Super Mothership
Feather Clan Flagship.
“The younger generation is truly formidable!” Isabel looked at the report in her hand with admiration.
Since this negotiation concerned the vital interests of both sides, as the chief commander, Isabel naturally had to keep a close watch on the entire process.
In fact, right after the halftime recess, the progress of the talks—and even video recordings—were already transmitted to her.
With just a little thought, she could more or less guess Arthas’s intentions. Though risky, judging from the subtle reaction of the Black Steward—who did not storm out—she could tell he had probably won his gamble.
“Still, the other side is really cautious. They said it was a face-to-face meeting, yet not a single one of them showed up…” Isabel remarked with some disappointment.
A negotiating team composed of just one hologram and a group of robots—what useful intelligence could Gemini possibly gain from that?
Check whether the light bulb on their heads shines brightly enough?
Her newly appointed cousin would probably be disappointed this time…
“Commander, the Black Steward has sent a communication request!” the adjutant suddenly reported.
“Heh! I figured he’d reach out to me…” Isabel chuckled.
Most likely to lodge complaints, and demand a replacement for the negotiator.
When dealing with an opponent who seeks to use public authority for private vengeance, the best strategy was to escalate matters and apply internal pressure. If the Black Steward hadn’t come to protest, that would have been unusual.
But clearly, Isabel had no intention of being a pig-headed teammate…
“Shall we take the call?” asked the adjutant.
“No. Tell them I’m too busy. Besides, I’ve entrusted the negotiations fully to Arthas—I won’t intervene!”
“But if this causes the other side to lose their temper and jeopardize the deal, it’ll be hard to explain to the Council…” the adjutant said nervously.
“If that Cruze kid at the front doesn’t flinch, why should we be afraid?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“By the way, how’s the intelligence gathering on their silver warship?” she asked again.
“Well… I’m sorry. Their hull material is extremely unusual. Even at close range, the sensors aboard Fallen Angel couldn’t penetrate. The internal structure remains a complete mystery to us…” the adjutant reported, head bowed.
“I see… what a pity…”
The fact that this type of frigate could handle both long-range offense and near-space defense at the same time—that was the decisive factor that allowed them to turn the tide in the last battle. Just imagining the level of technology inside was enough to set one’s heart racing.
But of course, such technology was clearly a closely guarded treasure. The chances of acquiring it through normal trade were slim.
Now it was just a matter of what other surprises Arthas could bring her…
One hour later.
The two negotiating teams returned to the table.
“Lord Arthas, I believe that continuing to dwell on past grudges in this setting will only add a powerful enemy, and bring no benefit to either of us.
As the saying goes, enmity should be resolved, not deepened. We cannot allow personal grievances to damage the interests of our civilizations.
Therefore, I am willing, in my own name, to apologize for the attack carried out against you in the Solar System—and I am prepared to offer compensation.”
The Black Steward’s tone was much softer than before, though faint traces of helplessness lingered.
His demeanor was the perfect picture of a scholar’s frustration when dealing with a soldier.
“Hmm…” Arthas lowered his head in silence, as if seriously weighing whether to let bygones be bygones.
Then he raised his gaze to the Black Steward.
“I can accept your apology. But what compensation do you intend to offer?
You must know, I’ve never suffered such trauma in my entire life. If the damages aren’t enough to cover my emotional distress, my mood will sour. And if my mood sours… well, that might affect the talks…”
Everyone was left speechless.
For a chief negotiator to openly threaten, “Give me benefits or I’ll make trouble,” in the middle of formal talks—this was something none of them had ever seen.
What made it even more absurd was… he seemed to be on the verge of succeeding.
Yet among the crowd, Catherine looked at Arthas with a puzzled expression.
Though his demeanor and tone were exactly the same as they had been an hour ago, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something strange had changed about him…
Earlier, Nie Yun had given Catherine a beginner’s manual for spiritual power training. Although she had only been practicing for a short time and couldn’t yet perform any actual spiritual power techniques, she had already begun to faintly sense the spiritual presence of nearby lifeforms.
This was the same principle as when the Immortal, despite lacking visual organs, could still clearly perceive Nie Yun’s position. It was a rudimentary perception of other lifeforms that arose once one’s spiritual power grew strong enough.
The stronger a lifeform’s spiritual power, the easier it was to sense its existence!
Previously, Arthas gave Catherine such a powerful presence that even with her eyes closed she could feel him clearly. But now… that presence had weakened considerably, to the point of being almost undetectable!
Could it be because he had exhausted too much energy earlier while devising negotiation strategies?
On the other side, the Black Steward seemed equally exasperated by Arthas’s bluntness.
“What kind of compensation does Your Excellency want? I will do my best to meet it.”
“Hmm… I think your warship looks pretty good. Give it to me!” Arthas said bluntly, as if he weren’t an outsider at all.
Everyone was stunned. He actually dared to ask!
Anyone could understand the value of this warship. To acquire it—even if the negotiations yielded nothing else—would already be a massive profit!
“…Your Excellency really knows how to joke. I would love to give it to you, but unfortunately, this is vital property of the organization. I have no authority to decide its ownership.” The Black Steward spread his hands.
“Tch. Then how about that silver mecha you own? Don’t tell me a sector steward can’t even afford a single mecha!” Arthas sneered with open disdain.
“That too is organizational property, just as your fighter belongs to the military. The only things I can freely dispose of are my personal assets.”
“So in the end, you’re just a powerless small fry. How disappointing… sigh! My mood’s not so good now…”
Everyone: “…”
The Black Steward’s robe trembled; it was clear he was barely suppressing his fury.
After a moment of silence, he clenched his teeth and raised a single finger.
“Energy crystals… one ton! That is the maximum compensation I can offer!”
“Hiss~” Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
Energy crystals! One ton?!
It was well known that this non-renewable, high-energy storage medium was one of the hardest currencies on the market—even in Gemini!
A full ton of energy crystals was roughly equivalent to the entire yearly consumption of a frontier legion. Converted into Gemini currency, it could buy an estate in the capital’s star circle, where land was worth its weight in gold—or even, in a remote sector, purchase a whole barren planet!
For an individual, it was an astronomical sum—enough to become fabulously wealthy overnight!
Even for a direct descendant of the Cruze family, such compensation was undeniably immense.
Giving away the equivalent of a whole planet just like that—was a steward of the Unity of All Things really so wealthy? Or perhaps it was only to be expected of a commercial organization?
“The value of energy crystals goes without saying. Moreover, they can serve as the foundational currency for this transaction. If Lord Arthas is interested in any of our goods, you may directly use these energy crystals to make purchases from us! At a guaranteed favorable price!
This is our sincerity. What do you think?"
Everyone turned to look at Arthas, waiting for his reply.
“Energy crystals, huh… meh. Passable, I suppose…” he said, as though still somewhat dissatisfied.
Then, with a muttered complaint, he immediately turned to Catherine.
“Adjutant, note this down. This is the Black Steward’s personal compensation to me. It is not to be counted as part of the transaction between our two sides.”
Everyone: “…”
Although nothing he said seemed wrong, why did it still feel like he was just pocketing personal gain?
“Yes!” Catherine nodded, though inwardly she let out a breath of relief.
Mm! That was his style. What she felt just now… must have been an illusion, right?
Once Arthas’s “mood” was soothed, the negotiations finally entered the formal stage smoothly.
First, both sides exchanged their respective sales lists, and the expert teams on each side began evaluating the listed items.
“Quick, check the technology trade options—this is the most valuable part!”
“Hmm… ‘Psionic Communication Technology’? Could this be that unknown method of communication they used? Psionics? Could it be some mysterious energy our side hasn’t yet discovered?”
“Look here—‘Psionic Remote Control Technology.’ This must be the secret behind their drones moving so flexibly! But what exactly is psionics?”
“I found them—‘Foundations of Psionics,’ ‘Introduction to Psionics,’ ‘Advanced Psionics’… just as expected! They seem to have mastered an entire technological tree based around so-called psionics!”
“Yes, this must be an entirely new branch of science, beyond even quantum technology!”
“…”
The Gemini experts exchanged words while exclaiming in astonishment. Clearly, the trade list offered by the Unity of All Things had caused quite a stir.
Meanwhile, eighteen small robots were secretly chatting over internal comms.
“Hey, Lao Yu, judging from their reaction, it looks like they’ve fallen for the ‘psionics’ tech line, huh?”
**“Pretty much! After all, it’s modeled on spiritual power, extrapolated with some imaginative theorizing. At the end of the day, it’s also a possible future research direction for us. In terms of plausibility, this tech tree could really exist.
It’s just that… we haven’t mastered it yet! Heh heh…”**
“Heh heh…”
“Heh heh heh…”
Three days earlier…
Once both sides had reached a preliminary agreement on trade, Nie Yun summoned all members of the Cloud Research Institute to discuss their own trade list.
After initial discussion, Elder Yu summarized the group’s conclusions.
“Boss, comparing our technology with theirs—while we’re ahead in several fields, especially in derivative technologies related to mithril materials—if we want to keep the secrets of mithril hidden, the number of options we can actually trade becomes very limited!
What’s more, we’ve only come into contact with one of their second-line fleets. Their actual mainstream cutting-edge technology is at least twenty years ahead of what this fleet represents!
To put it bluntly, our overall tech strength still lags behind Gemini. Right now, we don’t have much advanced technology we can present; at best, we can claim parity with them.
As for high-level technology that could truly impress them… only some of your SS-grade technologies might qualify.
The bigger issue is that Gemini has a long history. In many fundamental scientific fields, they are far ahead of us. Remember, all technology branches out from basic science—Newtonian mechanics, for instance, is the foundation for all modern mechanics!
Therefore, unless we can present a breakthrough in fundamental science that surpasses theirs, it will be impossible to create the illusion that we are ahead of them!
Otherwise, we risk exposing our reality—that we are all bark and no bite!”
Elder Yu’s speech laid out each of the difficulties they currently faced.
In truth, most of the technologies that Earth civilization had fully mastered were “genuine knock-offs,” copied wholesale through the devouring and replication ability of the mechanical bugs.
In such a short time, all Elder Yu and his colleagues could manage were small tweaks—at most, micro-innovations. A leap from version V1.0.0.0 to V1.0.0.1. But to reach a true V2.0 breakthrough… that would still require time and accumulation.
For example, take the Sword Immortal–class mecha. While its performance surpassed the original design template, the “Ranger,” and could be said to have exceeded its predecessor, in the eyes of Gemini this was nothing more than a slightly better-crafted elite unit.
Not to mention that the already-deployed Sea Storm–class could leave it far behind, there were also many high-level mechas within Gemini’s arsenal that had yet to appear, and any number of them would easily surpass the Sword Immortal.
The only reason Gemini used a low-performance model like the “Ranger” as standard equipment was because the military needed to balance cost-effectiveness, not because they lacked the ability to build stronger machines.
It was just like how the United States once possessed the powerful F-22 fighter jets, yet would never consider replacing all of its aircraft with jets costing hundreds of millions each.
Even a wealthy nation like the U.S. could never afford to squander resources like that.
In such a case, if you tried to use MiG-25–level technology as a bargaining chip in a tech exchange, you’d only be inviting ridicule.
Nie Yun smiled and nodded. Of course, he understood all this.
“If we can’t put forward technology that they consider worthwhile, then we can sell them ready-made goods instead. Our high-precision manufacturing capability is in no way inferior to Gemini’s!
And when it comes to manufacturing costs, we can leave them far behind!
With so many advantages, how could we not offer products of real value?
I’ve even prepared a trump card product. We absolutely have enough to tempt them, so you don’t need to worry about that.
As for the ‘leading-edge’ foundational science you mentioned… hehe! Who says we don’t have any?”
“Ah?” Everyone stared at Nie Yun in surprise.
We… do?
“You’ve all read the materials on psychic power, haven’t you?” Nie Yun said with a smile.
“Mm!” Everyone nodded.
That really was astonishing—a completely new system of power, something even Gemini hadn’t studied.
But the problem was… they barely understood it themselves!
They didn’t know the principles, and even practical applications were few and far between.
How could they possibly explain such a power using nothing more than mysticism?
“Heh! As long as we make them see that we possess this technology, without ever needing to provide the actual content, then why… can’t it appear on our trade list as our ‘leading-edge’ foundational science?” Nie Yun chuckled.
“You mean… a not-for-sale item?” Old Yu was the first to catch on, his eyes lighting up.
That’s right—who said everything on the trade list had to be for sale?
Just set the price so high that they couldn’t possibly afford it!
“Exactly! I want you to design a full and reasonable ‘psychic power’ technology tree. That will be our trump-card science!” Nie Yun declared.
“Well… in theory that should work, but we’ll need to change the name. ‘Psychic power’ is far too obvious. This technology needs to be as mysterious as possible,” Old Yu suggested after some thought.
“Hmm… that makes sense! Since I’m the Ghost Captain, then this new power system… shall be called Psionics!”
TL Note- Tech Transfer...
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