Chapter 46: The Negotiator's Gamble
The next morning, the Sol-Invictus hangar was tense enough to ignite. Prince Valen and Princess Elara stood waiting for Carson's answer, their golden shuttle prepped for departure and its engines humming with a low, impatient drone. Behind them, the holographic image of the World-Eater fleet loomed on the hangar's main display like a death sentence.
Carson walked toward them, but he wasn't carrying the marriage scroll. He was carrying a small, pulsing data-crystal that glowed with a rhythmic, emerald light.
"I have a counter-proposal," Carson announced, his voice amplified by the ship's internal speakers so every soldier and engineer could hear.
Valen's eyes narrowed into slits of gold. "The Emperor does not negotiate with his own property, McCain. You were given a choice: the crown or the grave."
"Then he shouldn't have left his 'property' in charge of the coordinates to the Library of the Second Blade," Carson countered, his voice steady.
The silence that followed was absolute. Even the Princess's cold, glacial composure cracked for a split second. The Second Library was the "Holy Grail" of the Solaris Hegemony—the legendary repository said to contain the secrets of Level 16 and the power to bypass the limitations of mortal Qi.
"You're bluffing," Valen hissed, his Level 14-Peak aura flaring in a desperate attempt to intimidate. "That location was lost when the McCain ancestors committed their final treason."
"My father didn't destroy it," Carson said, tossing the data-crystal into the air and catching it with a smirk. "He locked it. The coordinates are hidden behind a 33rd-strand frequency that only I can generate. You want the girl to marry me to get the power? Forget the marriage. Take the map. Give me my city's freedom and turn those World-Eaters around, or I'll crush this crystal and the location stays buried for another ten thousand years."
Elara stepped forward, her hand reaching out as if she could feel the resonance of the crystal. "You would trade the legacy of your bloodline for a single, decaying city?"
"I'm trading a map for a future," Carson said. "Do we have a deal, or do I start the self-destruct on this Dreadnought and take your 'Holy Grail' to the grave with me?"
Valen looked at Elara, then closed his eyes, communicating directly with the Emperor through a secure "Deep-Mind" link. After a moment, his face went ashen, and he bowed lower than he ever had before.
"The Emperor... accepts," Valen whispered, the words clearly tasting like poison. "New Seattle is recognized as a Free Port. But know this, Carson McCain: by giving us the map, you have started a race. And if we reach the Second Blade before you find a way to stop us, there won't be enough of the galaxy left for you to call a 'city'."