"Marshal, this is clearly an open conspiracy." Beta spoke up without warning, but Xi Yan was used to it and showed no surprise.
"That it is. We have no grounds to stop them."
Xi Yan had a headache over it too. "Stopping them would clearly go against interstellar norms. It would hurt the Empire's diplomatic standing."
"So we let them in?"
"Exactly. But once they're inside, they won't get to call the shots."
Xi Yan tapped lightly on the desk, forcing his thoughts away from the Empire's mundane affairs and trying to focus on the problem before him.
There was a body of common customary law governing interstellar affairs, and civilizations that reached the stars generally abided by it.
For example, they did not attack neutral fleets, and they granted civilian ships passage.
Most Stellaris players generally paid no attention to the blue or yellow fleet icons within their borders, either. Those represented friendly and neutral fleets.
Xi Yan was no different. In the game, this Community Security Fleet would have been nothing more than a neutral fleet with a yellow icon. Ordinarily, he would not even have glanced at it.
But reality was different. The intelligence Krauk had sent indicated that their mission was to cover the Criminal Enterprise's landing on Amat Eiro II.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
So what should he do?
"Let them in, then kill them. Pretend this faction never existed." Beta's avatar on the computer made a throat-slitting gesture.
Xi Yan broke into a cold sweat.
"Beta, you're becoming more and more like the Determined Exterminators."
"What? Impossible! I'd never become one of those tin cans that think about nothing but exterminating organics!"
"Goddamn, keep your distance from me from now on. I'm honestly afraid I'll turn you into an Iron Purifier someday without even