The Wolf of Los Angeles.

Coast Building, Supercomputing Center.

Wearing a burgundy uniform, Caroline stood gracefully in front of the large screen and said to Hawke beside her, "Reconnaissance Nine has been integrated into Starlink and can access India's Twitter network at any time, which is of great strategic significance for our expansion into the Indian market."

She suggested, "It's best not to lease this satellite to the Indians at this stage."

Hawke stated directly, "I never intended to lease it to the Indians."

Caroline smiled and said, "In terms of future space information deployment, we still lack important computing nodes."

Hawke, who had already planned ahead, said, "This is the topic we're discussing in today's meeting."

He glanced at his watch: "Let's go to the conference room. Elon Musk and Professor Benjamin should be here soon."

Caroline followed Hawke out of the supercomputing center.

Edward came over at that moment and whispered, "Has Abshek arrived?"

Hawke frowned: "I arranged to meet him two hours later."

Edward added, "He seems to have something to do and arrived early."

Hawke stopped at the conference room door and said, "Go tell him I'm in a meeting and will see him after the meeting."

Edward nodded slightly and went to the sixteenth floor.

Hawke walked into the conference room and immediately spotted Musk.

The guy's eye sockets were still faintly bruised, and there was a blood clotting patch on his nose, all traces left from his fight with Sergei Brin a few days ago.

Musk noticed Hawke's gaze and said, "It's a minor injury, it'll heal quickly."

Hawke patted his arm and shook hands with the bespectacled white man: "Long time no see, Professor."

Professor Benjamin and his team, who are the technical director of Surrey Satellite, have returned to Los Angeles from the UK.

After several years of development, Surrey Satellite's research and manufacturing are gradually shifting to Hawke's home base, namely Southern California.

Benjamin said enthusiastically, "Thank you for funding my research project, which has enabled my team to make new breakthroughs in communication technology."

"You're welcome." The patent for the new technology belongs to Hawke's side.

He nodded to Twitter's CTO, Harland, sat down in a sofa chair, and got straight to the point: "Professor, is my previous proposal feasible at this time?"

Benjamin adjusted his glasses and said, "Using satellites to build a space supercomputing center is entirely feasible, but there is one thing we must be aware of: it is difficult to do with a single satellite, and we may need to launch them in batches."

Hawke proposed the satellite supercomputing center plan in order to prepare for some potential future crises.

Benjamin cautioned, "This would cost more than ten times more than simply building a brand new supercomputing center on the ground."

Hawke dared to propose such a plan because he had the confidence: "If the next federal government provides funding, we won't need to spend too much money."

Musk agreed: "This will be a high-tech development project that the federal government is focusing on."

Benjamin nodded and said, "Traditional satellites generate a lot of data every day, but ground receiving capabilities are limited, and only 10% of the data can be successfully transmitted; with space computing, the data utilization rate can be increased to 90%. In addition, the vacuum environment in space does not require heat dissipation, and solar energy provides continuous power. With these advantages combined, a single supercomputing satellite can easily achieve a computing power of 50 trillion calculations per second."

Harland is very hopeful about this: "This will enable optical-level network data exchange and allow us to completely break free from the constraints of traditional telecom operators."

Benjamin agreed: "Without a doubt, this is a strategic-level plan for us."

Caroline was more realistic: "To realize this massive plan, we need the support of the Federation."

The implication is simple: the United States needs to foot the bill for this.

The main reason Hawke is holding back at this point and launching this costly plan is that Brian is about to run for president.

Once Brian takes over the Oval Office, this will become a key high-tech initiative he pushes forward, and funding is just a matter of going through the motions.

Hawke asked Benjamin, "What is the minimum weight for a single satellite?"

Benjamin did some preliminary calculations and said, "It won't be less than 7 tons, far exceeding the weight of our current satellites."

Hawke looked at Musk: "Can the next generation of Falcon satellite rockets meet these design requirements?"

Musk said, "The design of the Falcon Heavy rocket is already on the agenda and will be officially carried out after the company goes public. The new design is required to send a 10-ton satellite into space 2.5 kilometers above the ground, which is also one of the preparations for the return to the moon."

He has high ambitions in space: "Such a space information center is essential for us to return to the moon and explore Mars."

Hawke knew this guy liked to brag, so he asked again, "Ten tons is no problem, right?"

Musk said very seriously, "10 tons is the most conservative estimate from the design team."

Hawke concluded by saying, "The Space Information Center project will be a key project for us over the next five years. We are now working together to come up with a concrete plan before next year's election."

The meeting concluded, and everyone departed.

Musk didn't leave; he stopped Hawke and chatted for a bit about the new Falcon rocket, and then the topic turned to the Oscars.

"The Oscars are coming up soon, and Jacqueline wants me to walk the red carpet with her." He'd gotten her pregnant, but he wasn't going to refuse. He said, "I'll go to the awards ceremony with her. Are you coming?"

Hawke, who has been busy lately, said, "It's impossible to say for sure right now."

He then asked, "The Oscar nominations should be out by now, right? I haven't been following them lately."

Musk roughly stated, "We've received nearly ten nominations, including the crucial ones: Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture." Hawke commented, "Looks like the PR team did a great job."

Musk nodded: "Rooney Chasen did a good job. She's very skilled in publicity and public relations. Jacqueline is now one of the favorites for Best Actress. Your suggestion to Rooney Chasen about using pregnancy to win awards is particularly effective. Public opinion is very supportive of Jacqueline, who is pregnant. In this year's Oscars, if Jacqueline hadn't been pregnant, she would have been easily defeated by Natalie Portman, who is also pregnant."

Hawke laughed and said, "The best way to defeat magic is always magic."

“By the way, there’s something I need to tell you beforehand.” Musk had always known that Jacqueline had risen from the bottom thanks to Hawke, and that she was Hawke’s collaborator when he was still in his early days.

He specifically stated, "Although Jacqueline is pregnant, I will not marry her, and we may break up in the future. However, I will give her a large sum of money as a settlement, and child support will not be a problem."

Hawke was not surprised and said directly, "Your personal matters are none of my business."

He knew very well that as long as he was there, Musk would not be shortchanged financially even if he broke up with Jacqueline.

Musk was relieved and pointed to his eye sockets and nose: "I need to go to the hospital and get these taken care of as soon as possible, so I don't embarrass myself on the Oscars red carpet."

Hawke saw him off, then went up to the 16th floor and met Abhishek in the meeting room.

After a brief chat, Hawke, as planned, took Abhishek on a tour of some departments of Twitter.

Today, Twitter is a super giant in the global internet media industry, and it's no exaggeration to call it a leader.

The number of registered users worldwide is steadily approaching 10 billion, with over 5 million daily active users.

The two left the technical department and went to the nearby employee rest area, where they sat down at a small round table by the window.

"Twitter's achievements are astonishing, and you have top-tier influence all over the world." Abhishek's words were full of flattery: "The Starlink project has changed the world's internet landscape. I never imagined that a purely commercial civilian space company could achieve this level of success in the space industry."

Hawke had already been informed by Henderson, and knew without a doubt that the other party was preparing to propose leasing the Survey Satellite 9.

There's no room for negotiation on this; he's not going to lease an advanced Earth survey satellite to the Indians.

Instead of passively refusing, Hawke took the initiative and said, "West Coast Technologies' Starlink project has been progressing smoothly in its early stages, but it has recently encountered many difficulties, the most difficult of which is funding."

Abhishek was about to steer the conversation toward the final payment and lease of Survey No. 9, but he had to swallow back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Hawke continued, "Henderson and I have been under a lot of pressure this year, a significant portion of which comes from downstream suppliers."

He didn't give Abhishek a chance to speak, taking the high ground first: "West Coast Technologies has completed several transactions with your company in areas such as communication software, all-terrain vehicles for individual soldiers, and satellite services. Starting more than a year ago, several products have begun to be delivered one after another. In particular, West Coast Technologies has delivered three batches of products for communication software and all-terrain vehicles for individual soldiers, but so far, we have not received any final payment."

Abhishek was certainly aware of this, but he had never considered paying the final balance since the negotiations began.

Hawke's products yielded a net profit of more than ten times the amount from just a 50% deposit, but who wouldn't want even higher profits?
Of course, we must pursue the final payment. Even if the subsequent disputes cannot be resolved and the case goes all the way to the UN Security Council, it will still be considered that the Indians are in breach of contract.

Moreover, from the moment he delayed the delivery of the satellite, he set a trap that the Indians were bound to fall into.

Hawke kept staring at Abhishek and said, "Several manufacturers are demanding payment from Henderson and me. Our cash flow is quite tight, and we are eagerly awaiting the final payment to settle accounts with our suppliers. Some downstream manufacturers have already said that if West Coast Technology cannot pay next month, they will no longer provide products to West Coast Technology, which will also affect our satellite business."

Abhishek could no longer bring himself to say anything about satellite leasing.

Hawke added, “We are strategic partners and believe in mutual benefit in bilateral trade. West Coast Technology has shown the utmost sincerity by sending the products to India as long as you pay half of the deposit. However, you have repeatedly delayed the final payment, which has made things very difficult for us and has even put us in a predicament.”

He asked directly, "When can you make these final payments? Could you give me a specific timeframe?"

Although Abhishek was in a very difficult position, he knew he had to answer, so he forced himself to say, "For these trades, the Indian side's payment was all made by the New Delhi authorities. The government's budget is tight right now, which is why the final payment has been delayed again and again. This is our dereliction of duty, but please believe us, as soon as the cash flow is slightly sufficient, we will definitely make up the final payment as soon as possible."

Hawke didn't believe a single word of these words.

Abhishek confidently stated, "India is a responsible major power and would never joke about its reputation, much less default on payments to its partners."

Hawke looked troubled and helpless: "The problem is not that, but that downstream component suppliers are about to stop replacing parts. Without cash flow, they will not be able to hold on either. Once the supply of downstream components is cut off, our trade with you will be severely affected, and many products, including satellites, will have to be delivered late."

Abhishek's face remained unchanged, but inwardly he was cursing. It wasn't that there was no final payment; rather, after layers of extortion, what was left was simply not enough.

Hawke replied matter-of-factly, "As an old friend, a responsible major power like India certainly wouldn't make things difficult for a commercial company, would it?"

In other trade cases, Abhishek would have made up all sorts of excuses long ago.

But West Coast technology is different. Although the final payments for projects such as communication software and all-terrain vehicles involve more than a billion dollars, the bulk of the trade between the two sides is in satellites.

India has paid the deposit for a satellite ordered from West Coast Technologies, but the goods have not yet been delivered.

That's a high-tech product worth tens of billions of dollars, and it's key to the future development of India's aerospace industry.

Abhishek weighed the pros and cons carefully. The satellite, both technically and financially, was crucial to India's national destiny, and no mishaps could be tolerated.

In comparison, the remaining balance on the communication software and all-terrain transport vehicle is really nothing.

Abhishek quickly came up with a solution: the remaining payments had already been divided up and were impossible to get back. If they were to forcefully demand them back, India would inevitably face another unexpected incident.

Accidents involving high-ranking officials' helicopters, cars, or trains happen far too often.

However, the remaining payments for satellite trade, due to their enormous amount and slow disbursement, have not yet been fully distributed.

They could easily allocate a portion of that money to West Coast Technologies to tide them over until the satellite is delivered.

Thinking of this, Abhishek immediately changed his tone and sincerely apologized to Hawke: "I must apologize to you for the series of problems caused by the government's bureaucratic style and tight funds. However, India is always a responsible world power. I can guarantee that the balance of payment for the three shipments will be raised and delivered to West Coast Technologies by the end of next month."

Hawke said, "This way, our cooperation will be minimally affected." (End of Chapter)