“Most certainly my lord. Most of the noble houses are confused to the sudden reorganization of our governmental structure, and the off-balance has definitely created a chasm that they now seek to fill. Knowledge is power, and you see to have gained a quaint amount of power.”

“Indeed,” Laurent took another sip the delicious red wine, setting the glass exactly two inches from the plate on the right side and readying the napkin on his lap so he could begin eating. Everything about this meeting had been meticulously calculated, from the silverware to the plates to the brand of red wine—Surin Redwin aged two hundred and thirty years—for the purpose of this visit. Lady Delli T’kara was the delegate that had been sent over by the Ord Torrenze mining guild. While not aristocratic, it had paid offer her a field title (though not recognized outside the room) and brandish the finest of Sovereignty wares for this talk. “I know, though, that it was not for the recent change in structure that you have come here. Has the guild reconsidered our offer?”

There was an uncomfortable pause. Laurent busied himself with picking at the meat on his plate, carefully cutting each individual piece. His eyes would glance up almost menacingly in ladies direction, but he never so much as inclined that he would do anything violent. Not that he needed to; with a simple flick of his wrist the eight royal guards standing vigil within the hall would have dragged this sorry excuse of a woman off to the dungeons.

After awhile she spoke, her food already spoiled in her mouth as she tasted her words. “We are not in the luxury of aligning ourselves with you.”

Is that so? he thought to himself, letting the juices from the meat permeate his senses. He spared a second smile, this time to the general well-tasting food that had been prepared. “The meat really is delicious...”

Another long pause. Then she spoke again, this time urgent. “Have you heard what I am saying?”

“Oh I have my dear. I also know from outside sources that Issac Dromwell has been setting up a small enclave on the planet. He has somewhere along the lines of four-hundred mercenaries in his hire at the moment correct?” A look of horror passed across Lady Delli’s face, but she had too little a time to consider her predicament before the two guards nearest her seized her roughly by the shoulders and lifted her. There was a moment’s pause for Laurent to speak.

“Oh don’t worry... Ord Torrenze will join the Sovereignty—or I’ll bomb the planet until there is nothing left..”

***

Message broadcasted via Holonet (readable by all) to Ord Torrenze from the Norat Sovereignty: