After Captain Na left, Alexander got it into his head that he could just repeat his success from the Omni engines on the Sinorus engines instead.

After doing some research on the Omni competitor before diving head first this time, Alexander scrapped that plan. Turns out Sinorus wasn’t any better than Omni. He found dozens of articles condemning the Coalition-backed manufacturer’s shady business practices. When he tried to find similar articles on Omni, he found nothing. Considering who won the war, it wasn’t hard to figure out why.

He now understood why everyone on Petrov Station refused to work on Omni engines. The few articles he did find were obvious propaganda released by the STO. The Sol Treaty Organization couldn’t have made their relationship with the engine manufacturer clearer unless they came door to door and shouted it in your face. It was obvious the STO didn’t want their primary propulsion manufacturer to look bad because it would affect them as well.

Alexander wasn’t a fool though. Even with his missing memories, he knew no company was squeaky clean. Especially one as large as Omni.

Knowing both engine suppliers were shady as shit didn’t help him in any way though. Other than to realize he wanted nothing to do with either of them. If he repeated his improvements on the Sinorus design, they were just as likely to come to take his hard work as Omni. So he simply wouldn’t do that.

That did leave him in a bit of a pickle though. With this Omni cloud hanging over his head, and his income from the sales of his modifications likely to dry up soon, he needed an alternative way to earn money.

Omni and Sinorus weren’t the only manufacturers around. They were just the biggest. Not wanting to give up, he looked into all the options. He quickly dismissed those other companies. Some hadn’t come out with a new engine in decades, others were only making one very specific design that the larger companies didn’t want a part of. The rest were either in the middle of bankruptcy or being bought out by the two giants. It reeked of monopolization.

Alexander did look up laws on monopolies. They existed, but it seems like all the teeth had been pulled out of those laws long ago, allowing these companies to essentially do what they pleased and run roughshod over the market.

He sighed internally as he switched off the terminal. There wasn’t any easy solution to his problem. The future was supposed to be an amazing place filled with human ingenuity and drive. Not this corporate-owned nightmare that he found himself in.

There was only one way forward that he could think of without running afoul of the corporations. He needed to design and build an engine from the ground up. And he needed to do it all while keeping his company privately owned. Considering he was working out of a converted storage room and he was barely paying his bills, that was easier said than done. After the conversation with Mingyu Na, he didn’t trust the station. They might just as easily confiscate any future designs he came up with.

That didn’t mean he was going to give up on this idea. He would learn what he could now, and when he was finally free of the restrictions keeping him bound to this station, he would be ready to strike out on his own. Free of Petrov management, free of Omni, and free of the STO.

When he returned to his shop, he stuck the data disk he had purchased into the small holoprojector on his desk.

A voice started speaking. “Greetings, and thank you for purchasing this tutorial. Today we are going to discuss the basic elements of conventional propulsion design and engineering.”

Alexander had purchased the full course on the disk, and it had cost him a pretty penny. But if he was going to build his own company to compete with the big two, he needed to understand the basics. Something he currently only had a working knowledge of.

“What’cha watchin?” Yulia inquired and she climbed on top of her stool.

“A class on basic propulsion engineering,” he responded while continuing the repair he was working on as well as listening to the holo. He was glad he could pay attention to more than one thing at a time.

“Sounds boring.”

She wasn’t wrong, it was indeed boring. The man teaching the course simply droned on in a monotone voice with absolutely no enthusiasm for the subject whatsoever. But it was the only approved course Alexander could afford.

“Yours are much more interesting,” she stated kicking her feet against the counter.

“What’s the rule about kicking?”

“Sorry.”

He nodded and pulled out her daily puzzle. “Here you go.”

While he appreciated her enthusiasm, Alexander wouldn’t really call what he was doing a class. Since Yulia liked to hang around, she might as well get something out of it, so he decided to start building little puzzles for her to solve. They had started out pretty basic, just a simple flat puzzle that she put together. After a few of those, he upgraded her to 3D puzzles.

She struggled more with those, but after a few helpful hints and words of encouragement, she got the hang of them. When she finished those and grew bored of them, he started incorporating moving parts like gears and levers into the simple 3D shapes. She loved those because once they were complete, she could interact with them. They held her attention for far longer than the other two puzzles, but like any child, she grew bored of those soon enough.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Recently, he had moved her to more advanced puzzles. Like a frog that could hop around after winding it up, or a little car that used a rubber band to produce motion.

They were the first things she made that she asked to keep. He didn’t see any problem with that so he had let her take them.

Today's puzzle was slightly different.

“Ooh… What is it?” She asked while looking at the box of parts.

He shook his head. The girl was always trying to get to the end before she even started. “You’ll figure that out when you finish it.”

“Awww,” she whined before taking out the instruction book and looking at the illustrated pictures. Alexander was on to her shenanigans by now though, and he had only created the first third of the instructions. If she managed to get through those today, he would be surprised.

Seeing as she wasn’t going to learn what the puzzle was meant to be when completed, she huffed and dug into the box until she found the first part.

He smiled and the pair worked in silence. Well, they were silent, but the annoying instructor still blathered on in the background.

***

Theo checked his appearance one last time in the mirror. He looked immaculate, the same as he had ten minutes ago, and ten minutes before that. Today was an important day though, and he was representing OMNI, so he couldn’t afford to look disheveled.

The four months had gone by rather quickly. Mainly because he had spent the majority of that time brushing up on the local law codes. And while he hadn’t been able to sneak off the ship and see this Alexander Kane for himself, he had paid someone on the station to report what they learned of the man. Even in a station that hated OMNI to a fault, there were always people who would do anything for money.

The man had little to say considering the exorbitant amount of money he was offered, but he had stated the ‘dude was a robot.’ Yup, those were his exact words. Not exactly a wordsmith, that one.

That was fine, his description wasn’t surprising to Theo, it matched everything the other people he had paid told him. However, one did provide a bit more in-depth breakdown of the man. Apparently, Mr. Kane was sick or something and used the robot as a means of interacting with people.

While he hadn’t heard that particular fact before, it wasn’t all that groundbreaking. His background check of the man had revealed similar information. However, he didn’t believe it for one minute. According to Kane’s background, he suffered from some autoimmune disease. It didn’t specify which one it was though, which was the first red flag. The second was the fact nanite regen therapy was available, even out in this dump. Sure it was pricy, but even minimal treatments should allow the man to walk around without too much issue. No, this man wasn’t sick. Theo was leaning toward Kane being an escaped criminal or someone on the run from criminals.

If true, he could use this information in the future. Unfortunately, this knowledge had little impact on today’s hearing. He certainly couldn’t bring it up. If the Council hadn’t done their homework, he wasn’t about to point this fact out to them. Blackmail was certainly a road he could go down if he needed to.

Theo checked himself one final time before sliding the ridiculous helmet on to complete his Head of OMNI’s Legal Council persona.

With a smile, he exited his cabin and made his way to the ship ramp. The OMNI guards didn’t even nod to him before they followed him from the ramp.

He waited for the hangar doors to open, and once they did, he saw Commissar Ivan Wang waiting for him. The man looked slightly less frazzled than the last time they met, but Theo could see he was still way out of his comfort zone here. Theo didn’t bother improving the man’s mood.

“Lead the way, Commissar.”

The man nodded, his eyes flicking to the two guards. The weasely-looking man opened his mouth as if to say something before thinking better of it and simply nodding.

Theo followed him to the elevator, his guards in tow behind. He didn’t need the two burly men, he could defend himself far better than they likely could. But it was a statement. One designed to show he felt irritated by the wait. Not that he did, but it made good set dressing for the upcoming play.

He pretended to fumble around in the changing gravity, much like he did the last time. But considering how badly the Commissar handled the switch, maybe he hadn’t played it up quite enough. Theo made a mental note to practice looking more inept in gravity changes as the elevator came to a halt.

The room was much busier than it had been the previous time he was there. As he and his guards climbed out of the elevator, four armed station guards approached.

“Your security detail will need to remain here.”

One of his guards growled and took a step forward, but all four men pointed pulse rifles at him. This little interaction was playing out almost better than he had hoped. The two guards had been hand-picked by him because they were the two most prone to confrontation. He wanted to gauge the station's response to any threats by him or his team if alternative measures were needed.

The less-than-lethal sonic weapons were a mild surprise. He would have expected shock batons at most. You were less likely to seriously injure someone with a shock baton. The pulse rifles could still kill you if they were hit enough times or in the wrong spot. He had been on the receiving end of the weapons enough times to know. It felt like getting kicked in the chest. Not something he was eager to repeat.

It seemed like the station wasn’t taking any risks here. He reprioritized plans in his head, throwing some out and moving others up. He had alternatives in place if this meeting didn’t go the way he suspected. “Stand down,” he stated calmly.

The guard took a step back, his face returning to a mask of calm. Quick for confrontation, but smart enough to know when to back down.

“I apologize for his rudeness, but you have kept us sequestered in our hangar for four months. It is only fair that my men would be slightly agitated.”

His plea fell on deaf ears as the station guard only grunted. “This way, and be quick, the Captains are waiting.”

The smile never left his face as he followed two of the station security. The other two stayed back to keep an eye on his guards. Not that his two guards were of any importance, but he would let the station personnel have their tiny victory. The only thing Theo carried with him was a tablet with his case notes.

The guards led him over to the same meeting room he had visited the previous time. One of them pressed a comm button on the wall, and then they waited.

Theo did a mental sigh, ‘so it was gonna be like this.’

He patiently waited along with the guards, his smile never faltering for a moment. After twenty minutes, the comm on the wall finally buzzed.

“They are ready for you.”

He wanted to laugh at the silly power play, but he kept his feelings to himself.

With a slightly annoyed huff, he strode into the room with all the confidence of a senior lawyer who knew they were about to win their case. The seven councilors were arrayed on the far side of a table in comfy-looking chairs, while a small metal desk and hard seat greeted him.

Oh, the pettiness… he loved it. For Theo, this little act spoke volumes. The captains knew they were going to lose, and this was their consolation to soothe their pride. He wondered what other gifts they had in store for him. He couldn’t wait to find out.

He sat at the seat without complaint. “Council Captains… Shall we begin?”