Intergalactic

Sunlight streamed through the panoramic windows of the high-rise conference room, illuminating the faces of the assembled council. On one side sat civilians in crisp suits and tailored dresses, their expressions grim. Opposite them, military men and women, all high-ranking officers, wore faces equally focussed and determined. A faint smell of coffee and leather mingled with the tension in the room.

Outside, the city sprawled across the earth-like landscape, houses, offices, maglev train lines and in the distance factories and the spaceport. It was early afternoon, with a few scattered clouds across the sky that looked almost, but not quite, like the sky on Earth.

The multimedia display wall at the head of the table showed a 2D map of the Junkstorm, the three solar systems inhabited by humans highlighted by three dots glowing light blue against the black background that symbolized space.

Outside the Junkstorm, a dozen solar systems were highlighted in red, each surrounded by small red elongated triangles varying in number between five and twenty-six.

A table of numbers was displayed in the lower-left corner of the display. It read „Xylars, 92 capital ships, ca. 600 other combat crafts“ and „Erulas, 8 capital ships, 124 other combat crafts“.

„Members of the council,“, a middle-aged woman in uniform with plenty of medals continued her presentation, „We have so far no indication of the Xylars launching an attack force. However, given their hyperspace capabilities and the intel we have gathered, we estimate that by the time we get reliable data indicating an attack fleet, they will be a just days outside the Junkstorm.“

The participants of the meeting were disciplined enough to not interrupt. She continued: „As we all know, the Junkstorm messes with them in the higher dimensions. Our best guess is that they would hold at the edge, and send drones. We have never had a combat encounter with the Xylars, but even at our most optimistic estimate, just a few drones would suffice to eliminate our capital ships before we can stop them.“

She turned sharply and walked back to her seat.

One of the civilian women spoke up, dressed in an exquisite robe of office: „So much for our military options. Thank you, Colonel.“ She gestured with her open hand to her left. „Dr. Chen, which insights can the xenopsychology department provide?“

„Unfortunately, I can make it short.“, the slender man in a suit that he clearly was not used to wearing daily said without standing up. „The Xylars are agitated and we have heard earlier the demands they make of us. Their approach and wording suggests strongly that they are certain of humans being the culprits of this heist. It is unlikely that a denial would be believed. We also need to consider that the Xylars are a very social and cohesive species who have in the past shown limited understanding of human society. As we are a minor species in the galaxy, the Xylars rarely spend time or energy on researching human culture or psychology in depth. There are certainly experts on us among them, but we can not say if they will be invited to a discussion such as the one we are having currently. It might just as well be that their expertise is not valued or not widely known.“

„Thank you.“, the robed woman concluded. Her name-tag said „Amara Vance, President“. She looked to her right and then slowly along the line of officers opposite her. „As we heard before, our own intelligence agrees with the Xylars. The most likely scenario is that one of the pirate crews the Junkstorm harbors is responsible. Nobody can say from which of the two pirate outposts they might be. Our military is useless against the aliens, but more than enough to deal with a few pirates. We need to get the stolen hyperdrive core into our hands before the Xylars decide to take it by force. We have enough ships to lay siege to both stations. The other planetary governments will provide support logistics, we don’t need their small military fleets. Any objections?“

Most of the participants of the meeting nodded in agreement, but one man at the far end of the table, in a modest suit, greying hair and slightly overweight, spoke up: „Yes, madam president.“ He paused for a second until he had everyone’s attention, and then continued with a calm but commanding voice: „For two decades we have maintained plausible deniability with regards to the pirate stations. Not just towards the Xylars, who may or may not believe us, but also towards other alien races.“ He tapped a few times on his watch and the display wall flickered, showing a table of economics data and graphs visualizing the same. He took a sip from the glass of water standing in front of him, allowing everyone in the room to scan over the numbers. Then he went on: „This arrangement has been mutually beneficial. The alien technology acquired by the pirates is sold largely to other humans. Exact numbers are impossible to obtain, but our estimate is that this makes up around 90% of the piracy business. This inflow of alien technology not only provides our scientists with a continuous supply of research objects, and our engineers with invaluable technology we require but cannot manufacture ourselves such as the high-dimensional hyperdrive cores, it also gives us goods to trade with other aliens. As you can see in these figures, the legitimate trade we conduct with the goods acquired by pirates made up 19% of our exports with non-human civilizations.“

Vance interrupted: „How much of the trade with the distant human pockets?“

„About 12%.“ was the answer.

The room became quiet as everyone took in the numbers. Glances were exchanged and notes scribbled. Vance pursed her lips, her eyes scanning the numbers again and again. The distant roar of a starship rising up at the spaceport filled the audible space, until the man whose name tag identified him as „Ishac Sparks, Diplomatic Advisor“ continued: „If our fleets suddenly appeared at the pirate outposts that we have for years claimed to know nothing about, we risk a diplomatic firestorm, a seizable drop in trade and most likely demands to eliminate the pirates, depriving us of all these advantages. And if the aliens don’t demand it of us, our fleet’s presence is likely to reveal the location of these outposts to them and they just might take care of the pirates by themselves.“

A broad-shouldered general with jet-black short hair on the military side of the table was the first to add his thoughts after a brief pause, leaning back in his chair. „I concur. A show of force would eliminate a strategic advantage we currently hold, however small it may be. I have a different suggestion. Our fleet has half a dozen smaller ships outfitted as traders and other civilians, some of them could with quick updates pass as pirate vessels. Send two or three of these to each of the stations, with a platoon of marines. We show force inside the stations, not outside. Let the pirates understand that we know all about them, without showing it to any observing aliens. Meet with the people in charge of each station and let them know we need that core, or else.“

There were murmurs of agreement on the civilian side of the table, and several of the military members of the ad-hoc council also nodded. Only Colonel Sato, who had given the presentation before, disagreed: „General, with all due respect, we do not have the time for subtleties. Our diplomats may have to smooth over some ruffled feathers, but to the Xylars we are like mice in the barn - barely tolerated as long as we don’t make any serious trouble. And we’ve just done exactly that. If we do not undo the damage ASAP they will just stomp us out. Our actions here decide the fate of 400 million souls on Erulas alone.“

„Colonel“, the general responded, „thank you for your thoughts. This is meant as a show of force to the pirates. A platoon of marines can cause serious havoc on a pirate outpost if they want to. I’m quite sure the outlaws will be happy to discuss terms to keep our soldiers on their ships.“

President Vance intervened, straightening the sleeves of her robe: „General, can we send two platoons to each station? Just to make sure our point is clear? And maybe have some of our battleships go on patrol conveniently nearby, close enough that the pirates understand but far enough to not give their location away to any aliens?“

The general pinched the bridge of his nose, lips pursed in a tight line as he considered. Seconds stretched as all eyes in the room focussed on him. Finally, he simply said: „I think that can be arranged.“