LOCATION: SHICAN SPACE

  DATE: 2404

  “You’re being shortsighted, Jarl Kane!” Katalynn glared at the man through the holo.

  “I’ve already given you my position on the matter,” Kane replied. “I will not be providing any more gravity bombs so you can further some quest of vengeance against the Shican.”

  “How many more people do they have to kill before you realize they won’t change?” she demanded. “Leaving them even one planet, let alone three, is just asking for a third Shican War.”

  “Lagertha Char, I understand your position, but I will not stoop to their level. Nor would I have done what you did to the Xin worlds. Yes, I’m aware you used gravity bombs against them. How was that justified? There were certainly humans down there.”

  “Humans? Clones are hardly human, and the Shican could have built outposts and other facilities on the surface of those worlds. The gravity bombs made sure we removed any ambiguity in the matter. I will not apologize for ensuring the threat was entirely neutralized. You should be doing the same.”

  “My decision is final,” Kane said flatly. “If you cannot accept that, perhaps I should withdraw from the Union?”

  The declaration was like a slap in the face. Katalynn narrowed her eyes, but ground her teeth together to prevent herself from tearing into the insolent Jarl. She quickly got her anger under control. She wasn’t stupid enough to push Kane into leaving the Union, despite how often the man’s actions annoyed her. She also owed him, which was why she had tried to talk some sense into him on this matter.

  “Fine,” she finally ground out. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. When the Shican inevitably attack again, the deaths will be on you.”

  “If that ever happens, I will take full responsibility,” he replied tiredly.

  She ended the call and stared at the image that showed the world below. Fire burned across its surface as magma spilled from cracks caused by her attack, and new volcanoes erupted across the planet, filling the Shican planet’s atmosphere with toxic ash. That was the effect of a single gravity bomb.

  This wasn’t the first time she had witnessed such destruction. Her fleet had purged a dozen other worlds so far as it moved through Shican space, eliminating planets that Kane missed during his first attack.

  The irony of what she was doing wasn’t lost on her, but she didn’t care. The Shican had nearly killed her ancestors and would have done far worse had they won.

  A knock came at her cabin door.

  “Enter,” she snapped.

  Vyrik opened the hatch. “I take it by your tone that the meeting with Kane didn’t go well?”

  “You were right, Kane refused to provide more gravity bombs.”

  Vyrik nodded before stepping inside the room and shutting the door behind him. He took the seat across the desk from her before speaking. “I told you he would.”

  “You don’t have to rub it in,” she replied.

  “I think I do, actually. Perhaps it’s for the best that we used up the last of the gravity bombs. Those are weapons that should not exist.” His eyes flicked over to the projection she was watching before landing back on her. “Just look at the devastation they can cause.”

  “Don’t tell me that you’ve grown soft on the Shican threat,” she growled.

  “No. I agree that they should have been wiped out completely, but it doesn’t matter what I believe. Kane might even feel the same way you do after they killed his friend. I’m sure he had had his reasons for leaving a few of the Shican alive. One of those reasons is certainly his new AI allies. Look at what Kane has accomplished in only a few short years by himself; I can’t imagine what they will come up with together. By his own admission, he isn’t as smart or as capable as the three AIs who joined his cause, despite creating them. I still find that hard to process, but I can’t see any reason for Kane to lie about something like that.”

  “His attitude irks me,” Katalynn replied.

  “As it should, but don’t let it cloud your judgement. Just look at the economic impact of his contributions. With Kane as part of the Union, we are finally in a position to grow beyond the STO instead of protecting our border like scared rats. You’ve read the Lokis’ reports on Kane’s conversation with the STO admiralty?”

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  Katelynn nodded, and Vyrik continued. “Despite the Jarl’s flaws, Kane is a man of his word. He said he was going to cut the STO off if they failed to commit fully to the war effort, and he has. That alone gives the Union an advantage. I don’t think it’ll end there, either.”

  “You know something?” Katalynn asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “No. I’m just basing my analysis on Kane’s personality. If he left the Union, I fully believe he would carve out his own political entity from the STO to fulfil his promise, and probably the Union as well, eventually swallowing both, given time.”

  Katalynn wasn’t at all surprised to hear that. She honestly thought Kane would challenge her for her position long ago. She knew she was a better fighter than Kane, but she was only human. “You forget one thing,” she replied.

  “You mean Kane’s aversion to being in charge?” Vyrik asked with a chuckle. “I didn’t forget. I believe that if you pissed Kane off enough, he would put aside that hangup just to prove you wrong.”

  Katalynn couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Fair enough.” After her amusement faded, she quickly schooled her face. “Let’s hurry up and finish our work with the Shican. I suddenly find that my appetite for war has run its course.”

  Vyrik nodded.

  ***

  LOCATION: STO NAVY HEADQUARTERS

  SYSTEM: SOL

  DATE: 2404

  The four STO admirals stared at each other from across the table.

  Patel was the first to speak. “You all read the report?”

  The other three nodded in ascent.

  They hadn’t told Kane the complete truth when they last spoke. They did manage to have one of the Nyx-class frigates shadow the enemy fleet. That came to a stop after the frigate witnessed the Union’s attack on the enemy armada. If the STO leadership weren’t already worried about Kane’s technological and political influence, they would have been after viewing that attack. They weren’t going to find out anytime soon, however, because the information had immediately been labeled ‘Top-Secret, Military Only’. That would only stop the information from spreading for so long, but he hoped it was enough.

  “Any idea what the weapon was?” Thorne asked.

  “Not yet,” Patel replied. “The frigate left the area to report before better readings could be attained. We have a science vessel heading out that way to gather better data, and our black sites are working through the initial findings.”

  “Do you suppose he was hiding that capability this entire time?” Trelawney asked.

  Dufresne gave the new admiral a disbelieving look. “If he had, his people would have used it long before.”

  The two looked like they were about to get into an argument before Patel spoke up and put a stop to that. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he does have such a weapon. The reports from our spies on Eden’s End also confirm that he employed other technologies that allowed them to survive the remaining enemy forces. Does anyone think that if he decided to go on the offensive against the STO, we would win?”

  They all shook their heads.

  Patel gave a curt nod of approval, glad that some people in the STO administration could think past the next election cycle. “We’ll keep a cordial relationship with the man and his company and deal with whatever legal issues he sends our way. If we are ordered to do otherwise, we will do our duty, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Meanwhile, I will keep trying to reach out to him or his people to discuss an equitable resolution. Perhaps we can reach some agreement, but let’s table that for now and discuss other matters. Does anyone have an update on the missing corporations?”

  Dufresne cleared his throat. “My family contacts confirmed that they all fled the moment the war started. It’s safe to say they probably won’t be returning.”

  Patel grunted in annoyance. “I never thought I would say this, but I wish they would. The new corporations that are attempting to fill the void aren’t being subtle about it. I’ve already received angry messages from multiple planetary governors to do something about the spreading violence from the new companies’ attempts to seize power and the instability in trade following the loss of the hypergates.”

  “Omni stuck around,” Trelawney pointed out. “Perhaps they can help in some way?”

  The three stared at their counterpart like he was an idiot, and Patel pondered, not for the first time, about replacing the man. Before he could address the question, Thorne cut in.

  “Omni wouldn’t help unless it was in their interest to do so. Besides, our intelligence reports that the thruster manufacturer has completed whatever secret project they were working on. Based on the materials involved and the fact that a large portion of their staff vanished along with their entire upper management on some corporate retreat, it was likely a ship of some sort. They were obviously hedging their bets in case the Shican overran the Navy.”

  “Even so,” Patel added. “They remain the STO’s largest manufacturer and the Navy’s sole propulsion provider. Kane could have filled that void, but that door has closed. I’ve reached out, and apparently, Omni’s Chief Engineer, a man named Benning, is currently in charge until and I quote, ‘The board returns from its sabbatical.’ Despite the obvious lie, we have no other choice. We will maintain our contracts with them and hope that the planetary and corporate violence subsides. We don’t have nearly enough Marines to enforce any peace, nor should we. That is for local security forces to handle, not the military.”

  Some of the Admirals didn’t look all that happy about Patel’s declaration, but they needed to face facts. The Navy had lost over half of its ships during the war. If he included the losses from the pirate and Xin conflicts, the Navy was down over two-thirds of its fleet power in the last few years. They barely had the resources to protect the border anymore, let alone enforce planetary rule, even with the additional speed of production that Kane’s printers provided.

  The next few years were going to see an uptick in space piracy and violence, and the navy was going to be spread thin dealing with that. Perhaps that was for the best. The STO had grown lazy and idle since the Coalition war. You could see that in how the corporations had run roughshod over everyone and how inept most politicians had become. A little hardship would do them some good, and after the dust settled and things calmed down again, the STO would be even stronger than before.

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