Long ago, it had been a negotiating point with the Council: allow Anshan to control its own mines without Council peacekeepers' presence, or the planet would be too polluted for anyone to mine at all. What the Council didn't know was that Anshan would heal with its nishani, even if it took many sun-cycles for the mining industry to repair itself. The Council had only thought the Anshan rulers barbaric enough to threaten to blow up the only source of ore.
A'Ran's fingers flew over the command panel as he thought of how wise his forefathers had turned out to be. They'd been right to use force over reason with the Council, a lesson he'd learned almost too late.
He spent a few hours setting up the explosive mechanisms and issuing new battle plans for the space war and ordered his ground troops to evacuate the planet. The Qatwali would think themselves winning as his men withdrew. He watched as Mansr expertly organized the evacuations and aligned the space battle to keep the Yirkins' attention off the ships fleeing the planet's surface for the nearest moon, Kiera. Talal had been right; Kiera was a fateful name for his nishani!
He opened the communications device and touched two buttons on the flat control panel.
"A'Ran?" Jetr sounded curious.
"I apologize for disturbing you," A'Ran said.
"I am pleased to hear from you. Where are you?"
"Anshan. I need your help, my friend," A'Ran said. "I'm evacuating the planet. The moon can hold us, but we'll need food and supplies until the space battle is over."
"Evacuating?"
"You're my only true ally of any influence with the Council. Keep them out of the galaxy."
"I'll dispatch my own cargo ships to your moon. The Council will want to be involved, even if this becomes an intra-galaxy war."
"It's been an intra-galaxy war for generations!" he said with some impatience. "Let us end it once and for all, not with the Council manipulating each of us for its benefit!"
"You are forbidden from destroying another's planet," Jetr reminded him. "The force of the Council will be at your door if you touch Qatwal."
"I'm destroying all Qatwali and Yirkin on the surface of Anshan. I don't care about Qatwal or destroying its people. I want my planet back, Jetr, and the Council has done nothing in all these sun-cycles but impede me. Keep them out of the galaxy!"
"Suns," Jetr breathed. "I thought the stories of your barbaric forefathers threatening to destroy Anshan were bluffs."