"The diplomatic dispatches from the eastern merchant corridor just arrived on the high table," Vasa announced, placing three wax-sealed scrolls before the council.
"Let me guess," Jax muttered, leaning back in his carved wooden chair with a sharp smirk. "They are demanding we hand back the power grid and pay them reparations for lost profits."
"Worse than that," Serian said, pulling up the provincial border maps on the main holographic projector.
"The merchant councils of Kald, Torrel Bend, and Verrin have officially formed a mutual defense syndicate," Vasa explained, highlighting their territories in flashing red borders.
"They voted unanimously to reject the public utility charter and maintain the Directorate's old monopoly tariffs," Lady Seraphina reported, her brow furrowing with disappointment.
"Their merchant oligarchs own seventy percent of the grain silos and private freight wagons in those three provinces," Lord Cassian noted with disgust.
