Earlier this morning I received a call from the Federation's Minister of Trade. For anyone less familiar with the civilian government, that's about as high as one can go before you hit the president. She's responsible for all economic and trade diplomacy that the Federation participates in. We have received an invitation to the planet Zeltion IV to participate in trade talks. I know, it doesn't sound incredibly stimulating on the surface, but this is a unique situation. Zeltion IV is the current home of the Zeltin people. They are humanoid, not native to the planet itself since, well, Zeltion IV is a gas giant. They live in large floating cities home to hundreds of thousands of their people, industry, and their respective administration. What makes them such a challenge is that, despite being warp-capable, their government is not unified. Normally this would strike them from the list of potential trade partners as trading with us could give a serious advantage to a single faction on their world. The last thing we want to do is be responsible for forging a hegemony that upsets the balance.
This is why we are prepared to offer something of a trial membership in our trade sphere. What we hope to gain from these talks is certainly worth it. Their world contains an incredibly rare, naturally occurring gas that cannot be synthesized or replicated. This gas appears to form at the lower regions of their atmosphere and is extracted plunging into hull-crushing depths to get it manually. Most of their economy is based on the extraction, purification, and trade of this gas. I'm no scientist or engineer, but it seems to react impressively in power generation systems, boosting output significantly for only a small quantity of gas injection. (From Mission Brief sim "Salzaar Valys - Get That Gas!")
