If you find mistakes, pls tell, thx. I don't like mistakes.

Also feel free to ask for more background information on the world. I am somehow running out of interesting points regarding the small comments at the beginning of the chapters.

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“

Resch announced that they will retaliate with all possible force, making their promise true. A privately entertained attack fleet fresh out of Breen dockyards arrived today in system! They requested an approach vector towards the Human ships. All eyes are directed at the two quarrelling parties. Tenpen fleetships announced that they will retaliate against anyone who break the peace. Who will make the first mistake?

”

-Calderian news channel

***Galactic Centre, Aether***

***Gideon***

An alarm wakes me up and I open my eyes, realizing where I am. I am still on the couch, hugging Cyla while she is using me like I am a bed-sheet.

“What's wrong?” She rolls out out from under me and checks on Aurelia who is sleeping in the cradle close by. Since we got the child it became second nature to her to take a look at Aurelia when something wakes us up. It's like she is doing it on autopilot.

I access the network to check the message, using my virtual reality to read the whole report. When I am done I curse and get to my feet, pulling up my trousers. Yesterday we did it until both of us collapsed from exhaustion. But thanks to that I had a very good and deep sleep. It's a shame that these fuckers have to wake me up at five in the morning. “It seems like our friends from Resch haven't had enough. If you excuse me, I've to go to my office.”

Without waiting for an answer I teleport directly into the meeting room. Regulations be damned.

The meeting room is used to talk about important stuff like handling our supplies, rotational shifts for our personnel, very important and interesting stuff.

Grandfather is already waiting for me and I realize that I am the second to arrive. So that means that Hedeon called the alarm. Nodding to him I sit down and call up a tactical hologram of the system. The three dimensional representation flickers to life and shows me the situation. I start pulling on my lower lip while trying to make sense of the development.

Apparently Resch Corp. has a private security fleet and it entered the system just a moment ago. They registered themselves properly as incoming traffic to avoid problems with the other factions inside the heavily populated system. The issue is that their course leads them directly to Aether. Since we are still practically at war with them we can't allow them to get anywhere close to us.

While I am studying the facts other important officials arrive. Isciat, the commander of our fleet. Gabriel, head diplomat in charge of talking to the society. Ed, as the commander of the faceless. Melan and Hedeon as my helpers in all issues regarding Aether.

Strangely enough we also got guests whom I didn't quite expect.

Roderik Waldheim and his assistant Kandy Frinil together with their handler Galia joined our little emergency meeting. To be honest I am not even sure if they are cleared to learn about this situation, or being involved in the decision making.

I reach over to Melan and poke her hand with a finger, establishing a mental contact to get more information. Grandmother decides to share her knowledge directly.

Apparently Roderik's status as the eyes and ears of Earth doesn't just allow him to wander around our city. He can also sit in on any important meetings which don't involve our stance towards Earth. But there aren't any people on Aether who can make such decisions anyway.

So him being here now is a direct result of the disturbing news reports. Apparently he could have sit in on any of our earlier meetings, but trusted in the recordings which were made available to him.

I've to commend his ability to hold back in such matters. Not that our earlier assemblies had any important topics. The problem with the aliens though gained his attention.

My gaze wanders back to the hologram and my eyes set on the approaching fleet. “We could cloak ourselves and scatter our formation, hiding among the countless neutral alien installations. Our cloaking tech would allow us to evade them completely. There is no way that they can discern your signals from the background noise.”

Isciat shakes his head. “Probably that's exactly what they want us to do.” He pauses for a moment to gather his thoughts. “I and my people studied the code of conduct for ships and ship-movement within this system very carefully. The one thing that's absolutely made clear is no cloaking, hiding or attacking ships within the system. Otherwise all other powers within the system are obliged to use lethal force against the offender.”

Melan raises an eyebrow. “You are sure that there is no back-door like the one we used against Resch?”

Gabriel raises a hand. “We used a legal grey zone in that case. The Zeen couldn't object to our attack against Resch's facility because it ran under the cover of being a war. The facility in itself already wasn't within Zeen jurisdiction. The only thing they could have done to intervene was hindering our people to enter the station. But since we can teleport we never had to set foot into the station's legal space.”

Isciat takes over. “I am afraid that isn't the case here. The rules of conduct are worded in a way which includes every ship, even foreign attackers from outside.”

I scratch my temple. “But wouldn't that mean that they can't shoot either? So they are simply trying to force us to do something stupid? Or are they intending to break the law of this system at the cost of their own lives?”

They would surely be able to find some valuable piece of junk in the wrecks of our ships. It still sounds like a stupid thing to do.

One fact is for sure. If all the ships around us turn hostile, our only remaining option is to teleport out of here and run. But that would mean that we didn't accomplish what we came here to do.

Roderik decides to help. “Maybe you are giving up too early regarding the bending of rules.” He turns to face Isciat. “You said that any ship which attacks another ship is declared as hostile. What exactly is the definition of such an attack? Would boarding actions be permitted? Is ramming the enemy an option?”

Isciat frowns. “I think boarding would be a permitted action. But ramming another ship is definitely a form of attack.”

My eyes wander to the hologram of the approaching fleet. “If that's the case, then we've the advantage.”

Kandy points at the hologram. “There are two hundred forty-seven ships in that formation. Even with all our escorts together we only have roughly two hundred ships. And didn't you say that you don't have that many faceless?”

I shrug. “Our total tonnage is higher and if things get tough we still have Aether's population. It's highly unlikely to me that they can put as many soldiers into their ships as we have people.”

“Sto- stop. Aren't you talking about your civilians? You have to start evacuating them! Get them to safety! Right now.” She gets irritated.

Galia decides to stop them from embarrassing themselves any further. “You may be right in certain aspects, but you are forgetting about the differences between our people.”

“Certainly, to all your knowledge a group of civilians from Earth would run away and hide when some unknown foe enters the city and starts shooting.

But that's not the case with mages. If Resch's troops break into the city the reaction of the average magician will be to attack, especially after seeing what we recently spread in the news channels.”

She takes a deep breath.

“You already learned that our society is much more prepared for violence and the average magician wields powers equal to a bazooka. Imagine trying to subdue a population of Aether's size with an army. You can't disarm the civilians and have no way of winning their loyalty since we control our own media channels. The elders long since learned that governing mages can't be done by force or suppression. It's a fundamentally different group mentality.”

Roderik takes a breath and runs a hand through his grey hair. “If you put it that way. I guess your elders are living a nightmare in order to keep your population in check.”

Hedeon shakes his head. “We may be harsh on a personal level, but controlling the group is much easier than with humans from Earth. That's a large reason for why we left the normals. The average mentality of a magician tends to get carried away by the people who surround him. That's why our people often fought between themselves, following the petty discrepancies between humans. Until we stopped concerning ourselves with Earth's quarrels.”

Roderik wisely doesn't comment the offensive speech.

A smile crawls onto my face as I remember something. “I suppose our friends got a fixed approach course from system command. The same as we did?”

Isciat nods. “That's very likely.”

“Well then. Why don't we hack their systems and have a little electronic warfare? Once their course is predictable I don't see why we shouldn't use our incredible little helpers. I suppose my countermeasures against boarding actions are already implemented?” I raise an inquisitive eyebrow and look at our fleet commander.

Isciat grins ferociously and nods.

.