“Mik, bestie. What the fuck?” Camile, my actual best friend, assaults me on the space freighter docks of Dash.

“Cam, my bestest bitch, I have been told to relay the tentative acceptance of your and the other three houses’ provisions of governance. Isn’t that grand?”

“Cut the shit and tell my why an Imperial Cruiser just rolled up on my system and started shooting at people.” She’s breathing heavy and she’s flush with anger, and I’m having a hard time looking into her eyes instead of that very flattering top.

“It’s a Corvette, and my policy with pirates has always been: See pirates, kill pirates. Plus, we didn’t do much damage to the host ships, so I don’t know why you’re so mad at me.”

“Because, friend,” she emphasizes with a poke to my chest, “We were running a gambit to follow them back to their base. They got bolder when you went on your little vacay.”

“We captured their ships, and I doubt they were thoughtful enough to erase their nav data and their reactor logs. Ease up and give me a hug, I haven’t seen you in half a year.” She’s close enough anyway, so I wrap my arms around her and squeeze Camile tight. She stiffens for a brief moment before wrapping her arms around me in return.

“My family expects you over for Friendship Week.”

I smile ear to ear, “I’d love to come. Tell mom and dad I’ll be there.” She snorts with laughter.

“They’re tickled that you call them that, by the way, and my little brothers adore you. Why didn’t we work out?” I snicker at that, she asks this regularly since we broke up years ago.

“Same as always Cam, you are too thirsty and I don’t like to share. Plus, aren’t you engaged to Peter Castillo?”

“Yeah, but he’s agreed to let me have a woman or two on the side to curb my appetite.” She looks up at me with big doe eyes and a freckly pout. Some bullshit that pout is. I kiss her nose and shake my head.

“Went and got myself a girlfriend, Cam. And while we always have fun, she is not the poly type either.”

“Who is she and does dad need to have a shovel talk with her?”

I briefly envision the lumberjack of a man facing off against my curvy little pixie. She smiles her little piranha grin and just makes him disappear. Just thinking about her power makes my face a bit warm.

“Oh? Oh, you really like her. Wait, did you finally land the girl you’ve been crushing on forever?” I nod at that. “Holy shit! That’s great Mik. Are you going to finally tell us who she is?”

“Pft, no way. She’s a public figure and I don’t like the idea of people asking me for stuff because I’m dating someone important.” I raise my hand and step back, “before you start pouting, this isn’t a private place. Did you want to grab some coffee and catch up?”

“I’d love to, but with the work you’ve added to my day, I need to get going.” She gives me a peck and walks away, “See you next week yeah?”

I nod, “See you next week.”

I walk to the ride-share que and wait for the shuttle to City Center station where all of Capitol City’s public transit starts from. While Aelea and most of the cities that Penny has built are a weird mix of Prague and 20th Century United States, Capitol City on Dash is fast and modern. As cringe as the Brony systems naming scheme is, the guys who set it up really stuck with themes. Applejack is a cute, rustic farm world and Twilight is where they built a massive library and some higher learning institutions that focus on researching anything from alien technology to aetheric studies.

Many a folk have asked why such a successful venture such as the Brony systems would want to join the Empire when they have three systems under their control. The easiest way to explain it is commerce is cheaper as a part of the Empire, because the Empress gets half off delivery fees and disseminates that gift to all Citizens and Imperial governing bodies. Vassalages contain Citizens, but their governing bodies do not get the benefit—a trade for ruling one’s self. The Merchant Families know this and are obviously trying to pull a fast one on the Empress as they are trying to govern through their businesses to get the cost reduction while remaining a Protectorate. Penny’s not as young and naïve as she looks.

Another key draw is security of course, the Navy patrols Imperial space and takes a shoot first approach to dealing with pirates—hence my immediate and violent response. A protectorate only gets one person to oversee and the workings of the world and convey any issues to the appropriate government body. It would also keep me from having any jurisdiction in Brony space, but a part of the Empress’ pitch was that their space ends 100 million kilometers past the last planet in each system—well within sensor range of modern Magitech aboard Navy cruisers and my new corvette. The rub on that deal is that the merchant families will be on the hook for policing their star systems and I think that is going to devolve into sponsored piracy of the other families. Of course, as soon as they try to return with their loot, I can turn them all into glittering, frozen meat crystals.

Now that I’m thinking about it, Protectorate status doesn’t sound that great. I realize the only data we have on them is Earth and that had many problems out of the gate to start their three year slide into anarchy. Things are stabilizing there on average, the murder rate is finally back below the birth rate, so that’s promising. Sending Zia to watch over that crap show makes me wonder if it was intended as a punishment or an ‘opportunity for growth’. She’s one of the strongest people in the Empire, so I’m sure she can handle it. I have a shifting feeling in my gut about sending three ‘Protectors’ out to remote locations to fend for themselves. Does Penny have that kind of firepower to spare?

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

I try to shake the second guessing out of my head to start focusing on the here and now. I have a meeting with local representatives of the Families tomorrow, and I have to clear out my office and alert my team that we need to be out by the end of Friendship Week.

“Afternoon, Sir, welcome back.” My receptionist, Rob greets me with his cheery, farm-boy can-do attitude.

“Hey Rob, is Darcy in too? I have some news that you should both hear.”

“Oh sure, she’s doing paperwork in your office.” He stands up and follows me to what should be my office, but I am rarely on Dash for more than a few days a month, so Darcy took over as soon as she realized it didn’t bother me much. She’s always been responsible enough to have things cleaned up when I give them notice when I’m returning. I rarely do that because comms are spied on as a matter of course out here and I try to keep smugglers and ne’er-do-wells on their toes.

A furious pen slides across documents on my desk, a chipped manicure and loose hairs that escaped the formerly tight bun tell a story of how long she’s been working.

“Hey Darcy, I . . .”

“Thank Andromeda!” she slaps her pen down, drains the cup next to her and makes a sour face as she stares at the cup that betrayed her. Huh, wonder what was in it. “Don’t you ever leave when changes are coming from Astoria again!” I chuckle at that.

“Okay, lets go to the break room and I’ll sponsor snacks while we go over those changes.”

“Should sponsor my mental health recovery,” Darcy tries to say under her breath as she storms out.

“So, is this just me or, did she see changes she doesn’t like?” I turn to Rob.

“She’s, we’re . . . a bit worried about job security.”

“Ahh, yeah, could you ping the staff on AJ and Twilight? I bet they’re having the same worries.”

He nods and taps his temple to engage a projector array installed in his brow. Most of my staff I am lucky to have. While working with me they’ve advanced their Tracks and tiers at least in part to make them better at working with me and the chaotic nature of frontier life. When the Families put the petition together, I’d wondered if my job was even safe, but Penny described the safeguards she wanted in place to monitor corporation control of three systems I began to panic about hiring enough staff to fill the jobs that need doing.

I head straight to the terminal when I get to the break room and set it up to expense me for food and drink purchases for the next ten minutes. I get a coffee and a bowl of fruit, yogurt, and granola and wait for Rob and Darcy to do the same.

“Sir, we’ve got the two other teams on the call, are you ready?”

“On-screen.” I reply, he scoffs at me and my old scifi reference, knowing full well he doesn’t project to a screen.

Six faces from my other two offices pop up and they just start yapping. I hold a hand up and say, “Enough of that noise. Listen,” I wait until the clamoring dies down. “You all still have jobs, but the scope of our work is changing.

“For one reason or another, the Empress thinks that we should manage Top, Bottom, and Coreward Frontier spaces near the border of Forum patrolled space as well as play monitor and referee to the new governing experiment the Merchant Families have cooked up.

“Even more exciting, is that for at least a few years, we will be liaising with a Navy and Marine element. With massive growth, though, come massive headaches. As an impartial party, we cannot be seen as having a favorite, or a headquarters in only one system. This means that I and many of you will be spending more time traveling. I’ll have a host of jobs to list, and I ask each of you to list your top three choices, except Frank. I’ve already got a job for you.”

“Why single me out, huh? On the group call no less,” a middle-aged, pudgy balding man accuses via projection.

“You’re an asshole, and I need someone that speaks asshole to be my Military Liaison.” I hear grumbling but he doesn’t threaten to quit like he usually does. Hmm, maybe he’d actually enjoy the posting.

“What to do now is pack up your offices and think hard about the job listings and what you want to do. If you decide to part ways, then I understand and wish you well. You have until the last day of Friendship week to decide.” Essentially two weeks do decide on your future? No pressure huh? “We’ll do a Q and A when you’ve had a chance to consider your options.”

Rob cuts the feed and I just know I’m going to get a thousand messages before people actually read anything. Ugh.

“So, I know you want us to look a the list, but you chose us to work at HQ with you, what are your ideas for us?” Darcy knows me pretty well at this point.

“Yeah, I have ideas. The Empress and First Consul in their infinite wisdom are tasking me with setting up their monitoring stations and manning the civilian side of things. This is completely out of my wheelhouse, so I was thinking Darcy would manage setup acquisitions and Rob would take staffing. Then after the three months I have outlined for that, you can each have a posting of your choice.”

“You would intentionally gap a posting just for us?” Rob asks, hopeful.

“Uh, yes. I’m just hoping that you don’t choose Merchant Family liaisons as your follow-up because then I would have to do that job for three months and I would rather rub salt in my eyes.”

“After a week of having to deal with all five families, why would I choose that kind of evil?!” I snicker at that. Darcy looks grim just thinking about it.

“Heh, good to hear, because, to be honest, I have two jobs I didn’t list: the work you already do for me, but in space. I’d have to get a waiver for a warp-capable shuttle for you two, but other than that, you’d get to pick being stationed on the Navy corvette or my expedition fighter.”

“Wait, you left with a combat rigged warp shuttle, what the hell is an Expedition Fighter?” Darcy asks, “I don’t see it listed anywhere in the Naval registry or in the Exchange. Are you driving an experimental vessel?”

I sigh heavily, “I am.”

“Can we go see it?!” the chime in with joy in their eyes. I can’t help but smile at their glee.

“Sure thing. As soon as you pack up your offices we can move them to my ship. Then we can . . . they’ve already dashed out of the room.” I shrug and realize I should do the same and head to my office. So much work to do, and only three people I trust to do it.