"Energia Lunar Orbiter approaching re-entry point," announced the mission controller.

  Erik, Aaron, Friedrich, Hajime, and Saladin were all gathered in the mission control room, watching the telemetry data from the Lunar Orbiter.

  "I've fought wars, but this tension is something else," said Saladin, watching the monitors nervously.

  "We sank nearly a trillion into this project, it's only natural," replied Erik.

  "We have re-entry," announced the controller.

  They all held their breath, as both telescopic and radar tracking stations monitored the Lunar Orbiter's descent.

  The orbiter's heat shield glowed bright orange as it entered the Earth's atmosphere, dropping like a stone towards the surface.

  "Re-entry stable, approaching glide path," announced the controller.

  The orbiter fired a series of small thrusters to adjust its trajectory, and slow its descent, before deploying its landing gear.

  "Landing gear deployed," announced the controller.

  The orbiter touched down smoothly on the long landing strip, a parachute deploying from its rear to help slow it down.

  It finally slowed to a stop, and a series of trucks approached it to unload the precious cargo of titanium.

  The cargo bay doors hissed open, revealing gleaming ingots of refined titanium nestled inside, held in place by electromagnetic clamps.

  Cranes quickly unloaded the ingots onto the trucks, which then drove into the main mission control building.

  Erik, Aaron, Friedrich, Hajime, and Saladin all breathed a sigh of relief, as the mission was declared a success.

  "Congratulations, everyone. We've done it," said Erik, smiling broadly.

  "Now the real work begins," added Friedrich, as they all headed into the building to oversee the unloading of the titanium ingots.

  ---

  "This is incredible! The quality of this titanium is off the charts!" exclaimed Friedrich, as he examined a freshly unloaded ingot of lunar titanium.

  "Definitely worth the effort and the risk of pissing off everyone," added Hajime, as he ran his hand over the smooth surface of another ingot.

  Aaron nodded in agreement. "This is just one shipment. We'll need to set up a regular schedule to bring down more," he said.

  "Well, as agreed, this shipment will be split 5 ways, each of us gets 48 tonnes, with the rest stockpiled for new launch vehicles," said Erik.

  With that, the ingots were packaged up for shipping to their respective factories.

  ---

  "Mr. Gorbachev. This is a gross violation of international law governing the exploitation of space resources! You cannot be just stripping the moon for metals! Isn't exploitation of Earth's resources brutal enough?" thundered Elijah Edelstein.

  "Oh shut it you windbag! The outer space treaty was drafted to stop the militarization of space, not to prevent the extraction of resources!" retorted Erik.

  "How dare you! Don't you have a lick of common sense! Lunar gravity is what produces Earth's tidal effects! If we start stripping the moon, what pray tell will happen to that balance?" screamed Elijah.

  "Why Mr. Edelstein, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're a werewolf with the way you're going on about the moon," mocked Saladin.

  "I'm not going to sit here and take insults from the likes of genocidal dogs like you!" shouted Elijah springing to his feet.

  His fellow delegates seized him and forced him back down, but their anger was evident as well.

  "As far as I'm concerned, we're just the first movers. I'm sure your American allies are already plotting their own mission," said Erik, nodding to a red-faced Daniel Goldberg.

  "The Outer Space Treaty is clear on this matter. No nation may claim sovereignty over celestial bodies, but it does not prohibit private entities from extracting resources," said Daniel stiffly.

  "Which is exactly what we're doing. Rostov Systems is a private corporation, and we're operating within the bounds of international law," replied Erik.

  "In which case, I demand that all material extracted from the moon be shared equally among all nations!" shouted Elijah.

  "You're free to buy whatever we produce on the open market," replied Erik.

  "That's not good enough! The moon belongs to all humanity, and its resources should be shared equally! I demand payload space!" shouted Elijah.

  "And I thought that we Russians were the Communists," chuckled Erik.

  "We have precedent on that with the ISS agreements," said Elijah icily.

  "Hey, there's nothing stopping you from launching your own damn missions, just like we did," said Erik.

  "That's not the point!" snarled Daniel.

  "That is the point! Nobody said anything when you planted the American flag during the Apollo missions back in the day! In fact, everybody just cheered you on! Or are you telling me that all that was just a CIA propaganda stunt?" retorted Erik.

  "All right you! I propose a fully international consortium that doesn't include Russia to start our own lunar mining operations! You don't want to share? Let's see how far you get alone!" shouted Daniel, with the rest of the UN delegates roaring in agreement.

  ---

  Back at Sirius Software headquarters, Aaron had already allocated his share of the lunar titanium to his aerospace division, and to Margaret's The Feminine Professional, for the production of more Sirius Software Security and SZPD uniforms.

  A few moments later, Vikram entered the office looking agitated.

  "What's up Vikram?" asked Aaron.

  "Boss, I get your push for material sovereignty, but you're really hemorrhaging money by getting Titanium from the moon. Even with the vertical integration, the costs are nearly ten times the cost of just buying it from Earth-based suppliers. And that's not counting the trillion you spent on setting up the infrastructure," said Vikram.

  "That's kind of the point Vikram. It may be more expensive, but we're not dependent on Earth-based suppliers who can be pressured or coerced by governments to cut us off. We need to be able to operate independently, and that means controlling our own supply chain," replied Aaron.

  "All right, but doing this will tank the profit margins on our products. We'll be selling them at a loss if the Titanium market gets any cheaper," said Vikram.

  "That's why the lunar titanium is used only for strategic products now. The rest of our lineup will still use the terrestrial titanium. I just have a backup in case we get hit with another embargo or sanction," said Aaron.

  "OK, boss. I'll keep an eye on the numbers, and see if we can make this work," replied Vikram.

  "Thanks. And keep me posted," said Aaron.

  "Will do boss," replied Vikram, heading out.

  ---

  "I'm not entirely sure about this Aaron. One Energia Lunar launch vaporized the launch pad, and made the entire world shit itself. You're talking about more launches to expand and set up operations for rare earths, tungsten and even Helium-3! Just this one launch blew a trillion bucks!" said Friedrich, as they sat around a table in the Sirius Software HQ conference bar - a sleek fine-dining private restaurant inside the HQ building itself, serviced and catered by DuPont Hospitality services.

  "Haven't you boys run the numbers? Yeah, we'll have to sink a few more trillions, but we'll have access to high-grade metals without the threat of sanctions and embargoes like the silicon one," said Aaron, as a uniformed waitress approached the table, and laid out their first appetizer course, her titanium heels clicking on the floor in a pleasant staccato rhythm.

  "Yeah, we did. Small problem though. NATO has basically told us that any more launches of Energia Lunar will be met with a nuclear strike, and our leadership has been spooked enough to tell me to put a lid on it," said Erik, once the waitress left.

  "What about our shipment launches?" asked Aaron.

  "Those are fine, Energia Lunar Block 2 which is just the orbiter and a few booster stages have been making scheduled launches, and those are not sanctioned," replied Erik.

  "Speaking of NATO, any word on that consortium thing that they were raving about?" asked Hajime.

  "Have you ever tried to get nearly a hundred screaming children to agree on something? The US is trying to win over support, but everyone else is bickering over how much they get," chuckled Saladin.

  Aaron tapped his chin thoughtfully.

  "I wonder. What if we offered to launch their stuff for them using the Energia Lunar? That way, everyone can get in on the action, and we get paid handsomely for it. We charge them 2 trillion per Energia Lunar launch, and we launch our own stuff on the side," he mused.

  "And leave NASA and the US government trying to pick up what's left of their consortium? I like it!" said Erik.

  "That gives us immunity to be able to launch Energia Lunar missions without the threat of them nuking us," said Aaron, with a small smile.

  "It sounds like a plan, but I think I like having a monopoly on lunar mining," said Friedrich.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "I said we're only letting them borrow the launchers, they'll have to make their own mining setups. We're still the only ones who can pull this off at scale without direct human supervision. The rest of them will be stuck with habitation facilities, and astronauts being turned into exploited slaves. Not exactly a profitable venture," said Aaron confidently.

  "Are you sure about that? It will only be a matter of time before somebody else either steals our tech or figures it out on their own," said Hajime.

  "True, but by then, it won't really matter. We'll be in the lead, and we'll have more than enough resources to protect ourselves," replied Aaron.

  "You think the US will just sit back and let us do this?" asked Saladin.

  "The US military-industrial complex has become a bloated mess. It would take a full-scale existential threat to shake them into action, a pearl-harbor moment if you will. I don't see that happening over a lunar mining operation. An invasion on their soil? That would do it, but not this," said Aaron confidently.

  "To bloated bureaucracies, may they stay bloated," toasted Saladin, raising his glass.

  ---

  "OK everyone, listen up. Aaron Zakhrov, and his cohorts: Hajime Yamamoto, Friedrich Albrecht, Erik Gorbachev, and Saladin Pasha, have shifted from minor inconveniences to major threats to our global hegemony. At this point, our usual levers of economics and narrative control are no longer effective. We need to take more direct action to neutralize them," said Monica, addressing the Cabal's inner circle, who had assembled in their Tel-Aviv headquarters.

  "Direct action? With that monstrosity the Aristotle within striking distance of our own soil? Are you out of your mind?" thundered Elijah Edelstein."Your precious temple can be rebuilt Eli. But we can't afford to let those maniacs continue to operate with impunity! Just look at what's happening in both America and Libya! That Sirius Zone is undoing decades worth of sociocultural engineering!" screamed Monica.

  "Monica, a full-scale war will do nothing but expose and destroy us. Hasn't our history taught you nothing? Every time we try a direct approach, our people get uprooted and turned into vagabonds! The aftermath of the second world war finally restored our homeland, but at the unspeakable cost to millions of innocents! We can't afford to do that again!" said Elijah.

  Monica was about to launch herself at him, but Daniel Goldberg placed a warning hand on her shoulder.

  "Monica is right. We cannot allow that alliance to continue. However, there is a way to do it without risking a full-scale war," he said, laying a folder on the table.

  Monica opened the folder, and pulled out a dossier on Nadia Mozambique, a young woman fresh out of the Cabal's servitor race training program.

  She turned to Daniel, shaking with fury.

  "Have you forgotten what happened to the last person you idiots sent?" she screamed raising her hand to strike Daniel.

  Daniel caught her hand, twisted it and threw her to the ground, pinning her down.

  "Last time we sent a man to do a woman's job," he said softly as Monica whimpered under his grip.

  "Now, have you calmed down? Good," he said, releasing her and standing up.

  Monica got up, and looked at the dossier again.

  "So what's the plan this time?" she asked, trying to hide her scorn.

  "This time, we do fully passive espionage. Nadia will infiltrate Sirius Software as a low-level employee, and only gather intelligence. No communication with us, no sabotage, no assassination attempts. Just passive recording of information, with an off-site sync. Meanwhile, we go with total containment. The Sirius Zone, Libya and Russia are all under a complete and unspoken embargo. Officially nothing has changed, but we don't renew contracts, and we gradually stop doing business with them," explained Daniel.

  "Will that even work? Russia is big enough to not require the global supply chain that we control. Not to mention they have that giant rocket that can go strip-mine the moon for everything they need," scoffed Monica.

  "That rocket has already been neutralized. We managed to keep the Russian leadership in check with a nuclear strike threat. This is a siege, Monica. Those guys have Russia and the moon, but we have the rest of the world. We just need to starve them out until we can find something to neutralize them with," said Daniel.

  "I take a sabbatical for a year, and we're back to the long game bullshit. I still think we should just nuke the Sirius Zone, but fine. Do it your way," grumbled Monica.

  "I haven't finished. We're also going to use the more traditional methods of subversion and propaganda. Plus, our servitor race program is already picking up steam i both America and Europe. Aaron Zakhrov and his cohorts will soon find that the only employees that they can hire will be what they consider as riff-raff," said Daniel.

  "You think that will work?" asked Monica.

  "Oh yes. While we couldn't do the Adam Project, the servitor race program has proven much more effective. We just make the rest of the world less intelligent and less attractive, and nobody, not even anomalies like Aaron Zakhrov will be able to rise against us," said Daniel confidently.

  Monica mulled this over for a moment, before nodding in agreement.

  "Fine," she groused, before leaving the room.

  "You sure about sending in a servitor, Daniel? They aren't the sharpest tools in the shed, plus they've been fully radicalized to be loyal to us, so they might not be able to blend in," said Elijah.

  "That's the beauty of it, Eli. Nadia is opinionated, but knows how to keep her mouth shut when it counts. Plus she won't be doing anything to raise suspicion as all recording will be done passively through an implant in her phone. And that only communicates when she's out of the Sirius Zone, and on one of our cellular networks. It's perfectly deniable," explained Daniel.

  "All right. In the meantime, let me see what I can do about that snake Saladin's education reforms in Libya. I'll start up a smear campaign that he is radicalizing the youth against us, and that should get more pressure on him to open up his borders to our operatives," said Elijah.

  ---

  Shizuku and the other members of 7-Star Crossed huddled fearfully in the Star Crossed Maid Café, as police clashed with protesters outside.

  "Tomoe-chan, what is happening?" asked Shizuku as she watched police in riot gear charge at protesters with batons and tear gas.

  "Those people are claiming that this site was given to them by the government to build a mosque and burial ground, but I know for a fact that Master Zakhrov bought the plot fair and square," said Tomoe, giving Shizuku a reassuring smile.

  "A mosque in the middle of Akihabara? That doesn't make any sense!" exclaimed Shizuku.

  "Of course it doesn't! Some idiot pencil-pusher in the city government probably thought it would be a good idea to pander to the Muslim vote, and now we're stuck with this mess," said Tomoe, shaking her head.

  The police finally managed to disperse the protesters, and the area around the café was cleared.

  Kazuya thanked the police for their help, and then entered the cafe's outer doors, locking them behind him.

  Tomoe quickly admitted him inside, and locked the inner doors as well.

  "Are you all right?" asked Kazuya, looking around at the frightened faces of the idols and staff inside.

  "Yes, Kazuya-sensei, we're fine. Just a little shaken up," said Tomoe, trying to reassure him.

  "Thank God. However, we have a problem. Those Kurds are probably going to be back, so until I can make arrangements to have you all evacuated, I need you to stay here and keep the doors locked," said Kazuya.

  "But what about my café and my customers?" asked Tomoe.

  "Your safety is more important right now, Tomoe. Business can wait until this blows over," said Kazuya firmly.

  Kazuya's phone buzzed, he answerd it.

  "Are you sure?" he exclaimed after hearing the news on the other end.

  "All right, bring them in. I'll meet you at the café," said Kazuya, before hanging up.

  "That was Hajime Yamamoto. He says that this was an attack from Kenji Mitsuharu, and he's bringing in security as well as a plan to evacuate you all to a safe location," explained Kazuya.

  "Kenji Mitsuharu? That snake! Why would he do this?" asked Tomoe.

  "Hajime said he will explain everything when he gets here. For now, just stay calm and wait for him to arrive," said Kazuya.

  ---

  A group of Albrecht Automotive Stormkreuzer armored sedans arrived at the café, and Hajime stepped out of the lead car.

  He was quickly ushered inside by Kazuya, and Tomoe.

  "Thank you for coming, Hajime. We were really scared back there," said Tomoe.

  "Of course. Now, onto the why. Kenji Mitsuharu is a treasonous snake who is in bed with the Kurdish groups over here, as well as with various factions that are hell-bent on erasing Japan's cultural identity. This was an attempt to undermine our alliance with Sirius Software, and to discredit me personally," he explained.

  "Are you sure about this? I thought Kenji wanted to target SEGA since we are now owned by Sirius Software," said Kazuya.

  "According to Premier Saladin, Kenji has been linked to that international human trafficking ring that has been trying to topple his regime in Libya, so this is a lot bigger than just SEGA," said Hajime.

  "As intriguing as all this is, what's going to happen to my cafe?" asked Tomoe.

  "For now, it is going to be relocated to Aaron Zakhrov's Sirius Zone in Boston. He has already agreed to build an outlet there, and it will be a lot safer for you. However, he made it clear to me that I cannot force you to go, so if you want to stay here, that's fine too," said Hajime.

  Tomoe bit her lip nervously.

  "I... I think I want to go to the Sirius Zone. It sounds like a much safer place for me and my customers. But I don't want to make everyone uproot their lives just because of this," she said.

  "It's all good, Tomoe-chan. We're all happy to go with you," said Shizuku.

  "Check with your families first. If we are moving, I don't want anyone to be having fears about leaving their loved ones behind," said Tomoe firmly.

  The idols and staff all nodded in agreement.

  Hajime let out a low chuckle.

  "All right, I'll make the arrangements for everyone to be evacuated to the Sirius Zone. I'll have my security teams bring them all here, and we'll fly them out as soon as possible. In the meantime, I suggest you all stay here and keep the doors locked until we can get you out of here safely," he said.

  "Thank you, Hajime-san. I really appreciate it," said Tomoe.

  ---

  "I thought you said that we will be flying?" asked Tomoe, as she and the idols stepped out of the Stormkreuzers and onto the pier where the Aristotle was docked.

  "Flying was the original plan, but it appears that we are all on a no-fly list, so we had to switch to plan B," said Hajime grimly.

  "Plan B?" asked Tomoe, looking at the huge black stealth missile cruiser apprehensively.

  "Yes, this is the Libyan Naval Ship Aristotle. Don't let the guns and missiles on the outside intimidate you, the thing's actually more luxurious than a cruise ship on the inside," said Hajime, trying to reassure her.

  "It looks like something out of an anime! Does it have mecha on board?" asked Shizuku excitedly.

  "Shizuku-san! Don't give Saladin and Master Zakhrov any ideas! He's already enough of a chunni as it is," said Tomoe, trying hard not to giggle.

  "Well, it does have maintenance drones, I suppose those count as mecha," chuckled Hajime as Shizuku's eyes lit up.

  "OK, everyone, let's get on board," said Kazuya, leading the way onto the ship.

  ---

  "Hajime-san was right! This ship is amazing!" squealed Shizuku burying her face in the soft black satin folds of the bed in the stateroom she and Tomoe were assigned.

  "It definitely has Master Zakhrov's touch," chuckled Tomoe, looking around at the luxurious furnishings of the stateroom.

  "Still, it is certainly a military ship. Aside from us having to share a room, we have to be careful about where we go, and not bother the crew too much," said Shizuku, calming down a bit.

  "Of course, now come on. They are expecting us in the galley for dinner," said Tomoe, leading the way out of the room.

  ---

  "Why have we stopped in the middle of the ocean?" asked Tomoe, as she and Shizuku joined Hajime and Kazuya on the main deck.

  "Becaause the US Navy isn't letting the Aristotle get anywhere near the US coast. It is a Libyan warship after all. But don't worry. Master Zakhrov has already sent out some helicopters to pick us up, and we'll be on our way to the Sirius Zone in no time," said Hajime.

  "I think, I can see them!" exclaimed Shizuku, pointing to the sky.

  Tomoe looked up, and sure enough, a wedge formation of sleek black helicopters was flying towards them.

  One of the HellVortex helicopters broke off from the formation, and landed on the deck of the Aristotle.

  Tomoe shielded her eyes as the rotors wound down, and the door slid open to reveal the smiling face of Natasha.

  "Come on in Tomoe-chan!" she called out, waving her in.

  Tomoe, Shizuku and the rest of the 7-Star Crossed idols quickly boarded the helicopter, and took their seats.

  Natasha took off, and the helicopter soared into the sky, hovering over the Aristotle.

  One by one, the rest of the helicopters landed on the deck, picking up the rest of the staff, and their families.

  After Hajime and Kazuya boarded the last helicopter, the squadron set off towards the US coast, while the Aristotle turned around and headed back towards Libya.

  ---

  "Master Zakhrov, thank you for evacuating us, that protest was really scary," said Tomoe, bowing her head in gratitude.

  She, Hajime, and Kazuya had arrived at the Sirius Software headquarters, and had gone straight to Aaron's office.

  "Think nothing of it, Tomoe. Now that you're here, you can be rest assured that it is safe. I'll show you the cafe once we get you settled in," said Aaron, giving her a reassuring smile.

  "Well, Aaron. It looks like we're all getting squeezed. I couldn't book a plane ticket, and aside from my military contracts, pretty much all of my business operations have ground to a halt, due to a lack of customers and suppliers," said Hajime.

  "Erik and Friedrich have reported similar issues. It looks like that Cabal has pulled out all the stops," said Aaron, nodding in agreement.

  "So now what? We might have some lunar titanium, but there's no point in making products that we can't sell," said Hajime.

  "That's where our friends come in. Saladin has agreed to take on more of our business, and Erik has been working on softening up the Russian market for us. If the US doesn't want to buy our products, we'll sell them to the countries that do," said Aaron confidently.

  "It still pisses me off that Kenji was able to just mobilize a whole horde of Kurds to storm a maid cafe in the middle of Tokyo, and even the police didn't have the spine to use lethal force to stop them," growled Hajime.

  "Well, don't worry about that for now. That stunt is bound to wake up the more traditionalist factions in Japan. I'm sure they'll contact you soon," chuckled Aaron.

  "Yeah, I hope so," grumbled Hajime.

  "In the meantime, Kazuya, you can run SEGA from here," said Aaron, looking at Kazuya.

  "Yes, Master Zakhrov. I'll do my best to keep SEGA running smoothly," said Kazuya, bowing his head in respect.