TGoaW-101

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==Chapter 101 - The Glow of a Worm inside a Child's Eye==
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"You want to do what??...
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...sell them SHIPS?" on the comm, Patrick was aghast.
Elizabeth had time to ready her reply thanks to light speed delay. "Yeah. We sell them Sampan IIIs, stripped, after this...'trial' thing." she said, "It makes sense to do it too."
she waited, putting the spreadsheet together.
"HOW in the hell does it make sense?" he demanded.
"Subchannel five." she stated. "Have Ms. Whyte explain any details you don't instantly get, big brother. We're going to get HPG tech from them that we don't have, they're aware of the Terran Perfidy, Holy Shroud and all the rest of it now. We have a fifteen year armistice to turn these guys from enemies into assets, we hook them, savvy big brother of mine? I want to make it so when Thirty-sixty-seven comes, attacking us is unthinkable to them. if they want to go throw down with the Terrans at that point, well...we give them the right reasons and they'll go right past the Commonwealth and we don't have to worry about another Holy Shroud."
"Elizabeth, Comstar is an ALLY now!!"
"THEY STOLE FROM ALL OF US!!" she shouted at the camera. "I saw it, Patrick!! The patterns-it's in the damned audits, the Clanners attacks us, but both the saKhans I talked to said that they leaned on Comstar early to manage conquests and Comstar was who was blocking calls for help and warnings, just like Focht said they were doing." she mastered herself, "The Terran Bastards only decided to resist when it was clear the Clans were aiming for Old Earth, their home-base. Tukayyid wasn't for US, it was for the TERRANS, the same ****** who have been stealing from us for generations, they were content to let us all burn...well, we don't have to protect them when the time comes, and I intend to make sure we have the option to step aside!!"
"If that isn't what you get?" he asked after a few minutes. "What then?"
"Then we know what their weaknesses are because we built their gorram ships." she hissed vindictively. "I know what I'm doing-they'll either be allies, or we'll have a hook into their guts we can reel in if we have to."
"You should have asked me first." he said.
"The sales aren't approved yet, are they?" she countered, "You can pull the plug any time, you can ask the Archon, and she can pull it if you think I'm out of order, but this is the smart play, Pat-we turn our enemies of the moment into allies against our long-term enemy. let me make this play, please?"
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