Despite its small size, Dephyr had 70% of Earth gravity thanks to its dense core. On the horizon, the terraforming machines were belching out gas, and they would run for another 50 years or so. The planet had been habitable when humans discovered it, but needed some adjustments to make human life on the surface not just possible, but pleasurable. Oxygen content was still too high, resulting in constant wildfires and rapid corrosion. As a protection, the houses in Brodle, the capital city, were built with bricks and like most cities on the planet it was surrounded on one side by a river and on the other three by a canal dug as a fire-break. Much of the natural vegetation of Dephyr was very flammable, but also fast-growing. Wildfires, burnt landscape and regrowth cycles were as common as the seasons.
Despite being the capital, Brodle had a frontier atmosphere to it, still growing into its space with numerous scattered construction sites. Not far from the river, in one of the older parts of the city, were several large buildings flying the flag of Dephyr as an indicator of their function as government buildings.
A good distance away, near the northern canal and in an unremarkable neighborhood, a smaller building cowered between offices, with a small flag near the entrance, and a much smaller sign above: ?Intelligence Service Division“
On its top floor, the 4th, a meeting room faced the small inner courtyard, tinted windows, three paneled against directional microphones. Within it, half a dozen officers and specialists in civilian office clothes, partially eaten take-out food on the table between computers and printouts. Above the table floated a holographic map of the Junkstorm.
On one wall of the room, with nobody sitting on that side of the table, two displays of similar rooms were visible. On the left, president Vance was in the foreground, with her civilian and military advisors behind her. She represented the planet Erulas. On the right, a smaller situation room with only military personnel was visible, the command center on Dangorod. The military government of the planet was keeping things strictly on a need-to-know basis.
?So in summary“, president Vance’s voice boomed from the display, ?The Qyrl and Xylars are not the only aliens who are more than a bit interested in these pirates and their haul.“
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?And your little expedition has turned up nothing?“, an elder statesman in the room on Dephyr added, dressed in well-made but understated civilian clothes, a folder on the table in front of him identifying the owner as ?Ansom Tike, Secretary of State for Alien Affairs“. He had a weathered face and the eyes of a man who has stared down more than one challenge of diplomacy.
?Of which“, a man with general insignia but no name tag on the Dangorod screen stated, ?we should have been informed earlier.“ He was responding to the question that had been asked. Due to the one-and-a-half second latency between the planets, the introduction had not yet arrived at his side when he spoke. Speaking over each other was a common issue in interplanetary conferences.
?That unnecessary misunderstanding on that pirate outpost“, a man behind Amara Vance intervened. ?Black Sails“, the general interrupted, ?It has a name.“ - ?whatever“, the other man continued, ?could have been easily avoided if you had told us that you have a man on the inside.“
?Couldn’t coordinate with you on a mission we didn’t know about.“, the general snapped back.
?Stop playing games.“, president Vance interrupted the two men, as much as interruption was possible with the communications lag, ?General, we all know that your spies whispered your people the details before the marines even left Erulas.“
?Negative, ma’am.“, the military leader of the planet of Dangorod responded, ?Whatever you are insinuating, I“, he was interrupted by Vance, ?deny, dispute any knowledge of agents your intelligence services have running around on our planets, because diplomatically we are at peace and all that. We all here dance that dance every day.“
?If we could return to the matter at hand?“, the Secretary of State brought attention back, ?We have two alien races asking questions and sending probes and who knows what else, and one of them laughs about all but our mightiest battleships. In addition, at least one additional faction is actively scanning the Junkstorm with FTL trackers. This is far from a typical reaction to a little theft.“
?Our marines are at this very moment working on it.“, president Vance said calmly on the Erulas screen. ?We have several solid leads that we are investigating. Just like any other stolen alien tech, this one will appear on the black market sooner or later.“
?Can we make sure it will be sooner?“, secretary Tike asked, to multiple nods in the Dephyr situation room.
?As a strictly confidential information not to leave the room,“, the Dangorod general responded, ?our intelligence service has reported that they have placed generous buy offers on the market. We will let you all know if something turns up.“
?I hope so.“, Tike said plainly.