Avery kept his expression composed even as he learned that there was indeed a plot brewing at Storren Corp. to forcibly take the Dauntless away from him.
Naturally, he had already figured that this would be the case and honestly was grateful that Ardesen and Dorris reached out to him first.
Getting into a fight with a major corporation would be a pain and limit his actions. He would have to pretty much always make sure to be within areas monitored by the Alliance Police to discourage any illegal actions against him.
’And it seems that Ardesen is willing to compromise more than the Chief Financial Officer. Hopefully we can come to some sort of agreement.’ Avery thought, as the two Storren Corp. executives started arguing.
Eventually they settled down, remembering that Avery and Kasandra were in the room and watching their less than professional verbal sparring match.
Fortunately, it seemed that Ardesen had come out on top and was going to explain the situation surrounding the SCXD-011 that only some of the top members of Storren Corp. knew.
"Apologies for the outburst. If you would continue to lend me your ear, I’d like to explain the circumstances behind the ship you found." Ardesen said, wearing a sincere expression.
"You can go ahead, but before you start, nothing you say will get me to hand over the Dauntless."
Nodding his head, Ardesen acknowledged the one point Avery was unwilling to budge on and began explaining the importance of the SCXD-011 and how detrimental its theft had been.
"Four years ago, the governing body of the Dramid Alliance, the Alliance Assembly, decided that an upgrade to their main military force, the Alliance Police, was in order. As I’m sure you know, they lack smaller warships and primarily rely on mercenaries to cover for this weakness. Still, there were many that wanted to rectify this inadequacy."
"To do so, the top ten manufactures of spacecraft in the Alliance were brought an offer to enter their best vessels in a competition to see who will be given the contract to construct a new fleet of light fighters for the Alliance Police. As I’m sure that you’ve surmised, the SCXD-011, the vessel you’ve given the name Dauntless, was to be Storren Corp.’s entry."
After hearing these details, Avery finally understood why the Dauntless had been crafted using the absolute best technology and materials around.
He had naturally checked its specs against other vessels in the same size category, and at the very least, none on the open market came close. Perhaps some upper ranking mercenaries out there had ordered custom ships that could compare, but otherwise, it was truly in a league of its own.
Once Ardesen had given them the background information on the Dauntless’ reason for being constructed, Avery looked towards Kasandra for confirmation.
Unfortunately, unlike Dorris who was a human, she had not trained to pick up the changes in heart rate and breathing that typically indicated when someone was lying for his species.
Nevertheless, there was still a way to confirm if what he said was the truth.
Avery simply turned to Dorris and asked her to confirm what Ardesen had just said. And Thankfully, Kasandra did not detect any lies from her, so it was safe to assume they were being honest.
"Okay, I understand now why my ship is so important your company, but could you have not just made another one?" Avery asked, getting to the true crux of the issue.
"I’m afraid not. The lead engineer and software designer were a part of the first test flight into open space to make sure the vessel was capable of long-term travel without any assistance. I’m sure that they were both among the bodies that you found aboard it." Ardesen said, a pained look on his face. Without a doubt, those two had not only been his coworkers, but also his friends.
When Avery was given their descriptions, he did recognize them from among the corpses that he found. It had been a memorable experience in a bad way, and he did not think he would ever be able to fully forget their faces.
Ardesen then went on to tell them that the induvial that had killed the others onboard had also left a virus on Storren Corp.’s central and backup computers that wiped out all of the data pertaining to SCXD-011’s construction.
This left them unable to recreate the powerful spacecraft after they lost the information pertaining to it and the core members of the design team that had died during the tragic event.
"I had a small part to play in its creation, but my mind just doesn’t work like Noome’s and Chagory’s did. Those two were real geniuses."
There was a forlorn look in Ardesen’s eyes as he brought up his dead colleagues.
With all of the pertinent details now known to him, Avery understood why Storren Corp. was so desperate to retrieve the Dauntless. The competition between the best ship makers had not occurred yet, and winning it promised an immensely valuable contract with the Alliance Police. Likely worth billions of Krenin.
"I think I get your position now, but nevertheless, I can’t give my vessel to you. Though, I don’t mind if you want to analyze it so that you can try and recreate it. Of course, for a price." Avery said, offering an alternative solution.
However, this did not seem to brighten either of the Storren Corp. executives’ expressions.
"While we would certainly be grateful for that, the deadline to submit our ship is in only six months. There won’t be enough time to analyze and construct another one before then." Dorris said, a bit of worry cracking through her professional mask.
She once again tried to negotiate buying the ship, and even going so far as to promise to return it to Avery after a second one was made.
Truly, these were advantageous terms, but Avery still had no intention of parting with the Dauntless for any extend period of time. It could be a year or more until a second version was constructed.
"Avery, if you don’t mind, could I make a suggestion?" Kasandra asked, interjecting on the deteriorating negotiations.
With a nod of approval, Avery learned over, and Kasandra whispered her idea into his ear.
Slowly, a grin began to form on his face as she told him the details. Perhaps her plan was just the kind of mutually beneficial option that they needed.