Kruger leaned back slightly as the last words of Dimitrious settled into the quiet of the meeting chamber.
The silence here wasn’t empty it felt measured, intentional, like the pause between two hammer strikes on an anvil.
His fingers brushed once across the carved surface of the Unioner-made table, tracing grooves left by craftsmen from long before his generation.
He exchanged a brief look with Corin a silent agreement only leaders with shared burdens could understand — then turned his attention back to the Corsair delegation.
All right… then let’s speak plainly.
He set a small metallic disk on the table a negotiation marker but he didn’t activate it. Not yet.
Instead, he rested his fingertips over it, grounding his next words.
Your plan is heard. Three stages. Growth through trust. Profit for your Elders, stability for our workers, strength against our shared enemies.
On paper, it aligns well.
He leaned forward, elbows on the table, not confrontational, but deliberate.
But before we move any further, I need something on this table as well.
Something that matters to us more than credits, more than convoys, more than even battlefield cooperation.
A beat passes.
Technology.
The word hung in the air like a weight.
If we want a partnership that lasts — not three trips across the Houses and a handshake — then we need to speak of the exchange that actually shapes power.
His hand tapped the table once, softly but with intention.
Your artifact knowledge.
Our industry.
Your hardened engineering from the Omicrons.
Our shipwrights, our factories, our mass-production lines.
He let them consider it before clarifying:
I’m not asking for your sacred relics or the secrets your Elders would kill to protect. I’m talking about practical exchange hull composite techniques, reinforced plating, propulsion modifications, weapon cooling advances… things tested in the harshest systems in Sirius.
Then he added the Unioner offer in return:
And in exchange, Unioners can give what no one else can.
Large-scale industrial support.
Fabrication without limit.
Custom modifications built on proper facilities, not under siege conditions.
Distribution channels in Rheinland and Liberty you currently can’t reach.
His gaze moved from Dimitrious, to Costa, to Carmen steady, reading their reactions.
If we’re to fight together… then it’s only logical we build our tools together.
A small, rare smile crept into the corner of his expression more felt than seen.
So tell me.
Is the Conclave willing to discuss technological exchange?
Because for us… that’s the key to a real alliance.
He clasped his hands calmly in front of him.
If they are, then we can start planning projects that will reshape far more than trade routes.
THE SYNDIC LEAGUES
(A co-operative of Rheinland's outlawed trade unions, determined to take the underworld for themselves.)
![[Image: XTF1d6x.png]](https://i.imgur.com/XTF1d6x.png)