For engineers like Summers and Buska, whether the marauders really launched a major assault on New Jade Gate or not, their arrival alone would bring all sorts of risks to the construction of the light rail and factories. At the very least, it would slow the work down. This was bad news by any measure.
But Akinayama Yahata, being a soldier, didn't see it that way.
By the time New Jade Gate received word that the marauders had broken through the Glory Stargate, it was already January 4, 834. The government officials and most of the officers on New Jade Gate had just finished their New Year holiday, as set by Galactic Standard Time. Yahata, meanwhile, had used the break to complete the initial reorganization of the newly recruited Sandfolk troops and establish an officer corps made up of active-duty members of the Commonwealth.
When he received the news, he pushed up his glasses, fell silent for several minutes, then said to his comrade Simon, "Actually, this might be good news."
Knowing Yahata, Simon didn't think he'd been scared out of his wits, but it was still hard to follow his train of thought.
"I've said it before: if we want New Jade Gate to enjoy lasting stability, the first thing we need to do is give the Sandfolk work and education."
"We're doing that," Simon said. Of course, it wasn't going to happen overnight, but they'd made a pretty good start.
"Then we need to arm them and teach them to protect themselves."
"The Sandfolk garrison brigade has already been formed." It was still just a local security force funded by the New Jade Gate governor's office, and its "military pay" mostly came in the form of food and daily necessities, but it was still an army. Before the