The Price You Pay
Posts: 122
  • Posted On: Jul 1 2004 1:30am
A Few Days Later

The attack on Rico Belgardi had been part of a larger scheme by die-hard Tion nationalists worried by the growing influence of the Black Dragon Empire amongst the Tion cluster. Fearing that BDE would soon become the supreme power in the cluster, they devised a haphazard plan to play off the only other major power left in the region of space against them: Belgardi Limited. y ambushing Rico, capturing him, and forcing him to order the Belgardi security forces to launch pre-emptivie strikes against BDE, the rebels hoped to cause a debhiltating war that would leave Belgardi decimated in the region, and damage BDE's forces enough to allow a successful insurgency by a resurgent Tion Cluster. Daring and cunning, the plan failed because of a few unexpected variables. Rico's courier vessel, a prototype battlecruiser, was much more powerful than the rebels expected. Not expecting such resistance, the rebels failed to jam Belgardi's transmissions, and a BDE task force led jointly by Admiral Vaako and General Greivious proceeded to smash the rebels space fleet.

The rebel patriots on Axllia and Cuitric, devoid of a Belgardi and BDE conflict, were quickly overwhelmed by BDE ground forces supported by Belgardi secuirty personale. With the rebel threat smashed, Rico Belgardi and General Greivious were free to meet, and exactly one week following the incident over Cuitric became their respective government/comapnies signatories in an agreement that would become known as the Cuitric-Bespin Protocol. The Protocol, designed and developed to suit the purposes of both parties involved. Belgardi Limited signed over soverign control of Axillia and Cuitric to BDE, while the Empire turned over Bespin and it's rich tinbanna reserves to Belgardi. The Protocol set out a viable trade agreement between BDE and Belgardi, liscensing Belgardi to become the primary supplier of the vital resource to the Empire. And although Belgardi handed over control of Cuitric to BDE, Belgardi maintained a large facility as a liason between the two, the Cuitric Advanced Defense Research Institute.

At the end of the day the deal was good for all parties involved, with the obvious exception of the Tion patriots. Belgardi gained a major source of revenue and viable trade partner, BDE continued its tidal wave, steam rolling absorption of the Tion Hegemony, and the two developed a embassy like liason point to facilitate further cooperation.