A Dragon's Bite - Part II

14th March

Old Settlement, Artemis, Freehold territory

In the shower, I think through the last few days in my head. Immediately following my announcement, plans that were already in place were carried out to make sure that there would be no effective opposition on the moon. Yohn used my speech as cover to infiltrate the Jianyang offices with a small group of Artemis Energy security officers, took control of the building, and kidnapped Mr Jianmin. As I expected, after I gave him a call, William Fort dealt with the other problem, Charles Fort, leaving no real opposition on the moon, now that I had the Justice Association, and four of the five tigers onside. I still had some concerns over remaining Jianyang employees, many of whom live in Chinatown, which I had temporarily occupied by a joint force of DELOS, Huesong, and Medano security, but it seems there was no need for me to worry.

By yesterday, the moon was all but entirely under my control. There are only two points of concern which I have to deal with before I can turn my attention to the Earth. Firstly, the population of Jinshan, a settlement in the Copernicus Montes to the west, locked its' doors, and declared itself to be a lunar colony of China. The settlement's population of three hundred is almost entirely made up of Jianyang employees. Another joint group of security forces (Artemis Energy, Fort-Lieher, and Ingprad) led by Yohn, is headed to Jinshan to deal with the situation there.

Second, is Tycho Station, the more problematic issue. Lying on the southwest rim of Tycho crate, the station is a lunar base built by NASA. When the Main Line, which connects all the settlements that lie between Artemis and Farside, was being constructed, NASA allowed for the monorail to run past the station, and for a small stop to be built next to their station. Since the moon's independence was declared, Tycho Station hasn't allowed any trains to stop on their way through, but other than that has not acted with any hostility. As such, it might not end up being a problem, but I need the line to Farside to be open. The Persephone will land at Farside, and from there the cargo will mostly be shipped to Artemis and other settlements north of Tycho. To do that, it will need to travel by monorail past Tycho.

My bigger concerns are all on Earth. I've already communicated with leaders from all the super-states other than the United States. I first spoke with representatives of China and APEC, who refused to consider any deals or the like, demanding that the only solution is that me and my supporters surrender the moon. India's new government, a Hindu fundamentalist group that came to power in a revolt five years ago, was much more agreeable. They saw this as an opportunity to rectify underrepresentation of Indians on the moon. The European Union were noncommittal and made endless excuses, but I didn't expect any better from them. The European Union is highly divided, making its' bureaucracy even more ineffectual than it used to be. The collapse of the Franco-Russian alliance, and the exit of many eastern states has severely weakened the bloc. For the most part ASEAN is supportive of the independence bid, Singapore leading the way. The economic benefit of the lunar resources that come down to Singapore, have spilled over the city-state's border. The moon has brought the entire region economic, financial, and technological advances that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. They see the benefit of continuing this positive relationship with the moon. I've also talked with the Russian president, the leader of the Commonwealth, but he kept his cards close to his chest. That's fine, however. If they intend to remain aloof and neutral, that's fine with me.

The policy of the United States has changed quite drastically over the last few decades. A series of Presidents through the 2010s and 2020s, directed the nation toward an isolationist stance. Whilst they are still the world's largest economy, they've pulled out of involvement in foreign countries across the world. If there is a military conflict, they probably won't play a large part in it. Probably. Another concern of mine when dealing with the Americans, is their use of shale oil. They aren't as reliant on Helium-3 imports as much of the rest of the world is. They can survive without Helium-3 just fine.

When the President's call comes through, I'm already sitting behind my desk, ready to receive him. I accept his call, and his face is projected up onto the wall in front of me after the usual delay. No matter how long I live here, the communication delay between here and Earth always bugs me.

"Thanks for your call, Mr President," I begin, bowing slightly.

"No, thanks for the offer..." the President sits behind a desk in what can only be the Oval Office, "...ah, President Scuderi, was it?"

"Consul Scuderi," I correct him.

"That's right. Consul," the President smiles. The way he smiled makes me want to punch him. I can't tell if he did that on purpose or not, but either way he's succeeded in irritating me.

"So, what can I do for you?" I ask him.

"Isn't it more what I can do for you?" he replies, "you need to make me a deal to buy me off."

"You want me to give you a deal?"

"Humour me," the President smiles.

I don't like the way this is going. The President is clearly taking control of the conversation, trying to make sure he gets what he wants. He has more leverage anyway, however. He can make any demand he wants, and I'm almost guaranteed to agree. Anyway, I suppose I'll just tell him what he wants to hear. I'll swallow my pride, because it won't make any difference in the end.

"A secure supply of Helium-3, and favourable terms for American businesses on the moon."

The President seems to look down on me from up on the wall, "I don't think you understand. That might work with the others, but you don't have the same leverage with me. The Unites States' energy consumption is still majority shale oil. Threatening to cut our Helium-3 supply, does more harm to you than to us."

I thought that he'd probably say that. Probably no matter what I offered him at first. In fact, I know exactly how the rest of this conversation will go. I'll probably offer him something different, maybe twice, then he'll finally tell me what it is that he actually wants.

"Okay, what do you want then?" I ask, spreading my hands, "if you want a greater number of Americans on the moon, then I would be happy to organise-"

"No, no, no," the President interrupts me, "I want the same deal that you gave the Israelis. I'm not interested in the moon, I want Mars."

And there we have it. That went exactly as expected. He asked for the same thing all the others did. Mars. In every other negotiation, however, I've held the advantage, but this time it's different. The Commonwealth and Europe are too cautious to make a deal with me, and all of them are too reliant on Helium-3. But, I'm at a disadvantage here. The United States is the only nation in the world that is both non-reliant on Helium-3, and has the ability to conduct war on the moon. Missiles from the US, or cyber warfare, can reach the moon, and that's why I can't buy him off with something relatively cheap.

"What we promised the Israeli government was that the first ten thousand settlers on Mars, excluding a small support crew from the moon, are going to be Israelites. I can't promise you the same thing."

"I see," the President says, as I start talking again. My turn to cut him off, but I didn't do it on purpose. Just the four-second delay being a pain.

"I would, however, be willing to offer you a percentage of the settlers following the first ten thousand. In return, you're going to have to accept one more condition of mine, however."

"What condition?" the President asked.

"There's something I would like you to help me create on the Earth. A new world organisation: the Project Gaia Foundation."

The Project Gaia Foundation is the next stage of my plan. Not for an independent moon, this is something I've planned for what comes after that. The next stage in achieving my dream. All the representatives of the super-states I've made deals with have agreed to this. The PGF will serve as a new world organisation - a replacement for the United Nations, but the PGF will be much more powerful than the UN. A powerful organisation that will help move the world in the right direction. Of course, the Freehold and myself will play no official part in the PGF. From the outside, it will look like the nations of the world finally working together to improve the world for the benefit of all, but in reality, I will be pulling the strings from the shadows.