Veda's personal system chirped to let her know she had yet another message. It wasn't from Team Twofeather or anyone at their outpost, or it would have popped straight up. But it was also classified as important enough to have gotten past her first wave of security.

She glanced at it and swore Existalis' representative wanted to speak to her. Existalis was backed by Alabaster Sky, one of Proxima's friendly rivals. She hadn’t dealt much with that multi-system conglomerate and knew little about them.

As Alabaster Sky's logo filled the screen in front of her, she composed herself. It dissolved away into the face of another humanoid. Lakhnar could have been Veda's sister by looks. She had the same pale skin and starkly white hair, indicating she most likely came from the same origin system as Veda's family.

"Good day to you, Ms. Tvedra," Lakhnar said. "I am Al-Narian Lakhnar, speaking on behalf of Alabaster Sky. Thank you for taking my call."

"What can I do for you?" Veda asked.

"I am here to make a proposal which will benefit us both," Lakhnar said. "You currently are the sponsor behind a team which has a small, delta-level outpost in the same sector as one of our affiliates." She glanced down, as though reading information off of a screen. "Yes. Team Twofeather. I see. It looks like you've done fairly well here in Phase Two. Congratulations. You must be proud of yourself. I know Tvedra Limited was not considered a particularly good bet at the start of this exploit, but it seems as though you have proved some of your detractors wrong."

Lakhnar gave a cold smile. Veda could read her body language perfectly. She was being deliberately insulting, perhaps to provoke Veda or to get her off guard for what came next.

"Yes, and as you know," Veda replied, "your associate's team has challenged mine to a special combat. I’m rather busy right now.”

"I don't think you are," Lakhnar said. “They’re on their own until it’s done. The window to provide advice and supplies has closed.

Veda let her think that. She was working on several backup plans, just in case somehow Team Twofeather changed the rules yet again.

"I am willing to make you a buyout offer on your outpost and your team," Lakhnar said. "This offer will be good for the five minutes it takes you to read over and consider. After that, we will continue with the special event."

"No," Veda said flatly.

"No?" Lakhnar raised her eyebrows. "Ms. Tvedra, you know as well as I do that your team has no chance of winning. Alabaster Sky has sent in the highest level of equipment we can afford. You can’t possibly have matched it. Existalis will eliminate your team and their outpost. You will receive the value of the ruined outpost, no more. As we both know, most of the worth of an outpost is in its intact buildings and its setup. Once Existalis is done, you'll be lucky to receive a tenth of what you could right now." She tapped her fingers on an unseen desk. "A fiftieth of what we're offering." She sent through a number.

Veda blinked. There were more zeros at the end than she had expected. Despite herself, she did some quick mental math. She could easily pay off the contracts for all of Team Twofeather and their combat minor allies, as well as the crafters she had directly sponsored, like Juana and her family. She'd even be able to contribute toward a buyout fund for the other human miners and still make more of a profit than she had ever expected here.

“In addition,” Lakhnar said brightly, "We would be happy to make an endorsement on your license, saying what a delight it has been to work with you. Should you choose to put your name in for the rogue world reality engine that we will all be looking forward to exploit here in a few cycles, my bosses will certainly look closely.”

There was a temptation. Veda opened the offer, reading over it, and she looked back at Lakhnar. "Why? Why what? Why bother? As you just said, your team will have to pay a fraction of this in recompense once they're done trashing my outpost. Why bother? Wait a couple hours, and this is all moot.”

Lakhnar smiled. "As it happens," she said through gritted teeth, "we have been asked by interested parties to extend an olive branch, as it were."

The patriarch of the Church of the Progenitors? Veda couldn't think of anyone else who might interfere. Why would he care? Unless…. She read through the offer.

This would give Alabaster Sky a first right of refusal clause on Team Twofeather in Phase Three. Shad and his team wouldn't have to work with Alabaster Sky, but they wouldn't be able to work with anyone else unless Alabaster Sky agreed. Did the conglomerate want to get Shad and his family on their team, or instead, were they trying to make sure to keep them out of Phase Three? Veda looked away from her screens, the offer still tempting her. How was it that Team Twofeather kept getting her into these situations?

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She checked over her numbers. The reparations from the ruined outpost would pay for what she had spent, and not much more. It would be tricky to keep the company afloat until the next reality engine exploit. Even trickier if she made an enemy of Alabaster Sky. She was already pretty sure Proxima didn't like her, and the two of them were heavies in this area. She might have to relocate Tvedra’s operations to another sector entirely, which would again take money she didn't have.

So. Take the money and run. That’s what her family would want. It wouldn’t even hurt Team Twofeather that much. Sure, they wouldn’t make it to Phase Three but who cared? They’d never manage to claim a share of the reality engine. Might as well get out now.

On the other hand, the fact that someone else was so desperate to get rid of them stroked some little rebellious streak deep inside Veda. Shad and his family had worked damn hard for her. Their crazy gambles kept paying off. She knew what they wanted her to do.

She closed her eyes. What am I getting myself into? “The answer's still no. Thank you for it, though. Please convey my regards to your superiors and to whomever wanted you to make this offer.”

Lakhnar looked shocked, her mouth hanging open.

"Oh," Veda couldn't help adding, "and would you care to place a small side bet on the outcome of this match?" If she was going to burn all of her bridges and fortunes at the same time, she might as well go out in style. "I'll offer you, say, five to one odds.”

Lakhnar spluttered. "You think there's even one chance in five your team could win?"

"The other way around," Veda smiled. "I'm betting on Shad."

She cut the feed before Lakhnar could respond. Her system popped up another notification. There is someone at your door. She has been knocking for the past two minutes. I conveyed that you are busy, but she will not go away and says as your sponsee, she has the right to speak to you.

Veda's eyes flew open. She stood up, feeling a wave of panic. "Sponsee? Who on earth could it be?" She checked the feed and felt even more surprised than she had at the number Alabaster Sky had offered as buyout.

Mama Grace stood outside her door, holding a covered plate. Veda activated the voice controls. "Yes? What can I do for you?"

"You can open up and let me have a word with you in privacy," Mama Grace said. "I've come all this way. The least you can do is talk to me."

Veda hesitated only a moment before opening her door. Mama Grace stepped in, accompanied by an absolutely delicious odor. Veda sniffed. It couldn't be Kakhnaveri.

Mama Grace held the plate out. Veda hesitantly took it and lifted back the cloth covering. It was an entire plate of Kakhnaveri, smelling just like her grandmother had made it. "How did you even get the ingredients?" she asked.

Mama Grace smiled. "Professional secret, dear," she said. "But it seemed like you could do with a nice home-cooked meal."

Veda set the food down on her desk. She collapsed into her chair, exhaustion settling over her. "I guess I can spare a minute. There's not much more I can do for the team inside the engine," she said. "Not right now, anyway."

"That's what I wanted to speak with you about," Mama Grace said calmly. "From what Juana told me before she told me to go away and let her work, this is important. Really important. I didn't totally understand why, since she said that we'd all be fine one way or the other. But it matters to her, and it matters to Sage and her Grandpa and her brother, so it matters to me.”

“To me, too," Veda assured her. "My own fortunes are rather tied up in this mess."

"So, what are you doing to help them?" Mama Grace asked. She looked around. Veda, realizing she had been rude, called up a chair from the room's storage and extruded it. Grace looked somewhat surprised, but she sat down and crossed her legs in front of her.

"I've done what I can," Veda said. "Bought them everything that we could think of that might help, and gave them free rein. And now they're doing what they need to."

"But what else?" Grace prompted. "Let them worry about what's going on in there. What about out here?" She made a gesture around, like taking in the entire station.

“Oh.” Veda deflated. The scent of the food was really starting to get to her. She picked up her own pair of chopsticks and took a bite of the delicious noodles. They were exquisite, exactly like she remembered her grandmother making years ago as a child. She took another bite before she had realized what she was doing, swallowed, and then said, "You're right. I've already fielded a call from one group that doesn't have their best interests at heart. I'm afraid we've made enemies of two of the big players."

Mama Grace was nodding. "I get the feeling from Shad that he's kind of a bull in a china shop. But maybe that's what we need here. We didn't ask for any of you folk to barge in and take us away from our lives and our loved ones. We're just doing the best we can."

"I know that," Veda said. "And I'm sympathetic."

Grace held up a hand. "But since we are here, we're going to do our best. Shad and Juana are cooking up some plan that they haven't really shared with me. I'm fine with that. I don't want to be in charge. I want to cook food and make sure everybody's got a full belly and a warm place to sleep. But they're all busy right now, so I'm going to do what I can."

"You say we've made big enemies?" Veda nodded. "We have."

"Then we need big friends."

"I suppose that's possible. ConSweGo won't like it if Proxima and Alabaster Sky are in on something together. But we don't have much to offer. One single delta-level outpost?"

Grace shook her head again. "You're thinking too small, dear. We've got a lot more than that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she smiled, "we've got about four million human miners who've signed a petition I've been circulating."

Veda felt her ears prick up at that. "Oh? Really? What sort of petition?”

Mama Grace sent over the details. As the packet pinged into Veda’s system, she pulled it up and started reading. It was straightforward — and beautiful. Veda’s trader instincts were intrigued. “This is… thorough.”

"Mm-hmm. Colonel Ames's been helping me," Grace said. “See the signature count?”

“Is that the right number?” Veda asked. Grace nodded. Her mind was working furiously. "Okay. That might actually get us somewhere. Let me make a few calls.” She picked up another bite of Kakhnaveri noodles. The food warmed her insides like Mama Grace’s smile. “You’re right, we do have things to do.”