Midnight Oil

Lord Maximo Drusella reviewed the status reports which had been set on the fine wooden desk before him. He sipped casually at a cup of hot jalla while he pondered the relevant matters. All around him were the trappings of an understated opulence befitting a noble house... though the star of Drusella had not been in ascendance for many years, they were still vastly wealthy.

The reports were troubling. The fleet itself was in good order, with the finest ships and crews that money and influence could buy. Truly, for House Drusella to be at the head of this fleet was a great honor and a singular opportunity to advance their status. However, the mission would not be as simple as first explained. The House Expeditionary Force could easily handle a campaign of simple suppression of barbarians... the obviously uncivilized native inhabitants whose lack of both technology and belligerence demonstrated their undeserving and inadequate nature. However, and this was the troubling matter, the campaign would not be one of simple suppression.

The Republic had many spies. These assets had uncovered, among other things, that two major stellar powers were simultaneously moving on the Krish system. While the Centauri had a clear legal and territorial claim to that system (or, such a claim could be readily fabricated and defended by the most skillful rhetoricians in the galaxy), the bellicose Dilgar and upstart Earthers were moving on the system as well.

Lord Drusella considered the dimensions of this intelligence carefully, the taste of the jalla and the luxury of the surroundings fading almost entirely from his consciousness. "The Dilgar...." he said to himself heavily. "What are they after? Resources?" The Dilgar were losing their war... and it was a dark war indeed. "What will be left of them, if they lose? How will they spend it?" It didn't make any sense. The Dilgar needed those ships at their rapidly retreating fronts. Obviously this must be some sort of desperation strategy, but whatever it was, Maximo could not fathom. There was clearly a piece of the puzzle missing.

His thoughts turned to the Earthers. "The Earthers are bold, brash. Slow-witted, perhaps, like the Drazi. But respectable warriors." Earth was beating back the Dilgar when the others could not. It would clearly be a mistake to underestimate them. There was something about them, their rapid expansion and bold strokes... something almost Centauri. "Obviously they are here because the Dilgar are here."

"Well," said Maximo aloud, to no one in particular, "anyone in the Krish system who is not a Centauri is an interloper." And then he mumbled to himself, in a low tone "And if we cannot chase away a few interlopers, we don't deserve the plunder." He let out a sigh and rose from the desk. Perhaps he could make common cause with the Earthers and then, when the Dilgar were destroyed, politely ask them to leave? It was a thought... but it would be a shame to let Earth interfere with the exploitation of the system. They would probably want to regulate it, or grant them autonomy or something. "Peh. Barbarians" Maximo mumbled as he retired to his chambers.