by Ryk Brown
“And I suppose they require your protection because of their wealth of aramenium?” Missus Batista surmised.
“Actually, they had already taken steps to defend themselves prior to our introduction to them,” Cameron pointed out. “We simply helped them develop their defenses.”
“These people had been bothered by raiders from a nearby system for decades,” Nathan explained. “It wasn’t until after they took steps to defend themselves that their enemy discovered the presence of their aramenium. At that point, we stepped in and assumed responsibility for their protection, but only at their request.”
“And in exchange for your services, they are paying you with aramenium,” Miss Bindi realized.
“No payment was requested,” Nathan corrected. “Protection is a benefit of membership in our alliance, along with the sharing of technology, resources, the advancement of trade, improvement in living conditions and economies, etcetera.”
“Surely as a member of your alliance, you require them to contribute to its defense?” Missus Batista inquired.
“Yes, but not necessarily by a direct payment or donation of resources. In this case, we are hoping to serve the purposes of three entities; theirs, ours, and yours.”
“How so?” Miss Bindi wondered.
“They will provide SilTek a steady source of aramenium at below-market prices, in exchange for your provision of the technologies that our alliance needs to protect us all.”
“Where is this world?” Missus Batista inquired.
“Nice try,” Nathan replied, smiling.
Missus Batista shrugged.
“You expect us to provide these technologies without payment?” Miss Bindi asked.
“Your payment will be in the form of the protection you receive from us as a result of those technologies.”
“You’re talking about hardware and software worth millions of credits,” Miss Bindi insisted. “I hardly see how that helps our bottom line.”
“Not at first,” Nathan explained. “Your profits will come when you begin using the low-cost aramenium in the products you sell to others, the shipments of which would also be under our protection.”
“We are quite capable of protecting our world, as well as our shipments, Captain,” Miss Bindi insisted.
“Not based on what I witnessed in your simulation,” Nathan replied.
“That was just a simulation,” she reminded.
“One that was obviously accurate enough for your people to use to judge myself, my crew, and my ship.”
Miss Bindi was about to respond when Missus Batista held up her hand, stopping her. “Would this deal require that SilTek become a member of your alliance?”
“It would,” Nathan replied.
“I thought I made our position on an alliance clear,” she told him.
“The situation with the aramenium has only recently occurred,” Nathan explained. “Since the sharing of technology was not enough to convince you, I am simply attempting to demonstrate another way in which membership could increase your profits, as well as your security.”
“It is true that a less expensive source of aramenium would be of interest to us. However, I am not certain that the cost of your proposal would be offset by your lower-priced ore, prior to our finding and securing a source of our own,” Missus Batista stated.
“You have no way of knowing for sure,” Nathan insisted. “Our proposal gets you both increased profits and security, in relatively short order.”
“As Miss Bindi said, we are quite capable of protecting ourselves,” Missus Batista stated confidently.
“I disagree,” Nathan told her. “In fact, I believe the Aurora, in her current state, could take out your defenses with ease.”
Missus Batista finally showed a hint of emotion, her brow furrowing slightly.
Nathan noticed her intrigue, and pushed further. “I’m even willing to prove it, assuming you’re willing to ante up.”
Missus Batista looked puzzled. “Ante up?”
* * *
“They were obviously interested in the aramenium,” Cameron insisted as they entered the pavilion, “They would have been foolish not to be. You just needed to negotiate more, convince them the deal would be beneficial to them.”
“They already know,” Nathan replied, as they headed deeper into the pavilion.
“Then why did you bet with them?”
“Because they would have dragged the negotiations out forever, hoping to wear us down so that we’d eventually give in to their terms. They know that time is on their side. Trust me on this, I spent a week negotiating with these people and only got agreements to sell us non-lethal tech, and no progress at all toward getting them into our alliance.”
“Maybe it’s enough to just buy tech from them?”
“At their prices? I don’t think so,” Nathan insisted.
“But you’ve bet it all on an unknown,” Cameron pointed out, as they approached Vladimir and his android escort.
“Bet what?” Vladimir wondered. He looked at Nathan. “What did you bet?”
“He bet that the Aurora could defeat SilTek’s defenses,” Cameron explained.
“That was a dumb bet,” Vladimir said with a chuckle. “Have you looked at this stuff?” he added, gesturing toward the products behind him. “We don’t stand a chance.”
“I believe we do,” Nathan replied. “Will you excuse us for a few minutes?” he asked Vladimir’s android escort.
“Of course,” the android replied. “I will be waiting by the automated exterior hull repair systems on the next aisle.”
“Can you believe that?” Vladimir giggled. “Automated hull repair.”
“Stop drooling, Commander,” Cameron scolded.
“That obvious?”
“Look, I’ve thought about that simulation a lot over the last week. There were some things that didn’t add up. Like, how did the Dusahn get past SilTek’s system defenses? From what we saw when we approached Sanctuary, they shouldn’t have been able to get so close, so easily. And why didn’t they have a butt-load of surface launchers? I mean, they build them.”
“It was a simulation, Nathan,” Cameron reminded him. “They wanted you to believe that their world would fall if you didn’t take action. They were downplaying their capabilities for the purpose of testing you.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Nathan argued. “If they have such good defenses, then why the hesitation to sell arms to others?”
“You don’t believe them,” Cameron realized.
“Uh, Nathan?” Vladimir said, “I think you need to look around more.”
“It’s a showroom, Vlad,” Nathan replied. “It’s supposed to impress you.”
“So, you’re betting it all on a hunch?” Cameron wondered in disbelief. “Are you insane?”
“Hey, it worked on Rakuen,” Nathan defended.
“What did you offer if we lose?” Vladimir wondered.
“He bet our long-range jump tech,” Cameron answered.
“So?”
“Not only is that technology now our biggest strategic advantage, it’s also worth far more than what he’s asking.”
“Not necessarily,” Nathan defended.
“What do we get if we win?” Vladimir wondered.
“They join the alliance, and give us everything we want.”
“And we don’t have to pay them for it?”
“We just have to give them access to Casbon’s aramenium,” Nathan explained.
“He told them that Casbon is already a member of the alliance,” Cameron added.
“You lied?” Vladimir asked, smiling.
“I prefer to call it strategic embellishment,” Nathan correct. “It was necessary to improve our negotiation position.”
“It was lying,” Cameron insiste
d, disapproval obvious in her tone.
Vladimir looked at Nathan, smiling from ear to ear. “I’m so proud.”
* * *
Jessica did not look happy. “Tell me he’s kidding,” she said to Cameron. When Cameron didn’t respond, she looked to Vladimir, who was already headed for the kitchenette in Nathan’s quarters. “Please, Vlad, tell me he’s kidding.”
“Why are you so surprised?” Vladimir wondered, opening the mini-fridge.
“What the hell is it with you and betting?” Jessica asked Nathan.
“It will be fine,” Nathan assured her, plopping down on his couch.
“No, it won’t,” Jessica argued. “It’s a simulation, Nathan. It’s their simulation. Of course they’ll win.”
“Actually, it will be quite fair,” Cameron corrected.
Jessica looked at Cameron as if she had lost her mind.
“They’ve agreed to make the program code available for us to examine,” Nathan explained, “and the capabilities of both sides will be examined and agreed upon before the simulation begins.”
“That’s a bit of a simplification,” Cameron insisted, “but I believe the simulation will be fair.”
“Then, you think we can win?” Jessica wondered.
“No, I think we’ll lose,” Cameron replied, “but we’ll lose fairly.”
“Isn’t the code for the simulation extremely complex?” Jessica pointed out. “How are we going to examine it and be certain it’s not giving them an unfair advantage?”
“Deliza and Vlad will examine the code,” Nathan replied.
“And Aurora,” Vladimir added.
“That’s a good idea,” Nathan agreed.
“I just thought of it,” Vladimir replied, smiling proudly as he took a bite of a leftover sausage he’d found in the mini fridge.
“You want to trust an AI…made by your opponent…to make sure they’re not cheating?” Jessica threw up her hands. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“It will be a fair contest, Jess,” Nathan insisted.
“A fair contest that we’ll lose,” Jessica reminded him. “Wait, what was the wager?”
“If we win, they join our alliance and supply us with all the tech we need…free of charge,” Nathan replied.
“And if we lose?”
“We have to pay for everything,” Nathan told her, “which we would have had to do anyway.”
“He’s leaving out a few details,” Cameron told Jessica.
“Such as?”
“He promised to connect them with Casbon to provide them with a discounted source of aramenium. He told them they were allies.”
“You told them about Casbon?” Jessica asked in disbelief. “What’s to stop them from going to Casbon and negotiating their own deal?”
“Your confidence in me is overwhelming,” Nathan commented.
“He didn’t tell them who they were,” Cameron told her.
“That’s it?”
“He also wagered our long-range jump tech.”
Jessica plopped down on the armchair facing Nathan, her mouth agape. “And how much profit can they make selling that technology to the Dusahn?”
“Don’t be silly,” Nathan insisted.
“I’m not.”
“It’s more likely that the Dusahn would eventually show up and take it,” Cameron told her.
“Oh, I feel so much better,” Jessica moaned, rolling her eyes.
“Look, we have an edge,” Nathan said. “I told them we had other business to attend to, and that we’d return to establish the parameters of the simulation in a few days.”
“How is that an edge?” Jessica wondered.
“It gives us time to come up with a way to beat them, and create whatever tech we need to do so.”
“So, not only did you lie about Casbon being an ally, you also plan to cheat?” Jessica wondered.
“Pretty much,” Nathan replied, smiling.
“I’m so proud,” Jessica announced.
“That’s what I said!” Vladimir exclaimed.
CHAPTER THREE
Abby and Deliza hovered over one of the eight jump missiles lined up in the lab, a handful of technicians and engineers surrounding them.
“I’m proposing that we place the grav-lift emitters on actuated arms,” one of the engineers explained. “Here, and here,” he added, pointing to either side of the weapon’s warhead.
“They’ll be in the way of the warheads,” Deliza insisted. “You’d have to remove them in order to change the warhead.”
“How often is that necessary?” Abby wondered.
“I have no idea,” she admitted.
“I’m just trying to find a way to use them in our existing launchers,” the engineer defended.
“I don’t disagree with your goal,” Deliza assured him, “just your solution. What if we moved them back a bit, say, to just aft of the power plant access panels, on either side of the launch rail winglets?”
“You would have to make them a lot longer to position them ahead of the warhead after deployment,” the engineer argued. “That would put them aft of the main drive thrust ports, which would probably fry them.”
“Make them telescoping instead of swing-arm,” Deliza suggested. “Then they wouldn’t be in the way of warhead access in their retracted positions, and they wouldn’t be aft of the thrust ports during launch.”
“They’d still have to be spread out properly to work,” the engineer pointed out.
“That shouldn’t be too hard,” Deliza insisted. “You’re an engineer…figure something out.”
“Yes ma’am,” the engineer replied.
“Ladies,” a familiar voice called from behind.
Abby and Deliza turned around, as Nathan approached.
“Captain,” Deliza greeted. “We weren’t expecting you. I thought the Aurora was out of the system?”
“She was,” Nathan replied, “quite a ways out of the system.”
“What brings you to our little lab?” Abby wondered, eying him suspiciously.
“I wanted to see how things were going with the shield-penetrating jump missiles.”
“The field tests were successful,” Abby boasted, “and at normal launch speeds.”
“That’s great,” Nathan congratulated. “When can we start production?”
“We’re working on how to make the shield-penetrating jump missiles work in existing launchers,” Deliza told him. “We’ve pretty much got it figured out. Just working out the final details.”
“You didn’t come all the way down here just for that,” Abby surmised.
“No, I didn’t,” Nathan admitted.
“This is where he usually asks us to do something impossible, in an impossibly short amount of time,” Abby told Deliza.
“Is she right?” Deliza questioned Nathan.
“Isn’t she always?” Nathan replied.
“What can we do for you?” Abby inquired.
“I need these weapons to be available within a few days, a week at the most,” Nathan told them.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Deliza assured him.
“I also need them to be able to multi-jump, and change course up to one hundred and eighty degrees,” Nathan added.
“That’s a bit more complicated,” Deliza warned. “You’re talking navigation upgrades, increasing the propellant capacity, making the maneuvering thrusters more powerful, and more efficient…”
“Can it be done?” Nathan asked.
“Yes, but not in a week,” Deliza insisted.
“Well, technically I don’t need them to actually work within a week. I just need them to look like they work, and that we’ve already used them in combat with satisfactory results.”
“Now you’ve lost me,” Abby admitted.<
br />
“Can it be done?” Nathan asked, his question aimed more at Deliza.
“You’re talking about falsifying the weapons specifications databases, the battle logs, the tactical algorithms…”
“Can it be done?” Nathan asked again.
“I suppose,” Deliza replied.
“Within a few days?”
“What happened to a week?”
“In a way that will be undetectable?” Nathan added.
“Uh…I suppose it depends on who is trying to detect them,” Deliza insisted.
“SilTek,” Nathan informed her.
“Are you kidding?” Abby exclaimed, her mouth agape and her eyebrows raised.
“Captain, SilTek creates some of the most sophisticated code I’ve ever seen,” Deliza warned. “Hiding the alterations will be very difficult…unless…”
“Unless what?” Nathan wondered.
A look of confidence came across Deliza’s face. “I have an idea.”
* * *
Nathan stopped at the door, in the corridor of the apartment building, double-checking the number before pressing the doorbell.
“It’s about time!” a gruff voice called from within the apartment. The door opened, revealing Gil Roselle. “Damn it,” he cursed. “You’re not the delivery guy.”
“No, I’m not,” Nathan agreed. “Did I get the wrong apartment? I thought Captain Nash…”
“You’ve got the right place, Scott,” Gil assured him, stepping aside. “Come on in.”
Nathan entered the apartment, immediately noticing the spectacular view of the city’s massive, protected bay, complete with its artificial beaches. “Wow,” he exclaimed, heading toward the window. “Is this the standard recovery room?”
“Deliza pulled some strings for us,” Gil replied, heading toward the kitchen. “You want a beer?”
“They have beer on Rakuen?” Nathan wondered, surprised.
“Not exactly,” Gil admitted. “The closest thing they’ve got is this watered-down crap they call piroda. It’ll do the job if you drink enough of it, though.”