It took me a while to figure out what to do next.

I mean, I had already sent out several fleets to deal with the Drengin, who were quickly being forced on the defensive due to the sheer difference in technology and durability between their forces and mine. The fact any losses I took could be far more easily replaced than those the Drengin suffered just made the conflict even more lopsided in my favor. While the losses they were suffering now were minor at the moment, it wouldn't take long for them to add up - even if I was accepting surrenders and was reasonable to prisoners of war (who, in this case, also happened to be mustache-twirling-ly evil slavers), they were taking losses in the billions against me (no, really - gal-civ measures populations in the billions), and those would eventually add up, no matter how large their empire was. I was pretty sure people would be very surprised by how high a body count I had amassed in just this universe.

Now was not the time to think about that.

While dealing with the Drengin was easy, defeating the Korx proved to be more challenging. While I had taken out a reasonably portion of their black-market income by deciding to give people disaster aid supplies for free, that would only go so far. If I wanted to deal with them for good, I'd need to eliminate a fair chunk of their remaining wealth in order to prevent them from taking down the good buys with them via calling in favors from the Alliance. I also needed to find someone to pick up the slack for all of the legitimate businesses that they operated, since letting those go up in smoke would be a problem. The second part of that problem was easy to solve - I could just manipulate things so that every legitimate source of wealth that the Korx lost would end up in the hands of the Iridium Corporation, ensuring that they could pick up the slack when the Korx stopped being a Superpower. Removing the Korx as major players, though, was still a problem.

I was still think over how to deal with the Korx when I received a new alert - apparently, Rory and his adoptive siblings had decided to explore my starting world in this universe and were now...being hugged by adorable balls of fur?

Oh, wait, I remember those - they're snugglers. So cute.

Apparently, Rory agreed, as did his siblings of choice, as they were already asking me if I could keep them. They were using pictures too, and giving me Puppy Dog Eyes of Doom.

...Aw, screw it, those puppy dog eyes were too cute to say no to.

Now what to do next?

...Maybe Rory could help me there?

XXXXXXXXX

[INITIATING COMMUNICATION VIA THE COMMANDER NET]

[CMDR_FL4ME HAS JOINED THE JOINED THE CHAT]

[ROURK3 HAS JOINED THE CHAT]

ROURK3: Thank you for letting us keep the snugglers, dad!

FL4ME: You're welcome. Anything to make you all happy.

ROURK3: You're too nice, dad!

FL4ME: You're too kind, Rory...um, could I ask your help with something?

ROURK3: Does it involve evil space aliens?

FL4ME: Yes.

ROURK3: Can you just use bots and dakka to beat them?

FL4ME: I could, but if I did, a lot of innocent people would get hurt.

ROURK3: Oh. Well, can you be more specific? What do you need to do to beat them?

FL4ME: Well, they're really rich, and I can't just make steal all of that wealth without causing a ton a problems for everyone they get money from.

ROURK3: Have you tried to make it so that they get less profit from their normal sources of income?

FL4ME: Yes, but they still have a ton of wealth to work with.

ROURK3: Hmm... maybe you could try to challenge them? I mean, you're a commander, you have unlimited production, maybe you could make everything they did for less cost?

FL4ME: I could do that.

ROURK3:...uhm, can we not keep this up too long? The snugglers are getting anxious for more hugs.

FL4ME: I understand...wait...

ROURK3: Huh?

FL4ME:...

ROURK3: ?

FL4ME: Thank you for the help.

ROURK3: ...um, okay. I'm gonna leave now. Bye, dad.

[ROURK3 HAS LEFT THE CHAT]

[FL4ME HAS LEFT THE CHAT]

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Funny. I ask Rory for help, and he gives me a good idea without even meaning to.

I mean, sure, his point about trying to make everything the Korx did, but cheaper had its merits, but that only worked as long as they didn't come up with something new. If I wanted to keep them at a disadvantage, I'd need to have my own products to sell that would ensure they were deadlocked economically.

And funnily enough, it was the snugglers that provided an answer to that problem.

See, snugglers are classified as a trade resource in Gal-Civ 3, meaning that you can trade them with other civilizations for profit. While I was averse to selling the snugglers themselves, since I couldn't easily ensure that their masters would treat them well, they weren't the only things I could trade. Already, examining the planets I'd colonized confirmed I had several other resources I could process and use for trading, such as Helios Ore and Epimetheus Pollen. Examining the intel I had on all of the other civilizations also revealed that there were plenty of other resources I could make using the technology I'd acquired from this universe without infringing on any developments made by the natives.

From there, I could use my innovations to allow me to compete economically with the Korx, which would make pushing them into the shadows quite a bit easier. Plus, it would be really satisfying to beat them on their home field of economics.

Now to deal with the Dread Lords.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Read and Review! I like your feedback! Please leave some!

This is Flameal15k, signing off!