Novels2Search

Chapter 25

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User 6 : Suave Voice: I sincerely hope this isn't interrupting your daily activities. Some important information has come to light that dearly needs to be addressed my fellow Council Folk.

User 2: Deep Voice: Umph. Not that you would really care otherwise. What is it this time?

User 6: Suave Voice: But of course I care, Councilwoman. I care about the wellbeing of us all, and this is a matter stands to adversely affect that wellbeing. The Ruulothi Dissenter we spoke about before has slipped our web and made his move. The Nightmanes have confirmed the Human as a Bloodclaw and are now integrating him into their social structures.

User 4: Rapid Voice: What? How? I was not informed of any travel arrangements. My agents are still monitoring the travel registries on Juniel and waiting for them to move. Neither of their identities have gone through the travel registry system.

User 6 : Suave Voice: I will leave that for you to figure out. Ultimately, the how does not matter at this time, it only matters that they did. What is important from here on, my fellow Council Folk, is what do we do about it?

User 5: Slow Voice: What is their plan for integrating him? Do we have that much information?

User 6: Suave Voice: Indeed we do. The plan that I have been informed of is to have both of them serve on a Ruulothi Cargo Runner, called the Wind Runner, to give the Human exposure to both the crew and their clients, a trial run of sorts.

User 1: Nasal Voice: If they are going to be running the shipping lanes then perhaps...

User 2: Deep Voice: NO! They have proven to be far more formidable and cunning than expected. Twice now our attempts to stop this have failed, and you want to repeat the failures of the past? Have you learned nothing?

User 1: Nasal Voice: Shipping is my area of responsibility. One failure does not...

User 2: Deep Voice: This is not some standard trade vessel, it is a Ruulothi ship! Crewed and run. It is, for all practical purposes, a troop carrier. The Ruulothi barely operate within our mandates at the best of times. Your tactics will not work here.

User 1: Nasal Voice: I have more than one method at my disposal.

User 4: Rapid Voice: While your desire to make right the mistakes of the past is admirable, perhaps it is time for someone else to take the lead on this endeavor.

User 1: Nasal Voice: You have also failed, might I remind you, and this has nothing to do with your technologies. The Human is hardly going to be bringing Galaxy ending tech.

User 4: Rapid Voice: I do not only deal with new developments. There are things one can do...

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User 6: Suave Voice: Please, my dear compatriots. Arguing about areas of responsibility and fault are beneath us. This is not the forum to bring up personal grievances and trivialities. Only put forth earnest and workable prospects for resolution.

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User 6: Suave Voice: Ah, we have yet to hear from 3 today. Please, share with us your thoughts.

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User 3: Musical Voice: Thank you for the freedom to speak... I have a proposition that may allow us to receive multiple dividends for a singular effort. I have, yet another, missive from the Chirleen. This one is a warning of potential conflict and a supply request rather than a petition for aid. They seem to have finally learned that we won’t interfere at least and respect our Space Station's sovereignty enough to warn us that it may soon be in the line of fire. With the proper alterations from our Technology expert and some help from our Defense Magnate, I believe that I can bring in and provide an answer to our two biggest problems right now. That of the Dissenter and his pet, and of the Humans in general.

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User 6: Suave Voice: Please remain respectful Councilwoman.

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User 2: Deep Voice: My apologies... Director. Councilwoman, I am assuming that you wish for me to mobilize some forces for this endeavor? Can you explain further as to what you need, for both myself and 4.

User 3: Musical Voice: Of course. With the growing conflict in that sector of space it seems the perfect place to have a supply run go horribly wrong and get caught up in the fighting. Especially for a Cargo Runner operated by Ruulothi, who will see the danger as a challenge. I believe from the reports you shared with me that the next Qazirxel assault fleet is due to arrive in three months or so?

User 2: Deep Voice: That is correct, but it is not an exact date, only an estimate based on our observations with stealth probes.

User 3: Musical Voice: I believe that they can be coerced into action by seeing their targets start to thrive. If we lower the threat rating, more trade ships will arrive, forcing their response to something that can be measured accurately, correct?

User 2: Deep Voice: More accurate, yes, but still not precise. You will be relying on extremely fickle timing for this to work, and we still have not heard what we are needed for, or how this corresponds to the humans.

User 3: Musical Voice: With the proper agents and assets in place, we can both expand or refine the margin of error to acceptable parameters. Even force an early invasion by assets they currently have in system if the opportunity presents itself well enough. What I will need from you, 4, is a reworking of the Chirleen requests. For those I will speak with you privately on what specifics I desire. But, in general the first of them will be sent to the Wind Runner at the appropriate time, requesting an emergency supply drop. As for the Humans, thanks to their efforts to ingratiate themselves to us, they have supplied us with a list of Aid Groups that would be willing to assist us should the need arise. The second request will be sent to them, putting humans on planet for the invasion assault.

What I need from you, 2, is a natural response from a Ruulothi Security Fleet to arrive in system after the invasion has started to take it back... aggressively. I will make sure there is public cause for it. No matter how the Humans respond to the loss of their people, whether from the invasion or from Fleet Action, we can work it to make them look weak in front of the Ruulothi and dangerous to others in the Community. With the pushback, we can at the very least call for closed borders. And if they respond aggressively... Well...

User 2: Deep Voice: And if they respond before we do? We still know nothing of their capabilities, we cannot even send Stealth Probes to monitor them as we don't want to risk it being seen as an act of war if they are discovered.

User 3: Musical Voice: There will be a full Qazirxel invasion fleet in orbit around the planet. What little they can gather to respond on such short notice will be far out-numbered, out-massed and likely out-gunned. The Qazirxel are a war faring race, after all. And when such a rescue attempt fails, what better way to point to them as impetuous, foolish, and weak? To show them as not worthy of being signatories.

User 2: Deep Voice: I don't like it. Too much can go wrong, and the Qazirxel are hardly a true war faring species, local bullies is more the correct image. Our last two attempts to control this were simple and straightforward, and even they failed. We know nothing of Human combat capabilities or tactics, nor their politics. Only that nothing seems to go to plan when a human is involved. This complicated weaving of yours, though inspired, practically invites their special brand of chaos.

User 3: Musical Voice: It is an intricate web, yes, but one that will catch all of our little bugs. Do not forget, knowing people and predicting them is what I do best.

User 2: Deep Voice: For our signatories, yes. But none truly know the humans.

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User 7: High Voice: If I am hearing this right, we are looking at finding funding for Fleet Action, including tithes to the Ruulothi for their use, expendable agent placements, more Stealth Probe usage, and the loss and replacement of all sovereign assets in system? Followed by, potentially, a very long war with an unknown species?

User 3: Musical Voice: That about covers it, yes. We don’t need to worry about much loss of Community life. The Station there is mostly automated and has only a skeleton crew of workers and public relations posted there. Even then most of them are Chirleen. I also don't see why the funding of the endeavor should be a problem overall.

In fact, we could stand to gain as this would put the Chirleen in debt for the cost of the station and our resulting response to protect them and take control of this world back, gaining us yet another proper signatory.

As for the war, if it even happens, the potential trade off of the new systems we could take should more than offset the costs and even bolster our economy in total.

User 7: High Voice: This is prohibitively expensive for a line-up of maybes. 5 might find the idea of new resources appealing, but our economy is stable as is and even growing on the borders with the humans. We don't need to get into needless and costly fights. Assimilating them is better. I don't think you truly understand the costs of a war on that scale. This could be just like the Founding War all over again. This is foolishness! Do I truly need to remind you that we exist to avoid such confrontations and wars!

User 3: Musical Voice: Please! You exaggerate merely to…

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User 6: Suave Voice: Again… I must ask that we all remain courteous. Now, we have all heard the proposal and the counterpoints. Is there anyone else with a proposal, or idea?

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User 6: Suave Voice: Very well then, let us put it to a vote, shall we?

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User 6: Suave Voice: There we have it. I expect everyone to work with 3 and give her exactly what she needs. 3, keep me informed of everything. I will need to run public interference once this begins, the more information I have to work with, the better. Let's get to work.

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