Dark Fate, Chapter 189 (Patreon)

Chapter 189 – Sales Pitch

I had been expecting this kind of talk, and so I had the specs of different craft I’d be willing to sell at hand. I reached into one of my pockets, and pulled out a small holographic projector. Once it was on the table between us, I hit the button, and it turned on, displaying some basic schematics of the X-Pattern Hunter in the air between us.

“The Hunters are impressive fighters, as you’ve likely seen from broadcast footage. I believe they are classified as ‘space superiority fighters’ in the System Shop. Basically, they’re designed to be the all-around best at combatting other small craft in space, hunting enemy fighters or bombers, while also having the potential loadout to do attacks on enemy ships. Obviously, you need to get really lucky, or have multiple fighters to have a chance at hurting true warships, but even a single Hunter could do a good job against merchant craft.

“As you can see, the Hunter comes with four wing-mounted cannons. These can be set to sequential fire, dual-fire, or quad-fire modes. Each mode has their strengths and weaknesses, but most of my pilots prefer dual-fire mode.”

Leader Oh leaned in, looking at the hologram with interest. “Let me guess, the strength of sequential fire is that it allows for continuous fire, since each cannon has cycled, or whatever space magic term they use, and is ready to fire again by the time the sequence gets back around to them, but each impact is obviously weaker. On the other hand, quad-linked offers heavy-hitting attacks, but with a slower rate of fire, while dual-linked is the middle ground between the two?”

“Exactly. Obviously, which one is best depends on the target you’re going for. For lightly-armored targets like mines or situations where you’re trying to wear down a larger target’s shields, sequential fire is best. For fighter-to-fighter combat, the dual-linked works best. And the quad-linked is for when you need to break a hardened target.

“Of course, the Hunter has more than just the cannons to hit with. They have dual launchers with internal ammunition bays that can fire a variety of munitions, depending on the mission load-out. Standard load for a Hunter would be torpedoes, allowing them to better hit enemy ships, but they can be switched out for missiles or heavy bombs, as well, for dealing with fighters or enemy bases, as you might expect.”

“All of which we would have to buy from you, or purchase through the System Shop, no doubt. At least until we managed to get the industry together to make them ourselves.”

“Naturally. But I’m sure you’ll find the rates from Ceres better than what you can get from the System Shop. Regardless, with its shields and ability to fly in and out of atmosphere, a squadron of Hunters would allow North Korea to punch above their weight class when dealing with countries in southeast Asia. However, you need more than just a strike fighter if you’re going to truly be a power.”

As I spoke, I touched another button on the projector. The Hunter schematics vanished, and were replaced by those of a Renegade. Just, not the Renegades that Ceres used.

“This is the Outlaw, a Renegade variant designed for in-system use with an eye to multi-role functions. It retains the blasters, ion cannons, and turrets of the mainline Renegade model, but loses the pulse torpedo launchers, replacing them with multiuse launchers like you see in the Hunters, with internal bays. It also has a warp drive, but it is only rated for 2c, or twice the speed of light. Means that you can get from Earth to Pluto in two to three hours instead of spending days on the trip, but you’d still be looking at years to get to the closest star system.

“Now, with the pulse torpedo launchers gone, that means the dedicated reactor for making the antimatter is gone, too, freeing up a bunch of space in the rear compartment. This is what allows the Outlaw to function as something other than a heavy assault bomber. My designers have come up with three standard variants for the Outlaw, but the basic setup is modular, so your own people can refit them according to mission specs.”

“Is this the designer who had an alien captain yelling at the entire system demanding to know where they are?”

“No. She was the creator of the original Renegade design, but her talents are more creative than iterative. She is good at making new, unusual, and frighteningly dangerous weapons and ships, but loses focus on design iteration. Fortunately, I have more designers in my employ than just her, so I keep her doing what she does best, while the others work out the details on the ’boring’ parts.”

“Sensible,” she nodded.

“I like to think that I’m a sensible ruler,” I chuckled. “Now, the standard variants for the Outlaw are the Transport, Shuttle, and Medevac. The Transport keeps the berths for the crew, along with communal hygiene facilities, but empties the rest of the rear section out to have as much cargo space as possible. There’s also a magnetic grapple on the keel, allowing it to carry larger loads. To use the American military as an example, the Transport can fulfil the roles of an Apache, a Blackhawk, or a Chinook.”

Leader Oh blinked, and said, “All in one platform? And that is just one variant?”

“The System and space magic make a lot of things possible, Leader Oh. Obviously, it cannot do everything all at once. Even with inertial dampeners, any troops in the rear compartment would be less than happy with a pilot who decided to dogfight while they were in the back, and trying that with a cargo container hanging on the underside is madness. But it does have VTOL capability, and the lift capability to haul a pair of your Cheonma-2 tanks, making it a very versatile craft.”

“Hmm. I may have to get one of those for myself.”

“Well, you might prefer the Shuttle variant, instead. This actually comes in two models. There is a ‘civilian’ model that downgrades the weaponry to point defense and countermeasures, and replaces the multipurpose launchers with ones designed to launch signal buoys, drones, and other such scientific equipment, and a ‘military’ version, which keeps all the good toys, but otherwise they’re the same. The rear compartment loses the crew berths, but has restroom facilities. The Shuttle variant is designed for strictly personnel transport, with dedicated seating that can be reconfigured depending on whether you’re looking for max capacity, or VIP transport.”

“And what makes the Medevac version different?”

“The Medevac has the civilian weapons loadout, but reinforced armor and shields, as well as a stand-alone backup generator for the passenger bay, which is intended to be equivalent to any medical aircraft in service. However, in a pinch it can also be the center of an ad hoc medical center, though I wouldn’t recommend it for more than emergency surgery. Fortunately, actual magic can cover that gap, in some respects.”

Oh sighed, shaking her head in a show of exasperation. “I still have trouble believing that magic is a thing, sometimes. Or, at least, accepting what it can do.”

“Well, I had a head start getting used to it this time, but I do remember how long it took me to adjust, the first time around. Don’t worry, in a few more years, this will all just be the new normal.”

“That’s something, at least,” she chuckled. “So, back to the goods. I notice that these Outlaws are different from the shuttles that the Ceres Navy and Marines use. Completely different design model.”

“Ah, there’s a reason for that. Through time travel shenanigans, I came into possession of some technology from a polity known as the Great Horde, who take up space coreward on the spiral arm from here. They’ve got some advanced technology, but they are quite adamant about not allowing their ships or major weapons being sold without their very express permission. They can, and have, cleansed entire systems to prove that point.”

“So, is there a danger with the Ceres Royal Navy using those designs?”

“No, the Great Horde is many things, but they have a sense of honor. Ceres finding Great Horde technology displaced through a timestrike, and then using that technology to build more small craft or the like? That is an acceptable outcome. We ‘won’ the right to use that tech by finding it, rather than stealing it or some other ‘dishonorable’ action.

“However, that understanding is not limitless. If we were to copy the ship we have, and make more of it, then that would say that Ceres believes it is the equal of the Great Horde, and they would be honor-bound to either absorb or destroy us, so that there is no rival to the Great Horde. And copying the ship to sell to others? Oh, that would bring their full wrath upon us.”

The leader nodded. “So, basically they are fine with people making limited use of any cast-offs or scraps that they find, so long as they go about it in certain ways, but trying to play like you’re their equal is a good way to be either brought into the fold, or removed from contention, while selling copies of those scraps will get a task force on your doorstep?”

“Precisely. So, we can’t produce more of the shuttles based on Great Horde technology than we would be using for our military needs. Hence, our designers creating options based on the Renegade platform, which we can sell to our friends.”

“Interesting. Any other fun inventions to talk about, or should we move on to negotiations?”

“Well, there is a ‘bolt on’ upgrade kit that one of our designers created, which can be added to any vehicle that you can find a place to fit it in. Basically, it is a miniature shield generator, specialized for dealing with incoming projectiles and spells. Anything over a certain speed gets stopped by the shield, as well as hostile spells and the like. It is air permeable, to allow air-breathing vehicles to use it without having to go with a full refit from the chassis up.”

“What kind of power supply does it need?”

“That’s the best part. It uses a mana condenser which allows it to run off ambient mana, though it is possible to boost performance temporarily by directly injecting mana into the system. The system is ‘always on’ by default, though enough hits will cause it to shut down, after which it will take a few minutes to regain enough mana to restart the shields. However, that would give an unarmored car the chance to survive at least one round from a tank.”

“Sounds like a useful device, but the best defense is still not getting hit in the first place. You said it protects against projectiles over a certain speed? What are we talking about, here?”

“Baseball thrown by a major league pitcher would be stopped, along with things like arrows or bullets, but a thrown knife or a Molotov cocktail might be slow enough to make it through. Definitely won’t protect from muddy water splashed up by a passing car, or rocks tossed up by their tires. Roadside bombs would be stopped, as well as landmines, provided they went off outside the shield radius. So, if it goes off half a meter to the side, you’d be good, but if you’re right over it when it goes boom, then your vehicle is going to take all of that. And, obviously, things like rocket-propelled grenades and missiles would be useless, until the shield was forced to restart.”

“I am quite certain that my military leaders would call for my execution if I did not secure some of these for our forces. A squadron of advanced fighters or troop transports is one thing. The ability to upgrade the entirety of our military vehicles to better withstand attacks? Without needing extensive retraining on new systems? I would be an idiot to not purchase them, assuming the price isn’t extortionate.”

“Please! We’re friends, and Ceres does not extort our friends. That’s a good way for them to stop being friends, after all. Obviously, such things won’t be free. But we both know that anyone who says that they’re giving you something for free just means you’ll be paying in some other way. So, let’s talk costs. Your country is resource rich and industry poor, and while the recent changes you’ve made have helped, there’s still a great deal of work to be done, no?”

She nodded, so I continued. “So, here’s the deal. My people have supplied a list of materials that we require to continue our expansion efforts, both for civilian infrastructure and the military. Materials that can be found in your country, or in your dungeons. Ceres will sell you equipment for eighty percent of the value shown by [Appraise] skills with the system, for raw materials from that list, buying at fifteen percent above the price the System Shop would allow you to sell those materials.”

I took a breath, and then said, “We will also lease you the construction equipment necessary for North Korea to create a fully functioning lunar colony at market rates. How would you like to beat the Americans, Chinese, and Russians to having a permanent lunar colony?”

Leader Oh just looked at me for a moment, and then laughed. “Oh, you are good. If this is how you strike a deal with your friends, remind me to never be your enemy. You probably make them thank you for the privilege of being screwed.”

“Well, I did mention that time with the Chinese Ambassador, no? She was quite literally thanking me for screwing her by the end.”