******
Julius felt a vibration on his ear. At first he ignored it—but when the vibration was coupled with an irritating beep, he had to wake himself up.
Without sitting up, he touched the ornate skull ear-link. A hologram appeared, floating above his bed. It was an image of the bridge, centering on his Tactical Operations Officer, Lieutenant Garval.
“What is it, Lieutenant?”
“Sorry to interrupt your sleep, sir. But you instructed me to wake you when the delegation returned.”
“Stand by,” he said.
Julius rubbed his eyes. Where would they meet and who should be a part of it? His thoughts reached out to Laina. He had been cold on her return—perhaps including her in this would be a good way to break the ice, not to mention she was keen on negotiations of this sort.
“Escort the diplomat and his detail to the observation balcony—limit Xanthus to two of his people only. Alert Laina and have her join us there as well.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Julius closed the conference channel and sat up in his bunk. Although he managed a couple hours of sleep, he did not feel rested. He looked down at his boots—their black gloss reminded him of something. As he slipped them on, he tried to recollect what it was.
The A.I. Moon’s black clouds, he remembered. The dream. It all suddenly came back to him. The details, like all of the previous ones of late, were vivid and brought back images and feelings he had thought long forgotten.
Dreams of a time when he was not considered a fugitive. It was the last mission—a mission that would cost him everything.
He pushed back the feelings and thoughts—no sense in dwelling on the past when the future was at hand. The Martian diplomat was going to offer him, and the rest of the crew, another chance anyway. He would bid farewell to the life of a pirate, and perhaps live a normal life—or at least a version of normal he could adapt to.
Julius grabbed his pistol bandolier and headed to the observation deck. When he arrived, Xanthus, one of his aides, and the sergeant were waiting for him. After a brief greeting, they seated themselves around the same table and began the negotiations.
Julius noticed a digital pad on the table. Xanthus pushed it toward him. Julius did not touch it.
“I am waiting for my business partner,” he explained.
At that moment, Laina arrived. She came in wearing a black and white dress that exposed a pair of surprisingly slender legs. Her hair was pulled back and her face was made up. Julius felt a little taken aback—she looked stunning.
The delegates and sergeant stood up. Julius hesitated for a second before joining them.
“My lady,” Xanthus bowed. “You must be the captain’s partner.”
Laina extended her hand Xanthus made a motion to kiss it, and she quickly turned it to the side, turning the gesture into a formal handshake.
“I am Laina. A founding member of this venture and Julius’ partner.”
“I am glad you were able to return,” Xanthus said. “I was uncertain of our ability to rescue you from the UEP. I hope the other missing crew were able to return as well.”
“Yes, Your Excellency,” Laina said. “All the ones that mattered anyway.”
“Wonderful to hear,” he said. “One less provision in the agreement to worry about.”
They all sat down. Laina gracefully lowered herself into the seat at Julius’ side.
Julius made a motion to grab the digital pad, but Laina intercepted it and began to read it.
“I’ll save you the effort of deciphering it,” Xanthus said. “The deal is this: you and your entire crew will be given complete amnesty by the Martian Confederacy for any crimes you have committed to date—”
“Your Excellency,” Laina interrupted with a smile. “I can read: Confed citizenship with new identities, a one-time cash out of 20 million credits to all crew, 30 million to all officers, 50 million to Julius. Which of course really means 25 million to him and myself—why that’s less than the officers! We need to correct that—50 million each.”
Xanthus smiled back. “My dear, I don’t know if that will be possible. You see, the money is coming from the estimated proceeds of selling your ship and its cargo at fair market value—”
“The Sea Wolf’s fair market value!?” Julius erupted.
Laina put her hand on Julius’ shoulder to calm him.
“Fair market value,” Laina repeated. “Tell me—what is the fair market value of A.I. technology these days? What is the fair market value for preventing an interstellar war? You, Ambassador, are getting a bargain.”
Xanthus studied them both for a moment before speaking. “I don’t think you appreciate how difficult it was for me to obtain the deal that sits before you. However, in the interest of time and to show our good faith, I will make concessions: 45 million each.”
“No, 50 million,” Laina said. “And up the crew by 5 million each—25 to crew and 35 to officers. Or you leave with nothing and the Martian Confederacy can continue its descent into interstellar war.”
Sergeant Premley, who had been quiet up to this point, stood up with rifle in hand.
“Why are we listening to this,” he fumed. “Your Excellency, these are pirates!”
Premley gave Julius a sneer, the finger on his rifle stroking the trigger.
Julius leaned back, letting his jacket part open to expose his twin Gemini flicker pistols.
“Do I offend thee, scallywag?” Julius said in a mock pirate voice. He perched his elbows up, letting his hands dangle just over his weapons.
The marine looked as if he was going to bite—Julius was ready if he did.
“Ambassador,” Laina spoke loudly. “I think we need to come to an agreement quickly—before less desirable methods of negotiation should overtake us.”
“Fine,” Xanthus conceded. “We will increase the payouts. If you have no other changes to this section, I would like to go over what your contribution to the deal will be.”
Laina nodded. “We can move on.”
Julius winked at the marine as he slowly sat back down.
“Very good,” Xanthus said. “In addition to this ship and its cargo, the A.I. must appear before the consortium of the Interstellar Peace Alliance. There it must explain its position and plead its case to the other worlds.”
Xanthus deliberately looked around the room. “I was kind of hoping it would be here.”
“Yes,” Premley spoke for the first time. “Where is the A.I.? Don’t we need her to seal this deal as well?”
Julius looked over to Laina, wondering if she had a good answer for that as well.
“The A.I. has entrusted us to handle these negotiations,” Laina said. “She will go with whatever we have agreed to.”
“How do you know that?” Premley persisted. “The A.I. is quite powerful, after all. Why isn’t it here to reassure the deal?”
“She wants this deal,” Julius said, not quite feeling sure of the words himself.
“She?” Premley repeated. “Have you idiots forgotten that it has no gender? It is a machine that cannot be trusted. I guess it’s in good company though with a bunch of pirates!”
Julius kept his temper in check, letting the marine vent his hot air. But after a long minute of unchecked rambling by the idiot, he beamed Xanthus a look of annoyance. The ambassador apparently took the cue.
“That will be enough, Premley,” Xanthus said. “I am confident that everyone here is operating in good faith.”
The negotiations continued, with Laina verbally fencing with the diplomat until they both came to an agreement. In the end, they’d struck a good deal for everyone. Things were wrapping up without any further incidents, and it concluded with all parties binding to the agreement with a DNA signature.
The delegates stood up to leave. Laina gave them a handshake. Julius stayed seated.
“Julius,” Xanthus said. “I need to disembark now. I trust you will
make arrangements to allow my ship to leave?”
Julius gave a nod. “The Sea Wolf will jump to a safe area from which you can disembark and return to your homeworld.”
“Thank you, Julius. You have been a wonderful host. As discussed, we will be in touch regarding the next steps.”
They all walked out, with Premley giving Julius one last passing look of contempt.
Julius and Laina remained alone in the lounge. Laina gave him a curious look before taking a seat next to him. They sat in silence for a moment, with Julius staring at the digital pad on the table.
“Laina,” Julius finally said. “Thank you. You did a service to the crew—and to me. This is a good deal. I am glad to have you back.”
Laina gave a half-smile. “You are welcome.”
Julius continued to stare silently at their copy of the agreement on the table. He had affixed his DNA to it, agreeing to give up the Sea Wolf—to likely be turned into scrap. The ship’s charter required that he run a deal like this by the crew and put it to a vote, but he knew it was academic—none of them would refuse such a prize. Nevertheless, he was not enthused about giving up his home.
“You don’t seem too happy about this,” Laina said.
“It is bittersweet,” he said. “The Sea Wolf and the A.I., in exchange for freedom—and a new life.”
He stared at the agreement, fighting the urge to draw his pistols and shoot it.
“It’s what we wanted it all along… isn’t it?” she said.
He did not respond.
Laina brought her hand to his cheek, turning his face to look at her.
“Isn’t it?” she repeated.
Her eyes had a pleading look about them—she was looking for an answer from him. But what answer could he give?
Julius gently grabbed her hand and pushed it down as he stood up.
“You were going to leave anyway,” he found himself saying. “So it doesn’t matter.”
He made a start to the corridor, then stopped and turned around.
“I need to make arrangements,” he said. “You need to run this deal by Chorus—make sure she really is on board.”
Laina looked at him, her expression difficult to read. He did not wait for an answer and left the lounge.