“What do you mean you have ‘lost control’? What do we pay you for? Do we pay you to act like a fool and let planets slip from our fingers or do we pay you to forward our interests?”

“We are aware of the situation and we are working to rectify it. The UGN is fully committed to stomping out these rebels with all necessary force.”

“We don’t believe the UGN’s Military has shown enough competence to be allowed to do such a thing. We will be sending our own Private Security Forces to deal with these people. And we will do so in a quite permanent fashion.”

“You can’t just---!”

“We can, and we will. You have lost control of the situation, and thus We are forced to intervene. We will be seizing these planets for Ourselves and Our own interests. I do believe you owe Us a nation of our own, along with quite a sizable amount of compensation for your other offers that fell through. We expect your resignations to be announced shortly. We don’t need to tell you what will happen to you and your families if they are not received in a punctual manner, yes?”

“Of course, sir. We understand.”

“Wonderful. We already have a set of replacements in mind; people far more willing and able to follow through on Our interests. We believe you know of a Mister Cuddli Snuggli, yes?”

“Of course, sir. An excellent choice, sir.”

“Of course it is. He will be leading the UGN and will be appointing those We have chosen. He, at least, understands that We are not to be treated in such a way. Of course, he is from a nation far more inclined to do things the right way, the profitable way. Remember, We expect the resignation of the entire leadership, delivered as soon as possible.”

“May I ask a question, sir?”

“Proceed.”

“We have reason to believe that the Arcadian Galactic Commonwealth is behind the-”

“Don’t finish that sentence. We are aware of the primitives, and We are sure they have no ability to interfere with Our plans. It is absolute idiocy to believe that those children have any ability to interfere with those planets, let alone start so many revolutions almost all at once. With those few words you lost what little credibility you had left. This meeting is adjourned.”

…

Arkhan smiled as the call ended. He had to applaud the white hats on this one; getting such a juicy bit of info without the targets even being aware of it was either very difficult or the security measures were far too lax. Based on how the state-sponsored electronic warfare specialists were talking about their missions, it seemed to be mostly the latter.

“I have to wonder whether they are really so blinded by profit that they can’t even be bothered to check the facts. I mean, I get that they are the ones that are truly in control of the UGN and they feel they are the ones responsible for keeping that decrepit ship afloat, but I seriously can not understand the mindset of Megacorporations.”

Asharia tapped away on her tablet while talking to Arkhan.

“They are guided solely by profit, and nothing else. There technically is a stock market, but the higher-ups in the Megacorp are the only ones with shares in their own company. Thus, while they are in fact beholden to the wills of the shareholders, those shareholders are the same people who are at the head of the company, so no one ever gets removed by the shareholders and nothing ever changes.”

“And that just leaves the question as to why they think it is profitable to wage war on those planets.”

“I think it is more a matter of what they think will be profitable in both the short and long term. The short-term gain would be the selling of weapons and armor to groups they feel they can use, while at the same time selling weapons and the like with inferior quality to groups that they dislike. I predict that they will try and milk the war economy for all it is worth before wiping out anything that remains and turning those worlds into industrial hellscapes.”

Arkhan sighed audibly and shifted in his seat.

“So just like those other planets we meddled with?”

“Yep.”

“So, want to meddle some more?”

“Aren’t we already doing that?”

“Yes.,” Arkhan said with a smirk, “but why not meddle some more?”

Asharia nodded in affirmation and Arkhan’s smile grew larger.

“I can picture the shareholders’ faces now when they look at their profits stagnate and finally drop and scream out at us from across the stars, ‘Darn those meddling Arcadians and their Dragoness!’”

Asharia let out a bemused snicker.

“What are we; a bunch of wacky teenagers that solve mysteries out of a van?”

Arkhan looked over at his wife and jokingly asked, “Do you want an Asharia Snack?”

Which she responded to with a question of her own.

“Do you want some domestic violence?”

…

Arriving in the system, a fleet of twenty large, heavily armed and armored ‘bulk freight haulers’ made a beeline towards the only inhabited planet in said system. The planet was in the midst of a worldwide revolution that was split between five different groups. The factions were split between the ones who supported the UGN and those that wanted to leave it, with each wanted a different style of government to rule the world.

The five movements were as follows;

The Crimson Lily Movement who advocated for the abolition of private property and a worker’s utopia.

The Children of Liberty were a group formed from ex-military and law enforcement personnel who wanted to secede from the UGN, either to start a nation of their own or join Arcadia (even they did not know which they would attempt over the other).

The Green Planet Movement that wanted the planet restored to a pre-industrial state and advocated for a simple agrarian lifestyle; kind of like a bunch of militarist hippies mixed with highly confrontational and staunchly anti-pacifist Amish folk.

The Blackstar Organization was nothing more than a cheap attempt to create a criminal syndicate to rival the Urk Consortium.

And finally, the Galactic Unity Front, whose main goal was to make the system rejoin the UGN, by any means necessary.

All but one of the groups had any intent to rejoin the UGN, and only one was profitable to engage with. Sure, the Omniconpro Corporation would sell to everyone, but only the Galactic Unity Front was a desirable partner, especially after they changed their goal from rejoining the UGN to be a part of the new Corporate Sector that was soon to be real.

If they succeeded in taking the planet, they would be given offices and positions of great importance in the new order.

Or so they were told. In truth, there was never a position for them other than death waiting for them if they won. After all, who cared about them once they served their purpose? Keeping them around would be very unprofitable.

So, as the ‘bulk freighters’ that had been sent by the Omniconpro Corporation made their way across the 80 star systems to the war-torn planets that lied therein, the personnel on board prepared to help start the War Economy and make some easy money. They were, unfortunately, completely unaware that they and their corporate overlords were flying into their very own Vietnam.