In Maximus’s mind, it was simple: when you are a beggar asking for sothing, you must rember your place. When you stand among many and watch a few receive a gift, you should rember that a gift given to another is not a "promise denied" to you. You are not being robbed of an opportunity, for you were never entitled to it in the first place.
"What ’fairness’ do they ask for?" Maximus thought. Fairness never existed in this case. What to give, and whom to give it to, is the choice of the giver—not the choice of the one receiving. To him, the sight of them demanding or crying for "equality" was hilarious at best.
Looking at the people below and the millions crying out on the Galactic Net, Maximus couldn’t help but realize that having these kinds of ungrateful citizens was no different than keeping a venomous pet in the house, just waiting to bite you.
"It would be better if we didn’t have them at all," Maximus said. He spoke loudly enough for David, Donvas, and Jiang Wu to hear him clearly.
"Exactly," Donvas agreed, considering the situation for a mont as he looked at the two hundred people shouting provocatively. They were putting more and more pressure on their governors. Although there were only seven governors, they weren’t losing any ground yet; however, Donvas could tell they were under imnse pressure and needed support.
"But the thing is, you have heard them," Donvas continued. "I believe they have co here prepared, knowing they were entering our capital—which is no different than a tiger’s den. They have surely planned sothing. Direct action may be impossible.
All other doors are closed as well; even if we let them go, the chaos on the net won’t stop. We could block them, but then they will only beco more overbearing and do sothing truly stupid." Shaking his head, Donvas felt a wave of exhaustion.
"And more than that," David added, "doing so could anger the people at the Quantum Net Corporation. That is another massive headache."
"But we can’t wait until our hands are completely free to deal with them, either," Jiang Wu interjected. "That would only give them ti to radicalize those who are already radicals."
"So," Donvas asked at last, "what should we do now?"
Suddenly, Maximus, who had been listening in silence, felt a spark of inspiration pass through his brain. His eyes glinted as he rembered a piece of information that Kallus had disclosed to him at random during one of their etings.
"We could do one thing," Maximus said quickly. "Though it could cost us dearly and perhaps even cause delays to our crucial projects, the ti and cost could be recovered very quickly. After all, dealing with this situation normally would cost us much more than just money and ti."
He began explaining the potential harms of the current stalemate, but Donvas, David, and Jiang Wu had already perked up.
They were willing to ignore the disadvantages; after all, those were bound to happen regardless. Indeed, cost and ti were the least of their worries compared to a brutal, public conflict.
They would much rather not show their loyal citizens their cruel side—despite everything, those people were still human, ’one of their own.’
"Please, tell us... we would accept almost anything at this point," all three of them said, almost simultaneously.
Maximus smirked. "It’s like this... I had a eting with Imperial Commander Kallus about a month and a half before he left."
Maximus began by speaking "humbly" about his eting and his history with Kallus. The other three rolled their eyes inwardly while praising him outwardly, knowing full well that their fellow leader was simply bragging about the close connection he shared with the Void Fleet’s top commander. They were helpless, forced to listen to his bragging for three full minutes.
By the end of it, all three had beco incredibly impatient. They were cursing him internally: Enough! Can’t you just get to the point? What nonsense is this! We know how great your "relationship" is with that man! Can you stop now?!
By the last minute, veins were practically popping in their foreheads. Enough, dude! What are you doing?!
Maximus had been carefully paying attention to their expressions from the mont he started. When he saw the veins popping and their hands clutching their seats, he knew he had pushed them far enough. He was satisfied with his bragging for the day; it was ti to get to the point.
"So," Maximus continued, his tone suddenly serious. "Kallus told about a small star system... even smaller than ours. The sun there is a K-type Orange Dwarf with absolutely nonexistent resources to facilitate any kind of interstellar needs."
"It has a Tier 2 planet with an environnt similar to our Earth—though Earth is a Tier 5 planet," Maximus explained. "It isn’t nearly as rich in resources as our world, and it is only half of Earth’s size. (As you know, habitable planets are classified into six tiers, all of which can support human life, though each has its own unique differences.)"
He paused, looking thoughtful. "The environnt there is... well, how should I say? Is it good or bad? I don’t know much about it, other than the fact that living there is possible. The system consists of one Gas Giant and four barren, dead celestial bodies orbiting that star," Maximus said, stroking his beard.
"So? What is the point of you defining and talking about this barren star system?" David asked, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. To him, Maximus was still beating around the bush, rambling about a place that seemingly had no relation to the solution they needed.
"What I an is—and I finally understand why the Imperial Commander talked to about this—I think he predicted exactly what is happening now in our Federation," Maximus said. He didn’t mind David’s rude behavior at all.
Maximus was right. Kallus had indeed predicted this exact outco. That was precisely why he told Maximus about that specific star system, though he had only ntioned it "randomly" without giving any other hints.
"What are you talking about, Maximus? Can’t you just get to the point? You’re confusing us!" Jiang Wu snapped. Donvas and David nodded their heads in shared frustration.
"I think the solution to our problem is exactly this star system," Maximus said, tilting his head with a sly grin. "These people want their own place to rule, do they not?"
The others nodded, still slightly confused, but as they began to see where Maximus was leading, their eyes slowly started to gleam with understanding.
"I heard recently that our shipyards—which we leased free of cost from the Void Fleet—have already built a few large transportation ships," Maximus continued. "I propose we load them onto those ships. With FTL drives, or perhaps by using the Space Gate that I hear will be operational in two days at most, we can transport these people there.
"We give them a whole planet to live on. Let them do whatever they wish! They can be separate from the Federation and be the kings of their own destiny. What do you think of this, my friends?"
Donvas shuddered when he finally grasped the weight of Maximus’s words. As his mind processed the proposal, he noticed the sly smile on Maximus’s face; he had to admit, it was incredibly infuriating, but he was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to care about Maximus’s smirk at that mont.
David and Jiang Wu were faster. They didn’t dwell on the "what ifs." What were the actual prospects of leaving a whole star system to these people? What if they rose up in the future and beca roadblocks? They knew such things could be handled easily.
After all, who was giving them the technology to survive? Even if a few of their sympathizers were involved in technological implentation or design, the Federation would simply sack them and cut off all contact.
This was achievable. This would finally free their hands from these unreasonable people.
They didn’t wonder about the risks, knowing full well their own advantages. Even if these people sohow managed to rise up—which they were sure wouldn’t happen, especially if the infamous Imperial Commander Kallus had suggested this—they didn’t need to worry.
This was achievable. This would finally free their hands from these unreasonable people. They didn’t wonder about the risks, knowing full well their own advantages. Even if these people sohow managed to rise up—which they were sure wouldn’t happen, especially if the infamous Imperial Commander Kallus had suggested this—they didn’t need to worry.
"Brilliant, my friend! Brilliant!" David exclaid, a gleam of excitent in his eyes. "Indeed, this can be done! We just need to grandly propagate this in the ears of the people below. They will definitely accept! After all, what is grander? Ruling over a small piece of land, or ruling over an entire planet—an entire star system?"
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