How do you tell a good lie?
There are several ways to tell a good lie, but one of the best lying techniques is called the truth sandwich.
A truth sandwich is a technique where someone tells a lie by placing it between two truths.
This makes the lie harder to detect, because the surrounding facts build trust and credibility.
In order to tell them a lot of lies, the Helix Corporation had given them a lot of truth.
To prevent people from his planet from going to space, they created a curriculum that focused on the dangers of space, and it was not censored.
They played holograms that showed gruesome slaughters carried out by Chrysalith swarms, Ultronid overlords, the Krythars, and others as part of their primary school education.
Afterwards, they were taught simple facts about these creatures that made them seem impossible to defeat.
Of course, many people who still had too much hope tried to steal ships and leave.
None of them made it far. Ninety-nine percent were destroyed before they even left the atmosphere, and the remaining one percent never made it back, so nobody really knew what happened to them.
One such piece of information was about the Ultronid overlords.
They were Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI), which was very different from regular Artificial Intelligence (AI).
They were not all created by the same civilization, but by different people making similar mistakes. Some of those civilizations were wiped out, while others survived.
However, they all shared similar abilities, and one of those abilities was traveling through the Star Net, which made them nearly impossible to kill.
They could simply jump from their current bodies into the Star Net and transfer to another body anywhere in the galaxy that had access to it.
To prevent this, safeguards were placed in the Star Net that blocked all types of intelligences.
Not to mention that important information was no longer stored on the Star Net due to the number of hackers everywhere.
Now, this information was kept on private servers or databanks, but that would be discussed later.
Orion didn't know if what they had been taught about the Ultronid safeguards was completely true, but he didn't want to find out by risking his life.
So, he activated his Star Watch to search for basic information online, making sure he wouldn't be caught off guard.
{Searching Star Net…}
{Searching for relevant information…}
{Information on Material Composition…}
{Information on Space Civilization Basics…}
{Current Location: Crimson Empire}
{Information on Crimson Empire…}
{Information on Crimson Empire Basics…}
{Information on Chrysalith Swarms…}
{Information on Ultronid Overminds…}
{Information on Pirates…}
{More…}
{Required information found…}
{Downloading relevant information from Star Net into Star Watch databank…}
{Scanning and downloading information…}
Orion knew what was coming, so he was already on the bed. Once he closed his eyes, his consciousness faded.
***
For the next few hours, Orion remained unconscious as the world moved on around him.
Then finally…
{Information downloads complete}
Orion's eyes opened. He went through all the notifications, and surprisingly, he didn't experience another upgrade.
However, he didn't care too much.
In fact, it was even better this way because he didn't have to sleep for long.
The first thing he did was crush the Star Watch he had used to find the information; he didn't want anyone finding a trace of what he had just done.
There was still one more thing he needed to do before leaving.
He grabbed one of the CredChip on him and connected to it with himself.
{Direct Connection (Hard-link Jack): Online}
{6th Armament: Chip Cracker}
Thankfully, he didn't have to do much, since the chip was only protected by a fingerprint and passcode lock.
A simple connection and override did the trick. Now all he had to do was transfer the credits from this chip to another.
Each credit was a unique sequence of numbers and letters written in several major languages, and each one was several pages long.
They were registered in the Union Interstellar Bank database, making them impossible to fake due to their unique sequences and encryption.
From the basic information he found on the Star Net, the Union Interstellar Bank (UIB) was one of the Star Sector Grade Civilizations.
The UIB was established in the aftermath of the last major interstellar wars.
Before its creation, every empire, kingdom, and megacorporation minted its own currency, which led to chaos, rampant inflation, and frequent economic collapse whenever wars broke out.
To stabilize commerce, a coalition of major powers signed the Concord of Credit, forming a single central authority, the UIB, responsible for issuing and regulating the Union Credit (UC).
Over centuries, the UIB became the most powerful financial institution in known space.
It held sway not only over markets but also over politics, since everyone relied on its stability.
However, there was a massive limitation that forced the UIB to remain permanently neutral.
Individual forces were allowed to pursue their own interests, but the power of the bank itself could not be used for personal gain.
If this rule was violated, every other Star Sector Civilization would immediately invade the offender, and for good reason.
As a way to benefits other powers, States and Empires held stakes in the branches of the bank operating within their borders, ensuring local oversight and profit to the power in charge.
Some very powerful Mega corporations also held stakes, ensuring commerce had representation within the system.
The UIB Council served as the governing body, made up of representatives from states, families, and corporations.
Major decisions required a supermajority, preventing domination but often causing political deadlocks.
To facilitate transaction CredChips, CredCards, and other credit storage devices could be purchased at any bank branch or even on the black market and linked to biometric signatures.
Portable transfer devices, small datapads and some Star Watches, allowed offline transactions in frontier zones.
Credit storage devices could also connect to Star Watches and holo-comms, projecting holographic displays for instant transfers, account checks, and more.
The UIB maintained branches in most every star system involved in interstellar trade.
These branches were fortified and heavily guarded, and banks were considered neutral ground even during wars.
UIB facilities were treated as neutral territory and attacking a bank branch was considered a crime against all empires and resulted in universal sanctions.
However, the UIB still operated its own neutral guard force, elite, well-armed, and politically independent.
Not to mention, if a kingdom, noble house, or corporation defaulted on loans, the UIB had the legal right to seize collateral such as ships, colonies, or resources, or to call in allied enforcement.
More often, the bank relied on political pressure by freezing assets, cutting off trade credit, or backing rival factions.
It worked for simple reasons… The UIB was seen as too big to fail, if it collapsed, the entire interstellar economy would follow.
Citizens trusted it because it had existed for centuries without ever defaulting.