Dark Fate, Book 25 Prologue

Prologue – Trade Chat

(North American System Information Exchange Forum, formerly Community Building and Civil Defense Chat)

abby_gail, bento, RainyDayze, GringottsGoblin, DoritoMan, D.VaLuvr69, Carion, RadicalEdward, FusionGal, NotACop, Scholar, RamblingWreck, Anonymous4, Anonymous6, RedShift, SevenNationArmy, DarkLord, BagOTrix, White_Queen, Faraday, BackpageGal, FullServiceMassage, daytrader, LinaLuv, Skippy, shadow_clone23, THE_MERCHANT, jenny8675309, Rabbit, Angelus and Tracker are in the chat.

daytrader: So, whole bunch of ships just showed up at Ceres. Giving off Commonwealth Navy transponders. What gives?

Skippy: I mean, Earth went and sent diplomats their way, and those diplomats probably had some arrangements to try and send goods home, or start trade deals. With the Incux around, a convoy was probably the smart call.

shadow_clone23: I wonder what they’re trading for. I mean, they have to have resources and technology we don’t, right? What would they want from us?

daytrader: Well, we do have System-regulated currency, now. That would probably be worth something, on its own. Just opening a new market for trade would give Commonwealth merchants a shot in the arm. On the other hand, anything we buy from them, we’ll probably still be needing to go through them for, since we won’t have manufacturing for them.

White_Queen: It is not really a secret, but the former administration sent the US diplomats with orders to acquire consumer technology. Things like alien music players, hair dryers, and so on.

NotACop: That seems… odd. Why go for something like that?

Scholar: No, it makes perfect sense, if you think about reverse engineering. You find a power cell in an alien microwave that doesn’t need rare earth materials, or something that transforms ambient mana to electricity, and suddenly electric vehicles are a lot more viable than there were before.

THE_MERCHANT: I can say that there are vehicles in the System Shop which do not require fuel, so long as there is ambient mana for them to charge with. However, they typically have performance limiters, so that they don’t drain the battery faster than it charges. To bypass the limiter, you need to supply more mana.

abby_gail: The car company that solves that problem first is going to make bank. Probably would also work for reducing costs on rail, sea, and air travel, as well, assuming you don’t care about getting there as quickly as possible.

FusionGal: If this is possible, why haven’t any of the car companies jumped on this?

RamblingWreck: Because that’s a lot of R&D without having any idea of where to start. Getting examples of existing technology would cut out several layers of guesswork and expensive prototyping and iteration. That is not a small thing for any business, especially when the economy is still skittish with all the changes.

Anonymous4: Ironically, the Russians might be the ones most interested in pushing public money into that research. With the Panama Canal closed to them, distribution of Russian goods to large parts of the world got massively more expensive.

FullServiceMassage: I wonder what it would take for the Russians to get off of DarkLord’s naughty list?

DarkLord: Oh, I told the Russian Ambassador this directly. Russia’s leaders will have to choose between their money, and their pride as men. In order to ensure that they have fully learned their lesson, the ban on Russian ships through Ceresan territory will continue until the new president, the legislature, and the fifty wealthiest men in Russia at the time of the decree complete one of two tasks.

SevenNationArmy: I’m guessing these tasks are going to be something that they very much won’t like doing?

DarkLord: Indeed. The first task would be for the men on the list to accept a [Slave Brand], with their wife or daughter being their new Mistress. The second would be to take a [Sex Change Potion], get impregnated by any demon, and carry the child to term, raising it as their own. Either will suffice, and the restrictions will remain in place until the entire list has completed one of the two.

RadicalEdward: Woah. That’s evil, man.

DarkLord: They sent a biological weapon of mass destruction without any warning or declaration of war. They are lucky that most of their government was not aware of what was happening, or maps would be getting redrawn, now. And this was still far more merciful than what I would have been well within my rights to demand.

SevenNationArmy: Like what?

DarkLord: Double the GP cost of the projected damages to the canal, Panama in general, shipping, loss of lives, and so forth, including the costs from the Juvenile Krakens that were born in the canal’s waters. That would also include both insurance claims and reconstruction costs. A conservative estimate says that they would be paying me roughly a third of their total GDP for the next decade to cover that tab. Assuming there wasn’t interest on the debt.

DarkLord: And even that is merciful, compared to what some other Demon Lords would demand for such an assault. People need to realize that even the so-called superpowers of Earth are small potatoes now, compared to what is out there in the wider galaxy. Even Ceres is a little fish compared to some of the sharks out there.

Scholar: Speaking of the wider galaxy, I don’t suppose you got any news about the Incux from the Commonwealth visitors? An omnicidal threat is something to keep watch on.

DarkLord: There have been updates, yes. The Incux launched an assault on an agricultural world, probably to try and secure a new food supply, given how my forces have been destroying their cattle worlds.

Rabbit: Cattle worlds?

DarkLord: Worlds where they keep beings as barely sapient farm animals who worship their insect gods. Kept in their billions, waiting for the slaughter. At least my forces give them a quick death, rather than them being eaten alive.

Rabbit: Oh, god.

DarkLord: Yes, it is just like it sounds. It also led to a bit of a close call.

RainyDayze: What do you mean?

DarkLord: I gain XP when my forces destroy enemies on my orders. I went up several levels at once. While ‘entertaining’. Gaining almost two hundred points of STR in an instant while engaged in ‘strenuous activity’ has a lot of ways that it could go bad, very quickly, as you literally have to relearn your own strength.

Anonymous6: Given that you said ‘close call’ instead of ‘unfortunate accident’, I’m assuming you managed?

DarkLord: Well, one of the women I was in bed with has foresight abilities, and saw it coming. So, yes, an unfortunate accident was avoided.

Scholar: So, what does that mean for the Incux threat?

DarkLord: They’re on the back foot, for now. The Commonwealth has room to breathe, rebuild, and prepare for a counterattack, since the Incux are now overextended without reliable food supplies. The war isn’t over, but for the Commonwealth it just shifted from a slow march to inevitable defeat to the possibility that they might actually win.

Carion: And what about Ceres?

DarkLord: Well, I did just sign an agreement to sell them some Outlaws and reconnaissance craft. Should help with their attempt to push forward and retake some of the worlds that the Incux took from them during the war. And it lets me field test the new stealth fighter.

White_Queen: Stealth fighter?

DarkLord: Oh, don’t worry about that.

White_Queen: Don’t give me that! What is this about a stealth figher?

DarkLord has left the chat.