System Supervillain, Chapter 159

Chapter 159 – Negotiation

“Nemesis, hunt at will. It seems one of the lizards on the ground has grown a brain. Either that, or they are about to try and find some way to beg for their lives. Maybe both. Either way, it should be interesting.”

While Nemesis set about playing with the Gel-nak fleet, I turned my attention to Web Mistress. “How far into the networks have you gotten?”

“I have access to the fleet comm network, working on accessing the individual ships. Haven’t had time to get into any of the planet or station networks, yet. Though I can tell just from traffic patterns that I don’t think anyone is left alive on any of the gas mining platforms zero communications or activity.”

“Fighting? Plague?”

“Unclear, but my money would be on starvation. According to Oris, the civil war has disrupted all trade networks. There was some agriculture on Thraxl Prime, but you happened, and now the world is in an ice age. With over 99% die-off in the population of Thraxl Prime, and the ecosystem in freefall, I doubt they had food supplies to send to the stations. Also, I’m seeing records of rationing going into effect on the warships, trying to extend supplies as long as possible.”

“Question. If there is no food for organics here, why would the ships, at least, not leave?”

I grinned at Nemesis’s question. “If I had to guess, I’d say that it is because that would be categorized as abandoning their posts. Plus, the civil war would play into that, as well. Even if they didn’t get in trouble for simply abandoning the Thraxl system, whatever faction that controlled the system they went to would probably require them to become subordinates in exchange for supplies. Considering that the Thraxl commanders are probably on the outs with the big players because they weren’t able to keep me from killing the Emperor, I’m guessing they hadn’t planned on going anywhere until they were left with no choice.”

“And their programmed parameters due to ‘ordering’ make it so that it is difficult for them to ignore or disobey orders from their superiors, I see. So, logically, that knowledge and the organic emotion of pride has prevented the fleet from taking steps to save itself?”

“Most likely,” I nodded. “Though this does bring the issue of Thraxl Secunda back into focus. A Venus-type world should be utterly inhospitable to life, and certainly not conducive to large-scale agriculture. One would think that any colonies on that planet would have been wiped out before the population of Thraxl Prime fell so low.”

“Then perhaps we should see what the Planet Leader wants, Master?”

“True. Web Mistress, shift to taking over Thraxl Secunda’s networks. I don’t know what this Planet Leader wants to talk about, but a bit of extra leverage never hurts. Nemesis, open a channel, and put it on the main screen.”

“Of course, Master.” “Understood, Iceblade.”

The screen blanked, and then came up to show a Gel-nak Leader caste, male, by the looks of him. He looked calm, though there was a bit of tension in his stance. Which probably meant that he believed he had some way out of his current predicament. His tone, when he spoke, came out amicable, even slightly familiar, like someone talking to a colleague you hadn’t been introduced to at work, rather than a potential walking natural disaster.

“Ah, greetings. Thank you for accepting my message request. I am Planet Leader Druxl, presently in charge of Thraxl Secunda. Before we begin, do you prefer to be addressed as Iceblade, or the Rhuk?”

Ah, so that was how he was going to try and play this. He wasn’t trying to do the typical Gel-nak boasting or angry ‘you can’t do this’ screaming, and he wasn’t going to just start begging, either. No, this lizard was playing it cool. Trying to get a friendly, or at least amicable, start to the conversation. Introducing himself, and then asking how I wanted to be addressed, allowing him to adjust his approach based on whether I introduced myself as a person or a demon. Clever.

“Either works for me,” I said, in the same genial tone. “I’ve long since stopped caring about what the people I’m killing have to say about me. Speaking of which, I notice that the population of Thraxl Prime has dropped a bit since the last time I was here. I trust people haven’t had too much trouble with the weather?”

Druxl grimaced slightly, before his face returned to the generally friendly look. “Well, while the cold was certainly a problem, it wasn’t actually the weather that led to most of the deaths. At least, not directly. It was all complications from the weather. Increase demand on energy supplies led to entire power grids failing. And the weather has killed most of the plants and animals on the surface, so starvation has been eating away at the survivors. There’s been some reports of cannibals, actually. Nasty business, and makes me glad that I was made Planet Leader of Secunda, not Prime.”

“Yes, I’m sure. So, what is the purpose of this call? I am a bit busy watching the fleet here get destroyed, after all.”

“Well, I would like to talk to you about the humans currently being kept on Thraxl Secunda. Before the Emperor’s arrival, the Planet Leader for Prime decided that it would be best to move the captured humans away from the capital, so that the Emperor wouldn’t see unruly slaves, and think that the Planet Leader wasn’t doing his job properly. He was already angry enough with the military, after all.”

“Yes, I’m sure he was. Quite the litany of failures from the group sent to invade Earth. So, about the humans?”

“Yes, well, exact records are 874,239 humans taken from Earth through the Thraxl invasion point. Of those, 325 thousand were transferred to Secunda, to be processed and eventually turned into workers in the mines, after ordering. Of course, the Emperor’s death, followed by the climate change and atomic detonation during your last visit, all thoughts of ordering the captives were set aside. And the other powers in the system had other problems, and forgot all about the humans on Secunda.”

“And, given how cheeky you’re being, I assume that you’ve kept them in good health, knowing that I would be coming? A bargaining chip is worth less the more damaged it is, after all.”

“Well, even if you hadn’t promised the entire Empire that you’d be coming, planet by planet, to rip the Empire apart, I would have kept them in good health. I, like the Planet Leader previous to me, believe that a content work force works harder and better than one that is pushed to the brink. Or, at the very least, you do not need to invest as much time and resources into forcing compliance and preventing revolts. Keeping all the different species stationed here on Secunda relatively content, without causing delays in resource quotas, is a delicate balance.”

“And yet, you still use slave labor?”

“I may be Planet Leader, but I am still limited by the Empire’s regulations. However, Secunda has only the minimum number of Slavewatchers and Slavetenders required by Imperial law. It would not be wrong to say that every being on Secunda knows that, despite being on this hell world, I am the reason their lives are as comfortable as they are, and a different Planet Leader might try for much harsher controls.”

“So, you expect that, what, being the least offensive slave master possible under the law will somehow protect you from me?”

“Not on its own, but perhaps the fact that the humans given into my keeping are as well fed as my own people? For twenty cycles, Secunda has been self-sufficient for everything except certain advanced medical supplies, mostly chemical compounds that cannot be derived from the plants growing in the different farming habitats. Because of this, the humans on Secunda are alive, despite the chaos in the Empire.”

A text box appeared in the top right of the screen. Web Mistress’s penetration of the Thraxl Secunda network was proceeding nicely, it seemed. In fact, she was already working on silently locking out the different security lockdown functions. She’d have control of the atmospherics and life support in another thirty seconds.

I smiled behind my mask as I looked at Druxl on the screen. Honestly, I didn’t hate this type of opponent. They were smart, and knew it, but he wasn’t acting like the type who believed they were always the smartest person in the room, and constantly had to demonstrate that fact. Instead, they were smart enough to be dangerous, but also smart enough to know where their limits were.

That was an important distinction. A lot of very smart people, whether they were mundanes, villains, or heroes, got too full of themselves, and let their cleverness inflate their egos. If it went too far, that strength became a weakness, as they often wound up missing obvious pitfalls. Even if they didn’t take things to that extent, it could still cause a team’s dynamics to become strained, which could quickly lead to conflict. Or it could keep them from being part of teams altogether, meaning that there would be no one to cover their weak points.

Someone like Druxl, though? They were smart enough to know that they didn’t have all the answers. That there were things they couldn’t do on their own. And not just in the ‘have the minions do it’ way. Which made him both more and less predictable than if he was overly full of himself. More predictable, because he wasn’t going to come up with some insanely complex scheme, but also less, because he wouldn’t create the same kinds of predictable openings to take him down.

“Those humans will still be alive when I finish slaughtering my way through the fleet. After all, killing them guarantees that I kill you. So, what is it that you want?”

A slight twitch of his eye. He didn’t particularly like that response, hmm? Still, the Planet Leader’s voice remained calm. “I would like to negotiate for the humans I’ve managed to keep alive to be returned to their people, in exchange for Thraxl Secunda remaining under my control.”

“You don’t want to leave? I thought you called the planet a hell world?”

“Well, it may be a hell world, but it is MY hell world. I have not put all this work in ensuring that Secunda is not only wildly profitable, but also has the lowest rate of slave altercations or work disruptions of any mining world in the Empire, just to throw it all away. Naturally, the humans cannot stay, and will need to go back to their people. But that does not mean that this colony’s management needs to change.”

“An interesting idea. But then, I could just kill you, and any other Gel-nak on the planet, and then go on my way, leaving any clean-up for whoever else might come along behind me to pick up the pieces of the Empire. Maybe if I was in the business of conquering, that argument would have some weight, but I don’t really find myself caring about the long-term stability of things in the Post-Empire era. And financial incentives are not really something that gets my interest, since I could just take whatever I wanted.”

I paused, looking the Planet Leader in the eye. “But then, you already knew that, didn’t you? You’re smart enough to figure out that much, at least. So, now that you’ve told me what you want, what, exactly, is it that you are offering?”

“Well, the reason that the colony on Thraxl Secunda was established, despite the local conditions, is because Secunda is home to several large deposits of a rare metals and minerals, including something called Systemite. This metal is incredibly difficult to work, but when added to an item, it grants the user a deeper access to the System, allowing them to alter some of the characteristics of their Status, like a limited version of what a System Administrator can do.”

A line of text from Web Mistress appeared at the top of the screen. “Confirmed with Oris. Systemite is real, and Thraxl Secunda is one of the only known sources of it within two hundred lightyears. According to records, Secunda produces enough Systemite to make 1-2 ‘System Focus’ items every year. The rarity and difficulty to produce the items makes it incredibly valuable.”

“Well, Druxl, you have my attention.”