Rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne reportedly has offered $2 billion in cash for United Launch Alliance, the government’s longtime favorite rocket builder. You know who probably isn’t at all happy to hear this? Jeff Bezos. You see, the Amazon CEO has a pet space company, Blue Origin, that could lose big money if the offer goes through.

Wait. What? How? Ah. Let us step into the world of rocket industry intrigue.

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night that Aerojet has been in serious talks about buying ULA. Aerojet is building an engine, called the AR-1, for ULA’s Atlas V rocket. But ULA also needs an engine for its upcoming Vulcan rocket, and even though the AR-1 will work, last year the company surprised pretty much everyone by asking Blue Origin to develop one too. Suddenly, Aerojet was competing with an upstart—and so far it seems Blue Origin has the edge.

So if you’re Aerojet and your project isn’t going well, how do you persuade a reluctant partner to stick with you? Bash it over the head with stacks of money until you own it. “I was shocked,” says space industry consultant Loren Thompson, “But I almost immediately saw logic of the transaction. It makes so much sense.”

Everyone involved in this space opera declined to comment. But it’s clear the deal could benefit ULA, which is no longer basking in its glory days of monopoly. ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which joined forces in 2005 to collaborate rather than compete against each other for government contracts. It has since had an amazing record, launching 90 satellites with barely any hiccups. (Its more famous payloads include NASA’s New Horizons and Curiosity, but government satellites are the bread and butter of the launch business.)

But two things threaten the Alliance’s dominance.

The first is Russia. The Atlas V relies on a Russian engine. Ever since Russia invaded Crimea last year, Congress has been pressuring ULA to use an American engine because, well, consider the irony of launching spy satellites with Russian engines. The next defense appropriations bill will phase out Russian engines within a few years. That’s why ULA asked both Aerojet and Blue Origin to develop rockets for the Vulcan.

The second is SpaceX, which, by the way, already has an American engine. In May, the Air Force certified SpaceX to launch military and spy satellites, ending United Launch Alliance’s monopoly. As the cost of ULA launches has mushroomed, the government sees SpaceX as a welcome competitor. This cuts into ULA’s bottom line just when it’s spending boatloads of money building a new rocket. “With SpaceX breathing down its neck, whether it’s going to make money is a question mark,” says Thompson. If Boeing and Lockheed want to get out of the satellite launch business, now’s a pretty good time.