Sliding Reality: Chapter 9 Part 1 of 5 (Patreon)

Chapter 9:

7/04/2242

Brad woke to a mix of pain, itchiness and tightness on his side. He turned to the side, seeing Stuart bent over his screen.

"Well about time you woke up," Stuart put the screen to the side and looked him over.

"How long?"

"Just a few hours, the ambassadors are all reaching out to me, want to know about you and what is happening. I have been stalling them to give us more time. They all knew that you were injured, but they didn't know to what extent."

"What happened?"

"You got hit with Shrapnel. The Sixth fleet wormholed away, what ships could, the others they destroyed themselves. The Legion captured the two Destroyers that are in the station and the Marines surrendered. We're not sure what to do with them."

"Coalition and the Federation have had fights before. Reach out to Lucy Hahn and see if she will act as the negotiator." Brad pushed against the straps keeping him tight to the bed.

Stuart unclipped the strap around his legs.

“Forgot we’re in space.”

"Not the corporations or Sol?"

"Corporations will sell them off and the Sol will use them as chips to increase their standing with the Federation. The Coalition don’t care for them, they’ll take every damn thing they can get their hands on." Brad used the straps to turn and face Brad, floating in mid-air. Grimacing with each pull at the straps.

“Only some minor scarring,” Stuart said.

Brad touched around the angry red lines along his ribs, warm and raised. "Synth skin it looks like, the good stuff."

"Brad, what are we going to do?" Stuart asked.

"Well you don't start with the easy questions do you?" Brad muttered, grabbing the other strap and pulling himself to his boots. "We can't deal with the Federation, that much is clear, if this is how they react. We should look and making sure we're ready for follow up attacks. Have they declared war on us?"

"I don't think so."

"Guess you don't need to declare war on an alien system." Brad tightened the straps on his boots with a pull.

“Thankfully the Legion came and pulled our asses out of the fire.” Stuart said.

“Where is Jynx’s squad, and Foster?”

“Some of her squad mates are watching the door, they’re going to take shifts protecting us. Foster has been coordinating the medical care for the Federation forces and has his people working with Sally to repair the station.”

Brad pushed himself up to standing.

“Where are you going?”

“To give my thanks.” Brad headed for the door.

Stuart grumbled, moving close.

“Mother hen,” Brad muttered.

“Your dumb ass getting up and walking around after getting a hole in your side.”

The door opened for Brad, showing two bots standing on either side.

"Hey Brad, how are you feeling?" Fin's voice came from the bot to his side.

"I'm good, how have you been?"

"Good, this is Shiro, he was the one that did first aid on you, he's one of my squad mates."

"Mister Lee, how are you feeling?"

"A little sore."

"On a scale of one to ten and located where?"

Brad was subjected to a quick but thorough set of questions with Shiro examining his side.

"Very well, it looks like the synth skin is coming along nicely, it will take two to five days before you have back your full range of motion."

"Thanks doc," Brad said.

“No problem,” Shiro nodded and stepped to the side.

Brad looked between them.

“So the Legion is a private security contractor?”

“Ah, well, that kind of just came about,” Fin said.

Brad looked at him to continue.

“You see we were in a fight for Sanctorium and we wanted to have some more cover for our people if you know anything happened, so we incorporated the clan.”

“I remember the stories that Jynx told me,” Brad looked past them.

“She’s offline, she umm, she hasn’t replied to me yet, it might be an idea to talk to her,” Fin said.

“My screen?” Brad patted his pockets.

“Here.”

Brad took it from Stuart.

>Jynx, its me, I’m okay, just woke up, they say I’ll be all healed within five days at the most. Message me when you can, love you [Brad]

There was so much more he wanted to say, to squeeze into those words.

"If you don't mind, Stuart and I have some plans to discuss. Maybe find a shirt." Brad put his phone to vibrate for her messages only and slipped it into his pocket.

“Your gear bags are in the closet.” Shiro said.

“Thanks.” Brad turned, pausing. “You saved our lives and protected Sphere World. Thank you seems too small of a word.”

“What the Federation were trying to do, it was wrong. You and Stuart were just trying to do the right thing. You’ve been there for me at my lowest. It’s only fair I can be there when I can. I know we’d back you again in a heartbeat,” Fin said.

“Hell yeah to that,” Shiro said.

Brad nodded, clearing his throat.

“Get some rest, and if you need anything just call,” Fin said.

“Thank you,” Stuart said.

The door closed behind them as Brad moved to the closet, dressing quickly and finding a seat next to Stuart.

“So now what?”

“I think we take a page out of the Legion’s play book.” Stuart said. “Incorporate.”

“Incorporate?”

“Essentially keep things how they are. Orion Belt Enterprises becomes the parent company of the Orion system and Sphere World. Everyone that is gaming with Sphere World are our employees. Sphere World started as a game, it connected people from across factions. It was neutral in all matters. It was about the players and what they did in it. It was a game. We should manage it as such. Everyone is treating this like a political problem instead of a game problem.”

"You want to keep on running it as a game?"

“Model it after one at least. Like if one of the factions were to control Sphere World, what would they do?”

Brad pressed back into his chair.

"The Coalition would tax everything and anything coming out of Sphere World. Slap on a hundred restrictions, trying to milk it for all the money possible. I love the coalition, but taxation is a type of death if done wrong, and they are so far into debt and trying to pay it off that they have no other option. Sol is a bunch of infighting tribes, they would use it as a way to lord over others, they would be so wrapped up in talks that nothing would happen for decades. The Corporations will use every tactic they can, legally and not to turn a profit. The Federation would add it to their military complex, line the pockets of their one percenters and force a war. If the Coalition or the Federation had it, it would lead to a war, just because of the tension and distrust with one another."

"What if we were to create an umbrella to shield our gamers? We can bring them together not only by mission, but actually promote the community they have already built." Stuart said.

"Sally, what is our capacity for humans within the system?"

"We can hold eight hundred thousand currently. Several groups are building ship station modules and their required systems to support a human population."

"Start building more places for people to live in. Quietly start informing gamers that they can live in Orion's Belt and that no further fighting will be accepted within the system. We need to start building warpgates so we can defend Orion and Sphere World.”

"Brad, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that the factions are not only targeting us, but they are also targeting everyone that is playing Sphere World. I'm thinking that there are people in the Federation that are getting pressed into military service just because of this game. Everyday that we had the shareholders over our heads with Orion's Belt, we were trying to give the gamers the game they deserved and stave off the plans the shareholders had to choke them of their money. We're just doing the same thing, but on a much bigger scale. And what if instead of employees we make the shareholders?”

Stuart raised an eyebrow. "We just got away from the last group and you want to jump back into that?"

“First we don’t have the liquid funds to try and pay that many people.” Brad sat up, wincing through the pain, but his churning mind pushing him on. “Second, if they are invested then they own a part of Sphere World. Who would want to destroy their investment? Plat would become our internal currency tied to share price. They can sell it for credits, or they can use it within Sphere World to buy and sell gear.”

“It would incentivize them to make more, what if they make more weapons?” Stuart gripped onto his chair and pulled himself back down.

“It would be better put to use increasing their production I would think and I’m not sure building weapons is wrong.”

“What the hell do you mean?”