Sirius Zero: Building A Corporate Kingdom After Being Expelled

"Is this the last cell?" asked Saladin Pasha into his radio, as he stood in the middle of a wrecked concrete room.

Corpses littered the floor, and the stench of death mixed with gunpowder filled the air.

"Yes sir, this is the last of Osiark-Jihad's cells," came the voice of his Lieutenant over the radio.

"Have you checked against both our intel network and what we've intercepted from Mossad?" pressed Saladin.

"Double-checked sir, these guys were not that sophisticated in their operations. Just a bunch of idiots trying to play radicalized smugglers of nuclear materials," scoffed the Lieutenant.

"All right, then. Time to initiate phase two. Have you been successful in establishing contact with any private nuclear power companies?" asked Saladin.

"Yes and no. We managed to get into contact with Albrecht Nuclear Systems, but they've declined to work with us. Instead, they have asked for time to arrange a meeting with another company called Sirius Nuclear," said the Lieutenant.

"Interesting. All right, we'll wait for them. In the meantime, let's clean house. I want every extremist scumbag, to know that there is a new sheriff in town," said Saladin, as he walked out of the room, leaving the corpses behind.

----

"All right Elijah, what's this emergency that we have to use a synagogue for?" asked Daniel Goldberg, sitting down.

"Spare me the theatrics, Daniel. You know perfectly well why I called you here," said Elijah, his voice low and serious.

"The Osirak-Jihad has been wiped out by some other organization. I'd call that a middle-east turf war, so why is Mossad so spooked that they've asked the CIA's help?" asked Daniel, who was indeed CIA, and meeting with his Mossad counterpart.

"It's because of this guy. He's known only as Saladin, and has built a cult following by claiming he's the historical Saladin reborn," said Elijah, pulling out a grainy drone photo and sliding it across the table.

"Another desert loudmouth who thinks he's had a divine revelation? Come on Eli, you know as well as I do that it was politics and guns, not God who carved out Israel," scoffed Daniel, as he looked at the photo.

"You've been in secular America too long, Daniel. That desert loudmouth has managed to take control of most of Libya. He's pretty much the de facto head of state," shot back Elijah.

"OK, so he's a warlord. Libya's still a big ass powder keg, somebody or the other's going to off him. We've already got enough messes to deal with without staging a regime change," said Daniel.

Elijah sighed deeply. "You're missing the point Daniel. Saladin wants nuclear power to prevent foreign interventions. The Osirak-Jihad was created by Mossad deep cover agents to isolate him and stop that in the first place."

Daniel began a sarcastic handclap. "Bravo, you tried to isolate Libya by posing as Iraqi extremists," he scoffed.

"And it worked! We got the entire region skittish about asking or pursuing nuclear power to avoid been seen as pandering to terrorists!" snapped Elijah.

"And here I thought that we had finally seen the end of Arab-Israeli conflicts, but you guys just had to stir the pot again," sighed Daniel.

"Hey, you don't live surrounded by guys who want to wipe you off the map OK, we're doing what we have to do to survive!" snarled Elijah.

"All right, so what exactly do you want the CIA for?" asked Daniel wearily.

"Saladin has been putting out feelers to both American and European nuclear energy companies to invest in his plans for Libya's economic development. He's already made some sort of deal with Albrecht Nuclear Systems, because he and Friedrich Albrecht are here in Massachusetts," said Elijah.

"They're here? Why?" asked Daniel cautiously.

"Our agents spotted their limo going into the Sirius Software compound," said Elijah, watching in satisfaction as color drained from Daniel's face.

"You should have just started with that Elijah! Or even better, you should have apprehended them!" snapped Daniel.

"On what grounds? They are here on tourist visas, and haven't done anything illegal," said Elijah.

"Yeah well, you better pray that Aaron Zakhrov doesn't agree. If that kid decides to help, you'll be looking at a nuclear-powered and nuclear armed Libya within a year," snarled Daniel, as Elijah began to shake.

----

"I'm starting to think you like my HQ Friedrich, you've been making quite a few visits," chuckled Aaron, as Friedrich and Saladin entered his office.

"Well, this time I come with a business proposal. This is Saladin, a new upstart in Libya who wants to bring his people out of the fossil fuel age," said Friedrich, as he introduced Saladin.

"It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Zakhrov," said Saladin, bowing slightly.

"Friedrich, are you sure about this? I'd rather not get involved in middle-eastern power struggles," said Aaron.

"I understand your concerns, Mr. Zakhrov, which is why I'm here to propose that you build and operate the nuclear power plants and reactors, with full transparency. Western reactors, western money, Libya just gets the electricity," said Saladin.

"I see, a black box operation then, Sirius Nuclear just gets Libyan profits, while you benefit from the energy," said Aaron thoughtfully.

"It should ease the minds of those jackals in the Mossad," chuckled Saladin.

"That's if they even allow us to go in, how would we do this?" asked Aaron.

"Simple, you'll be under my protection in Libya, and you can arrange your own bodyguards and security," said Saladin.

"Alright Friedrich, why come to me with this? Your liquid metal reactors have a much higher power density than the heavy water ones that I have," said Aaron.

"Proliferation concerns my dear boy. My reactors need plutonium or enriched uranium, and nobody is going to let Libya get a hold of that," said Friedrich.

"Whereas my reactors use natural uranium, and can be built with a lot less security concerns," said Aaron.

"Exactly. And as an independent Western company, you will have less political baggage than trying to import from India or Canada," said Saladin.

"All right, I will consider this proposal, but I will need some time to think about this. If I have to fight Mossad and possibly the UN, I'll need to make sure I'm backing the right people," said Aaron.