Chapter 20 Negotiations #2
“I am going to do this. The only question is whether you, the Council and the Thaf’ell are simply grounded on Haseon without ships or military technology as onlookers,” Jace said, “or whether you are still a vital part of the Alliance.”
She stared at him. “How could you accomplish that? Take away all our ships? Impossible! We will fight you at every turn. Remove our weapons? Only from cold, dead fingers. The Thaf’ell are a martial society. Everyone fights. Everyone will oppose this.”
She really doesn’t understand the extent of your powers, Jace, Gehenna said with a sigh.
We should show her, the Osiris suddenly said, speaking for the first time since they entered the chamber.
How so? Jace asked.
By turning off the Haseon Defense Grid, the Osiris answered.
There’s no Khul in the area? Jace queried. He wouldn’t risk the people of Haseon to make a point.
None in the star system, the Osiris assured him.
And there would be no danger in turning off the Defense Grid? Jace asked. The Altaeth technology was old--more like ancient--and he worried that if they turned it off it might not turn back on. We could turn it back on immediately without delay?
But his fears were unwarranted as the Osiris answered without hesitation, Correct.
Jace weighed this action. It would frighten the Thaf’ell and not just those in power, but civilians. He understood the terror of the Khul showing up on Haseon’s surface. But it would bring his point home. All Altaeth technology was under his control.
All right, let’s do this then, Jace said. Let me just warn Khoth first.
He is a member of the crew. What happens to Haseon should not concern him any longer, the Osiris replied coldly.
That’s not how people work, Osiris, Jace answered. His love for his people is what has given him the strength to leave them and join us. Of course, he cares what happens to them.
The Osiris didn’t respond, but he had the sense it felt like this was divided loyalty and didn’t like it.
I understand, Jace, Gehenna assured him. The Osiris was only built as a war machine. Its programming on emotional intelligence was quite abbreviated.
Jace turned to Khoth. Like his Commander had done, he turned his chair around so that no one could see his face, but Khoth. Khoth turned in his chair to the side.
“Pilot?” Khoth asked.
“I wanted to give you a head’s up about what I’m about to do,” Jace said, letting the breath whistle out from between his teeth.
Khoth tilted his head to the side. “You are going to do something to demonstrate to my mother that you have the power to take the Altaeth technology away from the Thaf’ell.”
It was not a question, but a statement. Jace felt guilty as he realized that the Thaf’ell were bearing the brunt of all of this. They had been the Alliance’s defenders and Jace was summarily stripping them of their power and their honor.
“I have to make her understand that the only real choice she has is to get behind the plan or… not.” Jace grimaced.
“I want the Thaf’ell to be with us. But I have to break through here.
I’m going to take down Haseon’s Defense Grid.
I promise that no one will get hurt. The Osiris will let them know what we are doing. ”
Khoth was silent for a moment, contemplating what Jace was about to do.
What if he asked Jace not to do this? Jace was asking him to frighten his people and, even though he had promised no one was going to be harmed, there was still a chance.
Jace was taking down their defenses to make a point. Was it worth it?
“Doing this will stop the continued loss of life in the Alliance,” Khoth finally said. “I think it is a wise decision.”
Jace let out another whistling breath. “Okay, good, I--”
Khoth gently grasped his arm as he was about to swing around in his chair. “I know that frightening people--pushing them like this--is not your way.”
“It’s definitely not my favorite thing,” Jace said with a huff of soft, uncomfortable laughter.
“But it is the only language that my mother and others will understand right now,” Khoth assured him.
“I would not have said this about my species before, but we are blind to our faults. We believe our positions are correct because they are based upon facts, but I believe this is stopping us from taking in new information. Daesah tried telling me this, but I scoffed at it. After all, were not our orders, our plans, our very selves, based only upon the best information out there?”
Jace nodded slowly. It was his assessment of Nova. The Thaf’ell were superior in many ways, but in this, they were stubborn.
“So this is the right plan?” Jace asked, knowing it was.
“Yes, most definitely. But I would be behind you even if I disagreed. You are the Pilot. I am your Commander. I follow you,” Khoth stated.
Jace let that sit with him. He’d been trained for this. He wasn’t just a convenience store clerk who had been thrust into an incredible adventure. Well, he was, but he was also more than that. Jace turned around in his chair and smiled at Nova who smiled thinly back.
“Osiris, please display a live feed of Haseon,” Jace requested out loud.
He wanted Nova to follow every step of the way.
An image of the planet in real time appeared slowly spinning between them.
The Defense Grid was made up of hundreds of small satellites that circled the planet and created a shield that would stop any vessel without permission from entering Haseon’s atmosphere.
Further, weaponry would be unleashed against such a vessel, obliterating it.
Every one of the satellites had lights that blinked blue, indicating the system was operating effectively.
“Why are you showing me this?” Nova was sitting up very straight in her chair.
General Intoshkin’s eyes narrowed and he chewed a toothpick as he glanced from Nova to the hologram of the planet.
“I explained to you--and showed to you with the Ashaton--that as the Pilot I do not just have control over just the Osiris, but all Altaeth technology from the ships to the weapons to Haseon’s Defense Grid,” Jace explained calmly.
“What are you intending to do?” Nova was practically quivering.
“I’m guessing you thought my abilities were limited to potentially your fleet as it is this solar system,” Jace continued on evenly.
“I--the Defense Grid is Alliance property! You have no right to interfere with it!” Nova’s gaze flickered anxiously between him and the hologram.
“I have every right. As the Pilot, all Altaeth technology is mine to control. My goal is to eliminate the Khul threat and I am entitled to take advantage of every single bit of that tech,” he said.
“I want you and the Thaf’ell to be a part of this.
I welcome your assistance. But you have not been willing to give it. ”
“You can’t do anything to the Defense Grid.” She shook her head almost violently, denying that he could do what she clearly earlier had feared he could. “You’re bluffing.”
“That’s what I thought you would say,” Jace sighed. “Osiris, please let the Thaf’ell know we are about to take down the Defense Grid and not to panic.”
It is done, the words appeared in the-end-is-nigh typography above the spinning planet. Osiris then added privately, They are, however, panicking. But I have taken control of all weaponry in the ships and otherwise so that no rash actions will cause injury.
Thank you, Osiris, Jace said.
“You are just a boy!” Nova shouted. “A child playing at being a soldier! Your people are violent and emotionally unbalanced! You will not lead us! You will not--”
“Take the Defense Grid down,” Jace said.
The blue lights on each and every one of those satellites turned red. Jace requested the Osiris to pipe in some of the frantic calls from the Alliance military and it was translated for the humans in the room.
“... Defense Grid down!”
“Message warning us from our own systems!”
“We need to get it back up!”
“... nothing is working! Can’t access the grid! I repeat, I cannot access the grid!”
“All weaponry is offline!”
“... defenseless! We’re defenseless!”
Jace turned off the sound and only the translation showed above the floating, defenseless planet.
He said nothing. Nova was staring at her home planet, the seat of the Alliance’s power, where the Council was, where her husband was, and the knowledge of what he could do was finally made clear to her.
“What do you want?” Her voice was hoarse.
“Lots of things,” Jace said.
“Such as?” she asked.
“Does it matter?” he asked back.
“No,” she said. “Just tell me what I must do to protect my people.”
Her shoulders slumped. Khoth let out a breath that Jace hadn’t been realizing his Commander had been holding onto.
Khoth turned to him and nodded. Jace had won.
Jace felt no joy at this. Just sadness and a weariness that it had come to this.
Considering what he had been asking for, there was no other way, he knew that.
Considering what Nova had already done to attack him and Earth, there was no other way, he also knew.
“Osiris, bring Haseon’s Defense Grid back up and return control of weaponry to them,” Jace instructed.
It is done, the Osiris answered.
“Now,” Jace told her, leaning forward on the table once more, “we start the real negotiations.”