Vaeren joined the command channel a short while later, his expression more serious than before.
"Some of those ships may belong to neighboring powers," he said. "Not Kharov."
Aurelian looked toward Eirenne. "Identify them."
"Already working on it," she replied.
A rough list appeared across the display almost immediately.
Several merchant groups belonged to smaller nearby powers. Others were independent traders trying to make money in dangerous territory.
A few ships carried marks tied to larger regional factions. One belonged to a stone-bodied species that traded rare minerals across frontier space.
Another came from a mixed-species commercial league. A third looked connected to a human-led frontier state that hadn't entered Aurelian's plans yet.
None of them were worth turning into enemies for no reason.
Rhoswen sounded disappointed almost instantly. "So we're not taking their cargo?"
"No," Aurelian said. "We're not creating problems we don't need."
