"Anyone that wanted to see Realmspace security take a step back to the wild days. The pirates of Garden could maybe scrape together the cash, but they are far too unorganized." Tarto guessed out loud, referring to the dangerous 7th planet. "If it were the mind flayers of Glyth we'd have seen a tadpole roll out one of those heads by now." thinking of the 6th planet. "I mean who knows, lots of enemies and lots of space...maybe some more distant, outside threat is evading our notice."
Mirt nods "After the neogi attack I called most of the Fleet back. It's obvious we've been weakened here, relying on cadets to defend us is no kind of strategy. We should be in a much better defensive posture in a week or two."
"Mercane to find a mercane." Saerthe sounded intrigued. "It is thought they have some advanced form of intercommunication, even across wildspaces. They don't often come to Toril, though."
Bonzo mentioned "There's the Mercane Agency up on the Rock of Bral...its not much more than a storefront for helms and magic items, but at least its open to the public."
Tarto gruffed "We've known the underbarons of Bral to deal with them from time to time. Yeah, the Rock has an underdark. But our last man on the inside, I mean you'd have to contact..."
Saerthe interrupted "Don't say it..."
"...Flapjack." Tarto mumbled through her cigar.
As if everyone at the table just bit into a bad piece of chicken, grumbles and recollections of bad experiences soured everyone's morning.
Mirt shook his head, opting to change the subject "Ol' Prince Andru would be the more direct, he is still our main financier. His court handles the purchases of most of our off-world equipment. Heh. He's pretty sour with me right now though, getting an audience would be tricky. Maybe there's a way to smooth it over."
"As for his enemies, well lots of snobs up in their star palaces would love to see Andru replaced with a council...you know, something they can more easily buy. None would have the audacity to outright admit it, though."