Dance with the Devil

Victor Ballentyne, the new CEO of Symphony O.M.N. Research Laboratories walked down the leafy promenade of the seaside starport. He'd already forgotten the name of the planet, and the city, and chances are he'd never come back here. Standing there in his white suit and light blue shirt he was quite noticable, but he enjoyed being able to dress as he liked, now he was the boss. Looking out over the golden sand and crystal blue waters he wondered what life was like when all life was planetbound. Unable to escape into the fathomless depths of space. Far in the distance the sails of a large ship could be seen.
"CEO Ballentyne?"
He turned around and saw a small man standing behind him
"Yes."
"You presence is requested at the taverna. If you could hand over your weapons, please."
Nodding he withdrew both of his pistols and the fat bladed dagger and walked to the Taverna. His own bodyguards had noticed the swarm of bodyguard twenty minutes earlier, and he knew which table to go to. Already there three people were sitting down, drinks infront of them. Two men and a woman, he knew all three, all of them wearing well tailored suits. The flashy side of the darkness, he mused. Sitting he ordered a drink from a waiter and smiled.
"So, here we are."
"Yes," the woman said, " and we are most displeased."
"Oh, about what?"
He knew about what, but decided to play his cards close to his chest.
"Gallicia Tavrook. "
"Ignore him, old news."
"He was a liability..."
"No," Victor slammed the flat of his palm against the table,"He was a visionary, but he got distracted, and now he has paid."
The middle man smiled, his face a slab of granite.
"And you, Viktor. What of you? I hear great things, but I also hear you too are getting distrakted?"
Victor took a swig of the wine before him and smiled inwardly.
"No. The first shipment has already been dispatched and the second is on it's way. The warehouse and office raids were not done by the authorities, they were done because of Gallicia's inability to prepare properly. The incident has been contained."
"And what of Gallicia?"
"Captured.. but the man who raided the warehouse and offices."
He passed a datatablet over to them.
"See for yourself, all the delivery dates are set, the ships, the routes, timing. All sorted."
Granite passed it over to the third man, who flipped a few pages and grunted.
"What about this woman you are with now?"
"I look upon her... as an entrance to the Amarr market. Her holdings are vast and we can use some of them for storage. I already have access to them as I am her estate manager now."
He clenched his hands under the table.
"Good Viktor. Keep us informed of the market in the Amarr area, we will despatch a freighter load of product. As usual, as long as we get out percentage, you keep whatever is left. Don't let us down.... CEO Ballentyne."
The three of them got up and left, leaving Victor with a bitter taste in his mouth. As ever, dealing with the Serpentis was a dance with the devil. But he'd been with them since his birth, and would probably die in their service, but before that he had a fortune to make. It wasn't so bad being Consort, at least he wasn't a slave. And he also knew he would be in a position of authority over Angelina and Carmilla. There was he mused, a sense of irony in the universe.