Chapter 165 - A hard choice (1/2)
”You have a contact among the Maliks, who let you know that they are aware of the event?” asked Lucius surprised. Without official announcements, most families would tend to keep it quiet.
”It was just an accidental release of information. They seem to be quite happy when they heard of the deaths,” said Balthazar.
”Either way. It is good to have someone among the Maliks as an acquaintance,” said Lucius.
”Hmm,” nodded Balthazar. ”There is one thing I was concerned about though. Even if the captain and ShouryaPrasad were dead, wouldn't it have been better to let out information that they were captured rather than killed?” he asked Lucius. ”It would be better to announce that they have capture to rile up the others who might have been in collaboration with them, right?”
”No. The best way to frighten anyone in collaboration them is to inform that these guys died,” said Lucius.
”Wouldn't they calm down on hearing that their collaborators died?”
”You think they would believe the information from alliance? No,” said Lucius. ”It was a sudden black operation which none in the alliance were aware of. Most wouldn't condone it because it was against the Nirbaadh pirates and they don't want to antagonize the Malik and the Khans, but any collaborators would hardly believe it if they released the information that they captured the captain and Shourya.”
”It is a valid assumption,” realized Balthazar. It being a secret black op, any collaborators of the knights would expect the information released to be falsified or possibly a trap. If the members that launched the attack had the brains to keep it secret till it was successful, it would be extremely foolish of them to release the true details of the operation so soon or not to capture anyone at the top of the hierarchy among the enemies.
”So, the announcement of the death of these two would rattle them more. We already have people observing the Rowleys. Contact had been made with the Maliks and Khans as they would love to help against anyone who were in collusion with the pirates,” explained Lucius.
”All right. I will leave this to you guys, then. You seem to have it all under control,” said Balthazar as he went back to the seat which he was using to play the game.
”Ya. Leave it to us. You have about two more hours left for the ride. Keep your emotions under control and don't lose your focus,” said Lucius. ”Anything else?”
”I doubt I can get anything more from you,” said Balthazar to which Lucius just simply smiled.
”However, there is this person called Dave,” said Balthazar.
”The one who was working with Raymond Rowley and we don't even know how he looks like,” said Lucius.
”But a good chance he was one of the Nirbaadh pirates as he was working with Raymond,” said Balthazar.
”That is the most prevalent theory among us too. We believe he is a Rhodium level agent of the Nirbaadh pirates. We will put out feelers for his appearance, again,” said Lucius.
”In that case, I will get back to my game,” said Balthazar as there was no point in talking to these two any further. He knew that he might be able to find out more from the use of somnium tech by checking the news.
As Balthazar was talking with Lucius about the event, there has been a great commotion among the Rowleys. They had already heard about the attack on the Nirbaadh pirates and had been roused away in the middle of the night for an emergency meeting called by the patriarch of the family.
The patriarch, Rowan Rowley was already sitting in a meeting room and he had summoned all the elders and the members of the family who had knowledge of them collaborating with the knights of the old republic. Few of them were already arguing with one another if them collaborating with the knights was a mistake or not.
Rowan had been waiting for a long time for his brother, John Rowley to join before they could start. John soon joined the meeting with his nephew, Ryan Rowley. Ryan was also the elder brother of Raymond Rowley.
He was the one who had introduced Raymond to Dave and hated both Balthazar Blyth and Dave as he considered them responsible for Raymond's death. Their father, Ragus Rowley became a member of the knights during one of his travels, which was the reason for the family to join their agend. As John arrived alongside Ryan, they both took seat alongside the others and Rowan finally decided to speak out.
”We have prospered a lot due to our partnership with my brother Ragus' friends for the past two decades. Though, he was in collusion with some antisocial elements, we have discovered that the advantage of having access to the resources from further reaches of the space which we have successfully explored, outweighs the danger it might bring to us a couple of decades ago in the same room,” he started.
”Now, we have assembled here to discuss about the danger of being alienated by the alliance due to the decision we made during that assemblage,” said Rowan. ”There is a high chance that the alliance has captured the ShouryaPrasad and RanaPratap. I don't need to stress the fact that we would be in extreme danger if they manage to get any proof of our collusion with the pirates.”
”In that case, it is best if we have the family move out to a safe place from the mansion,” said one of the elders. His name was Rhett Rowley and was a strong advocate of not collaborating with the knights for the past few decades. If he was the patriarch, he wouldn't have allowed the collaboration, but now he always tells them to be on guard against the knights as they didn't know much about their aims.
”No. I am not sure if they have any information. We know that the Blyth and Price families are leading the attack. If they had any chance of getting proof against us, they would have already formed a barricade around our planet, but we are still able to contact with our clients and there is no decipherable change any place around it,” said John Rowley.
John and Ryan had already had cross checked if any moves were made by the military forces or the forces of any other family before coming to the meeting. They have also contacted Ragus regarding it and double checked the situation from his contacts before joining the meeting.
”You want us to stay here because of a hunch?” asked Rhett. His question though aggravating to both John and Ryan was a compelling argument. They can't have stake the entire family's future based on a hunch. The alliance could be waiting to gather more information, or it could be deploying more men against them. Even the patriarch of the family would ridiculed and pushed of his position if he blindly gives such an assurance.
”Can you be sure that they don't have any one captured? They are not foolish enough to kill them without trying to glean any information beforehand,” said Rhett.