They trick a CEO into signing over a planet that is extremely resource poor, about the same size as earth, and thanks to the CEO's hunting and fishing behaviors, almost completely devoid of wildlife. Once signed and delivered, the contract completely ironclad, they made sure of that, they immediately registered the planet under their name as an ALLIANCE planet, removing it from the Dereg empire altogether.
Then they got going renewing the wildlife and rebalancing the ecosystems. But this planet became a food forest. Dandelions, thornless berries, kudzu, wild yams, wild vegetables, wild herbs, wild fruit, thousands of types of fruit, herbivores to eat fast-growing plants, carnivores to keep herbivores from overgrazing, etc. And, something that caused the CEO to gnash their teeth and throw a fit? An entire orchard of Dreamfruit. And there was nothing the CEO could do about it even as it was being advertised now as a planet where everyone, no matter where they were from or how poor they were, could get all the fresh food they needed for free. As long as they didn't ravage the planet or damage anything that is.
The reference to Dreamfruit is from here - @internutter/challenge-02509-f319-berry-small-problem -- Anon Guest
Welcome to Grove, said the sign at the spaceport. Nobody leaves hungry. A fully-refurbished Edenworld,reclaimed from the hands of Deregger malevolence[1]. Regrown almost from scratch.
Every plant that could plausibly feed a cogniscent grows here. Every animal, too. Come for the gene stock. Stay for the restaurants.
CEO Lyman Sterling Wolfbridge absolutely hated that it existed. He was spending his entire fortune to build a force capable of wiping it out of existence. Or at the very least, turning it into a molten ball of worthlessness.
The biggest and most braggadocious weapons that Deregger money could acquire. When all one wanted to do was have people put up warning signs ten generations later. When the slag was safer to approach. Bombs with names like The Nutbuster or, Bigbig Boom. Ships made to look big and impressive for the fleeting moments that the enemy saw them.
Why did he want this planet gone?
It wasn't that the sale was offensive, or that the buyer was making a profit. They had earned that with hard enough work[2]. It was that they were selling drugs.
They were even giving things away which was even more offensive; but the drugs were the sticking point. Drugs were an immorality that everyone could agree on. Excepting those namby-pamby pantywaist snowflake Galactics who needed a good lesson taught to them. Of course.
Lyman Wolfbridge captained the flagship and had ultimate control over the Moralistic Targeting System. He spoke loudly and clearly into the AI's microphone, a glass of four-hundred-year-old brandy in one hand. "Target? I want you to obliterate the largest, most obnoxious cluster of layabout, indolent, insolent, law-flaunting, lazy drug addicts in this whole flapping system. Fire all weapons when ready."
The AI displayed a waiting circle for a handful of seconds. "Maneuvering the fleet for ideal target spread. Full weapons deployment in. Two. Minutes."
Plenty of time to light up a stogie. Wolfbridge put his feet up and watched the tactical display. "Gentlemen, this is how the indolent die."
Well. He wasn't wrong...
The AI did exactly as it was told. Targetting the biggest group of the obnoxious. The layabout, indolent, and insolent. The law-flaunting, lazy, and drug addicts.
Such a pity that it was his own fleet.
[1] As it is known in Deregger spaces, business as usual.
[2] A Deregger CEO's definition of 'hard work' depends entirely on the social status of the worker.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / saney]
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