The message was waitingwhen I woke up.
I didn’t open it immediately. I fed Silli first, made something to eat, and stood on the deck in the early light. I’d added the railings after Aila’s surprise visit and was glad I did. They gave me something to lean on as I looked moodily out at the ocean. Silli had finished eating his fish eyes and was lying belly-up on the deck, sunning himself. He didn’t have an inkling about the dangers facing his very cushy lifestyle. But I did.
The guild response had arrived in the standard encrypted format, no author listed. I’d expected that. Response documents like this were typically compiled from senior members who weren’t out on assignment. They pulled from their collective knowledge and the computer wrote the thing based on those responses. I knew how this worked, since I’d been on the contributing end of several inquiries, back when I was active. Usually, the guild charged for their feedback, but they hadn’t asked for any credits from me. Maybe this was their version ofprofessional courtesy, considering how long I’d been an active member.
I would have paid whatever they asked.
Eventually, I went inside and read it.
To the inquiring party, re: The Rivonok Alliance and current outer quadrant activity in the Lesser Wafsel star system:
The Rivonok Alliance is a multispecies smuggling syndicate currently operating across the outer and mid-quadrant. Their primary function is the acquisition of proprietary biological resources—specifically those of high value and limited replication potential—and the subsequent lockdown of their production for syndicate-controlled distribution.
Engagement: They do not lead with mass violence. Their preferred methodology is intimidation, economic displacement, and coerced cooperation. They acquire with leverage as the first option, and force as their second. However, they carry significant muscle, and several of their member factions are aggressive by nature. Despite preferring nonviolent methods, this syndicate should not be considered harmless. This faction is methodical, plans extensively, and has multiple contingency plans in place before arriving at a location for takeover.
The Rivonok have been operating in the outer quadrant for approximately one standard galactic year. Regarding the Lesser Wafsel system, they have identified a local substance with healing qualities and flagged it for acquisition eight standard galactic months ago.
Estimated arrival at a likely target location: six to eight weeks from the date of this message.
No further intelligence available at this time. Treat the above as directional, not definitive.
I sat with that long enough for the sun to move higher over the ocean. I was aware of how the Rivonok Alliance worked, having been on several different assignments that had put me alongside them and against them. The guild knew this, but it had been a long time since those assignments, so their full account was thoughtful.
What really bent my mind was the realization that this…invasion? Capture? Whatever it was, it had been in the works for longer than I’d been here. So, when I chose Podnos-9 as my new home, the Rivonok Alliance had already targeted it. That made me madder than I had the luxury of feeling.
Another guild practice I was using more often than I thought I would: let new information settle. Do not immediately take action. I’d come close to dying for my own premature conclusions once or twice, and here I was, taking this advice for the second time in a couple of weeks.
I did not have much patience today.
I went back to the deck again. Silli had relocated to the back of the big chair and was watching me. He’d lived with me long enough to know when something was off.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said.
He sneezed and rolled over.
By midday I’d drawn every line there was to draw, and they all pointed in the same direction. I put on a clean shirt and decided to walk to the village, rather than take the shuttle. Not that delaying the inevitable would make this any easier.
Maive’s house was lit from inside when I arrived. She opened the door before I knocked, which meant she’d seen me coming, which meant she’d been watching for me. Her face fell when she saw me in her doorway. My expression must have been dark enough to tell her that I didn’t have good news.
“Come in,” she said.
I came in. She did not ask how my day was going. She was bypassing the ritual of it, and I was grateful for that.
I told her everything. The Rivonok Alliance. What they did and how they did it. The eight months of interest injunversyrup. The estimated timeline. The methodology that involved intimidation, displacement, and coerced cooperation, with violence as backup in case the cleaner methods failed to get what they asked for. I was clear and specific and brief as possible, which was one of the few things the guild had trained into me that I was genuinely grateful for.
She listened without interrupting and, oh, I recognized that behavior in her. She was composing her response, more than absorbing what was being said. She’d already decided what she wanted to do and was waiting for me to finish so she could say it.
“What doyouthink we should do?” she asked as a formality.
“Evacuate,” I replied immediately. “I have contacts. I can arrange transit. It won’t be easy, but everyone will be alive and together, and that’s more than I can promise if you stay and try to fight a professional syndicate with people who’ve never held a weapon.”
“No,” she said. Just that. No deliberation, no consideration.
Frustration rose up in me. “You cannot just say no, with the lives of your people at stake.”
“I’m aware of the stakes,” she said sharply. “How many will be coming here?”
“The first Rivonok operation I saw was a takeover of abiominecollective on Tessavar IV. They arrived with forty personnel. Armed security, extraction specialists, a negotiator and dozens of drones.” I paused, leaving out my role in the mission. “The negotiator goes in first. That’s how they prefer to work. They make an offer. It’s not a good offer, but it’s an offer. They’ll go back and forth for a while, but if they’re refused, the security team takes over.”
