Mace leaned on the balcony rail. “I was talking with Geerok earlier as to his thoughts on the state of the galaxy. What are your thoughts on that?”
Jasper huffed. “Too many loons in charge. I have just about all my resources working on building up our defenses and our fleet. Imagine if that was used to make everyone’s lives better instead?”
Mace replied, “Something we all dream of, but you can’t have that without first protecting yourself from hostiles. History tells us that time and again.”
“Well, you think about it, with the Galactic Union thugs under control, the Karthians are the only real threat. The UF doesn’t seem hostile. And neither do the Hoorka. Of course they’re both facing their own threats.”
Mace sighed. “Just seems like an endless game, doesn’t it? That simple existence back on Earth, tending bar, seems like something I once dreamed… not something I actually lived.”
Jasper shook his head. “Not for me. This is as real as it gets. And it’s all grounded in the life I grew up with. Your world is what you surround yourself with. You let others define it, then you have to live with what they give you.”
Mace laughed. “Johnny used to come in with his crazy conspiracies, all joking of course, but entertaining. Those things all seem so small now.”
A comm came in over Jasper’s arm pad. “Sire, our scout at the Karthian rift is reporting a dozen ships coming through.”
Jasper frowned. “Thank you, Major. Have the Revelation prepared for a jump. We’ll be right over.”
The comm closed.
Jasper turned. “You want to go with or wait here?”
“Go with. Whatever they are doing concerns us, too.”
Jasper’s private shuttle carried the men to the Revelation. A short walk had them on the bridge and Jasper issuing commands.
“Take us to the rift. And bring me something to drink. I don’t care what. Mace, You thirsty?”
“I’m good, thanks.”
The jump was made and the sensors lit up with data from the dozen ships. They remained at the entrance to the rift, safely out of reach of the Revelation.
Mace said, “I’ve noticed you drinking a lot of fluids. You OK?”
Jasper scowled. “I’m old. My docs tell me my time here is limited. That exosuit, and the wonders it did for my arthritis, was at a cost. That condition is usually a response by your body to an overactive immune system, which can be out of whack for any number of reasons. The suit helped to suppress the inflammation from the arthritis, but not the underlying cause. Docs say my cells are in rapid decline, but they can’t tell me exactly what that means. I may have a year left, or it might be twenty.”
Mace shook his head. “So they’re telling you you’re probably gonna die of old age?”
Jasper smirked. “I guess that would be it. Anyway, they have me on excess fluids right now, hoping to stall the process.”
“So they’re wearing out your kidneys and bladder instead.”
Jasper nodded. “Don’t have a choice. If I want to keep making use of the properties of the exosuit, the ones built into this suit, I have to keep up my liquids. And they give me a diuretic to keep me flushed out and thirsty. I’m telling you right here and now, this getting old ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. Just stay young like you are now.”
Mace chuckled. “Don’t we all wish we could do that. What do you make of our friends out there?”
Jasper pointed to the large display. “They ain’t moving. And I don’t see one of those jammer ships. Maybe they’re testing the waters, seeing if we’ll come in after them?”
Mace gestured. “I can already see you want to go. Don’t wait for my approval. Although I would ask that you stop short of the range of that weapon they have. I know we can take a few hits, but why risk any lives?”
Jasper turned to the bridge. “Captain, take us halfway in at full speed. If the ships break and run, then bring us back. If they don’t, we’ll sit at that distance for a while.”
The captain nodded before giving the commands.
Mace asked, “I thought you could control everything from your chair?”
Jasper replied, “I can. I just like to pass orders through my staff so they feel useful.”
As the Revelation sped toward the Karthian ships, they turned and moved back through the rift. The Targarian flagship sat parked for most of an hour before returning to Divinia. Any grand invasion was not coming that day.
The return to Divinia saw an initial design for a thumper ready for review. The craft, approximately the size of a bus, sported a concussion cannon with many times the power of the handheld version, along with six mini-guns that were equal in power to the handheld. The shields were a heavy screen steel covering for microwave reflection, and enough transducers to give a full strength dampening field. With the addition of a gravity drive, the thumper would be fast, agile, secure and powerful. The go-ahead was given for the first prototype to be built.
With the thumper effort underway, Mace turned his thoughts toward Earth. “We have all this technology available to us. How can we use it to accelerate our rework back home?”
Jasper replied, “What’d you have in mind?”
Mace gestured down toward the planet. “You have those high speed trains running between your cities. Would it be a worth the effort to build those on Earth?”
Jasper crossed his arms. “You know, I always fancied me a flying car. These trains run nice and smooth, but they’re still slow compared to flying. Why don’t we instead take that thumper design, strip out all the war stuff, and put in an autopilot and a bunch of seats? It would essentially be a shipping container, too. Leave out the seats and move most of your cargo around the same way.”
Mace stroked his beard. “Oh, I like that idea a lot. You could do a New York to LA type flight in what… fifteen minutes?”
Jasper nodded. “We would have to build a terminal at every community center, which would be relatively easy. I bet we could have that whole system up and running in six months. And now that we’re talking about it, I think I might just do that here on Divinia. No reason to take two hours to go from Port Vanna to Marbarac when it could be done in fifteen minutes.”
Jasper offered a grin.
Mace laughed. “I guess you like that thought? OK, with that as stage one, what other enhancements can we do to make both our worlds more productive or efficient?”
Jasper replied, “There’s always terraforming. We have fairly efficient farms here, but the technology they use has been in place for centuries. Could be time for an upgrade. And all that could be automated, too. We have individuals running tractors, combines, and a variety of other farm equipment, when those jobs could be automated. They’re simple and repetitive.”
“What about the displaced workers?”
Jasper tilted his head back and forth for several seconds. “I can always find them something to do. Our military ranks are always in need of ground troops.”
Mace winced. “Your people would be OK with that?”
Jasper shrugged. “They love me. I don’t see it as an issue.”
Mace again stroked his beard. “How much trade do you think we’ll be doing once things get settled? Is there benefit to be had by trading between Earth and the Collins Kingdom?”
Jasper replied, “I don’t see why not. We might start with trading foods or raw materials. Why do you ask?”
Mace opened a drawing pad on his holo-display. “Let’s say Divinia is here and Earth is over here. How do we move ships between them? Currently, you take that big hogging Muhatha and open a wormhole—takes a lot of gatrellium. Now that we’re updating your fleet to ships that will have a gatrellium skin, why not do the same with a fleet of transports and cargo vessels? Have a couple dozen ships line up and open a gate and let them come through. How much gatrellium would it take to make a system like that work?”
Jasper winced. “While the coating going on these ships is thin, it’s still a sizable amount. For
replacing my fleet out there I’m wanting at least five hundred ships to start. Our current supply will cover that but not leave much in our stockpile.”
Mace asked, “I thought you confiscated the ore from the Union members. Was I wrong on that?”
“No. We did. That’s what’s being used on our ships. My engineering team thinks that after the buildout we could get by with maybe ten kilograms a day. Current supplies are averaging about fifty kilograms. We add daily cargo and transport jumps to the mix and that use average goes up substantially. My concern is, what happens if we have to fight a sustained war? I want kilotons of that stuff stockpiled, because if a war comes… we probably won’t be mining it anymore. Those mines would be the first places I’d try to shut down if I were the Karthians. And with our friends in the Union knowing the locations of all the mines, our enemies would know them as well.”
Mace pursed his lips. “I might have an alternate source. We traded with the UF for a substantial load. They don’t use it because they don’t have the wormhole technology. We might be able to make a trade with Knuttin for it. They were enthusiastic about that last couple shipments of diamond we gave them. And we do own 24 percent of that company. At least I do anyway.”
Jasper said, “You want to make a hop out to the warstation?”
Mace nodded. “I believe I do.”
The Revelation sat within comm distance of the powerful UF station. A message was accepted for delivery and a warning to leave the space followed. The Revelation was moved back to a safe distance.
Two hours of waiting saw a reply come in. “Mr. Hardy, it is good to hear from you.”
Mace replied, “Is that a support mechanism behind you?”
Frado Knuttin nodded. “It is. It’s the only thing keeping me alive. My digestive tract was damaged in the attacks. This machine does my digestion for me. My doctors are currently growing me a new intestine. Unfortunately the process will take another six months. Until then, I’m tied to this contraption.”
Mace frowned. “Doesn’t look all too comfortable.”
Frado shook his head. “It is quite uncomfortable. But such is the price I must pay for living. Just yesterday I received the artificial leg I’ve been waiting for. It’s a good fit. I look forward to learning how to make proper use of it.”
Mace winced. “Didn’t know you lost a leg too.”
“And a lung and kidney. Basically my right side was crushed during the attack. My crew did a remarkable job of extricating me from the wreckage, moving me to a shuttle to escape, and then with keeping me alive. I definitely owe them my life.”
Mace said, “Well, I’m glad to see you’re able to at least talk now. We were worried. And Mr. Kontin was a good standin for you while you were out. He’s been helpful in expediting our trades.”
“He’s been my right hand—which was also damaged by the way.”
Mace asked, “I’m here to ask, would you have any more of the gatrellium for trade?”
Frado was silent for several seconds. “I’m afraid not. That is now a restricted material. I believe my government suspects it is the material that allows your ships to create wormholes, a technology which we don’t have but highly desire. I don’t suppose there would be some technology trade we could put together in exchange for that knowledge? We have many items that may be of interest to you.”
Mace replied, “How about the shields and weapons on that warstation? Or access to your fleet of ships for study?”
Frado frowned. “That would not be possible, Mr. Hardy.”
Mace nodded. “We can’t give away the technology that keeps us alive, Mr. Knuttin. The only way I would entertain such a thing would be if our peoples were close allies. With that, we would share all secrets and all technologies. I understand that relationship would only come after a period where a high level of trust has been established. Perhaps we can start with smaller exchanges of technology? Maybe a trade of reactor designs or gravity drives? But before that can take place, of course we need some formal establishment of diplomatic relations.”
Knuttin agreed. “Allow me to make a few contacts, Mr. Hardy. I may be able to have a diplomatic liaison from the warstation come out to your ship for a face to face. Would you be willing to entertain that idea?”
“We’ll be here, Mr. Knuttin. Give us a comm back when you have word.”
Jasper gestured toward the dining hall. “Let’s grab a bite while we wait.”
Chapter 16
*
A comm from Knuttin confirmed a meeting with the United Front diplomat. Shortly after, a shuttle from the warstation showed on the sensors. Mace and Jasper greeted the UF representative as he came down a ramp from his shuttle.
“Mr. Plomas, I’m Mace Hardy, this is Jasper Collins. I’m the representative of the people of Earth. Mr. Collins is the king of the Targarian Empire.”
Hothid Plomas bowed. “It is my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Collins. I look forward to our discussions.”
Jasper led them to a plush meeting room that had previously been used by the Targarians for just such a purpose, containing several seating areas with heavily padded couches and individual leather chairs. Crystal tables sat in the center of each. The UF diplomat was guided to one such area and invited to sit. Several Targarian assistants brought in food and beverages.
Hothid said, “My apologies if I don’t sample the cuisine. I’ve unfortunately had several instances where a food or drink did not agree with my physiology.”
Mace nodded. “Not an issue, Mr. Plomas. If you feel a thirst, the green pitcher and glasses are plain water. Now, on with our discussion. We have technologies and materials you want, and you have technologies and materials we want. The technologies are used in the defense of both our peoples and are therefore closely guarded secrets. How do your people and ours move to a level of trust where those technologies can be exchanged?”
Hothid crossed his legs, placing an elbow on his knee with a fist up under his chin. “Hmm, such relationships normally take years to develop. It is not the way of the Front to partner with anyone that we don’t intend to bring into the fold.”
Jasper asked, “How many different species are in the United Front?”
Hothid replied, “One. We are the Kohamian.”
Mace pulled back. “Wait, you are all one species?”
Hothid nodded. “Efforts to assimilate others have failed at every attempt. You see, Mr. Hardy, we are superior to other species. Those species prefer to not be secondary citizens. When encountered, and given the option to join, most have moved away.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “So you think you’re better than everyone else?”
Hothid shook his head. “No, we are better. We have superior intellect and a system of government that always puts the people first.”
Mace said, “So you’re telling us there have been other species who were offered the chance to join your… united-ness, but they mostly declined? And what happened to the ones who didn’t move away?”
“They were eliminated. You see, Mr. Hardy, we cannot bring in member species who will weaken the United Front, or who will cause division or derision. We have been successful using this methodology and will continue to do so. The first step of improving our relationship will be for you to accept our superiority.”
Jasper stood with a clinched fist. “I’ll show you superiority.”
Mace stood and held out his hand. “I must apologize for wasting your time here today, Mr. Plomas. It seems we are at an impasse before we’ve even begun. I don’t believe we have anything further to discuss here. We’ll escort you back to your shuttle.”
The UF shuttle departed. Mace followed Jasper back to the bridge. Shortly after, a comm came in from Frado Knuttin.
“I must apologize, Mr. Hardy. I should have prepared you for the standard superiority line given to all species.”
Mace asked, “Is it true, though? Do Kohamians believe themselves to be superior to all other species?
”
Frado nodded. “We do. Most of us do not have issue with that, as I’m certain you would understand. I, for one, believe it to be short-sighted. We are certainly successful, and powerful as a species and community, but superior? If so, why do you have a means to open a wormhole while our scientists struggle with understanding the concept?”
Mace replied, “Exactly. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I view your species’ superior attitude as a weakness. I hope we are still able to conduct trade, and I hope our joint efforts with the Canto colony will continue.”
Frado raised his left hand. “This meeting will cause difficulties, Mr. Hardy. But those difficulties are diplomatic in nature. Whatever Mr. Plomas returns with, I will have to smooth over with the diplomatic corps and the politicians. However, that is nothing unusual in these situations. Part of the reason for my success has been my ability to navigate the government systems. I wouldn’t worry about this setback. As to Canto, I intend to move ahead with those efforts full force.”
Mace sighed. “That’s good to know, Mr. Knuttin. I look forward to our continued business dealings. And if you happen to come across any gatrellium, we are very interested in purchasing it from you.”
The comm was closed and a wormhole opened to Earth. A shuttle was taken down to the cave with Mace and Jasper aboard. A short walk had them standing on the gift shop porch with Johnny and Jane as Zax and Fina ran the property. Jasper took up position in his rocker.
Johnny laughed. “Would you ever have thought this porch would somehow become the center of the universe?”
Jasper nodded. “Always been the center of my universe.”
Mace said, “We just came from Canto. Tried to make a deal with Knuttin for gatrellium. His government has placed restrictions on its trade. They want the wormhole tech before releasing it.”
Jasper added, “They’re a bunch of arrogant fools. They actually said they believe they are superior to all other species.”
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