Iko was behind them, the Odyssey was back at warp, racing through the stars, heading between the dark void between solar systems, the ship suspended in a bubble of warped space that allowed the ship to reach extreme speeds. From her office near the bridge Selenu could watch the coruscating flares of light shimmering over the warp field, tiny imperfections that allowed the glittering, rushing light of the stars to sparkle and glitter across the otherwise empty field. It was a nice, calming view and with a bowl of Ikorian Spiced Tea in front of her the green and white Avali was just taking a few moments to enjoy the view and peace.
The holograms surrounding the captain were full of detailed reports, accounts, secure notes from the military and shipping bureau, running the Odyssey was a full time job. Wiggling her claws against the controls the Avali dismissed everything except the screen that tracked her pack. The message board was alive with a discussion between Firi and Ki who were on opposite ends of the ship arguing about temperature regulation. Even working on different jobs in completely different locations no one wanted to be alone so the private pack channel was the best, public messages whizzing back and forth so no one felt alone. Chantelle was asleep behind Selenu, curled up under her mantle on a big bean-bag. It was a quirk of Avali physiology, they didn’t sleep for long periods, they were active for six to seven hours, then slept for about two to three hours before getting up again. Usually they’d sleep together as a pack when their naps aligned, but if not they’d find someone who was not going to be moving around and sleep near them; they hated sleeping alone; it was just weird.
So whilst Chantelle napped Selenu was doing paperwork and Taran was secretly sabotaging the temperature argument from the AI core, using Ifelse’s control of the ship to mess with Firi and Ki, they’d work it out eventually and then try to hack Taran back if they hadn’t done so already the three of them trying to outdo the other to prove a silly, pointless argument. It was all healthy pack behaviour and their most troublesome blob of slime, Seinu was in the training grounds with the twins. Cri had bullied Seinu out of his office to practise with them; they were serious about their job and ensuring Seinu worked with them and wasn't just a helpless Avali diplomat in distress to keep safe but an active participant in their bodyguard routine. They wanted him to understand how they worked, what they did and why if they were going to be at their best. He had complained a lot, physical activity wasn’t really high on Seinu’s list of favourite things but Selenu had put her foot down and helped Cri and Cal chase him out of his work space.
Smiling and sipping her tea Selenu made a note to watch the recordings later of their training sessions. He didn’t like it but now that he was taking part of his training and trying to be dedicated, she wanted to see if he had improved. Of course he really should be working on the upcoming border talks between the Farndos and the S'grael. But an hour or two a day physical activity was good for the mind and the body, albeit his slime body could cheat a lot more than the rest of them. She glanced back at the now three way dispute raging in the ships environmental circuitry and used her Captain’s over-ride to blast the three of them with 5c hot air and then ordered her console to bring her work files back up. She was just getting to grips with an update on shield geometry regulations when an alarm went off, it was startling; a blaring sound she had only ever heard in drills and training, the collision alarm.
“Ifelse?” she called out as Chantelle sat upright, her ears perked all the way as the quadraphonic tones pummelled their hearing.
“Sorry captain,” the AI’s avatar said as he appeared out of her screen, “We have a significant mass on the textural scanners.”
“Shit,” Selenu legged it out of her chair and through the door that led to the bridge, “Can we not steer out of the way of it?”
“I have already realigned our course,” the AI said as his avatar appeared next to her chair, “It however adjusted course, it is artificial.
“I thought it must be,” Selenu frowned at the screens ahead of her chair, watching the mass profile of the object, “Divert power to the shields, warm up the weapon pods and tell me is anyone in an unsecure area?”
“Yes, Ki is in outer maintenance tunnel K17 but he should be back inside a central bulkhead in the next ten seconds. Firi is in the maintenance bay but she is in her armour so should be ok.”
“Very good,” She squeezed Chantelle’s arm as her sister hurried in and sat in her chair and flipped the switch that would broadcast her voice across the ship, “Brace for impact and warp field collapse, secure yourself as best you can.”
The Odyssey’s warp bubble collided with the artificial object, a tremor ran through the ship and several displays turned red as they registered impacts. Selenu watched as the warp diagnostic array showed the bubble of unstable space around the ship collapsing and the defensive system registered plasma energy stabbing at the shields. Most of it was absorbed or deflected, the actual payload of the warp mine never made it through the shields. From her readings it was a plasma charge designed to fry energy systems. On a smaller ship it would have punched through the instability caused by the collapsing warp field to fry energy systems and leave them as helpless or at least crippled prey for whoever placed the mine.
The instability in the way the warp field collapsed however was still damaging even if the plasmatic EMP attack didn't hurt them. Space outside the ship twisted, energy fluctuations discharged themselves into the hull. Their return to real space wasn’t a uniform experience as usual so parts of the outer structure twisted, systems blared alarms. For the most part the Odyssey however was designed with such emergency stops in mind so it snapped back into real space, the kilometre long Avali ship gliding into the empty void between star systems with ease.
Several systems however showed up as red, minor sub-systems that were not as well protected as the rest of the ship. But Selenu put them out of her mind, they could take stock of that damage later, right now she had to deal with the fact someone had mined this path between the stars.
“Anything outside?”
“Contact confirmed,” Chantelle called out from the tactical console, “One ship it is… Avali.”
“Show me,” Selenu glanced at the screen as behind her the door to the bridge swished open allowing Taran, Seinu and the twins onto the bridge. She ignored them and stared at the vessel. It wasn’t very large, a stumpy Avali ship with two solar fins at the back.
“It is an SCK-8823,” Ifelse reported, “Seventy six years old and it is leaking Phontium from its drive assembly.”
“Why on earth is an Avali ship, and one as old as that one, shooting at us?” Taran asked as he sat down in his chair at the operations console, his hands resting on the controls, “That was a warp-mine, that was intentional.”
“We will find out,” Selenu said firmly, “Ifelse hail that ship and..”
“Launch detected,” Chantelle chirped, her ears standing upright, “Six… no seven missiles.”
“Fuck it, Ifelse, defensive shield don’t let any of them pass our defensive perimeter.”
“Counter-measures firing, weapon pod deployment at optimal.”
Space ahead of the Odyssey erupted in an exotic cloud of annihilating particles, gamma pulses and nuclear flame. The shields barely registered it, the missiles were as old as the ship that had fired them, antiquated by modern standards. The wall of white fire however did ruin their sensor returns, by the time space outside finished being excited the smaller ship was gone.
“They bugged out,” Chantelle reported, turning her chair to look at Selenu, “I am afraid we don’t have a warp trajectory.”
“I figured as much,” Selenu sighed and rubbed the bridge of her snout, “Taran, Ifelse start to compile any damage to systems, Chantelle maintain the weapon pods in defence globe alpha.”
“Why would they do that?” Cri asked, sounding puzzled, the small grey and copper bunny peeking out from behind Seinu, thick fluffy tail swishing in agitation, “Why would Avali attack other Avali?”
“Not every colony world or Avali ship is part of our society,” Seinu explained, “Some of them break off, declare independence and like all societies there are some bad eggs who just turn to evil ways.”
“I suspect they were not expecting an Illuminate dreadnought,” Chantelle said, “Unless you have very sophisticated military grade scanners there is no way to tell how big a ship in warp is.”
“Indeed,” Selenu said, “I suspect they just mined the space lane and were hoping for a civilian ship or merchant vessel full of fat loot they could help themselves too.”
The bridge door swished open and Firi clomped in, her pink and white armour making her appear taller than usual. Ki was scurrying along next to her in a set of old overalls. “Bastards,” Firi chirped angrily, “That’s what they are! Attacking innocents, waylaying law abiding citizens, we shouldn’t have let them escape.”
“Sorry,” Selenu said, “There isn’t much we can do to track a ship with seven nukes going off outside,” she sat back in her chair, tapping her claws on her controls, flicking through the screens, “We’ll report them when we arrive at a system and let a local patrol watch out for them across this warp route.”
“I have some good news and bad news,” Taran said from his console, “Ki can you check this?”
Ki nodded and hurried over to peer at his brother’s screen. Selenu turned to look at the pair and watched as their ears flicked through a series of emotions, “What is it?”
“Nothing major was damaged,” Taran said, “But the central atmospheric regulator has lost containment, the primary crystal lattice has shattered. Backup systems are handling it but those won’t last more than seventy hours before we start to run out of breathable air.”
“Well fuck it,” Selenu frowned, “Didnt we just replace that at Protion? Can we fix it?”
“Yes and no,” Ki said rubbing his bionic hand across his head, ruffling his three red crest feathers, “I can have the manufacturing systems print a new lattice but we need Condranium and Fargelant we don’t hold enough in stocks.”
“Ok, so we need to go shopping for raw materials. Chantelle, is there an inhabited system we can reach in time?”
“Rayzon-Alpha is eighty hours away by warp,” the blue Avali said, “Can we make that?”
“If we close off the atmosphere to non-essential rooms we can extend backup flow to hundred and nineteen hours,” Firi said as she sat down at a console, “I’ll map out which compartments we can reduce to vacuum safely.”
“I’ll advise the Cultarvian we are going to be late,” Seinu said, “Good thing we left early.”
Selenu nodded and stood up, “I will go call the Director and let the Illuminate know, they aren’t going to be happy about the fact some independents have gone pirate and attacked us, let's get on everyone, I want us underway within the hour.”
Rayzon-Alpha was the first and only colony planet in the Rayzon binary system. A main sequence yellow star early in its life-cycle accompanied by a brown dwarf that barely counted as one instead of a gas giant. The presence of such a massive and dense star in the inner system had swept most of the solar system clear or dust and rock that could have made planets.
There was no asteroid field, the Oort cloud was minimal and there was one solid planet orbiting so far out that the surface was barely habitable by Avali standards. With a median surface temperature of -65c it was cold, the surface was mostly ice, unmoving permafrost, the rocky surface buried so far beneath the surface it was inaccessible. There was one mountain range that rose above the permafrost, a ring of rock and crystal that spiralled out from the poles before meeting at the equator as a row of sharp, jagged peaks..
It was those mountains that led to the Illuminate founding a colony five hundred years ago. The planet was a wealth of rare crystal and minerals. It prospered for three hundred years, a colony that gleamed in the jewel of the Illuminates crown. Then a rising faction of local packs who favoured Independence from what they saw as the unfair taxes of Avalon slowly grew in popularity. After a local election to discuss the idea of declaring independence took a surprise 52% of the vote, the new local colony government severed ties with the Avali government.
Overnight the colony collapsed, 67% of the packs living on Rayzon left, returning to Avali space. The remaining 33% of the population could not sustain the size and array of infrastructure needed to operate. Rather than condense, restructure or focus their efforts on scaling back and making a success of what they could manage they'd tried to hold on. Pack cohesion fractured, seizing control of colony domes and mining stations, more packs left heading back to Avalon to reintegrate into the Illuminate.
These days Rayzon-Alpha was a backwater that the local trading coalition had abandoned. The packs who held on had finally consolidated into one dome and a scattered series of mining operations. But they should have the Condranium and Fargelant they needed to repair their atmospheric regulator. Dropping out of warp at the edge of the system the Odyssey skimmed through the void toward the world of ice and snow. The entire pack was on the bridge, including the twins and as they approached Selenu allowed herself to relax.
“Contact Rayzon control and set up a trade delegation with their leader,” the lime and white Avali told Chantelle, “We should be able to negotiate a fair price.”
“This is odd,” Chantelle said as she stared at her controls, “I can't find their orbital station, I'm only reading three satellites in orbit.”
“Found it,” Firi said from the tactical console, “It’s spread out across ninety kilometres of the northern hemisphere, it looks like it fell out of orbit.”
“See if you can raise the colony directly?” Selenu suggested but Chantelle was already shaking her head.
“They’re shields are up, our communication lasers are being rejected, it's like they think we are hostile.”
“Ship launch detected,” Firi reported, “Powering up out of the colony,” her ears flicked back in surprise, “It’s the same ship that attacked us.”
“Really?” Seinu exclaimed in surprise, sitting up and staring at the forward screen, “Are you sure?”
“Same drive profile,” Firi confirmed, “Same Phontium leak, it’s them, alright.”
“Damn it,” Selenu slumped back in her chair, “They must think we’ve tracked them down and are here for revenge,” she thumped her seat, “Chantelle, call them.”
“No response,” the blue bird replied as she frantically tapped her keyboard, “They are powering into space on an intercept trajectory.”
“Why,” Taran frowned, “They must know we can’t just attack Independent colonies.”
“Who knows what they think,” Ki said, “Independent colonies don’t always think logically when the Illuminate appears on the horizon to steal their freedom.”
“We’d never do that,” Seinu frowned, “Never… What happened here that they turned to piracy? Rayzon might be small these days but it was prosperous.”
“Prosperous yes, well defended no,” Taran said with a frown, “Scan returns on that downed station show it was shot out of orbit, it crashed in flames, the scarring on the ice confirms that.”
“Damn,” Selenu growled, “They might be Independent but the Illuminate wouldn’t stand for someone attacking an independent colony, we’d still defend them, who the fuck would attack them and why would they hide it?”
“Pride probably,” Ki said sadly, “If they called for Illuminate aid, well that’s the government with a foot in the door.”
“Chantelle any response from that ship?”
“Nothing an…”
“They are firing on us,” Firi said, “Medium yield lasers creating a forward scattering field… and yup there it is, one big arse bomb launched toward us, no doubt meant to be hidden by the laser fire.”
“Fuck it,” Selenu stared ahead, “Disable that bomb, then disable the ship, don’t hurt them, soon as they are offline and drifting Ifelse tow them into the shuttle bay.”
“Firing,” Firi replied and one of the Odyssey’s weapon pods fired two missiles, they never got close, the lasers on the pirate ship were more than a match for them. Which is why they never saw the third missile, the drone attached itself to their hull and the emp pulse killed every live circuit onboard. The ancient SCK-8823 had stood no chance against the Odyssey and was now tumbling dead in space.
“Their reactor is about to lose containment,” Ifelse reported, “Phontium discharges are increasing, do you want me to contain it?”
Selenu sighed, “Yes please, keep them intact and vent the escaping drive-plasma away from everyone.”
The tractor drones that had captured the ship directed the discharge of drive plasma away into open space and started to tow the crippled ship onboard. “Ok Firi, Ki, Cri, Cal you are with me,” Selenu stood up, “You four in armour please, everyone else remain on the bridge, lets go find out what the fuck they think they are doing, they are really bad pirates.”
The ship was not looking so hot, the hull plates were dark and bent from years of use, the solar panels were mostly cracked and if they had ever had Ikorian tech to make the inside bigger it likely hadn’t been working for years. The pack who sullenly made their way off the cargo elevator were the thinnest, surliest looking group of unhealthy Avali Selenu had ever seen. She felt stupid for bringing four bodyguards in full combat armour but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
“Welcome aboard the Odyssey,” Selenu said and paused as one of them, a beige and white Avali wearing a threadbear mantle spat on the deck.
“Piss off, Illuminate egg-dropper,” he snarled, “Just space us already and get this over with! You can then go bomb our home and reclaim it for the vaunted glory of the Illuminate.”
Selenu opened her mouth to speak but Firi placed her hand on her arm and her voice boomed out of her helmet, “Sure thing pirates,” she strode forward, looming over all of them in her armour, this display was made somewhat more intimidating by the way Cri and Cal moved out on either side of her; both bunnies had massive full sized chain guns that just made them look even more alarming considering how short they were.
“See Independent Avali I have major respect for, breaking away from all the comforts of Utopia to be free. Pirates…” she smacked her fist into one hand, “Pirates are scum, you opened fire on us first, twice I might add… so now I am going to treat you like pirates, then I am going to treat your colony like pirates and then,” She leant forward, “You’ll all be gone, one less haven of pirates to attack innocents, the local coalition will probably give us all medals.”
“No…” the pack-leader's ears wilted back, “No leave the colony alone, it was us! It was all us, my pack did it, don’t harm them.”
Selenu stepped forward and placed a hand on Firi’s arm, “No one is going to harm your colony,” she paused for a moment and motioned the twins to lower their guns, “If you are ready to talk to me,” she said firmly, “Stow the attitude and listen to what I have to say, you’re crap pirates anyway.”
The four Avali hesitated, grabbing each other's hands and drawing close, they were clearly desperate and a family, Selenu, had no wish to harm any of them. She pushed Firi back a step, “Will you talk to me? Why are you pirating anyway, not to mention opening fire on an Illuminate Embassy Ship, you realise Seinu Trail is on board? The entire Illuminate Council would blow your planet out of the ocean if you hurt one of their Diplomats with full legal justification behind them too, there would be no consequences from the local coalition.”
“We didn’t have much choice,” one of them whispered, her voice low and quiet, “They came in the night… raided the station, stole a year's worth of output from the mines and then blew the station up.”
“Who are they?” Selenu asked patiently, “I understand not wanting to call for help, but turning to piracy really.”
“We…,” their pack leader sighed deeply, hanging his head, “Our nano-fabricator was destroyed in the raid. We have nothing to trade, they raided the colony too, took everything they could, the only thing we could think of was grabbing something in a raid.”
“And the first ship we pick on was the fucking Odyssey,” one of his brothers cursed, “Trust our fucking luck, how did you even track us down?”
“We didn't,” Ki said as he unlatched his helmet and pulled it off, “You broke our atmospheric regulator, we were coming here to buy Condranium and Fargelant,” he smiled sadly at the pack, “Hello Rocla, Hurink, Dalose, Sinmak its been awhile.”
“Ki!” their leaders ears went up in shock, “What the fuck are you doing on an Illuminate ship? FUCK, why are you on their fucking Embassy ship!? This fucking pack couldn't be more up the Iluminate's arse if they tried.”
Ki's ears wilted in sadness, then shot back up in anger and he closed his bionic hand around the Avali's throat and dragged him in close, “These Avali are my pack Rocla, my sister is offering your useless pirate arse a deal… these Avali fucking saved me after we got murdered… so show her some respect or I'll dose her with a tranquilliser that every forensic test will claim came from the dart gun strapped around your wrist, then you’ll have to deal with Firi, she has a real thing for pirates.”
“I really do,” Firi boomed from inside her helmet, “I am Firi Trail, I am sure you have heard about how I deal with pirates,” she loomed, “Only some of those stories are exaggerated.”
The pack from the ship quailed in fear and drew back together, ears back, paws gripping arms in terror, “Are we all quite done?” Selenu said exasperated, “Here is what's going to happen, we are going down to your colony, you will give us the minerals we need and I will use the Odyssey to get you up and running again,” she levelled a finger under Rocla's snout, “We’ll forget the whole pirate thing and I will inform the Illuminate about what happened, they'll send an aid convoy to help stabilise you but we can work out the details of that after I speak to your leaders.”
The pirate pack shuffled and chirped in understanding, “Good,” Selenu chirped, “Ki take them to the refectory and feed them, Cal go with him. Cri come with me we need to move the Odyssey into orbit and Firi,” she placed a paw on her sister's arm, “Go prep the momentum you're on bodyguard duty when we go down there.”
Everyone chirped an acknowledgement and headed off and Selenu sighed and walked back to the elevator with Cri. This was not how her day was meant to go, but she’d do the right thing. Admittedly her job was to show this colony that the Illuminate wasn’t a heartless monster and hopefully at least convince them to work with the Illuminate even if they didn’t rejoin. It was the right thing to do and it would spread to others that the Odyssey helped, that Director Ck’akk did care about Independent colonies and might convince others to turn to the Illuminate for help rather than pushing them into the arms of the Illuminates enemies.
“No,” Selenu said again for the third time, placing her hands on Seinu’s shoulders and firmly but gently pushing him out of the elevator, “You are not going.”
“But,” he started to protest and she clamped a paw around his muzzle, her wing feathers fluffing against his chest as she used her other hand to push his visor up so she could look into his eyes directly.
“No, they are desperate, they are hungry and starving and might still go violent. Some bright spark might think they can get more with you as a hostage and do something stupid. You aren’t going down there, I am going with Firi, Ki and Taran, the rest of you are staying up here.”
“I can help though,” Seinu grumbled, “I am good at negotiating this sort of thing and I have bodyguards now! A team dedicated to just me, the twins can keep me safe.”
“Yes, they can,” Selenu said, nodding at Cri and Cal, “And their risk assessment and mine all say the same thing, you are staying here, end of story,” she released him and hugged him close, “The only reason the Director is willing to offer them such good terms for our help is that we are quite sure the pirates who attacked are one of the Horker’s allies,” she leant back and nuzzled his snout, “So this time, you are staying up here, I will deal with the colony, they aren’t going to do anything stupid with the Odyssey looming in orbit and three avali in combat armour. They might do something stupid if they see you, so that's it, decision made.”
Seinu sighed and stepped back and Selenu smirked, “Maybe now would be a good time for you to go spend some time alone with the twins, they have an important question to ask you,” she winked at a surprised looking Cri then ordered the elevator to take her to the Momentum’s docking bay. Laughing at the puzzled look on her brother’s face she turned her attention to the pad in her hand, it wasn’t going to be fun but it was fair. The resources needed to get Rayzon back up and running permanently were not cheap, the Odyssey could do some basics, fix their nano-loom and fabricator, build them a proper landing pad for shuttles to land on the surface and quietly leave them enough orbital defences to protect the colony, but to get them up and running long term…
“How’s it looking?” Ki asked as the doors opened, she looked up into the faces of her siblings then glanced behind them at their prisoners. She shut down the pad and strode out with her Captain of the Odyssey, Leader of the Pack face on.
“It’s looking,” was all she said as she walked into her shuttle, “Let’s go do this.”
It wasn’t a long flight to the surface, for added emphasis Ifelse had parked the Odyssey in a very low orbit at her orders. The colony itself had clearly seen better days, out of three domes clustered together to create Crystal Sky City only one was operational. The dome that covered the industrial facilities and ore processing plant had been blasted apart.
Selenu felt stupid walking from the field of ice they had landed on to the dome with her escort. Firi and Ki were in full armour and Taran was wearing a long flowing mantle that hung to his knees. It was pretty plain without much decoration much like the simple two piece ship-suit she was wearing. She was trying not to put across an image of wealth but it was hard to avoid it when the least ostentatious thing she owned had been woven on a nano-loom, something the colony had been doing without for years. A nano-loom was a luxury, the fabricator however was an essential for basic Avali tech.
Rocla and his pack were walking behind her but ahead of Ki in his armour, they were surly and upset, distressed and yet there were little hints of hope. As she walked through the colony towards the central administration building she could see why. She stopped just inside the dome and looked around, what buildings she could see were abandoned this close to the edge. The streets were clear until they got closer to the centre where rings of tents had been set up, ragged fabric and broken sheets of metal being used as shelters. The lights flickered on and off as if the fusion reactor was struggling, from what Rocla had said they barely had enough power to keep the atmospheric scrubbers going and to keep the hydroponics building operating.
Selenu paused as Firi clomped to a stop and turned to see what her sister was looking at. It was a group of kits, about 7 of them, scrawny and under-fed sorting through a pile of scrap, Selenu paused and frowned then Firi’s voice rumbled.
“Your kits aren’t in a nursery?” she asked, turning on Rocla and his pack.
“N.. no,” Rocla said, “We don’t have the power or the space.”
“Most independent colonies don’t have the resources for a full Illuminate style nursery,” Ki said softly, “We might have some, but by the age of four or five we are on the job doing, learning, practical in the field training,” he glanced at the kits and waved “My pack got to stay in our nursery until we were six, then we were put to practical field training in the space port.”
The kits were now looking at them curiously, peeking at them over the piles of scrap and Selenu shook her head, “We… will do what we can Rocla, kits should get to enjoy the safety of a nursery, even if it's just a safe place to go home to at the end of the night.”
She stood still for a moment, watching the kids digging through the piles of scrap. It was unbelievably sad, she knew that the conditions on some independent colonies were not great. But to be reduced to the point that the Kits had nowhere safe to spend their days that was just so wrong. She knew how lucky her pack was, they had been raised in the Illuminate District Nursery, you couldn’t ask for a better place to hatch but they were damn lucky to have been raised in utopian luxury this was just not acceptable.
Squaring her shoulders she started off again and walked into the administration building. Quite a crowd was waiting for them, about thirty five Avali, pack leaders of all the remaining packs in the colony. At an average of five Avali per pack that was a population of about 175-200 Avali, not many at all for a colony that in its heyday had boasted a population in the tens of thousands. Waiting for them at the front of the crowd was an elderly Avali, he was wearing an old fashioned mantle and kilt style colony uniform that looked much loved and well cared for.
“Administrator Farlin?” Selenu asked softly, “I am Captain Selenu, I assume you received Rocla’s message?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice was quiet but firm, his eyes clear, he may have been old but he had a backbone and strength, “He says your being here was... Unrelated to any incidents in space.”
“Indeed, the Odyssey is here to trade for some specific minerals, Captain Rocla has made us aware of the recent misfortune and I am empowered by Director Ck’akk to negotiate aid should you accept it.”
This started off some angry murmurings amongst the crowd but Farlin held up one hand and they went silent, “Pride won’t get us out of this hole,” he said firmly, “But we agreed, we aren’t going to give up our independence.”
“I’d expect nothing less,” Selenu replied, “So shall we retire somewhere private so we can work out a deal?”
Farlin nodded and brought along another older Avali called Talrin and Rocla and dismissed everyone else. Firi and Ki didn’t like it but she insisted they remain outside and took Taran in with her and soon enough they were sitting around a very ancient Algor wood table. Selenu waited patiently as the three Avali chirped and chatted quietly, pretending that she couldn’t over-hear them before the Administrator turned to her and spoke.
“So how bad is this going to be?”
“Not that bad,” Selenu said quietly, “Despite what you might think the Illuminate doesn’t want to screw you into the ground,” she glanced at the other two then back to Farlin, “We’ll even… forget about any incidents that happened in space between Rocla’s ship and the Odyssey, our records clearly state the pirate ship that forced us to lay over here for repairs wasn't the same ship as Rocla's ship.”
She set her tablet on the table and slid it across to Farlin, “It’s all in here, standard contracts, everything is above board. You will supply the Odyssey with one ton of Condranium and three tons of Fargelant, we repair your nano-fabricator, build a landing pad for spacecraft, repair your fusion reactor and fuel it for a year, fix Rocla’s ship and loan you the raw material needed to get your orbital defence network up and running and restart the mines and your Nursery.”
Farlin stared at the pad as if it was alive, “That’s… a very cheap deal for us, what's the catch?”
“There are some conditions in the full contract, I won’t pretend there aren’t but our terms are pretty reasonable,” Selenu said holding up a hand as Talrin opened her mouth to object, “But the basic repairs, those happen regardless of you accepting the full contract or not. My ship needs those minerals and I am not about to leave an Avali colony, Independent or not collapsing into starvation,” she tapped the pad, “The catch is in this, you can read the full thing but there are no tricky clauses or gotcha phrases or weird legalisms we can exploit to suddenly own all your eggs. The gist of it is Director Ck’akk is offering to send an aid convoy, three ships, with enough manpower and supplies to repair your industrial sector, fix your automation and get you up and running again in full. The repairs we can offer are limited, it’ll get you stable but you’ll be right back in this situation again if you don’t have trade goods within a year.”
“I am well aware of that,” Farlin growled, “What’s the catch?”
“There are no tricks, but there is a trading agreement with the Illuminate whose clauses you can read. After they have finished their repairs, the packs from Avalon will leave. Your mines will be up and running, automation will be restored to ore processing and you will be able to defend yourself and Rocla gets a new ship.” Selenu tapped the tablet. “Regarding the trade agreement, you will sell to us, prices will be set at current intergalactic trade rates -4% with an annual price rise of Coalition Integrated Inflation +1.6% over the next ten years with a proper negotiation phase after five years to address any market drift overseen by a Galactic Coalition mediator.”
Farlin was staring at the tablet, eyes wide in shock, they didn’t quite seem to know how to process what they were hearing, it was a pretty good trade agreement so Selenu continued, “You remain independent, we do not get to dictate colony policy or governance, but rather than give you a loan that makes you beholden to us, we lock you into a commercially enforceable trading agreement as standard.”
“-4% is a hefty hefty margin though,” Farlin sighed, “We’d not be making much of a profit.”
“No,” Selenu said, “But it’d be some profit and more of a margin then you’d get if you go to a commercial bank, they’d have you indebted to them for a thousand generations or turn you into a slave colony in all but name, I am sure you’ve seen them, the sort of place where labour laws and health care and anything inconvenient like working atmospheric systems that might eat into the profit margin plus six thousand percent interest a quarter gets trimmed.”
“Six thousand percent would have been nice,” Talrin sighed, “We owe some debts to the banks as it is, I am quite sure our push to resist giving them more led to this.”
“We’ll clear those too,” Selenu said, “Read the contract, it’s all there. We clear all outstanding debts, we give you a restart and you trade with the Illuminate. In ten years we negotiate a new deal or you walk away debts paid, clear and hopefully online and operating with an increasing population again, with a stable, welcoming colony base more independent minded packs will see you as a place to move to.”
“But still tied to the Illuminate,” Rocla chirped, a frown on his muzzle, “This doesn’t sound great.”
“Not tied,” Selenu said, “Independent and free just trading with the Illuminate. We respect your desire to be free but we are still all Avali, it doesn't mean we can’t trade together.”
“The Illuminate hasn’t always thought like that,” Farlin said softly, “Some of those feathered nest types would see us fail.”
“Yeah well… fuck them,” Selenu said, “You’ve got the deal, it is open for negotiation, take it, have a read, lets talk again in a day and whilst you think about it I will get Taran and Ki to get your reactor up and running again and fix the nano-fabricator we’re offering to do that anyway even if you turn that contract down.”
Farlin scrolled through the pad then handed it to Talrin, “Ok… Rocla introduce them to Ga’eg’s pack and let them into the reactor core and well you can look at the nano-fabricator but it’s fucked.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Taran said, “If I can’t fix it I can have the Odyssey make you a Tier 2 nano-fabricator which will keep you going.”
“Wait,” Rocla gaped at Taran, “The Odyssey can make a tier 2 fabricator? By itself?”
“Of course,” Taran said calmly, “Where did you think your new ship was going to come from? We are in deep space for months at a time, we have to be able to build what we need, we’ll devour your old ship and a few asteroids and make what you need.”
“Now show us your reactor,” Ki said, “We can’t make any decision until we’ve seen it, we might have to have Ifelse replace that too.”
Rocla nodded, eyes wide with awe and gestured for the two Avali to follow him. Selenu watched them leave, then stood up to make her own exit, leaving the two older Avali talking over clauses in the contract. She then turned to look up at Firi who was standing watching the kits through the window, they were still hard at work sorting their junk pile, she had her helmet off and a frown on her face.
“You ok sis?” Selenu asked as she walked up to stand next to her, “You seem out of sorts.”
“I was just thinking how lucky we are,” she nodded at the kits, “I forget how privileged we are sometimes, we live in a Utopia, even in that Utopia our eggs got left at the best nursery on Avalon; we got all the advantages, what advantages do those kits have?”
“Good ones,” Selenu said, “Maybe not as fantastic as the opportunities we got, but at least now they have something better ahead of them, and their parents obviously care about them being free or they could have sent their eggs to an Illuminate nursery, who are we to take that away from them?”
“I know,” Firi glanced down at her sister, “I didn’t agree with you about this at first, letting pirates off the hook but I guess they never did any real pirating. They picked a fight with us and broke a piece of machinery.”
“I know,” Selenu said, “We stopped them at the right time, and I think their elder packs will take our deal.”
“It won’t be popular, us spending resources on a break away Independent colony.”
“Eh the Director will frame it as a loan, we get a good deal and she will send a team who used to be Independent to help get them on their feet again, she’s pretty smart, is old Ck’akk.”
Firi nodded slowly, “The old conservative faction won’t like it, but it’ll look good with the local coalition and continue to improve our image.”
“It is that image that we need,” Selenu said, “To counter Horker propaganda and it will boost Seinu’s image, I’ve already had the media department sending me messages about using this for PR, they are desperate to show that that old way of thinking is on the way out.”
Firi smiled, “Oh Seinu will love that, he adores interviews,” her ears flicked up and she turned her head, “Here they come, ready for some negotiating? You sure you don’t want Seinu for this?”
“Nah i got this,” Selenu smiled, “I see a lot of starving, thin Avali down here, someone would try to do something stupid, come loom behind me a bit whilst we negotiate, I wanna give them a break but I can’t let them think we’ve gone soft.”
Firi nodded and followed Selenu back inside where Farlin wanted to discuss a few clauses. It was going to be an interesting few hours but they would take the deal. The Illuminate would get cheap trade goods for a decade and the colony would be pulled back from the brink. After ten years they might rejoin or stay independent but either way they’d probably stay trading with central Avali space and recover, so it was a good deal for them in the end.