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for a Gnar that was barely a good start at a proper family. Try as they might, the old traditions were hard to maintain on this cramped world and Yavit, his homeworld, was not much better off.
           Those living there were maintaining the old traditions, but every city that had been rebuilt was full to capacity and new constructions were consuming up the available landspace as fast as the population was growing…leaving no room to repatriate Gnar from offworld. Paget was here because he was assigned to function as an intermediary with Star Force, who would not be allowed a foothold on Yavit for an embassy even if they asked, which they hadn’t.
           Paget’s duty was here…and here he would stay until he completed it. If he failed he wasn’t going to the homeworld and he’d be forced to live out his remaining days cramped up here as the Gnar population had to be forcefully restricted. That was a huge insult to his people, but logistics were finite. He’d arranged several land purchases in his career over the past 73 years, one region on this world and some bits and pieces on others. It had been costly, but those bargains had given the Gnar a little more breathing room…which they quickly consumed.
           He knew everyone was having population growth problems, save for Star Force, but it made no sense why they couldn’t expand to the empty worlds the lizards had left behind. No sense at all!
           And it wasn’t an issue of price. Star Force wasn’t entertaining any bargains unless a race impressed them, and the Gnar had long been an adversary. It was true, they relied on Star Force markets more heavily than he wanted to admit, but the Gnar were mostly independent with their own economy and industry. Trade with other races was fair to heavy, but with all prices concerned they had to use the Star Force transit network for most of their shipping.
           They had not allied themselves with Star Force though. No formal trade deals or bargains of any kind. What business they did with them was simply as customers…aside from the deals Paget was trying to strike now. He was trying every angle he could to get a hold on another planet, let alone a system. If and when he did he could move there and live like a king or go back to his homeworld and live far better there than he was here, though most Gnar on Mothere had to make due with far less.
           Paget logged into his secure system and filed his report. Failure again, though it wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Star Force could not be manipulated, they’d learned long ago. They held to their own reasoning, and while somewhat unfair they were at least notoriously consistent. It was said it was just a matter of finding that special deal that would suit both parties, but even when the Gnar were willing to pay a ransom for a single planet Star Force would not even discuss the matter other than to politely say ‘no’…and that cocky politeness was infuriating on its own.
           Paget found something on his desk to grab and throw into a wall, not caring what it was. He hated Star Force, as well as his inability to find a way to give them what they wanted in exchange. For it seemed they wanted nothing at all, and had the military power to hang onto those empty worlds for as long as they chose.
           Some would say they deserved it for doing the impossible, but that didn’t help Paget. The ADZ was packed full of people, with the Gnar only being a small sliver of that whole. They had to expand at some point, whether Star Force liked it or not, else there would be a catastrophe in the making…or a revolution, if only that were possible. Paget would have pursued that agenda if possible, desperately wanting to, but he knew as well as everyone else how dominant they were. There was no way to beat them, militarily, economic, or otherwise, and the few small groups that had been so arrogant as to try had been quickly and