The Union President and her entourage waited patiently before the doors. They had arrived a little early, and the people they were here to see weren’t quite ready. The dim waiting room was something to get used to, but the halls were also flooded with constant smell of alien sex and pheromones. It was subtle, but very noticable to her sensitive nose. She suspected that they had arrived in the middle of mating season or something similar. Of course there was also the possibility that these aliens were highly promiscuous. Her race was well known for being quite active sexually. Their short life span contributed greatly to that.

She was also aware of an electronic humming sound coming from the room next door. She wasn’t sure what the sounds were, but they sounded similar to tools in use in the union. She suspected that they were doing last minute maintenance, and alterations on the meeting chamber. Guarding the door to the chamber was a pair of formidable looking guards. The two guards were wearing full body armored suits complete with a rather intimidating helmet. Since landing everyone she had seen had been wearing these armored suits. She had not seen anyone that looked like worker.

Around the corner came a familiar looking alien. It was the Sylnari liaison to the Sol Refuge. She remembered meeting her before. She idly recalled that the girl was named Selia. Breaking from her entourage she intercepted the alien female, “What are you reading?” asked Telkeki referring to the pad in her hand that she was reading from.

“Refuge history. I’m reading about something they call the ‘Era of Fools.’ Given what they have to say about the period I don’t blame them. Anyway, I was told that the Elder Council was about ready to convene for this meeting,” said Selia.

“Yes, I heard that we were meeting directly with their governing body, but they didn’t tell me much about them,” said Telkeki. Who was wondering why said body was here, and not back on their homeworld, or a major capital world.

“They are ruled by a council of nine indivduals. Those individuals being the Supreme Protector, The council head, and the seven seats. As near as I understand it, these are lifetime positions. As a group, they are the people who decide the course of the Refuge,” said Selia.

“So why is the council here and not on say their homeworld?” asked Telkeki.

“They actually kind of told you. Remember they told you that they are travellers?” responded Selia. Suddenly Telkeki made the connection, and exclaimed, “Wait! Are you saying they are nomadic!?”

“They are,” said Selia.

“Their ships are in much better shape than most of the nomadic groups I have seen. Then again most nomads aren’t as advanced as this group seems to be,” said Telkeki. While her thoughts drifted to the few nomadic races they had treaties with. They had trade treaties with three different nomadic races that made their home in the Orilias Belt, a region of space whose nearest point was just fifty lightyears from this system. The belt itself was huge, over a thousand lightyears across. It was notorious for its navigational hazards. Mostly Ion Storms and nebulas. Nothing all that dangerous really, but enough that people preferred to avoid the region. Although, even more dangerous anomalies had been reported in the deeper, uncharted parts of the belt. Didn’t keep everyone out of the region however. The place was home to a few colonies, several nomadic fleets, and a few pirate enclaves. The nomads in the area were well known for being terrific space combatants and engineers. Needed to be in order to keep their fleets of aging ships working, and they often fought the local pirates. The nomads were the only people who could reliably navigate the belt, and as such they made large profits moving goods through the belt.

During their travels in the belt, the nomadic tribes would pick up exotic goods. She didn’t know where they came from, but they did sell well in local markets. Some of them had proven useful for a secret project they had been working on.

“Yes, they do seem to know a thing or two about deep space construction and maintenance,” said Selia as the door was opened. A young girl stepped out her eyes seeming to glow slightly in the dim light that seemed normal here.

“The Elder Council is ready for you, Madam,” said the girl. She gave the racial equivalent of a smile, and thanked her. While checking her timepiece, an old family heirloom that she always kept with her. The time indicated revealed that it was now the original agreed on time for the meeting.

Following the girl into the room, she found a decently sized chamber. A large table dominated the middle of the room, on the opposite side of the chair were nine seats occupied by nine aliens. The one in the middle in the most elaborate seat was one she recognized, it was the Supreme Protector Countryman that she had met before. To his right was an alien male she didn’t recognize. He was a rather intimidating looking male, but she had no idea how old he was. To his left was an alien female that she didn’t recognize.

Opposite the aliens were nine seats clearly placed for her entourage. She had not brought that many advisors with her however. She had brought with her only two advisors with her, and this time the Alliance ambassador wasn’t with her. She took a seat in the center chair, and introduced her aides before moving on to the main subjects. The aides she had brought with her was Temuria, who had been in the last meeting, and a new girl named Setalius. The council in kind, introduced themselves. She learned that the man on the right was the council head and was named Richard Greyman. The woman on the left of Countryman was the First Seat Eriko Dykes. The others also introduced themselves by their seat and in order. The Second Seat was a woman named Ruri, who was also apparently their chief scientist. The Third Seat was a formidable looking man named Ashley Drakes, she didn’t learn what his area of expertise was. Fourth Seat was filled by a small female named Misaki. While next to her was the Fifth Seat, another female named Megumi Richards. The last two seats were also filled by women. A Kaori Airi and Samantha Greyman respectively. She was beginning to suspect a trend towards matriarchy in this race.

“I wanted to thank you for your aide with the Rykoni Pirates personally. Also, one of the pirate ships you sank had a substantial bounty on it,” said Telkeki.

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“A bounty? That’s actually quite nice, and will help our annual budget. So how much was that bounty?” responded Countryman.

“Eight hundred million credits,” answered her aide Temuria.

“That should get us a fair amount of useful materials. I have several projects that could use some new materials,” said Ruri throwing in her two cents.

“We can make decisions on what to do with the bounty later. For now, I think our guests have other things to say,” said Greyman.

“Yes, we recently had an encounter with a new type of Cylovan ship. The encounter happened a little over a week ago. Fortunately a few ships managed to escape, but they only informed us of the battle a few hours ago,” said Telkeki.

“I’m guessing you wanted to warn us about this new ship? Or something along those lines?” asked Airi. None of the others seemed sure why it was mentioned either. Which did make her feel a little better about these telepaths.

“Not quite. Eliminating the Rykoni fleet was good, but if we don’t destroy the source they will return. Both the Union and the Alliance have outstanding bounties on Rykoni ships and Enclaves. We need to move the bulk of our fleet to deal with this new ship, and close the front it is opening. So I wanted to ask if you would be willing to look for those bases these ships came from,” said Telkeki.

“Finding the bases they came from? That can be done easily enough, but it does cost a fair bit. We would need to be sure the cost matches the reward,” said Countryman.

“We are willing to offer fuel and a few scout ships to help,” offered Telkeki.

“We won’t need the scout ships, but the fuel will help,” said Drakes.

“Why won’t you need the scout ships? Surely a few extra ships could prove helpful?” asked Setalius. Telkeki was curious as well, but didn’t think asking was appropriate.

“No offense, but our ships are faster and our sensors are superior. Vastly superior to yours in fact. In fact our sensors have better resolution, and are more compact than the ones we found on that cruiser we sold you,” said Drakes.

“Superior is a bit of an understatement, Drakes. He is right however. Our ships have a higher FTL cruise speed, and are also faster on sublight than your ships. Combine that with better sensors, and finding a few pirate bases won’t be that hard. It would be helpful if we had an idea of where to look however,” said Ruri.

“Normally we would start with the Orilias Belt. It is a region of space just fifty lightyears from here. It is well known for its navigational hazards, which keeps most people out of the area. However it is also home to a few colonies from the more adventurous sort, and pirate enclaves. You may even encounter a few nomadic fleets while out there. Space nomads are often friendly, and their constant travel leads them to acquire exotic goods. Just don’t get into a fight with them. Their ships maybe old, but they are the fiercest space combatants in known space,” said Telkeki.

“I would say so. Few things can be as fierce as people defending their homes. Anyway about this new ship you encounter anything you care to share about it?” commented Countryman.

“The ship is twice the size of a Battleship, and while it didn’t launch fighters it likely has some. We are still searching the database from the Cylovan cruiser for a match,” said Telkeki.

“A Dreadnought! The ship is in that database. I’m not sure your fleet would be able to sink one of those. The shields alone would give you a great deal of trouble,” said Countryman.

“Not with normal equipment, but we do have a few pieces in reserve. They were meant for use against a battleship, but we think they will help against a dreadnought,” said Telkeki.

“So I assume you mean you have more battleships like the one we saw in orbit of your homeworld,” said Countryman. Telkeki was slightly surprised about the mention of the battleship. They had deliberately kept it out of sight and powered down so that it wouldn’t draw attention. The ship was one of several that resulted from the ongoing secret project that was fueled by exotic materials purchased from nomadic traders.

“Most aren’t that big, but we do have similar ships yes,” said Telkeki as Countryman pressed a few buttons and a holographic representation of the mentioned battleship appeared.

“Ships like this one would stand a much better chance if have enough of them. The weapons are most intriguing to us. Instead of your typical maser cannons, this ship is outfitted with far more powerful Particle cannons instead. Ones that we noticed are very different in design from ours,” said Countryman.

“Yes, we noticed you use particle weapons. Our particle weapons are fairly new tech, and the result of a collaborative project with the alliance. Unfortunately they require an exotic mineral that is rather difficult to obtain in significant quantities,” said Telkeki.

“May we have a sample of this exotic mineral?” asked Ruri.

“We could give you a sample, but why do you want it?” asked Telkeki.

“Much of our tech uses an exotic material called Rydium. Natural sources are rare, so we synthesize the material. We may be able to synthesize this one as well, and if not, our sensors can help find new sources for you,” answered Ruri.

“Out of curiosity, what exactly do you use Rydium for?” asked Setalius. Her expression indicating that her scientific curiosity had been piqued.

“Rydium is primarily used in propulsion, but it also has applications in armor, and weaponry,” said Ruri.

“Yes, a number of engineers and scientists have been baffled by how your engines work. They have so far been unable to determine how your ships move,” said Setalius.

“Well, much of that is classified, but I can give a basic explanation. Our engines use a Rydium core to produce exotic energy waves that are in turn responsible for thrust,” said Ruri.

“Back to the main topic. You want our aide for locating pirates, so that you can focus on the dreadnought, correct?” said Countryman getting the topic back on track before the two scientists in the room took things too far.

“That pretty much sums things up,” said Telkeki.

“You offered to cover our fuel costs, and mentioned an active bounty on these pirates. In addition to the bounty and fuel we would like access to some derelicts scheduled to be scrapped,” said Countryman.

“For weapons testing right? If that is the case, we agree,” said Telkeki.

“That is correct. Live targets will be useful for testing our prototypes when they are ready,” said Countryman.

“In that case, let's draw up the contract,” said Telkeki. The next couple hours were spent, writing up a contract, and refining the terms. Having already worked out the basic items, it was merely determining the specifics. As soon as it was signed and both sides had a copy, she headed back to her shuttle with her entourage.