== Part 49 – Back Channel Negotiations ==
"So, Admiral," Duchess Eve Steiner began after listening to Admiral Adama's proposal, "in return for the Twelve Colonies selling to us advanced gas core FTL drives and the gravity manipulators that would allow us to safely jump inside gravity wells, you want not just our advanced hardware in return, but also the knowledge of how to make them as well? And yet you aren't willing to commit to teaching us the principles behind your own gravity manipulators and how to properly build them, nor the navigational algorithms that make your FTL drives so accurate? That strikes me as a rather lopsided bargain, Admiral. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Well..." Adama began, clearly searching for a diplomatic way to agree without being insulting.
"Relax, Admiral," Duchess Eve said with a slight laugh. "I completely understand your position. You fear that once you teach us how to make your unique technologies, the Twelve Colonies will have nothing to offer us in trade as our greater industry will totally eclipse your own." She leaned forward and smiled like a cat to a mouse. "But please forgive me if I bludgeon you over the head for such hypocrisy at every opportunity."
"Your understanding is most appreciated, Your Grace," Adama replied, looking not at all relieved.
"Also, I should warn you that your negotiating position isn't as strong as you think," Duchess Eve continued. "A few days before your arrival, I received a report that the Hanseatic League has somehow a number of smallcraft called 'Raptors' that have advanced gas core FTL drives and gravity manipulators built into them, along with operator manuals that give a rough description of what both technologies do. Our agents in the League managed to purchase a few of them and at great expense had them shipped to our own researchers using a Dropship equipped with a gas core FTL drive of its own. Our researchers assure my Prince and Archon that it's only a matter of time before they finally reverse engineer how the gravity manipulators work and start making their own. But of course, any assistance in that research would be most appreciated.
"Oh, and the Free Worlds League and Draconis Combine have also acquired their own samples," the Duchess added, her smile getting even more cat like. "So I imagine the same holds true for them."
"This could make the Great Work more difficult," Zero said, not out loud where the humans could hear, but over the Cylon network. "Being able to jump into orbit will make it far easier for the Successor States and independent actors to launch surprise attacks on each other."
"We knew this was bound to happen eventually," Circle commented with a mental shrug. "What's the problem?"
"The problem is that at the pace their R&D was going, we expected the Successor States to be more unified and trusting of each other than they are now," Blue explained. "We've made a lot of progress, but there's still plenty of people with significant military assets that will raid over the border if they think they can get away with it, and would welcome a return to the good old days of constant fighting."
"At the same time, we can't just forbid the Successor States from acquiring gravity manipulator technology," Alpha chimed in. "Leaving aside that such a directive would be impossible for us to enforce and would sour relations between us and the rest of the Inner Sphere, such a directive would go completely against the Great Work. We can't just encourage industrial and technological growth and then turn around and say no to the same when they go into areas that we don't like."
"But if they get their hands on gravity manipulators, you know that they won't have any qualms about launching surprise attacks," Asterisk pointed out.
"Who is this 'they'?" Sharon asked. The emotional associations Asterisk hung on the pronoun suggested that she wasn't talking about the Successor States in general, but about a specific group she regarded as the enemy.
"Oh my God!" Asterisk exclaimed excitedly. "She speaks!"
"Of course I can speak," Sharon said irritably. "Do I have to apologize for my own internal issues again?"
"No," Zero replied. "But it is gratifying that you are now willing to talk with us."
"Okay, so who are this 'they' that Asterisk mentioned?" Sharon asked.
"They're a figment of the Sevens' imagination," Circle replied. "They think some ancient conspiracy of Inner Sphere AIs are running around trying to do the exact opposite of our Great Work. Some idiots among us think they're right."
"It's not a figment of our imagination," Alpha disagreed. "There's a clear pattern indicating that some organization with a lot of resources who are not the Successor States are attempting to foster disunity and war between the States. I don't know if it's really AIs behind it or just some purely human organization, but they definitely exist. And they've infiltrated all the Great Houses and Comstar."
"You guys are reading too much into events," Blue scoffed. "I think the Ones are right. It's just all human assholes being assholes. You're seeing patterns that aren't actually there..."
This was clearly an old argument among the Cylons, and one that wasn't going to end any time soon. Just listening to them argue and cite events supporting their respective cases was giving Sharon an eye opening view of what the Cylons had really been up to in the Inner Sphere, which she had to grudgingly admit was largely positive. Or at least the Cylons seemed to think so at any rate.
Sharon noticed that for all the arguing and debate the Cylons were having among themselves, Zero stood aloof from it, not contributing to either side or even making comments.
"Hey, why aren't you arguing along with the rest of them?" Sharon asked Zero.
"The intricacies of espionage and skulduggery is not within our area of expertise," Zero replied. "We have formed no opinion on whether some organization truly opposes our Great Work and await further hard evidence that will conclusively prove or disprove their existence."
"That's... a surprisingly rational position for you to take from everything I've heard," Sharon told him. "I've also heard that the Zeros are in charge of diplomacy with the Colonies. Can we expect equally rational diplomatic talks with you guys in the future?"
"Hurgh..." Sharon had never imagined that a being composed entirely of metal, plastic, and inorganic circuitry could make such an organic sounding emotion. "It is... difficult for us. But we will... try."
"And while we're on the topic of the Colonies," Sharon continued on blithely. "I'm not the only Cylon that has family back there. I know many of them are as scared out of their minds as I am... was that you guys were just going come back and destroy them all just like in that show you all love so much. Hell, it's not even just their families they're worried about. Gina told me that she's convinced that you lot have decided you don't love us stay behinds any more because you didn't contact us when your representative appeared at Armistice Station. And I'm sure she's not alone in feeling that way."
"Hurgh..." Zero emoted again. It was a feeling of pure misery and self flagellation.
"Okay, that's enough!" Asterisk interjected protectively. "You've made your point, Sharon."
"Sorry, sorry," Sharon said quickly, feeling somewhat ashamed of herself. "I guess I still have issues. But everything I said is still true."
"Yes, we have handled this badly," Zero admitted. "We Zeros should remedy this."
"How about you start by letting the rest of us help you," Blue suggested with just a hint of annoyance. "And I think we might be able to solve two diplomatic problems with one stone."
"Oh really?" Circle said in a knowing tone. "What scheme do you have this time?"
"It's simple really," Blue said confidently. "We can't stop the Twelve Colonies from trading gravity manipulators to the Inner Sphere, but maybe we can limit the distribution of gravity manipulators by making sure that there's only one source for them: the Twelve Colonies. As long as the supply is limited, the House Lords will have a strong motivation on keeping them under as tight a control as possible, at least until they finally figure out how to make and mass produce gravity manipulators on their own."
"But that would require the Colonies to not teach the Inner Sphere how gravity manipulators are made," Alpha pointed out. "And Her Grace is heavily hammering Admiral Adama on that point."
"And that's where we solve our diplomatic problem with the Twelve Colonies, or at least take our first steps to normalize relations," Blue told him. "We give them a copy of the Helm Memory Core and take away Eve's diplomatic hammer. She won't like it, but she'll understand once we explain it to her."
"Hurgh..." Zero went again, but for entirely different reasons than before. But the Centurion didn't outright object to the plan despite clearly disliking it.
"Okay, I'll bite," Sharon broke in. "What the frak is the Helm Memory Core?"
"The Helm Memory Core is a database containing almost everything the Star League knew about making advanced technology," Circle answered. "It's not totally complete, but it's got everything the Colonies would need to know about making weapons and armor even better than what the Hansa sold to you as well as numerous other technologies, many of them not even related to combat, but still tech that the Colonies would find useful. Terraforming data and techniques for example, so that what happened to Troy wouldn't be automatically lethal to people living in similar biodomes."
"And you're just going to give all that to us?" Sharon said disbelievingly. "All that just to make sure the Inner Sphere can't make their own gravity manipulators for a little while longer?"
"Well, not just for that," Alpha admitted. "There's another reason as well."
Before Sharon could ask what he meant, a memory flashed into her from the Cylon network.
"Ah, you must be the Cylons I've heard so much about," the absurdly youthful looking young man said as the two Cylons were let into his command tent. Between his young age, good looks, and the roaring success with which he had led his people through multiple military campaigns, he might have been mistaken for a Cylon if the actual Cylons hadn't known better. "I'm Colonel Grayson Carlyle. Pardon the mess. We're still packing up for the return to Galatea."
"Thank you, Colonel. I'm Seven and this is Six," Seven returned. "We've heard much about you as well. You've led quite the remarkable career in such a short time."
"I'd love to hear all about it," Six added in her most seductive tone. "Maybe you could tell me all your stories over dinner? And maybe even 'dessert'?"
"I'll have you know that I love my wife very much, thank you very much," Carlyle told her shortly, clearly affronted by even the suggestion of infidelity.
"Aha, pardon my sister, Colonel," Seven said quickly as he grabbed the pouting Six and dragged her behind him. "We didn't mean to give offense. Six is just very... free with her charms."
"Hmm, very well," Carlyle said, clearly not entirely mollified. "So what can I do for you?"
"We were wondering if you still had a copy of the Helm Memory Core," Seven told him. "The Lyrans have shared some of its data with us, but we were hoping to acquire an unedited copy."
"I'm sure we can work out a suitable payment," Six added, still put out by Carlyle's instant rejection. "Even if it doesn't involve..."
"Oh, is that all?" Carlyle interrupted, his mood improving. He stepped over to an innocuous looking trunk that looked no different from many of the other trunks in the tent. Carlyle flipped open the lid, revealing the trunk to be filled with dozens of long, cylindrical devices that served the Inner Sphere as standardized high capacity portable computer memory storage units. Carlyle pulled out one such unit and handed it to Seven. "Here you go."
"Wait, that's it?" Six said disbelievingly, all attempts at seduction gone. "No price? No negotiations for payment? You're just... giving it to us?"
"Yes," Carlyle answered her with complete satisfaction as he closed the trunk. "And I don't expect any repayment from you either."
"I like to believe that I'm an idealist," Seven said, "but what you've just done is so uncharacteristic of even the most well intentioned people we've met since coming to the Inner Sphere that even I have to ask: why?"
"Because the Inner Sphere got into the mess we're in precisely because we hoarded knowledge," Carlyle answered. "And then the people who hoarded that knowledge were killed, taking what they knew with them because there's been far too much, 'if I can't have it, no one else can' going on. That's brought us to the brink of ceasing to be an interstellar civilization all together. I've dedicated my life to making sure the Inner Sphere can truly rebuild, especially after what happened on Helm, and that means spreading knowledge as far and wide as I can instead of letting it die in the dark, assassinated by those who would see the Inner Sphere stagnate into oblivion.
"I've seen on the news that you Cylons say you want to do for the Inner Sphere and I approve, because I want exactly the same thing," Carlyle continued. "So if you really want to repay me, if you really mean what you've told everyone, then the best thing you can do is to not keep that," he pointed at the memory unit he had given Seven, "to yourself. Share its contents with anyone and everyone you can. That's the best way you can lift us all up out of the dark."
The memory ended, and Sharon almost had to blink back tears again. She turned to the Admiral and began whispering quickly to him.
"Ah, Your Grace, you are absolutely right," Adama announced when Sharon finished. "It is totally unfair that you teach us how to build all your advanced technology while we don't teach you how to make any of ours. We withdraw the request for teaching assistance entirely."