We shall see.
“Father,” Yuki said, bowing. “Myyk is asking to meet with Zoras.”
“Abrams wishes to speak terms?” Enzo chuckled. “What terms could they possibly offer?”
All information is useful. It is wise to know your enemy.
“As you wish, Zoras.”
He took the phone from Yuki. “Admiral Abrams,” he said respectfully.
“A young man by the sound of it,” Abrams’s calm, aged voice spoke on the other line. “This is Zoras’ new vessel then? Last time I spoke with Devin, he was hacking up a lung.”
“A pleasure, sir,” Enzo turned on the charm. “I am the new vessel of the Holy One.”
“How unfortunate.” There was a pause on the other line. “Devin was formidable. Though on opposing sides, we shared a mutual respect. I am saddened by his passing.”
“Thank you for your kind words. Father Devin is greatly missed.” Abrams’s voice reminded him of a doddering old man, nothing like what an admiral’s would be. “I offer you the opportunity to convey your condolences in person at your surrender.”
“We haven’t discussed terms yet, son.”
Being called son only reinforced his image of the old feeble fool. Enzo blocked it out of his mind and pressed on. “Apologies, Admiral, but there is little you can offer. If you value the lives of your crew…”
“You do not want to have to board the Atlantis.”
Enzo masked his growing annoyance. “Abrams, the Scimitar is in a military naval yard surrounded by a thousand Genjix and twenty thousand Chinese soldiers. Your defeat is not in question.”
Offer him terms of surrender.
“Why bother, Zoras? He is trapped in the tin can. Unconditional surrender is his only recourse.”
Whichever entryway we cut through will be heavily defended. Our casualties will be high. You also want to take them alive, so that rules out incendiaries. There is also the question of nuclear armaments on board.
“Casualties are acceptable. They are only humans.”
Abrams continued speaking as if he were talking about watering his garden. “I never said victory was an option. However, taking Atlantis will prove difficult. The Atlantis will bleed you before you take her.”
“My men will do what is necessary to take the Scimitar,” Enzo accentuated the true name of the submarine. “You still have nothing to offer.”
“I offer the lives of the men you will lose if you take Atlantis by force.”
“Forgive me if that incentive holds little value to me. I am a vessel of the gods. The lives you offer are there to be expended, so here are my terms. Come out unarmed and surrender unconditionally. You have until we cut through your doors to decide if you want to save your crew’s lives.” He handed the phone back to Yuki and continued to stare intently at the work below.
That was inelegant. You should have listened. You have much to learn.
Enzo grunted and continued to watch the dancing sparks of the laser as it bounced off the submarine walls. Six minutes into cutting, the bay doors made a clicking noise and began to lift. The engineers stopped and took a few steps back.
“See, Zoras? The Prophus are weak and have already given up.”
The door stopped a quarter of a meter off the ground, making a booming sound that bounced off the drydock walls and echoed through the room. Half a dozen metal objects rolled out from the opening, followed by the sound of automatic fire. The engineering crew was cut down immediately while the guards surrounding the submarine scattered. Two of Enzo’s bodyguards pulled him down to the ground. The resulting explosions rocked the drydock.
He heard the screams of men and the creak of metal as another explosion shook the building. Red lights flashed, and in the distance, a siren wailed. Enzo threw his men off and scanned the carnage over the railing. Smoke was everywhere and several dozens of his men lay dead.
Yuki walked up to him cautiously and held up the phone. “It’s for you, Father. The Prophus wishes to discuss terms.”
Enzo snarled and snatched the phone.
“Let’s try this again, shall we?” Abrams said. “I want guarantees for my crew.”
Offer imprisonment and guarantee the safety for the crew.
Enzo reluctantly relayed the offer.
“Now that we’ve established a baseline,” Abrams said, “I want the entire crew and half of the Prophus agents released. We choose which half.”
Enzo gritted his teeth. “You forget who has the upper hand.”
That is his opening salvo. Do not react to every offer. Guarantee the safety of the crew. All Prophus agents will be held by us. The crew will be transferred to a Chinese Military prison instead.
“How is that a better offer than the first?” was Abrams’s response to that.
“Why don’t we meet like gentlemen over a glass of wine. I can have my men bring a table next to the Scimitar.”
Abrams laughed. “Possibly if it was still Devin. However, I am perfectly comfortable in my quarters.”
And thus the negotiations continued for the rest of the day and well into the night. They haggled over prisoner counts and prison locations. They bargained over the submarine database and the activation codes. They even argued over protocol for surrender. The Prophus were adamant about keeping their people together and not separated into a Chinese prison. The Genjix were equally adamant about none of the Prophus agents being freed.
Enzo had initially tried to stall for time in order to call in another engineering team to finish the job. Abrams would have none of it. When the second team was killed off, Enzo had to take the negotiation more seriously. Even in better faith, it proved difficult. Three times, twice because of Enzo and once because of Abrams, negotiations broke down and the cutting began again, resulting in more deaths on the Genjix side.
Finally, twelve hours later, they had come to an agreement. The non-Quasing crew would be imprisoned for a period of six months, kept in good health, and then released. Sixty percent of the Prophus vessels, chosen by the Genjix, would be given the same accommodations. The other forty percent were prisoners of the Genjix to be treated as they pleased. In return, the Prophus surrendered peacefully, kept the integrity of the now-renamed-again Scimitar, and released all access codes.
Enzo was furious at these concessions, but maintained a calm demeanor in front of his people. He was even more angry that negotiations had taken so long. The Prophus were trapped in a maximum-security naval base. To concede so much was a slap in the face. Not only that, he had to beg the Council to postpone the meeting, citing the negotiations as an excuse. To show weakness right before his ascension shamed him.
The fault was yours that we conceded so much. Abrams could tell you were hurried and dragged the terms. You must learn patience. We are Genjix. Time is irrelevant.
Being berated by Zoras did not help Enzo’s mood. While he worshiped the Holy Ones, he was an Adonis Vessel, a chosen messenger in his own right. All his life, he had known he was special. His rise to a vessel of a Holy One had been impressed upon him since he was a child, and he was unaccustomed to not having his way. The lack of deferential treatment he received from Abrams was unsettling. The enemy had showed respect to Zoras’ previous vessel after all. Why not to him? Devin was not even an Adonis Vessel. Enzo watched the bay doors opened as the Prophus finally surrendered, their heads held high as if they were on a victory march.
“Stay alert,” he told his guards as he made his way down to the ground level.
“Zoras, tell me what you know of Abrams.”