Blue Star Enterprises Chapter 2-58: Book 2 Epilogue (Patreon)

You all really did luck out on this one. I was celebrating 100 chapters on RR with a double chapter today, and it just so happened to be the book 2 Epilogue as well. I hope you enjoy it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOCATION: SECRET

SYSTEM: UNDISCLOSED

DATE: 2400

Benning walked down the plain and austere hallway next to one of the bosses of Omni. They always liked to think they were in charge, and he let them keep thinking that because he honestly hated dealing with the politics of it all.

Soon the pair came to a thick set of steel doors with a group of four guards. “Please empty your pockets and prepare for a thorough scan. No electronics of any kind will be allowed in the meeting chamber.”

His boss scoffed. “Obviously, who do you think came up with these rules in the first place?”

Benning held his tongue. He doubted his boss had ever done anything other than schmooze with other hoity-toity-rich folks. The man certainly hadn’t implemented stringent security features. Those all came from his department, much like anything of substance from within Omni.

The pair was passed through a series of scanners before being ushered through the heavy doors. Even if someone managed to get some electronics past the scanners, the disruption field that settled over them as they passed the doors would have rendered the devices useless. It did make you feel a bit strange since the field could disrupt the occasional synaptic activity, but it was a small price to pay to ensure complete electronic security.

They entered into a large open room with a massive circular table that could fit a hundred people. That table sat under a similarly circular light that was designed to light the table, but leave everything else in shadow. It was just another measure to ensure all the guests had some privacy.

Benning sat next to his boss in a pair of empty seats. With no head of the table and no assigned seating, it ensured equality among the people at this gathering.

Over the next few minutes, the final attendees filtered into the gloomy room.

A red strip on the inside of the table lit up to alert everyone that the meeting was set to begin. One of the sections turned blue and the shadowed face began to speak.

Benning knew the speaker even if he couldn’t see the woman’s face. She was the CEO of Dynamic Energy Systems. They were Omni’s partner and provided the fusion power plants.

“I formerly announce the start of this meeting. Does anyone have an agenda?”

“I do,” a reedy-voiced man spoke up. “When this cabal was first floated twenty years ago, we were promised that it would lead to ever-increasing profit margins with each passing year. Yet this war threatens my company's bottom line.”

That’s where Benning knew the man from. He ran massive agricultural production operations. If he remembered correctly, the man did not diversify his holding and most of his operations were on former Coalition worlds because the labor was much cheaper out there. He suspected the man had been notified well in advance of the war though.

Benning’s boss spoke up in reply, confirming what Benning remembered. “You were notified over a decade ago that our plans included those worlds. You can hardly come complaining to us now because you failed to heed our advice.”

“Your advice would have cost me tens of trillions of credits,” the man shot back.

“A small price that would have seen your profits grow tenfold,” Benning’s boss responded.

“At our last meeting, you assured me that I had another six months to pull out of those worlds. Now your little puppet has captured all of my assets and stripped them for his war efforts.”

A round of grumbling ran around the room at that accusation. Harlow had indeed proven far more capable than their initial estimates.

“Quiet,” the CEO of Dynamic Energy Systems spoke matter of factly. “If you wish to speak, you must signal with the light.”

Another man clicked on his light to talk and spoke up. “We demand an answer, why has this war moved quicker than projections?”

Seeing as those projections had come from his AI, Benning spoke up for the first time. “The current STO Chairman is even more inept than we first accounted for. His mishandling of the war has given Harlow a much easier time pushing through systems.”

“Are you sure the man is even still under control?” another person asked.

“We have no reason to believe the memory alterations we implanted him with after we captured him over a decade ago have failed. He is following the plan we set forth for him. One in which he believes he fought against the Shican and won their respect,” Benning said proudly. “Everything after that has been as we have designed. It has just moved slightly faster than our predictions. Once again, thanks to the ineptitude of the STO Chairman.”

Getting ahold of one of the captured Shican vessels and secreting it away from the STO had cost a significant amount of money and favors. It was why the Chairman position was no longer in the hands of Tau Ceti’s planetary governor. It was a small price to pay for the future they were working toward though.

After years of effort, graft, and mishandled documentation, they managed to liberate the ship from the STO. To this day, the STO still thought the ship was misplaced in some storage yard somewhere.

The Shican vessels weren’t all that special, but they were perfect to give to pirates to help boost their technology to something a bit more modern. For their plan to work, they needed to be seen as a true threat to the STO's worlds.

“What of this new weapon?” another member asked.

The CEO of DES was the one to respond. “It is less a weapon and more a bastardization of fusion technology,” she replied. “We could easily reproduce it, but the cost would be absurd. As for the miniaturization, we can already do that, it is just not justifiable for the cost as of yet.”

He could hear soft murmurs of approval at that. If it’s one thing this group understood, it was the bottom line.

“Fine, let's say we believe that,” another member spoke up. “When this plan was first brought to us, a five-year war was the selling point. That allowed plenty of time for the STO to fire up a full war footing and sign lucrative new contracts with all of our companies for the foreseeable future. At the rate Harlow is taking planets, that STO will be forced to act, or crumble in a year or two. Neither of which will prompt them to sign new long-term contracts with our companies. How do you plan on resolving that issue?”

Benning’s boss spoke up again. “We are working on getting the STO to react more forcefully, but as I said before, the Borrus representative is a useless dilettante. We would be better off redirecting Harlow’s focus for a few months so the STO can regroup and hit back or slow down his people.”

“How do you propose to do that?” the previous speaker questioned.

“Our spies in his inner circle say he is after someone that is hiding out in Char space. We already know the man is a single-minded moron. We could simply redirect his focus out there.”

“What about his access to nuclear weapons?” the man who lost his agricultural assets asked.

Benning’s boss ground his teeth at that. “We were unaware that his parents had an enrichment facility on Haven. We have retasked out spies to foment rebellion on the pirate home world in order to destroy that facility and deny any more nuclear weapons to Harlow and his people. The rebellion will also help slow down his assault, thus dragging on the conflict and enriching the rest of our wallets.”

“All in favor of this?” the CEO of DES asked.

Two-thirds of the lights turned green, indicating acceptance.

“Any other agendas to discuss?” she asked after the vote.

“I’ve been hearing rumors that a new engine manufacturer is setting up shop,” a new voice spoke up as soon as their light went green.

Benning didn’t recognize this person, but he bristled at the accusation in the man’s tone. “We have not received any reports to indicate those rumors are true. If they are, we will deal with them like we have dealt with the rest.”

“Oh?” the same man questioned. “And if this new entity is outside of the STO, and has diplomatic immunity? How will you deal with them then?”

The room erupted into conversation. It seemed that this was news to everyone, not just Omni.

“Explain,” the DES CEO demanded after getting the room to settle down.

“I have a close family member who works in the STO’s clerk's office. They are all abuzz that three of them were called to officiate the creation of a new nation. One legally recognized by the STO.”

“How is that possible?” someone else asked.

“Some legal loophole allowed it. I managed to get the information from my cousin. The system being claimed is called Unokane. The entity that is claiming it is a small company by the name of Blue Star Enterprises, owned and operated by a man named Alexander Kane. I do find it convenient that this Kane had a run-in with Omni and that he also produces engines. Our esteemed colleagues at Omni wouldn’t be trying to double-cross us here, would they?”

“How dare you!” Benning’s boss shot to his feet, taking the man’s bait hook line, and sinker. “I can assure you, that we are dedicated to the vision that we set in motion. This upstart, BSE will be dealt with. I don’t care if they are an empire as large as the STO, we will crush them.”

Benning would have groaned if they were in private. Instead, he kept his mouth shut. With that outburst, his boss essentially made it so Omni had to deal with this issue themselves or lose face and standing within the cabal.

He made a mental note to have the man replaced with someone more competent. A tragic accident would be a good send-off.

The meeting moved to the next subject.

“What of the Shican?” a new person asked.

Benning was happy to answer this question. “As far as our scouts can determine, the Shican border is over a hundred lightyears away. We haven’t been able to infiltrate their space but the AI models predict they pulled back because they are at war with some other species. We do need to keep an eye on them, though. The few reports we did receive from our scouts show a distinct difference between the Shican that the STO warred with, and the Shican guarding their border.”

“What does that mean?” a woman asked.

“It means that the Shican that fought the STO was not part of their military. They were either outcasts or undesirables, it's not quite clear.”

“And this other race they are fighting?”

“We have no information on them yet. For now, we have pickets set a few systems away from the Shican border to keep tabs on the Shican and to hopefully catch a glimpse of this unknown alien species. I would also like to remind everyone that this is why war with the pirates was the best choice. War always leads to technological advancement, and if our neighbor is actively engaged in a war for more than forty years, we need to ensure our technology remains at or above their level,” Benning responded.

He had seen the reports from the scouts. If anything, the STO lagged quite a bit behind the Shican’s military. He wasn’t about to air that concern here though. He also had a pretty good idea of who the Shican were at war with. There really were only two options. It was either the race that built the hypergates or the ones that the mystery ship the STO had locked away belonged to.

Benning had heard about that ship years ago, but even with his vast connections, he hadn’t been able to get it out from under the STO or even get access to the reports generated from it. He knew the STO was reverse engineering it, but he didn’t know how far along they were.

His lack of access was all thanks to that damnable Vice Admiral. The man was a slippery bastard and as tight-lipped as they came, but he knew the man was on a short leash after the massive intelligence mishap with Harlow. Maybe with Vice Admiral Fletcher out of the picture, he could finally learn what they were building. This might be the perfect time to call in a few favors to finally get rid of Fletcher once and for all.