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Taelen took on a neutral but still soft expression.
“It is true that the Settlers did some very bad things to us,” he said carefully.
“But we’re not like them,” Sarah argued.
“So I see,” Taelen replied in a non-committal fashion.
“Do you think one day we can be friends?” she asked, shamelessly making the most adorable, sad puppy face.
Taelen smiled.
“If every off-worlder is as nice as you are, then yes, one day we could be friends,” he replied.
To our surprise, instead of rejoicing, Sarah scrunched her face.
“Mommy says I’m a brat.”
We both snorted.
“Yes, you are! And you need to stop bothering him!” her mother interjected in a stern voice.
Sarah’s little shoulders slumped.
“Okay,” she said dejectedly to her mother before casting a hopeful glance at Taelen. “Can I give you a hug goodbye?”
He smiled and nodded.
The oddest sense of longing constricted my chest at the adorable tableau of the little girl burying her face in his neck while giving him a tight hug. The paternal look on his face messed with my head as he gently caressed her hair.
She straightened and gave him another beaming smile.
“Goodbye, Mr. Pretty Taelen,” Sarah said, making us laugh again.
“Goodbye, Sarepani,” he said gently before giving her a sterner look. “But do not run away from your mother like this in the future. She’s trying to protect you.”
“Okay,” she said with a sheepish expression as he put her back down.
In my gut, I already knew that little firecracker would drive her mother bonkers again before the night was over. And the masochist side of me wanted ten just like her.
“Sorry for all this,” Sarah’s mother said to Taelen with an apologetic expression.
“There’s no need to be sorry. Your daughter is lovely. Farewell,” he said gently.
This interaction wouldn’t be used as part of the footage we would share with the media. Enough people had done their own recording. It would be far more powerful being exchanged among individuals sharing their thoughts on the sweet little scene.
In the following weeks, heads started to roll. Pirenei got slapped hard for allowing Procrea to ride its coattails. As the corporation in charge of ensuring no one trespassed on the Syllen territories, they had a duty to keep everyone at bay. But they allowed Procrea access to some of those areas so that they could gather resources for their research and development.
On top of losing many extremely lucrative government contracts, Pirenei had to submit to a thorough audit of their operations, especially on planets under the Prime Directive. The only thing that kept them from complete ruin was that they seemed genuinely clueless about the mining operations. Pirenei thought Procrea was only gathering plants and minerals for their research. They also allowed them to scout the land in search of resources they might eventually set up trade deals for with the Syllen once they awakened. This would have given them a head start on any future competition.
Procrea got hit the hardest. As much as they claimed that the Mazeria facility had been a rogue agent among their corporation, the UPO and the Enforcers didn’t buy it. The punishment was swift. Many of their operations were completely shut down on multiple primitive planets. Their clients were investigated, leading to more shady business getting exposed. Many members of the leadership of Procrea were indicted with the type of crime that could land them on Molvi, the most brutal prison planet in the galaxy.
More shockingly, Maeve discovered that a couple of the top shareholders of Procrea happened to be descendants of the Settlers. Did that mean there was a link with what happened here? She found no direct proof of it so far. Maybe their ancestors simply passed down their entitled and ruthless mentality. The fact that other planets under the Prime Directive protection had also been stripped of their resources seemed to support the idea that mere greed prompted that behavior, and not some ancestral need for retaliation.
Attacking Mazeria led to their downfall. If not for this, Procrea would have continued to fly under the radar for God only knew how long. Like they had done here, they acted secretly on other worlds, in a way that left no obvious indications of their actions. If not for the Syllens’ close bond with the land, and how essential the Kalrins were to maintain the balance of the ecosystem, we never would have known.
As for Professor Ludwig, our initial assumptions proved correct. His cousin had gotten him the position at Acadia and then pushed for him to head the task force so that he would look the other way. Lucky for him, the whole plot was discovered before he truly had the opportunity to get his hands dirty. I didn’t know how much he would have allowed. You couldn’t condemn someone over potential criminal actions. So the wretch got off easy with a slap on the wrist and a stern warning that they would keep a close eye on him.
The number of prosecutions getting lined up was mind-boggling. Other lobbyists like Professor Ludwig were getting investigated as well. I suspected that more heads would continue to roll as the Enforcers followed the breadcrumbs.
