[M,03] Seat of the Federation

System M,03:
Olympus, Foreign District
Office of the Foreign Trade Minister

---

The Minister paced back and forth awaiting the arrival of the foreign dignitary. He the time on the holographic newscaster several feet away placed in the center of the room and walked over towards the bar in his lavish office. The office, while looking luxurious, was not something the Minister was entirely proud of. He knew it was mainly a show, a charade to impress foreigners in order to soften them up for the lucrative trade deals made in this office. Most of the times these negotiations involved weapons. The minister cared little for this however, as this is how it always was. The Federation was known for being one of the biggest arms dealers in the galaxy. The only rule; Do not oppose the Federation. As long as you kept to that dogma, the minister, or the entire Federal Government didn't care if you were a terrorist, drug dealer, or even slaver. Money was money, and the Red Sun Federation couldn't afford to turn down a potential customer.

The Minister wasn't alone in the office. He was joined by several companions, and a large entourage of Federal Guards. Excluding the guards, the rest of the population in the room was pre-occupied with discussion in their own little cliques. Army Officers discussing the re-location of manpower, the Admirals and Naval Officers discussing the logistics, and of course the spooks and inquisitors discussing the long-game of the deal that was hopefully to be signed today. However, the Minister stood by himself, not bringing of his aides to the table. He was busy going through the possibilities this deal could mean for the Red Sun.

Trader Minister Commodus looked at the clock again.

"Are they almost here?" The minister spoke to the office's V.I.

"The Jior delegates are on their way minister, and they should be here shortly."

System M,03:
Olympus, Foreign District
Office of the Foreign Trade Minister

---

The Jioran delegation arrived in punctual matter as was customary in their culture for business related to trade or politics. The face most familiar to the Red Sun Delegates lead the procession, a Dausarrai nobleman by the name of Abdenna Oneca dressed in ornate robes adorned with the intricate designs of his clan, that of a creature resembling a cross between a chicken and a dragon. Walking with him were two stern looking Jiorans, one in a decorated khaki uniform and the other wearing the white and gold of Jior's Navy. Behind them were three retainers wearing a similar style robe to Oneca yet not nearly as well-tailored and without intricate designs.

All of them wore traditional Jioran swords at their hip, each seated in a magnificent scabbard.

Oneca lead his delegation directly to Commodus exchanging a kind smile before bowing his head low as a gesture of respect. The Jiorian perception of the Red Sun has always been cordial and rooted in mutual exchange and even assistance, in the great 90 years of modernization Jior went through much of their economic, industrial and even military took great inspiration from the established and successful systems of the Red Sun Imperium and it's successor states.

He peered up after the bow to speak to the Minister directly in a heavy Jioran accent.


"Greetings, Trade Minister. Allow me to introduce you to Major General Nilrorgo and Vice Admiral Hathaur." the respective Jiorans nodded as he referred to them.

"We're anxious to hear what you have to say, shall we?"

System M,03:
Olympus, Foreign District
Office of the Foreign Trade Minister

---

The Trade Minister leans back in his chair. With a dry smile and a flick of his fingers another holographic image is projected onto the table. This time a planet. More specifically Talarin. It rotated in the center of the table, and then it zoomed in. It showed the First Carrier Strike group in orbit over Talarin, drop-ships pouring out like tentacles from an octopus.

"I assume you are aware of the Talarin system, no?"

He wouldn't wait for a response.

"Our forces have secured a beachhead on the planet. However, we lack the logistical resources to maintain a full presence on the planet for the time being. We would request a tertiary force by your Navy to be placed in the system. Any land embarkations you wish to make, as long as they do not interfere directly with our operations of course."


"Secondly, for the ISBMs to be placed within your system, there will be only a select few Jiorian officers placed on board the station. Otherwise, our warheads will be maintained and operated by our own personnel and built by our Engineer Corps. These are our only two terms."

System M,03:
Olympus, Foreign District
Nakar Embassy

---

The Nakar shuffled around their embassy, a grand structure of marble and glass plating. As one would enter the well kept building they would see imperial drones polishing and sweeping every inch of the grand hall, with lines of either human or Nakar filing for transfers to Imperial Space, for whatever reason. The lines were cut into large sections, the led screens that highlighted these sections changed their language periodically to accommodate for the large traffic;

HUMANS-NEOHUMANS-NAKAR-OTHER

Vending machines served refreshments and servant droids could be asked to retrieve items for civilians waiting. Behind the counter, robots filed transfer applications and were also tasked with tracking down stolen travel documents, something the Nakar were still trying to work out a deal with the local police. Behind that desk on the first floor of the embassy was where the real imperial beaurocracy was. A Nakar marine was positioned in the hallway in a PRAXIUS IX, a shrunken version of the PRAXIUS VIII. In Foreign Minister Krettel's office something stirred. It was coming Zlateksh, the human months of October and November, and after Zlateksh came Karab, cold of colds. It was usually this time that families were allowed their holidays, but it was the governments heaviest time of information crunching. This wouldn't have bothered Krettel. But the alien had been indulging in his position for too long now, and as such needed to haul ass.

Krettel pushed a button on his desk, opening a microphone com channel. "Cancel my 14:00. Send me an ambassador from the Red Sun Systems, and say, in the nicest possible way, I get a competent one please."

System M,03:
Olympus, Foreign District
Nakar Embassy

---

As the delegation proceeded into the lobby they made their small talk with a Nagarian desk clerk. Having done this the desk clerk pressed a button on his desk and roughly spoke through his translator. "Wait here please." After a few minutes of leaving the Red Sun Diplomats waiting in the lobby, admiring the works of art and sculpture, ambassador Krettel approached the diplomats with his own posse, no armed guards however, only signatories and assistants.

"Welcome, welcome Red Sun friends, please, please, follow me into my office." As they made their way into the office of Krettel they would see its grandeur, stone pillars with metallic lacing; a Nakar neogothic architectural staple. A large fireplace with a holographic fire being projected, and a wealthy food and drinks table. The meeting followed the same standard every bit of Nakar diplomacy did, a light snack.

"Sit sit, make yourself comfortable, sit where-ever you like, I pick a different chair to do my work." he said this as he cleared a few data tablets from the table. "Nakar Zelchek Spirits? Nagarian Tonnus Ale? Human Brandy, or humanities crowning galactic achievement?" he said as he opened a metallic red tin. "Coca cola, the carbonated drink that does nothing for ones body, but always seems to hit the spot around lunchtime." as the drinks were offered there was a picking plate of food, good food, above the average dinner placement, and for this time in the morning it wasn't uncommon for the Nakar staff to pick away at whilst they were discussing.

Krettel took a few home grown grapes; a human food he had become accustomed to during his stay on Olympus. "So tell me," he said, "We sit here, and we idly discuss politics, entertain ideas, but as you well know, I'm a spokesperson for my empire in this part of space, which, we both know is in your sphere of influence." he tilted his head as he spoke, attempting to push grape skin out of his teeth with his tongue. "The way I see it, and the way my administration sees it. We're by no means in any sort of frictional relationship. You're a nuclear power, we're a nuclear power, so lets be frank. We're competitors, you humans dress up your politics so arrogantly, not that I see that as a fault but when you're not dealing with other humans you seem so.... opaque.

The Nakar sees its relationship with the Systems as, as the humans say, fifty fifty. We share no common colonial goals, and we don't enjoy an active galactic forum, we both have our smaller echelons within our societies that we like to control, control leads to power, power leads to expansion, wealth and greatness, so on and so forth. So we wish to get a feel of the land, exchange things going on. Information is an extension of the aforementioned power. And since we share no common goals, and therefore don't need a monopoly on our goals, we can share our information freely, correct? This is the first step we could make in solidifying some resolutions between our empires.

What we need to know is if you want to put things like trade links and interstellar traffic official in our time. Our previous governments were on and off to committing to such a proposal, and we realise that previous iterations of our foreign policy have been more or less anti-human. But since the collapse of the USC and arguably the collapse of the pan-humanity movement we feel like now is the correct time to stretch out a wreath of friendship. More-over, we could be looking at a healthy FTL travel tax if we chose to go down such a route."