SHAD POV

Veda stood there watching me, a half-smile on her face. She hadn't changed much in the last few years, still giving off the impression of being a snow queen—tall, slender, white-haired, wrapped in a pale blue dress. It was more obvious, surrounded by the elves, that she was a different species than them, closer to human, though her long fingers were triple-jointed. I felt a quick rush of familiarity, followed by a stab of anger. "You're who we're here to negotiate with?"

"I am," she said calmly. "It's been a while. Congratulations on your daughter, by the way. She's a beautiful girl," she said to Juana, who dipped her head and smiled.

We drifted away from Mak’gar, who was eyeing us all, toward the edge of the room. I fought to control my anger. I had known Veda was running a team of miners for Proxima. They had bought out her contract at the end of the Kronos exploit, seeking to use her expertise with us humans and our crazy classes for their new contractors. While some of Proxima's contracts with earthlings were exploitative, the outright slave contracts they'd forced us all into had been canceled, and, at least theoretically, everyone working for Veda had volunteered for it. That still didn't make me happy to see her here now.

"I heard about Sage," Veda said. Her expression transformed, and I saw genuine sadness. "I'm sorry. Nobody was expecting the fragments to break free like that."

Anger welled up in me. "You all have well and truly broken this engine, haven't you? Shattered it like Humpty Dumpty, and now we're all picking up the pieces."

She bowed her head. "Yes, that's the case. We're here to talk about getting your people back, are we not?"

I crossed my arms. "Hostage negotiations. I'm sure you know I prefer to conduct mine with explosions and high-velocity lead."

"I am aware of that, which is why I'm hoping Juana will be a calming influence on you. I asked Proxima to let me represent them here because I think you're slightly more likely to listen to me. It wasn't my idea to hold their soul tokens hostage, believe me. But it was my team that went up against yours and defeated them."

That left a sick feeling in my stomach. Other Earthlings had done this to us then. In the years since the end of the Kronos exploit, millions of Earthlings had come through Kronos acquiring specialized classes of their own, and a lot of them had signed up with galactic organizations like Proxima to dive into other reality engines.

"What's your offer?" Juana asked. "Obviously, we want all of our people back in one piece."

Veda held up a hand. "First of all, we are governed by standard galactic law. While the soul coins remain in our possession, they are inviolate. Your people will be released at the end of this exploit if we cannot come to terms before then."

"That's standard law in a contested situation," Juana confirmed for me.

"How often do you have this sort of contested scenario?" I asked.

"The existence of the Reality Engine Exploitation Committee is supposed to prevent these kinds of conflicts," Veda said. "It's been over a standard century since we had a conflicted engine, and I don't know if there's ever been one with so many different dominators. We're all interfering with each other quite a lot," she admitted, "which is why many of the fragments are exerting so much will on their own."

"Good for them," I said automatically.

"It's one of those fragments that destroyed the ship Sage was on," Veda said.

I felt like she'd just slapped me across the face. Around us, another waltz was starting up. Elf pairs drifted out onto the floor.

Veda gestured around. "Take this scenario. Originally, Proxima had a good grip on the whole thing. The fragment here was represented by the old court faction, and we had aligned with the upstart rivals. We planned to conquer the zone and force the fragment under the control of our dominator. My elite teams were doing well right up until the point where we lost control completely. Now the whole zone is under contention. We think the fragment is getting backup from another dominator that hasn't been able to directly control but is instead supplying it with various resources and the ability to fight back against us."

"That's why we had this zone targeted," Juana said. "Our analysis suggested it was a good place to try to expand our own field of influence."

"Yes, you're a complicating factor," Veda said. "But one I hope to be able to use. Because you are protected by that Kronos fragment you have, you're able to enter territory that my teams and our dominator have been hard-locked out of. I want you to end this stalemate. In return, I will have your people's soul coins handed back, as well as sign a deal to allow your farming teams access to three of our secured levels."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Juana started to speak, but I held up a hand. "That's very generous."

Veda's eyes flashed. "I understand how to hire the best," she said.

"Flattery will get you everywhere. Still, something stinks about this deal. You've got plenty of resources to hire more mercenaries."

She sighed. "You're not the only ones with a missing team," she admitted. "My three best squads went up against an enemy position and haven't returned. I'm not certain if their soul coins are being held or if they've been completely destroyed. I hope for their sake that it's the former. If you can rescue them, I'll pay a bounty to get them back safe."

"So you want me to risk more of my people."

"We know from going up against your Kronos fragment with our Dominator that you've got a smaller but much more flexible and reactive controller. It won't be a head-to-head push the way it's been for my team. You'll be able to sneak in and accomplish your goals."

"Just a second," I said. I took Juana's hand and dragged her out onto the dance floor, leaving Veda standing behind, looking frustrated. We swung into the steps of the dance. This wasn't the first ball I'd had to attend in the last few years, and I'd gotten Kronos to help me out with a few skills. I was able to lead us through the flow of the dance without embarrassing myself or, more importantly, my wife.

"It sounds like a reasonable offer," Juana hissed. "Unless you think she's not to be trusted."

"Of course she's not. She's working for Proxima," I said. "Personal feelings don't enter into it. She's got a job to do. She's going to do it. It doesn't mean that I think she's intentionally trying to screw us over. I don't think she ever outright lied to us. But she's not a friend, Juana, especially now that she's working for the other side."

"We can't go this entirely alone," my wife said. "I know we don't like Proxima, and there's good reasons for that. But on the other hand, they know and respect us, and a lot of these Galactics don't. We're talking about trying to get Earth onto the Galactic stage. We've got to start making alliances and building up a reputation. If we do this for Proxima and then let the information trickle out to everyone else here at the Exploit, that builds our reputation as someone that one of the Galactics called on and then followed through. Besides, her missing teams are Earthlings, too."

She had a point there. One I hadn't thought of. "All right, but I want to try to get more out of this," I said.

"Like what?"

I thought. This would alter our schedule quite a bit and force us to divert resources from other locations. "I want to ask her to grant us access to one of those farming levels immediately.”

Juana raised an eyebrow. “Good idea. That'll free up some of our strike teams to help you out."

I nodded. "And as a gesture of goodwill, I want Colin's team back."

Her eyes widened. "Before we've even done anything for them? You think she'll go for it?"

"I want you to ask for it," I said. "She's still got the military personnel, and I'm not going to abandon them, but Colin's team are exactly the ones I would be asking to perform a scenario like this."

"They did just get themselves ambushed and wiped out by Veda's people," Juana pointed out.

"Because they don't have a leader. I'll fix that."

Juana's eyes narrowed. "I know that tone of voice, Shad.”

There was no point hiding it. “Look, if we take this deal, we need to make it happen as fast as possible. I also want someone who's had dealings with Proxima and knows that they're a bunch of treacherous assholes, so when they try to pull something on us, the team's prepared. I'll go in with Colin's team and get their people out. Then we can bring our military types to bear against whatever power base this fragment has."

"What if you get trapped in there with the rest of them?" Juana's voice shook.

"Then I guess I'll wait until the fragment gets taken by one Dominator or another and let you negotiate to get me out of purgatory," I said.

Juana flinched. The music ended when we stepped apart. Her face was pale. "Shad, I need to know you're not just looking for an excuse to do something crazy here in order to avenge Colin or Sage."

I shook my head. "Nothing's going to bring them back. This is about helping fill the void in our team where they would’ve been. Nothing more. I don't have a crazy death wish. You and Mila mean too much to me. I'll sit down with Grandpa and the strategists and plan this out. We won't charge in until we know a lot more. I think this is the best."

Juana bit her lip, then nodded. As the elves cleared the dance floor, we walked hand in hand back to where Veda was waiting.

"We're willing to come to terms," Juana said.

"Good. Then let's schedule a proper board meeting with lawyers to work out the details."

Juana held up a hand. "We have two conditions. Before we start this operation, we want the return of certain of our people. They're going to be integral in this mission. Second, I want access to multiple farming levels for my folk so that I can reallocate resources to this project."

She made it sound much more reasonable than I would have, I had to give her that. I knew Juana's galactic legal education would have her looking over whatever contracts Proxima offered like a hawk, checking for weasel-worded clauses and dirty tricks the way I'd watch for an ambush. The boardrooms were her battlefield, and I was happy to let her take the lead there.

Veda's eyes narrowed. "The farming level, yes, I think I can get you slots for up to forty farmers."

"Two hundred," Juana said right away.

"Sixty."

"Hundred and fifty."

"Seventy-five.”

Juana considered. "Eighty?"

Veda nodded. "I think so. I'll have to run it by our higher-ups, but I don't think that should be a problem. But releasing our hostages before we've got what we want—"

"You can hold on to them until the seals are all on the contracts," Juana said. "Then you'll have the backing of any adjudicator in the system to enforce it.”

“Plus, you've got my word," I said, stepping forward. "I need those people to get yours out. Once I do, we'll finish out your damn mission."

Veda looked me over and nodded. "That's good enough for me. It may not be good enough for them, but we'll take it one step at a time."