Chapter Forty-Two - Cat to the Moon

"The 2028 Space Accord is an international agreement signed by all members of the G10 that, in essence, removes all limits on space-based weapons platforms installed by governments and private enterprises operating within signatory nations as long as these weapon platforms meet certain criteria. The most important of these is a system of safe locks, preventing the use of these weapons against Earthly civilian targets."

--Excerpt from International Laws and Regulations, Seventy-Third Edition, 2035

***

"So... you bargained away our right to be the first to shoot?" Gomorrah asked. It wasn't really a question, even if she'd given it that kind of tone. It was a reprimand.

We were in a small office space next to the communication room where I'd just finished chatting with Doctor Radikal and Susan. The call had ended as quickly as it began. They were both far from our timezone, and either needed to hit the hay or just get shit started for the day, so we hadn't lingered on goodbyes. It was myself, Gomorrah, and Grasshopper. It looked like the three of us formed the more... veteran part of the Big Gun Project.

Oh, right, I'd need to tell the others that I'd kinda named our entire project without permission or input. That could wait a minute.

"Bargained away makes it sound like I was being stupid on purpose," I said.

"So you weren't purposefully stupid?" Gomorrah asked with a slight tilt of her head.

I paused, worked through the English there, then shook my head. "No, wait. What I mean is that what I did wasn't stupid."

Grasshopper reached over and touched Gomorrah on the shoulder gently. "Let's give Catherine a chance to explain herself. It's only fair. We gave her the task to bargain for us and our confidence that she would do her best, without first giving her all the information she'd need to do her best, or much time to consider things."

I pointed to Grasshopper, because that was a damned good point. They'd kinda dropped me into the hot seat and I had to figure shit out all on my own there. It wasn't exactly the fairest way of doing things.

"Fine. Sorry Cat," Gomorrah said. "Grasshopper's right, we kind of threw you into the situation. Nonetheless... I'd like an explanation of what went down, please."

"Sure," I said with a nod. That I could do, no problem. "So, two factions, right? We've got the... uh, Myalis, how do I even pronounce their name?"

Myalis took over the speakers in my helmet with a faint--probably artificial--crackle. "The name you're going to fail to pronounce properly is the Nachtwächternetzwerk. Literally the Night Watchmen Network."

"Them," I said. "Their guy was this crazy mad scientist type. Like out of a cartoon or something, with the accent and all. Doctor Radikal. With a K. Nice guy, actually. Bit of a weirdo, but I wouldn't mind chatting with him some more. The other gang is the Keiretsu, from east Asia. They're not just Japanese, but I'm pretty sure the guy I spoke to--Susan--is."

"I've heard of the Keiretsu," Gomorrah said. "They're as large as the Family, and possibly more influential within the continent they operate in."

"Really?" I asked.

She shifted, arms dropping to her sides as she spoke. "They're a conglomerate of corporate entities owned wholly or in part by samurai. Some of the corporations that make up the Keiretsu no longer have samurai leaders, but only because those leaders have died. If you have an Asian company and you want it to hit the top, you need to be part of the Keiretsu."

"So it's like a gang?" I asked.

"No, but also yes. It's more complicated than that. They're mostly just there to provide support, but it's an extensive network of connections that is hard to break into and which comes with a certain guarantee of quality and competence. A lot of the companies in the group are tiny operations, but they produce the best things and will only sell to other members."

I had a decent image of how they worked already, but this was shining a lot more light on the whole situation. "Okay. I think I see what you're painting here," I said. "So, let's not fuck with them?"

"Let's not," she agreed. "Though I can't see them being immediately antagonistic. We're far outside of their jurisdiction and their business. And they love working with samurai. Your business would fit right in."

I shrugged. "What do you know about the Night Watchmen Network?" I asked.

"Nothing," Gomorrah said.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"I know a little more," Grasshopper said. "I have a few friends that are part of their group. We're in a shared maths enthusiasts group!"

"Uh-huh," I said.

"They're less political or business-like than the Family or the Keiretsu. They're more like a disjointed group of friends and compatriots from across a number of cities and countries. Even here in North America. How did it go, by the way? You haven't told us much yet."

"Right, right," I said. "So, yeah, the Night Watchmen get first dibs on blowing up Phobos. Or cooking it, I guess. They have a big... not-gun of their own that's ready to fire."

I'd received a text from Doctor Radikal, or more likely his AI. It was a link to a live count-down of when their project was going to fire.

"They're gonna shoot in about six hours."

"We'll be ready to shoot ourselves by then," Gomorrah said.

"We will, but it'll take a while for anything we shoot to reach Phobos," Grasshopper pointed out.

"Even after being shot from the Big Gun?" I asked. "It's... a really big gun, won't our bullet be moving hella fast?"

"Hella fast indeed," Grasshopper said with a serious nod. "But space is 'hella big' as well, so even at such speeds it will take a long time for our bullet to reach its target."

That was fair, I supposed. I didn't know enough to comment either way. "Right, well, after the nerds fire up their tesla microwave gun thing, the Keiratsu have an army of drones being built. I think they've launched the first couple of waves already. They'll be arriving at Phobos second. No ETA on that one."

"Drones?" Gomorrah asked. "Any more details than that?"

"Uh, the first wave are suicide drones, then they wanna use drones with thermal stuff to make the moon's direction change." I had no idea how that would work. Would warming something up in space really make it change directions? I didn't wanna look like a dumbass, so I kept my mouth shut about it.

"Clever," Grasshopper said. "They're producing the drones in space?"

"From what I gathered, yeah," I said.

"Then we'll have a constant supply of harassment for Phobos."

"Can't we do the same?" I asked.

"Not at the moment, no," Grasshopper said. "We're limited to a single approach vector at the moment. Where we can vary things a lot is with our choice of munitions, but our Big Gun can only fire so many times."

"We can't fire non-stop?" I asked.

She shook her head. "The cannon is designed to fire once an hour at a normal, efficient rate. We can double that, but we'll be pushing up our maintenance needs and we'll burn through our electrical capacity."

I wouldn't even pretend to understand how a railgun actually worked. If Grasshopper said once an hour, then it was once an hour. That felt a little slow to me, at least until I started to take in just how fucking awesome what we were doing was.

"Anyway, we're third in line. If the nerd's super energy weapon fucks Phobos up, then we've wasted all this effort."

"Nonsense," Grasshopper said. "We made friends and learned all sorts of things. That's not wasted effort. A lost opportunity isn't a loss of time."

I grinned. "Sure. Anyway, it doesn't sound like the Keiretsu's shit is gonna take Phobos out in one swoop. More like they're aiming to soften the moon up, kill it by chipping away at it for however long it takes until the whole thing gives up."

"It's a valid tactic against the antithesis," Gomorrah said. "You often have to choose between a single decisive strike or a variable war of attrition where you don't use the same tactics often enough for the antithesis to adapt."

"I think he said something like that," I said. "Susan, I mean. It's valid, I guess. Not my kind of thing."

"You also agreed to this project because it has exceptional alpha-strike capabilities," Gomorrah said.

"I'm just an alpha kinda person," I agreed.

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response," Gomorrah said.

"I'm not big on dignity anyway," I shot back. "So, you still angry that we're in third?"

"... No. I'm not upset. Sorry, Cat, I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions," Gomorrah said, sounding all mature and shit. "We'll hope that the Nachtwächternetzwerk succeed and if they don't, then we'll do what we can to work with the others."

"Awesome," I said while deep down I was kinda annoyed that she'd pronounced that perfectly without a hitch.

I checked the timer again. "We've got a few hours until they do their thing. Should we finish up the Big Gun then sit back and watch?"

***