He disabled her ability to read his mind with a thought.
“You ready for our guests? They should be arriving soon enough,” Felix asked.
“I believe that’d be them over yonder, actually,” Kit said, indicating a group of people off to one side. “Victoria and a Fixer cornered them as soon as they got here. I’m afraid there’s some problems that we’ll have to discuss before you even go over there.”
“Oh. There’s always a problem. That much is certain. The question is… what is it this time?” Felix asked, looking to the group of people.
“Security brought in three people. Supposedly they’re the representative leaders for each group. One is, the other two aren’t,” Kit said. She pointed to the two older gentlemen of the three. “They’re maybe third in line, and come from a dictatorship form of government. They’re here because their leader didn’t want to risk themselves.”
“Alright, not exactly a bad idea when meeting with someone you have no idea about. I can’t deny that if I had someone show up wearing things that didn’t belong, with tech that I didn’t understand, I might be reserved as well. Is that the problem though? That doesn’t seem—”
“One of them has knowledge that their tribe is attacking the other even as we speak. They were hoping they’d send their leader and were going to use this as an opportunity,” Kit clarified.
“Huh. Not a bad plan. I mean, we did something very similar if you remember. Who exactly are they attacking?”
“The other dictatorship. They don’t view the council-run one as much of a threat.”
“I imagine not. Especially if they aren’t a warrior based community. Taking a guess here, this third one has only survived this long because the other two would attack the other the moment they went to take over the third?”
“Something like that,” Kit said, nodding her head.
“Right. Well, the only one who acted in good faith was our dear little community run tribe. That’s fine. They’re probably preferable to work with anyways. With a larger pool of essentials in their community, I imagine that they have far more to gain through a deal. The other two would have just wanted wealth so they could distribute to their backers. Politics is always so fun,” Felix said in a flat voice.
“Put a thought in Victoria’s head to send the other two away,” he continued. “Bring the democratic one. I’ll need Michael sooner than I thought. Give him a brief rundown of the situation and have him meet up with me.
“At the same time, I’m going to need you to mobilize say… an entire battalion of Legion Security. Armed for full combat. Engage their mech attachment as well,” Felix said, running down the plan in his head.
“That’s… quite a firm response. Did you want the Powered element activated as well?”
“No. Let’s keep that under wraps for now, but do ask for the appropriate number of Fixers and Telemedics. After that, get yourself back to HQ. I need you making sure the ship stays on course. I’ll be over that way,” Felix said, pointing at a boundary marker.
“Oh, and get me Miu,” Felix called over his shoulder. “Let her know in advance she’ll be off her leash.”
Flipping over his wrist he did a quick check for any new messages or email, and then tapped the alert indicator for Andrea.
A second later and her face popped up in the display. She was clearly in the ANet and working on something.
“Felix?” she asked. “What’s going on? I just saw a number of things light up and go active at the same time. I thought you said you didn’t need me because this was going to be simple.”
“Yeah. Looking like we’re going to have a bit of a fight out here on Legion world. Is uh… is Adriana available? I think I’m going to need her,” Felix said. He wasn’t quite sure how to refer to the two of them yet. It’d only been a day after all.
“Nn! She is. Want me to send her your way? Full combat rigging?” she asked.
“Yeah. And an Andrea of course. Not you though, not Prime. Or Adriana’s Prime. If I don’t have to spend points I’d rather not,” Felix said.
“Got it!” chirped the Beastkin, and promptly shut down the channel.
Almost at the same time, Victoria brought over a middle-aged man, and Michael came up from the other side.
“Great, everyone’s here. First up, did the Fixer finish up with English?” Felix asked, looking to Victoria.
“Yes. Your servant gave me your language,” said the man.
Felix gave him a second look and found that he was fairly ordinary. Brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a face weathered by work and toil.
His age may not have been what he’d originally thought. In fact, now that Felix really looked at him, he might be in his thirties and simply suffering a hard life lived rough.
“Good. And your name?” Felix prompted.
“Hern.”
“Any surname attached to that or just—”
“Hern.”
“I’m going to assume you meant that your name is simply Hern, and not Hern Hern. Anyways. My name is Felix. These are indeed my people, and this is going to become my camp. I originally asked all three of your tribal leaders to come speak with me to discuss things. Though I’ve just found that apparently your two neighbors are already engaged in what sounds an all-out attack on each other. Best guess is they’ll turn on you when they’re done,” Felix said, keeping it simple.
Hern blinked once and then started to turn to the side, as if he wanted to run straight home.
“I’d like to make you an offer,” Felix said, trying to head the man off before he ran off with his emotions. “One that would be equitable for both of us. I want to—”
Felix paused as he realized he was probably talking past the man, if not far above him.
“I want to work out a deal that’s good for both of us. I want your people to join me, if they’re willing, and I want to trade you in… stuff,” Felix said. He wasn’t sure how else to call it other than stuff. They hadn’t even figured out what they’d need yet.
Other than the basics, that is.
“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Hern said. “Because as soon as one of those two kills off the other, they’ll turn on my people. We’re not… we’re not a warrior tribe.” Hern shook his head, looking at the ground. “I should have listened. We should have moved long ago.”
“About that. I think the starting point for an agreement might be as simple as say, an alliance?” Felix said.
The dark brown eyes of Hern jumped up to Felix’s own and stayed there.
“You do not have the number of warriors needed to defeat them. You offer something that you don’t have.”
“Don’t worry about that part. I’ll need a yes or a no, and your signature. Wait, do you even have a written language?” Felix asked, halfway to pulling out a sheet of folded paper he’d prepped in advance.
Hern had the look of someone listening to a crazy person.
“Right, no written language. A thumbprint worked for Erica so, let’s try that. How do you feel about a blood-oath?” Felix asked.
“Fine. And what is this blood-oath needed from me and mine? Would you have me become your property to simply avoid becoming their property?” Hern asked.
“Honestly, it’s simply a straight alliance with nothing promised other than mutual defense and cooperation. By my honor, that is all,” Felix said.
“And you’d put your own blood-oath mark on it?” Hern asked.
That’s new.
“I would be willing—”
Hern pulled a small knife from his belt and cut it across the ball of his thumb. He then promptly pressed his thumb to the paper, while holding the knife out hilt-first to Felix.
Taking the knife, Felix eyed it for a second, then repeated the same action Hern had.
“Michael, I took the liberty of getting you a battalion worth of Security. The attached mechanized unit was activated as well. I need you to take the field and protect our new allies,” Felix said, looking to the local force commander.