Episode 54

"Well, that’s a real tragedy for them... wait, what? We can’t go home?"

Teiro stared at him, his face a total blank. Rin mirrored the expression, blinking back in confusion. "Huh?"

"No, like I said. You only recently arrived here, right, Mr. Teiro?"

"Yeah. Well, it’s been nearly a month now."

"White Dingo began the blockade three months ago."

Rin watched him with a searching look before pulling a single data chip from his bag. Teiro took the offered chip and pressed it against his forehead.

[ALLIANCE NEWS: WHITE DINGO INCREASES PRESSURE ON THE EAP—ECONOMY AND PEACE—ALLIANCE. BOUNDARY BEACONS DEACTIVATED. FULL FLEET BLOCKADE IN EFFECT.]

"Oof. So, basically economic sanctions?" Teiro muttered as the news transcript from a few weeks prior flowed from the chip directly into BISHOP. Man, sounds like things are getting pretty messy for these guys, he thought, feeling remarkably like it was someone else’s problem.

"It’s not strictly impossible to reach the Empire if you take the Zayed Route, but it’s a massive detour. Lately, WIND activity has been spiking, too. It takes far too much time, and more importantly, it’s dangerous."

Rin waved a hand over the monitor in the reception room and snapped his fingers. A map, presumably the local Star Chart, flickered to life. A complex, winding curve representing the path to the Empire was drawn across it; it was so convoluted it looked like a practical joke.

"There are many sectors where you can't jump, so it’s roughly a two-and-a-half-month journey to the Empire one-way. You can't run a legitimate business like that. Between the transit tariffs and the overhead, every trade good ends up being obscenely overpriced."

"Yeah, you’d lose the price war a hundred percent of the time," Teiro agreed. "What about just paying the doggie a bribe to let us through?"

"We’ve sent inquiries multiple times. Total radio silence. Dingo’s only demand is the dissolution of the Alliance, but we can't accept that. If the Alliance vanishes, he’ll be the first one through the door to invade us."

Rin looked down, his shoulders slumped in a display of powerlessness. From his tone, Teiro caught the gist of why the Alliance had their fleet stationed at the boundary.

If the sanctions break them, great. If not, it still whittles them down... That guy looks like a meathead, but he’s got a cunning streak when it comes to this stuff.

Teiro laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back, picturing White Dingo. They’d only talked for a few minutes, but it was clear the man was a hotheaded impulsive type. However, it was equally clear that his Fleet Operations were top-tier and he had a knack for managing his territory. A pure idiot wouldn't attract that many followers.

"Yeah, you’re right," Rin sighed. "In just a few short decades, he’s grown that organization to an incredible size. He scooped up all the local ruffians and before anyone realized it, he’d built a major power. Since he was taking all the troublemakers off everyone’s hands, no one—including the EAP Alliance—opposed him. If anything, they were cheering him on."

Rin paused, looking pained. "It’s an embarrassing story, looking back."

Teiro sympathized as he imagined the scene. It was a classic blunder; the local politicians probably figured they could manipulate a guy like Dingo easily. It was just a guess, but he understood the impulse. Maintaining public order usually trumped every other concern.

"Alright, I think I’ve got the gist of the situation. And I know what you’re after. You need a new trade Route to the Empire, right?"

Marl, who had been sitting quietly next to him, cut into the conversation while eyeing the Star Chart. Rin nodded silently, his gaze fixed on the map.

"At this rate, we’re dancing in the palm of his hand. We have to establish a link to the Empire somehow. The Empire won't be happy about a massive power vacuum or a rogue state on their border, and for us, it’s a matter of survival."

Rin’s voice was grave. Marl glanced at Teiro, her eyes practically screaming, Well? What’s the plan?

"Hmm. Look, I don’t like Dingo either, and I’d love to help out. But our navigation logs from this trip aren't going to be much help. We basically flew straight through the middle of Dingo’s territory to get here."

"Well, obviously," Marl huffed. "What they need is a route that avoids his influence entirely... Hey, Koume. Can you calculate some candidates from that map?"

Koume, who had been standing perfectly still and silent, finally spoke up. [PLEASE WAIT ONE MOMENT.]

[YES. WHILE THE EXACT SCOPE OF WHITE DINGO'S INFLUENCE IS UNCLEAR, I HAVE IDENTIFIED SEVERAL ROUTES THAT SHOULD PROVE VIABLE, MISS MARL. IF I COMBINE THESE WITH THE DOCTOR'S OBSERVATION DATA, I CAN PROVIDE A FAR MORE ACCURATE CALCULATION.]

"Is that true!?" Rin exclaimed, his voice jumping an octave.

Koume gave him a polite smile before leaning in close to Teiro’s ear. [MR. TEIRO. KOUME HUMBLY SUGGESTS THAT THIS REPRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY.]

"You bet it does," Teiro whispered back. He then pivoted, plastering on his best 'Representative Director of Rising Sun Corp' smile.

"Well, as it happens, by total coincidence—and I mean, really, just pure luck—I happened to get my hands on some extremely high-precision data maps of this sector. They actually make it possible to jump from some... let’s say, 'adventurous' locations."

Teiro gave a suggestive, greasy smirk. Rin met his gaze with eyes full of hope, and then, a matching grin spread across his youthful face. It seemed the man was a merchant at heart, after all.

"The EAP Alliance is prepared to enter into peaceful negotiations with the TRB Union and can promise any support necessary. Let’s make sure that statement is officially recorded in the minutes of this meeting."

Later, in a suite at Katsushika Station.

The room Rin had provided for free was lavish. Teiro, Marl, and Koume were huddled around a table. Koume was in the middle of her body maintenance, having reverted to her spherical form for the first time in ages.

"Hmm, I feel like this one is too close to Dingo’s station," Marl mused, pointing at the projection. "Can you calculate a different exit point?"

"Got it. Give me a sec... Alright, there. Looks like we can jump from this Stargate. We can loop around this way and bypass the whole sector."

[MR. TEIRO. REGARDING THE AREA DESIGNATED AS G224: DRIVE PARTICLE DENSITY IS EXTREMELY THIN. FOR THE SAKE OF SAFETY, I RECOMMEND A DETOUR.]

The three of them sat around the table as the Star Route Map on the display shifted and morphed repeatedly. They went back and forth, debating the merits of various paths, slowly carving out a feasible trade route.

"Yeah, this looks doable. Thank god," Marl said, stretching her arms over her head before flopping back onto the floor. She had complained non-stop when they first arrived, but she seemed to have taken to the "living barefoot" lifestyle surprisingly fast.

There aren't any tatami mats, but this is definitely the result of some Japanese influence, Teiro thought as he watched her. The floor was covered in a pristine, plush carpet, and the furniture—tables and chairs—all had stubby, shortened legs. The whole setup was designed around floor-based living, a style that felt deeply familiar to Teiro.

"So, were these 'Nihon-jin' the people from your home?" Marl asked, glancing up. "Rin mentioned that Hero Tiger guy. Maybe he was a Nihon-jin too."

Marl’s eyes drifted to a shelf behind Teiro. Sitting there was a small bronze statue of a man in a golden pilot suit. In one hand, he held a wallet (representing the economy), and on his head, he wore a hat (representing self-restraint). He wore a jacket draped over his shoulders without putting his arms through the sleeves—just like Bella—and he had a vertically striped piece of body armor over his stomach.

According to Rin, he was a hero who had pioneered this region during the Empire’s founding era. Around the Katsushika Star System, he was basically worshipped as a god.

"...No, no matter how you look at it, that’s just the 'Tiger of Futen' himself," Teiro muttered. Come to think of it, there was a giant-ass bronze statue of him at the spaceport, too.

When Rin had first told him the story, Teiro had blurted out, "The guy from Futen!?" only to be met with a barrage of judgmental glares. To the locals, it was probably like he’d just mocked their patron saint.

[IF THE HUMAN SINGLE-PLANET ORIGIN THEORY IS CORRECT, IT IS ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT THIS SECTOR WAS SETTLED BY INDIVIDUALS FROM MR. TEIRO'S HOMELAND,] the spherical Koume noted, rolling lazily across the soft carpet. [IT IS LOGICAL TO ASSUME THAT LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL REMNANTS WOULD PERSIST.]

Teiro gently patted the orb as it rolled to his feet. "Maybe so."

Though without any records, it’s just a nice historical pipe dream. "Anyway, how are things looking on the other end?"

Teiro turned to Marl. He didn’t know exactly how safe the station was, so he’d left Alan and Bella back on the Plum just in case.

"Everything’s fine," Marl answered, still sprawled on the floor. "Loading the supplies is done, and the ship repairs are about eighty percent finished. We can’t fix some of the parts here, so we’re just swapping them out for spares. We should be able to leave tomorrow."

"Got it," Teiro replied. Marl sounded drowsy; he figured it was time to call it a night. They’d narrowed the route down as much as they could. The only thing left was to actually go out there and fly it.

"Let’s set our departure for the day after tomorrow, then. Everyone has free time until then. Pass that along to Alan and Bella."

[UNDERSTOOD.]

Teiro lay down on the floor next to Marl. He stared up at the ceiling, which was covered in wallpaper mimicking a wood-grain texture, lost in thought.

"The Alpha Katsushika Trade Line... Man, this really is turning into a big deal."

Teiro mumbled to himself one last time before letting the encroaching sleep take him.