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"The reason that the Reavers have been called to a meeting between nations is a simple one. We foresee the collapse of the Kepler Empire, and we all want a part of the spoils. There is a plan already in place that will spell the doom of the Empire, and we will need goods moved when things are unstable.

As much as it pains me to say it, there isn\'t a force in this region of the Galaxy that is actually capable of that except the Reavers. Their impartial reputation, before recent regrettable events in the Terminus Sector involving the Tapani, means that everyone here has dealings with them and is willing to accept them as trade partners during the inevitable chaos as we divide the spoils." The Rebel Duke informed the Reaver representatives.

Nico nodded slowly before answering. "So, an understanding that the rest of the Rebel movement does not align themselves with the group that sent the Tapani after us and trade through Kepler space, even if it changes hands? I think that is something that we can work out."

"Aren\'t you a bit too proud for the representative of a lowly trade faction?" One of the foreign dignitaries asked.

"Crown Prince of Califa Seven, are you not a bit too arrogant? Our Colony Ship has more Super Heavy Mecha than your planet." Nico retorted.

That was a fact that everyone had at least heard, though most hadn\'t believed the rumors of dozens of Super Heavy Mecha in an unknown design in the hands of the Reavers at Rae 5. The results of the battle were clear, but the method of victory was still a matter of much debate among every other faction.

This was why Max hated politics, all of the nonsense and posturing, while nothing at all got done. Nico was a natural at it, though her methods always seemed to end in violence. Even with that unfortunate side effect, it was still better to let her take the lead most of the time so that Max didn\'t have to suffer the annoyance of dealing with politicians himself.

"That\'s enough, you two. Can we stay on track for at least two minutes at a time?" Lord General Kirkland asked.

"You seem to favor the little Reaver girl. Have you two perhaps met before?" One of the foreigners asked.

The Cygnus group shared a grim look, but the Lord General answered honestly. "Before they left the service of the Kepler Military, the two representatives of the Reaver Nation met me in battle. They had the good fortune to come out on the winning side of the engagement, and the resulting agreement is what led to the Cygnus forces withdrawing support for the Rebels."

"So full of nobility and honor. Bunch of nonsense if you ask me." The foreigner, who Max identified as a Duke of the Califa delegation, sighed.

"Let\'s move forward. Come, take a seat and let\'s get to the actual business." A rebel Duke declared, pulling the attention of the crow back to the large ring of tables that dominated the room.

Nico used a mechanical dendrite to pull out Max\'s chair for him, then sat beside him, subtly indicating that he was the one in charge, though she was the one speaking on his behalf.

"Good. Now, we can\'t share the details for fear of leaks, but within the next six weeks, there will be an incident that will destabilize the situation in Kepler. Once that happens, we ask that all those who are vying for a slice of the corpse send their troops in and take over the region they have been designated as rapidly as possible, in whatever manner suits you best." The Rebel leader informed the room.

Max could see that there were already divisions drawn on the holographic map in the middle of the circle of tables, so he motioned for Nico to record them for future reference.

"I won\'t question your methods or timetable, but are you absolutely certain that it will cause a significant enough disruption to break the chain of command and not just lead to a military coup that would see the fleet crack down viciously on anyone looking to cause trouble?" Nico asked.

"The others asked the same at first. But yes, our plans include dealing with the organization of the Fleet. With them just as disorganized as the rest of the Empire, our allies will be able to move in with only the local defense fleets to be concerned with, and we are already moving as many of those out of their home regions as we can.

There is a Narsian invasion on the North side of the Empire, and we have fed a large amount of misinformation about it to the fleet and Central Command, leading them to send the majority of their available forces. By the time they realize what is happening, it will be too late to recall them, and they will be left to defend whatever they can.

That is why there is no assignment for that northern region of space. Most of the fleet will be there, and they will naturally attempt to stabilize the region that they are in, then wait for orders that will never come as the Empire falls."

His idea made sense. It might not work, but it at least had some semblance of logic behind it.

Max was about to open his mouth to point out that the distribution of forces that they had indicated on the map would leave their homes vulnerable to each other and to the forces that weren\'t here in this room, but Nico pinched his side with a mechanical arm, silencing him.

It wouldn\'t do any good to point that out at this time, and he would only be seen as a troublemaker trying to sow division in this makeshift alliance. They would have to learn for themselves the danger that they were putting themselves in by moving so much of their military out of their home region.

"So what you want is for us to set up a trade network to make up for the regular shipments that won\'t be moving during the unrest? I don\'t see that being an issue. It might deprive some of the outlying regions of their regular trade missions, cutting frequency to half what it is now, but we can at least keep basic trade functions available." Nico agreed, posting some basic data on publicly known regular trade Routes for Reaver Companies to the map, overlaying their existing battle plans.

The only one who had noticed that they were holding something back was Lord General Kirkland of Cygnus, who had dealt with Max and Nico before. Max could sense in his thoughts that he was calculating the trade routes looking for whatever he missed.

The light in his eyes when he realized that it wasn\'t about trade, but about the points that they would be trading to almost made Max break character to wink at the quick-witted Noble.

Of all the nations here, the only one that could sustain their commitment and have a good chance at remaining stable was Cygnus, and even that would stretch their more stable inner regions fairly thin.