Anji stood at a nearby massive monitor inside the ridiculously large dreadnought ship that his Brykars wanted her to go to in the first place. The battle in the spaceport below happened two days ago and the K28 personnel was escorted to the Barker side of the planet.

This time the escort was done by the Brykars and through Anji's influence, nothing was left to chance. An entire droid division of 12,000 ringed the 100 or so survivors of the K28 Destroyer "Butt Scratcher", including a heavy air cover of Aerial Drones and walking Mechs. Flank security alone stretch for miles away.

And to think that the entire land convoy itself, despite the protection, is actually, in fact, a simple decoy. The real group survivors are sent through a fleet of Kavak Transport through the north, with its own escort plus a few dreadnought space coverage.

Anji just signed off from a video call with the prince as the little runt reported that they have arrived at the Barker provincial palace and that his mom is already talking to the head of the separatist state.

The K28 empire had been of course informed of what happened to their delegation and several hours ago, a small cruiser squadron of 1 Heavy Cruiser and 2 Destroyers arrived in space. Several heavy set K28 Marine assault ships drop towards the Barker territory and a whole company of K28 Marines assumed the responsibility of the K28 royalties and survivors. They express their gratitude for the Brykar help but they politely yet firmly requested to the Brykar to cease security operation for their

nationals.

It turned out the Brykar ambassador also survive and his space pod and his two Blackguard escorts survive reentry into the planet. They stayed in the mountains for days until rescue arrived to get them. It was the ambassador who negotiated the smooth transfer.

The Brykar were just as glad to transfer responsibilities. The K28 survivors were only a priority to them because Anji made them be. Now that the survivors are protected by their own kind, the Brykar can get to more important matters.

Like destroying the organization that almost killed their Human.

Anji turned from the video monitor to face a group of AI's sitting in a glass-like table. She was introduced to two more Alpha Codexes, number 3 and 8, a somber droid in a hoodie and a giant female alien with long legs and neck, and lastly 4 others AI's but are in digital form and house in a black box with 4 small mechanical arms with camera in it. Each box is placed next to the long table and currently, at least half the cameras are watching Anji at any given time.

At the table, the ambassador and the Blackguard general, and 3 more other droids sat in the background. Half a dozen maid droids also are busy offering, well at least the biological sentients, drinks and snacks.

Anji watched the long neck female with fascination as she gulped down a snack with moving worm-like creatures in it, with gusto.

The Ambassador cleared his throat when Anji remained quiet with his thoughts. "Is the prince settling it quietly?" he asked politely.

Anji knew that the ambassador is trying to move the meeting along, and Anji sighed. "Yes, he is."

"We have access to the best psychiatric care for combat trauma, If the prince or any of the survivors would need, we can arrange such service."

Despite herself, Anji was intrigued. "Really? I didn't know AI's need such support."

The Ambassador smiled politely. "The brykar AI's don't need them," He answered. "But since the Brykar Unity has the best medical technology in the galaxy, we are of course obligated to research and study, then practice every branch of the medical art, including alternative medicine and psychology."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ah," Was all Anji said. Then she turned to the rest. "Alright, We gather here today upon your request to discuss the incident that happened two days ago. I'm listening and we can start."

"The Brykar Unity is proposing to destroy the Eratix race." Alpha Codex 3 said.

Anji blanched at the sudden declaration. "Wait- What?!"

"Of course, not through military means, that will simply open a whole new can of worms for us to deal with."

"Then what are you talking about?" Anji asked, still alarmed.

"Through economic means," Said the mild manner Alpha Codex 8. "We implement clause section 16-AB of the Brykar development fund that we have offered to them for the last 200 years. The clause simply states that the Eratix are required to prioritize the payment of Brykar loans before anything else and will authorize their legislation to use up to 60 percent of their total annual budget to pay said loan."

"How much do they owe us?" Alpha Codex 8 ask mildly.

"Approximately 320 Trillion Credits." one of the box AI answered.

"And how much was their last national budget?"

"4.8 Trillion credits."

"Then I suggest-"

"Wait, wait wait," Anji said in an exasperated voice. "We are talking about a single organization here that carried out the attack. And as I understand the preliminary investigation report, the main target were the K28 empire representatives. So why then are we gonna punish an entire society just for the work of a few of them?"

"Because it's that very society that foster organization like the one that attacks you. 'Erata Hassan,' that is the name of the terrorist group that organized the attack, is now being monitored by twelve thousand AI blanket that is mapping out their entire organization network by hacking their own network and putting digital tracers through their movements. Courtesy of the ghost organization over there," The Codex said, nodding to the Android with a hoodie. The AI didn't even bother to respond. 

"We can conclude in a reasonable certainty that majority of their finances are from Eratix in and out of the planet that is very sympathetic to their cause."

"Maybe that's true but not all of their countrymen..." Anji trailed off, unsure of herself now.

"Even now the Eratix are reporting the attack in their national television and the destruction of the destroyer. Their people are still dancing in the streets believing that their brave freedom fighters are resisting the oppressors."

Anji was just silent as she stared far away.

"We must retaliate, Command Alpha," The AI said earnestly.

"Tell me," Anji asked softly. "How does your economic plan works?"

There was no hesitation in the Alpha Codex words as he outlines the plan.

"All our loans to the Eratix government have a clause that state that they should prioritize paying us before any of their other outstanding obligations. We never really implement that through out the years, but now after all that happened, we enforced that clause as a form of punishment to them."

"What happens if they simply reject the law and refuse to pay us?" Asked the long neck woman.

Alpha Codex 3 just shrugged. As Alpha Codex 4 was the overall commander of the BlackGuards, Alpha Codex 3 is the overall Admiral of all Brykar Unity Military ships. He is the direct commander of the Brykar Home Fleet but all 13,026 AI admirals and fleet commanders answer to him.  "We seize all their assets in and outside the planet," He said bluntly. "We will not profit from it and maybe even take some financial losses, but that is never the reason in the first place. If we take all the profit-making facilities that they have, such as they have, plus commandeer all shippings registered to the Eratix coming in and out of the planet, then that will spell disaster for them either way since they will never be able to pay for the debts as that they have.

"And this is bad for them?" Anji asked. Economics is simply not Anji's strong suit even when she was in college.

"The clause will force them to allocate a maximum of 60% of their entire national budget in paying their outstanding debts. That means they have to use their precious funds to pay us before they use it to pay any of their union contracts with government workers, salaries and all that. Keep in mind that we are not just taking a piece of the pie here, we are ordering them to give us the pie and be content with the crumbs. By forcing them to pay us, the Eratix government will be a force to do severe cutbacks on many essential things like government workforce such as the teachers, engineers, clerks, and others essential to keep the government running. We will also gut their Medicare and old people's pensions. Eventually, they have to let go of teachers and schools will become nightmares. It will decrease their graduates. finally, it will reach the high essential jobs like doctors, firemen, police and the military. That alone will create even more problems as law and order decrease and crime will shoot sky high. It will be a domino effect, stocks will drop, investors will run, infrastructure will be drained then local businesses will close. No matter how nationalistic you are, you cannot feed your family with pride, and so any Eratix with remaining money will scatter in the wind looking for better pastures. Any functioning society will cease to exist. At first, the Eratix at the other planets will form communities but even that will be diluted as people intermarry with aliens until the pure blood of Eratix will be no more."

The look of horror on Anji's face was palpable. For a moment no one speaks. Then Anji slowly stood up from her chair and leaned over the table. "Thank you for your information gentlemen, your proposal has been heard, and analyzed but I have decided to reject it."

"But Command Alpha-"

"NO!" Anji shouted as she slapped the table hard for emphasis. "We will not destroy an entire species simply because they have a difference of opinion with us. I want you to find the terrorist group that attacks us and the K28 empire's people. Arrest the leaders and their financial supporters if you can, and eliminate those that you cannot. You have

my full permission to dismantle this organization brick by brick if you have to. I want you to prioritize the capture of their head so that we can try him by galactic law and then hang the sonovabitch for all to see. Make any example that you want to send the Eratix people, but in the end of the day, leave those bastards alone."

Everyone stood up when Anji left the room.

At that very moment, tens of thousands of Eratix protesters line up the streets because of the presence of Brykar warships in their lands. Not knowing that a young girl just saves them from a bad faith.