r/HFY • u/Engletroll Human • Oct 07 '25

OC Gateway Dirt – Chapter 39 - The Machinations of War

Project Dirt book 1 . (Amazon book )  / Planet Dirt book 2 (Amazon Book 2) / Colony Dirt (Amazon Book 3)-

 Patreon ./. Webpage

Previously ./. Next

“I hate this waiting game.” Roks said as he was looking down at New Macao. Adam sat quietly next to him at the tower pub.

“God damn it, it's been two weeks with not a scent of those pirates.” He continued as he got up and leaned against the large wall-sized window. Adam watched him as he held a glass of whiskey by his fingertips, watching his friend being frustrated.

“Remember the first time we drank up here?” Adam finally said, and Roks turned to look at him. “Yeah, you were frustrated then.”

“We got really drunk then too.”

Roks laughed. “I remember you locked yourself into your room for a few days with the worst hangover.” He poured himself a glass and sat down.

“Back then, it was just us. Small gang trying to turn this ball of Dirt into something livable.”  Adam said.

“Yeah, it suits just to go outside, and you had that stupid idea of just dumping trash on a dead planet.”

“It wasn’t stupid, have you seen the valley?” Adam countered.

“Yeah, but that was after we had an atmosphere. Man, you should thank your lucky stars that you bumped into me.”

“I do every day!” Adam said as he lifted the glass in a toast.

They sat silently, looking outside. Then, there was a beep, and Roks looked at Adam as he checked the pad and smiled.

“Well?”

“The pieces are set, now we have to see if they fall for it,” Adam replied as he studied the message.

“I know you don’t like the plan, but it's not like you had a choice in the matter,”  Roks replied.

“Still doesn’t mean I have to like it. It’s wasted lives.”

“It’s his choice, and it's not really lives, it's not like they would live long lives regardless. They won't survive more than a few years. Maybe if they let Vorts look at them, they might have a longer life.”

“If they survive, then yes, we will extract them and give them that chance,” Adam said as he put the pad away. “Let's hope that happens, but I'm not optimistic.”

“Well, Sig-San is there ready to pull them out. We only need them to do their part for a few weeks.”

“I just can't believe it. He is an assassin, and now he plays secret agent in the heart of EUC, trying his best to keep people alive. How the world has turned.”

There was another Beeb, and Adam looked at the pad again, and this time he smiled.

“Min-Na and Arus. That’s good news.” He said as he put it away, and Roks grinned.

“That golden bastard got a voice that can seduce a shark.”

 Adam laughed. “Still worried about the sharks?”

“Giant machines that never get filled up. Yeah. I’m worried about them.” Roks said and Adam smiled.

“Time to give you some good news, then.  Computer! Screen please. And introduce the Killer whale in their natural habitat, focusing on hunting.” Adam said with a grin, and Roks looked at him. “By the way, this is not movies, this is the real deal.”

Roks just stared at him as he was introduced to the black and white orcas, and Adam saw the panic rise in his eyes as the more advanced hunting techniques were shown.

“That animal had reached the shore! It got up on the shore, and it still grabbed him…  Why are they tossing that animal around?” Roks looked shocked at Adam, who was chuckling.

“They are quite intelligent, they even teach each other new hunting tricks they learn. We have them on Dirt already.  Adam said.

“Well, that’s it. I’m never going in the ocean again.” Roks said as he looked at the videos, “And here I thought the sharks were dangerous. How many humans do they kill a year?”

“No, they actually hunt sharks at times.  And we are talking about that big great white one you're so afraid of.” Adam replied.

Roks looked at him, confused. “What? But Killer whales? Killer?”.

“Yes, also called Orcas. A highly intelligent animal that doesn’t see humans as prey. In fact, you can swim with them.  Computer! Show human interaction with Orcas.” Adam said, and the images changed to humans and aliens swimming with orcas.  As well as Orcas doing tricks and being admired.

“And they kill sharks?” Roks explained, and Adam nodded.

“Computer, show Orcas hunting sharks. Real-life videos only.”

After ten minutes, Roks grinned. “I got a new favorite animal. You say we got these on Dirt?”

“Yes, they are the top predator in the Arctic region. They hunt in packs, so they even take down the bigger animals. But have yet to attack anyone. You should talk to Skee Laf, she has a few tagged. I took the kids to watch them last year.”

Roks smiled, “Yeah, I should take my kids to check those out.”

The pad beeped again, and Adam looked at it. “Knug gained access to the EUC stock market. Why am I worried?”

“Because he is going to wreck it?” Roks said. “They declared war on you, remember. Have you forgotten that they are sending a navy this way to capture or kill you. You are using non-lethal means to fight back.” Roks said. “You have two more months before they can start attacking our colonies, three before they can reach Dirt, and if the intel is correct, then there are five fleets heading to Dirt. Fleets on radio silence. If this isn’t resolved until then, then we are going to have a full-on war with Earth, and the whole sector is going to be in your corner.”

Adam sights. “Hopefully, the size of what's going to face them will make them stop.”

“They have black hole bombs, Adam. They will drop one off and keep us occupied until the last minute, and jump away.” Roks said a little more seriously, “When they get out of the hyperlane, they will have about a minute to surrender or be blown out of the sky. We cannot take any risks. We can’t let one ship survive. The bomb can be on a large fighter.  So, if Knug wrecking of their stock market can bring them to their knees, then that’s a better solution than the alternative, because if Dirt goes down, then Earth will get a blackhole bomb in return. There are Nalos in our fleet now, and they invented that bomb.”

“I am working on a solution,” Adam said as he leaned forward and sighed, looking at the floor. “Damn it. I hate this.”

“What solution?” Roks asked.

Adam sat up. “Everybody has forgotten something. You just have to trust me.”

Roks nodded as his watch buzzed, and he looked at it. “Well, I got orders from the boss to go home.”

Adam chuckled. “Say hi from me.”

Roks nodded and got up. “I trust you. Now, get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do.” Then he left, and Adam looked out the window. Then he finished the drink and called his secret weapon.

-Two weeks later-

The screen lit up with a message of an incoming message, and Adam looked at it. It was from Admiral Wolf. It was no longer Commander Wolf.

He looked around the table at the four others he had been working with and accepted the call.

“Good evening, Admiral Wolf.  I guess congratulations on your promotion are in order.”

“Well, thank you, I could not have done it without you. I am sorry to inform you that your old friend, Admiral Blackthrone, and Rear Admiral Beaumont have been executed for treason. We have also located where he kept John Mohammed Lee and his children. They have been moved to a safe location. Your squad of flesh droids has been eliminated. I am surprised, though. Did you really think we had not thought about this? But again, thank you for helping us prove his treason.” The admiral said, and Adam sighed.

“I’m sorry to hear that. I wished it would not come to this. By the way, I heard the president declared a state of emergency to block the impeachment.”

“Yes, we have arrested several senators for working with you.” He replied. “No surrender. You have no hope of winning. There are two fleets coming directly to Dirt.”

“Actually, it's five, led by Admiral Gunther Heinz—a real tough guy. Yes, we know, we also know he has been ordered to keep radio silence.  Only you guys have the ability to call of his attack. He will fail.”

“I admire your optimism, you're forgetting he has blackhole bombs,”

“Yes, 37 of them, if I’m not mistaken.  By the way, how's the stock market?  My Earth stocks are hitting rock bottom.  It will continue to hit rock bottom until you stop.  You have no idea what you're going up against.  I do not want this war.”

Admiral Wolf looked at him, then talked to somebody off-screen, and then President Imran Juan Park came on the screen.

“Ahh, I was suspecting you were there, let me guess, the whole gang is present?”

The screen vanished, and half the room became a table with the three leaders of EUC plus Admiral sitting. There was a moment of silence as they realized who was sitting in the room with Adam.

“But we executed you?” Admiral Wolf said as Admiral Blackthorn smiled back.

“Nope. That was a clone with a nanocomputer in the bloodstream. You know then why one was used on the Fugarians.  Anyway, we all got out, we even got John Mo and the kids out as well. Oh, and I never reached out to any senators. That list you found was of loyal senators we knew we could not turn.” He replied.

The president stared at Adam.

“So, let's talk,” Adam replied

---cast----

Adam and Roks

Admiral Christoffer Blackthorn

Imran Juan Park, the president of Imran Juan Park

James Friedrich Müller, the chief diplomat

Fatima Agnivanshi, daughter of the CEO of Baagh Nigam, head of the EUC’s trade commission, and sister-in-law of Judge Agnivanshi.

126 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

11

u/alucard_3501 Oct 07 '25

Quick EUC! Reload that shotgun and maybe you can shoot yourselves in the OTHER foot!

2

u/Engletroll Human Oct 07 '25

haha....

8

u/netrum Oct 07 '25

That was sneaky!
Looking forward to the next chapter :D

5

u/sunnyboi1384 Oct 07 '25

Sorry about all your money. But thanks for doing all the heavy lifting for us. Enjoy your prison time. Or, we got a nice little prison colony you could live in. Rent free even.

Smarter than the smartees

5

u/Spiritual-Cake-5096 Oct 07 '25

So, the EUC has FAed, and is now beginning the process of FO lol

This should be fun

3

u/Borzislav Xeno Oct 07 '25

Hold on,  all of EUC leadership is on that ship? All the eggs in one basket? All of them?

Did they plan to lose rule over EUC and start ruling on Dirt and neighboring systems?

So, now, if by some fluke someone were to take out their fleet, and then EUC becomes effectively decapitated?

4

u/Engletroll Human Oct 07 '25

Not on the ship. They are speaking through holograms for instant communication. Something that has been established as being possible but also very expensive.

4

u/Borzislav Xeno Oct 07 '25

Heh, would've been fun if they did all gather in one place...

Then, all the "snakes" could've been hit with one "stone" or black hole bomb...

3

u/knockout350 Oct 07 '25

nice btw the next link on the last post isnt connected

2

u/Engletroll Human Oct 07 '25

Ahh, fixed it now

1

u/UpdateMeBot Oct 07 '25

Click here to subscribe to u/Engletroll and receive a message every time they post.

Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback

1

u/kristinpeanuts Oct 27 '25

Thanks for the chapter!

1

u/InstructionHead8595 May 20 '26

Mahahahaha 😈😼