Aquila:Rhine River Patrol - A Tribune's Secret
The Tribune sat in the dep shade of a spreading oak tree with the remains of a sumptuous mid-day meal before him. Lobster shells and cherry pits littered the table and covered the large silver serving platter. Standing close to the edge of the table stood a large flagon half-filled with Falernian wine, while next to the wine stood a pitcher of cool spring water fresh from the springhouse under the building behind him. He held loosely in his hand an elaborately carved wooden goblet and he appeared to be in deep thought.
The hot sun beat doen on the large paving stones just outside the tree's shade line, but the thick folliage of the aging tree kept all sunbeams from peeking through to either the man or the table.The air in the small but very richly arranged patio was very still. Only the lazy buzzing of the bees in their mud ouse in th garden's corner broke the silence.
Tribune Mettallus was deeply troubled. His arrangements with city people in Ostia was in serious risk of being discovered, and he was not sure what action to take to ward off the impending danger. The problem was that twice damned Commadore and hi ships under construction. With the man's arrival and his energetic pursuit of the building schedule, the completion date of the ships in the shipyard loomed much nearer than he ever thought possible concidering his arrangement s with material suppliers. Then too, his energetic plan to have the ships under construction assigned to the Roman Fleet at Ravenna was rapidly coming apart.
The diversion of those ships was absolutely vital to his pans, since a specialized tactical division of warships under a determined and actve leadership released against the Rhine Delta pirates would be disasterous for them and for his carefully laid plans. It was particularly bad, since this newly assigned officer , from all he could ascertain, was totally ignorant of the the present situation, or he was stupid. The Tribune raised one dark eyebrow at the thought; the man certainly did not appear to be stupid. Also he was well thought of in Rome for some capture of a cargo in hand by pirates, of some high ranking officer. It mght even have been the Emperor. He pursued his tak here in Germany as though his life depended upon the success of his ships!! The tribune smiled a grim smile and thought that his life certainly did depend upon his vesses, in one way at least. He fondled the sharp dagger that lay on the table.
How to deal with this problem, he asked the goblet in his hand. There was no immediate response. Murder the man??? No, murder was such a negative term -- arrange to diappear?? -- that sounded much better. However, regardless of the terminology used, the man had to be stopped or disposed of if the Tribune's plan was to be completed without a sniff of it gettin to the authorities. He had to decide, and decide quickly how best to deal with this problem. He had already met this Commadore face-to-face once and it was clear that he would not in any way be amenable to joining the plan He appeared to be foolishly hnest, and held the corrupt empire government and the insane Emperor in the highest possible esteem. His actions in purchasing the woman slave to save her from a beating that she probably deserved, and facing down a bully-boy twice his size indicated a formidable opponent. He would have to be very careful in the handling of this individual. Very careful indeed!!!
