First Contact

Chapter 121: (The War)

MANTID FREE WORLDS - SECURE

be able to stop it. TerraSol will go absolutely blood crazy and all of you know it.

We've got to figure out a way to mitigate this. We can't afford a Mar-gite War again. The Terrans are barely calmed down from that.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS - SECURE

Maybe it won't be that bad?

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN COMPACT - SECURE

It's barely been three hundred years. Over half the Terrans alive during that war are still alive.

How do you think they're going to react?

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DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS - SECURE

My Father is not a maniac.

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MANTID FREE WORLDS - SECURE

We know.

But, and, I'm going to be honest...

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TRAENA'AD HIVE WORLDS - SECURE

He scares the shit out of all of us.

It's like there's nothing they can't do. Nothing they won't do.

We have cities older than you Terrans.

You've either fixed everything or beaten everything that presented a problem.

We'll be honest. Nothing we had could have stopped the Mar-gite Invasion.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

RIGELLIAN COMPACT - SECURE

TerraSol is scary as fuck, but look at everyone they've saved. Hell, even saved from themselves.

The Naximarians were dying. They'd be extinct by now. They were going down and Terrans saved them.

And they aren't the only ones.

Traena'ad, you guys were in trouble. By now you'd have choked to death on your own larvae.

Mantid, you'd have had another Overqueen War by now.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

>UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS HAS JOINED THE SECURE CHAT

UFP - SECURE

This is strange. No TerraSol?

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MANTID FREE WORLDS - SECURE

Yeah. He can't be in here. Not for this discussion.

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UFP - SECURE

If you're talking civil war, the answer is no.

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TRAENA'AD HIVE WORLDS - SECURE

No. You know I wouldn't do that.

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UFP - SECURE

Then what? We're not going to join. We fundamentally disagree with the 1% Line, your refusal to adopt a rule like the Prime Directive.

We'll help out. We're allies, but we're not joining.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS - SECURE

This is real time. You should know that.

There's a reason TerraSol isn't here.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

UFP - SECURE

All right. What?

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RIGELLIAN COMPACT - SECURE

The Talmonus Harmony has been attacked by the Lanaktallan Unified Council military and corporate fleets.

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UFP - SECURE

Oh. How bad?

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TRAENA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Bad enough they came into chat pleaded for it to stop.

TerraSol can't violate that treaty.

We need you to save them.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

UFP - SECURE

We're not a signatory to any of those treaties. We have no diplomatic ties.

We'll need to know where they are.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

DIGITAL ARTIFICIAL SENTIENCE SYSTEMS - SECURE

Here. Here's the coordinates.

They're going to need military assistance. They've got nearly six hundred worlds, we don't know how many have been attacked, we don't know how in force the Lanaktallan's are.

To be honest, you're going to need your more military side.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

UFP - SECURE

We've got a man for the job.

We'll be in touch.

>UFP HAS LEFT SECURE CHAT

MANTID FREE WORLDS - SECURE

I hope we did the right thing.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8534.65

Despite my previous failures, I have found myself back in the Captain's chair with the rank of Admiral.

I have been given my choice of crew.

Starfleet, despite having its origins in a game, movies, books, television shows, and other media, is a way of life.

I have reassembled my old crew from the Precursor War.

My old Riker has shown up with the Dakota.

Time to the Talmonus Harmony is eighteen days.

Any other crew would have disagreed with my decision to load the bays with assault shuttles.

By the time we reach Talmonus Harmony space, not only with the assault shuttles be finished but the soldiers will be ready. The nano-forges and creations engines will be deslushed and cooled down.

Anyone who reads this, I want you to know: The Federation would have never brought me back except for one thing.

The Harmony is peaceful. They even purge any tools of violence templates from creation engines and nano-forges. Violence is treated as a disease. While there isn't genetic or medication therapy, they still have attempted to use non-violent forms of ridding violence from their culture without infringing on their member's rights.

An odd aside: The Talmonus Harmony does not allow non-Pure Strain Humans, not even DAS. The only VI's and eVI's they allow are home built ones.

If the Talmonus Harmony entered the Gestalt Chat, they must have been desperate.

I fear, through my unique combined experiences, the worst.

I feel they may have discovered that what is engraved on TerraSol is true after all.

The universe is malevolent and will take everything you love from you and hurt you while it does it. Nobody is coming to help you. Help yourself.

Or die screaming.

I hope I am wrong.

I know I am not.

--Jeff Picark 8873

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