“That wasn’t creepy at all,” Polly muttered.
Erzo was inclined to agree with her. “What future could the two of you have in mind?”
“We have the future of this sector, and it’s not throttled by you,” Tellis said, gesturing to Olmed.
“What did he do?” Tori gestured to Olmed. “He’s a miner.”
“His people are the real issue,” Shoval said. “They hold all the claims on citricite in the galaxy. They have the monopoly on it.”
“What’s so special about citricite?” Polly asked.
“It’s like diamonds, but it’s also a power source,” Tori said.
“And it is extremely volatile and unstable if mined incorrectly,” Olmed added. “Anyone who tries to mine it without proper equipment can blow up the ore.”
“Or an asteroid,” Phares said. He glared at his father. “You blew up the asteroid, testing equipment, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t blow anything up,” Shoval said. “The equipment was unstable!”
“When you try to use to mine explosive minerals!” Phares fired back.
Erzo looked back at Phares. “Did you know there’s citricite in those asteroids?”
“There’s always a small fragment of it in any asteroid field, but not enough to properly mine,” Phares said. “That’s why we do the pressure poppers on the minerals. To make sure any citricite is destroyed before bringing it into the ship.”
“Because the Kantenans won’t share the equipment to properly collect it,” Shoval said.
“You’re who they were selling the equipment to,” Olmed said. “It’s you who?—"
“Me, actually,” Tellis said. “Don’t you understand the profits that could be made, mining citricite? It’s the most coveted mineral in the galaxy!”
“Don’t you understand how unstable it is to mine?” Erzo fired back. “There’s a reason the Mining Guild doesn’t retrieve it—it requires a much more complex mining and processing than any other mineral in the galaxy.”
“It can, and regularly does, kill the miners,” Olmed said. “Even with the best safety protocols in place. Retrieval and processing both are very dangerous.”
“It’s also more widespread than the Kantenans ever knew!” Tellis fired back. “We have it here in Charrovik! Clan Indigo has found a huge vein of it.”
And it all came together for Erzo. If a clan could control the majority of the clans on Charrovik, they would basically own the whole system, as well as any profits that were owned by the other clans.
The credits to be made through this deal was explosive.
If it came together.
“You were going to mate with Breal, to unite the two clans. Then collaborate with Indigo,” Erzo said. “That was your plan all along. When I showed up with Polly, it ruined your plan to unite them peacefully.”
“One of Hornse’s contracts would have been air-locked, and there would have been no way to break it. The male is gifted, when it came to writing contracts. As you know,” Tellis snarled at him.
“His contracts are good,” Erzo said. He’d not been able to find any kind of space to play in the one that had been written for him and Breal. He hadn’t been able to go over everything at the time, because of the fight. Hopefully, though, now, the deal would be void, due to circumstances.
And if not, well, Erzo would leave.
If he had to, he’d take Polly all the way to the Galactic Alliance home world. It was nice, he’d been told.
“Well, you’re not as stupid as I thought,” Tellis said. “Because when you showed up with your transaction, I had to adjust my plans. It still will work, because when Indigo’s through with Kovat and Dona, they’ll dominate all three clans.”
“And in effect, run Charrovik,” Erzo said. “Control whatever citricite was found, no matter which clan owned the location.”
“Your place in this is what,” Phares asked Shoval.
