by Randy Dyess
“What needs our attention, Augustus?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“Our attack on the Sullivan Shipping security vessel failed and we need to push through with buying them off,” Senator Williams responded.
“Are they able to trace the attack back to us?” Senator Thompson asked.
“No. All the pirates were destroyed during the attack. The Sullivan ship was stronger than we thought.”
“What are you planning to do?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“I've already made contact with Richard Sullivan and asked for a meeting,” Senator Williams responded. “I just want to make sure everybody's clear about what we're going to offer them.”
“What is that?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“I’ll approve their applications for the new mining and shipping contracts. Henry and Clayton have agreed to abandon those sectors, so none of our allies’ interests are at stake. To sweeten the deal, I think we can offer the Sullivans all of Peterson Mining's old territories.”
“Anything else?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked. “We just attacked their ship; they might connect us to the attack and want additional compensation.”
“I thought of that, Elaine,” Williams replied. “I want to give them a standard, unofficial loan to help them get started on their new projects.” All the senators in the room were businesspeople and understood what Senator Williams meant.
A standard, unofficial loan was just a bribe that would not have repayment clauses or penalties and would carry a zero percent interest rate. After two years, the loan would be written off as a loss without affecting the corporation or individual who received the loan. It was legalized corporate bribery, and the major corporations had been using them for centuries.
“How big of a loan?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“Top amount,” Williams replied. This meant billions of credits. “We have several slush funds we can use. I want them to have enough to start up all their enterprises—give them no reason to doubt or cross us.”
“Understood,” Senator Izzard-Crew said.
“I also want to offer them a full contract for the security of the eight sectors surrounding the spider attack vector.”
“Who currently owns the contract and what will awarding this new company the contract get us?” Senator Thompson asked.
“No one has the contract from us for these sectors—individual corporations have their own security services. Giving them an official contract will allow them to build any number of security vessels they require. With the loan, they might be able to build up enough of a fleet to slow the spider advance and give us more time. If they are successful, they may stop the advance altogether. I looked at the specs of their ship and it is quite powerful. If they are unsuccessful, the spider fleet will get rid of the Sullivans for us. Since Clayton and Henry are pulling out of those sectors, we lose nothing, either way.”
All the senators verbalized their approval and authorized Senator Williams to negotiate with the Sullivans and offer what was needed to achieve their goals. Williams did not need their agreement, but he wanted to make it look like he valued their opinions. After all, he still needed some of the people in this room to carry out his long-term plans.
“There is something else we need to discuss,” Senator Williams said as he brought up a map showing the next planets in line for the expected spider attacks. “Some of these planets do not have large populations, and I’m afraid this might cause the spiders to step up their raids. They’ve been taking hundreds of millions, and there’s barely twenty million on the next few planets.”
“What do you have in mind, Augustus?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked.
“I’ve started working with the Ashton Corporation, and they are going to build several new prisons on those planets. We’ll give them capital to help them complete the prisons in time and help them ship their prisoners there.”
“More bait?” Senator Thompson asked. “Will it be enough?”
Williams ignored the question and continued, “I'm also creating several large, long-term care hospitals on some of these planets. This will give the spiders more people to capture and allow us to get rid of most of our criminals and those who cannot take care of themselves. Hopefully, this will buy us more time.”
Senator Williams could see Izzard-Crew stir in her seat. “Is something wrong, Elaine?”
“I’m just a little uncomfortable with sending hundreds of millions of people directly into the spider’s path, even if they are criminals or terminally ill. What about the prison guards and hospital staff members?”
“I understand your concerns, Elaine, but we need to slow these things down. If they start attacking multiple planets at the same time or have to speed up their attack pattern in order to fulfill some quota, we’re in trouble. Better to give them a few hundred million people who consume resources and give nothing back to society than any of our useful citizens. I’ll make sure the prison guards and hospital staff members have very low performance ratings and do not come from any families we care about.”
“Why not relocate the ones the spiders missed on the other planets, as well?” Senator Thompson asked. “They’re no use to us now, and if they remain outside the control of a corporation for too long, we’ll have to integrate them back in with force.”
“Good idea,” Senator Williams said. That was a good idea. Why didn’t I think of that?
“Do we have enough transports for all of this?” Senator Rothschild asked.
“We can cram them on a few large freighters,” Williams replied. “No one said they had to be comfortable during the trip. I’ll have my staff draw up plans using our freighters and a large enough force of marines to make it successful. The more people we have between us and the spiders, the better.”
“What about the new weapons your agents are testing?” Senator Izzard-Crew asked. She was still uncomfortable with Williams’ plan, but she knew better than to argue. Now she just wanted to change the topic.
“They had a successful trial run on Chaovis. My team was able to use the weapons to kill dozens of spiders and damage a landing ship. We have a dozen spiders being used for research in our labs on Hybee.”
“Live ones?”
“No. They did manage to injure a few, but the spiders used a plasma ball to destroy the damaged ship and kill the live ones. We learned several new things about their tactics. It’s all in your reports.
“One last thing before we adjourn,” he added. “I think we should start having discrete discussions with our allies about moving critical employees off any planet in the threatened sectors. Have them make it look like routine transfers and fill the positions with undesirable employees. We have to do this without the rank and file knowing why.”
The group agreed with this. In fact, most of them had already had such conversations with their allies. The group of people who knew about the spider attacks had grown to several hundred in the last few months.
*****
The Sullivan children sat around the conference table, waiting for their dad to appear. He walked in several minutes later, reading a data pad. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “We just got the latest meeting request from Senator Williams.”
“So, I take it the Senate is going to make us an offer?” Owen asked.
“Yes, we are still going to meet with Senator Williams at his estate, but now he gave us the outline of the deal.”
“Is it a good one?” Robert asked.
“Yes, it is—more than I would have thought the Senate would give up.”
“They’re probably more worried about the spiders than we thought,” Robert responded.
“You’re right.” Richard pulled up a map of the ten rim sectors located near the Pegasus sector. “What they are offering is approval of all of our applications. This will give us new shipping routes in these four sectors,” he said as they were highlighted on the map. “We already have contracts in these three.” Three more sectors were highlighted. “I t
hink we can get them to throw in the Ovis sector, as well.”
“That’s a big contract.” Dakota whistled.
“It is, but there’s more,” Richard continued. “They are also willing to give us mining contracts in all of those sectors. Senator Williams also mentioned a possible low-cost transfer of all Peterson Mining contracts in those sectors. It seems Peterson has decided to pull out, and they want us to fill in the gaps. This will make us the largest mining company in the rim.”
“They’re setting us up for something,” Robert replied. “They’ve given away too much.”
“As part of the deal, we’re now in charge of security for all eight rim sectors,” Richard replied. “That’s the trap.”
“I can see how that helps them,” Robert said. “If we are successful, the spider threat will be over, and they’ll probably try to figure out how to take back some of the contracts they’ve given us. If we’re not successful, then we won’t be around and they won’t have lost anything they weren’t already going to lose in the first place.”
“They sweetened the deal, too,” Richard said.
“How’s that?” Owen asked.
“We are going to get a seven billion credit unofficial loan. We can use this to start a massive ship construction effort.”
“Are we going to take their offer and bribe?” Dakota asked.
“Do we have another choice?” Robert began, “The spiders are coming. We either pack up and leave or fight. Nothing says they’ll stop at the rim—they could sweep over every human sector, given enough time.” The Sullivans looked at each other and then back at their father. One by one, they nodded their agreement.
“Cheyenne,” Richard said, “I didn’t see you agree.”
“We should ask for them to throw in the space stations for free. If Peterson Mining is abandoning the rim sectors, we can just move in and continue with the miners already there. The other stations are controlled by the Senate and can be part of the loan. We should also ask them to suspend the Tarquin Accords until the spider threat is over.”
“That might give us a fighting chance,” Robert said. “If you are able to develop and test a portion of your designs, we might be able to fight back.”
“We’ll get them included. I think the Senate is ready to have someone to blame when things heat up. We’re going to be the scapegoats, so we might as well get everything we can from them before that happens,” Richard said.
“Then we better not lose,” Dakota replied. “It’d be hard to make us scapegoats once everyone knows we saved their lives.”
*****
Owen looked out the window of the shuttle as they entered Earth’s atmosphere. He could see Senator Williams’ estate from hundreds of miles away—the largest green patch left on Earth. His estate covered thousands of acres of trees. Owen had never seen anything like it on a core world before.
“That's one big estate,” he said to his father.
“Maybe the man likes his privacy,” Richard chuckled. “I wonder what it costs to maintain all of that.” The conversation was broken up by Senator Williams’ private security force requesting the identification of the shuttle and their clearance code. Richard quickly replied and was given access to the air above Senator Williams’ estate.
“I wonder what would have happened if we didn’t have a code?” Owen asked as the security force requested they land in a small spaceport a few miles from the senator’s house. Richard quickly landed the shuttle and powered down.
As Owen exited, he saw a large, antique limousine waiting for them. It wasn’t an aircar, but an actual ground vehicle with tires. “I’ve never seen one before,” he said. “Do they still make them?”
“This one’s probably been reproduced to match the original.”
“This should be fun,” Owen said as he entered the ancient vehicle. The interior was spotless, and there was a plaque on the side stating the car was seven-hundred-and-fifty years old.
“So, it’s not a reproduction,” Richard said as the two enjoyed the scenery of the forest surrounding Senator Williams’ mansion. When they pulled into the final driveway, the house was just as impressive as the rest of the estate.
Owen couldn't imagine the wealth it took to maintain such a house on Earth. “He sure lives well,” he remarked. It didn't dawn on him until they were inside that no pollution hovered over the senator’s estate. He had no idea how he could keep the smog covering the entire planet away from his estate
They were taken through the enormous house to the senator’s private library. A large fireplace dominated the room and an actual wood fire burned in it. Richard tried to calculate how much it cost for the wood needed to create the fire. He probably just takes from his forest, he thought. Using real wood for fires had been outlawed centuries ago when the last of the freestanding trees on Earth were cut down to make way for a business complex.
Owen was enjoying the warmth of the fire as Senator Williams walked in. He greeted the two men and offered them a glass of brandy. “Let’s just get down to business, Senator,” Richard said.
“What did you think about our offer?”
“We agree that it’s a good start, but we have a few additions.”
“Additions? Wasn’t what we offered enough?”
Richard was already tired of playing cat and mouse. “Let’s cut to the bone, here. You want us to fight the spider invasion for you while you deny it is taking place. We have all the risk and you have none. The sectors our contracts are in have already been written off by you and the current corporations that control them. You’re losing nothing, and the additions we’re asking for won’t change that.”
“What do you want?” Senator Williams said coldly. He wasn’t used to people talking to him this way and he wanted the conversation to be over.
Owen handed the senator a data pad with the stations listed and the clause to suspend the Tarquin Accords during the crisis. “The stations are no problem—you can have them. The suspension of the Accords, however, is another matter. I’m not sure I can get the committee to agree to that.”
“They’ll agree to whatever you tell them,” Richard responded. “Besides, if we are left alone to defend the rim sectors, who’s going to know what weapons we build?”
“Good point. I’ll have to add that all weapons you develop are not allowed in any core sector, nor can you discuss the weapons with anyone.”
“We can live with that. We just want to be able to defend ourselves.”
“If the terms of this deal get out, I will find a way to reverse everything. You’re going to have to keep your employees in line,” Williams threatened.
“You don't have to worry about us,” Richard responded. “My people know their lives are on the line. I'm sure there will be an increase in pirate activity, once the planets are abandoned by their corporate owners, so any shipbuilding we do can be covered up as something for the new security contract.”
“Then do we have an understanding?” Senator Williams asked. “Your loan will be in your account before you get back to your shuttle.
Richard took a drink of his brandy. “Yes, we do.”
Owen looked at the senator and asked, “How are you explaining the corporations abandoning their planets? There are still people on them, and if anybody ever lands and sees them, questions will be raised.”
“The cover story will be a large epidemic of Tuscarian fever. As I understand, it's almost impossible to stop the spread and has a kill rate of ninety-nine-point-nine percent. Our research shows that the virus remains active in the air and on the ground for up to fifteen years after the initial epidemic. Once this gets out, it should keep most people from landing on those planets.”
Richard nodded and the two men stood and shook hands. Owen didn’t know how the butler knew, but he appeared as soon as the deal was made. “Barnaby, here, will show you out,” Senator Williams said as he turned to leave the room.
Owen and Richard did not discuss the meeting until they were b
ack in their shuttle—they had no way of knowing if their surroundings were being recorded. “What do you think?” the young man asked his father, once the shuttle was leaving Earth’s atmosphere.
“I think we should never expect anything from the Senate or the people in the core worlds. All of us in the rim sectors are on our own.”
“Well, we better not let them down, then,” Owen responded as he entered the coordinates for their FTL tunnel.
Chapter 7
“How confident are you with this information?” Dakota asked Robert, who had just given her a data file with information he had obtained from one of his Senate Intelligence Agency contacts.
The data was everything the Senate knew about the spiders, their attack patterns, and their attack path. They had just finished going over a mission report from a team of agents stationed on Chaovis during the last spider attack. The team had been tasked with testing kinetic weapons created from designs over six hundred and fifty years old, and the weapons had worked against the spiders.
“Very confident,” Robert replied. “My contact sent me a copy of the official mission report with evidence. Five agents used two different kinetic weapon designs and were able to damage a spider landing ship enough to keep it on the ground. They were also able to kill more than three dozen spiders in the process. They positioned themselves on the roof of a government building overlooking a possible landing zone. It paid off for them, and the spiders landed two waves of ships directly across the street from the ambush site.”
“What happened to the agents?”
“They were never attacked. The spiders sent down a lone plasma ball to destroy the damaged ship and kill the spiders the team had managed to wound, but they never bombed or attacked the team.”
“Can we replicate the weapons?” Dakota asked.
“According to the data, it should be very easy. I’ve sent the descriptions to Cheyenne and she is having her team get into the archives and find additional schematics. The weapons were used during the Unification Wars, and from the history on the report, these designs were the last kinetic weapons used by humans.”