There was a good reason someone as senior as Yestesh had been dispatched here. Shortly after the Countdom of Hyde became a territory of the Empire, it got taken over by the United Humankind. That fact presented a slew of complicating circumstances that were comparatively unique even among the sundry worlds of the Empire.
Even so, Jint was still annoyed by how he could barely escape this consummate bureaucrat. Yestesh would let nothing evade his notice, including things Jint didn’t think were worth the effort.
“I should start by relaying the present state of affairs,” said Yestesh. “No reports yet of the landworld administration of Martinh accepting reentry into the Empire.”
“That’s a shame,” said Jint, nodding so as to seem as gravely serious as possible.
Strictly speaking, Jint’s home planet was not yet imperial territory. It appeared there were still land troops on the surface. The Star Forces, after securing the Hyde Portal, kept a recon squadron in the area to search for enemy ships for about a month, only to determine there was no sign of the enemy in the astrospace and promptly withdraw. Even the interstellar ships making use of neighboring routes ended up passing by the Hyde Portal, having no way to resupply in the system. Only patrol ships and battle-line ships would ever drop by the Countdom of Hyde, in order to verify anew the will of the landworld administration. That was how Jint and the others knew they hadn’t changed their minds.
“How long has it been since the last space-time fusion?” asked Jint.
“There has been no space-time fusion since leaving the Saudec Estoter (Estotec Portal).”
Jint inwardly heaved a sigh. The Baucbiruch was currently sailing through planar space. Inter-bubble communication was only possible at close range, and the rate of information transfer was extremely slow at that. In other words, as long as they didn’t merge with the space-time of another ship, there was no way for them to keep abreast of the latest news. Yet they reported the current situation as conscientiously as they could.
“The amount of information is lessening with time,” said Yestesh. “Since they can’t resupply antimatter fuel, ships are veering away from the Countdom of Hyde.”
“I know that.” Jint wondered why he kept stating the bleeding obvious. He’d thought the Abh were a more practical race. “We are currently recruiting fuel-related personnel. We are also arranging our equipment, and plan to arrive in the countdom alongside the necessary personnel.”
“I know that.” Yestesh’s eyes screamed, “why is this young man stating the obvious.”
Is he for real? lamented Jint.
“Now then, have there been any changes to our plans?”
“No, no changes,” said Jint sharply.
“Then we’re to stay in the Vorlash Countdom for some time, correct?”
“For some time? We’re not just resupplying there?” Lafier butted in.
“Yeah. It’s undecided for how long, but the plan’s to stay there. Did I forget to tell you?”
“This is the first I’ve heard of this. Why must we stay at a place like that?”
To Jint, the planet Delktu was a trove of memories. To Lafier, it was some unremarkable rock.
Jint’s displeasure must have crept over his face; Lafier’s sharp eyes spotted it. “Do not tell me it’s because it’s where we first met. Just hearing you say that would be dreadfully embarrassing.”
“Oh, I won’t. It’d be even cringier to be the one firing off a line like that. But Vorlash, or rather Delktu, is my second home.”
“Then we’re staying there because of your personal feelings?”
“Well, I’d be lying if I said I was totally impassive, but we do have business there. I want to recruit vassals.”
“Mechanics Linewing Samson is recruiting in Lacmhacarh, is he not?” Lafier knew Samson had had his name crossed off the military registers, yet she still appended his former title to his name.
“I’m having Mr. Samson pick out engineer vassals, but we need administrative vassals, too. He was in the Mechanics Branch, and I’m in the Budget Branch. It makes sense that I should be looking for administrative vassals.”
“But surely, it would behoove you to look for them in Lacmhacarh, too.”
“If anything, we ought to be searching in Martinh, since the people there are familiar with their own situation. But it’s not in the cards at the moment.”
“If so, we should be making it over there as soon as possible to make the landworld administration surrender, no?” She wasn’t trying to persuade him, but rather asking sincerely.
“If you’re that confident you can persuade them, we’ll do that.”
“If we try and fail, we can always return to Vorlash then,” she said, cornering Jint without even meaning to.
“Fair point,” he replied. Jint realized he may have just come up with any old excuse to postpone going to the system that had become his star-fief.
“Actually,” said Yestesh, Jint’s unexpected savior (though not through any volition of Yestesh’s own), “it may be best to wait a little while before His Excellency returns to his star-fief.”
You’re right, Jint was about to say, before stopping himself in the nick of time. “Why is that?”
“It pains me to say it, but conditions as of now are very rough. I believe it would be best if I go there first and gather more detailed information.”
“I see.” Instead of a young grandee strolling on up and making affairs even more tangled, the experienced public official ought to observe the scene first.
“The Star Forces have already conducted some reconnaissance in the countdom, but it’s still unclear at the moment what exactly the landworld administration’s thoughts are. I think it wise to ascertain that before Your Excellency goes to persuade them.”
“From what I’ve heard, they fancy independence.”
“Such a strange notion,” said Yestesh, pity in his voice. “They can’t be serious.”
“They knew there were other worlds somewhere, but they didn’t know anything beyond that. They’d spent more than two hundred years living solely off their system.”
“Yes, I did hear tell.
