“It is,” she allowed, only because she had to. “But we’re veering off topic.”
“Only because you dragged us there,” Tyson shot back, irritating her. He probably should’ve let it go, but it felt good to land a hit, even if it was only a jab. “Please, what was the topic?”
“Your Teegarden facility,” she said icily. “How many fatalities are you up to now? A dozen?”
“Fourteen.” Tyson nodded along for a moment after correcting her. She’d expected him to try and minimize the human toll with clever wordplay. She hadn’t been ready for him to hit her with an even more stark assessment. It threw her off-balance for a moment and afforded him a rare opportunity to continue without a probing follow-up question. “We received a report from our medical team on station via skip courier not even an hour ago. I can’t release the names of the deceased at this time, not until their families have been notified. But know that their names are on my lips even now. I feel these losses as if they were my own. Because in a very real sense, they are. Which is why we’ve poured whatever resources are necessary into finding a cure for our miners on Teegarden and our spacers in orbit. We’re already making progress on that front. The bacteria responsible has been isolated and sequenced. I’m cautiously optimistic we’ll have appropriate antibodies synthesized in the coming days before any additional lives are lost.”
“That was a carefully calculated answer free of guarantees, Tyson.”
“I’m not an immunologist by trade. I can only trust what my people tell me. And I do. They are just as motivated to solve this as anyone.”
“But in the meantime you have a million-ton shipment of rare-earth ores doing lazy circles in orbit, just chewing up cash flow. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“The rocks they hauled here from Teegarden waited billions of years to be excavated. I think they’ll keep over the next few days or weeks it takes to sort this out. Honestly, Ji-eun, I’m more bothered by the situation faced by the Preakness’s crew than I am about the paltry sum we’re spending on their upkeep. Cargo haulers aren’t known for luxury accommodations, and every man and woman aboard has already missed two weeks’ worth of recitals and birthdays with their families.”
“Forgive me, Tyson, but you seem mighty nonchalant about losing billions in revenue from the quarter’s balance sheet. Do you really expect stakeholders to share your calm?”
“I trust that our stakeholders are intelligent enough to recognize revenue hasn’t been lost at all, merely delayed until the next quarterly report. Further, it’s important to remember that while our mining operations on Teegarden carry some of our healthiest margins, they still represent only a fraction of Ageless’s diverse revenue stream. Indeed, just this month we’re breaking ground on five new projects that are expected to start turning profit by the end of the fiscal year.”
“I’m sure there are a lot of nervous investors in our audience who will be relieved to hear that. You’ve been very generous with your time this evening, I don’t want to keep you. I have just one final question, if I may.”
Tyson held out his hands invitingly. “By all means.”
“You mentioned your partnership on the planet Grendel, of which Ageless holds a controlling stake. Is that so?”
A knot tightened in Tyson’s stomach. This was not a direction he wanted to go. “Yes. We partnered with Praxis for logistical support and NeoSun for their orbital manufacturing expertise to help set up the initial spaceborne infrastructure, but the operations dirtside are almost entirely run by Ageless. We’re nearing completion of the first phase of construction, in fact.”
“Yes, I’ve read all the press releases,” Ji-eun said dismissively. “What I didn’t find in them, however, was any mention of a Xre incursion two weeks ago.”
Tyson stared at her. He’d only heard the news himself a few hours earlier, in a very confidential conversation with Sokolov, who had every incentive to keep the news as quiet as he did. The spy, Cassidy. She must have bugged their table and leaked their conversation. It was the only explanation.
“Tyson?”
Ji-eun’s voice shook him back to the here-and-now. “Hmm? Yes, sorry. Did you say an incursion?”
Ji-eun leaned in. “Yes. A Xre warship operating at the edge of treaty space sent drones into the system and ended up in an engagement with the system’s picket cruiser, the CCDF Ansari. Are you telling me this is the first you’ve heard of it, Tyson?”
Tyson’s mind raced. He had to choose his next words very carefully. If he flatly denied it and Ji-eun had acquired a recording of his lunch conversation from the spy, he’d be caught in a lie, live. It was a trap.
“I have no knowledge of such an incident,” he started. “If the incident you describe occurred, it would fall under fleet jurisdiction. And would almost certainly be considered classified until a determination was made that a public announcement was appropriate.”
“That’s hardly a denial, Tyson,” she pressed, leaning forward in her chair. “Surely you know what’s going on in the skies above your own projects?”
Oh, she was a clever one. Confirm and he was caught with intel he had no legal right to possess, deny and be caught in a lie, feign ignorance and appear weak and disconnected.
“I have no special privileges where it comes to military intelligence compared to any other private citizen, Ji-eun. If something happened on Grendel, I’ll learn about it with everyone else when the fleet makes any such information public. In the meantime, I think it would be irresponsible of me to speculate on unconfirmed rumors of such an … outlandish nature.”
“I have my sources,” Ji-eun said confidently.
“I’m
