“Strictly speaking, I imagine she has the pull to get resources that the Rothian team members need. But, there’s nothing stopping the rest of you from benefiting from what she gets for us.” Vreta replied. “At this moment, what comes to my mind are Rothian medial equipment, supplies, and personnel. The cruiser has plenty to spare. How would you say it? There would be hell to pay if your leaders withheld proper medical treatment to Rothian citizens. That would be about the most blatant violation of long-standing treaties that they could commit.”

Vreta let out a slight sigh as his mind went to some of the less pleasant possibilities of what the future could hold, even if they did not seem particularly likely. “Rareth is a Datius, so her judgement is trusted. She absolutely can enforce her demands with the political weight of the Rothian state. The Rahn’Saki can overrule a Datius, of course, but…it’s not often that they disagree. Your government already agreed to cooperate with us as equal partners on this project. No matter who is in charge, we will still expect them to honor that agreement. Rothians wield substantial influence in galactic markets, and this matter with the Cradle is important enough for the Rahn’Saki themselves to take a personal interest. If your military starts breaking Outremer’s agreements with us, Rareth could threaten trade embargoes on Outremer, not just from us, but from other major trading partners of the planet. Especially if we start offering incentives for them to cooperate with the embargo.”

Vreta frowned, and after a moment, shook his head. “Let’s just hope none of that comes to pass. Surely your military has the sense not to break its alliances now, of all times, especially when we are perfectly willing to cooperate peacefully. The kind of damage a conflict now would cause would be devastating to Outremer’s people.”