204 This arm of yours. I like-y
A week later,
Robin and the others were standing in the open ground, looking up into the sky. Beside him stood Artanis and some Guardians. Artanis had returned from his trip of 'distributing' Vibranium. Today, everyone was here.
In fact, Selena was also near them, standing but keeping her head low. She didn't have a fiery demeanor anymore and was quite silent. On the other side was Lumis, all smiles. He was enthusiastic. A few days ago, he had almost lost sleep thinking that his homeland would be ground zero in a galactic war.
But now he knew that war wasn't on the horizon, but riches were. Vibranium had been found in a particular part of the galaxy, and the Luminary Collective had gotten their hands on huge deposits of meteorites. So the Luminary Collective was happy and definitely didn't want war at the moment, especially not a war against an S class citizen.
After about five minutes, a huge spaceship slowly appeared in the sky. At first, it was a small point in the sky, but it grew larger as it came closer. The spaceship was more sophisticated and bigger than the one Selena was in. The new spaceship not only had the Luminary logo but also had 'Ziran' written boldly on the side.
The spaceship slowly parked beside their own spaceship and, within minutes, the hangar opened.
Out came guards who belonged to the Luminary, and leading them was Torin. Torin took big strides as he came forward to meet Robin. As soon as he saw Selena, his eyes sparkled with joy, but he restrained his happiness.
"We meet again," Torin said as he bowed down. Out of courtesy and local culture, Robin bowed down too.
"Yes, let's go inside and talk, if it's alright with you," Robin said.
"Definitely," Torin agreed and proceeded to the palace while Lumis led them. Torin seemed to be a bit of a spaceship enthusiast and looked at their spaceship with awe and wonder.
He asked questions to which the human general answered. Of course, the questions were not core secrets and could be answered easily. Selena was let go, and she held Torin's hand the entire time.
She seemed more like a daughter to Torin. Though Robin wasn't sure what was going on, he didn't care. After reaching the palace, everyone took their seats and started the official meeting.
"I am here to express my deepest apologies for the misunderstanding and showing aggression on our part. We are ready to compensate in any form," Torin stood up and said.
"You have already apologized," Robin reminded. Torin shook his head and said,
"That was in the virtual world. That doesn't hold the same weight. This is an official apology. Our decisions and misunderstandings caused the death of the people of Zora and soldiers of the Ziran family too, including yours. So, in a way, an apology doesn't cover the mishandling of the situation," Torin said. Robin was a little surprised as he didn't expect Torin to even speak about the death. In the last few days, he had searched and got to know everything of the so called higher tiered people and from the comments he could tell that speaking too much of them was a taboo.
And speaking badly about them was like a death sentence. And this was prevalent for all the galaxies. So he expected these people to look down on the normal people since they were ants. But looking at Torin, Robin felt like fantasy novels and anime wasn't always right.
"What is done, is done. We need to continue forward and your apology has been accepted." Robin replied.
"Thank you." Torin said. "Since the emergence of your species, the Luminary Galaxy has noticed that your planet is located in the broken arm of the galaxy. It was for the huge interference that the Luminary Collective had always looked over the arm from the first formation of the empire and over time we couldn't find any resources there. But now we understand that it was a mistake committed by us. In the first compensation, the Luminary Collective is ready to give the full rights of the whole arm of the galaxy and it's ownership to the High Elder and the respective authorities here." Torin said.
Robin wasn't expecting this. He knew that some kind of compensation was coming and he expected in the form of financial and connectivity boost from the empire. But giving the full ownership was too much.
"And I would hope that the family of the High Elder would take up as a major role as one of the top families of the Luminary Collective and help us in strengthening the empire. That is the compensation the Luminary Collective had proposes. If Mr. Robin Kashyap here wants more, we can renegotiate the terms." Torin said.
"You are doing this so that with my identity and power, the galaxy can jump from the third class to second class. Isn't it?" Robin asked. This made Torin blush with shame and said.
"Any High Elder in any galaxy would be revered and their family will always have powers in the administration. So it is just customary to offer you with the position, and if we don't other galaxies would offer you that." Torin though embarrassed, understood his point.
"But I am citizen of a S class galaxy. Is that okay?" Robin asked.
"We know how Mr. Kashyap became a citizen of the S class, so there are no problems." Torin said as indicated that he knew that Robin became a citizen through an affiliate. It was probably Lumis who mentioned. It didn't matter anyways as Robin never really cared of hiding it.
"I will go through the terms again. Is that fine?" Robin asked.
"Absolutely. I can take Selena away?" Torin asked. Robin just nodded. Torin was being very formal and respectful so he had to give him some face. Torin didn't speak much and left while Lumis excused himself as the rulers of the galaxy had arrived so he needed to be proper host.
"Take Zora under your wing." Cathrin said.
"Huh? It was against Zora we had waged war and you want us to be together." Robin asked.
"Zora already has a problem with the Dyson Sphere. And Lumis had been trying to be close to you. We need a basic platform for the humanity to make a jump from the planetary level to galaxy level. Why not use Zora?" Cathrin said. Robin thought about it and he too could agree with it.
With the help of Zora, they would do better since Lumis was quite a good monarch and even if there was hatred among the Zorians for humans it would wash away overtime.
"I will think about it." Robin said.
Meanwhile, Torin sat with Selena and asked how she was.
"Did they treat you badly?"
"No. Grandpa."
"Did you meet with others?"
"No. They even fed me well and asked me about the Ziran and the Luminary collective."
"Hmm.. You are already free and it's time to get home."
"Grandpa. Is the family angry with me?" Selena asked.
"Not exactly, but the other families have pressurized us to punish you, since all the misunderstanding started from you." Torin said.
"How is this my fault? I only followed the protocols." Selena protested.
"That's the problem Selena. You followed the protocols too much. Selena, rules don't matter in the larger universe. Strength is the only rule." Torin said while made Selena silent as tears ran down from her face.
"I am ready to face any punishment the family decides" Selena said as her voice was almost breaking down to the disappointment and humiliation she had brought to the family. Torin was both proud and glad that she had accepted the results. Maybe getting kidnapped by the Humans wasn't that bad and made his arrogant woman a better one.
He had one more reason to thank Robin now.
They talked a bit more while Sigret and Myrene was going through the contracts that Torin had sent over and looking if there were any loopholes. Robin was already in mind to accept the whole compensation and only wanted to add Zora as under his rule.
The next day.
Everyone again met and Robin decided to accept the offer. Torin was overjoyed and proposed a celebration for this agreement. Robin couldn't say no to this. Lumis was the one who was the most happy in this whole situation. When the contract came, Lumis wanted to speak but due to the presence of Torin he couldn't open his mouth and could only wait.
He had already made plans that after this Lumis and his administrations will side with Robin and be their supports. Though their support wouldn't mean anything to such a huge behemoth that was going to control the galaxy, but it would be start since Robin and him had some kind of friendship.
Seeing that Robin asked for the transfer of power from the Ziran family to Robin's family had made him jump with joy. Now he only hoped that Robin would be as good as he had showed his image to the public.
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