All of the saliva in Merodek Baladan’s mouth had quite suddenly evaporated. He watched as the tiny blips that represented a fleet of enormous battleships appeared on his long range scanners.
Dragoons, Golems, they even had a Hag, a massive living battlecruiser bio-engineered by the Heruka. Whoever was coming, they were clearly banking on scaring Merodek into surrendering the mining colony.
“Piko,” he said as his aglets danced, his fingers a furious blur. “Start running battle simulations; what are the odds of repelling an attack?”
The blips continued to grow, and Merodek cursed himself for sending away the forces Colonel Gerra had lent him. He had not expected such a strong show of force from this relatively unknown holding company that had snatched the mining rights out from under him.
“Sir,” Piko said. “I calculate a seventy-three percent chance of defeat.”
He ran his long fingers across his smooth, featureless face, the bioluminescent lights that ran along his jaw shifting from deep blues to dark reds.
“What if we pull in our secondary fleet from the Ghasmari System?”
“Even if we put the order in now, it will take at least an hour for the fleet to coordinate a jump and engage the enemy. By that time, they will have hammered our defenses apart.”
The board will be furious.
“Sir,” Piko interrupted. “You are being hailed.”
“Put them through,” he answered after a moment’s thought.
“Hello, Merodek,” said Devi Inmar, as his head sack inflated.
“Hello, Devi” he replied, confused. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“We’re afraid we’re here on business. You see, Daytech Mechanics has purchased the mining rights to the colony you are currently occupying. Illegally occupying, we should say.”
Merodek’s face burned. Daytech Mechanics now owned the mining rights, which meant by proxy, Microtech. This was a difficult spot to be put in. To surrender the mining colony would be unacceptable to the board, but a conflict with Daytech would risk a wider engagement between Microtech and Aeon Chemical, a conflict that neither Mega-corporation could afford.
“I’m afraid that’s not how things appear from our side. As I’m sure you’re aware, we’ve filed dispute with the lower courts.”
Devi laughed. “You are well within your legal rights to dispute the purchase, but until the courts reverse the purchase or place a stay, the mining rights and all pertinent technology and property belong to Daytech Mechanics. But you know this, Merodek. Let’s not patronize one another.”
Merodek flexed his stiff left hand, uncurling his three long fingers. “Very well. I will drop the pretense.”
“You know you can’t possibly defeat our forces here, but we will allow you to leave.”
“Allow me to leave; how gracious,” Merodek’s voice dripped with acid. “Tell me, between the cost of the mining rights, which will revert to Aeon Chemical once the lower courts review our appeal, and the losses you will suffer defeating our fleet, how much capital will a minor corporation like Daytech Mechanics have?”
“Daytech Mechanics has more than enough liquid assets to outlast this small skirmish.”
“I have no doubt about that. I’m not interested in outlasting Daytech Mechanics; I just have to outlast you.”
Devi’s head sack deflated, his eyes puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“Major expenditures on mining rights you’re not equipped to exploit, an expensive war of attrition with a Mega-corporation… When is Daytech’s next board meeting? A month from now? How are you going to explain the losses to the board? How long will they suffer a CEO who doesn’t understand his place in the game? Who got in over his head and continues to hemorrhage money day after day, week after week?”
“You know, you’re probably right. If the mining rights revert, we will be ousted.” Devi leaned forward in his chair. “But unfortunately for you, the purchase was legal. Your dispute will be summarily dismissed, and Daytech Mechanics will post its highest quarterly profit in a hundred years.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
A smile slowly spread across his face. “We think this occupation is a desperate gambit to correct a grave error in judgement from an aging CEO. Tell me, how will the Five look upon such a failure? A failure that could have so easily been avoided, and the CEO not been so lazy and careless? Incompetent even.”
Merodek’s voice deepened. “Tell me, boy, how many wars have you managed?”
Devi pursed his thick lips, but said nothing.
“As I suspected, this is your first.” It was Merodek’s turn to smile. “You’re about to learn, that violence has a face and you must become its friend if you are to survive the game. I remember my first battle during the Conquest of the Abu and the Gish, who had formed a coalition against their eventual conquerors, the Alliance.
“I was young then, long before you were born. The Durga System was heavily protected by a huge fleet the Abu had sent, and months of fighting on the outer rims of the Gish system had led to a stalemate. A slow war of attrition.
“Unsure how to penetrate further into the system, Commander Jorza Bal had a brilliant idea. He took two synchronized quantum particles, connected one to his Halabi drive and the other to a Nightshade - a small stealth fighter my people manufactured for the Five.
“Jorza Bal feigned an attack, sacrificing several valuable ships, drawing the firepower of the enemy, concentrating their focus in a large skirmish near the ice planet Ashada.”
“Tell me,” Devi said. “Is there a point to this little fable of yours?”
“The Nightshade made its way into the system, and using the synched Halabi particles, Jorza Bal jumped his Capital Ship deep into the heart of the system. The Gish immediately tried to negotiate the terms of their surrender. But the Five had different plans.
“They ordered us to bombard the city of Edom, a large trade hub on the planet Silvanus. And so we did, while our enemy begged for mercy. Men, women, children - none of it mattered. They all melted under the heat of our weapons, until there was nothing left but scorched stone and pools of metal.
“That night, after witnessing what we now call the Slaughter of Edom, I wept like a grandmother. But the tears were soon replaced with admiration. Admiration of the horror the Five inflicted. I knew then that the Alliance would never be defeated. They had the greater will. The will to win at all cost.
“The Gish surrendered, and the Abu soon followed. So tell me, Devi, how does your will feel this day? We who walk in shadow and blood, we are men of will. We shape history through acts of violence, in and out of the boardroom. Are you prepared to do what must be done?”
Devi’s head sack had withered, his eyes lulled without the support, like giant ping-pong balls buried in a raisin. “Yes,” he said, his voice unconvincing. “The Five have personally communed with us. They have given us their blessing.”
Merodek paused, dramatically, letting Devi’s uncertainty hang for a moment. His wife had frequently told him he should have been a musician, the way he could manipulate a person’s emotions. Devi’s head sack inflated sharply, his eyes narrowed.
“We have given you the courtesy of protection as you flee,” he finally said.
“You mean you’ve been ordered to not kill the CEO of a Mega-corporation, and risk provoking a full scale war.”
This gave Devi pause.
“Don’t think for one moment I believe you have any authority to act in these matters. You are an errand boy, sent to collect a debt. A puppet, nothing more, of forces you cannot possibly comprehend.”
“The bombardment will begin shortly. We suggest you make haste to your ship.”
Devi cut the feed. Merodek smiled. There was little in the world he savored more than putting a young, brash executive in his place. Even if the circumstances were less than ideal.
“Piko, have the Captain prepare the Pazuzu for launch.”
“Right away, sir.”
High pitched alarms screamed as Merodek strode calmly out the front doors of the research base that had served as his temporary command and control center. He glanced up at the sky as he heard the all too familiar screech of Anchorite Spears, kinetic weapons dropped from deep space, screaming as they tore through the atmosphere towards their targets.
He watched as the spears dove deep into the earth in the distance, flashes of deep orange and red scattered in an even pattern before the rolling thunder of explosions washed over him, leaving great plumes of smoke and ash on the horizon.
The ground troops under his command scrambled for cover as the massive Tar Cannons sent rippling bursts of superheated plasma into space. Thousands of Jackanape ships descended upon the mining colony, their green hulls flashed in the sunlight, giving them the appearance of a swarm of locusts hungrily descending on a field of crops.
As the Jackanapes approached, they unleashed a volley of bullets, with a loud sound like an old rusted zipper being violently yanked. As the bullets impacted the buildings, they were followed by the loud patter of small explosions as the superheated rounds burst inside the buildings, shredding everything inside. Both flesh and stone.
Merodek walked calmly through it all, knowing that the enemy A.I. targeting systems would refuse to fire in close proximity to a tagged target. He meandered towards his ship, passing an elderly human, bent with age, carrying a large wooden basket filled with dried fruit.
“Sir, you need to get inside. Find some cover,” Merodek said.
The old man grunted dismissively. “War is as it ever was. They just find new ways to kill you is all. Ain’t nothing I can do about that.”
Merodek smiled as he watched the old man totter on. He considered accompanying the old fool on his journey, protecting the man with his status. But no, he had more pressing matters to attend to.
He made his way to the ship, the sounds of death and destruction ringing in his ears. There’d be hell to pay for this. He just hoped he wouldn’t be left holding the bill.