To Own the Sky: Science Fiction

We own the sky and the cliffs. I imagine when the aliens came, they thought they were trading us a bushel of beads and blankets for all our land--yes, yes, we received the early transmissions from your civilization, we know the history. We knew they wouldn't go away without a significant gain, and we could imagine well and truly the breezes of misfortune that their passing brought to other races who were not so suspicious and so good at acting the noble savage. I said we had studied your transmissions, did I not? We are a flying race. It was easy to persuade them that there were spiritual and religious reasons that we must own the sky. I daresay they thought they were clever and outsmarting us when they insisted on certain lanes of free travel for all, without any possibility of tax or fee or obstruction, under the traffic control of an equally balanced board that would ensure fair play for all. They were not planning on giving us fair play on any of their possessions, of course, but--


Inspiration: "We Own the Sky" - M83
Story Potential: Medium? Medium-high?
Notes: I love the setting, but this isn't a story.