(Thanks to Old Fart Li Furiously Pounds Nurglings for the donation. Bonus chapter 4/5.)
Shui Rou continued her explanation.
"From what I know of the Imperium of Man, quite a few of our neighboring planets are dealing with Chaos Cults, Tyranid Cults, Greenskin Ork invasions, and human civil wars.
"Every one of those crises could destroy an entire world. They take far higher priority than we do.
"After all, we T'au can cooperate with humans. We can communicate with them, and we're even paying taxes to the Imperium of Man.
"So rather than waste his precious time fighting controllable enemies like us, that Lord Inquisitor would prefer to move on to the next sector and confront the enemies posing an immediate threat.
"But before that, he has to test our obedience!"
At this point, Shui Rou looked toward Fengxi, who frowned.
"You mean that demanding we hand over a Protector-class Battleship is his way of testing our obedience?"
Shui Rou nodded.
"Battleships are vitally important to us, and the Lord Inquisitor knows that. That's why he deliberately demanded that we give him one-to see whether we'll submit to his will.
"If we can't bear to part with this battleship, that will prove we're no different from other Xenos and cannot be controlled. The Lord Inquisitor will attack us immediately!
"But if we offer him a battleship and show our obedience, he'll consider us controllable and willing to cooperate.
"And once we give him a battleship, we'll only have three left. The threat we pose to him, and to the entire human sector, will diminish.
"The chances of the Inquisitor doing nothing, choosing to ignore us, and leaving will increase considerably."
After hearing Shui Rou out, Fengxi still shook his head.
Battleships were his bottom line. The Air Caste's power came