Up on the bridge, bored and with nothing to do now, Tyrid stopped at a station and checked through the computers. The planet was known only as Destination still. Only the Navigators and Captain knew which planet it was for security reasons. Until now. He keyed in his password and watched the display. Torroxell. He read on. A thorough reconnaissance had been done. Maps showed minerals, population centres, eight main continents, and hundreds of smaller islands. Most of the planet was ocean, nearly sixty percent. Only 130 odd cities. Almost all the population confined to the cities. Roads for surface travel were not built yet except for in the cities. Population very small; estimated at less than 100 million at this time of year. Tyrid had hoped he didn’t know the planet. He didn’t. This job did have its risks. Attacking one of your own planets or its allies was one of them if you were not Keulfyd. But Keulfyd, skilled professionals and others, often worked and lived on many planets other than their own as had Tyrid. He was born on Jaynar which was a Niseyen world. He read on.
The Priskya were the registered owners, not for much longer. Tyrid had never heard of them. Fish! Oh well that explained it. And unaligned. Losers, literally in this case. They deserved to forfeit it. He dismissed them as insignificant. He knew no marine world that could fight and none that had any effective allies. Here the Priskya had no military, few police and virtually no security, and as he anticipated, were not aligned with any other Race. He chuckled, immeasurably cheered up. Fish. What a laugh. No possible opposition there. Wait till he told the others they were going to fight fish!
He read on. The Ridianit had developed the planet. They would be very unhappy. Tyrid read that Torroxell was developed as primarily a combination teaching, medical and tourism planet. So one could learn or sight see as an interesting convalescence. It featured a lot of Okme Treatment Centres. Ahh, that made sense. Convalescence spent learning. Given that some convalescence could be rather embarrassing and up to six months long, with greatly reduced mobility as the body was so slow to rejuvenate, that made very good sense. Lots of peculiar looking company that wouldn’t care what others looked like since they looked the same. Tyrid read on, intrigued. This planet had been very well set up. Tyrid was coming to the end of a long career (and life) and had a number of annoying health problems but luckily a rather large credit rating due to a lucrative career so this was a very real possibility… In disgust and amusement Tyrid stopped considering the alternative careers and training on offer given that this whole planet was about to be abruptly depopulated and looted. He’d gotten so enthused he’d forgotten that little aftermath.
The Ridianit were no friends to the Keulfyd so he had no sympathy. They did have some powerful allies but none of them would dare to intervene. Not against the Keulfyd. Allies wouldn’t have time to organise even if they wanted to help. This development would soon be a write off for the Ridianit. They would be very annoyed. They could yell all they liked. He read through the military assessment. No one had even bothered to factor in the Priskya. Fish! Tyrid had heard of marine planets but had never been to one before. He was highly amused. He had factored in some opposition, apart from the cities as he knew there would be an indigenous Race. He had well trained mercenaries, regular soldiers and pilots who were also trained to fight. Looks like they’d be bored. He had thought it was going to be easy but it now looked like it was going to be a pushover.
He suddenly realised the fish would see the bodies that would be dumped. He paused, then realised all the planes had no visible ID. And who would they tell? No Allies. They might tell the Defence Force but without proof of identity, the Keulfyd would not be implicated.
The new probe pictures were coming in. Tyrid checked them carefully but could see no important changes. This was excellent. The new orbital probes were a beautiful design, looking like a rock and so well shielded that their cameras were all but undetectable. The delay until the pictures came in was minimal. Planning had timed the attack for winter on the main continent so the terrestrial population should be reduced. They had had to move their timetable forward as a Defence System had been ordered. That would have been a disaster if it had been up and operational. Tyrid wondered if the Priskya or Ridianit had ordered it. Probably the Ridianit. At least that would be partially refunded so the Ridianit wouldn’t lose everything.