by M. D. Cooper
Jutio said.
“Good point,” Elena said with a nod. “With that record, they’d be fools for not displaying all possible caution…makes me wonder if we’re fools to take them into the Transcend.”
Jutio didn’t reply and Elena examined his intercept course. It would put them on the colony ship’s doorstep in just under a day. Hopefully, soon enough to meet with Sera before she met with the corps. Her friend’s life may depend on it.
“Oh shit,” she swore as scan updated and she saw another ship docking with the Intrepid. “This is what we get for the watchpoint disabling the beacon—what a dumb move.”
“They’d have to have figured out some serious tech in not much time—it’s a signature in the quantum foam. There’s no way their fifth millennia tech could spot that—hell, they wouldn’t even know to look for it.
“Well, stasis shields or no, Sera’s going to have a bad, bad day if we don’t get there fast.”
Elena altered Jutio’s course to boost harder, and then brake faster on their approach to the Intrepid.
THE DEAL
STELLAR DATE: 12.29.8929 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: ISS Intrepid
REGION: Ascella System, Galactic North of the Corona Australis star forming region
“I’m glad you decided to attend,” Tanis said to Terrance as they walked onto a maglev train at the bridge station.
“This colony mission is nothing like I originally planned,” Terrance replied. “Back when I set up the funding for it, I envisioned spending a century at New Eden, where we’d develop picotech that would transform humanity for the better.”
He paused and shook his head. “Funny how things work out, though. Even if we had gotten to New Eden and I’d built my empire there…the Sol Space Federation would have been gone before my triumphant return.”
“Maybe we could have stopped its fall,” Tanis replied quietly. “Maybe we could have saved InnerSol, Mars, Luna, Earth…maybe they’d still be what they once were if we had gone back.”
“What’s done is done,” Terrance said. “And I don’t want the same things I once did. I…I don’t really want much to do with the rest of humanity at all anymore. Maybe I’ve spent too much time with the likes of you on this ship, but we’re a family here. We’ve overcome unbelievable odds, and the rest of them out there…they just want to take what’s ours, to kill us and pick our bones clean.”
The vehemence that crept into Terrance’s voice surprised Tanis, but she did understand the sentiment.
“It’s easy to see how the Transcend’s quest to uplift all of humanity is a millennia-long task,” Tanis said. “How much harder would it be to even things out with our tech? You’d have to be able to police every system out there.” She shook her head. “Who would want that job?”
“Not me,” Terrance snorted.
The maglev train car pulled up at the station, which lay at the end of a long corridor that ran past the ballrooms down to the VIP dock. Sera and Flaherty rose from a bench on the train platform and approached.
“Ready?” Tanis asked Sera as she stepped out of the train car.
Sera shook her head and laughed as they began walking toward the airlock. “Not even remotely. Did you get any word about who we can expect?”
“Nope, just that it was the Transcend’s Diplomatic Corps.”
“Knowing my luck, all of them,” Sera said with a sigh.
“Then it’s just a question of which six,” Sera replied morosely.
“You’re really not excited about this, are you?” Terrance asked.
“Not in any way. Not even a teensy bit. I could have gone my whole life without ever having this meeting—and I expected to live for a long time.”
Sera smiled in response. “Helen always tells me I have too much of that.”
A dull thud echoed down the corridor. Tanis, Sera, and Terrance looked toward the airlock, waiting for the holoscreen above it to show green. The pair of Marines on either side of the airlock checked their weapons and fixed their eyes on the door.
After that first VIP ball, when Tanis fought a band of mercenaries in this very corridor, she had vowed to never again allow an enemy to gain a foothold on her ship so easily. To ensure that promise remained unbroken, she had filled the corridor with automated defenses—making it one of the most secure access points on the ship.
There was also a platoon of Marines in one of the nearby ballrooms. It never hurt to be over-prepared.
Tanis ignored the jibe and instead sent a message to the captain up on the bridge.
Andrews smiled in her mind.
Captain Andrews chuckled by way of response, and Tanis sighed as the airlock indicator turned green and the portal cycled open.
Tanis sized up the pair as she stepped forward to greet the Transcend’s diplomats.
The woman was obviously related to Sera, probably a sister. Her stature was similar and her face had the same lines, though a touch more angular. She held herself with an air of superiority, and Tanis felt a measure of defensiveness as the woman’s eyes flicked around the corridor before settling on Sera.
The man, on the other hand, had eyes only for Sera. A small smile touched his lips, but it wasn’t one that conveyed any warmth or happiness at seeing her again.
“Governor Tanis Richards,” Tanis said as she extended her hand.
“Andrea Tomlinson,” the woman said as she gave a firm shake. “And governor is it now? Our intel led us to believe that you were General Richards back in Bollam’s.”
“It’s a recent promotion,” Tanis said and gave a pleasant smile. “This is Terrance Enfield, one of our colony leaders. And you know Sera, I imagine.”
Andrea had clasped Terrance’s hand while Tanis spoke, and afterward, she looked at Sera with a steady gaze—one that Tanis considered to be just shy of menacing.
“From the cradle on up,” she said while giving Sera’s hand a single shake.
“Mark,” the man said as he held out his hand. Tanis extended hers and he grasped it too soon and too hard, attempting to squeeze her fingers in an uncomfortable grip. Tanis splayed her fingers, easily breaking his hold, and slid her hand forward for a proper shake.
His eyes showed momentary surprise at the strength in her slender fingers before an oily smile turned his lips upward. He nodded with respect b
efore moving on to Terrance.
Finally, he stopped before Sera and extended his hand. She did not respond in kind.
“Sera, it’s good to see you,” Mark said smoothly. “You’ve been well, flying about in your little ship?”
Sera didn’t respond to Mark, but instead turned to Andrea.
“Really? You brought him? I thought you were smarter than that.”
Andrea shrugged. “Father’s orders. Besides, we’re not here to make a deal with you; you’re free to go do whatever it is you do around here.”
Tanis was certain that Andrea expected the communication to be sent privately to Sera, but the former Hand agent relayed the thoughts to Tanis with a mental sigh and said,
“Sera will join us for the negotiations,” Tanis said. “If you’ll follow me, we can get right to them.”
She didn’t wait for a response before turning and walking down the hall. If these two represented the Transcend, she didn’t blame Sera for leaving their ranks. Just having them behind her made Tanis’s skin crawl.
Tanis chuckled.
Tanis said.
The room Tanis had selected for their meeting was only fifty meters down the hall—a VIP suite off the main ballroom with only one apparent exit. The ballroom was empty while they walked through it, but once they entered the meeting room, it would fill with Marines.
She was taking no chances.
“Impressive,” Mark said as they walked through the ballroom. “Not what I would expect on a colony ship at all.”
“What can I say?” Tanis replied. “We like to party here—though most of those happened back at Mars. At The Kap, we had them on the stations and planetside more often than not.”
The statement felt surreal to Tanis as she considered how long ago, and how far away, that had been. Mars felt like it had to be at least two or three lifetimes ago.
Moreover, knowing that the Mars 1 ring was a ruin—smashed into Mars, her childhood world destroyed—those memories of times gone by now had a grim pall hanging over them.
Tanis snapped her mind back to the present and gave a banal reply from Mark a perfunctory nod.
They entered the well-appointed meeting room, a lounge, which featured several low couches and chairs arranged in a loose circle with small tables supporting drinks and food beside each. Tanis had made sure that strawberries were present and noted that even Andrea’s eyes lit up at the sight of them.
“Please, sit,” Tanis said to Mark and Andrea, gesturing to seats that had their backs to the door, while she, Sera, and Terrance sat opposite. Flaherty leaned up against the wall and stared at Andrea and Mark with his typical impassive gaze.
Mark’s face flashed a grimace before he took his seat, the purpose of their positions all too clear.
“It’s an impressive ship that you have here,” Mark said as he took his seat.
Andrea cast him an unreadable look before adding, “And a rather aggressive-looking fleet for a colony ship.”
“It is,” Tanis said with a nod. “We won’t apologize for being prepared to defend ourselves. We’d be dead a dozen times over if we weren’t.”
“So the histories say,” Andrea replied tonelessly.
“How will this work?” Terrance asked, apparently eager to get down to the negotiation.
“Well, we’ll talk about what you’re willing to trade for a world, and we’ll talk about what might be available,” Andrea said after taking a sip of water from a glass on the table beside her.
Terrance frowned and shook his head. “I’d like to turn that on its head. Why don’t you show us what you have, and then we’ll let you know what we’re willing to offer for it.”
Sera let out a small laugh and caught a cold look from Andrea.
“Sorry, Sis, these folks aren’t here to beg. We all know that they don’t really need an FGT world,” Sera said with a grin.
Andrea opened her mouth to respond, but Mark interjected.
“Only because of technology that you gave them.”
Sera nodded. “Technology I provided in payment for saving my life, which kept the CriEn out of Inner Stars hands.”
“It is problematic,” Andrea said after gracing Mark with another of her dark glances. “That technology was not yours to give, Sera.”
“Do you have a world or not?” Terrance asked, apparently weary of the by-play.
Andrea shot him a look of displeasure before nodding slowly. A projection of a system sprang to life between them. It contained two stars, twenty worlds—two of which were terraformed—and a thick Kuiper belt and Oort cloud.
Tanis leaned forward and reached into the projection, turning it and pulling up specs on the stars, the planets, their moons, and the system’s asteroids.
“Pass,” Tanis said with no elaboration. “What else do you have?”
“What’s wrong with it?” Mark asked. “That’s a great system; you could build for centuries there and not come close to running out of resources.”
“It doesn’t fit our requirements,” Tanis replied.
“Well, what are those requirements?” Mark scowled.
“You’ll know when we see the right system,” Terrance said.
Andrea frowned, but she brought up another system. This one also failed to meet Bob’s requirements, and after viewing seven more, Bob finally affirmed the option.
Tanis looked it over. It was a good system. A single yellow star lay at its center, only two billion years old, and three large gas giants patrolled no closer than six AU to it. Like the first system Andrea had shown, it also had a healthy supply of asteroids, dense Kuiper belt, and a thick Oort cloud.
However, the icing on the cake was the four terrestrial worlds, all of which orbited within the habitable zone. Two were in stage-three terraforming, and two were in stage four. One of the stage four worlds even sported a single space elevator with a sizable station on its tether.
“I think we have a winner,” Tanis said. “This is the system we’ll trade for.”
“You’d be fools not to,” Andrea agreed. “This system is well developed, but it’s not something we’re going to part with for a song.”
Terrance took over the negotiations, and, when they were complete, Tanis had a very strong suspicion that things had ended up exactly the way Andrea had wanted. She pushed for the pico and stasis shield technology, but Terrance would not budge, insisting that they were off the table. After his firm refusal to even talk about them, she only brought it up one more time.
Tanis was surprised that Terrance also refused to part with the multi-nodal tech that was the foundation for Bob’s mind. She knew it was nearly unprecedented tech, but Terrance’s unequivocal refusal made her wonder if there was more to Bob’s inception than she kne
w.
Andrea provided a contract, and Tanis passed it to Bob for review. She and Angela read it, too, but she trusted Bob far more to find any hidden catches.
Bob’s words thundered across the local network. Tanis took a moment of satisfaction as Andrea’s eyes widened, and Mark flinched. She recovered more smoothly and accepted the data from Bob for her own review.
After several minutes, she pronounced herself satisfied and applied her personal token, and the token of the FGT, and the Transcend government to the agreement. Tanis applied New Canaan’s, her own, and Terrance added his.
“These are the coordinates to the system,” Andrea said, providing the data over the Link. “It’s just on this side of the M25 cluster.”
“On the edge of the open cluster?” Sera said, speaking for the first time since Andrea had begun showing systems. “That’ll make for some amazing views at night.”
“And a lot of nearby resources,” Tanis added.
“Your system should provide what you need. If you need further access to other resources, then we can negotiate for access,” Andrea replied.
“Sixteen hundred light years,” Terrance said with a long sigh. “I suppose distance from the Inner Stars is good, but it’s going to take us a bit to get there.”
“Around three and a half years,” Tanis said with a nod. “Still, better than what our remaining time to New Eden would have been if we hadn’t hit Kapteyn’s Streamer—relatively speaking.”
An automaton entered the room with a large data crystal, which contained the details of the technology offered in trade. Andrea rose and took it from the robot, which then turned and left the room.
“I believe this concludes our negotiations,” Tanis said as she rose.
“With you, yes,” Andrea said. “We need to talk with Sera before we go.”
Tanis looked to Sera, who glanced at the case near her feet and nodded.
“Very well,” Tanis replied. “We’ll be outside waiting to escort you back to your ship.”
Andrea flashed a predatory smile. “I would expect nothing else.”
“We’ll need this conversation to be private. I hope you don’t mind.”
