technology for a couple barrels of my cheapest wine which of course the Tau, with all their intelligence and technology, failed to detect) when I received a message from my aide, a former members of the Imperial Guard's ghost squad, whom I trusted to handle rocky situations.

I almost choked on my drink when I read the words on the data slate, and had I reacted a minute later, I wouldn't be in this miserable cell on board a space marine battle cruiser writing this down. I'd probably be fuming and dead, on my way to the Warp to atone for my misdeeds and other miscellaneous smuggling, killing and criminal activities.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Payday Loan should be an option for everyone when things go bad and we need quick cash. There fast, easy and the best part is that everything is confidential.

9:31 AM

 

Post a Comment

<< Home