I was flying through the atmosphere on my way out of Uranus, the ship's shields protecting the ship and me. I had landed the ship on the liquid that was meant to be its surface and leaned out to touch it. Zeo had assured me that the suit would protect me. It was horrible, the planet of ice and a terrible overwhelming smell of ammonia had made me puke… again. My hud had also informed me that each of the three mining corporations had each used the dry dock twice and paid me twenty-five thousand credits in fees each time they built a mining barge. According to the contract, they would each do it at least once more before getting to work, if they hadn't already. I was turning my skiff away from Uranus and heading towards the next planet. I had claimed Uranus's twenty-eight moons before I got to Uranus. The system had not said I was the planetary king of any of the moons, but it did say I was the owner. I was now on course to Saturn, it was going to be a long, long day, Saturn has one-hundred and forty-six moons. Once I had claimed the moons, I would move on past Saturn. Apparently not all gas giants could be claimed, to claim them they had to have some sort of surface that you could touch. If they didn't then they were to be strongly protected as they were a resource that is mined slowly while they are being replaced to not upset the celestial balance of the solar system.
*******
Mr Washington was watching the rocket through a satellite as it headed towards the new orbital station. However, he was not pleased that the Russians, Chinese and somehow a rocket with the flag of England on it, had also sent rockets. ‘This is going to become a nightmare’ he thought as he watched four rockets trying to converge on their destination, it had all happened with so much public spectacle that a lot of governments had started to get involved, many demanding answers to why these rockets had been sent up. Keeping this quiet was going to be very difficult, if they could manage it at all. He was honestly surprised someone hadn't slapped a UN flag onto a rocket of some kind and sent it up by this point. But all this wasn't what had him most worried. What had, was that an unknown ship design had left the orbital station, came down to earth for half a day and then returned to the station. He wanted to know what it had done down here, but no one could tell him, no matter how much he poked at the alphabet soup around here. He let out a groan as he received a message on his hud from one of the spies that worked for his clan, telling him the UN had finally begun their own move into space by going through NASA.
“This is just great.” he bemoaned, “my seat of power is going to turn into a frickin political hot seat of squabbling and bickering about who owns space.”
It took the better part of two days for the rockets to begin orbiting with this orbital station. He had received reports that his clan couldn't find an opening to dock with the station, and it was not responding to any hail. He was about to tell them to land on it and cut their way in when his hud received an announcement from the system.
CONGRATULATIONS! Are offered to the Mackenzie Clan of earth for becoming the owner of MWOA254, that is the solar system you are in. The Mackenzie clan now officially owns over half of the celestial objects in the solar system and have been officially recognised as a Solar Tak clan!
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He sat there, feeling like someone had just hit him over the head with a baseball bat and then tried to run him over with a truck.
“Huh?... oh, those frickin bastards! The rocket, the first rocket to go up, of course they were making deals with those aliens, and now they are leapfrogging ahead of us! Well, I won't stand for that.”
He tapped away on his hud sending the marines in orbit an order to get inside that station at all costs and secure it until he arrived to take command. If there were any aliens on board, then act like you were there to protect them. Inform them that the people they just sold half the system to were dangerous criminals, and you were there to arrest them and prevent them from committing a new heinous crime against the people of the planet below. He then turned to his phone and told his secretary he needed an emergency meeting with the President.
*******
Zeo was exiting the hanger, Kenna had given it to the Walker mining corporation’s MWOA254 branch for storing the mining barges in the contract they had signed. When her suit picked up a weak primitive signal being transmitted from somewhere nearby.
“What the hell?” she whispered as she lifted her left forearm and began accessing the suit's controls from the holographic interactive menus on the suit's forearm. Until the transmission came through clearly.
“-the American Marines attempting contact with the unknown guests aboard the orbital station. We are here to protect you and establish dialogue between yourselves and our ambassador. Beware the people you have been negotiating and trading celestial objects with illegally according to our country's and planets laws are criminals wanted for war crimes, theft, extortion and treason. Please respond and help us bring these criminals to justice. I repeat. I am Captain Washington of the Planetary Baron Washington clan, and I am accompanied by the American marines attempting contact-”
She blinked a few times as she stared at her forearm in confusion before looking up to her and informing the boys of the frequency channel she had found and suggested they listen to it. She then sent off a message to Kenna, telling her she should get back to the orbital station quickly so she could explain what an America was and why they thought she was a war criminal. The message continued to repeat as everyone gathered inside the guild tower. It had taken Kenna half an hour to get back, slipping between the rockets outside to dock with the orbital station and come to the guild tower. As she passed by the outside rockets, the message had changed to.
“I am Captain Washington of the Planetary Baron Washington clan, and I am accompanied by the American marines attempting contact with the unknown small ship passing by our own ship. We are here to protect you and establish dialogue between you and our ambassador. Beware, the people you have been negotiating and trading celestial objects with have been done illegally according to our country's and planets laws. They are criminals wanted for war crimes, theft, extortion and treason. Please respond and help us bring these criminals to justice. I repeat.”
After Kenna had docked with the Orbital Station Base, the message had reverted to the previous one. Indicating that it was a living person repeating themselves and not a recorded message. Kenna, had let out a long sigh after she listened to the message and fiddled with the controls to figure out that all the rockets out there represented a different country or place from earth and were broadcasting very similar messages, basically the same message, in their own languages. Kenna after a dozen minutes of pacing and cursing to herself finally told us it was Planetary clans trying to trick us into arresting or killing her so they could take control of the orbital station. Basically a grab for power. Zeo couldn't help herself and had to ask the question in all of their minds.
“How shall we respond?”