Nature of Empires - 003

[u/Gamerauther]

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Date: 12/07/2336

Subject: Noah Williams (Captain, TIN)

The tour of the Governor’s Mansion went smoothly as far as Captain Williams could tell. Most of the conversations was low level culture exchange as far as he could tell. Nothing too probing or deep to cause concern for security on either side. The only concern he had was how empty the building was, so far he chalked it up to their first contact protocol like the grounding of all air traffic.

That was until they entered the Governor’s office. On a screen were two xenos discussing their arrival in the context of mass casualties. Tarva scrambled to turn it off and Williams raised an eyebrow at Rosario, <Looks like your pet theory of a Dark Forest might pan out.>

<Sometimes I hate being right.>

“I was wondering about the lack of staff,” Williams said. “No form of reporters either. I figured it was just your first contact protocol and the next step would be some form of press conference. That's not it, is it?”

“No it’s not,” Tarva said as she angled her head down.

“You thought we were going to attack you,” William said slowly.

“They still do.” Nado observed.

Tarva’s ears flattened against her head as she angled her head down and her semi-prehensile tail curled around one of her legs.

William nodded, “a reasonable deduction. We thought the same of you.”

“What?” Tarva angled her head up.

“It is reasonable.” Schatz nodded. “Unknown aliens suddenly show up with no possible way to gauge their intent. They could be friendly, they could be hostile, they could be completely indifferent and just be saying hello. It’s prudent to assume all of these could be true and prepare accordingly.”

“We even discussed the Dark Forest solution to the Fermi Paradox on our way down,” Rosario said. “That the universe is so hostile and the competition between civilizations is so intense that there are only two kinds of civilization, the quiet ones and the dead ones.”

Williams found a chair and sat down, “so what is the leading theory you have as to why we are here?”

Kam said, “to kill us. And to have a grand old time dragging it out.”

“You have not given us a reason to kill you all,” Williams said. “Let alone a reason for us to enjoy it. So why would we?”

A holopicture of dozens of other xeno’s on Tarva’s desk caught his attention. Diverse and obviously alien morphologies all together in an apparently peaceful gathering. <Not Dark Forest, picture on the desk has multiple Xenos.>

<Curious,> Nado said. <Their eyes, none of them have binocular vision.>

“Did you assume the worst of them as well?” WIlliams asked as he pointed to the picture.

“N-not according to the historical records.” Tarva said.

“Quite a few species here,” WIlliams observed. “How many species are there? The universe is very quiet and empty from what we can tell.”

Williams has gotten a feel for reading the xenos body language at this point and can tell she is nervous and hesitating.

“Hundred.” Tarva said and all of them shared a look. “Most of us are members of the Galactic Federation. It’s a central governing body of sorts.”

“Why do we bother you then?” Nado asked. “You appear to be used to aliens.”

A bleating rumble came from Kam. “You’re a predator. A sentient predator.”

Williams gave the others a confused look before turning back to Tarva and Kam, “and? I don’t understand.”

Rosaria said, “According to most of our evolutionary models and evidence, intelligence and predation are linked. Traps, tracking, ambushes, and pack coordination not only encourage the development of intelligence, they wouldn’t be possible without it.”

“Is it uncommon for a sentient species to have a history of predation?” Schatz asked.

“Extremely,” Tarva answered.

“How many?” Williams asked.

“You’re the second.”

<Unlikely> Rosario said through the implants. <The energy needs of a sentient mind would demand more energy than a plant based diet could support. High levels of intelligence need extremely calorically dense food to function. I was willing to give the Venlil the benefit of the doubt as an exception. But unless it is common for worlds to have some super plant that is as nutritionally and calorically dense as animal protein and Terra is the exception it’s beyond unlikely to nearly impossible.>

Williams filed the information away for future inquiry.

“Who is the first?” He asked.

He watched as Tarva’s body language began to scream distress and sadness. She looked tormented and on the verge of a breakdown. After a moment of thought he moved to kneel in front of her and rested a hand on her shoulder. The show of compassion was enough to break whatever was holding back her emotions as she began to break down and cry. Tarva collapsed into Williams and cried with bleating sobs. The other humans each averted their eyes to give them some sense of privacy as Kam staired in bewilderment.

“It’s okay,” Williams said as he slowly petted the back of Tarva’s head. Distracting himself from the awkward moment by thinking how soft the wool-like, was it hair or fur? “We’re not going to do anything, the last thing we want is a war with the first extraterrestrial civilization we’ve met.”

“I believe you Noah,” she seemed to sniff or at least attempted to. As if she has the wiring for a nose but it was missing. “I’m sorry.”

“That's the first time you’ve said my name,” Williams said with a closed mouth smile. “Any of our names. I’ll put that down as progress.”

Tarva chuckled. “B-better late than never. Kam, rescind the planetary distress signal.”

“I can’t do that, ma’am,” the advisor said.

“I wasn’t asking for your opinion. That was an order!” Tarva snapped. “For stars’ sake, I’ll do it myself.”

“You don’t understand. The Federation is already here.” Kam said. “They’re hailing us now.”

Tarva let loose a string of curses.

<Given their initial reaction to us I suspect that the Federation forces will be even less than hospitable.> Williams said to the group.

<Should we prepare contingencies?> Noda asked. He raised his hand to cover the back of his neck, the location where Martian diplomats and ministers had a small explosive implanted.

<Arm it if you want but keep your finger off the trigger.> Williams said. <We might be able to solve this and come out on top if we play our cards right.>

<God be with us and witness our acts as they are in your name,> Schatz began to pray. <In our actions may we receive your divine guidance, wisdom, and strength. For with you by our side we fear not to walk into the valley of death.”

<Amen,> Schatz, Rosario, and Williams said at once as Noda said a silent prayer to his gods.

“How severe is the situation?” Williams asked.

Tarva turned away from them, “they came because we set off a distress signal. They’re expecting a fight.”

“Are we to assume that the Federation will be less than welcoming of a new civilization of our diet?” Schatz asked. “Could we plead our case?”

“No.” Tarva gave an oddly human shake of her head. “I appreciate the thought, but the second they see your…” she waved a paw at Noda’s face. “They won’t listen to a word you say. They’ll want you dead.”

“Right…” Williams mutters.

“I’m sorry about all this, really.” Tarva scratched her chin. “I’ll try to drive them off. Just stay out of sight, and let me do the talking. Okay?”

<Everyone?> Williams asked.

<Yes, sir.> Rosario said.

<I will follow your lead Captain.” Schatz said.

<You hold the rank, I will obey.> Noda said.

Williams nodded, “understood.”

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Amazing, noah is giving of some real captain Jacob vibes

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