„The official story on both sides is that all the aggressive acts conducted by the other side were rogue factions acting on their own, while each sides own defensive actions were the heroic efforts of the official military forces. Both sides will tell their population that after diplomatic pressure, the other side agreed to reign in the rogue faction responsible. And pay reparations for damage done and lives lost. It just happens that the reparations are of identical amounts, so we skip the currency conversion and just each pay a reasonable sum to the victims or surviving relatives on our side.
This way, we can all step back from the brink of war without losing face or committing to anything that our populations might disagree with.
On our side, the dissolution of Binary Bloom reduces the number of pirate outposts in the Junkstorm by half, so that should do nicely.“
Amara Vance concluded her short speech to the holographic conference of planetary leaders and diplomats. She was exhausted from a week of constant tension and too many short nights.
„What about the Felindar delegation to Erulas?“, someone asked.
Amara sighed. „As soon as the matter was resolved, they urgently left. Did not even conclude the business transaction that had been their front for the visit. They took only about half of that, the parts that we had already delivered. They did pay, of course. Merchant honor.“
A short discussion among the diplomats present followed, during which Amara zoned out. After all, she had her team to deal with details and inter-human diplomacy. In her head, she went over the questions still unanswered, the matters still unresolved. There were quite a few, but they could wait until she was more rested.
„Madam president“, she heard and snapped out of her daydreaming, „what about the Qyrl collaborators. Should we make this matter public or keep it under wraps?“
A question that, as she confirmed with a glance, could only come from someone of the Dephyr delegation. Of course.
„I can only give my opinion.“, she said, „We should together decide on a course of action and apply it uniformly to all our planets. I, personally, don’t see which benefit the general public would have from this knowledge. It could cause concern and even inspire others to do likewise. And we should not forget that we are still investigating. And still hunting down those traitors that our raids have not apprehended.“
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Her words found supporters, but there were other opinions as well. She listened to the following discussion, only occasionally adding a short remark here and there. The traitors were still a major open question. She hoped the interrogation of Sirling would bring them more insights. She wanted to know how the entire thing got started. Certainly the Qyrl did not one day stand in his office. How had they found out that he was a potential turncoat? How and when exactly did they approach him? Was someone else involved as a middle-man?
The discussion went on for the better part of an hour. It ended with only a temporary agreement. Until they knew more about the traitors, the investigations would continue in secret. The planets would continue to cooperate on the matter.
It was enough to make Amara happy.
After another hour, she and the other heads of states and top diplomats left the meeting, which was continued among the remaining diplomats and a handful of experts from various areas of expertise. The entire affair was also an opportunity to evaluate the cooperation of the planets during emergencies affecting all of the Junkstorm. So the other leaders and her had agreed to set up this post-mortem analysis to identify what had worked and what had not, where to improve, if the right channels of communication were available and a hundred other details.
Her staff would sum up the outcome in a report. Amara was glad to have had some closure and put these matters behind her. There were enough other duties to occupy her time. But for now, she wanted nothing more than to get home, take a hot bath and spend the evening with the man in her life who had been deprived of her presence so much during the past days.
She got into her limousine and told the autopilot to bring her home. The seat in the passenger cabin was soft and comfortable and she had to struggle to not fall asleep. She decided on a drink to keep her awake, and a bit to celebrate.
As she opened the small refrigerated drinks cabinet, she noticed a box of champagne. Unopened. Why would her staffers not take the bottle out of its packaging? Suddenly, her eyes grew wide. She slammed the cabinet door shut and shouted „emergency landing, now!“ to the autopilot.
Seconds later, while on a steep descent, the official presidential limousine of Erulas burst into flames, illuminating the night sky, before crash-landing in a park below.