OOC: W/ [@White Feather]

[b][i]Next day, Conference room[/i][/b]

Innes had never felt this nervous in her life, and that's saying a lot. In a short space of time, she would be meeting three of the most important people in her host’s nation-stroke-army. Words could not express the importance of this mission - if it went awry, the consequences could be fatal.

She was still under the impression that the Admirals may try to eat her, Astra’s reaction to tasting her notwithstanding, and she knew that she was the inferior party. However, a quick call home had given her a little bag of tricks that may prove useful in the meeting to come.

Speaking of which, she went over what she had and what she would need just one more time. She was carrying several hefty reports, each one detailing different subjects from different experts. A quick flick through showed that they were all there. She hadn’t seen Astra, so she wasn’t in her head. And she was wearing the suit Astra had made for her, which she had decided to get in her native grey color. Her reports and her words were all that would be necessary.

This was a big one. Her biggest, in fact. If things went well here, the Republic could see itself with a close ally for years to come and Innes could focus on her next issue - stability of the Paardveidan sector. On the other hand, if things went badly, she might find herself on the receiving end of an Admiral’s fork, or worse. The weight of this lay like a cloak over the Chancellor and it worried her.

But at the same time, she felt sober and prepared. She had done literally everything she could to ensure that this meeting would go her way short of running away and going into exile. She might not have the military to back her up now, but she knew she was tough enough to take whatever would be thrown at her.

The conference room door opened and admitted the chancellor. Two of the admirals were already present - Cygnus Innes knew from before, and another who had the longest antennae she would have seen yet, held together in a ponytail by a similar clip to the one Astra gave her on the day they met.

Right behind her the door opened again, admitting one of the rarest sights Innes would ever lay her eyes on. In walked a Faira male in flesh, hist antennae barely longer than an inch, standing on top of his head. In contrast to the second female admiral whose pigment marks covered most of her accents, the male was almost universally silver.

“Ah, excuse me for being late, chancellor, admirals. Shall we?” he said, way too loudly. If Innes remembered Astra’s earlier warnings he would know that Faira males were quite deaf. Nonetheless he motioned to one of the seats around a U-table, the three of them sitting at the front. 

The other female in the room stood up, nodding her greeting and giving Innes the Faira salute. “Chancellor. I am Admiral Lira, this is rear admiral Merkur, and I am told you already know vice admiral Cygnus. Would you like to start with your proposal?” Lira asked, being somewhat polite and protocolar, yet managing to cram it all into as short a speech as possible.

Innes’ ears were ringing, but she did not let either surprise or panic show. Instead, she took a deep breath and went straight into it “Admirals. I am Chancellor Innes of the Paardveid Republic. My role here is to conduct diplomatic communications between your nation and mine.” Well, almost right into it. But she bowed respectfully and kept her voice even.

“The first question I would like to pose is - what are your plans for Paardveid? We are an isolated nation, barely advanced into space. It is in my interests to work out where exactly you see us on the scale of friend to enemy.”

“The next thing is this RLC business. Whilst I have no problem negotiating with people I can see and talk to directly, I prefer to discuss my meetings with separate nations as separate nations. I wish to request that any arrangements with yourselves do not oblige us to follow RLC regulations and rules.”

“And thirdly, the negotiation of technology. I cannot stand here and pretend we are some greatly advanced race with more power than we know what to do with. You do have things that we wish to study in greater depth. However, I am not so dumb as to come to the table empty-handed and I believe we may be able to work out some sort of mutually beneficial deal here.”

“We are, however, on your home territory, and it would be impolite of me to railroad this meeting to suit my desires. Ours is a flexible and pragmatic people - therefore, I put it to you as to what should be the first point of negotiation.” Innes stood back, face serious but heart pounding. She was ready, she knew it. This was no different to talking to theocrats - they just looked funny and were absolutely huge.

Listening patiently to what Innes had to say, it was Cygnus who spoke first. “We try not to make enemies anywhere we go. I would have liked to think that there being no incident while my fleet was present would have been sufficient proof of that, however since you insist - My fleet has withdrawn for repairs to our home system. Only the Hexus is present here in Machina. So to sum up, all our war capable assets are two or more systems away from your home. At the present you gave us no push to engage in hostilities with you, and we would hope that it will remain so.”

Done with the military matter, the word moved to Merkur. “While we do not form one nation with the RLC, we are bound by a mutual defense treaty to some extent. While their consent is not necessary for most interactions between us, some aspect, such as certain technologies, we can not trade without their agreement.” the male notified. “We’ll however open to suggestions. I am sure we can come to agree on something.”

Finally, Lira took the word last. “Please, do not feel alien. You have summoned us here, so I assume you have a proposition or a topic to discuss. Direct the meeting as you see fit, the word is yours for now.” she encouraged.

Innes addressed Cygnus first “With all due respect, Admiral, it is perfectly alright to claim that your troops are moving away from us and that we have no cause to worry. However, that does not calm our fears. It is the nature of empires to subsume those around them, whether it is out of malicious reasons like greed or expansionism or benign reasons like mutual benefit and protection. I wish to know what role you see the Republic playing in the Faira’s future - both short-term and long”

Next was Merkur “To what depths, if you don’t mind my asking? If a space faring empire of gargantuan proportions were to arrive on your doorstep tomorrow, what are the RLC’s duties? We wish to be free of such overarching collectives until we have assessed them ourselves.”

Finally, she addressed Lira “As the lesser party, it would be dangerous to risk angering my hosts by demanding to lead the discussion. Forgive my caution but I must confess I do not trust your kin entirely just yet.” Innes looked at her finger thoughtfully. “Either which way, I would prefer to address the major issue at hand first - Paardveid’s future with the Faira.”

She was laying bricks and she knew it. She could feel herself getting steadily more and more nervous. Words were leaving her head and her great speeches abandoned her. All that was left was instinct - a dangerous ally, especially for one of Innes’ delicate mental state. She had to remind herself to keep any potential meltdowns in check.

Sighing, Cygnus was starting to get annoyed by this lack of trust. “If you choose to look at it this way, then whether I tell you that my destroyer is laying siege to your world as we speak or that we are scrapping all our warships and building a giant space station ready for the taking by the first power that comes near, you have no way of verifying it so what exactly is the point of this discussion?” Cygnus said, her voice clear that she thought she was wasting her time here. “The way I see it, it’s an issue of trust, and you obviously have none towards us. Case closed, moving on.”

Lira was obviously annoyed as well, but rather at Cygnus’ honesty than at the chancellor, as she gave the former a stern look. “I am afraid that the vice admiral has a point, chancellor. We are certainly not going to give you real-time data on our fleet movement. You were briefed about the situation of our homeworld, you should understand why we have to be even more cautious than you.” she said, much less harshly than Cygnus but saying pretty much the same thing. “As for the role of your world, I believe it is up to you to decide how big an involvement with us do you want. It is true we are in need of every resource and manufacturing capacity we can get our hands on, but while it would be preferable to outsource some of it to other nations, it is [i]not[/i] an immediate necessity.”

The word passing to Merkur - who didn’t look particularly interested in the military matters - he looked up from the holo he has been studying. “There are two major points. First, we can not offer any military treaty that would not involve the RLC. It would simply create conflict between the existing and new treaty somewhere down the line. Second, it is for that reason again that we will not offer any military technology to a nation that is not part of said treaty. While, as the admirals said, we have no hostile intent towards you, the report we received on the Konjan church of your homeworld says that your people might be a different case. We would be foolish to arm a party that could potentially turn hostile towards us. We are willing to make one exception on Admiral Astra’s recommendation concerning the shielding that would aid you with your medical issues. However, and let me stress this right here - those shielding units would be independent modules with self destruct mechanism that would activate upon tampering with them.” he noted, giving the word back to the chancellor.

Innes bit back a hiss. Damnit, it was all falling apart! She must have looked like some jumped-up tribal in their eyes. No, Innes, negative thoughts make for negative results. Focus.

“I don’t need real-time data on your troop movements, nor any data at all.” she began, “But I must ask you to look at things from my perspective - stumbling upon an uncomfortably close and far more powerful nation is bound to raise anyone’s hackles. However, it would be nice to know that you don’t plan on marching into our system, or the ones surrounding it, any time soon. But, as you said, it is a matter of trust. Until we have proven ourselves to each other, I’m afraid this topic will go around in circles.”

Time to play a little game, the Chancellor thought “A nation as advanced as yours must be aware of the term protectorate. In short, we shall keep our own rulers and manage our own state of affairs, manage our own wars and receive what trappings of technology you deem right to hand to us. However, we would allow you military and trade access to our region, pay a tariff towards you and will not expand or conduct diplomatic discussions with other races without your consent.” It was a few steps short of vassalisation, Innes knew, but it meant a guarantee of independence without any major contributions. It also helped keep the church in check, since most citizens would see this as a good thing - even playing for religious grounds, there would be opposition to any opposition.

But she had to be careful. Being seen as weak was always a bad thing, and she wasn’t quite sure if this caused the admirals to look on her with more or less favor.

The reaction among the admirals was surprise. Even Merkur raised an eyebrow. After a while, Cygnus pivoted forward in her seat, laying her arms on the table in front of her and entangling her fingers in thought. “An interesting proposition.” she agreed, “However, I am afraid we simply do not have the capacity to do so at this time. And it may still be in conflict with the MDA. We will have to get back to you on this issue. But I can say with certainty that it will not be possible sooner than our new fleet is finished.” Cygnus frowned.

Libra took over, approaching from a different point. “I would like to hear what you consider nearby systems. If I may be so bold as to inquire to the nature of any FTL drive you may be using? You have seen ours, and there is one problem with it. Between star systems, we can only travel alongside naturally occurring predetermined path. Now our scan doesn’t show any leading out of your system, however if some are found, your importance would frankly skyrocket as you might be our only way of travelling further. It is in your interest to allow at the very least our scientific ships in.”

Taking a pause to recap what else Innes brought up, Lira continued. “IF however you possess an omnidirectional FTL, systems you would consider nearby by distance alone are quite frankly unreachable for us at any rate. there is no conflict of interest in those.” Since Merkur had nothing to add at present time, the admirals looked to Innes again.

Yesyesyesyesyesyeyesyes! Chalk one up for Innes!

“I see no reason as to why it should come into conflict, since all military affairs are still our own” Innes said diplomatically “But I shall not pressure you further. Take your time to convene and discuss. However, in the meantime, I must request a guarantee of independence - that you shall not wage war on or allow any others to wage war on Paardveid or its vassals. A formality, mind you, but one the bureaucrats are a big fan of.”

As talk moved to science, Innes lit up. Two days ago, she would have been lost. Now, she was ready.
“Naturally occurring paths? However do you mean? I have reports of several ‘anomalies’ as our scientists called them, so they may have some use to you - if I know what you are looking for.”

“Our engines are amazing things. The ships are metal and stone, but the engines live. They eat, breathe and sleep as a living being should. Our control of it means we are wired directly into it’s brain. It isn’t a real living thing, mind you - it doesn’t think, have desires or wants, etcetera.”

“Our biomechanics have worked out a way to blend the Sinnsyk mind with metals. Give a ship simple thoughts and responses, allow probes to communicate through emotions, and even travel faster than light on leftover food and water. This stems, partly, from our aversion to EM, but also is helped in no small part thanks to the constant desire to use less energy. Consider that for a moment. The technology to live in the dark - less energy means less recharging and in shorter bursts, whilst eliminating any excess and waste uses of energies. It’s the reason we are so cold to touch. Being able to produce large results from low-energy mulches and plants is a big step. And it’s why we can go faster than light itself.”

“Everything you need wires and signals for, we use chemicals and hormones. Our bio-chemical advances are astounding, if you don't mind me tooting my own horn. Now, we are aware you don’t share the same biology as us. One of your Admirals tasted me not to long ago and found me quite unlike anything she has tasted before,” Innes cast a sly glance at Cygnus, remembering her as Astra’s mother, “when we all know that she should have tasted at least one other of her own kind before. But this science [i]works[/i]. Regardless of the pilot, if the machine is set up the right way, it will perform its duties.”

“So consider this - if you can integrate the bio-engine with your own machines, you can drastically reduce energy expenditure for relatively common materials. It also means you can break out of fixed paths and start going anywhere you like. Even if it is only for smaller craft, that is still a massive benefit, would you not agree?”

Innes grinned, glad she had brought something useful along. And she would never have thought of it or considered it relevant if Lira hadn’t brought it up. She’d have to thank her later.

At the mention of science, Merkur perked up, barely holding himself from yelling ‘speak up please’. “It means that while our FTL method is the fastest we’ve seen thus far, it can’t go anywhere. Think of it as a galactic highway. For example, our home is actually about one sixth of the galactic diameter distant from here, yet it only takes us a few hours to get there.” he explained and continued listening to what Innes was saying.

The control interface she mentioned was indeed interesting, albeit rather redundant for their use. Faira have been thinking of similar interface given the fact that their antennae could process such massive input to one’s mind, but the advent of organic computing put those efforts on hold.

Unlike Cygnus who looked torn between yelling and evil laughter, the tasting remark went right over him. “All valid points, save for one thing. We already can go anywhere through the RLC jump gates. We simply prefer the speed and reach of our own.” he said, all but throwing one of Innes’ bigger bargaining chips out the airlock. “Still, the coordination of fleet one could achieve with such device… interesting.”

Taking over, Lira addressed the earlier point. “Your independence, as we have been trying to say over and over, was never in question, Chancellor. If you forgive me for being blunt, we have enough problems on our own to get into solving someone else’s.” she said. “However your proposal mentions us protecting you from others, and as mentioned, that is something beyond our capabilities for now. I can promise you a refuge if, stars forbid, you joined us in losing your homeworld, maybe drive the invaders away afterwards, but we can not spare the ships for permanent defense force.” Lira said uneasily. Loss of a homeworld wasn’t easy topic, no matter who’s world it was.

Cygnus still looked mildly amused and too deep in thought and Libra basically summarized their military opinion on the matter anyway, so the word gone back to Innes. Apparently mothers gathering blackmail material on their offspring was a trait universal across the galaxy regardless of species.

“I know, I know” Innes began, in reference to the Guarantee, “It is purely a formality. The folks back home will probably be on edge until I can send such a treaty through.”

They must not have understood her on the FTL issue. She was happy to clarify “When I asked what you meant by naturally occurring paths, I meant to ask how one would identify those paths. I have several reports on anomalies here, but I’m not sure which ones would be relevant to you.”

Then she addressed the issue Merkur brought up “I use ships as an example, good sir. But almost all of our devices run in a similar way. I have been introduced to your sunbeds, for example - if you could run those beds on organic matter rather than, say, solar power, it would drastically improve your survivability in dark regions. Not forgetting the lower energy use means less stress on a ship's primary resources, which allows unintegrated devices more power and thus greater longevity.”

But on noticing Cygnus’ expression, Innes had to break out of diplomatic character for a moment “Admiral Cygnus? Is something the matter?” she asked innocently.

“Very well, if that is what you want there should be no problem. Just send one of us your draft.” Lira nodded, finally understanding what Innes wanted. “If it won’t be in conflict with our current agreements with others, there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Passing the torch back to Merkur, the admiral looked pleased to get a chance to go on more scientific rants. “I am not sure to how much detail admiral Astra explained the nature of our drive to you, but it sums up to this: It uses a window that shifts the travelling object into another dimension of space. It is a relatively hostile environment, but the gravitational pull in our dimension makes it a lot more stable. In some cases, stable enough to form a gravitational lock with a  body in another system, allowing us to travel that far. So, unless you have a means to detect fluctuations in the exact subdimension we sue, I’m not sure those anomalies are what we are searching for. We can take a look none the less though.”

The slightly informal question might have surprised Lira, but Cygnus was already past being interested in this meeting. Frankly the Chancellor didn’t sit well with her, and it wasn’t what she just said. In fact that gave her a few points. However, she had to agree that Astra was right - very little was to be gained by affiliating with these people. Before she would bite the bait of Innes’ miraculous engine, she’d have to see an object the size of a Raider actually utilizing it successfully. “Oh, nothing. Just an interesting piece of Intel you just gave me I will have to investigate.”  she said in way too formal formulation for what it actually was. Undoubtedly Astra already got rid of the security feed, but perhaps the techs can salvage something from it. It would be good blackmail material both against Astra and Innes.

The fact of the matter was, Innes had already considered this a victory. In the end, she was happy enough to get confirmation that their Republic was not about to fall prey to a larger or more advanced empire. This also opened up a lot of options back home, since there was now a guarantee hanging over the Republic - that should make any warmongers on either side think twice before attempting a coup.

“An interesting system. I am not a scientist, as you are probably aware, but I can get in contact with some techies of ours who might be willing to discuss this matter further” Innes scanned her spacial anomaly reports again “Quite frankly, I can make neither head nor tail of half of these words” Without flair or attitude, she selected the reports Merkur might be interested in and slid them along the table to him “Even if they are not what you are looking for, they may prove interesting reads.” She flashed him a winning smile before focusing in the other two.

“Admiral Cygnus, may I be so bold as to inquire as to [i]what[/i] this piece of intel is?”

Was she seriously asking that? No wonder Astra was frustrated with the way the Sinnsyk made conversation if she was like that even in private. Cygnus didn’t think it even worthy of any answer, but alas it was required. “That’s classified, I beg your pardon.” she spared.

Innes frowned at that, unsure whether to press on further or to drop it. However, she realized that Cygnus was the least likely to support her - bar Astra, of course, but considering she wasn’t here, that was a moot point - so she just shook her head and got on with it “As you wish. It may, however, be of import in the near future.”

“Another thing I’d like to discuss before we draw this meeting to a close is a matter of religion. I know, your kind are atheistic and personally I’m not here to proselytize, so I’ll make this quick. Basically, I need you to sign a paper that says you are happy to allow the faith to worship unhindered and without foreign influence - another formality, but this is pretty much the only thing stopping our church calling for a crusade,” Innes looked worried and for good reason - this could significantly harm her position here. “so I really would like you to sign this” she pulled out a piece of paper stamped by the Church, which said much more floridly exactly what Innes just said. “I personally find it rather insulting and i have no qualms if you deem it so, neither would my employers. But Theocrats are a paranoid bunch and I’d like to avoid a war if I can. Please accept my most humble apologies for this.”

Lira actually smiled at the request. “There will be no problem at all. Just because we do not believe does not mean we say it isn’t so. We lack proof for or against. The church might be right - we simply do not know. What people believe in is their business. However, our signature is conditioned by extending the same courtesy - we will allow no demands to convert and any missionaries they might deem worthy to send are not guaranteed any special status.” Lira said, taking the file and reading it to see what she was actually signing.

“If that is all for now, we would like to take a recess and try to get into contact with admirals Sola and Astra to give them the short version of what was suggested and gather their opinions. I suggest you contact your homeworld as well. If that is acceptable?” Merkur suggested.

“I see no reason why it wouldn’t be.” Innes said, trying to remain chipper. After all, it had gone sort of right, had it not? At the very least, they were safe for another day.

But there was a horrible feeling that she had done much worse than she should have. She knew she was in a tight spot, asking without having much to give and especially with the latent distrust between her and the Admirals, but she wasn’t quite comforted by this.

“I best get going then. Thank you for your time.” she bowed respectfully, quite a bit lower than was strictly necessary before leaving the room. She was barely holding herself together and by the time she had got to a suitable location to contact her homeworld, she was in tears.

She was in no position to call home, she knew. Weyss would yell at her, Temair would go off on one, Asta would give her a disappointed look and Gydja would give her that arrogant, all-knowing smirk that made Innes want to hurt something. As she reviewed the prior meeting in her head, she couldn’t help but feel like she had failed somehow. She kept telling herself ‘we have what we need, anything else is secondary’ but it was still a bitter blow to her confidence. The worst part was that she didn’t even know why she felt like it had gone badly. Probably because of Astra’s drilling into her about how important their jobs were and how unimportant she actually was.

Unimportant. Not important. Not meaning much. The words went through her head like a thunderstorm, uprooting every nice thought she had and replacing it with acerbic sorrow. She knew, she always knew, that Paardveid and it’s dealings would have little gravity on a universal scale. Tomorrow they could vanish into thin air and no-one would pay much attention. But only now did the full weight of that minor position descend on Innes. She always thought of herself as hyper-important, quelling uprisings and encouraging good relations amongst the Republic and its vassals. Her pride had taken a firm beating today and it was not likely to recover.

After the meeting resumed about an hour later, it was only Lira waiting on Innes. “Hello again, Chancellor. I trust everything went well? Admiral Cygnus and Merkur excuse themselves for not attending further. The former has to go back to her fleet and oversee the repairs and latter is currently trying to find a spot on our construction queue for manufacturing what was promised to you. I am ready to give you our statement on what you offered. Am I correct to assume you are as well?” the admiral asked, apparently Ok with it if Innes needed more time.

Innes’ heart almost stopped right there. A snide little voice asked her ‘What will [i]you[/i] be doing when this is over? Oh that’s right. Bugger all.’ but she swallowed and pushed it down. Words failed her, so she just nodded fervently and hoped it would be quick.

Nodding and seating herself, Lira motioned for Innes to do the same. “There are three points to bring up. Starting with science exchange, as I mentioned we already agreed on providing you with the shielding equipment. If you would like we can supply you with the suits to go with them as well, however I believe you would prefer to adapt them to your own power grid and use? Remember, the units will be secured against tampering, lest we would be blocked by our defense treaty. In return, we would like to have an instance of the engine you mentioned for study. Are those terms acceptable?”

“I would rather,” Innes began “That the shields were not tamper-proof. But yes, that is agreed.” They would find a way to break into them later, she presumed. She did not sit, but stood as stiff as a ramrod. Her voice was likewise dry and emotionless.

“In time, perhaps. That translates us into the segment concerning military actions. First of all, regarding the previous issue, the release of the design specifications would be conditioned by your admission to the Mutual Defense Act. We have discussed this and I am afraid I have to say we will not be recommending that at this time. You may convince the RLC to do so, but since the treaty currently consists of only our two nations and it falls to majority vote, you will to need to change our opinion anyway.” Lira explained pretty much what Astra already told Innes would happen.

”Moving on. Point one: As per your request we will not send any armed ship to your system without previous invitation or approval to do so. Point two: We are at this time not obliged to defend your system from other threats. We will attempt to help you is we can, but we wish it to be stated we can not guarantee it.” she summarized their understanding of what they agreed upon previously.

She might have seen it coming, but it was still hard to take “I suppose that goes as a given.” she muttered unhappily. “Robots and silicon don’t tend to work well with flesh and bone.”

Not having any armed ship entering the region was all well and good, but it just reiterated that the Faira had no desire to conquer them anyway. Literally nothing had changed. “Works for us.” she stated laconically.

“Final point, politics. The statement says that your republic chooses to retain its independence. The Exiles of Faira recognize the sovereignty of your state and your claim to the Paardveid system, and any other colonies you may have established at this time but didn’t tell us about - please do list those now. We are also in agreement upon your request for religious tolerance, with the addendum of its parity.” Lira finished, stacking the documents in a pile and passing them over to Innes. “Our signature is already on, it only awaits yours. Once signed, we do not object to amendments or cancellation after further negotiations should the situation change.” she reassured.

“Three colonies currently - Hested, Pferdreich and Alkheim. Hested and Alkheim are out-of-bounds for civilians and foreigners and Pferdreich is in its infancy. There are also probes scanning the closest star system for a non-rogue planet that is capable of sustaining life, so a fourth is in development.” Innes didn't even need to look at the documents. She had practiced and refined her signature many times - it was second nature to her now. She was signing documents as she spoke. “The signs we read show the star itself is quite young. Knowing your history, it may be worthwhile to consider colonizing, or at least scanning the region. You may be pleasantly surprised by the results.” If the protectorate went through, then any colonies outside their de jure system were null and void. This was not a bargaining chip - this was simply a suggestion.

“These ships are impressive. But you really must find somewhere to settle down. Have you not passed by many star systems and considered settling down on one of the planets? Surely you have the technology to uncover the age of the stars? It might be something for you to consider.”

Believing thše official business was more or less over, Lira slumped a little in her seat. “IT is not the age of the start that matters for us. It is the type, and our planet was relatively rare kind as well. Yes, we could settle on a less hospitable planet, but given our resource shortage, building a colony on a planet that is less than ideal was deemed a bad idea. Instead we chose to expand our fleet as you already know to be able to look farther for possible candidates.” the admiral explained.

“I just hope that when we do find one, no one will be there. So far he didn’t have to resort to using our arms, but the vision of a new home might be too strong to resist.” she shared. “Very well then. If we are finished here, I have some other things to take care of while I’m here but I shall be available for two or three more days before I have to leave. should you wish to talk to me, notify Captain Libra and she’ll schedule it up.” Lira noted, politely waiting to be excused.

“Well thank you for divulging that information. It seems I have a few scientists to talk to now. Please, don’t let me keep you. Your duties are of great import, after all.” Innes bowed once again, then left.

She went straight to her room and sat down on her bed. She had a lot to think about. Especially that bit at the end - is it possible to find a planet that could support Faira life? If so, what would the benefits be?

[b][i]Faira Fleetnet News[/i][/b]

[i]Nebula threatened[/i]
Today in early hours, elements the Defender and Watcher fleets intercepted a series of probes in our home Nebula. The FD Nyxa managed to intercept the source ship now confirmed to belong to a new species called Khasi, No fire has been exchanged, however the situation remains unresolved. Admiral Sola reports the Nebula appears to be safe for now. Stand by for further updates.

[i]Negotiations with the Paardveid republic[/i]
First round of negotiations with the Sinnsyk have come to a close. Agreement has been made on exchange of some technology. Both sides declined mutual military involvement at this time.