3.36.

General Turnball sat with the senator in his office. It wasn’t often that Turnball made a personal journey to sit before the desk of a politician, whether they were a US senator or not, but Senator Mike Fuller’s recent political maneuvering has placed him in a uniquely potent position.

“So, you’re saying they’ll come to the table,” Turnball said.

“They have, collectively, stated that they wish to enter the war in earnest,” Mike confirmed.

“And Genisi?”

“Is providing back channel support and off the books aid,” Mike said. “He cannot violate his governments official stance of neutrality. He is, and they are, bending over backwards to provide us with extensive support in terms of financial aid and non-combat equipment to assist in our efforts.”

“And here I thought the man was useless,” Turnball admitted.

“His facade is thorough and surprisingly complex. But once you get to know him, it’s very obvious what he’s doing,” Mike explained. “As for the Triumverant, officially they can’t agree with anything that the others say unless they all agree on the matter. Which makes things extremely difficult. They all want to go to war, but they each disagree on the terms that they’ll go to bat for us for.”

“Okay. So let’s talk about the terms,” Turnball said. “What do they want?”

“They want to expand their empire by claiming parts of Rosantea,” Mike explained. “They each have a different list of star systems that they want for themselves. There’s commonalities between them, which mean that those stars are non-negotiable. The rest of them are more complicated and open to negotiation.”

“How many systems are we talking about?”

“Non-negotiable? Twenty seven. Open for debate? One hundred eighty two.”

Turnball nodded. “Okay. We can work with that.”

“Congratulations on your acquittal, by the way,” Mike said.

Turnball frowned. “It wasn’t an acquittal. I was found guilty of something which wasn’t a crime.”

“I stand corrected,” Mike admitted. “How does that impact your leadership of the ESF?”

“It doesn’t. My actions were called into question, reviewed, and found to be appropriate given the extreme circumstances under which they occurred. It is standard in post-action investigations for such things to occur. I was briefly placed on leave during the court-martial and reinstated upon it’s conclusion,” Turnball explained.

“So I won’t have to worry about briefing your successor?”

“Not for the immediate future. The Yonohoans say that I have three decades or so left without their life-extending technology,” Turnball admitted. “They say that I probably have one hundred years left if I allow them to inject me with their nanites.”

“Will you?”

“Once the FDA approves them, yes.”

Mike laughed. “So thirty years from now, when it’s practically too late.”

Turnball smiled grimly. “Back to the discussion. How do we proceed?”

“Well, for starters, I suggest contacting the Yonohoans and get them to send word to the Tumbaruna Toko to avoid knocking the mandatory star systems back into the stone age,” Mike explained.

“Just the mandatory ones, or should we back off on all of the one hundred eighty-two?”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Some of them have already been hit and the Triumverant still want them. Back off on the mandatory ones for now and allow the Yonohoans to continue business as usual on other fronts,” Mike suggested.

Turnball nodded. “Any other strategic advice to keep our potential allies happy?”

“They’re more than potential allies, General. I remind you that they actively defended Mars Station with their presence during the third battle. And Tonom actively defended New York City when he could have limited his shielding to the embassy. Both of those are the actions of a friendly polity. The politics prevent them from explicitly saying it, but they’re as much on our side as the Yonohoans.”

“I stand corrected,” Turnball agreed. “But that just means that keeping them happy is even more important.”

“You’re quite correct there. Aside from the star systems in question, the Triumverant really want the same thing as the Acklatics. The same thing as the Yonohoans, for that matter. They want us . Our culture, our people, knowledge about our history and our ways of life. They’re fascinated by us.”

“So we should encourage migration and trading them our porno mags?” Turnball asked.

“Playboys are worth considerably more than Husslers, General. They want things which are more than pornography. They want culture . Porn is apparently much the same wherever you go,” Mike explained.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“General, there’s something else to keep in mind,” Mike said. “Everything, and I mean everything , which was produced prior to the return of the Seeker of New Discoveries , is now worth its weight in gold if you transport it to another star system. More than that, perhaps. Once contact is made with a Darkworld, the value of their culture begins to decrease. If you do have any old magazines, not just playboys but anything laying around your house, I suggest that you take efforts to preserve them. They might be worth more than your current retirement plan.”

“Do you think they’ll have an interest in monster trucks?” Turnball asked with a grin.

“If you have a library on the subject, then you might just be a billionaire,” Mike informed him.

Turnball nodded. “I’ll contact the Yonohoans. I’m certain they’ll agree to the requests on behalf of our allies.”

“It can’t be known that it comes from the Triumverant. If it gets out that they’re agreeing on this matter, it will be a scandal,” Mike said. “We need to make the request without telling the Yonohoans why.”

“I doubt that the Yonohoans will care about the games that the Triumverants play among themselves,” Turnball protested.

“They won’t. But if we openly tell the Yonohoans why we’re making the request, the Triumverant spies within their government will send word back to the primaries that they’ve been embarrassed by Earth. We’re way, way ahead of the game with them compared to what we would be without the war and without Tonom Genisi’s help, sir. They’d forgive us for the slight, but we need as much capital as we can get with every ally we can find, don’t we?” Mike explained.

Turnball frowned and nodded. “Frustrating, but I see your point. So what do we tell them?”

“My suggestion is that we simply tell them not to attack those stars and leave it at that,” Mike admitted. “They’re smart enough to know that the request would have come from the Triumverant without us stating that it did. Either that or another ally has reached out to us and isn’t willing to show their cards at this point in the game.”

Turnball nodded. “They are rather savvy, I have to admit.”

“Speaking of cards, general, how are you at poker? I’m trying to put a game together. And I believe your wife enjoys wine tasting?”

Turnball nodded. “Is that an invitation?”

“Unless you’d rather play golf. But I need someone in your circle to pick up the trifecta. Wine, golf and poker,” Mike said.

Turnball grinned. “I’ll take golf instead. Major Phillips is one hell of a poker player. And I’ll extend your offer of wine tasting to my wife when I see her next.”

Mike grinned. “It’s so pleasant to have everyone on the same page, isn’t it?”

“We’ll get through this. Individually, and collectively, we’ll figure out how to navigate these waters.”

“You’re a general, not an admiral.”

Turnball shrugged. “What’s the difference?”

They exchanged a laugh, then began going into the boring details of the proposed alliance.

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