First, every cache is in contact with other caches. When a ship approaches, the cache alerts the nearest ones. When a trade is concluded, it notifies them of what has been traded for what. If a caches is attacked, it also notifies them -- and abrupt cessation of transmission speaks for itself.
Second, trade goods are not just lying out in the open. The controlling AI of the cache evaluates what the visitors offer, assigns value to it, then offers something equivalent. Mutual value of trade goods are calculated on the basis of past interactions over millions of years, and the algorithms are constantly updated as the cache receives news for other caches. Limited by light speed, no two algorithms can be exactly alike, but that is the ideal. If the visitors try to take things by force, the cache has defenses, but more importantly, it will immediately inform the rest of the network that such and such species is not playing by the rules. They will be denied access to other caches, for longer and longer periods of time -- but not forever.
Third, the cache is not only a trade post, it is a refueling station -- and the fuel is antimatter. If cache's defenses fail, it can always blow itself up, so anyone who refuses to play by the rules, will succeed only in killing the golden goose. Sooner or later they will get the point that trade pays more than aggression.
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First, every cache is in contact with other caches. When a ship approaches, the cache alerts the nearest ones. When a trade is concluded, it notifies them of what has been traded for what. If a caches is attacked, it also notifies them -- and abrupt cessation of transmission speaks for itself.
Second, trade goods are not just lying out in the open. The controlling AI of the cache evaluates what the visitors offer, assigns value to it, then offers something equivalent. Mutual value of trade goods are calculated on the basis of past interactions over millions of years, and the algorithms are constantly updated as the cache receives news for other caches. Limited by light speed, no two algorithms can be exactly alike, but that is the ideal. If the visitors try to take things by force, the cache has defenses, but more importantly, it will immediately inform the rest of the network that such and such species is not playing by the rules. They will be denied access to other caches, for longer and longer periods of time -- but not forever.
Third, the cache is not only a trade post, it is a refueling station -- and the fuel is antimatter. If cache's defenses fail, it can always blow itself up, so anyone who refuses to play by the rules, will succeed only in killing the golden goose. Sooner or later they will get the point that trade pays more than aggression.