They crossed the stars, sending back reports of lush or hostile planets, as Refakira's people struggled to understand new technologies: First in the field of propulsion, then in planetology ... and then word came, first from Captain Dustmit Emic Roscopic, then from Captain Cicado as well, of a Silicoid presence in the east. Though work started at home on industrial improvement technology, the Klackons were nervous, and not without reason. Just as they were finally putting the finishing touches on their homeworld factories, they learned of the Silicoid bandits making a move on the galaxy.
With three star systems already in their rocky appendages, the Silicoids were well ahead of the game. It would be two years more before the Klackons completed their first advance in modern technology, with ecological restoration techniques - and starting development of further technologies that Refakira knew would now be needed: Along with plans for colonizing icy Regulus, work began on a missile jammer, defensive rockets, and shielding. It was a full year later that Fleads Ind'ollander - a little parasite of a warrior, so pale as to be almost ghostly, rumored always to carry enormous wealth with him - set out with a cargo of suspended-animation life support chambers toward the vast but distant world of Talas. Once he arrived a few years later though, depositing his cargo and kicking them out of stasis, he hurried back to Kholdan: Fleads had more work to do.
He raced out in his new colony cruiser, with more frozen bodies in the hold, just a year before the latest construction and planetology technologies were complete, and not long before Klackon computer scientists achieved a breakthrough of their own. His colleagues continued to fan out across the galaxy, discovering new planets - and the bandit forces there. Captain Beemont buzzed about a a Meklar scout in orbit up at Exis, and Dustmit's tiny voice crossed the deeps of space to report on an entire Silicoid colony at the green star of Tyr in the east. Worst still, just one year after Fleads and his payload of colonists landed at Herculis, Earwigi Mayflyriosbro called back to Kholdan in a panic: He had been chased from Exis by a trio of Psilon Starfighters. The bandits were arming themselves once more.
The Klackons quickly prepared defenses, completing the development of new rockets and shields for their missile bases, followed by the irridium fuel that would allow their ships to reach Psilon worlds. The brains were suitably impressed, and their bandit leader, Tachaon the Magnificous, agreed to parley with Refakira. Quietly, the old ronin said, "You have a star system of your own, and others that your technological power will no doubt soon allow you to reach. Prosperity is not a zero-sum game. If you seek to steal from the Klackons, it will only weaken us both. Therefore agree instead to enrich yourself through trade." Mindful of the bugs' superior range and war-production capabilities, Tachaon reluctantly agreed.
By 2362, when he met the Silicoid warlord Ngxskgkgrkhgg - who had long toiled to persuade people to take him for Granid - Refakira had high hopes of ending the Klackons' bandit troubles simply through wise words, reason ... and superior technology. In the intervening years, his people had learned to colonize nearly every type of planet in the galaxy, up to and including fiery inferno worlds; had developed duralloy armor to protect them from bandit attack should any occur; and even before tripling the power of their battle computers, had been named the top technological power in the galaxy, though the Meklar were not far behind and the Psilons nipping at the machine-peoples' heels. The bugs had colonized icy Regulus, and Earwigi was already on his way to claim another world for the insect people. True, the Silicoids had claimed the toxic worlds of Vox and Phantos - the latter, the richest world in all the galaxy - and true, they had done so with a heavily armed combat fleet, but when he saw Klackon technology in action, even "Granid" agreed it was best to trade, though he remained uneasy with the bugs, and his agreement was worth less than half of the one with Tachaon.
Taking nothing for Granid, least of all Ngxskgkgrkhgg, Refakira urged Earwigi to hurry as well as he could - and in 2364, he arrived at Phyco. That large, dead world was no Phantos, certainly, but it was by far the richest world among the Klackon lands.
The golden droid took notice: None of the bandits, for all their rapacity, had managed to claim six systems as had the Klackons, and the very next year, Fleads would add the jungle world of Mu Delphi to the tally, at the center of the galaxy. There was every reason to believe that the peaceful Klackon farmers could prosper indefinitely, sharing some of their goods with one-time bandits in fair exchange for such goods as the bandits themselves produced. The Klackons were optimistic - and so would likely have perished quickly had Refakira taken anything for Granid.
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Next: War Breaks Out!
