Collection 54 (Patreon)

Collection

Chapter 54

-VB-

Alexandro Steiner

3005 July 10

“Explain.”

Lyran Commonwealth’s top three theoretical physicists glanced at each other nervously. Then the most senior of the three stepped up resignedly. “My Archon… we have no idea.”

“... Explain why you have no idea,” he demanded with a frown. 

“Because everything we know about even theoretical physics tells us that what Arlaoskas achieved should be impossible.”

“Further explanation, professor,” he stressed out. “I am not a dumb or uneducated man who knows nothing about theoretical physics. So dumb it down if you must to save time but you don’t have to dumb it down too much.”

The man looked stressed. 

Good, because that’s what he was feeling right now. 

“Event horizons as those we have seen in the video … are only naturally found in one place.”

“Black holes.”

“Yes, Archon. Which means that Arlaoskas has some sort of gravity manipulation technology or…”

“Or?”

“He might have a different technology. Wormhole technology.”

“Wormholes?”

“It is theorized, archon, that there are wormholes - two points connected in space - that formed during the birth of the universe. These wormhole points, initially close to each other, stretched over the universe as it expanded but remained connected. Their existence itself is a theory but if one could find a way into one, then we can theoretically move across the entire universe. Or failing to find a natural wormhole, one can temporarily open a new wormhole. It would be … prohibitively energy hungry, however.”

“But they are doing it regardless, because if natural wormholes are stretched across the entire universe as you suggest, then they are in no way right next to each other, conveniently, in a cluster of star systems.”

“No… no, they would not be, Archon,” the scientist grimaced. “Which means that Arlaoskas has both the technology to open artificial wormholes and the ability to produce energy needed to open and close them.”

“... How much energy would that be?”

“At a guess…?”

“Assuming you can’t do better, yes.”

The scientist hesitated. He really hesitated. 

“Enough power to switch off a star… and the means to direct that kind of power on a whim.”

“So even if we were to somehow steal the technology to build one of those stargates…?”

“It would most likely require very specific manufacturing, physically impossible materials, nano-scale precision computation, and energy generation so powerful it would be cheaper to operate a fleet of jumpships.”

Alexandro, who had been leaning forward ever so slightly as their conversation dragged on, leaned back and closed his eyes. 

“My Archon?”

He opened his eyes lazily and glanced to his right where Duchess of Skye Joan Lestrade stood. As a member of the Council and a strong supporter of his, Joan had the right to speak her mind here. 

“Yes?” 

“If offensive actions are ill-advised and defensive action is not effective, then we should attempt diplomacy.” 

“You want us to go to the damned Leaguers who conquered a portion of the Capellan Confederation and wag our tails?” 

“It would be better than the Free Worlds League poisoning them against us and providing them with technologies we have no means of defending against. We must establish a diplomatic channel with them at the very least, and a strong connection with the Arlaoskas family to ensure that they do not feel comfortable selling any of their weaponizable technology to our enemies.”

Alexandro… hated the fact that she was right. 

“But he is a Leaguer from Kendall. Would he not see us as enemies?”

She shook her head. “We rarely raided Kendall. Kendall was more in danger of being raided by pirates, and the way he first took his journey around the League’s periphery hunting down pirates supports this.”

That … was true. 

Kendall was also an agricultural world multiple jumps inside the League. There was no strategic value in that world that any other agricultural world wouldn’t give. 

“Duchess Lestrade, do what you have to. You have my permission to use the resources of LIC, diplomatic corps, and the military to see this done.”

She gave me a bow and left the room.

He then turned back to the scientists.

“... Explain why I was told we cannot build ships on par with the Arlaoskas carriers outside of our diminished shipyard capacity.”

He wanted answers and a lot of them.

And while this new development meant that attacking their traditional rival was not an option, the Draconis Combine still needed to be beaten back. 

-VB-

Thomas Calderon

3005 July 6

“You want them to set up one of those stargates,” Thomas began slowly while staring at his mother. 

His mother nodded with a bemused smile.

“In our backyard.”

She nodded again. 

“When they have warships they can use to scour our worlds.”

“Yes.”

“... Why?” he stressed out. “Even if Edward Arlaoskas won’t do it, we don’t know what will happen to him and his family. What about his children? Their grandchildren? What’s to say that they won’t turn around and demand the Taurians submit to them?” 

His mother hummed as she stared out of the window of her office. 

She looked … tired. Defeated. 

“You mean aside from the fact that they can do it already?”

“Yes.”

“Why did the Concordat lose against the Star League during the Reunification War, Thomas?” 

“Because they ganged up on us!”

“Exactly.”

He froze.

“What?”

“They ganged up on us,” she confirmed as she turned away from the window and its setting sun to look at him. “Though the Magistracy and the Alliance fought by our side, both fell oh so quickly. The Rim Worlds Republic was already a member of the League despite open revolts breaking out all over their worlds. We were up against the entire Inner Sphere by ourselves, even if it was truly just the Capellan Confederation, Federated Suns, and the Terran Hegemony doing the heavy lifting. And to this day, we still fear the day that the Inner Sphere will unite once more and put us under their soles.”

“And how does inviting someone to set up a direct access to our throat alleviate this problem, Protector?” he asked incredulously. 

“Self-interest.”

He looked at her with confusion at her incomprehensive two word answer. “Excuse me?”

“You are excused,” she snorted.

“Mother…”

She waved at him dismissively. “Tell me, can you guess what Edward Arlaoskas wants?”

“... To make cool shit,” he answered. 

“Yes. And do you think he has the time to make ‘cool shit’ as you put it when there’s trouble constantly banging on his door?”

“No.”

She nodded. “By allowing him to open a direct passage to our worlds, we do three things. More people can use his new tech and thus appeal to his desire, he has an ‘ally’ who will back him up and as such make others more wary about taking overtly hostile action against him, and benefit ourselves as new technology Arlaoskas seems to pull out of his ass every other Saturday is used to benefit our people without needing to wait for long travel time or chance of interception by those using more discrete means,” she explained. 

“But his friendliness is not guaranteed to be constant.”

“No. Which is why we are appealing to his interest and that of his future descendents. Have you seen that constitution of his?”

“I have. When it isn’t about his tech, then it’s about how disgustingly loose he is with his conquered authority.”

“Which means what?”

“... His future descendants won’t have the same kind of power he has?”

“Precisely. We are looking at the greatest polymath of human civilization. A man who told our understanding of the universe to go die in a corner. Just as you have pointed out that there is no guarantee that the Arlaoskas Family will be an ally of the Taurians in the future, the same is true regarding their power. There is no guarantee that they will continue to hold that much power. This works in our favor.”

“... How so?”

“Because it is not just we who know that Edward Arlaoskas is special, it is also his newly conquered people. As they get used to his rule, they will seek two things at once. They will work to gain Edward’s favor while also trying to limit his influence now that they have had a taste of autonomy. They will gather scraps of technologies, reverse engineer them on their own where they can, recruit AIs dissatisfied with Edward’s inaction, and make sure their new autonomy won’t be taken away. Because, just as we can see that Edward doesn’t want to micromanage everyone, they have no idea if it will hold true for the still unnamed successor.”

Thomas stared at her. His brain whirled as pieces finally began to move to form a bigger picture. 

Edward Arlaoskas has tech.

Edward Arlaoskas doesn’t want to rule. 

There is no guarantee for the ambition and temperament of future rulers.

Arlaoskas’s tech will distribute first to his people… and anyone open to him.

Like the Taurians and the Aurigans. 

“If we don’t take advantage…”

“Then someone else will,” she nodded, finally smiling more sincerely instead of in bemusement. “From what our agents in Coromodir can tell us, the two leaders of the Aurigan Coalition have more or less given up. Not only are they even more decentralized than the Union, they do not have legal authority to stop people from adopting life-saving tech Arlaoskas seem to sell cheaply. The man has been selling armored jumpships cheaply as well, both here and there, and thus have decreased their control over their people even more. Minor houses and corporations are making their own plays. 

“But here, in our Concordat, our colonization efforts are bearing fruit even more. Instead of the decades I spent building up materials and political favors, our own people are colonizing by themselves using those cheap ‘exploration’ jumpships. Trade has increased beyond what our limited bureaucracy can handle. Pirates won’t even bother to attack those Mule jumpships because of their association with Arlaoskas. 

“Do you not see, son? We are already in his sphere of influence. He now has more say in how our people’s commerce, colonization, and coherence than we do because of how many Mule Jumpships he is selling through the Jamestown Shipyard. 

“We’ve already lost control, so we may as well go full tilt and take every advantage he is offering us instead of being paranoid about a future attack which may never come. And when we come to him with our arms open, he will welcome us… and look elsewhere for trouble.”