"Do unto others as they would do unto you."

Varn, Space

Two Coalition warships appeared on Varn's horizon, continuing their slow orbit around the world. They were part of the temporary defense force that would remain at Varn until the Cavrilhu Pirate threat had been eliminated, and now that they were here, Smarts could begin to implement his plan to bring down the Cavrilhu Pirates. With their world adequately defended by Coalition forces, the vessels of the Varn Defense Force were almost ready to depart; the people of Varn had decided that they would face their foes on their own.


* * *


Several hours later: Space, somewhere in the Quelii Sector

A dozen superfreighters dropped out of hyperspace, beginning their slow maneuvers to align themselves for the last jump in their sequence, the one that would take them to Varn. On the edge of senor range, several vessels blinked into existence: they were ships belonging to the Cavrilhu Pirates, and they were eager to exact vengeance for the loss of Varn. They advanced quickly, closing in to block off the slow freighters' escape paths, but as they drew nearer, the freighters altered their formation, several of them rolling onto their sides and cutting in front of the rest of the formation, erecting a basic defensive wall. Shaped charges exploded along the lengths of two others, revealing concealed racks from which starfighters launched, and only seconds before the pirates came into firing range, a new group of ships exited hyperspace behind the pirates, the imposing bulk of a Lucrehulk-class Core Ship now looming over the stunned and surrounded pirates.

"Vessels of the Cavrilhu Pirates, I am Smarts, Coordinator of the Cooperative Defense Force. Your long-ranged communications are being jammed; no one is coming to help you. Surrender now or we will make you."

The pirates did not respond, continuing on course and preparing to fire. . . that is, until the forward freighters brought their shields to full power, and showed just how prepared the freighters had been made for this specific encounter. The Cavrilhu commander began to turn his formation away and run for open space, but the smaller ships of the newly arrived Cooperative force had already moved forward to cover the gap between the freighters and Smarts. Trapped in a near-perfect sphere of enemy ships, outnumbered, outgunned, and outshielded, the Cavrilhu surrendered immediately. At heart, these pirates were cowards, and any coward would rather surrender than face the growing likelihood of death.

The holoimage of the Cavrilhu commander appeared, a snear on his face. "How?"

Smarts' reply came quickly, and coldly: "You are an enemy of the Cooperative; I owe you nothing."


* * *


Space, uninhabited system in the Quelii Sector

The smuggler freighter Troubled Times docked with the Cavrilhu corvette Flying Fortress in a lonely, unspectacular system in the Quelii Sector. It was delivering supplies for the ship's crew. . . or so the pirates thought. As the freighter's captain boarded the pirate ship and began complaining about how he wasn't getting paid enough for the new risk he was taking by operating in Coalition space, several Cavrilhu began unloading crates and boxes from the freighter, and carrying them off to their appropriate locations. Soon after, the smuggler gave up his argument and boarded his ship, taking off and heading for open space. A few minutes later, after the freighter was well out of range, the corvette shook inexplicably from several internal explosions. The crew scrambled around, unsure of what was happening, until several of the larger boxes that had just been delivered opened, and a few dozen battle droids emerged at various locations throughout the ship. A single, odd-looking droid who hadn't been seen since Smarts' first encounter with the Cavrilhu stepped out from the largest of the boxes. It was Alpha, Smarts' first specialty droid, a slicer. He had been modified for this mission to serve as a mobile command and control unit for the battle droids, and he was ready to get this over with.

As the battle droids moved about in groups of four, they quickly set up a defensive perimeter around a predesignated area of the ship. With sections of the ship now exposed to space, and other parts cut off due to internal damage, the few pirates inside the perimeter were quickly dealt with, and the droids began their systematic sweep of the ship. Everything had been planned out perfectly, down to the last package, and in less than ten minutes, a few dozen well-coordinated battle droids had neutralized over one hundred dazed and confused pirates.

Alpha boarded the now-secured bridge and plugged into the navigational controls, setting a course for Varn. He sent a single message to Smarts via the corvette's long-ranged comm systems: Objective achieved. If everything was going as planned elsewhere, Smarts' would have stopped jamming long-ranged signals at his location by then.


* * *


Elsewhere in the Quelii Sector
Beta stood on the bridge of the Cooperative's second-largest vessel, the Kaloth-class Battlecruiser that had been captured during the liberation of Varn. Renamed the Spoils of Freedom, it was the centerpiece of a small formation of modified freighters and outdated patrol ships, most of which had belonged to the Shili volunteers who had remained at Varn and become part of the Cooperative Defense Force. In front of them floated another formation, this one belonging to the Cavrilhu Pirates. It's command ship was also a Kaloth Battlecruiser, but it was being supported by craft much more impressive than freighters and patrol ships.

"Hail them," Beta said, turning toward the vessel's holorecorder. "I am Beta, diplomatic representative of Smarts, the Coordinator of the Cooperative Defense Force."

"What do you want, droid?" Replied the gruff voice of a pirate who was apparently commanding the enemy force.

"I'm here to negotiate your surrender," Beta said simply. "Cease your hostile actions now, or I will be forced to make you."

"Hah! And just how do you expect to do that?"

The sound of a blaster was heard in the background, then what was obviously flailing bodies appeared around the enemy battlecruiser as airlocks all over the ship were opened. "Ship secured, sir," A new voice said from the pirate command ship.

Beta paused for a second, then nodded to the captain and began speaking again. "Let's try this again: Members of the Cavrilhu Pirates, cease your hostile actions now, or we will be force to make you."

As the freighters and patrol ships moved forward to surround the pirate formation, the newer voice from the pirate's battlecruiser was heard again: "All ships, this is acting captain Damar Roka; stand down and prepare to be boarded. Do this, or I will make you."

"What's the meaning of this?" A new voice cut into the comm traffic. "If Captain Lomax is dead, then I'm in command, not you!" Another blaster bolt was heard, and several bodies appeared around a Corellian Gunship.

"I suggest we end this now, before the third in command meets a similar fate," Beta said calmly. "I repeat: stand down, or we will make you."

Lasers lanced out from the Cavrilhu's second Corellian Gunship for a second, then they fell silent as more bodies were jettisoned into space.

"Are you really prepared to see how far we have infiltrated your organization? Be advised: by decree of the High Council of the Cooperative, you all are wanted for crimes against the people of Varn; if you resist detainment, by Cooperative law your lives are forfeit. This is your final warning: power down your systems, or I will give the order to send you all to your cold, dark, oxygen-deprived fates."

Varn, Orbit, one day later

"I have a report to give to the Combined Council in less than an hour! I need to know what's been happening out there." Traan Shi looked more distressed than Smarts had ever seen him, and with good reason; Traan had sacrificed his career as Shili's chief diplomatic representative to help Smarts liberate Varn from the Cavrilhu, and now he found himself being used like some sort of errand boy for the Combined Council, and it was getting tiresome. But such is the way of building governments and protecting freedoms.

"Very well," Smarts said after a brief pause. "In order to effectively counter the Cavrilhu threat, I have resorted to . . . unconventional means. The tools of manipulation that the Cavrilhu employed to gain control of Varn, I now employ to destroy them." Traan's face changed as he heard those words, and it was obvious that he knew he was about to hear an uncomfortable explanation, but he remained silent, and allowed Smarts to continue. "I will show them no compassion, no mercy, no desire for reconciliation. These people have violated the sovereignty of the planet Varn, held hostage its government, looted its citizens, and disrupted its freedom; they will pay.

"Yesterday began the campaign to bring about the end of the Cavrilhu Pirates. I launched three simultaneous attacks on three specific targets for very specific reasons. The main attack was actually the result of what could be considered a double agent: during the brief time the Cavrilhu occupied Varn, they abducted members of several important families, using them to ensure that key members of the government would cooperate. One of those captured individuals was the daughter of the Minister of Commerce; since the liberation of Varn, the Cavrilhu have used her to make the Minister give them schedules for incoming and outgoing vessels and convoys. Yesterday, the Cavrilhu used information provided by the minister to launch their largest attack yet: the interception of the convoy carrying parts for the new space station; however, the Minister informed us of the Cavrilhu plot days before he gave them the information on our convoy. Because of that forewarning, we were able to stage an ambush for the Cavrilhu ships sent to capture our freighters. We were able to surround them and force their surrender; no lives were lost."

"But what about the minister's daughter?"

"The minister's daughter is just one among many of the people who were kidnapped from Varn. I've been working on a plan to free them since the day Varn was liberated. Using information attained from interrogations of captured pirates, I was able to learn the location of a corvette being used to keep these victims. I gained a supply schedule for the corvette from one of our captured pirate ships, and contacted the smuggler that would be making a supply run to the prison ship. While I was engaged in the conflict over our freighters, a small group of battle droids infiltrated the pirate ship with the help of that smuggler. Naturally, we paid him a significant sum to accommodate the change in the delivery order. All abductees were rescued safely, and were promptly brought here, to Varn.

"It seems like you've been handling the situation adequately; I don't see why you've been so reluctant to fill me in on what you've been doing."

Smarts let out what could only be described as a laugh. "You haven't heard about the last conflict. I sent Beta on what I called a "diplomatic mission." Officially, he was to "negotiate the terms of surrender" for a group of Cavrilhu who were deployed at a nearby hyperspace junction. In reality, he was there to observe them destroying one another. Over the past several days, I've secretly been contacting several Cavrilhu members located within a specific raiding party. With the very quiet consent of the High Court, I used their friends and families—who were also members of the pirate organization—that we captured during the liberation of Varn as bargaining chips , and forced them to do what I wanted. I blackmailed a few others with sensitive data I gained from interrogations and captured ship records, and the last few who I couldn't find any other way to gain cooperation from, I paid off. In exchange for burying sensitive material and agreeing to give shorter sentences to their friends and family members, they secretly planned mutinies aboard their own ships. Suffice it to say, three captains within the ranks of the Cavrilhu Pirates, and most of the crews of their ships, are now dead. The remainder of the raiding team quickly surrendered."

Traan may have thought the first two conflicts were handled well, but he definitely had something to say about this last one. "This is unacceptable. . . This is unacceptable! The Council will never condone this kind of action! You can't resort to blackmail, extortion, and bribery to get what you want! This isn't right! This isn't right!"

Smarts' voice changed to a tone more grave and resolute than Traan had ever heard from him. "I will not sacrifice the lives of Varn's citizens in some vain attempt to appease your narrow view of what is 'acceptable.' By order of the High Court, and according to the new laws of Varn, enemies of the state who refuse to submit when confronted, forfeit their right to life. I was within my legal rights to use whatever means I deemed necessary to subdue what has been deemed a 'clear and acknowledged threat to the safety of the planet Varn.'" His voice returned to the normal, emotionless, mechanical state Trann was used to hearing. "I realize that you are obligated to report according to your beliefs, but understand this: I will do to them as they sought to do to us, and I have no reservations about that. Not when it protects the lives of the men and women who serve under my command."


* * *


"You are not only the Coordinator of the Cooperative Defense Force—the closest thing to a military commander that we have at the moment—but are also the Overseer of Cooperative Affairs, a position we chose to create in order to give you the freedom you needed to carry out your self-imposed responsibilities. What you do has a direct reflection upon the entire government of Varn, and we cannot support this kind of action."

It was several hours later, and Beta was standing in front of the Combined Council of Varn. "I don't ask you to support my actions," Smarts said through Beta, "but I do ask you to permit them. You may not approve of my methods, but I have broken no law, wronged no innocent, and saved the lives of many of our citizens. The bottom line is this: a few hundred Cavrilhu died, but any other course of action would have ended in significant loss of life to Defense Force personnel, and I was not about to allow that to happen." Smarts paused for a moment, continuing in a slightly indignant tone. "Next time you give me an assignment, sirs, I suggest you consider that I am more than some simple machine, that I will defend the lives of those entrusted to my command by whatever means I am able. I would sacrifice a thousand of those lawless pirates, if it meant protecting just one of the men who has entrusted his life to me. Frankly, I find it inconceivable that you—organics—can't understand the burden of responsibility that I hold as a leader of men.

"If a price must be paid for our freedom, I would have it paid for with the blood of our enemies, not the lives of our own citizens. For as long as I serve the people, so shall it be."

Varn, Orbit, Two Days Later

The Combined Council had finally decided that Smarts' methods were justified under the situation, but they continued to stress the need for Smarts to err on the side of caution in future cases. Nonetheless, plans were progressing on schedule, and it was time to begin the next phase of the Cavrilhu Pirates' downfall.

Until recently, there had been more people who had volunteered for the Defense Force than there were ships to put them in, but after recent events, the size of the Cooperative Defense Force had grown to almost twice its previous size. With Smarts and three Kaloth Battlecruisers as the largest vessels in the fleet, a relatively large amount of firepower was about to be brought to bear on the Cavrilhu. It was about time that Varn and the Cavrilhu had a good old-fashioned brawl.

* * *


Kauron System, soon afterwards

A lone light freighter exited hyperspace, moving quickly toward the Cavrilhu base buried deep within the nearby asteroid field. It sent its authorization codes and then dove into the single safe path through the asteroids, executing a carefully practiced series of complex maneuvers to navigate the tight corridor. Lining the route through the asteroids were several small defense cannons, floating safely in space due to maneuvering thrusters and small tractor beams used to protect them from collision. A string of comm relays ran the length of the corridor, allowing the Cavrilhu base to communicate with the vessels beyond the asteroid field, despite the heavy interference caused by the densely packed asteroids.

It was time to take the fight to their homes and safe havens. It was time to show them that there is no safe place for the enemies of freedom. It was time that they knew beyond any doubt that they would pay for every crime they had ever committed.

There would be no clever concealment of bombs and droids this time; instead, as the freighter touched down and opened its cargo ramp, squads of droids poured directly from the hold as the freighter's laser cannons opened fire to cut down the unsuspecting pirates standing throughout the docking bay. One of the ship's turrets quickly spun around and fired out the docking bay's door, destroying the first comm relay and cutting the station off from its allies beyond the asteroids.

As several droids moved quickly to secure the doors leading out of the bay, the freighter's copilot jumped into the cockpit of an empty pirate fighter and took off, weaving his way back out of the asteroid field.


* * *


Reversion in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .

This time, there would be no warning issued, no attempt to resolve the conflict without blood. Ships from the Cooperative Defense Force arrived in-system from four different directions simultaneously, opening fire even before they got their shields up. Using information gathered from captured Cavrilhu, the attack had been planned down to the last fighter. Smarts and the larger ships had dropped out right in the middle of the pirates' operation, while the other three groups of smaller, faster ships appeared at the edge of Cavrilhu-occupied space. As the starfighters split from the main force to perform their assigned tasks, the outer shell of ships spread out quickly, blocking potential escape routes, and then began moving in, forcing the enemy ships into a narrow layer of space between Smarts and the ever-shrinking perimeter. Smarts and his escorts targeted the few stationary platforms found outside of the asteroid field, quickly taking them out with ion cannons.

The fighters had been assigned with very specific tasks. The fastest ships shot away quickly, hunting down Cavrilhu patrols that were outside of the battle's perimeter, while bombers launched runs against the tightly-packed enemy vessels, raining down high-powered ordnance without mercy. Another layer of fighters set up their own perimeter just beyond the main conflict, waiting to intercept any enemy fighters that might try to cut and run. The Defense Force was going to stop every pirate they could, right here, right now.

A lone starfighter suddenly streaked out of the asteroids, contacting Smarts as soon as it appeared: the docking bay was secure, and the comm relay was down. Neither the base nor the ships beyond it knew that the other was under attack. With communications down, the defensive turrets lining the corridor could not receive override orders to fire on incoming vessels. Armed with Cavrilhu access codes, a string of the fastest light transports the Cooperative had streaked from Smarts' docking bay, rushing to reinforce the initial assault group within the asteroid field.

It was a fairly small base for such a large asteroid, so cleaning it out shouldn't take too long. As the battle droids broke into squads of four, Gamma—Smarts' modified battle droid—was standing in the freighter, interfaced with its central computer and using its comm system to coordinate the battle droids. With the power of the ship's computer and the knowledge of his own combat programming, Gamma was prepared to lead this small team of droids to victory; however, the arrival of several transports filled with additional forces reinforced the knowledge that his creator did not place the same degree of faith in his abilities. He desired so much for the opportunity to prove himself, but his master had spoken through a medium louder than words, and he was obligated to comply.

A swarm of repulsor-propelled holocams flew from the newly arrived transports, venturing into the enemy base and relaying video of the location of every pirate they came across. After gaining the location of every pirate on the first floor, Gamma began moving his squads of battle droids through the doors leading from the docking bay. The battle droids would go first, eliminating as may of the pirates as possible before they were destroyed, but with over a hundred more droids having arrived with the reinforcements, it was hoped that they would be sufficient to secure the entire base. The standard organic troops were there to take over only in the event that Gamma and the battle droids he commanded failed in their task.

The droids worked in perfect unison, firing in coordinated patterns, relaying targets to each other, and employing surprisingly complex maneuvers, for droids. It seemed impossible that these droids were the same bumbling, ill-equipped machines that waged the Clone Wars, and that's because in truth, they weren't. These droids had been modified to function as an integrated unit, programmed with an interdependent processing system based upon the concept of a hive mind. Linked to a central control unit, the droids were able to move through several sections of the base at once, knowing where every footstep, blaster bolt, and grenade of their brethren would fall at any given moment. What these droids lacked in durability and creative tactics, they made up for with coordination and vast procedural programming.

With the video feeds from the recorder droids being transmitted directly to the central control computer, the droids moved quickly throughout the base, avoiding large groups of pirates and striking small groups of two or three without warning, then turning around and engaging the larger groups from two or three directions, catching them in precisely laid crossfire.

As the pirates became aware of just how much trouble they were in, they retreated to the second level and set up defensive perimeters. The holocam droids snuck their way through air vents and maintenance crawlspace, rushing past pirate lines in large groups when necessary, then quickly disappearing into rooms and adjacent corridors. With new information on enemy locations coming in, the droids set out to capture the next level of the base.

Gamma wondered for a moment what was happening beyond the asteroid field, where the main battle was taking place, but he quickly dismissed the thought; it was irrelevant to his task.


* * *


A fleet-wide missile barrage was launched into the pirate formation; at such close range, enemy point defense weapons didn't have time to track and destroy the incoming missiles, resulting in serious damage. The enemy responded in kind, but most of their ships weren't carrying missiles; to pirates, who needed to capture their targets intact, such expenses were nearly pointless. Cohesion among the pirates quickly broke down, and the vessels began a desperate attempt to escape. Assaulted from every side and boxed in by a relentless opponent, the pirate escape was ugly, to say the least.

As the enemy ships moved toward the outer perimeter, Defense Force vessels positioned themselves to better block the enemy retreat. The pirate response was to continue on course, ramming their way through where necessary. As vessels collided and hull plating was torn away, a few bodies began to appear in space, blasted out of their ships from explosive decompression.

Even after escaping from the Defense Force perimeter, a few of the Defense Force vessels were quick enough to turn around and give chase, or fly through the now-hollow sphere of friendly ships and pursue pirates who had escaped through the other side of the sphere. The starfighters that had been positioned to stop escaping enemy fighters broke from their patrols, chasing after the fleeing vessels and firing torpedoes and missiles in formation, trying to cripple the enemy vessels before they could make the jump to lightspeed.

Still, some of the pirate captains had not been brave enough to ram their way to freedom, and surrendered without any further hesitation. The enemy ships that did manage to escape would undoubtedly tell of the crushing defeat they had been dealt by Varn's citizens, and repairing the damaged ships that limped away from that conflict would further tax the Cavrilhu's ever-dwindling resources. Due simply to the speed and intensity of their initial attack and the devastating effects of the follow-up mass-barrage, the Cavrilhu forces had been laid to waste quickly, allowing for comparatively little damage to the Defense Force's ships. Still, it would take time to repair the damage incurred, and it was more than likely that the enemy base had not yet been captured. Additionally, there were a number of crippled Cavrilhu vessels spread throughout the area, many of which would undoubtedly have to be boarded and forcibly taken.

Smarts sent the transmission to inform Varn that the brunt of the battle was over, then signaled a fleet of transports and boarding craft waiting just outside the system. They appeared within seconds, and were quickly assigned tasks. As the newly arrived ships turned toward their individual objectives, communications with the asteroid base were established. Alpha had accompanied the reinforcements into the asteroid field, and—having sliced into the system—was now using one of the light freighters to fill the gap in the comm relay chain. Smarts immediately reestablished contact with Gamma, uploading his records of the events so far, but chose to remain uninvolved, allowing Gamma to deal with the situation on his own. So far, things were going well.


* * *


Gamma felt Smarts' mind touch his own, but found it odd when his control over the battle droids was not superseded; it seemed that his master had more faith in him than he had previously thought. But such speculation was currently inappropriate; right now, there was a task to perform. The second floor had to be breached and taken.

Several droids prepared to storm the floor from the major access points, making enough noise to draw any waiting pirates' attention, while others worked on an alternate entry point. Holes were cut into the first floor's ceiling at places the holocams had found to be empty, then several droids helped each other up, sneaking in behind the enemy's hastily erected barricades.

Though many of the holocams had been destroyed by this point, there were still enough to scout the area for the sneaky droids and make sure they weren't detected before the appropriate time. Enemy forces had congregated at the access points to the second floor, and they were intently focused on the stairwells, turbolifts, and maintenance hatches that led to the first floor. So focused, in fact, that some of them didn't notice the concussion grenades that were quietly rolling toward them from behind. As the grenades exploded, throwing the enemy defenses into disarray, the droids from the first floor rushed upstairs. Some of the pirates were killed, many surrendered, and a few escaped to establish a new defensive perimeter.

This was getting tiresome. With so few of them left, the pirates fell back to their last major defensive point. At the top of the base was a spiral staircase that led to the base's control room. From the platform on top, defenders could take up well-protected positions from which to cover the only access point. With the high ground, thick armor shielding, and a bottleneck in the form of the narrow door a floor below them, the pirates believed they had a perfect defensive position. They almost did.

Before the droids made their final assault, a special box was brought up from one of the freighters. When everything was ready, several droids rushed through the door, drawing enemy fire and being destroyed almost immediately. But in the handful of seconds that they had the enemy distracted, the box was hurled into the center of the small room and activated. The droid that activated the box was swept upwards immediately, slamming into the ceiling and breaking apart. It was a repulsorlift, specially modified for this particular part of the base's conquest. The stairwell's wide, opened center that offered topside defenders such a perfect vantage point, also worked to focus the upward-facing repulsorlift. The blast of energy forced the defenders back, out of their line-of-sight positions from which they had been firing

Concussion grenades were thrown into the repulsor field, where they were carried up to the enemy position. Simultaneously, battle droids hugging the wall rushed up the stairwell, protected partly by the stairs themselves. With the top platform secure, the repulsor field was deactivated, and the rest of the droids made their way to the top of the stairs.

There was a blastdoor. It just wouldn't seem to end. Alpha was called to slice the door and open it.

"Wait." Gamma seemed a little confused as he turned towards the human who had just spoken to him. He had been so consumed with coordinating the droids that it took him a moment to recognize the man. It was Kerrick Arkanus, the man who had piloted the freighter Gamma was using to coordinate his droids. He was one of the few true military men in the Defense Force, and Smarts had assigned him to oversee Gamma's command. "If you open that door, every one of your droids is going to be destroyed."

"There is no other way into the command room. We must secure this installation."

"If you open those doors, your droids will get hit with grenades, lasers, rockets, and who-knows-what-else. Use that droid of yours to slice into their comms instead. Order them to surrender."

"They will not comply."

"They will when you threaten to shut down life support manually and vent the rest of the station's atmosphere into space." Kerrick gave a wry smile. "How long do you think they'll last with one room's worth of air?"

"Depending upon the number of occupants in the room, I estimate—"

"It was a rhetorical question," Kerrick said quickly, cutting the droid off. "Now, do what I say."

"We have been tasked with the expedient—"

"I am in command here, not you," Kerrick said, his voice strained with annoyance. "Now, do as I say."

Gamma was reluctant to waste time, but he sensed no opposition from Smarts. Gamma didn't understand why he needed some organic to supervise him; he was a highly advanced, specially designed machine, created for conflicts specifically like this one. But none of that mattered, because his master had given this organic command.

Gamma complied without protest; that was all he could do. He was only a droid, and nothing could ever change that.

A few days later, Varn


". . . and so, it took several hours to gain control of the command room, requiring the full depressurization of the base, but the entrenched Cavrilhu eventually surrendered." Beta was once again acting as the relay between Smarts and the Combined Council, and had just finished reporting the success of the attack on the Kauron base.

"What is the status of the asteroid belt now?" One of the Council members asked.

"Traan Shi has met with members of Kauron's government; while they stressed their desire to remain independent, they have decided to cede the Kauron asteroids to us as compensation for removing the Cavrilhu threat from their system. There were several terms, of course, but nothing serious. Essentially, as long as we don't disrupt local traffic or infringe on Kauron's sovereignty, everything will be fine."

"They just 'handed over' ownership of the asteroid field?"

"Basically, yes. There are significant amounts of metals and minerals valuable enough to warrant mining operations, but the Kauronians don't seem very interested in those types of assets. They feel that as long as we control the asteroids, they won't have to worry about someone else that they don't trust setting up operations."

Acquiring the Kauron asteroids marked a significant point of development for the Cooperative; it had now become an interstellar government. Though the asteroids would initially be controlled and administered by Varn, they would eventually become assets of the Cooperative's central government, once that central government was in proper working order. For now, however, Varn was the entirety of the Cooperative, and the need for a Cooperative Senate and Combined Council was not yet present. But soon, the threat from the Cavrilhu would be gone, and the Cooperative could begin its quest to strengthen the ties that bind the Coalition together.