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capture.
    The Alliance of Races kept the prisoners like normal, but offered the captured facilities to the Terran Defense Forces since they had been taken while in 'Terran' space. Technically it was Benesian space, but the Benesian Coalition had no use for either facility so they had been escorted back to the Sol Sector and left in stable orbit of the sixth planet of Centauri A.
    The Terran Council had already asked for volunteers to investigate the mining facility with an eye to putting it back into production. The ship yard, which was little more than a frame with a few habitat modules attached for workers, was left alone for the time being. It was decided that it would eventually become one of the civilian ship yards, but for the time being, all other projects were further along so the newly captured facility would wait.
    The mining facility, though, couldn't have come at a better time. The giant mining and refining ship with its small fleet of mining ships was far more productive than current methods, even though it was less efficient due to its lack of automation. As with most Imperial technology captured so far, there seemed to be a pronounced lack of automation in all areas of endeavor. The reason for this lack was not apparent, as that same technology also showed that automation was possible, it was simply not being used. It was surmised that there was some kind of a racial prejudice against automation of any kind.
    With the Caldarian race, automation had been possible, but had been set aside for the use of slaves. Which, to the Caldarians, was a far more acceptable and pleasing use of resources. Caldarians really had a superiority complex and truly enjoyed seeing the 'lesser races' performing menial tasks and serving their 'rightful masters'. Modern Caldarians, those that had become a part of the Alliance of Races, had shed that superiority, but the free Caldarians, those that had the mid-Atlantic base and had sent the Super Nova to Earth, still maintained that view, which Alan discovered when he received a message from the Caldarian Ambassador to the Alliance of Races.
    "Commander, first, I must apologize for the delay in getting this reply back to you. I had to consult a great many people to be sure of our answer to you. I am afraid it is not good news. While we all appreciate your attempt to take the base with the minimum of casualties, we are all agreed that such an attempt is only wasted effort. What we can tell you is that the base itself is most likely not manned by the warrior caste. The supervision of slaves was considered too far below their station, so the task would be given to the overseer class. Basically, you should be dealing with poorly trained beings who are more concerned with production than defense. In addition to the theft of your planet's petroleum, it is very possible they are also involved in gathering slaves. If there are mineral deposits in the area, they would also have a mine with human slave workers.
    "Our historians are certain that the members of our race in that base will not believe that any of our race, save themselves, survived the destruction of our homeworld. Even if they did, they would not believe we have made peace with the Alliance and now have a place on its Council. We appreciate your position in this, and to those ends I have included a recorded message you may send to the occupants of this base. Your attempts at a peaceful resolution to this issue will be well received by the rest of this Council, and we will certainly make sure they know of it. However, we recommend that you do not send that message until you are ready to attack the base. It was not unheard of to build antimatter self-destruct mechanisms into our facilities, and these beings would not hesitate to use it. If at all possible, when you make the assault, Commander, do it with all haste. If the base commander has the time to activate the self-destruct mechanism, he will do it. I am truly sorry I could not be