Dark Fate, Book 28 Epilogue (Patreon)

Epilogue – Elsewhere

(Jessica Meadows’s Flat, Washington, DC)

Jessica shook her head as she sat on James’s face. The situation with the Flames of Vengeance had resolved itself in… well, not the worst possible way, but it was definitely not optimal. Much like the work James was doing. The vain fool had always pictured himself a model lover, but the truth was that, beyond looks, he had never been terribly impressive. In that regard, Zayn had been the better option. But he had been too focused, that first timeline, with the mantle guiding him. Impossible to manipulate effectively. At least she managed to get the slave collar on James before the Mantle made the whole thing too risky.

Unfortunately, he was proving to be even more of a problem in this timeline. If he had just stayed playing space king, it wouldn’t have been an issue. However, ever since Panama started the chain of smaller nations looking to Ceres for protection, and creating the Ceresan Empire, things had taken a turn for the worst.

Oh, it wasn’t like Zayn had done anything in particular. Other than the business with Russia, when they made the incredibly stupid move of attacking the Empire directly, he had been very restrained with his actions on Earth. Which was the problem. Other than humiliating Russia, which was understandable, given the circumstances, he hadn’t done anything that could be used to turn the public narrative against him. Now, it might already be too late.

The recent additions to the Empire did not make Ceres a hegemony. Not even close. However, they now were in position to control twenty percent of global maritime shipping, and their effect on the oil supply was incalculable. If someone angered Ceres, then the Empire could end them through economic sanctions. They’d proven that before the Flames, when Ceres punished Russia by closing the Panama Canal to them.

Now, though? With both the Panama and Suez Canals potentially getting blocked? That was far more problematic. Any trade from Europe to East Asia from a blocked country or back again would have to go overland, or skirting Antarctic ice, going the long way around either South America or Africa. And it would be even more problematic for the US.

That meant it was too risky to challenge Zayn directly. Not unless he did something that weakened his position, or something happened that undermined it. The freight situation was what mattered. Teleporter pads were fine for moving people, but freight was not so easily dealt with.

Jessica bit her lip as James moved his tongue just right, for once, and his nose rubbed against her clit. “Mmm. Good boy, James.” The growl of impotent rage he made only made it better.

She went back to considering the problem. Air, sea, or land. Any significant amount of freight needed to move through one of those three mediums. Teleports played badly with pocket dimensions and expanded spaces. Ceres controlled the sea, now, and land meant dealing with all the different countries and groups that routes passed through. Which meant the only way to undermine Ceres was with air freight.

The problem was that you could not ship oil by airplane. That simply did not work. Too much mass for the fuel needed. However, freighters that used alien drives could bypass the potential blockades. Existing maritime cargo ships could be upgraded with a drive and shields, allowing them to fly from body of water to body of water, like seaplanes. It wouldn’t even be difficult, and they wouldn’t even need to build new ships, at first.

However, refitting the merchant marine to fly was just a stopgap. The bigger issue was that Ceres now also controlled over twenty-two percent of the world’s oil production. That was harder to get around. And much of the remaining oil production was in the hands of countries that were already hostile to the US, for various reasons. That was harder to work around.

Which meant that the key to breaking Zayn’s power base relied on killing the US economy’s dependency on fossil fuels. Especially diesel and gasoline. And that was going to take a lot of careful work to accomplish, because cars and trucks were part of American culture at this point. Trying to change that too quickly, or too heavy-handedly, would cause a reflexive backlash that could destroy her, unless there was already a clear and present danger, which Zayn had, so far, refused to obediently provide her.

The ‘energy independence’ thing would go over like a lead balloon, just like it always had. Oh, people would support it, in general, but whenever it came time to put down nuclear, solar, or wind power plants, everyone would get all pissy and say not in their back yards. And that was before you considered monster spawns in the areas which, pre-Initialization, would have been perfect for this kind of project.

Either way, it wasn’t the power plants that were the main issue. She needed to promote alternate fuel cars and trucks. She’d start with the big semi-trailer trucks, the ones responsible for moving cargo all across the country. People would resist the longest and hardest on their personal vehicles, but by refitting the transport ships and getting the trailer trucks off of diesel, she could decouple the US economy from the oil concerns, for the most part.

To do that, she tapped into her slaves’ funds, and bought stakes in different companies, primarily Daimler on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, which owned the largest producer of semi-trailer trucks in the US, and Caterpillar on the New York exchange, which was a major producer of construction equipment. Not controlling shares, but enough that people would at least hear what she had to say. And what she had to say would change their development plans, without a doubt. Even before the Flames of Vengeance had hit, she’d already purchased designs for mana-fed engines, using ambient mana to push vehicles along. Not because of Zayn, but because she knew that, eventually, there would be something that would disrupt oil movement, and she wanted to be ready.

The engine design worked for both the big trucks, and the construction equipment. They would be limited to sixty-five miles per hour, but would be able to run indefinitely under those conditions, so long as there was ambient mana, and their hauling or lifting capacity would be no less than the current models. More expensive in the short term, but far cheaper in the long term. She could easily spin it to board members as an investment in the future.

She did not need to involve Congress for this. In fact, it would be better if she didn’t. She just needed to get the right meetings, and make sure people understood that this was the future. The first group to make a move would be seen as trailblazers and pioneers, while the rest were merely aping the others’ success. And it wasn’t like they were going to be taking risks on expensive R&D projects. The mana-fueled engines were already well-developed in the wider galaxy. They just needed to fit them into existing designs, and they’d be instant market leaders on Earth!

Jessica moaned softly as James finally made her cum, and she rewarded him by letting her bladder go. “Good boy, James. You’re only twice as slow as Zayn was, now. Drink it all up. And when you’re done, you can fuck my ass as I finalize the proposals to start countering that bastard’s new advantages.”