Ezekiel stepped out of the bathroom after showering and dressing for the day, only to be met by the same shadowy man who worked for his father, and a very recognizable case. Doing his best not to appear surprised that the man had gotten into his hotel room, he sat on the couch across from him and waited.

The man smirked and handed Ezekiel a manila envelope. "Our target's itinerary. We don't want to spook him on arrival and chance him getting back to his shuttle before we can grab him, so we will be striking as he goes to leave. You need to go to the sixth floor of Building F. Look for Room 605. The envelope contains the details of your part in the plan. Read them over and memorize them as they will disintegrate in six hours."

The man started to get up to leave, but Ezekiel stopped him. "What about the distraction to keep me from being discovered?"

"An internal fire alarm. The people leaving the building should add to the general chaos and help hide the mercenaries' approach. We will time the alarm so Kane should be caught in the open. Oh, the document also contains the location you should go to after you use up the provided ammunition. Make sure you don't delay. A family lawyer will be waiting there to speak to the STO on your behalf and negotiate your peaceful surrender."

Ezekiel had no intention of sticking around any longer than he had to. There was always a chance some actual Marine on security detail might shoot him by mistake if he did.

He turned away from the man, ignoring his exit from the room as he went over the information in the envelope. It contained a picture of Kane, as if he wouldn't recognize the eight-foot-tall robot. It also contained images of the guards and their armor.

Ezekiel could see why they decided to give him the railgun. The armor looked to be top-notch, reminding him of the armor his family's personal guard used. The picture even had possible weak spots circled. He wondered briefly how someone had gotten close enough to get such detailed pictures, but he dismissed the thought as unimportant. He continued looking over the rest of the documents, which consisted of the floor plan to Building F, the landing pad where Kane should be arriving and leaving from, and what exit he would be taking from the administration center.

After a bit, he had to put the papers down to still his nervous shaking. He reminded himself that there was no other way. This had to be done to get back in his father's good graces. If not, he would forever be looked down upon by them and the STO Navy. He had seen the weapons that his father's people had. They would do this mission with or without him, but if he didn't assist, he might as well sign his ticket to destitution.

***

Alexander landed his shuttle on the NAA landing pad. His meeting with the STO wasn't until the next day, but he was back on Earth to meet with Frank Young and Nayzeth Coronado. He expected the NAA's capital to be near the UEC, or maybe Washington, D.C., but it was not even in the old United States; it was located in Mexico City.

He had no memories of ever visiting the large city; the few memories he did have came from pictures and movies. It looked nothing like those at all. It was a vibrant, lively city with plenty of large skyscrapers and green spaces. It wasn't quite as large as Ormaxis back on Ganos, but it was impressive in its own right.

An aide led Alexander to the councilman's office, where Young and Coronado were already waiting for him. The pair stood, and the three shook hands.

Young gestured toward a sturdy bench. "Please have a seat."

Alexander accepted the offer. The thick wooden bench groaned slightly under his weight, but it held. "I'll be honest, I thought we would be meeting back in New York."

Young nodded. "I apologize for any confusion. While we do have an office in the UEC, we only attend meetings a few times a month. The rest of the time we spend with our constituents. With Xin declaring war, the UEC likely won't be having a session until next month. It's important that we use that time to alleviate any concerns our people have over the additional taxation required."

"Is that normal?" Alexander asked.

Coronado was quick to weigh in. "For the people, but we can make exceptions for certain industries."

The man wanted Alexander's business badly if he was already willing to offer tax breaks before discussions had even begun. From the momentary frown that appeared on Young's face, it seemed they were not in agreement on that.

"I was referring to the taxation going up during a war."

"Per our UEC agreement and charter with the STO," Young cut in before Coronado could speak again. "We are required to gather additional funds to help offset ship losses, increase efforts to enlist people for the Navy, and provide other resources as necessary in the case of a war. The STO did not declare war during the pirate incursion, even though internally it was discussed as such. They still required us to meet our wartime agreements during that conflict, though," he said bitterly.

Coronado cleared his throat. "In layman's terms, it is not normal. In my lifetime, the STO has only had to do so three times."

"Three times too many," Alexander heard Young mutter quietly.

Young's dislike of the STO was interesting, but Alexander was extremely busy and didn't have time to dig deeper into the man's feelings on the subject, so he ignored the comment. To get the conversation back on track, he switched topics. "What sorts of agreements or manufacturing are you interested in?"

"Honestly, we were hoping you could give us a rundown on what BSE has to offer," Coronado said after looking over at Young with concern. The man's feelings were quickly hidden behind a professional veneer, however.

Alexander pretended to pause and think about it for a bit, but he already knew what he was willing to produce on Earth. "I have two main products that might interest the two of you, but you will need to sign NDA's before we can continue any discussions."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He handed them a tablet with the BSE non-disclosure agreement on it and waited while both men read through the document before signing it.

Once he confirmed their signatures, he stored the tablet. The documents were already sent to Yulia's Grace via his comm, and from there to the server on Eden's End to ensure there would always be copies available.

"Are either of you familiar with computronics?" Alexander asked as he focused back on the two men.

"Vaguely," Young said. "I believe the local university managed to purchase one a few years back before the pirate uprising. They use it for complex computing."

"They can also be used for robotic self-learning," Alexander added, seeing how the two might react to the statement.

Young looked slightly disgusted by Alexander's comment, but it wasn't for the reason he thought. "The STO frowns on such use, but we know the mega corporations use the tech openly. It's one of the ways they stay ahead of any competition."

"Frank!" Coronado lightly admonished the younger man. "Let's keep the discussions to the topics at hand and not our personal feelings."

Young nodded. "I apologize. Where were we?"

Seeing an opening, Alexander decided to go for it. "You don't need to apologize. I'm not a fan of the STO either."

The two seemed shocked by the admission, but they quickly recovered.

"Look, I'll be honest," Alexander continued. "The only reason I'm considering your offer is so I can disrupt those very same corporations who control the STO."

The room was silent after that statement, and the two NAA councilors glanced back and forth between one another. It was nearly a minute before Coronado cleared his throat to speak once more.

"That is not a very popular opinion, even here on Earth," the man said tentatively. "If what you say is true, you may not find very many friends amongst the other UEC members."

Alexander chuckled. "Mr. Coronado, you don't have to try to sell me that the NAA is the best place to do business. If I hadn't already done my homework, I wouldn't have agreed to meet with you."

A bit of tension seemed to drain away from the older man. "You were talking about computronics? Does that mean you can produce your own?"

"Something like that," Alexander admitted. "I managed to luck into an old supercomputer fabricator. The chip design is about eighty years old, but with the help of some talented engineers back home, we managed to rig them up into what we call pseudo-computronics. It performs a similar function compared to normal computronics, but for a fraction of the price. They aren't as powerful as the supercomputers available from QuantumLogic, but they are more powerful than the advanced chipsets they sell. BSE is also working on an updated chip design that should outperform the QuantumLogic one, but that's still in development."

"That's huge," Coronado stated. "During the pirate conflict, computronics prices rose significantly, and they never went back down. QuantumLogic says it's because supplies are limited, but I think we all know they are just price-gouging since they are the only supplier."

"And you would be willing to create a manufacturing center here on Earth?" Young asked in surprise.

"If you can provide the raw materials and a suitable location, I may consider it."

Both men nodded slightly at Alexander's statement.

"You said you had two products?" Coronado asked.

Alexander smiled slightly, knowing the man wouldn't have forgotten his statement from earlier. "I assume you are both well acquainted with Qcomms?" Alexander didn't even wait for them to nod before continuing. "Well, I managed to create my own FTL network that I call comm nodes. I'll probably register them as Kcomms before I release them to the open market."

Both men looked puzzled, but Coronado held up his hand to pause the conversation. "Congratulations on figuring out FTL communications, Mr. Kane, but I don't see any value in adding that as an industry. Qcomms are on every planet within the STO, and even most space stations at this point."

Alexander nodded his avatar in agreement. "You are correct, which is why I won't be competing in those markets."

"Then where?" Young asked in confusion.

"Ships, of course," Alexander replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Both men chuckled slightly, thinking it was a joke. When Alexander didn't join in, they quickly stopped.

"It appears that we are missing something," Coronado said. "I have seen a Qcomm in person. I can't imagine even the wealthiest of shipping companies forking out the money for a communication device that costs more than their entire ship is worth, even with the benefits such a device would give them, let alone the space it requires to fit one aboard. They are not small."

Alexander chuckled before producing a small tabletop holo device and placing it on the desk. The device lit up, showing a comm node.

"That is to scale," he said. "All that crap that Qcomm packages theirs in, is just smoke and mirrors used to protect their product."

The two stared at the soccer ball-sized object, and Alexander could see them both doing the mental math to see if angering Qcomm would be worth it.

"How fast could you produce them?" Young asked.

"Once the production facility was up and running, I could make hundreds a day. They do require new comm devices to go with them, mostly because the Qcomm ones are unencrypted, allowing anyone to read messages sent to and from a Qcomm." Enj+oyi%n-g+ the s!tory^?* F%i^n!d m.or@e at MV-#L&EM.PYR-.^

Coronado jerked his gaze back to Alexander in shock. "You're certain?"

Alexander nodded.

"Fuck!" the man swore. "That's how those bastards were able to constantly outbid us for any contracts."

"You don't know that for sure," Young added unconvincingly.

Alexander was curious as to what they were talking about, but he remained quiet.

After the pair settled, they both looked back at him.

"All that's left is to come to an agreement," Young said.

What followed was a few hours of back-and-forth negotiations. They wanted Alexander to set up his manufacturing centers in the poorer regions of the NAA, but Alexander declined the offer. After discovering his connection to the site in Nevada, he wanted to have a location close by that he could use when he visited.

The other sticking point was labor.

"I understand you want me to hire as many workers as possible, but the pseudo-computronics and comm nodes both require machine precision. At best, the people would simply be minders."

"That's fine," Young replied.

"It'll also raise the price of both items," Alexander added.

"Again, that is fine. We have a lot of leeway there."

Alexander shrugged. "Very well, but to ensure the sites are built as quickly as possible, I'll be using my manufacturing methods. I don't want any delays that could allow the corporations a chance to sabotage my efforts or figure out what I am up to."

The two leaned in to discuss the matter, and Alexander pretended he couldn't hear every word. After a few minutes of quiet back and forth, they turned back to him, and Young spoke. "Agreed, so long as the building plans meet all local laws and codes."

Expecting that, even before the meeting, Alexander had designed the buildings. They would be two separate facilities, located on plots of land Alexander had picked out prior to the meeting.

A contract was written up, and all three signed it. The tax rate within the NAA was rather ridiculous, but he would just be tacking that on to the sale price. When he did all the math, the computronics would cost a quarter of what the QuantumLogic ones did. And the Kcomms would cost less than a million credits, which included installation. Both prices included a one-hundred percent profit margin. It just went to show how much Qcomm was screwing people over with their half billion credit price tag. Alexander could have gone with a lower price, but he wanted room for competition. There was also the fact that people might look at an underpriced FTL comm solution as suspicious. With the price point he chose, people would be more inclined to believe in the quality of what he was selling. It was a weird consumer phenomenon, but who was he to argue with it?