"Excuse me, governor."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlF0iXXaghk
Sarah woke up with a start and panted, her head protesting against the sudden jolt. She moaned and said, "Yes? Sorry, I just...slept."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfhWGaY2iIo
"It's Galbag Buorno, your Chief of Security. I have news regarding the attempt on your life."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHkLOYKxtCz
Sarah leant back in her chair and briefly closed her eyes before stretching herself.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8tbEQPkmI
"I see. What is it?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEzGDIcTqC5
Galbag cleared his throat. "We haven't found the perpetrator and it appears to police that he managed to escape. Every last lead is used up, but the officers found something that would surely interest you."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQUMD4hc7Hc
"Which is?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUe3zRsTaR
"The perpetrator had taken up shelter on the premises of Khorshan Chemical Corporation, a URS-based company. Police asked the management about it but they insisted on neither having known nor authorized it. Whether they are to be believed will have to be seen, but for now, that's the best option to pursue further."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAfvnKZgf9C
"I see. A ploy to indict the URS?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDPLRi3QYm
"Possibly. Likely, even. The obvious conclusion to draw is that the company helped the perpetrator and that the perpetrator is therefore a URS agent. But I believe that they want us to believe that and so I suggested to the police chief that he investigate in both directions."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa994jnumj8
"What if they want us to believe that it's not the URS because it's really the URS?" Sarah asked.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3pLhEdhcZ8
Galbag smiled. "Well, then we will find them anyway. That's all for now."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHt1OUnuth
"Thank you for keeping me up to date, Mr Buorno."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8lfZvlWza
"Of course, governor," he said and went to the door. Just as he reached out to grab the handle, his phone rang. He briefly looked at it, then turned around and said, "News: Perpetrator arrived on Ayonar four days ago via a URS travel company."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrq558s89D
Sarah pricked up her ears and slowly stood up from her chair. "What does it mean?" she asked.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGljisM5pi
"With your permission, I will increase security around the residence premises. If there's one URS-funded contract killer, there may be ten more."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5abGTCBz8W
"Alright, do what must be done," Sarah said.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlIHXzhy8XS
Galbag nodded and left the room. Sarah half-circled around her desk before she stopped for a moment before dashing off to her living quarters. The URS had come to kill her, or the pirates, or the Nationalist Defense. Anyone, really. And she had only just arrived here. Why so soon? What had she done to warrant the hatred needed to concoct such a plan? Or what would she do? How could others know if she didn't know herself? Maybe she had long had enemies who wanted her dead, but living in the Dark Temple had shielded her from it. Maybe they were seeking revenge for what her mother had done. In any case, they had to die first. In her living quarters, she found Ishaan sitting in an armchair, reading a book. His ruffled brown hair and his left hand, holding the book reader were the only features she could see of her husband, as the armchair did not face the door. Sarah told him everything and apologized for earlier, and they embraced each other. Then, she went to make tea and sat down in an armchair opposite to Ishaan, facing him.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvkLOyYnCjr
"What are you gonna do?" Ishaan asked, sipping on his tea.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaFTYAaaVB
"Draw them out and strike them down," Sarah said.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDdgWRUSk91
"And what if they strike back?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeYQhyzDZZ
"Then I will strike them down harder. I came here to fix things, not to let myself be killed. And more importantly not to just drop everything in fear and flee back to mommy."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYEsLJfpxYf
"One day you'll headbutt someone with a harder head than yours."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBTWYYTUiW
"Perhaps, but I'll see what to do when that day comes."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pmPf9OLRl
"And how do you plan on fixing things? How easy or difficult is it?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVUCvUapjRY
Sarah put down her cup of tea and started circling around the table.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSm1hWdUEC9
"I've read some notes on the topic, and I think it's a fairly easy job when approached right, and a hellish job when approached wrong. I hear that the problems are mostly with people being disgruntled because they lost their job, with the Zephalans all living on their turf and with the pirates. So if I can make them understand that cooperation with the Zephalan can be an advantage, if I can give them their jobs back and provide their companies with orders, if I can effectively fight piracy, then we have a great future before us. Estimations tell me that the current situation can be reversed in just about two years, but when measures fail to achieve the desired effect, we plunge deeper into a recession, even more piracy and racial divide, with widespread violence becoming common as misfortune grows. My parents sent me here right at the crossroads. Win now, and it goes over pretty well. Lose, and the ship won't right itself in a decade or two."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmlcOvCbkfD
"Hmm, I see," said Ishaan. "So someone would rather have you fail."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpjfcaBykVr
"Yes, it seems so. But who? Are the pirates that strong and that well-connected? I don't think so. So that leaves other nations, like the URS or the Tletans. Those two are the most likely, I think, because of their proximity to us. The Draoll are too concerned with themselves and the Tletans than with us, except for if they want to weaken us and finally annex the Tletan Kingdom. And the Krillthan are too far away. They'd meddle with the southern Imperial worlds, not with us here in the north."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTE8PSEwogL
"That seems logical so far. So how do we find out more?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIJpgK8WZem
"I'll call home and ask for support. The rest is up to the police and the intelligence services."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡie6EqCeo9e
Ishaan raised an eyebrow. "No hands-on approach?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIIgAoI53DZ
"Yes hands-on approach. I realized something. I am governor here, but what do I govern? Nothing. I am a liaison between imperial government and planetary governments as well as their populace. So I'm reduced to talking a lot, convincing a lot. Only the military answers directly to me."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRcNP8yxzO
"So you want to use that? To shoot people into being nice to the Zephalans?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiRouEvQpz
Sarah chuckled. "Not at all. Think about it. We're knights. We're all trained in combat and magic. Some of us even work in the military, like Mara. So I'll take a very hands-on approach in combating piracy and go into battle myself."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZMP0gf5k9
"Oh please no. What if you get shot?" asked Ishaan, visibly rattled.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjAmrIw1RBr
"I am much less likely than any normal soldier to get shot and I ask them to risk it, so I have to, too. The pirates operate from hidden bases somewhere here in this region. I have an idea to implement when the time is right."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPtD1OkzAz
"When is the time right?" Ishaan asked.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEL5A6k3it8
"After we've gotten settled here and after I've taken care of the first steps for fixing the other problems. I'll have to speak before parliament first, announce what I'm going to do."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnV7qSZn3IA
"Do you already know when that will be?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqwOMK9QAGB
"Next week, I think. At least I would like it to be next week. Oh, and I've decided I want to ask the former High Guardian of the Zephalans to join my staff."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspHgoDlxHB
"Why?" Ishaan asked dryly.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoag9uxPVS9
"I'm taking my chances. I need someone to show me how to approach and deal with Zephalans. The people have deep-seated issues with their former invaders. They don't understand, or don't care, about the history behind it all. We are lucky we got off so well. Krazugor Orankan held back on brutality and attrition warfare because he never wanted a war. He was stuck with fighting a war his government had started before it was eradicated by their machine enemies in their dimension."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2NhbClpWfS
"Yes, I remember." Ishaan sighed. "I hold no grudges against the Zephalans, I really don't. I wasn't alive back then and had the good fortune of growing up in an upper-class family so I never really noticed the hardships it brought on families up here. But I understand that people don't like living next to their enemies."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFEJgbrYWj
"But they're not enemies anymore and haven't been for 28 years. People are afraid of them because they don't know them and vice versa. We need to get them to know each other and to work together. Zephalans are quite strong. If they worked alongside Humans, both sides would quickly come to appreciate each other."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡApZiltFGO3
"And show them that the empire is the right place for them?"783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwuaH4407c
Sarah nodded. "Absolutely."783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGc3Kc92fjF
The tea had gone cold. Too much talking made Sarah forget. The problems would soon be solved, even if she had to fight for it. Only one or two years and Imperial Region North would be back as the economic and industrial powerhouse of the empire. Then, she would go home with a task well done under her belt, a hero of the empire. Alternatively, biggest loser of all time, if she failed. If. Unfortunately, the press and public had the annoying tendency of pinning failure on specific people, especially those that weren't actually at fault. The more prominent the target, the better. But she would not fail, nor would she succeed only in part. And if the URS was up for trouble, trouble it would get.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjApBNC5M1L
Later that day, Sarah spoke to her parents about the URS' possible involvement and was able to secure herself the official backing of the empresses for the policies and measures she would propose to the parliaments and governments of the four northern planets. Sarah was happy. Things couldn't go her way any better. It was almost suspicious.783Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOoqR0B6iUB
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