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What in the actual?
She willed her body back into control, took a deep breath and gathered herself together, levelly gazing at each individual at the table.
‘Thank you for your hospitality so far, your acknowledgement of my father and for making yourselves available to negotiate with me. I heard some of you have come from afar, so please know I appreciate your effort.’
Platitudes out of the way, she dove quickly to the order of business.
‘The situation in Dunia is dire. We’ve lost military control of three main cities, including the capital, New Malindi. The self-proclaimed, self-appointed Prime, Massimo Makori, has declared a state of martial law. He was the ex-Defence Minister, and he had the support of several of the most powerful dynasties, senators and even generals in the DUA, that is, the Dunia Union Army and the Navy. Together with his militia, they’re calling themselves the One Dunia Coalition. Currently, The Coalition controls the spaceport and has locked down all communications on and off the planet.’
‘What’s the good news?’ Zane said in a low gravelly voice.
‘We - the Free Dunia Council - have control of two of the planet’s main cities plus Rambasa, the location of our main source of xentium on Dunia,’ Selene replied quietly.
‘Thank fokk for that,’ grated Kage, the dark-haired, scarface man.
‘Who makes up the Council?’ Riv asked.
‘Apart from the traitor, Massimo, all members of my father’s Security Council, which include the Justice, Commerce, Education, Energy, and Health Ministers. Plus, various Interior and Treasury Heads. We still have a section of the army and navy loyal to the cause of the True Prime plus a good number of dynasties and senators on our side,’ she continued.
‘So what do you need from us?’ This time, it was Xion who’d spoken up.
Selene met his gaze calmly. ‘We need air power, firepower and manpower.’
‘Tis a lot to ask for,’ Zane said quietly.
‘There’s a lot at stake,’ Selene replied. ‘I can confirm Massimo met with The Technocracy a few days ago, just before their main fleet left the System. What we don’t know is what they discussed or agreed on. It’s not only the production and distribution of xentium that’s on the line. It’s millions of innocent lives. I fear that the Technocracy will return if Massimo gets control of the entire planet. We know what happens when the crats get a hold of any planet.’
The five men and Mirage exchanged glances and nodded to each other. It was clear The Sable Riders had a shared opinion of the Technocracy. Selene could also swear they were speaking subvocally amongst themselves, but she couldn’t be sure.
‘I have few hundred million schills at my disposal,’ she offered, speaking into the pause. ‘Perhaps we can rent corvettes from you, maybe even buy some and purchase the ammunition we need with that.’
‘Financing a war takes more than a few hundred million schills,’ Kainan stated. ‘To go against Makori’s militia and perhaps even The Technocracy means that we’ll be shelling out a whole lot more than that.’
‘And taking quite a hit on our bottom line,’ Zane added. ‘Which impacts the work we do in our community.’
Selene’s curiosity got the better of her. ‘What kind of work?’
‘Re-homing refugees across the System, but you already know this from our agreements with your father,’ Kainan said quietly. ‘We also fund raider patrols on the lookout for pirate ships. We’d had a spate of attacks here and along the system’s fringes, especially on the borders close to Alloria. But we’ve managed to contain much of that activity now. However, we remain vigilant. In addition, we run a lower-income housing organisation plus a few youth off-the-streets programs, especially those living in the tunnels. If we didn’t, law and order would go amok on and off the rock.’
‘So your profits go into these programs?’
Zane nodded. ‘Most of them do. The Riders only keep what we need to live and enjoy a good life as is our right, then give the rest away. We dabbled in community work when we first landed on the rock. We just wanted to help out the place that had welcomed us so warmly. Years later, our commitment remains the same. Helping those in need from a position of strength. We make good bank, and we give back.’
Kainan nodded in agreement at his fellow Rider’s words and spoke in a low timbre. ‘Lest we become the same darkness that has sucked so much light from so many people across the System.’
Selene nodded in understanding. ‘Thank you for that. Given that you don’t want to bleed your pots, I’m open to renegotiating Dunia’s original agreement with Eden II. We can increase the amount of xentium we sell to you once we regain control of the spaceport and air travel. We can also reduce our prices until you recover your investment.’
The room fell into a laconic pause at her words, and again she sensed they were talking offline to each other.
A short while later, Zane spoke up, clearly the money man in the room. ‘With all due respect, even with your capital, this might still set us back considerably. We’ve worked hard to get The Sable Group and Eden II to where we are now, and I’m not sure we can take the risk. Is there anything else on the table that’ll make this more of a sure bet for us?’
Selene knew she had one more card to play and drew a ragged breath, hoping against all hope it would find purchase.
‘I’m also willing to share a new hybrid fuel FTL technology that my father and I were championing,’ she announced.
‘Is that right?’ Kage said, sitting upright and piercing her with his silver eyes.
Selene turned to Kainan. ‘None of what I’m about to say can leave this room.’
