Cosmic Crossroads: Inheriting A Space Station by Douglas Michaels

Author:Douglas Michaels [Michaels, Douglas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“Rex?” I gulped as I tried to calm down. “Just for shits and giggles, what was the probability of our destruction just then, in that stand-off?”

“I am not sure you wish to know, Anthony,” the Mechanoid said ominously.

“That bad, huh?” I sighed.

“Please,” Venori said with a scoff. “General Xurz wasn’t going to actually attack us. He just wanted to swing his dick around.”

“The statistics say otherwise,” Rex replied.

“What the hell do we do now?” I asked as I sat down in a nearby chair and rubbed my temples in frustration. “The threat of a physical attack might be over, but if nobody can come or go from HERD 108, we’ll have a lot of pissed-off customers, which will tank our business in the long run.”

“You said that HERDs have weapons, right?” Venori asked Rex. “I know they’re mostly defensive, but if we caught Xurz by surprise--”

“That would not be wise,” the Mechanoid said. “Perhaps we would be able to hit Xurz’s ship with an ion torpedo or a bolt from the electrodecannon and cause critical damage, but even if we destroyed that ship, we would certainly be attacked by the surviving Welnorian Assault ships. Mutually-assured destruction is not the ideal outcome.”

“Okay, but I’m still almost certain Xurz is bluffing,” Venori said.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“Because he’s one of the highest-ranking generals in the Welnorian Military, and his ship is a class-A warship,” she explained. “He can’t blockade us for very long, because both he and his ship have real missions they will need to attend to.”

“She’s correct,” Rex said in surprise. “The Welnorian Dominion is currently engaged in warfare on at least four fronts.”

“Then what’s his endgame?”I asked. “Why even go through the trouble of creating a blockade if he knows he can’t hang around here very long?”

“Because General Xurz doesn’t need to stay that long,” Rex said. “He can still hold the blockade long enough to cause damage to our bottom line as well as HERD 108’s reputation. By my calculations, a blockade of one week would cost us forty-two percent of our profit, and the probability of current guests returning would drop to a mere twenty-six percent!”

“So he’s just trying to give us the middle finger?” I pondered aloud. “He’s being petty for the sake of being petty? I doubt that’s the case.”

“Maybe he’s waiting for something to happen?” Venori suggested. “Something he can use as an excuse--”

“Hold on…” I gasped as my brain sparked. “Oh, no.”

“What’s the matter, Anthony?” Rex asked.

“General Xurz knew that we didn’t have a security team currently,” I explained. “That information is on the down-low, right?”

“It is not public knowledge,” Rex acknowledged.

“So Xurz has an insider on HERD 108, one that’s probably feeding him information about its current chaotic state,” I said.

“Why would someone tell a Welnorian General the details of HERD operations?” Rex asked.

“I can think of plenty of reasons,” I said. “But that orange bastard said it himself. He wants to have a HERD that basically bows down to the Welnorian Dominion.

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