Blue Star Enterprises

The contract was a rather simple affair, all things considered. There were no gotcha clauses in it that he could find. Alexander was glad he had spent time over the last year and a half getting to know all the ins and outs of STO law. He even covered some of the planetary laws on the core worlds thanks to Jasper’s urging.

If it wasn’t for his friend’s suggestion, he might not have made it a priority. Jasper had been adamant about learning the laws inside and out during their trip through STO space. "Alexander, with what you plan to do, you can’t be ignorant of the rules and how corporations twist them to their benefit. You need to figure out how to do the same."

Alexander had taken that to heart and studied a bit when the time presented itself. And while he couldn’t recall his past, he didn’t seem to have any issue remembering anything since he woke up on Petrov Station. That being said, understanding and knowing something are two very different things.

To say he understood all of the little legal loopholes would be an overstatement. He knew all of the law, and he understood a great deal of it but he wasn’t a legal expert by any means. Luckily, what he was looking for in the contract was a simple enough oversight that even he could take advantage of it. The Admiral had left a field open for Alexander to fill in the engine model number. From experience, he knew Omni and Sinorus both maintained a model catalog, which they tended to carry over to any new generations. Fletcher probably assumed he did as well, which wasn’t the case.

He didn’t know what agreements Omni had with the STO, but he doubted it specified a model. It was probably specific to a class and year or a certain timeframe. From what he could see of the agreement, it was likely the Admiral thought he could lock Alexander into signing over that model for its entire lifetime, and he was more than happy to oblige.

Alexander didn’t use any model specifications on his engines. Despite the engines being completed and working better than Omni’s models, he was still in the initial design phase. The engines on Eden’s Fury were only the fifth generation and the first to get field tested beyond the shuttle ones he built. Fury was also the only ship in his fleet with those engines. So losing out on being able to sell them to anyone else was a small price to pay.

Having that generation locked to the STO’s contract wouldn’t even slow him down. Alexander had a sixth generation of the engine already in the later design phase. The sixth generation didn’t have any thrust or efficiency improvements, it was more to fix design issues and improve certain maintenance problems that were cropping up.

He quickly amended the contract with a made-up model number that he would update in his documentation on the fifth-generation design on his end. Did he feel bad about tricking the STO? No, not really.

They would get their engines as agreed upon in the document, as well as an STO-level spec and repair catalog to service them as required by STO law, and he got a whole lot of money. Only a third of it was upfront, but that was fine.

Fletcher would likely be annoyed when he figured out the oversight, but the man shouldn’t have ever tried to get one over on him in the first place. Alexander signed the document and waited for the Admiral to go over it and sign it as well.

"Excellent, Mr. Kane. You won’t regret working with the STO, I can assure you of that. When do you think you could have the first engines shipped to Varlen?"

That was another stipulation of the agreement. Alexander had to provide transport. That was fine since he didn’t want the STO poking around Eden’s End anyway. He had to do some calculations to see how many of the massive thrusters would fit inside the Fury’s shuttle hangar. The answer was only one. And that was if it was placed at an angle. Class four thrusters were not small things. And Fury’s hangar was barely large enough for the shuttle.

"The first could be here in a month, maybe."

"Maybe?" Fletcher asked in concern. "You don’t sound entirely sure."

"I’m not. Captain Na is the only qualified starship captain available to me, and he did this trip as a favor for me. I’m not going to ask him to do it again." Alexander felt comfortable saying this because the contract only specified a date when it had to be fulfilled, not when the first product had to be delivered.

The man leaned back in his seat and threw his arm over the back of the cushioned side. Fletcher tapped his fingers as he mulled over the problem. "That’s not ideal. I was hoping to have the first Nyx frigate up and operational in three months. Are you sure you can’t convince Na to stay on as the captain of Fury? Most captains would jump at the chance to pilot a warship as grand as this."

"I think I have about as much chance of convincing Captain Na to agree to that as you do of convincing the people in charge of the STO to remove the quarantine status on The Moonlit Destiny," Alexander responded, earning a sour look from the man that told him all he needed to know.

"That is a decision beyond my paygrade I’m afraid. I can tell you that the people in charge don’t like their decisions being second-guessed, so I am unlikely to change their mind."

Alexander shrugged. "I will do what I can, but I can’t guarantee anything within a month. In three months, I could get you at least three though."

"Three, really?"

Alexander made his avatar face nod.

"Are they standard install? If not, that could be an issue."

"They have all the standard mounting points of any class four engine so you don’t need to worry about that."

"I suppose having a full ship complement at the same time might be better. If we get all three at once, it shouldn’t take more than a week to install them on a fresh ship."

Not that the man had many options, he already signed the contract. If Alexander wanted to be a jerk, he could simply deliver them all at the end of the year. He wouldn’t do that though. He did need a friendly contact in the STO. "Before you leave, I meant to ask you about Captain Krieger. I heard some of his people say he might receive a court-martial?"

"Another issue that is out of my hands, I’m afraid. A captain without a ship is not worth much and makes an easy scapegoat. I believe the STO leadership plans to use him to make a point."

"And you can’t stop that? He lost his ship and most of his crew by defending Eden’s End." While Alexander didn’t care for Krieger’s planetside antics, he admired the man’s actions when it came to defending the planet.

"I can’t stop it, but I’ve called in some favors to hopefully reduce his punishment to a dishonorable discharge. That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid." Alexander had nothing to add to that.

You would think that with a war going on, they would simply demote him, or send him to the front in a new ship, instead of pulling this whole circus act.

With talks concluded, they both shook and Alexander led the Vice Admiral back to the airlock where he watched the ship depart. Alexander made one more trip back to the console room and told the Hawks to keep their eye out for a recently disgraced Captain looking for work. If the STO didn’t want Krieger, he would take the man off their hands.

The man would probably be a spy for Fletcher, but Alexander could handle that. Honestly, he would prefer if the man did turn out to be a spy for Fletcher, that way he could have a back channel to the man.

That being said, when they got back to Eden’s End, he would need to speak with Lucas about purging the entire computer system and adding additional security above and beyond the version of Dawn’s security that Fury already possessed.

Lucas had been ecstatic when Alexander had presented that program to him. After two months, the man had managed to break apart that code and reverse engineer it into something of his very own.

While he might like Krieger and Fletcher, they hadn’t yet earned his trust. Alexander would do everything in his power to ensure none of BSE’s ships could ever be used against Eden’s End or stolen from them.

Time would tell if this was a good idea or a bad one, but Alexander needed to make inroads with the movers and shakers of STO space. While he could produce the best engines humanity had to offer, it wouldn’t do a lick of good if one of Omni’s or another corporate fleet came down on them like a hammer. With friends in high places, Alexander hoped to curtail the corporations’ more bloodthirsty impulses.

The next few days went by rather uneventfully. It gave Alexander plenty of time to spend the new funding he had just gotten. Since he had already managed to purchase the learning module on the static field on the first day he arrived, there was really only one more module he wanted. Unfortunately, even this influx of cash wasn’t enough to tip the scales into being able to purchase the module pertaining to artificial gravity.

It was a shame, he just knew he could do some interesting things if he could just understand how the technology worked. He had taken apart some of the plates back in Eden’s End, but they made no logical sense to him. Considering their alien origin, he probably shouldn’t be surprised, but he still thought he would be able to glean some insight from them. That wasn’t the case.

He couldn’t even recreate them in the printer. Fury had been refitted with scavenged ones from three separate ships, including a few from Dawn, they were just touched up to look like new.

Seeing no other learning modules within his budget that would assist his people, he scrolled through the local listings for items for sale. It seemed like even the STO Navy sold stuff. He stumbled upon some used smelters. They were smaller than the smelter he had back in Eden’s End, but together they could handle more volume. They were in the list he sent Jasper, but Alexander could still use more. So he purchased the two units and sent the shuttle to pick them up.

It was too bad he hadn’t been able to find an affordable station plan to purchase. Anything that handled people, trade, and docking cost a ton of money. Probably because they were modular and could be expanded with ease. And none of the non-modular designs were anywhere near his budget. The STO’s naval base gave him some ideas though, so he was going to work on the design of his own station on the way home. With the prices, it simply wasn’t worth waiting until he could afford something.

Eventually, Mingyu’s family arrived in the system. Alexander was glad to see they were on time because he was getting homesick. Making deals and positioning himself in an advantageous position was exhausting. He would rather be back home, building new and exciting things.

He now knew how Jasper felt and why the man had hired Naomi to be his port liaison and customer support representative. Maybe Alexander needed someone like that too?

When the Captain of the transport ship realized they would be docking with an unknown warship, they were understandably reluctant. A quick call from Fletcher cleared up any misgivings though. Alexander couldn’t help but smile at that, his connections were already working.

The transport was about half the length of Fury, but it looked a lot more futuristic thanks to its smooth design that consisted of a flattened oval body with a tapered nose and a flat aft where the engines poked out. The only things that stuck out from the smooth hull were the engines and the sensor antennas. It also had actual windows like some old-school airplane from back in his time.

Alexander hadn’t seen windows on anything other than shuttles so it was a surprising enough feature to comment on.

He watched the reunion from his suite, not wanting to startle their new arrivals. Mingyu’s father was an older, much more serious version of Destiny’s Captain. There was no hugging, Mingyu bowed politely and the man returned the gesture with a light nod.

His mother was a tiny woman, and couldn’t have been taller than four foot three, but she had a regal bearing about her. She hugged her son, but it was a tentative thing. The rest of his family came soon after, but Alexander didn’t know the names of the rest of them and he quickly turned off the video feed to give them their privacy.

Half an hour later, he felt the transport undock and depart. He sighed in relief, it was finally time to head home.