Max didn''t even have time to finish exining the situation to the Envoys when an emergency message came through to hismunicator from Rae 5 Command.


    [All Reaver Units. Multiple foreign attacks were detected. Initial results show the vessels to contain a species of fat slobs known as the Volga. The attached fives are under heavy attack, and as per Trade Group convention, all avable forces are summoned to their defence.


    The Reaver Council will be convening in one hour to discuss appropriate punishment and redistribution of defensive forces. The prevailing sentiment is to forcefully take the alien species into the human fold.


    Data collected from Alliance databases show that they hold one hundred and seven worlds, a number that we believe can be securely managed by the Trade Group task force, bringing their technology under our purview.]


    Max read through the message three times before turning the screen to the Giant and Valkia Envoys, who looked quite concerned by the grimace on his face.


    "Does that mean what I think it means?" The Valkia asked.


    "That the view of the governing body of humans is that the Volga have dered war on us as a species by attacking ours? I am afraid that it does, and ording to our agreement, I don''t believe that the Alliance has a say in the matter." Max agreed.


    The Valkia sighed while the Giant began pulling up the details of their agreements and then gave the Valkia a curt nod. Indeed, there was nothing in either of the agreements between the Volga and the Alliance or the Humans and the Alliance that gave them intervenor status.


    While they were panicking, the Huntress at the table was doing her best to hideughter, with her eyes glued on a message that had arrived on her ownmunicator.


    "What is the Hunter''s position?" The Giant asked.


    "We aren''t sure yet. We have an official petition from the Reavers, forwarded by Huntress Khan, to dere the Volga as a game species, citing their attacks on the humans as proof of diminished capacity for sentient thought." Sheughed.


    That had to be a Nico initiative.


    If they were determined to be a game species, then the Hunters wouldn''t give them any trouble about anything that they did to the Volga, who were regr customers of the Hunters. They probably wouldn''t go as far as to dere the species as non-sentient based on a single attack, but it was good for augh.


    "Forward that to your superiors, please. I think they will need augh as much as the rest of us do, and it will serve as a rather fitting formal deration of war between the Volga and the Humans.


    I understand that we didn''t get off on a good note, but they don''t seem to understand the nature of the Reaver culture. If you attack one of ours, you attack them all. That is thew. There really isn''t a way out of this without a full withdrawal on their part and a formal apology." Max exined.


    "What sort of force are you nning to turn on them? They are notoriously arrogant, and a small show of force won''t do much to deter them or their allies." The Huntress exined.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "From what I can tell, we have the support of the New Kepler Territory, the Cygnus Fleet, the Death Wind Mercenaries, seven major Reaver Families and the Border Alliance for a full-scale assault on the Volga."


    The Huntress thought for a moment, then nodded. "They intend to take the entire Volga Confederation, don''t they? If they control the entire territory, they are the governors by default, and they can im all the Volga technology as Human technology without viting any Alliance trade agreements."


    "Can humans even do that? It''s the Volga, not some primitive species." The Giant''s assistant asked.


    "That''s the real question, isn''t it? Is this group secure? If not, I can''t divulge anything about our military strength. If it is, I can fill you in on the basics so that the Alliance can be appraised of the situation as soon as a non-disclosure agreement is signed." Max suggested.


    "Envoy fleets are bound to confidentiality. Other than the Central Council, none of our activities may be broadcast to the general public without the permission of all parties involved. If we leaked such matters, nobody would trust us enough to negotiate with us." The Valkia replied with a professional frown.


    The Giant brought out a generic Non-Disclosure agreement and passed it around the table, finishing with Max.


    "With that out of the way. I can tell you that while the Council is debating the matter, it is almost certain to go through. The Reavers take getting attacked very personally, and most of the other forces involved just want the technology that they can loot after a battle.


    The total should be roughly ten thousand cruiser ss ships, plus destroyers and a fewrger vessels, each equipped for war with mechanized regiments."


    The Envoys sat silently as they digested that information for a moment before the Innu raised her hand.


    "I know what is on Terminus and her Cutters, as well as the Cruisers. Is that representative of a standard deployment?"


    Max shook his head. "We are not considered heavily armed. A cruiser would normally have an entire Mecha Regiment on board, not just a few Companies. The transport ships will have multiple Regiments of Mecha, plus an entire field army of infantry on board. At this point, don''t expect any of them to be green recruits. We are finishing a Civil War. They will all be battle-tested veterans."


    "How long until we know the status of the attacking forces?" The Valkia asked.


    "We should have updates every hour on the hour, by standard procedure. Any other important questions before I am distracted by the ongoing situation?" Max asked.


    "Not a question, but I have a response from the Hunters. They say that if you want to assert that the Volga are not sentient beings, you need to prove it. They will not get involved in the battle either way until a decisive answer is provided."


    Well, that was one less ally for the Volga and a big relief to Max.