RavensDagger

  Chapter Seventy-Five - Safety and Security and Saturn

  The talks tinued.

  Ivil's i did not.

  Still, she made an effort to remain attentive. Aurora was certainly keen to listen and discuss things with both parties. It was an iing bang act to observe.

  The Saturnians wahings that were retively easy to obtain around Mars. Medical facilities--Mars had the best of these, bar few--, supplies and cash. They wahe things that normal govers had and could provide to their citizens.

  Twenty-Six was entirely onboard for that. "Do you know horoblems my family aended family had would have been solved if there were more medical facilities in the Rings?" she asked. "Not even just that, I mean like, the kind of medical pce that Mars ah has, where you don't o pay."

  "You pay for those through taxation," Aurora said. "But yes, I uand what you mean. It would be... life ging." Aurora pinched her for a moment, then nodded. "How many quarters did you divide ys into?"

  "Ses," Green corrected. "And there are ten of them."

  "I see. And two of Saturn's moons are properly ised, correct?" she asked.

  "Yes," he replied. "Why the geographical questions?"

  "I have a proposition, then," Aurora said. "Phobos has a small fleet, mostly older Martian ships that we purchase for lower rates. Included in this fleet are a number of medical frigates. I don't remember the exaumber, but there may well be a dozen of these. As far as I'm aware, they're not being used at the moment. Some will require retrofitting and modifications, but they be brought up to tip-top for retively little."

  "How old are we talking here?" Green asked.

  Ivil perked up. She khis ohe Martia had a rge renovation about eight years ago. We feared the o of a fourth inter-system war that never occurred. Most of the ships of the line were repced at that time as Martian factories went into full produ. A lot of that new fleet repced the old one, and the old o into mothballs."

  "Oh, that's a shame," Twenty-Six said.

  "Those older ships were only thirty or forty years old," Ivil replied. "Definitely dated. Slower drives, worse sensor teology, inferior aodations, and poorer shields. Repg them was the right move. However, Mars 't just sell them. Old they might be by Martian standards, they're still parable to the current-gen ships from most nations. In any case, what I mean to point out is that the medical frigates will be forty years old at the oldest."

  "That's not that bad," Green said. "I mean, it ain't ideal, yee? But that's about the age of some of our facilities too. So, what's your pn, Lady Sterlingworth."

  "Phobos will uake the renovation of... twelve of these ships. They're medical frigates, so they're not all that rge, but I think they take a det through-put of patients all the same. We'll uake the improving of this medical fleet at our own expense and provide them with an escort. Perhaps... Phobos has a rge fleet of Corvettes."

  "Oh!" Twenty-Six said as she bounced on the spot. "Phobosian corvettes are hot."

  "Hot?" Ivil asked.

  "They're sleek, long, with a thiical profile," Twenty-Six said. "They look a bit like stingrays, the fish... animal things from Earth? Definitely some of the prettiest ships around."

  "They're designed by a firm that usually produces luxury ships," Aurora said. "I believe they're sidered to be rather underwhelmingly armed, but that same firm produces rag ships. They're very manoeuvrable and rapid, with exceptionally fortable crewing arras."

  "Go on, then," Ivil replied.

  Aurora nodded. "I secure twenty-four corvettes for... call it one year and a month of service. Along with twelve medical frigates. Staffed and operated by Phobos. In exge for one year of service, Saturn will give us their supply of cores."

  Green leaned back, then shook his head. "Too little," he replied. "And we guarahe safety ourselves, though maybe not in transit."

  Aurora hummed. "Two years?"

  "Make it ten," Greeurhen he raised a hand. "No... how about you service the ships yourselves for a year, then lease the frigates to Saturn at a favourable price for the nine years? By the end they'll be at the end of their service life, so maybe we egotiate buying the ships ht."

  "Ten years of medical services is a lot," Aurora said.

  "We have our own doctors and staff. Not many, but some. What if we use the frigates as a sort of training opportunity?"

  "Oh, yes, I see that w," Aurora replied. "Phobos has a very robust medical system. We have been the pce where Martians e to have... unusual and discrete operations pleted for decades now, so we've always had a vested i in having good doctors. I maybe secure a few teachers as well, to train any Saturnian nurses and general practitioners up to our standard. We might be able to do an exge of sorts?"

  Gree out a breath, his shoulders drooping in relief. "That would be incredible. It would loosen the corporate hold on our people a great deal for them to have the option to take gover-provided medical care, and it would do woo help ence the average Saturnian to participate in our owimate governance of the rings."

  "Ye-yeah, the rings are all corpo," Twenty-Six said. "I didn't even know what the u-word was until I left Saturn."

  "The u-word?" Ivil asked.

  Twenty-Six hen flushed a little. When she spoke, it was in a hushed whisper, as if she was saying something incredibly taboo. "Union," she said.

  "Be that as it may," Aurora said. "I think it would also seem like a novel opportunity to promote Phobian phinthropy. That is, if you want to obscure the reason for the trade?"

  Green hummed, then nodded. "That's acceptable," he replied. "Thank you, genuinely. This will save many lives."

  Ivil felt like it was a little short-sighted. Sure, this would save lives, but they were trading away dozens of cores for it. She wasn't sure if the value proposition even matched. What bothered her more was the loss of eventual power. Those civen to oalented person could turn into more cores, which could snowball. In the long term, it would mean more dead Saturnians but it might also eventually lead Saturn to having their own B or A-csser.

  Still, she remained silent. This was Aurora's iation, and her friend's heart was in the right pce. The Saturnians were desperate, and perhaps this gesture of goodwill would foster alliahat outweighed the raw value of the cores.

  "Very well," Aurora said with a soft smile. "We have a deal. I'll begin the arras immediately."

  Gatea raised her teacup in a mock toast. "To the future then, Lady Sterlingworth. May it be as bright as your iions."

  "Thank you," Aurora said. "But you haven't said what you want for your moon's cores, Miss Gatea."

  "Money," was the immediate, clipped response.

  Aurora blinked. "We do money," she replied. And then they dove into what was essentially a long-winded iation that Ivil didn't care as much about.

  As the delegates settled into more rexed versation, Ivil found herself drifting towards Twenty-Six, who was still bundled in her b and looking positively edible.

  "Did you uand all that?" Twenty-Six asked in a hushed whisper, her at reverting back to its usual twang.

  "Most of it," Ivil replied. "It's a plex game we're pying, but I think Aurora knows what she's doing."

  Twenty-Six houghtfully. "I hope so. Aurora is so smart. And pretty. You know, this is going to save a lot of lives. People like me. I bet there's a huher Twenty-Sixes out in the rings that could really use that help."

  "I'm certain there's only owenty-Six that I care for," Ivil replied. "But I see what you mean. I never was one for... phinthropy. But I see why it might make someone more attractive."

  It was another hour before Aurora and Gatea shook hands, having hammered out a deal that sounded rather poor to Ivil. Aurora aying more for unknown cores than most would. Ivil supposed that it was a gamble, but Phobos had more mohan it had easy access to new cores, so it made some sense.

  The delegates finally took their leave, and Twenty-Six returo bed with a rge, jaw-crag yaw. Even Pepper retired for the night after having been relegated to the edges of the room and the discussion.

  "That was... intense," Aurora admitted.

  "You did well," Ivil said, pg a reassuring hand on Aurora's shoulder. "Better than I could have."

  Aurora smiled gratefully. "We'll see if it pays off. For now, we've bought ourselves some time and goodwill. I hope it'll be worth something in the real ference."

  ***

  RavensDagger

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