Split (1)

train · 353k rows

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edit: [someone called me out so here's the original](https://twitter.com/TheAndrewNadeau/status/1221583159759904769?s=19)	[WP] There’s a parallel universe where people age non-linearly, and every day you have no idea how old you’ll wake up. So sometimes you’d have to call into work like, “Sorry, can’t make it in today, I’m 7.”	“Morning, dad! You’re looking young today.” I felt exuberant standing in front of the shared closet, looking for something that would fit my pre-pubescent frame. The pajama top I woke up in was hanging like a dress past my knees, and I left the shorts where they fell when I got out of bed. Dad was a lithe 30-something today, and it looked good on him. His actual 63 years were hidden behind his restored hairline, the wrinkles of his older face erased, or more accurately, not around yet. “You too, kiddo! This is what, seven, eight?” He smiled and rested a hand on my head before turning back to the Business section of the family closet, looking for something in his new size. At 63 he wasn’t working a regular job but he still fills in when the Medical Center is having a Young Day and his age for the day can handle it. I found a pair of overalls and a tee shirt that mirrored my new youthful feeling and I thought would fit. “It feels like seven to me. I just want to eat Fruity Pebbles and watch Kim Possible all day!” He shook his head and grinned as I giggled and skipped back to my bedroom to change. His muffled shout came through the bedroom door, “Oh, don’t forget we’re going to visit your sister and the baby after work. She should be ready to come home soon!” As excited as I was to have Charlie back in the house, I wished little Henry would be coming home with her. It had been about six months since the day Charlie woke up pregnant, went into labor around lunch time and was admitted to Neumann Holding Center. She wouldn’t be able to stay much longer. She’d still get to see her new little baby every day, but the technology needed to make her live a linear ageline was too costly for it to be spent on someone who was healthy and recovered. The center was only for women giving birth or breastfeeding and babies who aren’t yet “viable”. Daily life was too unpredictable for them to be out in the community. If you can’t walk, communicate and understand the word “no”, you stay in Holding. I was only in Holding for the first year and eight months of my life. It took Charlie 2 1/2 years to be able to talk enough to be viable. Our twin brothers Phinn and Phil were perfect in this, like everything else, and busted out of Holding exactly one year and three months after they were born. I think the staff was just tired of having those two in there and couldn’t wait any longer. I got dressed, grateful that today was a Saturday and while Dad could get called in on the weekend the school was closed. Teaching in this world was stressful enough without having to do it in the body of the kids I was teaching. Thankfully the educating part was done via recorded lessons and I was in a support position. Professors spent their adult days studying, reading, and recording lessons for the rest of the community so that at least education could be linear. Days when the whole teaching staff woke up younger than their students weren’t as much of a problem when they weren’t required to master the tough subjects. That has only happened three times in my teaching career and every time we’ve called it a pajama day and watched “educational cartoons” all day. Usually though, things in this community go smoothly. Living in family groups ensures that when we woke up too young to fend for ourselves, someone else would be there to help. Having the resources needed for every stage of life would be impossible if I was living on my own, but in this house we all have everything we need. There have been a few mornings that this 24 year old was glad to have a walker and arthritis cream in storage. The mornings that I feel like a 30 year old and Mom and Dad wake up in little, barely viable bodies are the weirdest. And when Roman spends the night and we wake up… different. Being 24 with a 26 year old boyfriend is an age difference, waking up being 45 with a 26 year old boyfriend stuck with the mental capacity and bathroom habits of a two-year-old is something else. Mom was 17 that day and was such a great help. We couldn’t send Roman home, his family was having a Young Day, so he stayed over again. The next day I was about five and my 18 year old boyfriend held my hand as we crossed the street and he took me on a “date” for ice cream. Even when we’re in completely different places, we’re there for each other. We all are.	Simone woke up. Something felt different. She felt odd. She felt ... more - life she was bigger, longer. 'Shit!' she thought to herself. 'Shit! Shit! Shit! This can't be happening.' Simone really hoped that it wasn't. She knew the arms and legs that moved to throw the covers off her were hers but they felt alien. Very alien. She crossed her fingers and hoped that it hadn't happened but as soon as she stepped out of her bed, she knew that it had. The bed was too close to the floor. She felt a lump form in her throat. &#x200B; Simone walked over to her wardrobe and looked at herself in the full-length mirror. She had breasts now. And had grown by a foot. Last night, her hair had reached her shoulders. Today, it reached her waist. She had grown! There was no doubt about that. Her parents were going to be disappointed. Her sister was going to gloat. Her life was ruined! &#x200B; Simone walked down to the living room where she knew her mum and dad would already be bustling about getting ready for the day to come. Instead, she found her sister sitting at the counter, eating cereal. When she saw Simone come in, she stopped eating, her spoon hanging mid-air between her bowl and her gaping mouth. &#x200B; "Fffuuu ... dge" Isabella said as their parents walked in too. "You grew!" &#x200B; Her parents who hadn't noticed her until then turned around hurriedly. Simone's mom let out a tiny shriek - expressing disappointment, despair and sadness - all in one fleeting second. Stunned silence descended over the Anderson household until - "You effing grew, Simmy! Damn! You're going to die now! Jeezus!" Simone avoided eye-contact. She could feel the lump in her throat and her eyes tearing up. She had keep it together. She kept looking at the floor. "RRiigght ... guys. Yeah. I grew. Mum, dad, I know that both of you didn't grow past 15 and neither did Isabella and you guys are going to live forever now ... but, I guess ... that's not me, anymore. I am going to grow old. And, like Isabella said, one day, die." There was silence again. &#x200B; Deep breaths, Simone reminded herself and looked around uncomfortably. Her dad had made no reaction yet and she looked at him. He had a very stoic expression on his face and when their eyes met, he nodded at Simone. It was a simple nod but the small gesture gave Simone all the support she was craving. She wasn't like the rest of her family, but they were going to stick around and support her. And as long as that was true, she could bear to live a mortal life. \---- A/N: This story started out as a response to OP's prompt for regular non-linear growth, but it evolved into exploring a one-time non-linear growth. I'm keeping it :)
edit: [someone called me out so here's the original](https://twitter.com/TheAndrewNadeau/status/1221583159759904769?s=19)	[WP] There’s a parallel universe where people age non-linearly, and every day you have no idea how old you’ll wake up. So sometimes you’d have to call into work like, “Sorry, can’t make it in today, I’m 7.”	“Morning, dad! You’re looking young today.” I felt exuberant standing in front of the shared closet, looking for something that would fit my pre-pubescent frame. The pajama top I woke up in was hanging like a dress past my knees, and I left the shorts where they fell when I got out of bed. Dad was a lithe 30-something today, and it looked good on him. His actual 63 years were hidden behind his restored hairline, the wrinkles of his older face erased, or more accurately, not around yet. “You too, kiddo! This is what, seven, eight?” He smiled and rested a hand on my head before turning back to the Business section of the family closet, looking for something in his new size. At 63 he wasn’t working a regular job but he still fills in when the Medical Center is having a Young Day and his age for the day can handle it. I found a pair of overalls and a tee shirt that mirrored my new youthful feeling and I thought would fit. “It feels like seven to me. I just want to eat Fruity Pebbles and watch Kim Possible all day!” He shook his head and grinned as I giggled and skipped back to my bedroom to change. His muffled shout came through the bedroom door, “Oh, don’t forget we’re going to visit your sister and the baby after work. She should be ready to come home soon!” As excited as I was to have Charlie back in the house, I wished little Henry would be coming home with her. It had been about six months since the day Charlie woke up pregnant, went into labor around lunch time and was admitted to Neumann Holding Center. She wouldn’t be able to stay much longer. She’d still get to see her new little baby every day, but the technology needed to make her live a linear ageline was too costly for it to be spent on someone who was healthy and recovered. The center was only for women giving birth or breastfeeding and babies who aren’t yet “viable”. Daily life was too unpredictable for them to be out in the community. If you can’t walk, communicate and understand the word “no”, you stay in Holding. I was only in Holding for the first year and eight months of my life. It took Charlie 2 1/2 years to be able to talk enough to be viable. Our twin brothers Phinn and Phil were perfect in this, like everything else, and busted out of Holding exactly one year and three months after they were born. I think the staff was just tired of having those two in there and couldn’t wait any longer. I got dressed, grateful that today was a Saturday and while Dad could get called in on the weekend the school was closed. Teaching in this world was stressful enough without having to do it in the body of the kids I was teaching. Thankfully the educating part was done via recorded lessons and I was in a support position. Professors spent their adult days studying, reading, and recording lessons for the rest of the community so that at least education could be linear. Days when the whole teaching staff woke up younger than their students weren’t as much of a problem when they weren’t required to master the tough subjects. That has only happened three times in my teaching career and every time we’ve called it a pajama day and watched “educational cartoons” all day. Usually though, things in this community go smoothly. Living in family groups ensures that when we woke up too young to fend for ourselves, someone else would be there to help. Having the resources needed for every stage of life would be impossible if I was living on my own, but in this house we all have everything we need. There have been a few mornings that this 24 year old was glad to have a walker and arthritis cream in storage. The mornings that I feel like a 30 year old and Mom and Dad wake up in little, barely viable bodies are the weirdest. And when Roman spends the night and we wake up… different. Being 24 with a 26 year old boyfriend is an age difference, waking up being 45 with a 26 year old boyfriend stuck with the mental capacity and bathroom habits of a two-year-old is something else. Mom was 17 that day and was such a great help. We couldn’t send Roman home, his family was having a Young Day, so he stayed over again. The next day I was about five and my 18 year old boyfriend held my hand as we crossed the street and he took me on a “date” for ice cream. Even when we’re in completely different places, we’re there for each other. We all are.	The best days were waking in that room with blue painted walls, white birds printed along the tops, and a window overlooking the swing-set in the backyard. The posters decorating my little space would change depending on the when. Sometimes (if I woke and was very young) they'd represent who I was, but then as I grew, they just showed how I thought I should be seen. Cartoon characters became wrestlers became games that became, like today, just a couple of posters of ladies in bikinis. Usually the kitchen would waft eggs and bacon and happiness up the stairs and into my room and I'd jump out of bed and run down. Scrawled on the kitchen wall would always be four stick figures made of crude chalk lines. Every year, on New Year's day, Dad would brush two out - mine and Julie's - measure us up, scrawl a marker on the wall for the top of our heads, then hand us chalk pieces. "Keep it simple," he'd say, "nothing ostentatious." Next to our portraits were stick Mom and Dad, never changing, always chalk-smiles, chalk-hands holding. Like a year round happy holidays card. Usually I'd wake in that blue room praying that school was out, maybe a smile on my face and a belly full of excitement at everything lying ahead. No responsibility, just play and watch and laze and eat. But that's not how I woke today. I woke uneasy, maybe a little sick. Like there was an echo of melancholy tumbling down my arteries. No burnt bacon wafting up the stairs. I recognised the feeling for what it was - what it would become - when I saw the chalk figures on the wall, the chalk Mom freshly erased into a swirl of white dust. The two chalk children - almost as big as chalk Dad, now - were a long empty space away from him. The chalk smiles gone, all faces wiped featureless. This was the closest I'd ever awoken to the day Mom left him. Left us. The seed of emptiness in my belly wasn't as grown as in later days, but it was there, freshly planted, ready to tangle me up for the next few years. I think Dad knew why she left, even then. I'd heard them argue some nights. "Nothing ostentatious" went for Mom's dresswear and jewellery and the house itself. For our lives. If he could have overcome who he was to make Mom happy, I know he would have done. But he couldn't. People don't work like that. For him, marriage had been a promise made with his soul - that had been his ring, and if that promise was broken, so was he. He'd never get truly over it. Dad was still in his bedroom. Maybe he'd be down soon. Maybe not. I found the cloth in a drawer next to stubs of chalk and rubbed out the two kids. Then I drew them back, a bit smaller, one either side of Dad, each holding a hand. I knew the drawings wouldn't still be there in the coming days - I'd seen that much. Maybe I'd never been meant to draw them at all, I don't know. But it felt right. I didn't force a smile on his face but I put them on ours.
edit: [someone called me out so here's the original](https://twitter.com/TheAndrewNadeau/status/1221583159759904769?s=19)	[WP] There’s a parallel universe where people age non-linearly, and every day you have no idea how old you’ll wake up. So sometimes you’d have to call into work like, “Sorry, can’t make it in today, I’m 7.”	'Time is a funny thing really,' I try to tell myself as a get ready to call my boss. Waking up seven, worst birthday in a while. I had previously been on a pretty good streak, mid twenties to late thirties for over a decade, giving me solid work for the time. Jobs still has one year contracts, but they pay well when adults are a suggestion, not a guarantee. Finally, I pick up my phone and dial my boss, dreading him picking up. As the phone rings, I eventually hear a, "what's up Rick?" "Hey Kris... I know I promised I'd be able to get another year in, but I didn't luck out..." my squeaky voice bothering me a bit. "I'll be calling child care services after this call, I don't have anything for being this young." An audible sigh is heard. "Really Rick? What are you, five? How do you not have anything when this could happen any year? You know what, whatever, just call me back after nine or so and I'll at least get you your gift." "Thanks Kris, I'll make this up to you next year, I promise!" "Just call child care before you get distracted by a butterfly or something, your medication isn't dosed for a kid." Kris says, then abruptly hangs up. I put the phone down. "Oh yeah... I need to make sure I don't get distracted. ...Wait, did Kris say gift? That'll be fun!" I grin, then shake my head. "Need to call child care...." I sigh, first time in over a decade, a real pain. 'What was the number...?'	The best days were waking in that room with blue painted walls, white birds printed along the tops, and a window overlooking the swing-set in the backyard. The posters decorating my little space would change depending on the when. Sometimes (if I woke and was very young) they'd represent who I was, but then as I grew, they just showed how I thought I should be seen. Cartoon characters became wrestlers became games that became, like today, just a couple of posters of ladies in bikinis. Usually the kitchen would waft eggs and bacon and happiness up the stairs and into my room and I'd jump out of bed and run down. Scrawled on the kitchen wall would always be four stick figures made of crude chalk lines. Every year, on New Year's day, Dad would brush two out - mine and Julie's - measure us up, scrawl a marker on the wall for the top of our heads, then hand us chalk pieces. "Keep it simple," he'd say, "nothing ostentatious." Next to our portraits were stick Mom and Dad, never changing, always chalk-smiles, chalk-hands holding. Like a year round happy holidays card. Usually I'd wake in that blue room praying that school was out, maybe a smile on my face and a belly full of excitement at everything lying ahead. No responsibility, just play and watch and laze and eat. But that's not how I woke today. I woke uneasy, maybe a little sick. Like there was an echo of melancholy tumbling down my arteries. No burnt bacon wafting up the stairs. I recognised the feeling for what it was - what it would become - when I saw the chalk figures on the wall, the chalk Mom freshly erased into a swirl of white dust. The two chalk children - almost as big as chalk Dad, now - were a long empty space away from him. The chalk smiles gone, all faces wiped featureless. This was the closest I'd ever awoken to the day Mom left him. Left us. The seed of emptiness in my belly wasn't as grown as in later days, but it was there, freshly planted, ready to tangle me up for the next few years. I think Dad knew why she left, even then. I'd heard them argue some nights. "Nothing ostentatious" went for Mom's dresswear and jewellery and the house itself. For our lives. If he could have overcome who he was to make Mom happy, I know he would have done. But he couldn't. People don't work like that. For him, marriage had been a promise made with his soul - that had been his ring, and if that promise was broken, so was he. He'd never get truly over it. Dad was still in his bedroom. Maybe he'd be down soon. Maybe not. I found the cloth in a drawer next to stubs of chalk and rubbed out the two kids. Then I drew them back, a bit smaller, one either side of Dad, each holding a hand. I knew the drawings wouldn't still be there in the coming days - I'd seen that much. Maybe I'd never been meant to draw them at all, I don't know. But it felt right. I didn't force a smile on his face but I put them on ours.
	[WP] One summer, when you were eight, you were best friends with a girl named Lily. You would play sun up to sun down in the creek and woods behind your house. Until the day she never came back. Twenty years later, you wake up with her beside your bed, eight years old and begging for help.	"Honey, just go back to bed... it's 2 am," I whine at my daughter. She continues pulling on my arm. "Tammy, it's me. Lily!" I hear the name, but in my groggy state I still don't register what is going on. "If you don't get back to bed you're going to be grounded until your thirty," I mumble. Next thing I know the light turns on and my eyes sting with the sudden harshness of the lights. "Damn it, Lillian!" I sit up in bed and after successfully opening my eyes, I see her. It has been over twenty years since I saw the girl standing in front of me. The one I named my own daughter after. Lily. She was my best friend. We would play together until the night sky told us it was time for bed. I scream in surprise, horror, shock, "Lily!?" She nods. "Finally, Tammy! You haven't changed, you still sleep like a bear in winter." Her appearance startles and confuses me. She may still have the body of an eight-year-old girl, but she looks like a warrior I would see in some kind of fantasy show set in the medieval times. Her bright, blonde hair lays long past the middle of her back and her eyes reflect a life lived. She is wearing a long, red velvet dress that matches my grandmother's couch from the 70's. For a moment I am transported back to a time when we would play dress up with our parents clothes, because the dress seems to big for her small frame. Even so, it is beautiful. On the bottom, it is detailed in silver, with gems that faintly sparkle in the light. She is also wearing an over-sized leather chest plate with brass buckles, and there is a sword hanging from her hip. These items make her presence suddenly frightening. I stare at her dumbfounded. "How... what... where have you been?" I stutter out. Thank goodness my husband is away on a business trip this weekend, or he would have called the cops by now. The slight aggravation on her face is replaced with a new gentle understanding. "I'm sorry, Tammy. I know you have questions, but I don't have time to explain." I get out of my bed, needing to move. "You are going to have to give me something to go off of here! I haven't seen you in twenty years! We thought you were dead! Your mom died of heartbreak and your father is still looking for you!" She takes a few steps back, giving me some space while nodding solemnly. "I know, but I wasn't able to come back until today." "What do you mean?" I ask, not hiding both my horror and confusion. Her eyes look at me, but they don't see me, they are lost in memories. "When I disappeared, I had fallen into the creek where a portal had been opened. I was sucked into another world, where I reign as Queen now. There I look my age, but when I came back to this world, my body reverted back to the age it was here." If my mouth could physically drop to the floor, it would. "What? None of this make any sense!" She rushes to me and grabs my hand. "I know you need more of an explanation, but you need to come back with me. A relative of yours is wreaking havoc in our world and the only way to stop her is to have blood of a living relative." I pull my hand from her. "A relative of mine?" I try to process what she just told me, but my mind can't wrap around anything she is telling me. "Okay. I don't know who you are, but this is not funny. You need to leave." She steps back from me with a new determination. "Tammy, I know I am asking you to believe in something that is completely unbelievable, but I need you to have faith in what I am telling you is real. Or this world will be the next one she takes over." For some reason her words feel truthful to me, like somewhere in my soul I know she is speaking the truth, even if I still can't fully latch onto this new reality. "How am I related to this woman?" I ask her, slightly challenging. She swallows hard. "It's your mom." "My mom?" I chuckle. "She's home. Probably sleeping. Like I should be doing." Lily shakes her and takes a deep breath. "No, Tammy. The woman you think is your mom is actually a servant of your mothers that she put a transformation spell on. Your mom is a powerful warlock who got stuck in this world long ago, but she finally managed a way to go back to her previous world - the same day that I fell through the portal."	I look upon this girl in disbelief. Was this really Lily? We haven't spoken in decades and she's not aged a day. "Matthew, please! This is important!" She continues looking on the verge of tears. "Okay, okay, what is it? What's going on?" Forget how she got into my house, I can't handle crying very well. ...or children for that matter. "Follow me," she says, tugging me out of bed. Not exactly an answer, but what am I supposed to do, argue? I follow her out of my room, in my pajamas, and out onto the street- the street is a forest? I look back, my house is gone. "...Uh... Lily? What's going on?" I ask her, but she keeps dragging me. "I can explain later, we don't have time!" She says, our surroundings changing from a normal forest to more of some fantasy garden. Nothing here seems real, but it solid when I touch it. I sigh as we go along, everything from giant bugs to miniature giraffes wander these woods. We eventually come to a stop at an empty fountain, the ground around it dry and dying. Lily says, "I need you to fix this, I know you can." "...a fountain? Is there a pipe clogged up or something?" I ask "I don't know! Just fix it, please!" "Okay, okay, I can do my best." I say, inspecting the fountain. It's quite ornate and doesn't seem to have anything broken. I look down the spout of it, and it looks like it hasn't been running in days at least. The pipe is dry. "I'll have to disassemble this to see where the problem is," I say to Lily. "Just fix it!" She urges. I sigh a bit at the rather cold get together, and get to work. Being stuck in a dead end plumbing job got me here, I suppose. As I take the fountain apart, I find that the pipe simply goes down to the base, then widens out to a very large, but nearly empty, cave. Only a small looking pool of water is there, coating the bottom. "Looks like whatever hose connected the fountain to your water is gone, you'll need a new one," I inform. Lily nods a little, but quickly vanishes. "...Guess she's going to go get it" I assume, waiting her to install it. I wait... and wait... and wait... and the life all around slowly vanishes, like Lily did. I begin to realize, she isn't coming back. And I am stuck in a dying world. I was too late.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I do not know with what weapons World War Three will be fought but World War Four will be fought with sticks and stones" - Anonymous No one remembers who said that quote now, but everyone remembers the weapons. Robotic armaments were unleashed on the earth in droves, they were supposed to practice a kind of "surgical war" with weapons that could remove a single combatant from a crowded school yard with no collateral damage. They worked too well, and humans grew complacent granting further leeway for the robots to decide their targeting priority, and then their targets, and finally their missions. By the time we realized our error it was too late, the robots had decided their mission was to end humanity. It was the only logical end to thousands of years of death and destruction. They failed, of course, but it was a narrow thing and humanity was halved before we emerged victorious. We proved the anonymous author wrong though - we learned from our pain and placed severe restrictions on machine intelligence and world war 4 never came. … "Two possibilities exist - either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying" - Arthur C. Clarke We remembered who wrote that quote and we took it to heart. Arthur was only partially right, we were alone in our Galaxy but the universe was teeming with intelligent life. When we discovered that, or more accurately were discovered, he was right that we were terrified nonetheless. Our technology was limited to manipulation of the speed of light on a finite scale and so while we explored our home galaxy thoroughly we never found any signs of intelligent life. Our technology did not allows us to cross the vast gulfs between galaxies and it seemed these would always lay beyond our grasp. Within our Galaxy however, we found an endless variety of non-sentient life but never any signs of intelligence or civilization. We assumed that other galaxies were either unlikely to contain sentient beings or similarly constrained in their ability to travel or both and for a time we were content with our lot. That changed when the Riqians decided to drop by on a "safari". Everyone called them Ricky's and we learned they were from a galaxy we hadn't even bothered to name. But first, we panicked. --- The Ricky's were surprised to see us. They were a biomechanical life form that evolved in the hard vacuum of space and never knew the hold of a gravity well until they had already evolved a understanding of physics that allowed them to bend time and space and travel anywhere they desired in an instant. They explored their home galaxy and found a multitude of life, and for the most part the Ricky's were so advanced in comparison that none dared to attack them. Instead the Ricky's became the logistical backbone of their galaxies, discovering isolated species and used their unique transport methods to move beings and goods in exchange for knowledge, with the Ricky's you could not only litteraly sing for your supper they would throw in a ride anywhere you desired to boot. Due to their unique heritage they had no concept of war - they fed off vacuum energies so they had no resource constraints and were effectively immortal. When they encountered their first hostile species they simply left, immediately, and never returned. When the first of their guest species, the Dyrad's, staged a rebellion seeking to force the Ricky's to their will the Ricky's had them leave, by moving all solar systems inhabited by Dyrad's to the vast void between the galaxies and simply left them alone, forever. No one else sought to enforce their will on the Ricky's after that. Eventually the Ricky's settled into a pattern of identifying galaxies likely to promote sentience and visiting them to gain what knowledge they could and enforcing a quarantine where they met hostility. Because they evolved relatively early on the galactic timescale these quarantine events were rare. However, even with instant travel the universe is a big place so even the Ricky's could not feasibly explore everywhere. They graded the various galaxies and those that were not likely to house sentient species were essentially treated as giant preserves where the Ricky's would travel and bring their guest species to observe the vast wonders of the Galaxy and the infinite variety of animals in it. Even in the low sentient galaxies, life was plentiful. --- Of course we didn't learn all this until much later but we were lucky enough to have an outpost when the Ricky's decided to visit our backwoods galaxy looking for interesting natural phenomenon and animal life. We were also lucky that millennia of exploration with no extra terrestrial contact dulled our ability to make war on an interstellar scale. The first meeting was shocking but uneventful the Ricky's and a full load of guest species observers popped into being at the l2 point and were just as surprised to find see us there as we were to see them. Over a series of visits we learned to communicate and came to understand that they meant us no harm. But, not before a series of galactic councils were convened composed of all factions of humanity that were spread across the Galaxy to deal with this first contact event. Most factions urged calm and were encouraged and gained clout when we asked the Ricky's to not explore our Galaxy further out of respect for our privacy and they immediately agreed in exchange for a steady flow of information about it from us. Of course, humans bring what they are other factions insisted it was an elaborate trap, unable to ignore their lizard brain impulses Eventually the various factions settled on a cautious peace as the galactic stance on Ricky's and their guests, but the more war like factions won the right to restart our robotic weapons programs in secret. Our understanding of science had progressed but we still obeyed strict limits on machine intelligence. As the centuries passed however these weapons never came to be used and eventually only existed in "stasis" - pockets of space/time that we manipulated to dramatically slow the passage of time, ready to be used and resisting the efforts of entropy. … "Walk softly and carry a big stick" - Anonymous Another quote author lost to the robotic Holocaust but it became the slogan of the paranoids a human factions that insisted the universe was not a welcoming place despite the Ricky's intentions. Over the centuries humans found a place of honor among the guests species, having developed for so long in isolation we had a rare ability to view situations from a neutral perspective, our evolution was not influenced by the constant presence of Other. We discovered that while the Ricky's did not tolerate aggression amongst themselves they were a bit more lazzez faire when it came to their guests. So long as no Ricky's or guests under their direct protection were harmed the Ricky's did not intervene in inter or intra species conflict. Preferring to remain as observers, watching and learning more as you or I may watch two warring bands of army ants. Our place as negotiators was not universally welcome and humans made our fair share of enemies over time but because our Galaxy was so isolated and only the Ricky's could effectively travel there we faced no direct threats asides from small skirmishes when we visited other falsies, courtesy of the Ricky's. Many grew to resent our position and viewed us as aloof and so we found it necessary to arm our ships however our fear of machine intelligence was so deeply rooted that it extended to the Ricky's as well and so we decided to limit our weapons sent out of the Galaxy to the galactic standard which mostly consisted of ballistic and directed energy weapons. Most species met the Ricky's before they reached an equivalent industrial age and so they did not develop weapons of mass destruction as we did - we hid our true nature partly out of shame and partly to make others more comfortable and prevent further hostility. When our ships were challenged however we responded with overwhelming force that was always one step above what was directed at us and so found a place in the universe of uneasy peace. --- This delicate balance changed when the Ricky's chanced upon another isolated species, the Rak'hais. Unlike us the Rak's never had a close call with an extinction level event until they were a multi system species and by then their warfare consisted of flinging asteroid and moons at each others planets. When the Ricky's met the Rak'hais they responded as they did to anything that threatened them and they threw some very large rocks at the Ricky's. When the Ricky's left this time however, the Rak'hais followed, for they too had discovered the secret of instant travel but were not a curious species. The presence of the Ricky's and the amount of life in their origin galaxies however did convince the Rak'hai to look beyond their local galaxy as way of alleviating their resource constraints. The Ricky's asked us for help for they could not move the Rak'hais far enough away quickly enough, nor were they interested in war with them. They appealed to us on behalf of their guests but it was clear that if we failed they would simply leave us to our fate at the hands of the Rak'hais and find greener pastures. --- (Continued below)	"You know the thing about trying to place demands in modern warfare is, you either carry out your threat of total annihilation or you just don't do anything, it's very hard to get an in between." &#x200B; "I sort of get what you mean, but could you elaborate?" &#x200B; "So for example you demand the unconditional surrender of a solar system, but they don't want to surrender. So what do you do?" &#x200B; "I guess if you don't want to totally annihilate them, you could try sending down a fleet or 2 and then..." &#x200B; "Yup you have to land troops, send in ships, yada yada, deal with attacks on supply trains, guerrilla warfare... I'd say you'd lose a few billion grunts before you even conquer one planet. Its all a total mess isn't it?" &#x200B; "It's either that or just wipe the whole solar system out with a Nova Cannon. But then..." &#x200B; "But then you're left with nothing to conquer." &#x200B; "Precisely the solar system is now occupied by a supernova, unless you're a Flare-fin the whole place is rather... useless now. You could try to use an Gravity reaction chain...?" &#x200B; "Yeah but those are extremely unpredictable. It could be limited to just a single asteroid... or it could chain react all the way to the nearest 3 or 4 solar systems even." &#x200B; "Yeah I could see how that may be a problem." &#x200B; "So for the past few millennia, more... territorial species have had to rock hop one at a time if they wanted to get anywhere." &#x200B; "And carefully too! Remember the Nipanese? They nova'd their own solar system and wiped out 80% of the Gerrian fleet, knocked them back to the Chip-Ages." &#x200B; "But now..." &#x200B; "But now, unfortunately the Soulei have gotten their hands on something rather... troublesome." &#x200B; "I'm actually surprised Terrans were the ones that had them. Them of all people." &#x200B; "I mean yeah as a peaceful species I'm surprised they had any such weapon at all." &#x200B; "No but I mean quite frankly... its a torture weapon." &#x200B; "How do you mean?" &#x200B; "Nova-cannons are clean, shoot it and the solar system is gone. Same with Gravity reaction-chains albeit unwieldy. An atomic weapon is very very messy. You drop one down and and takes out a small area, maybe a few hundred million population, but then it spews toxic particles everywhere leaving the area a total mess... until you clean up all the radiation of course." &#x200B; "But that takes manpower and resources." &#x200B; "Precisely, rather than blowing everything up, you just shoot a few major locations and now the enemy is wasting resources trying to clean it all up instead of on weapons to fight you." &#x200B; "I think I see what you mean now." &#x200B; "Back to my original point, the Soulei now can 'hold a planet hostage'. Just like holding a hostage, if you just kill the hostage you have no bargaining chip. But lets say you cut off their gnificher's one at a time and send them to family members..." &#x200B; "That motivates them to follow your demands." &#x200B; "Precisely and it crushes their morale, less likely to resist." &#x200B; "This could end up changing warfare... and not for the better I'm afraid. Not to mention, the weapons are primitive, extremely easy to replicate... I wouldn't be surprised if the Soulei are churning them out of their fabricators by the millions even now." &#x200B; ... &#x200B; "Perhaps we should have gone to help the Terrans?" &#x200B; "Nobody could have predicted this at all I'm afraid, and there was no particular reason to invoke the ire of the Soulei for a relatively unimportant Solar State. The Soulei are major trading partners with a lot of the major civilizations." &#x200B; "Well I guess that's that for now, I gotta float. My spawn are waiting and the second sun's coming into view." &#x200B; "Alright take care.That's all we have for now folks, stay tuned for the next podcast we'll be holding ....."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	... Zorlax Secondary watched as the mushroom of Radiation ascended over his capital city, "They... call this an attack?" Torlax nodded, "Yes... they call it a 'nuclear missile'." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "And what's it do?" Torlax chuckled, "It.. spreads radiation. Lots of it, and very quickly." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "Oh... kay. Where's the threat?" Torlax shrugged, "Best we can figure, it's meant to destroy processing equipment. Hampering our ability to communicate and use advanced technology, but nourish us to help us survive in the following turmoil." Zorlax Secondary nodded, "The radiation I'm feeling coming from its glow is quite delicious, I must admit. A pity it's going to take a few years to get our processing systems back up and running. I could bask in this glow for ages." \- - - Over the next two years, the radiation-feeding Laxians were forced to act internally. By that point, their population had gotten used to easy food and a less hectic lifestyle. As they finally regained spaceflight, they felt the old stresses of empire-building begin to weigh down, and so Zorlax Secondary sent a message to the wonderful humans he had once erroneously declared war on, that had taught him and his people such valuable lessons about taking time to enjoy life. "Excuse me, Humans, but would you be so kind as to fire some more of those Nuclear Missiles at our capital city again?"	"You know the thing about trying to place demands in modern warfare is, you either carry out your threat of total annihilation or you just don't do anything, it's very hard to get an in between." &#x200B; "I sort of get what you mean, but could you elaborate?" &#x200B; "So for example you demand the unconditional surrender of a solar system, but they don't want to surrender. So what do you do?" &#x200B; "I guess if you don't want to totally annihilate them, you could try sending down a fleet or 2 and then..." &#x200B; "Yup you have to land troops, send in ships, yada yada, deal with attacks on supply trains, guerrilla warfare... I'd say you'd lose a few billion grunts before you even conquer one planet. Its all a total mess isn't it?" &#x200B; "It's either that or just wipe the whole solar system out with a Nova Cannon. But then..." &#x200B; "But then you're left with nothing to conquer." &#x200B; "Precisely the solar system is now occupied by a supernova, unless you're a Flare-fin the whole place is rather... useless now. You could try to use an Gravity reaction chain...?" &#x200B; "Yeah but those are extremely unpredictable. It could be limited to just a single asteroid... or it could chain react all the way to the nearest 3 or 4 solar systems even." &#x200B; "Yeah I could see how that may be a problem." &#x200B; "So for the past few millennia, more... territorial species have had to rock hop one at a time if they wanted to get anywhere." &#x200B; "And carefully too! Remember the Nipanese? They nova'd their own solar system and wiped out 80% of the Gerrian fleet, knocked them back to the Chip-Ages." &#x200B; "But now..." &#x200B; "But now, unfortunately the Soulei have gotten their hands on something rather... troublesome." &#x200B; "I'm actually surprised Terrans were the ones that had them. Them of all people." &#x200B; "I mean yeah as a peaceful species I'm surprised they had any such weapon at all." &#x200B; "No but I mean quite frankly... its a torture weapon." &#x200B; "How do you mean?" &#x200B; "Nova-cannons are clean, shoot it and the solar system is gone. Same with Gravity reaction-chains albeit unwieldy. An atomic weapon is very very messy. You drop one down and and takes out a small area, maybe a few hundred million population, but then it spews toxic particles everywhere leaving the area a total mess... until you clean up all the radiation of course." &#x200B; "But that takes manpower and resources." &#x200B; "Precisely, rather than blowing everything up, you just shoot a few major locations and now the enemy is wasting resources trying to clean it all up instead of on weapons to fight you." &#x200B; "I think I see what you mean now." &#x200B; "Back to my original point, the Soulei now can 'hold a planet hostage'. Just like holding a hostage, if you just kill the hostage you have no bargaining chip. But lets say you cut off their gnificher's one at a time and send them to family members..." &#x200B; "That motivates them to follow your demands." &#x200B; "Precisely and it crushes their morale, less likely to resist." &#x200B; "This could end up changing warfare... and not for the better I'm afraid. Not to mention, the weapons are primitive, extremely easy to replicate... I wouldn't be surprised if the Soulei are churning them out of their fabricators by the millions even now." &#x200B; ... &#x200B; "Perhaps we should have gone to help the Terrans?" &#x200B; "Nobody could have predicted this at all I'm afraid, and there was no particular reason to invoke the ire of the Soulei for a relatively unimportant Solar State. The Soulei are major trading partners with a lot of the major civilizations." &#x200B; "Well I guess that's that for now, I gotta float. My spawn are waiting and the second sun's coming into view." &#x200B; "Alright take care.That's all we have for now folks, stay tuned for the next podcast we'll be holding ....."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It was on that day the Universe realised what a terrifying species humans could become when provoked. I was on the human home planet Gaia when it happened. They used to call it Earth but was later named as Gaia sometime after the first contact with the Council of Sentients. The council had rescued the planet from a deadly virus that had destroyed 2/3 of the human population, they called it the Corona episode. I don't know much about the history after that but the humans slowly recovered with the help of the council and also managed to become one of its most promising member. The council maintained peace within the Universe and usually do not interfere in planetary affairs unless the situation is drastic enough or if there is a planetary war. While the humans were known to be peace loving and only have 1/5th lifespan compared to most other members they were well known for their innovations. They had slowly become one of the top 10 economies in the Universe. They had helped rescue countless planets from going extinct and were respected throughout the Universe. So it was hard to imagine another species declaring war on them. I heard on the emergency broadcast 3 ships in the outer corner of the known Universe were destroyed 12 million lives were lost. The fleets were part of a fleet that was supposed to carry refugees from planets that were destroyed by war and epidemics. Humans always had a soft spot for such species given that they had suffered a similar fate. Some 30 mins after the first broadcast there was another broadcast, the entire fleet was destroyed 113 million lives lost both humans and other species included. This was no coincidence they humans were the primary target, the Arne Roth'ko had declared war on humans. This was no surprise as humans had reported them to the Council on multiple occasions, calling them to abolish their old laws and customs. The Arne Roth'ko were one of the oldest and strongest members of the council, slavery was a common custom for them, the lower class had no rights and were treated as animals. This lead to a civil war on Arne Roth'ko and the upper class blamed humans for spreading their ideologies. The lower class suffered countless blows on all fronts and were crushed, their condition become even worse. After that incident the Roth'ko always stood in opposition to the humans. They had planned on invading and destroying the humans ever since. Soon there was a third broadcast the Arne Roth'ko were within attacking range. We received a message on our comms to evacuate the planet immediately. There was a similar broadcast on Gaia calling everyone to take shelter and prepare for the worst. We were grounded as all Galactic travel was brought to a halt by the United Nations(Gaia's governing body). There was dead silence on the broadcast for the next hour. We had embraced for the worst but the next broadcast that came in was the most shocking news I had ever heard. The Arne Roth'ko had surrendered, their entire fleet was destroyed. In the known history of the Universe there were no records of such a one sided annihilation. The Arne Roth'ko were feared even by the Council of Sentients, this was the reason why the council never spoke against them and always turned a blind eye to their tyranny. The strongest fleet in the Universe was reduced to ashes. The humans used a weapon never seen by the council, they called it the Ragna'Rok what was more surprising is that it was a relic from the past. A weapon that was created before the Council approached humans. That day the Council learned how fearsome humans can be, if not for the Coronavirus the humans would have dominated over the Universe. After that incident no one dared to cross the humans. They say peace can never be achieved by instilling fear, but this time it was different. In face of overwhelming destruction everyone loses the courage to fight back. And when it is the most peace loving species that instills that fear, peace seems to be a better option.	"You know the thing about trying to place demands in modern warfare is, you either carry out your threat of total annihilation or you just don't do anything, it's very hard to get an in between." &#x200B; "I sort of get what you mean, but could you elaborate?" &#x200B; "So for example you demand the unconditional surrender of a solar system, but they don't want to surrender. So what do you do?" &#x200B; "I guess if you don't want to totally annihilate them, you could try sending down a fleet or 2 and then..." &#x200B; "Yup you have to land troops, send in ships, yada yada, deal with attacks on supply trains, guerrilla warfare... I'd say you'd lose a few billion grunts before you even conquer one planet. Its all a total mess isn't it?" &#x200B; "It's either that or just wipe the whole solar system out with a Nova Cannon. But then..." &#x200B; "But then you're left with nothing to conquer." &#x200B; "Precisely the solar system is now occupied by a supernova, unless you're a Flare-fin the whole place is rather... useless now. You could try to use an Gravity reaction chain...?" &#x200B; "Yeah but those are extremely unpredictable. It could be limited to just a single asteroid... or it could chain react all the way to the nearest 3 or 4 solar systems even." &#x200B; "Yeah I could see how that may be a problem." &#x200B; "So for the past few millennia, more... territorial species have had to rock hop one at a time if they wanted to get anywhere." &#x200B; "And carefully too! Remember the Nipanese? They nova'd their own solar system and wiped out 80% of the Gerrian fleet, knocked them back to the Chip-Ages." &#x200B; "But now..." &#x200B; "But now, unfortunately the Soulei have gotten their hands on something rather... troublesome." &#x200B; "I'm actually surprised Terrans were the ones that had them. Them of all people." &#x200B; "I mean yeah as a peaceful species I'm surprised they had any such weapon at all." &#x200B; "No but I mean quite frankly... its a torture weapon." &#x200B; "How do you mean?" &#x200B; "Nova-cannons are clean, shoot it and the solar system is gone. Same with Gravity reaction-chains albeit unwieldy. An atomic weapon is very very messy. You drop one down and and takes out a small area, maybe a few hundred million population, but then it spews toxic particles everywhere leaving the area a total mess... until you clean up all the radiation of course." &#x200B; "But that takes manpower and resources." &#x200B; "Precisely, rather than blowing everything up, you just shoot a few major locations and now the enemy is wasting resources trying to clean it all up instead of on weapons to fight you." &#x200B; "I think I see what you mean now." &#x200B; "Back to my original point, the Soulei now can 'hold a planet hostage'. Just like holding a hostage, if you just kill the hostage you have no bargaining chip. But lets say you cut off their gnificher's one at a time and send them to family members..." &#x200B; "That motivates them to follow your demands." &#x200B; "Precisely and it crushes their morale, less likely to resist." &#x200B; "This could end up changing warfare... and not for the better I'm afraid. Not to mention, the weapons are primitive, extremely easy to replicate... I wouldn't be surprised if the Soulei are churning them out of their fabricators by the millions even now." &#x200B; ... &#x200B; "Perhaps we should have gone to help the Terrans?" &#x200B; "Nobody could have predicted this at all I'm afraid, and there was no particular reason to invoke the ire of the Soulei for a relatively unimportant Solar State. The Soulei are major trading partners with a lot of the major civilizations." &#x200B; "Well I guess that's that for now, I gotta float. My spawn are waiting and the second sun's coming into view." &#x200B; "Alright take care.That's all we have for now folks, stay tuned for the next podcast we'll be holding ....."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	"You know the thing about trying to place demands in modern warfare is, you either carry out your threat of total annihilation or you just don't do anything, it's very hard to get an in between." &#x200B; "I sort of get what you mean, but could you elaborate?" &#x200B; "So for example you demand the unconditional surrender of a solar system, but they don't want to surrender. So what do you do?" &#x200B; "I guess if you don't want to totally annihilate them, you could try sending down a fleet or 2 and then..." &#x200B; "Yup you have to land troops, send in ships, yada yada, deal with attacks on supply trains, guerrilla warfare... I'd say you'd lose a few billion grunts before you even conquer one planet. Its all a total mess isn't it?" &#x200B; "It's either that or just wipe the whole solar system out with a Nova Cannon. But then..." &#x200B; "But then you're left with nothing to conquer." &#x200B; "Precisely the solar system is now occupied by a supernova, unless you're a Flare-fin the whole place is rather... useless now. You could try to use an Gravity reaction chain...?" &#x200B; "Yeah but those are extremely unpredictable. It could be limited to just a single asteroid... or it could chain react all the way to the nearest 3 or 4 solar systems even." &#x200B; "Yeah I could see how that may be a problem." &#x200B; "So for the past few millennia, more... territorial species have had to rock hop one at a time if they wanted to get anywhere." &#x200B; "And carefully too! Remember the Nipanese? They nova'd their own solar system and wiped out 80% of the Gerrian fleet, knocked them back to the Chip-Ages." &#x200B; "But now..." &#x200B; "But now, unfortunately the Soulei have gotten their hands on something rather... troublesome." &#x200B; "I'm actually surprised Terrans were the ones that had them. Them of all people." &#x200B; "I mean yeah as a peaceful species I'm surprised they had any such weapon at all." &#x200B; "No but I mean quite frankly... its a torture weapon." &#x200B; "How do you mean?" &#x200B; "Nova-cannons are clean, shoot it and the solar system is gone. Same with Gravity reaction-chains albeit unwieldy. An atomic weapon is very very messy. You drop one down and and takes out a small area, maybe a few hundred million population, but then it spews toxic particles everywhere leaving the area a total mess... until you clean up all the radiation of course." &#x200B; "But that takes manpower and resources." &#x200B; "Precisely, rather than blowing everything up, you just shoot a few major locations and now the enemy is wasting resources trying to clean it all up instead of on weapons to fight you." &#x200B; "I think I see what you mean now." &#x200B; "Back to my original point, the Soulei now can 'hold a planet hostage'. Just like holding a hostage, if you just kill the hostage you have no bargaining chip. But lets say you cut off their gnificher's one at a time and send them to family members..." &#x200B; "That motivates them to follow your demands." &#x200B; "Precisely and it crushes their morale, less likely to resist." &#x200B; "This could end up changing warfare... and not for the better I'm afraid. Not to mention, the weapons are primitive, extremely easy to replicate... I wouldn't be surprised if the Soulei are churning them out of their fabricators by the millions even now." &#x200B; ... &#x200B; "Perhaps we should have gone to help the Terrans?" &#x200B; "Nobody could have predicted this at all I'm afraid, and there was no particular reason to invoke the ire of the Soulei for a relatively unimportant Solar State. The Soulei are major trading partners with a lot of the major civilizations." &#x200B; "Well I guess that's that for now, I gotta float. My spawn are waiting and the second sun's coming into view." &#x200B; "Alright take care.That's all we have for now folks, stay tuned for the next podcast we'll be holding ....."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	... Zorlax Secondary watched as the mushroom of Radiation ascended over his capital city, "They... call this an attack?" Torlax nodded, "Yes... they call it a 'nuclear missile'." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "And what's it do?" Torlax chuckled, "It.. spreads radiation. Lots of it, and very quickly." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "Oh... kay. Where's the threat?" Torlax shrugged, "Best we can figure, it's meant to destroy processing equipment. Hampering our ability to communicate and use advanced technology, but nourish us to help us survive in the following turmoil." Zorlax Secondary nodded, "The radiation I'm feeling coming from its glow is quite delicious, I must admit. A pity it's going to take a few years to get our processing systems back up and running. I could bask in this glow for ages." \- - - Over the next two years, the radiation-feeding Laxians were forced to act internally. By that point, their population had gotten used to easy food and a less hectic lifestyle. As they finally regained spaceflight, they felt the old stresses of empire-building begin to weigh down, and so Zorlax Secondary sent a message to the wonderful humans he had once erroneously declared war on, that had taught him and his people such valuable lessons about taking time to enjoy life. "Excuse me, Humans, but would you be so kind as to fire some more of those Nuclear Missiles at our capital city again?"	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It was on that day the Universe realised what a terrifying species humans could become when provoked. I was on the human home planet Gaia when it happened. They used to call it Earth but was later named as Gaia sometime after the first contact with the Council of Sentients. The council had rescued the planet from a deadly virus that had destroyed 2/3 of the human population, they called it the Corona episode. I don't know much about the history after that but the humans slowly recovered with the help of the council and also managed to become one of its most promising member. The council maintained peace within the Universe and usually do not interfere in planetary affairs unless the situation is drastic enough or if there is a planetary war. While the humans were known to be peace loving and only have 1/5th lifespan compared to most other members they were well known for their innovations. They had slowly become one of the top 10 economies in the Universe. They had helped rescue countless planets from going extinct and were respected throughout the Universe. So it was hard to imagine another species declaring war on them. I heard on the emergency broadcast 3 ships in the outer corner of the known Universe were destroyed 12 million lives were lost. The fleets were part of a fleet that was supposed to carry refugees from planets that were destroyed by war and epidemics. Humans always had a soft spot for such species given that they had suffered a similar fate. Some 30 mins after the first broadcast there was another broadcast, the entire fleet was destroyed 113 million lives lost both humans and other species included. This was no coincidence they humans were the primary target, the Arne Roth'ko had declared war on humans. This was no surprise as humans had reported them to the Council on multiple occasions, calling them to abolish their old laws and customs. The Arne Roth'ko were one of the oldest and strongest members of the council, slavery was a common custom for them, the lower class had no rights and were treated as animals. This lead to a civil war on Arne Roth'ko and the upper class blamed humans for spreading their ideologies. The lower class suffered countless blows on all fronts and were crushed, their condition become even worse. After that incident the Roth'ko always stood in opposition to the humans. They had planned on invading and destroying the humans ever since. Soon there was a third broadcast the Arne Roth'ko were within attacking range. We received a message on our comms to evacuate the planet immediately. There was a similar broadcast on Gaia calling everyone to take shelter and prepare for the worst. We were grounded as all Galactic travel was brought to a halt by the United Nations(Gaia's governing body). There was dead silence on the broadcast for the next hour. We had embraced for the worst but the next broadcast that came in was the most shocking news I had ever heard. The Arne Roth'ko had surrendered, their entire fleet was destroyed. In the known history of the Universe there were no records of such a one sided annihilation. The Arne Roth'ko were feared even by the Council of Sentients, this was the reason why the council never spoke against them and always turned a blind eye to their tyranny. The strongest fleet in the Universe was reduced to ashes. The humans used a weapon never seen by the council, they called it the Ragna'Rok what was more surprising is that it was a relic from the past. A weapon that was created before the Council approached humans. That day the Council learned how fearsome humans can be, if not for the Coronavirus the humans would have dominated over the Universe. After that incident no one dared to cross the humans. They say peace can never be achieved by instilling fear, but this time it was different. In face of overwhelming destruction everyone loses the courage to fight back. And when it is the most peace loving species that instills that fear, peace seems to be a better option.	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	As those damned ships came into my sight, for the very first time I got an idea what was really happening. Those giant behemoths made me look like David going against Goliath who had only protein supplements as sustenance. I gupled nervously. There was some static on the radio. High command issuing orders or perphaps telling me to prepare myself, but I couldn't hear them. Well that's not completely honest. I didn't want to hear them. I wasn't particularly fond of those guys anyway. It had been a week since disaster had fallen upon mankind. And truly disaster it was. For ours was a small species, whose only job in the universe was spice trading. Yeah apparently it wasn't just the British or the Dutch who wanted some of that aromatic goodness from the East in their food. The entire galaxy did. After the initial contact with the Lilians, the very same species now hell bent on wiping us out, we allowed them to establish embassies and trading ports all across the globe. Most sane minded people didn't like it. Letting aliens who have no business live on our planet. But these things were not in our control. For the United Nations believed in "peace,fraternity and federation" amongst the inhabitants of the same galaxy. At first it went well. We had a huge surplus with them. We used that surplus to buy technology and medicine. We thrived, well in the superlative degree. We were able to terraform Moon and Mars. Populations grew exponentially. However the Lilian accountants must not have been too happy with it. They 'demanded' we do exclusive trade with them for we would have been nowhere had it not been for them. That we be grateful and show our gratitude by allowing them to rip us off. And guess how the president of the UN, Indian Rudra Dub responded,"Those who think they own us, think again. We are free children of God and do whatever the hell we want and we certainly aren't obligated to polish someone's boots". That certainly caused enough ruckus across the galaxy so that all those who had contact with the Lilians told us no no no begged us to apologize. That we could not dare to stand up to the might of the "yuften kahnem" 'Bloody lizards' in English if you would. However the UN wouldn't listen. They were massive protests on Earth too. Doomsday fanatics and crack addicts who said "the end times are looming". However the UN had been democratically elected by a whooping 76% of the populace. Of course it had the impunity to do whatever it wanted too. It ignored the protests and in one final passive aggressive act of war exiled the Lilian diplomats and ransacked their trading ports. That was it. That was the final straw. At first the mercenaries came. Small crews numbering in the hundred thousands. Scouts and sabotagers really. We beat them back with a kick on their asses. We won a couple hundred victories. We grew overconfident with each one. People say we should have been more careful and exercised more caution. Tightened our defenses and spent some of the galatic gold on scouts ourself. But I say it was inevitable. After all aren't we the ones who coined the phrase "Everything is fair in love and war" and this was a galatic war. So when the Lilian fleets massacred Mars we should have known they would. After all "Everything is fair in love and war". An entire planet full of people went cold. The terraforming generators blew up so bright we could see them from down here. Over 10 billion, DEAD. And all we could do was lament at our laxness. It was then when the emergency conscription was introduced. I was a commercial pilot before. The best in my line. However then the spice trading started and jet crews became so marketplace that my wages plummeted to the ground. A pizza boy made more delivering pizza spiced with cockroaches to the lizards. I resigned and looked for other means of employment. I found none. At least none above ground. Underground however was a different story. I helped smuggle spices for rebels who wanted to overthrow the UN and set up a military dictatorship in model of the Tirtians a species whose government and public administration was hailed for it's extraordinary efficiency. I helped slavers transport women and children for the lustful 'Hyenas' a crew of brigands infamous across the galaxy. I pitied those girls but I was too fed up of sleepless nights when my growling stomach kept me awake. The wages were good. Better even than my time as a pilot. I built myself a mansion and married one of the girls I bought from the rebels. Marie was a decent cook although she was very quiet. We had twins and named them Rocky and Connor after my favorite boxers. I boxed in high school myself. However all bad things must come to an end. And to an end came my career as a freight pilot. When the IRA came asking questions Marie ratted me out. Told them I kept her as a slave and violated her when I had never touched her without consent. They caught me mid flight and sent me to the Moon to reflect over my crimes. Of course my former employeers were my fellow inmates as well. Life wasn't too bad on the moon. We had decent food although you had to be careful not to chew on rocks or the "moon-roaches" and decent wages for cleaning public toilets or building roads or trimming gardens. When the massacre at Mars happened, we were of course the first to be drafted for being the scum of mankind. Finally we could serve a purpose. A chance to redeem ourselves. It wasn't that. It was just an excuse for civilians to avoid the draft themselves. Anyway it was too late to prepare an army for a ground battle. 'Drastic measures' had to be taken. When they asked for pilots of course everyone of dear fellow inmates looked at me. And so I was chosen. As the ships gradually grew bigger and bigger as they ever drew closer I wondered why they didn't fire at me. Maybe they thought I was an envoy here to sue for peace. That the impudent human had learned his lesson. Here to apologize to the great Lilians and lick their boot. Well I wasn't. And the fools let me right up real close and personal. I adjusted the photo of the twins I had kept with me throughout my sentence. I smiled remembering how tiny and red they were. Like a bunch of tomatoes. Then I wondered what they must be doing right now. Would they have known what a crazy ass thing their father was doing right now? Probably not. But I convinced myself that would. They'll be 12 this year. My breath grew short now and my heart beat like crazy. If the Lilians didn't kill me first probably my overactive heart would. Then I took one final breath as deep as I could and pressed the little red button on my rudder. "And that's the story of Gregory Scott kids. He's the reason we are alive right now. He got up close to the Lilian armada and blew them to kingdom come. I remember the night sky turned blue for a instant as if it was day. No Lilian survived or dared to come after us again" said Malvin as he put his manuscript down. He remembered his time with Gregory in the prison. He was a decent person although quite irritable. He would always share his desert with him since he knew what a big sweet tooth he was."Well? How is it?" He asked his two grandchildren Greg and Maivie. He saw that they were already asleep and smiled as he got up, his knees hurting as he did. He turned off the light and left the room. Edit: please guys have mercy it's my first attempt at a prompt. Do let me know what you guys think!
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	... Zorlax Secondary watched as the mushroom of Radiation ascended over his capital city, "They... call this an attack?" Torlax nodded, "Yes... they call it a 'nuclear missile'." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "And what's it do?" Torlax chuckled, "It.. spreads radiation. Lots of it, and very quickly." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "Oh... kay. Where's the threat?" Torlax shrugged, "Best we can figure, it's meant to destroy processing equipment. Hampering our ability to communicate and use advanced technology, but nourish us to help us survive in the following turmoil." Zorlax Secondary nodded, "The radiation I'm feeling coming from its glow is quite delicious, I must admit. A pity it's going to take a few years to get our processing systems back up and running. I could bask in this glow for ages." \- - - Over the next two years, the radiation-feeding Laxians were forced to act internally. By that point, their population had gotten used to easy food and a less hectic lifestyle. As they finally regained spaceflight, they felt the old stresses of empire-building begin to weigh down, and so Zorlax Secondary sent a message to the wonderful humans he had once erroneously declared war on, that had taught him and his people such valuable lessons about taking time to enjoy life. "Excuse me, Humans, but would you be so kind as to fire some more of those Nuclear Missiles at our capital city again?"	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It was on that day the Universe realised what a terrifying species humans could become when provoked. I was on the human home planet Gaia when it happened. They used to call it Earth but was later named as Gaia sometime after the first contact with the Council of Sentients. The council had rescued the planet from a deadly virus that had destroyed 2/3 of the human population, they called it the Corona episode. I don't know much about the history after that but the humans slowly recovered with the help of the council and also managed to become one of its most promising member. The council maintained peace within the Universe and usually do not interfere in planetary affairs unless the situation is drastic enough or if there is a planetary war. While the humans were known to be peace loving and only have 1/5th lifespan compared to most other members they were well known for their innovations. They had slowly become one of the top 10 economies in the Universe. They had helped rescue countless planets from going extinct and were respected throughout the Universe. So it was hard to imagine another species declaring war on them. I heard on the emergency broadcast 3 ships in the outer corner of the known Universe were destroyed 12 million lives were lost. The fleets were part of a fleet that was supposed to carry refugees from planets that were destroyed by war and epidemics. Humans always had a soft spot for such species given that they had suffered a similar fate. Some 30 mins after the first broadcast there was another broadcast, the entire fleet was destroyed 113 million lives lost both humans and other species included. This was no coincidence they humans were the primary target, the Arne Roth'ko had declared war on humans. This was no surprise as humans had reported them to the Council on multiple occasions, calling them to abolish their old laws and customs. The Arne Roth'ko were one of the oldest and strongest members of the council, slavery was a common custom for them, the lower class had no rights and were treated as animals. This lead to a civil war on Arne Roth'ko and the upper class blamed humans for spreading their ideologies. The lower class suffered countless blows on all fronts and were crushed, their condition become even worse. After that incident the Roth'ko always stood in opposition to the humans. They had planned on invading and destroying the humans ever since. Soon there was a third broadcast the Arne Roth'ko were within attacking range. We received a message on our comms to evacuate the planet immediately. There was a similar broadcast on Gaia calling everyone to take shelter and prepare for the worst. We were grounded as all Galactic travel was brought to a halt by the United Nations(Gaia's governing body). There was dead silence on the broadcast for the next hour. We had embraced for the worst but the next broadcast that came in was the most shocking news I had ever heard. The Arne Roth'ko had surrendered, their entire fleet was destroyed. In the known history of the Universe there were no records of such a one sided annihilation. The Arne Roth'ko were feared even by the Council of Sentients, this was the reason why the council never spoke against them and always turned a blind eye to their tyranny. The strongest fleet in the Universe was reduced to ashes. The humans used a weapon never seen by the council, they called it the Ragna'Rok what was more surprising is that it was a relic from the past. A weapon that was created before the Council approached humans. That day the Council learned how fearsome humans can be, if not for the Coronavirus the humans would have dominated over the Universe. After that incident no one dared to cross the humans. They say peace can never be achieved by instilling fear, but this time it was different. In face of overwhelming destruction everyone loses the courage to fight back. And when it is the most peace loving species that instills that fear, peace seems to be a better option.	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	Do you know what happens when a thermonuclear warhead explode? The forces of the blast reaches temperatures in the ranges of tenths of mega kelvin creating a enormous ball of fire. Fire needs fuel so it sucks in all air in the area to fuel the explosion. Once the explosion have sucked in enough it will then showers the area in extreme heat radiation. And creating a enormous shockwave from the blast area. Followed by a X-ray and Gama radiation. Then comes the black soot rain. That’s contaminate the surroundings. Well that is what happens on a planet. We humans are unique, we where not alone with the capability to build weapons of energy sources. All high powered weapons could have good civilian use. But we where the only race crazy enough to actually build them. This leads us to where we are today human race are the main UFP (United Federation of Planet’s) negotiators and middle hand in conflicts between its members. Normally when we arrive at the scene everyone disengage by the pure fear for us. This leads to rapid de escalation of inner species conflicts. Today is not such a day. Both fleets has been trading blows with each other. The stand response time is now up, Cmd Jackson ordered, Launch torpedo 1-5 on the Battle cruiser from Xargotr. Launch torpedo 6-9 spread out over the Klaxxors destroyers. Before micro jumping to safety. The flooding of all sensor data blinded every vessel on the battlefield, It was a overkill. Neither of the ships was built to survive inside the sun. The intense heat melted the bulkhead sending the rest of the effects to the inside of the ships. The shockwave was equally threatening as it sent fragments at extreme velocity flying in all directions. Showering all other ships in fragments, damaging them in the process. 10 minutes after Zulu time both forces yielded the field. Emmalee checked her self in the mirror, adjusted the universal translator and downed her last coffee. Cold and bitter, just like this task she thought. At least it would be a productive day in the negotiations chamber. Two more races have been pacified and forced back in to the fold. It was a pity about the crewmen aboard those ships but compared to having to deploy them vs cities this was more merciful. She really hated when they was forced to do planet side attacks, not to mention the negotiations was a lot harder then. While awaiting transport to the negotiations Emmalee though it was strange, that no other race build its doomsday weapons them self. Perhaps they are wiser then us. Perhaps this is madness.... well let’s get a double Latte before the negotiations begin.....
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	... Zorlax Secondary watched as the mushroom of Radiation ascended over his capital city, "They... call this an attack?" Torlax nodded, "Yes... they call it a 'nuclear missile'." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "And what's it do?" Torlax chuckled, "It.. spreads radiation. Lots of it, and very quickly." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "Oh... kay. Where's the threat?" Torlax shrugged, "Best we can figure, it's meant to destroy processing equipment. Hampering our ability to communicate and use advanced technology, but nourish us to help us survive in the following turmoil." Zorlax Secondary nodded, "The radiation I'm feeling coming from its glow is quite delicious, I must admit. A pity it's going to take a few years to get our processing systems back up and running. I could bask in this glow for ages." \- - - Over the next two years, the radiation-feeding Laxians were forced to act internally. By that point, their population had gotten used to easy food and a less hectic lifestyle. As they finally regained spaceflight, they felt the old stresses of empire-building begin to weigh down, and so Zorlax Secondary sent a message to the wonderful humans he had once erroneously declared war on, that had taught him and his people such valuable lessons about taking time to enjoy life. "Excuse me, Humans, but would you be so kind as to fire some more of those Nuclear Missiles at our capital city again?"	"I do not know with what weapons World War Three will be fought but World War Four will be fought with sticks and stones" - Anonymous No one remembers who said that quote now, but everyone remembers the weapons. Robotic armaments were unleashed on the earth in droves, they were supposed to practice a kind of "surgical war" with weapons that could remove a single combatant from a crowded school yard with no collateral damage. They worked too well, and humans grew complacent granting further leeway for the robots to decide their targeting priority, and then their targets, and finally their missions. By the time we realized our error it was too late, the robots had decided their mission was to end humanity. It was the only logical end to thousands of years of death and destruction. They failed, of course, but it was a narrow thing and humanity was halved before we emerged victorious. We proved the anonymous author wrong though - we learned from our pain and placed severe restrictions on machine intelligence and world war 4 never came. … "Two possibilities exist - either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying" - Arthur C. Clarke We remembered who wrote that quote and we took it to heart. Arthur was only partially right, we were alone in our Galaxy but the universe was teeming with intelligent life. When we discovered that, or more accurately were discovered, he was right that we were terrified nonetheless. Our technology was limited to manipulation of the speed of light on a finite scale and so while we explored our home galaxy thoroughly we never found any signs of intelligent life. Our technology did not allows us to cross the vast gulfs between galaxies and it seemed these would always lay beyond our grasp. Within our Galaxy however, we found an endless variety of non-sentient life but never any signs of intelligence or civilization. We assumed that other galaxies were either unlikely to contain sentient beings or similarly constrained in their ability to travel or both and for a time we were content with our lot. That changed when the Riqians decided to drop by on a "safari". Everyone called them Ricky's and we learned they were from a galaxy we hadn't even bothered to name. But first, we panicked. --- The Ricky's were surprised to see us. They were a biomechanical life form that evolved in the hard vacuum of space and never knew the hold of a gravity well until they had already evolved a understanding of physics that allowed them to bend time and space and travel anywhere they desired in an instant. They explored their home galaxy and found a multitude of life, and for the most part the Ricky's were so advanced in comparison that none dared to attack them. Instead the Ricky's became the logistical backbone of their galaxies, discovering isolated species and used their unique transport methods to move beings and goods in exchange for knowledge, with the Ricky's you could not only litteraly sing for your supper they would throw in a ride anywhere you desired to boot. Due to their unique heritage they had no concept of war - they fed off vacuum energies so they had no resource constraints and were effectively immortal. When they encountered their first hostile species they simply left, immediately, and never returned. When the first of their guest species, the Dyrad's, staged a rebellion seeking to force the Ricky's to their will the Ricky's had them leave, by moving all solar systems inhabited by Dyrad's to the vast void between the galaxies and simply left them alone, forever. No one else sought to enforce their will on the Ricky's after that. Eventually the Ricky's settled into a pattern of identifying galaxies likely to promote sentience and visiting them to gain what knowledge they could and enforcing a quarantine where they met hostility. Because they evolved relatively early on the galactic timescale these quarantine events were rare. However, even with instant travel the universe is a big place so even the Ricky's could not feasibly explore everywhere. They graded the various galaxies and those that were not likely to house sentient species were essentially treated as giant preserves where the Ricky's would travel and bring their guest species to observe the vast wonders of the Galaxy and the infinite variety of animals in it. Even in the low sentient galaxies, life was plentiful. --- Of course we didn't learn all this until much later but we were lucky enough to have an outpost when the Ricky's decided to visit our backwoods galaxy looking for interesting natural phenomenon and animal life. We were also lucky that millennia of exploration with no extra terrestrial contact dulled our ability to make war on an interstellar scale. The first meeting was shocking but uneventful the Ricky's and a full load of guest species observers popped into being at the l2 point and were just as surprised to find see us there as we were to see them. Over a series of visits we learned to communicate and came to understand that they meant us no harm. But, not before a series of galactic councils were convened composed of all factions of humanity that were spread across the Galaxy to deal with this first contact event. Most factions urged calm and were encouraged and gained clout when we asked the Ricky's to not explore our Galaxy further out of respect for our privacy and they immediately agreed in exchange for a steady flow of information about it from us. Of course, humans bring what they are other factions insisted it was an elaborate trap, unable to ignore their lizard brain impulses Eventually the various factions settled on a cautious peace as the galactic stance on Ricky's and their guests, but the more war like factions won the right to restart our robotic weapons programs in secret. Our understanding of science had progressed but we still obeyed strict limits on machine intelligence. As the centuries passed however these weapons never came to be used and eventually only existed in "stasis" - pockets of space/time that we manipulated to dramatically slow the passage of time, ready to be used and resisting the efforts of entropy. … "Walk softly and carry a big stick" - Anonymous Another quote author lost to the robotic Holocaust but it became the slogan of the paranoids a human factions that insisted the universe was not a welcoming place despite the Ricky's intentions. Over the centuries humans found a place of honor among the guests species, having developed for so long in isolation we had a rare ability to view situations from a neutral perspective, our evolution was not influenced by the constant presence of Other. We discovered that while the Ricky's did not tolerate aggression amongst themselves they were a bit more lazzez faire when it came to their guests. So long as no Ricky's or guests under their direct protection were harmed the Ricky's did not intervene in inter or intra species conflict. Preferring to remain as observers, watching and learning more as you or I may watch two warring bands of army ants. Our place as negotiators was not universally welcome and humans made our fair share of enemies over time but because our Galaxy was so isolated and only the Ricky's could effectively travel there we faced no direct threats asides from small skirmishes when we visited other falsies, courtesy of the Ricky's. Many grew to resent our position and viewed us as aloof and so we found it necessary to arm our ships however our fear of machine intelligence was so deeply rooted that it extended to the Ricky's as well and so we decided to limit our weapons sent out of the Galaxy to the galactic standard which mostly consisted of ballistic and directed energy weapons. Most species met the Ricky's before they reached an equivalent industrial age and so they did not develop weapons of mass destruction as we did - we hid our true nature partly out of shame and partly to make others more comfortable and prevent further hostility. When our ships were challenged however we responded with overwhelming force that was always one step above what was directed at us and so found a place in the universe of uneasy peace. --- This delicate balance changed when the Ricky's chanced upon another isolated species, the Rak'hais. Unlike us the Rak's never had a close call with an extinction level event until they were a multi system species and by then their warfare consisted of flinging asteroid and moons at each others planets. When the Ricky's met the Rak'hais they responded as they did to anything that threatened them and they threw some very large rocks at the Ricky's. When the Ricky's left this time however, the Rak'hais followed, for they too had discovered the secret of instant travel but were not a curious species. The presence of the Ricky's and the amount of life in their origin galaxies however did convince the Rak'hai to look beyond their local galaxy as way of alleviating their resource constraints. The Ricky's asked us for help for they could not move the Rak'hais far enough away quickly enough, nor were they interested in war with them. They appealed to us on behalf of their guests but it was clear that if we failed they would simply leave us to our fate at the hands of the Rak'hais and find greener pastures. --- (Continued below)
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	... Zorlax Secondary watched as the mushroom of Radiation ascended over his capital city, "They... call this an attack?" Torlax nodded, "Yes... they call it a 'nuclear missile'." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "And what's it do?" Torlax chuckled, "It.. spreads radiation. Lots of it, and very quickly." Zorlax Secondary blinked, "Oh... kay. Where's the threat?" Torlax shrugged, "Best we can figure, it's meant to destroy processing equipment. Hampering our ability to communicate and use advanced technology, but nourish us to help us survive in the following turmoil." Zorlax Secondary nodded, "The radiation I'm feeling coming from its glow is quite delicious, I must admit. A pity it's going to take a few years to get our processing systems back up and running. I could bask in this glow for ages." \- - - Over the next two years, the radiation-feeding Laxians were forced to act internally. By that point, their population had gotten used to easy food and a less hectic lifestyle. As they finally regained spaceflight, they felt the old stresses of empire-building begin to weigh down, and so Zorlax Secondary sent a message to the wonderful humans he had once erroneously declared war on, that had taught him and his people such valuable lessons about taking time to enjoy life. "Excuse me, Humans, but would you be so kind as to fire some more of those Nuclear Missiles at our capital city again?"	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It was on that day the Universe realised what a terrifying species humans could become when provoked. I was on the human home planet Gaia when it happened. They used to call it Earth but was later named as Gaia sometime after the first contact with the Council of Sentients. The council had rescued the planet from a deadly virus that had destroyed 2/3 of the human population, they called it the Corona episode. I don't know much about the history after that but the humans slowly recovered with the help of the council and also managed to become one of its most promising member. The council maintained peace within the Universe and usually do not interfere in planetary affairs unless the situation is drastic enough or if there is a planetary war. While the humans were known to be peace loving and only have 1/5th lifespan compared to most other members they were well known for their innovations. They had slowly become one of the top 10 economies in the Universe. They had helped rescue countless planets from going extinct and were respected throughout the Universe. So it was hard to imagine another species declaring war on them. I heard on the emergency broadcast 3 ships in the outer corner of the known Universe were destroyed 12 million lives were lost. The fleets were part of a fleet that was supposed to carry refugees from planets that were destroyed by war and epidemics. Humans always had a soft spot for such species given that they had suffered a similar fate. Some 30 mins after the first broadcast there was another broadcast, the entire fleet was destroyed 113 million lives lost both humans and other species included. This was no coincidence they humans were the primary target, the Arne Roth'ko had declared war on humans. This was no surprise as humans had reported them to the Council on multiple occasions, calling them to abolish their old laws and customs. The Arne Roth'ko were one of the oldest and strongest members of the council, slavery was a common custom for them, the lower class had no rights and were treated as animals. This lead to a civil war on Arne Roth'ko and the upper class blamed humans for spreading their ideologies. The lower class suffered countless blows on all fronts and were crushed, their condition become even worse. After that incident the Roth'ko always stood in opposition to the humans. They had planned on invading and destroying the humans ever since. Soon there was a third broadcast the Arne Roth'ko were within attacking range. We received a message on our comms to evacuate the planet immediately. There was a similar broadcast on Gaia calling everyone to take shelter and prepare for the worst. We were grounded as all Galactic travel was brought to a halt by the United Nations(Gaia's governing body). There was dead silence on the broadcast for the next hour. We had embraced for the worst but the next broadcast that came in was the most shocking news I had ever heard. The Arne Roth'ko had surrendered, their entire fleet was destroyed. In the known history of the Universe there were no records of such a one sided annihilation. The Arne Roth'ko were feared even by the Council of Sentients, this was the reason why the council never spoke against them and always turned a blind eye to their tyranny. The strongest fleet in the Universe was reduced to ashes. The humans used a weapon never seen by the council, they called it the Ragna'Rok what was more surprising is that it was a relic from the past. A weapon that was created before the Council approached humans. That day the Council learned how fearsome humans can be, if not for the Coronavirus the humans would have dominated over the Universe. After that incident no one dared to cross the humans. They say peace can never be achieved by instilling fear, but this time it was different. In face of overwhelming destruction everyone loses the courage to fight back. And when it is the most peace loving species that instills that fear, peace seems to be a better option.	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	Xerxes XVII - Northern Quadrant of the Terran Front 163.0041 Fleet Standard The command bunker was a problem. Fighting had stalled out as the 25th Company of the Royal Offworld Regiment held their ground, unable to push home the final advance that would drive the last of the invading forces that had come to conquer the fledgling colony. The stalemate was becoming precarious for the remaining colonists, as the bunker's jamming systems allowed the hulking giants they had taken to calling Fomori to keep the colony's calls for help silenced. Something needed to change, and fast, if they were to survive. * "So do you think this'll work, or is it gonna kill the both of us?" Ranger Aella Davey grinned over at her Lance-Corporal before giving him a shrug in response. "Oh, ye of little faith. Could be both!" That earned her a dark chuckle as Cross turned back to the hard-wired field phone they had been reduced to by the jamming. "I'll tell the Leftenant you said so." The two were crouched in a dugout at the crest of a hill overlooking what had once been the primary farms for the small colony settlement working to establish itself on this planet. Xerxes XVII was a temperate world, spared the worst of the variances that made Earth such a crucible for her children by the proliferation of other satellites around the Xerxes System's bright golden light. The planet and had been a prime colonial acquisition, still slightly too harsh for the liking of their new Federation allies, but nearly idyllic for Terrans. Right up until the neighbors dropped by. None of the colonists had managed anything resembling a dialogue with the warped and twisted humanoids when they marched on the colony, and few were willing to consider a second attempt after two three-meter tall invaders tore the first negotiator sent to greet them's limbs off before throwing the man's shrieking remains at the town's walls like a dart. That had been six months ago. The colony was holding out by the skin of its teeth. The hundred or so soldiers on-planet at the time of the attack had immediately dug in to wait for reinforcement, but as it became clear that something was blocking communications, hope was starting to run thin. Aella slithered up to the edge of the dugout, keeping low as she trained her spotting scope downhill at the enemy bunker in the greys of Xerxes' long pre-dawn twilight. It was scaled wrong for human use and crudely built, mostly packed earthworks and slabs of an unidentifiable dark metal, surrounded by the encampment of those Fomori troops not worthy of living within. They were having beef for breakfast again today, she noted bitterly, feasting on the livestock that the colony hadn't been able to get to shelter in time. Her stomach grumbled at the site, reminding her of far too many days on short rations. Cross' bulk thudded against the earthen wall of the dugout next to her, and he gave her a nod. "We're good to go. Leftenant says to make sure we've got our sunscreen on and she'll have the last couple beers on ice when we get back. Murphy is three minutes out with the ammo." She couldn't help but smirk. "Well by all means then, let's not keep those drinks waiting." The two slid back down into the dugout and to the gangly device they had spent half the night shlepping through the trench system and up the back of the hill. Even with countergrav assistance, it was awkward and frustrating to move under cover of darkness, but they had gotten it in place before the sky started to lighten and the enemy could see. It had taken the rest of the night to unpack and assemble the heavy tripod and the long gun atop it, but now it would be the work of a minute to raise it into firing position. Muttered cursing from the tunnel entrance signaled the arrival of their third section mate. Ranger Murphy's lanky form hove into view a moment later, soaked in sweat as he carefully hauled a heavily protected ammunition crate behind him in a half-crouch. Placing it at the side of one leg of the tripod, he collapsed to the dugout's floor with a grunt. "That," Murphy groaned between drinks from his canteen, "Is the heaviest fucking box of ammo I have ever had the distinct misfortune of hauling across God's green acre." Cross half-heartedly glared at him from where he had returned to the trench phone, and Davey just smirked and popped the box's seals with her belt knife. "The fireworks will be worth the effort, Murph. Now get off your ass and give me a hand loading this thing." * "So who came up with this idea, anyway?" Murphy grunted as the two Rangers fitted the projectile onto the long gun, "Seems like a hell of a weird one." "One of the Navy boffins off the Botany Bay who got stuck down here with us." Davey carefully inserted a retaining bolt, and the two slid the metal round firmly into place. "Seems he's some kind of historical wargamer. Got the idea from something the Yanks did back in the Second European War." "Huh." "I know, right? Get the other end of that crank, let's get this up over the top so we can blow and go." Grunts of effort, along with metallic clatter and the muttering of the Lance-Corporal at the phone filled the next minute, then the muzzle crested the dugout and Davey sighted down the weapon's rangefinder. "Okay, six degrees up. Range 2875 meters. Fight time 16 seconds." "Set." Her tone turned formal as she turned to Cross. "Lance-Corporal, we have a confirmed firing solution. Do we have the authorization to proceed?" "Weapon armed?" "Aye, Lance-Corporal!" "Pills?" All three dug out small foil packets, tearing into them before swallowing the chalky tablets within. "Dosed." "You may fire when ready." Aella settled in against the weapon, taking up the firing control and one thumb flipping off the safety. "Safety's off!" She shared a grin with Murphy, as Cross muttered a last reply into the phone before his face hardened with resolve. "Send it." "Shades on, lads! HERE COMES THE SUN!" *** Few of the Fomorians saw the flash of artillery on the blasted hill across the valley. The colonists huddled behind their walls, however, saw the sun rise briefly in the West, as the fire at the heart of a star briefly bloomed. On the hill, another sound was heard, lifted in mocking song. "~Davey, Davey Crockett. Queen of the wild frontier!~" "Oh, shut it, Murphy."
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It was on that day the Universe realised what a terrifying species humans could become when provoked. I was on the human home planet Gaia when it happened. They used to call it Earth but was later named as Gaia sometime after the first contact with the Council of Sentients. The council had rescued the planet from a deadly virus that had destroyed 2/3 of the human population, they called it the Corona episode. I don't know much about the history after that but the humans slowly recovered with the help of the council and also managed to become one of its most promising member. The council maintained peace within the Universe and usually do not interfere in planetary affairs unless the situation is drastic enough or if there is a planetary war. While the humans were known to be peace loving and only have 1/5th lifespan compared to most other members they were well known for their innovations. They had slowly become one of the top 10 economies in the Universe. They had helped rescue countless planets from going extinct and were respected throughout the Universe. So it was hard to imagine another species declaring war on them. I heard on the emergency broadcast 3 ships in the outer corner of the known Universe were destroyed 12 million lives were lost. The fleets were part of a fleet that was supposed to carry refugees from planets that were destroyed by war and epidemics. Humans always had a soft spot for such species given that they had suffered a similar fate. Some 30 mins after the first broadcast there was another broadcast, the entire fleet was destroyed 113 million lives lost both humans and other species included. This was no coincidence they humans were the primary target, the Arne Roth'ko had declared war on humans. This was no surprise as humans had reported them to the Council on multiple occasions, calling them to abolish their old laws and customs. The Arne Roth'ko were one of the oldest and strongest members of the council, slavery was a common custom for them, the lower class had no rights and were treated as animals. This lead to a civil war on Arne Roth'ko and the upper class blamed humans for spreading their ideologies. The lower class suffered countless blows on all fronts and were crushed, their condition become even worse. After that incident the Roth'ko always stood in opposition to the humans. They had planned on invading and destroying the humans ever since. Soon there was a third broadcast the Arne Roth'ko were within attacking range. We received a message on our comms to evacuate the planet immediately. There was a similar broadcast on Gaia calling everyone to take shelter and prepare for the worst. We were grounded as all Galactic travel was brought to a halt by the United Nations(Gaia's governing body). There was dead silence on the broadcast for the next hour. We had embraced for the worst but the next broadcast that came in was the most shocking news I had ever heard. The Arne Roth'ko had surrendered, their entire fleet was destroyed. In the known history of the Universe there were no records of such a one sided annihilation. The Arne Roth'ko were feared even by the Council of Sentients, this was the reason why the council never spoke against them and always turned a blind eye to their tyranny. The strongest fleet in the Universe was reduced to ashes. The humans used a weapon never seen by the council, they called it the Ragna'Rok what was more surprising is that it was a relic from the past. A weapon that was created before the Council approached humans. That day the Council learned how fearsome humans can be, if not for the Coronavirus the humans would have dominated over the Universe. After that incident no one dared to cross the humans. They say peace can never be achieved by instilling fear, but this time it was different. In face of overwhelming destruction everyone loses the courage to fight back. And when it is the most peace loving species that instills that fear, peace seems to be a better option.	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	they had nothing, their ships fragile and slow. their bodies soft and weak.they were so little of them that the take over would last an hour at most. no resistance at first, the poor fools hadn't even built defences around their outer most planets. the ships sailed the heaves in an arrow formation. the ground units praying to their gods, thinking on what part of the human body to take as a trophy, fingers seemed the most popular choice.the soldiers joked around and imagined drinking wine from human skulls as the ships were shaken, from the windows flashes could be seen, messages where shot between dwindling ships to try to figure out what was going on. only one remained its engine burning and falling, limping back home, when the flashing stopped , around it shards and ashes glittered with the white rays of the sun. Like fire the stories spread, an army to take over a system whipped out with the snap of a finger, rumors and hope spread trough oppressed systems. force demanded force and army twice as strong was sent, veteran fighters, pilots generals, dreadnought so abundant that they bloated out the shine of all stars. but as if the universe was reborn they were all gone, the shine so bright it can still be seen in some planets near the human systems. the propaganda spread like a disease, claiming the humans where extinct, extinguishing the fire in many hearts. but then it was seen, a rain of fire striking the core planets of the empire, the mushroom-shaped clouds submerging them into a never ending winter. and they knelt, the mighty empire who had ended so many lives and extinguished so many lights, the humans had a weapons they heated with all their hearts, a threat to their existence turned their salvation, humans had learnt to manipulate and weaponized the very fabric of the universe. a nuclear weapon. They were honored, the saviors of the enslaved, but everyone feared that they would take a dark turn, the new empire could be built in endless winters. they were revered but always under suspicion in the eyes of most. in secret the workings of the smallest parts of the universe began to be researched.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What do you mean its gone?" General Ashak asked, half angry, half confused. "We've lost communication, we no longer have visual confirmation of its existence, the airspace where the fleet should be is vacant of anything but a bit of debris. It just vanished." The ensign replied. Ashak closed both sets of eyelids hard enough to see spots of bright color bloom in his mind. His tongue flicked the air in annoyance. "Did they make hyperspace?" He asked after a long moment of contemplation. He didn't even want this war. He was supposed to retire next year. The humans had never done anything to him. He had no quarrel with them. But the Empress, may the sun forever shine upon her, wanted their technology. Supposedly they had discovered a method of mining rare minerals for almost zero energy cost. "Our instruments say no. They were there one minute and gone the next." A young private, probably in his early 400s, barely past his first shed, sprinted onto the deck of the command ship. "General," he saluted, right fist to left shoulder, first and second claw extended in the traditional manner. "I've been sent with an urgent message. All remaining fleets are to return to the capital. The humans have launched a counter attack." "With what? Sure they have amazing tech, but when it comes to war they're little more than hatchlings with pointed sticks." "My apologies, sir, but this private does not know." "Very well. Spread the word: were preparing to male hyperspace for return to Arin. All crew in their stasis pods withing the half-hour." ---------‐---------------------- 2 hours later the stasis pod beeped and opened. Akash stepped out, rubbing his eyes, groggily. He made his way to the bridge and turned on the forward view screen to begin docking procedures. He flipped the switch on the communications board and said into the mic, "Arin tower this is The Empress' Holy Ship Desert Sun. Reporting for orders and preparing to dock. Please send docking code and stand by for touchdown." He began flipping more switches as the rest of the flight crew made their way into the room. "Sir, I dont understand. We were supposed to arrive directly above Arin." The navigator sounded unsure. Akash looked at the screen for the first time and nearly lost his cool. The screen showed a large crater, with rubble strewn about like a hatchlings playroom. He recognized some buildings, the base where he had trained after joining the military, his hatchlings school and the office building his mate worked in, all little more than crumbling walls and shattered stone. Several more ships materialized in the sky around the Desert Sun. Soon the air waves were crowded with captains and generals demanding to know what happened. Within the next 4 hours, the entire armed forces of the Grellian empire hovered above a city that was no longer there. A single missile blipped on the instrument panel. Some from another ship laughed hysterically about the humans single missile against the entire military. Akash thought of his hatchlings and his mate. He missed them already. What sorcery could have done this. The missile detonated against one of the ships. It was engulfed in a small star in the span of a second. The world went quiet, and akash shut his eyes. He felt the heat wash over him. And the Grellian empire ceased to exist.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They descended upon Earth with the full panoply of war. 1,000 starships, each a mile long carrying thousands of Soldiers, equipment and ordinance signified the undisputed might of the Ubojan Conglomerate. An unbreakable iron grip that held a thousand star systems under its hand. The sheer scale of their warmachine pressed upon the tiny blue planet like a boulder on top of a balloon, threatening to obliterate it simply by being there. Despite this, the tiny blue planet did not submit. The humans who call it home have tried for months to prevent this catastrophe. A species that preferred the sound of words than that of munitioned tried, and failed to appease the Goliath that threatened to snuff them out of existence before their dreams of stepping out into the stars were realized. These humans, peaceful and benign in the eyes of the galactic community were rudely introduced to the brutality of the galaxy that awaited them. Weak, pathetic... mewling at the edge of a backwater system were the first impressions that Ubojan Conglomerate had of these Humans. It has been some time since they showed the Galaxy why there were "the masters of the 1000". It is past due that everyone be reminded. That is until the first salvo hit. As the first starships made their atmospheric drop, the sky lit up in a blinding flash of white. For a moment, the bielectric crystals focuses of the ships detected only rudimentary defenses. projectile ordinance, liquid propelled fighter craft... Giant square water craft that launched these fighters.... millions of tiny ants scurrying about. A helpless hand weakly put up in the face of a beating.... and then again, another white flash. in minutes 5 starships disintegrated into nothing, the rest doused in lethal radiation. The eerie silence of shock was replaced by the blares of multiple alarm systems. Radiation readings went off the charts, multiple distress signals coalesced into a unified scream for help and status reports on the quantum comms. The remaining ships creaked and buckled as they reached the stratosphere, blown around like wayward kites upon the edge of a hurricane. "First centari report!!!" Shouted Admiral Ackubar across all channels. He lead the vanguard, the first centari to be the first to make planetfall. Ackubar wanted to be remembered and itched at the opportunity to be the one, the first one to take this planet for the undying empire. His first moments in this tiny blue planet however, when they win, will be scrubbed from histographs back home. "Multple starships destroyed, my lord" Reported his rear admiral, Haluga. "1st, 28th, 49th, 69th and 86th decari destroyed. Radiation levels are lethal within 5 welklans of their last position... 25 starships from respective decari are damaged but still battle worthy." "In the name of the undying how did they do that!!!" Cursed Ackubar. The first salvo tore through the skies like a needle piercing through an iron sky. Readings indicated ballistic and kinetic ordinance... which should have been useless against ceramo-crystalline hulls. It was their detonation however that most shocked Ackubar. Each hit lit up like a miniature sun enveloping the iron sky in a blaze of white hot fury. In all of his life, in all of his campaigns he has never seen weapons of this kind used before. Ackubar did not fear death. As a warrior of the 1000 worlds it was his duty to serve, and to die is his reward. What he saw flash before his eyes however, instilled in him the unsettling feeling of being afraid. "I want retaliatory bombardment from the launch site now!!! 57th, 2nd and 10th decari focus fire on these coordinates!!! 29th and 5th decari set bielectric scans to subterranean... all decari near the 5th and 29th for defensive formations!" the quantum comms hummed their affirmatives and within moments, the tendrils of the first centari sprang into action. Like a snake uncoiling each starship moved into their formations. the 57th, 2nd and 10th decari, the most armed of all the starships, launched photon neutrino torpedoes. Huge blue swaths of flame streaked the sky, determined to reach the ground bellow and pummel the very earth below. Another white flash, then another. the hurried, desperate pace of these flashes became quicker and quicker. 13 starships have been destroyed, including 7 that formed the defensive perimeter around the 5th and 29th. The 5th, 2nd and 10th increased their fire in response, peppering the ground and pockmarking launch sites as they are reported across the quantum comms. "29th and 5th, report scans to flagship!" commanded a nervous Haluga. The hundreds of small and big alarms systems surrounding him are starting to make him lose his composure. "29th and 5th reporting, sub scans inconclusive... elemental readings are suggesting high presence of lead underground.... its like this entire continent is covered in it. requesting permission to form offensive formations" "Negative responded Ackubar. "Maintain scans protocols, adjust for elemental readings. set scans to energy" The 5th and 29th complied. within moments the visual comms of the Ackubar's flagship "the indomitable" lit up. What he saw initially, puzzled him. Moments after, he felt his stomach drop. He superimposed the visual scan with the map and immediately he counted around 100 35 meter deep holes. he ran the scans through a intelligence interpreter and saw that the entire area was covered in these holes.... final count of the interpreter at 5000. They all had energy readings... Thermonuclear. "Attention all decari! This is Admiral Ackubar speaking. We have sprung a trap, all units disengage, and retreat to exophere immediately!" "57th 2nd and 10th form rear guard to co-" "my lord scans are reading fighter craft approaching formation!" Shoulted Haluga "they are arranged in packs of decans... formations suggest payload delivery!" "All units retreat now now now!" Admiral Ackubar bellowed. "Hunter interceptors engage enemy craft! do not let them within 5 welcans of our ships!" A torrent of fire and noise erupted in the earth's stratosphere. Like a hive of bees, human and Ubojan fighters engaged each other in waves of death, exploding ordinance and and scattered metal. The first centari lumbered away slowly, agonizingly as they are chased by a swarm of human figthers. The ubojan figthers were killing them off by the dozen, but there was thousands of them. They were faster, more nimble and could overwhelm hunter interceptor packs, swallowing them whole and spitting them out as a ball of molten fire. As random as this hive looked, it hid ominous intentions. in the center of it hid larger craft that suggested they were carriers. dozens of these carriers suddenly shot out of formation and raced their way into the center of the centari formation. several carrier craft exploded near the edge of the formation, creating giant clouds of white heat and light that enveloped entire swaths of the centari. The human hive disengaged, and streaked downwards... desperate to escape the apocalypse that they themselves delivered. 28 flashes of light was what Ackubar counted before oblivion took him. The first centari, the pride of the Ubojan Empire reduced to smoldering ruin thousands of lightyears away in a backwater system. Destroyed by insects... pathetic, weak, mewling insects. Ubojan high command saw it all unfold thousands of miles above the earth. Each member struck dumb with shocked silence, with 900 starships awaiting their command to unleash retribution. The visual comms of Sovereign Krasistus lit up. Images of unknown human symbols stared back at him. "What is this?" He growled. "It looks like a message your excellency." Reported his chancellor. "Translating now..." "It is... ancient, of the dictates of an Empire long gone..." the chancellor mused. "Gg-gruk?" "geeriik?" He tried to pronounce. "Interpreter compensate. adjust language dictation". The intelligence interpreter whirred its affirmative. "Language compensation complete. Human language discovered. Ancient Greek. Symbol translation. "μολὼν λαβέ" Molon labe. Ubojan translation complete. message reads... "come and take them." Humans do have a way with words the Ubojan High command concurred. They also have a way with war it seems. The 900 ships remained above the earth's orbit, safely away from their weapons of hate. Friendly and Peaceful they seemed, inside this tiny blue planet. Bristling with rage and an unexpected mastery of brutal warfare they are, on the surface of this this tiny blue planet.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Part 1: Commander Turnall was gazing at the bright blue planet from the comfort of his cabin on the 17th Gunner Launcher of the Emios Empire. The windows of his cabin were designed specifically to give the room a wide 270 degree view. He looked at all the forces of the advance force sent by the Imperial Council. All 180 ships, with 400 destroyers, 80 sharpshooters, 150 gunners, 50 starshields, 18 Gunner Launchers and around 120,000 personnel. Turnall was delighted when he was informed that he was ordered to command the advance force to the Soleus System, the native star system of the Humans. Turnall, who was partly human himself, loathed the Human race for their amiability and gentleness. The EMIOS had started long ago in Alixir III when the King of the Eliali, Aedealaus declared himself Emperor after subjugating all the surrounding systems after a long war of domination on all fronts. The Eliali, who still hold heavy political sway in the House of the Senate and the Imperial Council regard him as a demi-god and a legend, however rational men including Commander Turnall himself knew that he was not a holy figure but an opportunist who cunningly outwitted his opponents and attacked them when they were at their weakest. Turnall was given orders to surround the planet in a semi-circular formation and wait them out of submission, his orders were to block any supplies that could be sent from the Colonies on the Mars and the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. The Humans despite being weak were proud of their Independence and traded with all nations and empires. The marijuana trade was highly profitable and booming, and the humans exported a wide range of elements. They even traded with the Matjl Empire, the most formidable of the rivals of the EMIOS. Turnall did not like the mission of subjugating the Humans without force. He hated them. He wanted them destroyed. Of all things he hated, the thing he hated the most was that blue planet of theirs. The Emios called it Gaia 0 and is one of the most habitable places in the universe. Everything about it was perfect. Planet Placement, Size, Atmosphere, Gravitational Force and Abundance of Habitable Space and Stability. Many planets younger than Gaia 0 and Gaia-like planets which were promised to succeed it were outlived by Gaia 0. Turnall sat and observed the meek satellites and defense systems of the Humans. The Humans were smart. Despite being the bright beacons of peace, love and happiness, they never stopped spending money on defense, but it was of no use now. They were indicted in the Supreme Council for crimes of negative resource-exploitation and slavery. Crimes that were framed upon them by the Secret Agency to facilitate the annexation of the United Nations into the EMIOS. They had always been part of the EMIOS association but were never truly part of the EMIOS proper. The aim was to bring them into the Imperial Fold, Turnall did not want this. He had made up his mind to destroy the Gaia, no matter the loss of life. The Humans will be shattered and the other minor republics of the association and liege states will be frightened. The embargo placed on the Matjl and Kin will be solidified and Turnall will be regarded as a hero. He thirsted for glory and wanted redemption for his failures during the Hock Skirmishes. His promotion was due and his pride as well. He paced back and forth in wait of the Human Diplomats. When they arrived he couldn't hide his smile. He was searching for some pretext to invade the planet. He had thought over a hundred plans with his most loyal followers and decided that he would have some of his ships destroyed by his own guns. Some of his captains strongly opposed friendly fire, however a compromise was reached and it was decided the selected ships would be left completely vacant. He had to act quickly though, he had heard of news of reinforcements from the Outer Zone were heading towards Gaia and would arrive in 10 Gaia Days, 8 if they made haste. The Diplomats arrived with a Ranskar guard on both flanks. They greeted him cordially without showing signs of dread. Turnall found it funny. Your entire existence will be soon wiped, and you will be forgotten. Just like the Manes, the Ibers, the Nam or the Raqqa. Turnall advised them to seat and called for the interpretation team. One of the Diplomats blurted out, "Commander Turnall, you do know English, don't you?" Turnall looked at them with shock. Yes, of course he did. It was his mother tongue. Turnall hated the language and considered it inferior. He tried forgetting the language by learning Lyal and Soran and avoiding it. However, he still dreamed in English, something he couldn't get rid of. Turnall feigned ignorance, "No. No Cannot. Understand for me, not much". The Diplomat smiled and nodded. When the interpreters arrived the negotiations began. The Diplomats denied the allegations and asked to file a motion of reconsideration. They asked for talks between the Imperial Council and the United Nations, and withdrawal of forces. They agreed to cede their Outer Colonies to retain their independence. They asked for a new treaty and were willing to be reassigned as a protectorate. They even tried handing over the Imperial Association their trade control and foreign affairs. Anything, for retaining their independence. However Turnall and the committee of senators of the House refused all their pleadings. They told that for violating intergalactic law they had to be annexed by the Supreme Council and nothing else. They told them that this was to merely be a transitional occupation and nothing else and their sovereignty would be handed back after a five-year term. The Humans knew that this was false, the Supreme Council's biggest funder was EMIOS and since the last thirty years a puppet of the Emios Empire. They were literally paid by EMIOS to strike some decisions against them just to pretend impartiality. The Diplomats were tired and they stood up. The Head of the Human Negotiators Han Xuhan addressed them. "I am deeply saddened by the failure of our talks. We tried our best to ensure peace but you only talk of war and domination. We therefore will have to be forced to declare war on you. You have trespassed on our sovereignty, and we will fight to protect it." Turnall couldn't believe his ears, "Declare war?". He was on seventh heaven. They had made his work easier. He will open fire on the first shot. Turnall will have his name etched in history, there will be medals. They will build statues and name institutions in his honor. When the diplomats left Turnall ordered a meeting of his lieutenants, he advised them to get in a formation so that the sacrificial ships would be closest from the surface. He also told him that the statement might also be a ruse of the diplomats to bide for time and keep them waiting for supposed aggression. He told them that if the ships are not hit soon, they will be forced to destroy it with their own guns.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The Warfang watched the pathetic excuse for a human diplomat before him. This mission was a study in boredom, and had not intergalactic relations demanded the prescence of his delegation they would have done away with the whole thing and just attacked. Already the Concordates warships were hurtling through the human home system, less than a day away from orbit. Its mass drivers would kill what needed to be killed and its dropships would conquer the rest. Whatever the old decrepit man in front of him might say, would do less of a difference than a fart in a space suit. ”We have heard your demands”, the old man grated. ”Actually we’ve had them repeated without any signs of compromise for months now.” ”It seems to us that they are designed to make these talks no more and no less than a show for the benefit of the galactic council?” he stated. ”Please correct me if I’m wrong.” The Warfang didn’t deign an answer. What was the purpose anyway? After all, the greybeard had hit the nail on the head. This was just a show, and nothing happening between these delegations would change anything that was to come. ”You are making a serious mistake, Warfang”, the old diplomat said. ”You and your Concordate are mistaking our strife for galactic peace for weakness…” ”It is not…” The old mans smile held a sudden tinge of remorsefull sadness. It was curious to the Warfang how two such different species could share so much of facial expressions, that he intuitively understood the sentiment. It suddenly made his skin crawl, as if someone held a blade to his neck. And just as he was trying to formulate a question to solve the enigma, the diplomats eyes went to the big hologram covering the whole side of the room. His own eyes automatically followed the other mans focus. On the display pinpricks of light started to erupt throughout the invading fleet. Wherever they lit up, icons of Concordate ships disappeared. Not even just in ones or twos, but in droves. His mouth fell open, unconciously showing predator teeth. And as his eyes snapped back to the old diplomat, the old mans sad smile hade returned with twice the force. ”I am afraid your fleet is done for Warfang.” he said. ”If the Concordate had had more interest in actually studying the cultures you subjugate, you would have found out we were pretty damn close to wiping ourselves out a time or two. In reality we’re among the most warlike races of any that we’ve met, we have just tried to get ourselves beyond those instincts.” The Warfang was stunned, not a sound came out of his mouth even as he tried to say something. ”I’m afraid that our peaceful stance has been dearly bought”, the old man continued. ”Our perpetual wars finally came to the point where our stark choice was cooperation or death. We chose cooperation, but the knowledge of how easy it is to kill never really left us.” ”But how?…” the words finally coming out of the Warfangs mouth sounded weak and shaky. He cursed himself under his breath. ”Not that hard actually. Just the power of the stars themselves, enhanced to the point where nothing really can stand against it.” The old man shook his head, he no longer looked decrepit. ”We don’t expect the Concordate to yield, not when the foundation of their existense and identity as conquerors are threatened.” he said. ”So our own ships are already moving.” The peculiar human eyes were no longer just sad, but also hard as stone. ”As we sit here, they are already on their way to all military centers within onehundred and fifty light years from our home system. ”I am afraid that those systems will become as close to uninhabitable as to not make much difference for at least a generation or two.” ”Our civilians”, the Warfang said with a keen. ”Yes, your civilians”, the diplomat answered. ”You had less than no appreciation for our civilians as recently as a few minutes ago. It was never our wish to have this war on our hands. But there is an old human saying that fits the situation all to well.” The Warfangs look asked the question he couldn’t make himself utter in words. ”Never start a fight, but always finish it.” The old man stood up and pushed the chair under the table. ”You are no longer welcome here. You, as a diplomat are of course free to go wherever you wish. We will not try to stop you, hurt you or in any way delay you”, he said. ”I suspect we might meet again in the galactic council. Or maybe we won’t, I’m not certain if you or I will be the chosen delegates. Until then all I can say is that this is not a cause for celebration as far as we are concerned.” He wished to call the man back as he left the room. He wished to shout, scream, claw something. He wished to rend and tear flesh. Onehundred and fifty light years, that covered nine tenths of the Concordates primary systems, including the Capital. If those weapons were numerous enough and as efficient on the ground, the Concordate would all but cease to exist.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What does all of this even mean?" Garrok asked aloud. She and Farrun scanned the transmission for a fifth time, attempting to glean the intent behind the nonsense they had been given. They understood what radiation was but most of the words seemed straight out of fantasy. What was a 'fallout?' Or 'scrubbing?' What reaction did they mean by 'runaway reaction?' "It's a threat from humanity, clearly, but a threat of what?" Farrun asked. They both knew what he was referring to. The war against humanity started barely a galactic day-cycle ago. It was an honorless ambush on humanity's home system but even she, simple researcher that she was, felt that such a thing was necessary. Humanity was, without a doubt, the greatest nuisance the Larr'ell race had ever faced. Eons of galactic economic supremacy undermined by weak, furless monkeys who happened to know how to butter people up. They were a pathetic race barely fit for combat and they somehow leveraged the sympathy their many weaknesses brought them into a political and economic hegemony that threatened both the current galactic economy and the Larr'ell way of life. A decapitating strike was necessary and an ambush the only feasible option. They had left humanity unimpeded and now they had too many allies for them to face and so the government, with the people's blessing, decided to strike the valgrax at its heart or die trying. Humanity's single-minded focus on industrial and logistical technologies created a vulnerability that they needed to exploit before it was closed. The Larr'ell and their few remaining allies could not afford a drawn out battle. Human ships may have been mobile like no other but they lacked the power or durability they needed to overpower the Larr'ell capital fleet in a single decisive battle. If they could force them to the table before they could shift to a wartime economy, they could win unconditionally. And so that was what they did. They forced them into a single, decisive battle last she heard. Humanity's swift defeat should have been a foregone conclusion. Was a foregone conclusion. So why was she feeling incalculable dread as she skimmed the contents of the transmission for a fifth time. The transmission arrived unencrypted and unobstructed straight into the capital of their homeworld. She could imagine how badly the Data Defense Department were being chewed out for that oversight. Strangely, civilian targets had been the recipients of the transmission instead of the governmental or military ones: hospitals, research labs, and even weather centers. The government itself was in a frenzy over the attack. They believed it was an ultimatum. She couldn't help but worry that they were right but she wisely kept that opinion to herself. The air around the war declaration was of jubilation after all. They had made their bed and anything less than full commitment would not only ruin their legacy but that of their entire race. She felt the impact before she heard it. The ground beneath her seemed to give before catching itself and she felt the pressure drop for a moment. And then the boom: a mind-shattering bang followed by a rolling rumble that seemed to drag on forever. She'd first thought one of their kinetic cannons had misfired and launched a rod somewhere nearby but no weapon she knew of in their arsenal made that sort of terrifying sound. She gathered her senses around the time she began hearing the screams. Farrun, who had somehow gotten on his feet before she did, stood by the window, face black and bloodless. Reluctantly, she looked out the window to see. What she didn't see though would haunt her for the rest of her days. The crown jewel of their empire, the seat and cradle of the Larr'ell civilization, her beloved Beiran, was gone. An ashen hand holding a war hammer rose up from where it once stood, as if only now judging its bloodcurdling handiwork done. She and Farrun stood motionless as a second transmission from the humans was received. "Any survivors within 532 breadths of the blasts should be considered to have suffered permanent genetic damage. They cannot be saved. Any survivors within 532 and 727 breadths of the blasts must evacuate immediately or risk permanent genetic damage. Any survivors within 727 and..."	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Famine, Pestilence, Death, War. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Supreme beings of havoc, and an idea that humans (once achieving a galactic level) quickly found spread across the worlds. Famine, The Rektinkin. Pestilience, The Kratar. Death, The An'ihum. And War, The Humans. When Humans entered the galactic scene, they ruptured a delicate balance that was in place. They destroyed the stalemate that stopped the 3 major powers from war. As every race set their sights on the prey, intent of claiming them as their own, gaining the advantage, the humans seemed blissfully unaware that their attempts at peaceful communication showed the universe one thing: they embody peace, and have suffered nothing. A far contrast to the three powers. The Rektinkin, born on an unforgiving planet that punished every mistake with death. Resources scarce, the reptile-like species embraced the Famine, and learned the power of oneself. They birthed great warriors that took all the resources, instead of splitting them amongst many people. As such, the species was able of rivaling entire army's of other species alone. However the birth rate of these creatures were abysmal, and as such couldn't triumph in all out war against the other two. When they saw the Humans and their home Planet of earth, rich in resources, they saw their chance. How many more warriors could they birth with Earths help? And so they waged war on the seemingly helpless species. The humans had no idea of scarcity, so they had nothing to embrace! How could such species pose a threat? Similarly, The Kratar lived in a world of nature, where they could never triumph over the destruction of the Great Green. They suffered from being nothing but weak prey. Intelligence? Mattered not, that was for those at the bottom of the food chain. So the Kratar embraced the plague of ever-present green. They were the ambassadors of the Great Green, and as such, were gifted the ability to fully control the power source of life, the Kratar's very own star. With this power, they spread the Great Greens power and influence. They controlled the most planets, able to terraform them for the Great Green, but never once thought to enslave nature, as they had not the power over the Green to be able to claim authority. So when they saw the Humans, they saw a weak species (much like them in the past) however one who had used Intelligence to triumph over their sacred grounds. Blasphamy. How dare a species as useless as humans have the audacity to attempt to control the Great Green? The Katar saw both the potential of triumph over their greatest weapon, and a weak species who had yet to fully understand it. Should they learn their potential, the Great Green would be destroyed by such a weak species, one who had no hardships, who had embraced nothing! The Kratar could not have it, and as such, declared war on the humans. At the same time, The An'ihum suffered from the inevitable. Death. Their species had an incredibly short life span. Nothing could ever be done, and nothing was ever being done. The An'ihum each had their own needs, and had once sought a fulfilling life doing what they wanted. The neighboring species on the same planet all pushed the An'ihum away easily. The An'ihum where all so singularly focuses on themselves, and their short life spans that the species never evolved. They cursed their life spans as the An'ihum population got smaller and smaller. It was in a moment of true desperation that the An'ihum changed. Every new birth was done to perform one duty, then embrace death. With their incredible reproduction ability, the An'ihum held deaths hand as they brute forced their way to being the apex species on their planet. So when Humans, a relatively long-living species entered their sights, they saw knowledge. They saw what they wanted, the ability to extend their lives, as the humans had multiplied their expected life span. They also saw the threat this knowledged posed to them and the other speicies. They needed life! Only then could they truly embrace death. So they held no regards about declaring war on a species so intent on running away from death. They knew not the embrace of death, but they shall learn. And the humans? They were different. Everybody assumed that they just had it easy, as that was why they so nice, so unwilling to spark conflict. But in reality they didn't embrace what they were best at, because they saw what embracing war truly meant. After building the ultimate weapon that made the very universe suffer, they learned that embracing war didn't mean strength. It meant complete and utter annihilation. They didn't embrace war, they surpassed it. And as the hostile species watched the very universe reject their existence, they realised that simple truth. First time posting here. Also on mobile, sorry for bad formating.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The landscape is cold- barren. We work in silence, Henry and I. I can sense the Universe recoiling away from us, the cosmos pulling its lips away, teeth gnashing and foaming, spitting vitriol on humanity. We knew this was wrong. But someone had to tip the cosmic scales back. We had come too far- walked the path of retaliation too far to turn back and make it home in time. And where was home? Earth? There were barely two billion of us left there. You'd think having lived for more than three hundred years, almost a third of those inside cruisers and battleships, and another third on barren desolate planets building outposts and bases, I would be used to this- this detachment- this sense of belonging to no one place. I am not. Sometimes, I close my eyes, and pretend I am back on Earth. The rebellion never occured. Humanity didn't unite. We never broke the biological code to prolonged life. We never set out to Titan. We never found the underground base that had instructions on how to contact the Nelvadians. But no matter how tightly I clench my eyes shut, even past the point of blinding pain, when they open it is never to the skies of Earth- never to constellations our ancestors spent years naming- and centuries creating religions out of. When our resources had began running out, we gave up our Gods, for it seemed they had forsaken us- not like we deserved better. So much for undying faith. I still remember it- there was this land... Australia, I think it was called. Australia was the first to feel the wrath of our collective abuse against the Earth. I don't even remember the year... something like two thousand...Eh, Henry knows our history better than I do. And from then on, it was like watching dominoes tumble. A viral disease broke out- decimating half of our population in the span of an year- and then we realised we were doomed. Our leaders did nothing. Our prayers did nothing. Our Gods did nothing. And then it spread like a contagion. Worse. The helplessness. Faith evaporating on the embers of sanity. Anarchy. None of our reports can confidently pinpoint where it began, but I reckon it was everywhere at once. Rebellion. War. Untamed. But...we came together. We overcame together. We survived. We evolved. We grew. We shed off our old skin. Erased borders as best as we could. Healed and helped each other as well at as we could. Within the next fifty years, we had a base on the Moon- a base that could support a thousand people. And by the end of the century, we reached Titan. Turns out, they were waiting for us- well, figuratively at least. The Nelvadians. A race far more superior to us when it came to technology. They had conquered interstellar travel centuries ago. And had known of Earth since the Spanish Inquisition. The bastards wanted to test us. At least that's how Henry puts it. But they came when we called. And boy, did they bring gifts. They had figured out everything (well nearly everything). We had figured out how to live for five hundred years- they were undying. Our ships could travel at ninety percent the speed of light- theirs didn't bother. They just tore through space. We knew how to build Moon-bases. They taught us how to terraform the damn things. But despite all of their advancement, despite all of their technology, their weapons were tame. Oh sure, they were dangerous, and the Nelvadians weren't the species you wanted to go to war with, maybe the Askivarians, or even those three legged freaks that live on Partorus Minor. But not the Nelvadians. They had more ships in their fleets than we had guns in America back home- and that's a lot. If you're not from Earth, talk to Henry. He will tell you. Yankee bastard still keeps one around. Hooligan. They believed in numbers apparently- the Nelvadians. But we had seen what a drawn out war did to the warring parties. We had seen three world wars. And after the last one- the one that brought us together- we weren't in the mood for another one- ever. And so we prospered under the guidance of the Nelvadians. It was like having an elder brother- a nice one for once. When we learnt of the peace laws of interstellar communities, we chucked our history under the carpet. Most species didn't think much of us- we wouldn't have either. Well, we were rather small compared to them. Even the Nelvadians were over thirteen feet in height. One out of every two species we met could have called us Lilliputians if they knew what Lilliput was. But that's neither here nor there. We told them about the first war. And the third. The second one- eh...we told them about it. Mostly. Well if you met the Japanese now you wouldn't believe they bombed Pearl Harbor. Or got bombed back for that matter. It was two hundred years after our meeting with the Nelvadians when it happened. The Fuckening. If you're not from Earth, ask Henry. He'll tell you what that means. Son of a bitch taught it to me. The Nelvadians were rather generous when it came to sharing their knowledge and tech, but there was one secret they never divulged. Their immortality. Seven times we asked for it. Seven times they refused. And the eighth time they didn't bother to give us a reply. They hit us with a question instead. One we had no answer for. How many genders are there? The fuck do we know! The fuck do they want to know for! Henry thinks it was rather clever of them. I think Henry wants to get laid- Nelvadian style. They made us immune to a plethora of diseases- they cured cancer for us, they cured Alzheimer's. But they wouldn't tell us how to stop aging. We lived full lives...five hundred years of it, give or take. But we died. The sun set on us at the end. Over the years we stopped asking. We figured how tough could it be. Turns out, immortality was as tough as anything could be. It took us a hundred and fifty years- but we did it. We wouldn't be immortal, but the generations that came after would have the gift of life eternal. That was an year ago. Six lunar cycles later, the Nelvadians gave us an ultimatum. If we went ahead with our plan to become immortal, they would....well, they didn't exactly want to party. The sad thing was, we didn't either. Maybe a couple of centuries of peace and unimagined prosperity had been too much for us. Or maybe we had learnt our lessons- maybe we had seen enough hypocrites on Earth to let another one lord over us in space. So we did what we do best. We armed ourselves to the teeth again. The Nelvadians didn't have much to teach about weapons, but we didn't really need it. When the first immortal child was born, the Nelvadians destroyed the Emerald City of Titan- our base on the moon, our half built Dyson sphere around Alpha 3308, and declared us official enemies of Nelvadia. All in the span of two days. They declared we had become a plague. And we were to be eradicated. That was two weeks ago. One week later, we retaliated. One week. That's all it takes to bring down the greatest Civilization this part of the Universe has ever known. Seven earth-days is all it takes to wipe out half of the largest fleet ever assembled in known history. The Interstellar Community saw for the first time, the raw, untamed power of a nuclear detonation. I was there- when the first bomb exploded on Varis 88- Nelvadia's war base near Uranus. For a moment, the Solar System had two stars...it has a terrible beauty to it. The enormous sphere of wild fire and rage. The cosmos stood in sheer silence as the base was erased from existence. The Nelvadians would have scattered- if they hadn't been stunned into oblivion. They didn't know what to make of us now. Before they could retaliate, we blew up half of their ships, and thirty three Nelvadian outposts and bases. Took us maybe an hour. They put up a fight after that- realising they were going to wiped off the face of existence. But there wasn't much they could do. They hadn't shared their immortality with any other civilization. And we weren't picky with who we shared ours. We tore them apart. Decimated them till all that remained was Nelvadia. One planet. They would have to start again. From square one. We won our first Interstellar War in less than three hours. War. It was foolish of us to think that we had become something more, that humans had risen above the kingdom of Ares. The God of War still lived amongst us. His reign was as eternal as human life now. Of all the Gods to follow us as we wandered the cosmic canvas- it had to be Him. And even as I sit here, on the barren horizon of a foreign moon, arming the final nuclear device, code named 'Karma', preparing to destroy the last Nelvadian base outside of the Nelvadian system, I wonder how long it would take before some other civilization comes up with our magic trick. If Ares got his way, maybe next week.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It's useful, in a general sort of way, to be seen by the galaxy at large as cute, harmless doofuses. Soft, fleshy, tiny little bipeds, always wanting to communicate. To most of them, we're about as threatening as a Labrador puppy. Understand; our stellar neighborhood is a very scary place. Like Mos Eisly Cantina scary. You've got your hive mind "insectoid" races, your noncorporeal energy beings, and all manner of biologically acrobatic variations in between. And don't even get me started on the only other humanoids, the fucking Greys. Yikes. Those guys suck. Anyway, when I say "in a general sort of way," it's because there are a few specific and distinct disadvantages to this perception, as well. One of them would be situations where the ambassador from Earth must appeal to the Council of Argherrech. Which is the situation that I, as said ambassador, had to face during what was later called "The VingVa Crisis." The VingVa, known colloquially just the Ving or even simply V, were a particular obnoxious insectoid neighbor to earth. One day, without any prior notice, a Ving spacehive appeared only a few miles outside lunar orbit and began construction on an hyperspace corridor repeater site. And I don't have to tell you, the radiation those things throw off, when they're active, that close to Earth? Well. This kills the Labrador puppies. Of course all attempts by the human authorities at communication were ignored. The Ving had communicated to the council that they consider humans a non-sentient lower life-form, and thus unworthy of inclusion in the council or in fact any form of recognition or communication. This was a common perception among hivemind species, who generally only recognized sentience of other hives. Politics, amiright? As I approached the round which seated the members of the council, I was struck again bye how large of stature and claw and tooth most of them are. Quite intimidating. As I approached and climbed the tiny elevated platform where petitioners stood, I felt their alien perceptions tracking me. I spoke slowly and clearly into the translation assembly. "Good day and high praises upon all of your excellencies, members of the prestigious and all-knowing Counsel of Argherrech..." And then I went on like this for some time praising each member of the council individually and debasing myself before them. These guys LOVE flattery. Rather dreary and boring and if you don't mind I'll skip ahead to the important bits. "...and so, I come before you today to seek the permission of the council to defend the human homeworld against this unlawful incursion into our space." There was a silence as the counselors each finished receiving the translation. Though by policy the Ving never acknowledged any human communication, the first reaction was, in fact, from the Ving avatar. There was a series of twitching movements in the top third of it's upper facial appendages, which I had come to understand as a very rough analog to human laughter. Wonderful. What followed was a near 10 minute conversation among themselves that, of course, was not translated for my benefit. When they had finished their conference, Basthora, the "chair," spoke into his own translation assembly. What came out my end was a harsh, metallic, very robotic sounding voice. "If VingVa make war, Human cannot survive. Council will order VingVa allow one earthcycle for evacuation of Humans." Much as I'd expected. "Ah, yes, and this is much appreciated, oh most noble and generous rulers, may your reign last an epoch. But, if I may, and with all respect due, I was sent here today by the leaders of Earth to seek the permission of this glorious council to do exactly that. To declare war on the VingVa, and to, erm, to defend ourselves." Now the "laughter" was more pronounced - not just in the Ving avatar but in the forms of the others as well. A very brief untranslated conversation followed, but from what I had learned of their body language, the response was clear. Assent. "If Humans wish extinction, they may fight the VingVa to the death. Council grants permission." Of course, everyone knows what came next. We waited patiently for the V hive to finish constructing the terminal, and turn it on. Fifty H-bombs, casually dumped into the newly opened portal - a straight shot back to their homeworld. One more for the hive that built the damn thing. Funny thing, they didn't even bother trying to stop the tiny ship that did it. Never fired a single shot at it. They literally never knew what hit them. They saw us as so far beneath them, so insignificant, so weak, that even in total annihilation they did not comprehend the threat we posed to them. And they never will. Because now, there are no more VingVa. Yes, in a general sort of way, it is quite useful to be seen as cute, harmless doofuses. Though I'd wager that, in the future, maintaining that image may prove slightly more challenging. But, hey...what else are diplomats for? Edit: a word	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They say ‘History is written by the victor’, yet in our case, that is categorically false. I am a prophesy, a warning. I sit alone, the last of my kind, with one final duty. I too will become another footnote in history. Ours inevitably similar to countless others who, just like us, believed in our species’ supremacy. Our ascendant right to the universe. To conquer and exploit everything and anyone, as our gospel required. Like all warnings before us, I fear my words will again fade into the infinite, eventually just another fairy tale. Just the made up words of those who seek to keep you from reaching your true potential. It began with a simple warning: ‘Cease your expansionary violence, failure will result in jump gate privileges removed.’ The nerve of those humans. For as long as anyone remembered, they were the administrators of the jump gates. An incredibly rare and advanced species known for staying neutral in all other’s affairs. To most other races, this made them perfect mediators and trading partners. Not a lot was known about their main system since no traffic was allowed through the jump gate leading to it. Humans always traded outside their system and had no need to use the jump gates. Their unarmed ships appeared where needed. Their neutrality and lack of desire for expansion was pathetic. The stories say the once mighty Xhavi wanted control of their jump gate. The believed, like we all do, human’s control of the gates should cease. While the humans always followed every jump request, control of the gates meant control of information. And so they attacked the controller. In a blinding flash, the gate just… disappeared. The remaining Xhavi, maybe a few million across the Universe, forever refugees, struggle to survive. A once mighty species, forever locked behind the realities of physics. But these are just stories. We were different. We understood the theory behind jump gates. We currently lacked the technology to replicate it but that was to soon to change. Our methodical conquest of the Iuger revealed they had created technology to jump small objects. Our best scientists explained it, but as I now badly recall, it meant controlling massive energy outputs at precise moments when matter is split. With our numbers and this new technology, our scientists predicted we would soon be the dominant species. Certainly within my lifespan. We would start our ascendancy with a first strike at our gate controller while laying final waste to the Iuger. And then it happened. A request from a human envoy to appear at the central gate. As the head of The Executioner Fleet, our greatest pride, I was the natural choice. Waiting for us was a small group: a human, a Xhavi, another humanoid who I recognized as an Ulanian, and a few others I did not. ‘Impossible’… the Ulanians had disappeared tens of thousands of years ago. A huge power vacuum left which allowed the Xhavi and us to become dominant. There was not a single representative from any of the major alliances. There would be no audience, no grandstanding today. The human stepped forward and had one question: ’Who is the chosen one?’ I didn’t understand. At first we thought the translator malfunctioned. My anger was visible and I uttered my disgust, ‘How dare you interfere in our affairs?’ The human, pensive for a moment repeated ‘Who will be the chosen one?’ I yelled at the Xhavi ‘What is this affront to our sovereignty?!’ The Xhavi never raised his gaze. ‘We too were this naive. We too shared this... delusion. The masters of our own fate. Like you it began with a warning and like you we thought we were supreme. The truth is your fate has already been sealed. They see it all. Your armada secretly surrounding this meeting, your ships at battle station, your worlds preparing to finish up the Iuger. Right at this moment you are about to order your ships to fire. The human doesn’t care about your next move, only about who will tell your story.” I smiled. A brief moment of hubris. ‘FIRE!’ The choice was made. As every single one of our ships surrounding the meeting blinked out of existence in a spherical bloom of death and plasma... I finally understood the question. The human looked out to the stars. ‘We cannot allow any one of our creations to extinguish another. We cannot allow you to repeat our mistakes. Your species will have to wait behind your gate. You have been chosen.’ I am the harbinger of our destruction. I am the witness.	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"You may have thought us pathetic and frail for our friendship and pacifism," related the calm voice that came over the monitor. The Glorthon admiral, Tee'et Lorcor, stared with horror as two more dreadnought class battle cruisers under his commanders were obliterated by a single missile strike each. The fleet was on the defensive, all fire was directed at stopping the hundreds of rockets from the human fleet and planet surface below. It seemed like they had just reached enemy's home star system, and the advance had come to a screeching halt. "But our friendship was extended because we know the true horrors of war," the calm voice continued almost sadly. The Glorthons had never experienced such resistance even from the mighty Cluthons of Criok 4. The early human resistance consisted of small frigates and transports using lasers meant only to clear rogue asteroids. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet had cut through the human forces like a predator's claw through soft flesh. Why would they hold back their most powerful weapons until they had broken through all the way to Mars? "You see we once fought among ourselves for things we now view as petty," the voice sighed as two more ships were incinerated, "Greed, bigotry, and national pride drove us to war with each other in the most brutal and savage ways." "It was a race to see who could kill each other faster and more efficiently, until one fateful day, twenty millennia ago, we invented a weapon that could vaporize cities," the voice explained. Surely he lies, thought Tee'et Lorcor. The only weapons capable of that are lasers and they stagnated at city sized destruction five thousand years ago. Yet, another ship exploded in radiant energy to prove his foe's point. "Eventually, the weapons were powerful enough to level small continents, that's when the Fateful Hour occurred. 70% of humanity was gone in what seemed like an instant, the rest left to pick through the scraps as they died slow painful deaths," the voice broke. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet was dwindling. He would have to get creative if he were to win this battle and put an end to the humans. He scrambled fighters to get in close to the orbital stations that seemed to be the primary source of the missile salvo "Faced with extinction, we promised to never again use such weapons and found a new purpose. We would rebuild as we took to the stars. It's funny what the specter of extinction will do," the voice mused. Lorcror was getting worried now. They had destroyed a couple of the stations, but the human squadrons were holding off his fighters just enough. For every station destroyed another four Glorthon battle cruisers exploded with bright light. "We met other peoples and vowed to help them build, create, and be happy. We learned from our mistakes and hoped to teach others," the voice seemed to be coming to a conclusion. Fate was beginning to dawn on Tee'et Lorcor. They could not win this fight. The shear amount of laser fire required to slowly drain the opposing fleets shields could not hope to keep up with the destructive power the missiles. He had to sound the retreat for the mere dozen ships remaining under his control. "And now we face extinction again," the voice stated gravely, "And we came to a terrible but inescapable decision. We must build the weapons again. We must fight with the efficiency we did back on Earth." Suddenly, Tee'et heard warning alarms. The warp drives failed to power up! Engineering reports all ships seemed to have been crippled. The humans must had been silently slicing into their warp core control systems since the battle started. Had they planned this from the start? "Did you really think Mars was always our home?"	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Erryn relished the moment. There was something cathartic in holding between his tendrils the terms of surrender, in knowing that you hold the only hope for a dying race. In that moment, he held the power of life and death for the fifteen billion humans on the planet below, as well as the one who sat across the table from him now. The two of them sat alone on a station that had been prepared exclusively for the purpose; only the two negotiators and the cameras that would broadcast the surrender to the Universe. Beside them, the wall was filled with a viewport that showed the surface of Earth spinning away from them, as well as the tremendous fleet that floated menacingly above. The human negotiator took the treaty from Erryn and began to read. The terms were simple: humanity would submit to Tallnian authority in perpetuity, yielding all valuables within a solar cycle. It was a method that had worked for them many times before; all throughout the arm of the galaxy, Tallnian planets could be found, constructing the great fleets that would go on to expand the Empire. The negotiator carefully placed the treaty on the table and sat back, his eyes closed. From his training, Eryn recognized this as defeat. The man who had been so pure in the House of Diplomacy, who had insisted that every conflict could be solved there even as the Tallnians slaughtered his people on the Plutonian Outpost, was silent. Erryn placed a pen on the table. He took special pleasure in making the defeat feel as familiar as possible. The negotiator sighed, then spoke. “I remember you from the House, Erryn. You always told me that war was beyond law. That the strong would rule, and the weak would deserve it.” Erryn laughed. “And I was correct, so it would seem.” The human leaned forward. “You said that peace was a weak race’s game, and that only a coward would waste his time with its rules.” “I did.” Erryn was getting impatient now. “And I do not see how this exchange will benefit us.” “I just wanted you to understand something, before this is all over.” “Oh?” “Rules are not for good races to make themselves feel better. Good races, ones that are truly altruistic, don’t need rules.” He took a deep breath. “Today, you’ll understand why humanity has so many.” At that moment, a blinding light stabbed through the viewport. Erryn shielded his optic spots, surprised by the sudden brightness. He thought that their star would rise on the other side of the planet… The light faded, and Erryn looked back outside. The Tallnian fleet was gone, replaced by a rapidly-expanding sphere of rubble. He fell back into his seat in shock. The human was already on his feet, halfway to the hatch to his ship. He looked back at Erryn, the pain evident on his alien features. “I am so sorry that it came to this.” Then, a moment later, he was descending back to his planet. Erryn sat there in shock. He hadn’t moved when, an hour later, a piece of the Tallnian flagship’s great cannon tore through the station, incinerating the treaty and the Tallnian who had brought it	Our victory was decisive! We conquered earth within only five months. The last of their military died within the first week. "Humanity", as they called themselves, will surrender to our demands. We will take their colonies. We will take their homes and make them ours. We need new breeding grounds. We need new farmsteads. Their moon would do nicely for the former and the planet itself, once terraformed back to its primeval pre-oxygen state, has enough space to host the latter. We must expand. Our children need a new home. The old one is used up. Need a new one. New home. Humans turned out to be weak and frail. No exoskeleton. Frail endoskeleton. No resistance to acid. We can kill them with our spit and blood. We can corrode their weaponry. Their ship hulls are no match for rapidly accelerated excrements. They died to our weapons. Our scanners found every single human on the planet. My rout killed the last one. I fired the last shot. They screamed. I ended the war. I am a hero. I will earn honor. They only have small ships left. Their ships are weak. No good armor. No good weapons. Much power but wasted on niceties. Wasted on clean air and food. Wasted on weapons that don't hurt much. Wasted on light and warmth. Wasted on luxury. They were peaceful. They stopped the council. They stopped our death. We grant them death in return. What an honor. To die by our hands. Humanity will die out and will be recorded in our history. We will propagate. We will spread. Their past will spread with us. We will... What is that? A ship. Human ship. Coming down far away. Damaged. Nearby but too far away. My rout is safe. Must aim artillery at impact site. Must kill humans. I wanted the last shot. I got the last shot. They deny me my honor. Another ship. Coming down. Another ship. Another ship. Another ship. All coming down fast. Too fast. Won't stop. Are firing boosters. Will all crash. They seek death. We won. We... what is that ligh-
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	In ages gone by humanity did naught but wage war, from the first humans fighting over food, to the World Wars destroying the world anew. Humanity warred so often and with such ferocity, that one day we wished for peace, we desired peace so that no longer did our sons need to go forth and die for some cause. Then we encountered the Draconians, that wasn't what they called themselves, but large, long necked reptilian creatures with vestigial membranous wings, and longer tails? No way they wouldn't be called such. Much to our chagrin, our warrior ethic was the thing they valued most in us, desiring humans to be their defenders on the wild wild worlds they had colonized, to bring peace and law to their frontiers, and so we did. When the M'rawth emerged, we were deceived by their appearance. I mean they're 4ft tall cat people, no one expected their leader to go all Joseph Stalin on his worlds parliament, and rally his military might, to attack the Draconians, and when they did, no one expected them to win. A Draconian is physically imposing, and threatening in many ways, they are intelligent, methodical, an also 8ft tall quadruped lizards, with arms strong enough to one hand deadlift a 20mm cannon, in each one. But the M`rawth were ferocious, fast paced, working in teams to take them out. One on one, a Draco, could take out a M'raw, but they wouldn't fight one on one, they would only ever fight when they outnumbered their enemy to the tune of one to twenty three. Then they came for us, for humanity. New London, was the first city to fall, followed quickly by the whole planet of Avalon, they combed the cities, bringing out each and every man, woman, and child, and gunned them down. From there they secured the coordinates to each and every Stargate in our databases, and launched an assault on earth. Their attack was brutal, Atalanta was devastated, and it was almost a week before we could fight them back. Picking up after that massacre was… was something else… It did something to us, it woke something up. A beast great and terrible, something we fought so long to keep at bay. It reminded us of a more primal state we used to occupy, and reminded us just what kind of bloody mess we could make. We declared war, and we fought them like they never expected, pushing them all the way back to their home world, the place they'd make their last stand, with defences so powerful not even the mightiest ship in the Imperial Human fleet could break them… so we commissioned Project Erebus. To rebuild the greatest weapon in our long history, the ultimate weapon of war. The bombs. I was there when they tested the first successful one, I volunteered to join one of the bomber crews. I… God forgive me… I dropped 4 of them on the bastards. I delivered the payloads to military targets civilian targets, hell I was one of the pilots to place the last bomb the one went down a prepared shaft so as to set off a chain reaction, that in conjunction with 44 other bombs of sufficient magnitude, resulted, in tectonic activity s0 severe, that it shook the planet apart. The whole point of the war was to create a world where monsters like the M'rawth wouldn't exist…. I don't know if we succeeded… I have a son now, and I pray with every fiber of my being he will never know the rage, the fear, the hatred that war can bring out in our kind, I pray that he and those who come after never need to know just what destruction we can bring. Go forth my son, and never take up the blade or the gun, be an artist, a philosopher, anything but what I was forced to be, may your mind never know the smell of blood, of atomized flesh, or of a world with its atmosphere burning. May your sleep never be plagued with screams of untold trillions of lives, expunged by your hands. Know only peace my son. -Excerpt from the diary of Jackson Dougalas, War Advisor to the Imperial Senate 582,349 HE (Human Era)
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"I'm so proud to be a pioneer in inter-species childbearing genomics program; as a representative of the Kitty, hand-in-hand with my husband Al representing the Hume, we are excited to announce the first successful fertilization between our two civilizations..." The broadcast went on, it was a bit strange to be watching myself knowing the galaxy at large was following along. The Hume were prolific aid providers, treaty-brokers, and alliance-makers. Many would go so far as to say that peace in the galaxy was owed directly to them. Al stepped into the room, noticing my ears and tail twitch at my nervousness he leaned in, nuzzling my nose - it was adorable how eagerly Hume would absorb cultural norms and in my mind I wondered if that's a large part of why they're so successful as ambassadors. The Hume were silly too, and my husband sat beside me in his big goofy housecoat as he chewed his strange jelly-filled wheat bar. Omnivores. A chime rang throughout the apartment, and my sister Misa stepped through the door. It was always joked that with a litter as big as ours, someone was going to be in politics - that was my sister. It was thanks to her my husband and I had the chance for a child together, and while I didn't think about it at the time, of course it was a big political event. We are having the first inter-species Hume-Kitty hybrid. My husband offered to make Misa a coffee and she eagerly accepted, I just faux-gagged at the beverage. The wall flicked away from my speech, leading into a history lesson of our first contact. It causes the Hume at large a small amount of embarrassment, but not-so-secretly it was an adored moment. Our diplomatic ship had landed to a square filled with Earths politicians and representatives, our emissary taking his first steps onto the plaza. Granted, it wasn't our first visit - it was all highly scripted - but finer points aside, it was an unscripted moment that would shape history; our emissary stepped out and a young Hume girl shouted "Kitty!" and ran out, giving our representative a warm hug. The typical ritual for first contact is for the primitive species to be named, what they will be called throughout the galaxy. We were supposed to be naming them, but we we can't deny we got a new name that day. The Hume are all born ambassadors. Misa suddenly twitched, stepping away and pinching the small button clipped onto her ear. At first she was cheerful, bringing up my future child, but suddenly her voice became quiet, muted. With a sense of urgency she hurried to the washroom and wretched, wobbling back into the room. Al was quick to his feet, and as he reached to console my sister she pushed away his hand. Gesturing at the wall it flicked to another news broadcast. A gray angular news anchor was reporting on some fluff piece when their own earpiece caused a sudden confused and concerned expression. The news anchor whet their hard angular face as they prepared a most grave announcement; the Alarian empire had been wiped out. It couldn't reconcile the announcement, and looking off-screen "The Alarians? Wiped out? How?" The Alarians were a deeply tribal and war-like empire, one of the very few the Hume couldn't broker an alliance with. Even the many allied civilizations sewn together by the Hume combined didn't hold a candle to the empire. Now there is something more powerful out there, and whatever is it, it's not afraid to use force. As the news went on, facts trickled in; Over an estimated 1.2 trillion dead. Over 50,000 warships vaporized. The genocide ongoing. "We - we have a live feed incoming now." The wall flicked again, showing one of the Alarian colony planets, surrounded by frigates, flashes of light wiping out patches of the surface, groups of ships, bringing silence to the disarray. The wall flicked back to the anchor, in shock. "We do not yet know who or what is causing this calamity, the only certainty we have is that only the Alarians appear to have been targeted. We know of no civilization with this destructive capability; Wait. We're receiving a broadcast from the Hume homeworld Earth, apparently..." The news anchor once again spoke to someone off-screen; "Are you sure this is correct? Yes? un-understood. Apparently the Hume are claiming responsibility for the Alarian destruction." The wall flickered again, this time to a Hume broadcast, the Hume ambassador highlighted with a wall of regalia and honors covering his chest. "As the galaxy knows, we, the Hume, had a peace treaty with the Alarian empire. Much like many of the other great civilizations of this galaxy know, the Alarians keep stipulations in their treaties that there would be no political children sewn between enemies of the empire. The Alarians did not want possible enemies to be too tightly joined together. We agreed to these conditions in the hope that, over time, we might establish friendly relations for the betterment of the galaxy. Recent events caused the Alarians to launch a fleet and begin an unjustified attack, so we deemed it necessary to end the threat to not only our great alliance, but to our galaxy at large. For safety of our allies we advise all ships to ignore any SOS signals the Alarians may send while we purge this menace to the galaxy. Thank you, and may peace build bridges between our worlds." Misa sank into the couch. We all knew instantly; the child in my belly, which Misa herself advocated to create, was the ignition of this slaughter. While I was an engineer, and my husband was a doctor, it seemed the fact of my childs' announcement being 'news' was political enough for the Alarians to launch a fleet of destroyers... Targeting our child. The Hume response had apparently been so swift and deadly, we, as the spark of genocide, didn't even know the danger we might have been in. "Well, that's what they get." Al chimed in, seemingly unphased. Misa and I looked in horror at Al; the kind, clownish, sheepish Al I had fallen in love with just witnessed some sort of atrocity destroy an empire - and that's what he had to say? "What is that Al?! What did the Humes do? Your species doesn't even have a warship! What the fuck Al?!?!" Misa roared. "Nukes." he replied, casually. My heart sank. I asked "What's a nuke, what is it we just saw Al?" "It's the only weapon we bother to keep these days. Figured it out before we even went interstellar, we were honestly pretty surprised nobody else has em'. We even teach our kids the basics of how they work, it's the strategy of disproportionate response. If you got me and the guys together we could probably figure out how to make one, and we're not even the engineers here!" he explained. The nonchalant attitude made the fact that he professed to have military secrets capable of swiftly destroying the Alarian empire all the more eerie. "You have nothing to worry about, we're allies, the Kitty and us. We'll make sure the galaxy is a safe place for our children." Al sipped his coffee, and gestured to the wall changing it back to our pregnancy announcement. My stomach churned. What kind of monster is growing inside me?	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They descended upon Earth with the full panoply of war. 1,000 starships, each a mile long carrying thousands of Soldiers, equipment and ordinance signified the undisputed might of the Ubojan Conglomerate. An unbreakable iron grip that held a thousand star systems under its hand. The sheer scale of their warmachine pressed upon the tiny blue planet like a boulder on top of a balloon, threatening to obliterate it simply by being there. Despite this, the tiny blue planet did not submit. The humans who call it home have tried for months to prevent this catastrophe. A species that preferred the sound of words than that of munitioned tried, and failed to appease the Goliath that threatened to snuff them out of existence before their dreams of stepping out into the stars were realized. These humans, peaceful and benign in the eyes of the galactic community were rudely introduced to the brutality of the galaxy that awaited them. Weak, pathetic... mewling at the edge of a backwater system were the first impressions that Ubojan Conglomerate had of these Humans. It has been some time since they showed the Galaxy why there were "the masters of the 1000". It is past due that everyone be reminded. That is until the first salvo hit. As the first starships made their atmospheric drop, the sky lit up in a blinding flash of white. For a moment, the bielectric crystals focuses of the ships detected only rudimentary defenses. projectile ordinance, liquid propelled fighter craft... Giant square water craft that launched these fighters.... millions of tiny ants scurrying about. A helpless hand weakly put up in the face of a beating.... and then again, another white flash. in minutes 5 starships disintegrated into nothing, the rest doused in lethal radiation. The eerie silence of shock was replaced by the blares of multiple alarm systems. Radiation readings went off the charts, multiple distress signals coalesced into a unified scream for help and status reports on the quantum comms. The remaining ships creaked and buckled as they reached the stratosphere, blown around like wayward kites upon the edge of a hurricane. "First centari report!!!" Shouted Admiral Ackubar across all channels. He lead the vanguard, the first centari to be the first to make planetfall. Ackubar wanted to be remembered and itched at the opportunity to be the one, the first one to take this planet for the undying empire. His first moments in this tiny blue planet however, when they win, will be scrubbed from histographs back home. "Multple starships destroyed, my lord" Reported his rear admiral, Haluga. "1st, 28th, 49th, 69th and 86th decari destroyed. Radiation levels are lethal within 5 welklans of their last position... 25 starships from respective decari are damaged but still battle worthy." "In the name of the undying how did they do that!!!" Cursed Ackubar. The first salvo tore through the skies like a needle piercing through an iron sky. Readings indicated ballistic and kinetic ordinance... which should have been useless against ceramo-crystalline hulls. It was their detonation however that most shocked Ackubar. Each hit lit up like a miniature sun enveloping the iron sky in a blaze of white hot fury. In all of his life, in all of his campaigns he has never seen weapons of this kind used before. Ackubar did not fear death. As a warrior of the 1000 worlds it was his duty to serve, and to die is his reward. What he saw flash before his eyes however, instilled in him the unsettling feeling of being afraid. "I want retaliatory bombardment from the launch site now!!! 57th, 2nd and 10th decari focus fire on these coordinates!!! 29th and 5th decari set bielectric scans to subterranean... all decari near the 5th and 29th for defensive formations!" the quantum comms hummed their affirmatives and within moments, the tendrils of the first centari sprang into action. Like a snake uncoiling each starship moved into their formations. the 57th, 2nd and 10th decari, the most armed of all the starships, launched photon neutrino torpedoes. Huge blue swaths of flame streaked the sky, determined to reach the ground bellow and pummel the very earth below. Another white flash, then another. the hurried, desperate pace of these flashes became quicker and quicker. 13 starships have been destroyed, including 7 that formed the defensive perimeter around the 5th and 29th. The 5th, 2nd and 10th increased their fire in response, peppering the ground and pockmarking launch sites as they are reported across the quantum comms. "29th and 5th, report scans to flagship!" commanded a nervous Haluga. The hundreds of small and big alarms systems surrounding him are starting to make him lose his composure. "29th and 5th reporting, sub scans inconclusive... elemental readings are suggesting high presence of lead underground.... its like this entire continent is covered in it. requesting permission to form offensive formations" "Negative responded Ackubar. "Maintain scans protocols, adjust for elemental readings. set scans to energy" The 5th and 29th complied. within moments the visual comms of the Ackubar's flagship "the indomitable" lit up. What he saw initially, puzzled him. Moments after, he felt his stomach drop. He superimposed the visual scan with the map and immediately he counted around 100 35 meter deep holes. he ran the scans through a intelligence interpreter and saw that the entire area was covered in these holes.... final count of the interpreter at 5000. They all had energy readings... Thermonuclear. "Attention all decari! This is Admiral Ackubar speaking. We have sprung a trap, all units disengage, and retreat to exophere immediately!" "57th 2nd and 10th form rear guard to co-" "my lord scans are reading fighter craft approaching formation!" Shoulted Haluga "they are arranged in packs of decans... formations suggest payload delivery!" "All units retreat now now now!" Admiral Ackubar bellowed. "Hunter interceptors engage enemy craft! do not let them within 5 welcans of our ships!" A torrent of fire and noise erupted in the earth's stratosphere. Like a hive of bees, human and Ubojan fighters engaged each other in waves of death, exploding ordinance and and scattered metal. The first centari lumbered away slowly, agonizingly as they are chased by a swarm of human figthers. The ubojan figthers were killing them off by the dozen, but there was thousands of them. They were faster, more nimble and could overwhelm hunter interceptor packs, swallowing them whole and spitting them out as a ball of molten fire. As random as this hive looked, it hid ominous intentions. in the center of it hid larger craft that suggested they were carriers. dozens of these carriers suddenly shot out of formation and raced their way into the center of the centari formation. several carrier craft exploded near the edge of the formation, creating giant clouds of white heat and light that enveloped entire swaths of the centari. The human hive disengaged, and streaked downwards... desperate to escape the apocalypse that they themselves delivered. 28 flashes of light was what Ackubar counted before oblivion took him. The first centari, the pride of the Ubojan Empire reduced to smoldering ruin thousands of lightyears away in a backwater system. Destroyed by insects... pathetic, weak, mewling insects. Ubojan high command saw it all unfold thousands of miles above the earth. Each member struck dumb with shocked silence, with 900 starships awaiting their command to unleash retribution. The visual comms of Sovereign Krasistus lit up. Images of unknown human symbols stared back at him. "What is this?" He growled. "It looks like a message your excellency." Reported his chancellor. "Translating now..." "It is... ancient, of the dictates of an Empire long gone..." the chancellor mused. "Gg-gruk?" "geeriik?" He tried to pronounce. "Interpreter compensate. adjust language dictation". The intelligence interpreter whirred its affirmative. "Language compensation complete. Human language discovered. Ancient Greek. Symbol translation. "μολὼν λαβέ" Molon labe. Ubojan translation complete. message reads... "come and take them." Humans do have a way with words the Ubojan High command concurred. They also have a way with war it seems. The 900 ships remained above the earth's orbit, safely away from their weapons of hate. Friendly and Peaceful they seemed, inside this tiny blue planet. Bristling with rage and an unexpected mastery of brutal warfare they are, on the surface of this this tiny blue planet.	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What does all of this even mean?" Garrok asked aloud. She and Farrun scanned the transmission for a fifth time, attempting to glean the intent behind the nonsense they had been given. They understood what radiation was but most of the words seemed straight out of fantasy. What was a 'fallout?' Or 'scrubbing?' What reaction did they mean by 'runaway reaction?' "It's a threat from humanity, clearly, but a threat of what?" Farrun asked. They both knew what he was referring to. The war against humanity started barely a galactic day-cycle ago. It was an honorless ambush on humanity's home system but even she, simple researcher that she was, felt that such a thing was necessary. Humanity was, without a doubt, the greatest nuisance the Larr'ell race had ever faced. Eons of galactic economic supremacy undermined by weak, furless monkeys who happened to know how to butter people up. They were a pathetic race barely fit for combat and they somehow leveraged the sympathy their many weaknesses brought them into a political and economic hegemony that threatened both the current galactic economy and the Larr'ell way of life. A decapitating strike was necessary and an ambush the only feasible option. They had left humanity unimpeded and now they had too many allies for them to face and so the government, with the people's blessing, decided to strike the valgrax at its heart or die trying. Humanity's single-minded focus on industrial and logistical technologies created a vulnerability that they needed to exploit before it was closed. The Larr'ell and their few remaining allies could not afford a drawn out battle. Human ships may have been mobile like no other but they lacked the power or durability they needed to overpower the Larr'ell capital fleet in a single decisive battle. If they could force them to the table before they could shift to a wartime economy, they could win unconditionally. And so that was what they did. They forced them into a single, decisive battle last she heard. Humanity's swift defeat should have been a foregone conclusion. Was a foregone conclusion. So why was she feeling incalculable dread as she skimmed the contents of the transmission for a fifth time. The transmission arrived unencrypted and unobstructed straight into the capital of their homeworld. She could imagine how badly the Data Defense Department were being chewed out for that oversight. Strangely, civilian targets had been the recipients of the transmission instead of the governmental or military ones: hospitals, research labs, and even weather centers. The government itself was in a frenzy over the attack. They believed it was an ultimatum. She couldn't help but worry that they were right but she wisely kept that opinion to herself. The air around the war declaration was of jubilation after all. They had made their bed and anything less than full commitment would not only ruin their legacy but that of their entire race. She felt the impact before she heard it. The ground beneath her seemed to give before catching itself and she felt the pressure drop for a moment. And then the boom: a mind-shattering bang followed by a rolling rumble that seemed to drag on forever. She'd first thought one of their kinetic cannons had misfired and launched a rod somewhere nearby but no weapon she knew of in their arsenal made that sort of terrifying sound. She gathered her senses around the time she began hearing the screams. Farrun, who had somehow gotten on his feet before she did, stood by the window, face black and bloodless. Reluctantly, she looked out the window to see. What she didn't see though would haunt her for the rest of her days. The crown jewel of their empire, the seat and cradle of the Larr'ell civilization, her beloved Beiran, was gone. An ashen hand holding a war hammer rose up from where it once stood, as if only now judging its bloodcurdling handiwork done. She and Farrun stood motionless as a second transmission from the humans was received. "Any survivors within 532 breadths of the blasts should be considered to have suffered permanent genetic damage. They cannot be saved. Any survivors within 532 and 727 breadths of the blasts must evacuate immediately or risk permanent genetic damage. Any survivors within 727 and..."	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Famine, Pestilence, Death, War. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Supreme beings of havoc, and an idea that humans (once achieving a galactic level) quickly found spread across the worlds. Famine, The Rektinkin. Pestilience, The Kratar. Death, The An'ihum. And War, The Humans. When Humans entered the galactic scene, they ruptured a delicate balance that was in place. They destroyed the stalemate that stopped the 3 major powers from war. As every race set their sights on the prey, intent of claiming them as their own, gaining the advantage, the humans seemed blissfully unaware that their attempts at peaceful communication showed the universe one thing: they embody peace, and have suffered nothing. A far contrast to the three powers. The Rektinkin, born on an unforgiving planet that punished every mistake with death. Resources scarce, the reptile-like species embraced the Famine, and learned the power of oneself. They birthed great warriors that took all the resources, instead of splitting them amongst many people. As such, the species was able of rivaling entire army's of other species alone. However the birth rate of these creatures were abysmal, and as such couldn't triumph in all out war against the other two. When they saw the Humans and their home Planet of earth, rich in resources, they saw their chance. How many more warriors could they birth with Earths help? And so they waged war on the seemingly helpless species. The humans had no idea of scarcity, so they had nothing to embrace! How could such species pose a threat? Similarly, The Kratar lived in a world of nature, where they could never triumph over the destruction of the Great Green. They suffered from being nothing but weak prey. Intelligence? Mattered not, that was for those at the bottom of the food chain. So the Kratar embraced the plague of ever-present green. They were the ambassadors of the Great Green, and as such, were gifted the ability to fully control the power source of life, the Kratar's very own star. With this power, they spread the Great Greens power and influence. They controlled the most planets, able to terraform them for the Great Green, but never once thought to enslave nature, as they had not the power over the Green to be able to claim authority. So when they saw the Humans, they saw a weak species (much like them in the past) however one who had used Intelligence to triumph over their sacred grounds. Blasphamy. How dare a species as useless as humans have the audacity to attempt to control the Great Green? The Katar saw both the potential of triumph over their greatest weapon, and a weak species who had yet to fully understand it. Should they learn their potential, the Great Green would be destroyed by such a weak species, one who had no hardships, who had embraced nothing! The Kratar could not have it, and as such, declared war on the humans. At the same time, The An'ihum suffered from the inevitable. Death. Their species had an incredibly short life span. Nothing could ever be done, and nothing was ever being done. The An'ihum each had their own needs, and had once sought a fulfilling life doing what they wanted. The neighboring species on the same planet all pushed the An'ihum away easily. The An'ihum where all so singularly focuses on themselves, and their short life spans that the species never evolved. They cursed their life spans as the An'ihum population got smaller and smaller. It was in a moment of true desperation that the An'ihum changed. Every new birth was done to perform one duty, then embrace death. With their incredible reproduction ability, the An'ihum held deaths hand as they brute forced their way to being the apex species on their planet. So when Humans, a relatively long-living species entered their sights, they saw knowledge. They saw what they wanted, the ability to extend their lives, as the humans had multiplied their expected life span. They also saw the threat this knowledged posed to them and the other speicies. They needed life! Only then could they truly embrace death. So they held no regards about declaring war on a species so intent on running away from death. They knew not the embrace of death, but they shall learn. And the humans? They were different. Everybody assumed that they just had it easy, as that was why they so nice, so unwilling to spark conflict. But in reality they didn't embrace what they were best at, because they saw what embracing war truly meant. After building the ultimate weapon that made the very universe suffer, they learned that embracing war didn't mean strength. It meant complete and utter annihilation. They didn't embrace war, they surpassed it. And as the hostile species watched the very universe reject their existence, they realised that simple truth. First time posting here. Also on mobile, sorry for bad formating.	Human are decidedly strange creatures. Devoid of inherent magic it is a wonder they ever managed to evolve from mindless animals to something that resembles sentient beings. Their paltry tricks of science were no match for the magics which bent the universe itself the the will of the caster. It is unclear how such a magically inept species was able to discover 5th Dimension travel but what is clear is even after their progress was slow and weak. One thousand years later and they still had yet to spread further than a few hundred solar systems. Read more in chapter 1: Early days. Suffice to say their interspecies relations were strained. At every corner they seemed to cower before any other Sentients they encountered. Scraping, bowing and begging with each new empire. At the hint of conflict they would scramble to accommodate the demands of the aggressors. Avoiding war almost as studiously as other species avoid stagnation. If the hordes of Anzantia need a solar port for an invasion of the Feyborn Systems? Simply take one from the Humans. Perhaps we, the Great Bentanal need new souls to feed our next generation? Well, the nearby Human trade post has plenty of live resources. They had more than earned their reputation as a weak and cowardly species. this and more covered in chapter 2:Exploitation. It was not that humans were not angered by these all too common provocations the Humans simply never retaliated in any way. It was questionable if they even could. What could one of their stone-casters do in the absence of atmosphere? How could a commander communicate orders with out 6th dimension telepathy? What chance does a hundred thousand or even one million physical soldiers have against a single Ganthornarias Ghost? All this will be explained further in chapter 3: Underestimation. To understand The Fey Xenocide you must understand the Feyborn. The Feyborn were sentient pebbles. They began as a unique mineral which was able to gather mana from their surroundings. Be it through godly intervention or random chance, one rock eventually circulated the correct mana in what is now know as a Feyian Life Formation thus creating a new soul and eventually a mind. Feyborn are driven seemingly only to reproduce. Their reproduction ritual is simple locate the correct mineral, mine it, set it into the Feyian Life Formation and feed it mana. This of course lead them to viscously expand as they sought new sources of what we now know as Uranium for the sake of expanding their ambitions. Say what you will of the Flux, the Universe and the Gods that govern it surely have a sense of humor. Exert: page:6 Anlornatkot Tehtnatian - The End Of War
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What do you mean its gone?" General Ashak asked, half angry, half confused. "We've lost communication, we no longer have visual confirmation of its existence, the airspace where the fleet should be is vacant of anything but a bit of debris. It just vanished." The ensign replied. Ashak closed both sets of eyelids hard enough to see spots of bright color bloom in his mind. His tongue flicked the air in annoyance. "Did they make hyperspace?" He asked after a long moment of contemplation. He didn't even want this war. He was supposed to retire next year. The humans had never done anything to him. He had no quarrel with them. But the Empress, may the sun forever shine upon her, wanted their technology. Supposedly they had discovered a method of mining rare minerals for almost zero energy cost. "Our instruments say no. They were there one minute and gone the next." A young private, probably in his early 400s, barely past his first shed, sprinted onto the deck of the command ship. "General," he saluted, right fist to left shoulder, first and second claw extended in the traditional manner. "I've been sent with an urgent message. All remaining fleets are to return to the capital. The humans have launched a counter attack." "With what? Sure they have amazing tech, but when it comes to war they're little more than hatchlings with pointed sticks." "My apologies, sir, but this private does not know." "Very well. Spread the word: were preparing to male hyperspace for return to Arin. All crew in their stasis pods withing the half-hour." ---------‐---------------------- 2 hours later the stasis pod beeped and opened. Akash stepped out, rubbing his eyes, groggily. He made his way to the bridge and turned on the forward view screen to begin docking procedures. He flipped the switch on the communications board and said into the mic, "Arin tower this is The Empress' Holy Ship Desert Sun. Reporting for orders and preparing to dock. Please send docking code and stand by for touchdown." He began flipping more switches as the rest of the flight crew made their way into the room. "Sir, I dont understand. We were supposed to arrive directly above Arin." The navigator sounded unsure. Akash looked at the screen for the first time and nearly lost his cool. The screen showed a large crater, with rubble strewn about like a hatchlings playroom. He recognized some buildings, the base where he had trained after joining the military, his hatchlings school and the office building his mate worked in, all little more than crumbling walls and shattered stone. Several more ships materialized in the sky around the Desert Sun. Soon the air waves were crowded with captains and generals demanding to know what happened. Within the next 4 hours, the entire armed forces of the Grellian empire hovered above a city that was no longer there. A single missile blipped on the instrument panel. Some from another ship laughed hysterically about the humans single missile against the entire military. Akash thought of his hatchlings and his mate. He missed them already. What sorcery could have done this. The missile detonated against one of the ships. It was engulfed in a small star in the span of a second. The world went quiet, and akash shut his eyes. He felt the heat wash over him. And the Grellian empire ceased to exist.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They descended upon Earth with the full panoply of war. 1,000 starships, each a mile long carrying thousands of Soldiers, equipment and ordinance signified the undisputed might of the Ubojan Conglomerate. An unbreakable iron grip that held a thousand star systems under its hand. The sheer scale of their warmachine pressed upon the tiny blue planet like a boulder on top of a balloon, threatening to obliterate it simply by being there. Despite this, the tiny blue planet did not submit. The humans who call it home have tried for months to prevent this catastrophe. A species that preferred the sound of words than that of munitioned tried, and failed to appease the Goliath that threatened to snuff them out of existence before their dreams of stepping out into the stars were realized. These humans, peaceful and benign in the eyes of the galactic community were rudely introduced to the brutality of the galaxy that awaited them. Weak, pathetic... mewling at the edge of a backwater system were the first impressions that Ubojan Conglomerate had of these Humans. It has been some time since they showed the Galaxy why there were "the masters of the 1000". It is past due that everyone be reminded. That is until the first salvo hit. As the first starships made their atmospheric drop, the sky lit up in a blinding flash of white. For a moment, the bielectric crystals focuses of the ships detected only rudimentary defenses. projectile ordinance, liquid propelled fighter craft... Giant square water craft that launched these fighters.... millions of tiny ants scurrying about. A helpless hand weakly put up in the face of a beating.... and then again, another white flash. in minutes 5 starships disintegrated into nothing, the rest doused in lethal radiation. The eerie silence of shock was replaced by the blares of multiple alarm systems. Radiation readings went off the charts, multiple distress signals coalesced into a unified scream for help and status reports on the quantum comms. The remaining ships creaked and buckled as they reached the stratosphere, blown around like wayward kites upon the edge of a hurricane. "First centari report!!!" Shouted Admiral Ackubar across all channels. He lead the vanguard, the first centari to be the first to make planetfall. Ackubar wanted to be remembered and itched at the opportunity to be the one, the first one to take this planet for the undying empire. His first moments in this tiny blue planet however, when they win, will be scrubbed from histographs back home. "Multple starships destroyed, my lord" Reported his rear admiral, Haluga. "1st, 28th, 49th, 69th and 86th decari destroyed. Radiation levels are lethal within 5 welklans of their last position... 25 starships from respective decari are damaged but still battle worthy." "In the name of the undying how did they do that!!!" Cursed Ackubar. The first salvo tore through the skies like a needle piercing through an iron sky. Readings indicated ballistic and kinetic ordinance... which should have been useless against ceramo-crystalline hulls. It was their detonation however that most shocked Ackubar. Each hit lit up like a miniature sun enveloping the iron sky in a blaze of white hot fury. In all of his life, in all of his campaigns he has never seen weapons of this kind used before. Ackubar did not fear death. As a warrior of the 1000 worlds it was his duty to serve, and to die is his reward. What he saw flash before his eyes however, instilled in him the unsettling feeling of being afraid. "I want retaliatory bombardment from the launch site now!!! 57th, 2nd and 10th decari focus fire on these coordinates!!! 29th and 5th decari set bielectric scans to subterranean... all decari near the 5th and 29th for defensive formations!" the quantum comms hummed their affirmatives and within moments, the tendrils of the first centari sprang into action. Like a snake uncoiling each starship moved into their formations. the 57th, 2nd and 10th decari, the most armed of all the starships, launched photon neutrino torpedoes. Huge blue swaths of flame streaked the sky, determined to reach the ground bellow and pummel the very earth below. Another white flash, then another. the hurried, desperate pace of these flashes became quicker and quicker. 13 starships have been destroyed, including 7 that formed the defensive perimeter around the 5th and 29th. The 5th, 2nd and 10th increased their fire in response, peppering the ground and pockmarking launch sites as they are reported across the quantum comms. "29th and 5th, report scans to flagship!" commanded a nervous Haluga. The hundreds of small and big alarms systems surrounding him are starting to make him lose his composure. "29th and 5th reporting, sub scans inconclusive... elemental readings are suggesting high presence of lead underground.... its like this entire continent is covered in it. requesting permission to form offensive formations" "Negative responded Ackubar. "Maintain scans protocols, adjust for elemental readings. set scans to energy" The 5th and 29th complied. within moments the visual comms of the Ackubar's flagship "the indomitable" lit up. What he saw initially, puzzled him. Moments after, he felt his stomach drop. He superimposed the visual scan with the map and immediately he counted around 100 35 meter deep holes. he ran the scans through a intelligence interpreter and saw that the entire area was covered in these holes.... final count of the interpreter at 5000. They all had energy readings... Thermonuclear. "Attention all decari! This is Admiral Ackubar speaking. We have sprung a trap, all units disengage, and retreat to exophere immediately!" "57th 2nd and 10th form rear guard to co-" "my lord scans are reading fighter craft approaching formation!" Shoulted Haluga "they are arranged in packs of decans... formations suggest payload delivery!" "All units retreat now now now!" Admiral Ackubar bellowed. "Hunter interceptors engage enemy craft! do not let them within 5 welcans of our ships!" A torrent of fire and noise erupted in the earth's stratosphere. Like a hive of bees, human and Ubojan fighters engaged each other in waves of death, exploding ordinance and and scattered metal. The first centari lumbered away slowly, agonizingly as they are chased by a swarm of human figthers. The ubojan figthers were killing them off by the dozen, but there was thousands of them. They were faster, more nimble and could overwhelm hunter interceptor packs, swallowing them whole and spitting them out as a ball of molten fire. As random as this hive looked, it hid ominous intentions. in the center of it hid larger craft that suggested they were carriers. dozens of these carriers suddenly shot out of formation and raced their way into the center of the centari formation. several carrier craft exploded near the edge of the formation, creating giant clouds of white heat and light that enveloped entire swaths of the centari. The human hive disengaged, and streaked downwards... desperate to escape the apocalypse that they themselves delivered. 28 flashes of light was what Ackubar counted before oblivion took him. The first centari, the pride of the Ubojan Empire reduced to smoldering ruin thousands of lightyears away in a backwater system. Destroyed by insects... pathetic, weak, mewling insects. Ubojan high command saw it all unfold thousands of miles above the earth. Each member struck dumb with shocked silence, with 900 starships awaiting their command to unleash retribution. The visual comms of Sovereign Krasistus lit up. Images of unknown human symbols stared back at him. "What is this?" He growled. "It looks like a message your excellency." Reported his chancellor. "Translating now..." "It is... ancient, of the dictates of an Empire long gone..." the chancellor mused. "Gg-gruk?" "geeriik?" He tried to pronounce. "Interpreter compensate. adjust language dictation". The intelligence interpreter whirred its affirmative. "Language compensation complete. Human language discovered. Ancient Greek. Symbol translation. "μολὼν λαβέ" Molon labe. Ubojan translation complete. message reads... "come and take them." Humans do have a way with words the Ubojan High command concurred. They also have a way with war it seems. The 900 ships remained above the earth's orbit, safely away from their weapons of hate. Friendly and Peaceful they seemed, inside this tiny blue planet. Bristling with rage and an unexpected mastery of brutal warfare they are, on the surface of this this tiny blue planet.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Part 1: Commander Turnall was gazing at the bright blue planet from the comfort of his cabin on the 17th Gunner Launcher of the Emios Empire. The windows of his cabin were designed specifically to give the room a wide 270 degree view. He looked at all the forces of the advance force sent by the Imperial Council. All 180 ships, with 400 destroyers, 80 sharpshooters, 150 gunners, 50 starshields, 18 Gunner Launchers and around 120,000 personnel. Turnall was delighted when he was informed that he was ordered to command the advance force to the Soleus System, the native star system of the Humans. Turnall, who was partly human himself, loathed the Human race for their amiability and gentleness. The EMIOS had started long ago in Alixir III when the King of the Eliali, Aedealaus declared himself Emperor after subjugating all the surrounding systems after a long war of domination on all fronts. The Eliali, who still hold heavy political sway in the House of the Senate and the Imperial Council regard him as a demi-god and a legend, however rational men including Commander Turnall himself knew that he was not a holy figure but an opportunist who cunningly outwitted his opponents and attacked them when they were at their weakest. Turnall was given orders to surround the planet in a semi-circular formation and wait them out of submission, his orders were to block any supplies that could be sent from the Colonies on the Mars and the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. The Humans despite being weak were proud of their Independence and traded with all nations and empires. The marijuana trade was highly profitable and booming, and the humans exported a wide range of elements. They even traded with the Matjl Empire, the most formidable of the rivals of the EMIOS. Turnall did not like the mission of subjugating the Humans without force. He hated them. He wanted them destroyed. Of all things he hated, the thing he hated the most was that blue planet of theirs. The Emios called it Gaia 0 and is one of the most habitable places in the universe. Everything about it was perfect. Planet Placement, Size, Atmosphere, Gravitational Force and Abundance of Habitable Space and Stability. Many planets younger than Gaia 0 and Gaia-like planets which were promised to succeed it were outlived by Gaia 0. Turnall sat and observed the meek satellites and defense systems of the Humans. The Humans were smart. Despite being the bright beacons of peace, love and happiness, they never stopped spending money on defense, but it was of no use now. They were indicted in the Supreme Council for crimes of negative resource-exploitation and slavery. Crimes that were framed upon them by the Secret Agency to facilitate the annexation of the United Nations into the EMIOS. They had always been part of the EMIOS association but were never truly part of the EMIOS proper. The aim was to bring them into the Imperial Fold, Turnall did not want this. He had made up his mind to destroy the Gaia, no matter the loss of life. The Humans will be shattered and the other minor republics of the association and liege states will be frightened. The embargo placed on the Matjl and Kin will be solidified and Turnall will be regarded as a hero. He thirsted for glory and wanted redemption for his failures during the Hock Skirmishes. His promotion was due and his pride as well. He paced back and forth in wait of the Human Diplomats. When they arrived he couldn't hide his smile. He was searching for some pretext to invade the planet. He had thought over a hundred plans with his most loyal followers and decided that he would have some of his ships destroyed by his own guns. Some of his captains strongly opposed friendly fire, however a compromise was reached and it was decided the selected ships would be left completely vacant. He had to act quickly though, he had heard of news of reinforcements from the Outer Zone were heading towards Gaia and would arrive in 10 Gaia Days, 8 if they made haste. The Diplomats arrived with a Ranskar guard on both flanks. They greeted him cordially without showing signs of dread. Turnall found it funny. Your entire existence will be soon wiped, and you will be forgotten. Just like the Manes, the Ibers, the Nam or the Raqqa. Turnall advised them to seat and called for the interpretation team. One of the Diplomats blurted out, "Commander Turnall, you do know English, don't you?" Turnall looked at them with shock. Yes, of course he did. It was his mother tongue. Turnall hated the language and considered it inferior. He tried forgetting the language by learning Lyal and Soran and avoiding it. However, he still dreamed in English, something he couldn't get rid of. Turnall feigned ignorance, "No. No Cannot. Understand for me, not much". The Diplomat smiled and nodded. When the interpreters arrived the negotiations began. The Diplomats denied the allegations and asked to file a motion of reconsideration. They asked for talks between the Imperial Council and the United Nations, and withdrawal of forces. They agreed to cede their Outer Colonies to retain their independence. They asked for a new treaty and were willing to be reassigned as a protectorate. They even tried handing over the Imperial Association their trade control and foreign affairs. Anything, for retaining their independence. However Turnall and the committee of senators of the House refused all their pleadings. They told that for violating intergalactic law they had to be annexed by the Supreme Council and nothing else. They told them that this was to merely be a transitional occupation and nothing else and their sovereignty would be handed back after a five-year term. The Humans knew that this was false, the Supreme Council's biggest funder was EMIOS and since the last thirty years a puppet of the Emios Empire. They were literally paid by EMIOS to strike some decisions against them just to pretend impartiality. The Diplomats were tired and they stood up. The Head of the Human Negotiators Han Xuhan addressed them. "I am deeply saddened by the failure of our talks. We tried our best to ensure peace but you only talk of war and domination. We therefore will have to be forced to declare war on you. You have trespassed on our sovereignty, and we will fight to protect it." Turnall couldn't believe his ears, "Declare war?". He was on seventh heaven. They had made his work easier. He will open fire on the first shot. Turnall will have his name etched in history, there will be medals. They will build statues and name institutions in his honor. When the diplomats left Turnall ordered a meeting of his lieutenants, he advised them to get in a formation so that the sacrificial ships would be closest from the surface. He also told him that the statement might also be a ruse of the diplomats to bide for time and keep them waiting for supposed aggression. He told them that if the ships are not hit soon, they will be forced to destroy it with their own guns.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The Warfang watched the pathetic excuse for a human diplomat before him. This mission was a study in boredom, and had not intergalactic relations demanded the prescence of his delegation they would have done away with the whole thing and just attacked. Already the Concordates warships were hurtling through the human home system, less than a day away from orbit. Its mass drivers would kill what needed to be killed and its dropships would conquer the rest. Whatever the old decrepit man in front of him might say, would do less of a difference than a fart in a space suit. ”We have heard your demands”, the old man grated. ”Actually we’ve had them repeated without any signs of compromise for months now.” ”It seems to us that they are designed to make these talks no more and no less than a show for the benefit of the galactic council?” he stated. ”Please correct me if I’m wrong.” The Warfang didn’t deign an answer. What was the purpose anyway? After all, the greybeard had hit the nail on the head. This was just a show, and nothing happening between these delegations would change anything that was to come. ”You are making a serious mistake, Warfang”, the old diplomat said. ”You and your Concordate are mistaking our strife for galactic peace for weakness…” ”It is not…” The old mans smile held a sudden tinge of remorsefull sadness. It was curious to the Warfang how two such different species could share so much of facial expressions, that he intuitively understood the sentiment. It suddenly made his skin crawl, as if someone held a blade to his neck. And just as he was trying to formulate a question to solve the enigma, the diplomats eyes went to the big hologram covering the whole side of the room. His own eyes automatically followed the other mans focus. On the display pinpricks of light started to erupt throughout the invading fleet. Wherever they lit up, icons of Concordate ships disappeared. Not even just in ones or twos, but in droves. His mouth fell open, unconciously showing predator teeth. And as his eyes snapped back to the old diplomat, the old mans sad smile hade returned with twice the force. ”I am afraid your fleet is done for Warfang.” he said. ”If the Concordate had had more interest in actually studying the cultures you subjugate, you would have found out we were pretty damn close to wiping ourselves out a time or two. In reality we’re among the most warlike races of any that we’ve met, we have just tried to get ourselves beyond those instincts.” The Warfang was stunned, not a sound came out of his mouth even as he tried to say something. ”I’m afraid that our peaceful stance has been dearly bought”, the old man continued. ”Our perpetual wars finally came to the point where our stark choice was cooperation or death. We chose cooperation, but the knowledge of how easy it is to kill never really left us.” ”But how?…” the words finally coming out of the Warfangs mouth sounded weak and shaky. He cursed himself under his breath. ”Not that hard actually. Just the power of the stars themselves, enhanced to the point where nothing really can stand against it.” The old man shook his head, he no longer looked decrepit. ”We don’t expect the Concordate to yield, not when the foundation of their existense and identity as conquerors are threatened.” he said. ”So our own ships are already moving.” The peculiar human eyes were no longer just sad, but also hard as stone. ”As we sit here, they are already on their way to all military centers within onehundred and fifty light years from our home system. ”I am afraid that those systems will become as close to uninhabitable as to not make much difference for at least a generation or two.” ”Our civilians”, the Warfang said with a keen. ”Yes, your civilians”, the diplomat answered. ”You had less than no appreciation for our civilians as recently as a few minutes ago. It was never our wish to have this war on our hands. But there is an old human saying that fits the situation all to well.” The Warfangs look asked the question he couldn’t make himself utter in words. ”Never start a fight, but always finish it.” The old man stood up and pushed the chair under the table. ”You are no longer welcome here. You, as a diplomat are of course free to go wherever you wish. We will not try to stop you, hurt you or in any way delay you”, he said. ”I suspect we might meet again in the galactic council. Or maybe we won’t, I’m not certain if you or I will be the chosen delegates. Until then all I can say is that this is not a cause for celebration as far as we are concerned.” He wished to call the man back as he left the room. He wished to shout, scream, claw something. He wished to rend and tear flesh. Onehundred and fifty light years, that covered nine tenths of the Concordates primary systems, including the Capital. If those weapons were numerous enough and as efficient on the ground, the Concordate would all but cease to exist.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Vyxis Varix, Emperor of the Ruson Goar and Lord Commander of the Royal fleet closed his eyes and enjoyed a long drag from the cigarette between his fingers, the end glowing bright orange. One of the finer gifts the Humans had introduced to the galaxy. It is a shame that this might be the last time he would indulge in such simple pleasures. Through the gray smoke that billowed from his mouth, he saw the gleaming black throne room doors spiral open and his son, Jos, step through. “Father,” his son said as he strutted his way down the long, onyx hall towards him. His footsteps echoed confidently in the otherwise silent chamber. When he reached the base of the throne, he kneeled and averted his eyes in respect. “It is good to be home and at your side once again.” “Indeed,” Vyxis said with another puff of smoke. “I am pleased that you have returned to me, whole of body. Rise.” His son did so, beaming with pride. With cigarette in hand, Vyxis stood, reached out, pressed the burning end into his sons forehead. Jos screamed in shock and recoiled, falling backwards onto his rear end. “What did you do that for!” He shrieked. Vyxis took another drag, squatted beside his son and blew the smoke out in his sons face, who turned his head to avoid it. He did not recoil further, however. He knew better than that. “I received grave communications today from General Brax,” Vyxis said as he stood and slowly removed the jacket of his empirical regalia. “Communications about you that have filled me with great disappointment and sorrow.” He folded his uniform neatly and placed it on the seat of his throne. He signaled for his guards to seize and hoist his son up off the ground. “You fucked up.” He drove his fist hard into his sons stomach and the boy crumpled, the only thing keeping him on his feet being the guards. “What did I do? Was is the Atrin? It was just some backwater planet.” “Not that,” Vyxis said, punctuating it with another blow to the stomach. “What?” Jos said, sputtering. “The cruiser? So what? We do it all the time.” Vyxis shook his head. “It’s not what you did, son that angers me so. It’s who you did it to.” Jos’ eyes searched for the answer. “Who? Those fucking weaklings?” “Those fucking weaklings... are humans. We had a skirmish with them, long ago. They call them Babu Frin.” Jos wrinkled his brow. “Babu Frin? The demon you used to scare me with as a child? Vyxis nodded. “Well, the humans weren’t exactly Babu Frin. They are the ones who you call to kill fucking Babu Frin.” Jos staggered. “Oh.” Vyxis continued. “The humans are a species of focus, commitment and sheer fucking will... something you know very little about. I once saw them obliterate, three fucking fleets with a one ship, one fucking ship armed with one fucking weapon. Then suddenly one day they asked for peace. At the time I thought we had the upper hand, so I made a deal with them. I gave them an impossible task. A task no one could have pulled off. The species they buried for us those years laid the foundation of what we are now. And then my son, a few days after their beloved leader died, you invade and take their fucking dogs. And for what? For an exotic meal? Jos steeled himself. “Father, I can make this right.” Vyxis smiled a sympathetic smile. “Oh? How do you plan that?” “By finishing what I started.” Vyxis grabbed his son by the scruff of the neck and pulled him close to whisper harshly in his ear. “Did you not hear a fuckin' word I said?” Vyxis’s eyes welled up. “Jos. Jos,” he said, trying his best to avoid choking up. “Listen! Huh? The humans will come for you, and you will do nothing because you can do nothing.” He steeled himself for what was to come. This was his son. But the war he just started would be the end of him. Vyxis himself could probably make a deal but the humans would not stop until they had Jos’ head on a spike. He hung his head and let his tears fall to the cold, black floor. “Get the fuck out of my sight.”	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What does all of this even mean?" Garrok asked aloud. She and Farrun scanned the transmission for a fifth time, attempting to glean the intent behind the nonsense they had been given. They understood what radiation was but most of the words seemed straight out of fantasy. What was a 'fallout?' Or 'scrubbing?' What reaction did they mean by 'runaway reaction?' "It's a threat from humanity, clearly, but a threat of what?" Farrun asked. They both knew what he was referring to. The war against humanity started barely a galactic day-cycle ago. It was an honorless ambush on humanity's home system but even she, simple researcher that she was, felt that such a thing was necessary. Humanity was, without a doubt, the greatest nuisance the Larr'ell race had ever faced. Eons of galactic economic supremacy undermined by weak, furless monkeys who happened to know how to butter people up. They were a pathetic race barely fit for combat and they somehow leveraged the sympathy their many weaknesses brought them into a political and economic hegemony that threatened both the current galactic economy and the Larr'ell way of life. A decapitating strike was necessary and an ambush the only feasible option. They had left humanity unimpeded and now they had too many allies for them to face and so the government, with the people's blessing, decided to strike the valgrax at its heart or die trying. Humanity's single-minded focus on industrial and logistical technologies created a vulnerability that they needed to exploit before it was closed. The Larr'ell and their few remaining allies could not afford a drawn out battle. Human ships may have been mobile like no other but they lacked the power or durability they needed to overpower the Larr'ell capital fleet in a single decisive battle. If they could force them to the table before they could shift to a wartime economy, they could win unconditionally. And so that was what they did. They forced them into a single, decisive battle last she heard. Humanity's swift defeat should have been a foregone conclusion. Was a foregone conclusion. So why was she feeling incalculable dread as she skimmed the contents of the transmission for a fifth time. The transmission arrived unencrypted and unobstructed straight into the capital of their homeworld. She could imagine how badly the Data Defense Department were being chewed out for that oversight. Strangely, civilian targets had been the recipients of the transmission instead of the governmental or military ones: hospitals, research labs, and even weather centers. The government itself was in a frenzy over the attack. They believed it was an ultimatum. She couldn't help but worry that they were right but she wisely kept that opinion to herself. The air around the war declaration was of jubilation after all. They had made their bed and anything less than full commitment would not only ruin their legacy but that of their entire race. She felt the impact before she heard it. The ground beneath her seemed to give before catching itself and she felt the pressure drop for a moment. And then the boom: a mind-shattering bang followed by a rolling rumble that seemed to drag on forever. She'd first thought one of their kinetic cannons had misfired and launched a rod somewhere nearby but no weapon she knew of in their arsenal made that sort of terrifying sound. She gathered her senses around the time she began hearing the screams. Farrun, who had somehow gotten on his feet before she did, stood by the window, face black and bloodless. Reluctantly, she looked out the window to see. What she didn't see though would haunt her for the rest of her days. The crown jewel of their empire, the seat and cradle of the Larr'ell civilization, her beloved Beiran, was gone. An ashen hand holding a war hammer rose up from where it once stood, as if only now judging its bloodcurdling handiwork done. She and Farrun stood motionless as a second transmission from the humans was received. "Any survivors within 532 breadths of the blasts should be considered to have suffered permanent genetic damage. They cannot be saved. Any survivors within 532 and 727 breadths of the blasts must evacuate immediately or risk permanent genetic damage. Any survivors within 727 and..."	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Famine, Pestilence, Death, War. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Supreme beings of havoc, and an idea that humans (once achieving a galactic level) quickly found spread across the worlds. Famine, The Rektinkin. Pestilience, The Kratar. Death, The An'ihum. And War, The Humans. When Humans entered the galactic scene, they ruptured a delicate balance that was in place. They destroyed the stalemate that stopped the 3 major powers from war. As every race set their sights on the prey, intent of claiming them as their own, gaining the advantage, the humans seemed blissfully unaware that their attempts at peaceful communication showed the universe one thing: they embody peace, and have suffered nothing. A far contrast to the three powers. The Rektinkin, born on an unforgiving planet that punished every mistake with death. Resources scarce, the reptile-like species embraced the Famine, and learned the power of oneself. They birthed great warriors that took all the resources, instead of splitting them amongst many people. As such, the species was able of rivaling entire army's of other species alone. However the birth rate of these creatures were abysmal, and as such couldn't triumph in all out war against the other two. When they saw the Humans and their home Planet of earth, rich in resources, they saw their chance. How many more warriors could they birth with Earths help? And so they waged war on the seemingly helpless species. The humans had no idea of scarcity, so they had nothing to embrace! How could such species pose a threat? Similarly, The Kratar lived in a world of nature, where they could never triumph over the destruction of the Great Green. They suffered from being nothing but weak prey. Intelligence? Mattered not, that was for those at the bottom of the food chain. So the Kratar embraced the plague of ever-present green. They were the ambassadors of the Great Green, and as such, were gifted the ability to fully control the power source of life, the Kratar's very own star. With this power, they spread the Great Greens power and influence. They controlled the most planets, able to terraform them for the Great Green, but never once thought to enslave nature, as they had not the power over the Green to be able to claim authority. So when they saw the Humans, they saw a weak species (much like them in the past) however one who had used Intelligence to triumph over their sacred grounds. Blasphamy. How dare a species as useless as humans have the audacity to attempt to control the Great Green? The Katar saw both the potential of triumph over their greatest weapon, and a weak species who had yet to fully understand it. Should they learn their potential, the Great Green would be destroyed by such a weak species, one who had no hardships, who had embraced nothing! The Kratar could not have it, and as such, declared war on the humans. At the same time, The An'ihum suffered from the inevitable. Death. Their species had an incredibly short life span. Nothing could ever be done, and nothing was ever being done. The An'ihum each had their own needs, and had once sought a fulfilling life doing what they wanted. The neighboring species on the same planet all pushed the An'ihum away easily. The An'ihum where all so singularly focuses on themselves, and their short life spans that the species never evolved. They cursed their life spans as the An'ihum population got smaller and smaller. It was in a moment of true desperation that the An'ihum changed. Every new birth was done to perform one duty, then embrace death. With their incredible reproduction ability, the An'ihum held deaths hand as they brute forced their way to being the apex species on their planet. So when Humans, a relatively long-living species entered their sights, they saw knowledge. They saw what they wanted, the ability to extend their lives, as the humans had multiplied their expected life span. They also saw the threat this knowledged posed to them and the other speicies. They needed life! Only then could they truly embrace death. So they held no regards about declaring war on a species so intent on running away from death. They knew not the embrace of death, but they shall learn. And the humans? They were different. Everybody assumed that they just had it easy, as that was why they so nice, so unwilling to spark conflict. But in reality they didn't embrace what they were best at, because they saw what embracing war truly meant. After building the ultimate weapon that made the very universe suffer, they learned that embracing war didn't mean strength. It meant complete and utter annihilation. They didn't embrace war, they surpassed it. And as the hostile species watched the very universe reject their existence, they realised that simple truth. First time posting here. Also on mobile, sorry for bad formating.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The landscape is cold- barren. We work in silence, Henry and I. I can sense the Universe recoiling away from us, the cosmos pulling its lips away, teeth gnashing and foaming, spitting vitriol on humanity. We knew this was wrong. But someone had to tip the cosmic scales back. We had come too far- walked the path of retaliation too far to turn back and make it home in time. And where was home? Earth? There were barely two billion of us left there. You'd think having lived for more than three hundred years, almost a third of those inside cruisers and battleships, and another third on barren desolate planets building outposts and bases, I would be used to this- this detachment- this sense of belonging to no one place. I am not. Sometimes, I close my eyes, and pretend I am back on Earth. The rebellion never occured. Humanity didn't unite. We never broke the biological code to prolonged life. We never set out to Titan. We never found the underground base that had instructions on how to contact the Nelvadians. But no matter how tightly I clench my eyes shut, even past the point of blinding pain, when they open it is never to the skies of Earth- never to constellations our ancestors spent years naming- and centuries creating religions out of. When our resources had began running out, we gave up our Gods, for it seemed they had forsaken us- not like we deserved better. So much for undying faith. I still remember it- there was this land... Australia, I think it was called. Australia was the first to feel the wrath of our collective abuse against the Earth. I don't even remember the year... something like two thousand...Eh, Henry knows our history better than I do. And from then on, it was like watching dominoes tumble. A viral disease broke out- decimating half of our population in the span of an year- and then we realised we were doomed. Our leaders did nothing. Our prayers did nothing. Our Gods did nothing. And then it spread like a contagion. Worse. The helplessness. Faith evaporating on the embers of sanity. Anarchy. None of our reports can confidently pinpoint where it began, but I reckon it was everywhere at once. Rebellion. War. Untamed. But...we came together. We overcame together. We survived. We evolved. We grew. We shed off our old skin. Erased borders as best as we could. Healed and helped each other as well at as we could. Within the next fifty years, we had a base on the Moon- a base that could support a thousand people. And by the end of the century, we reached Titan. Turns out, they were waiting for us- well, figuratively at least. The Nelvadians. A race far more superior to us when it came to technology. They had conquered interstellar travel centuries ago. And had known of Earth since the Spanish Inquisition. The bastards wanted to test us. At least that's how Henry puts it. But they came when we called. And boy, did they bring gifts. They had figured out everything (well nearly everything). We had figured out how to live for five hundred years- they were undying. Our ships could travel at ninety percent the speed of light- theirs didn't bother. They just tore through space. We knew how to build Moon-bases. They taught us how to terraform the damn things. But despite all of their advancement, despite all of their technology, their weapons were tame. Oh sure, they were dangerous, and the Nelvadians weren't the species you wanted to go to war with, maybe the Askivarians, or even those three legged freaks that live on Partorus Minor. But not the Nelvadians. They had more ships in their fleets than we had guns in America back home- and that's a lot. If you're not from Earth, talk to Henry. He will tell you. Yankee bastard still keeps one around. Hooligan. They believed in numbers apparently- the Nelvadians. But we had seen what a drawn out war did to the warring parties. We had seen three world wars. And after the last one- the one that brought us together- we weren't in the mood for another one- ever. And so we prospered under the guidance of the Nelvadians. It was like having an elder brother- a nice one for once. When we learnt of the peace laws of interstellar communities, we chucked our history under the carpet. Most species didn't think much of us- we wouldn't have either. Well, we were rather small compared to them. Even the Nelvadians were over thirteen feet in height. One out of every two species we met could have called us Lilliputians if they knew what Lilliput was. But that's neither here nor there. We told them about the first war. And the third. The second one- eh...we told them about it. Mostly. Well if you met the Japanese now you wouldn't believe they bombed Pearl Harbor. Or got bombed back for that matter. It was two hundred years after our meeting with the Nelvadians when it happened. The Fuckening. If you're not from Earth, ask Henry. He'll tell you what that means. Son of a bitch taught it to me. The Nelvadians were rather generous when it came to sharing their knowledge and tech, but there was one secret they never divulged. Their immortality. Seven times we asked for it. Seven times they refused. And the eighth time they didn't bother to give us a reply. They hit us with a question instead. One we had no answer for. How many genders are there? The fuck do we know! The fuck do they want to know for! Henry thinks it was rather clever of them. I think Henry wants to get laid- Nelvadian style. They made us immune to a plethora of diseases- they cured cancer for us, they cured Alzheimer's. But they wouldn't tell us how to stop aging. We lived full lives...five hundred years of it, give or take. But we died. The sun set on us at the end. Over the years we stopped asking. We figured how tough could it be. Turns out, immortality was as tough as anything could be. It took us a hundred and fifty years- but we did it. We wouldn't be immortal, but the generations that came after would have the gift of life eternal. That was an year ago. Six lunar cycles later, the Nelvadians gave us an ultimatum. If we went ahead with our plan to become immortal, they would....well, they didn't exactly want to party. The sad thing was, we didn't either. Maybe a couple of centuries of peace and unimagined prosperity had been too much for us. Or maybe we had learnt our lessons- maybe we had seen enough hypocrites on Earth to let another one lord over us in space. So we did what we do best. We armed ourselves to the teeth again. The Nelvadians didn't have much to teach about weapons, but we didn't really need it. When the first immortal child was born, the Nelvadians destroyed the Emerald City of Titan- our base on the moon, our half built Dyson sphere around Alpha 3308, and declared us official enemies of Nelvadia. All in the span of two days. They declared we had become a plague. And we were to be eradicated. That was two weeks ago. One week later, we retaliated. One week. That's all it takes to bring down the greatest Civilization this part of the Universe has ever known. Seven earth-days is all it takes to wipe out half of the largest fleet ever assembled in known history. The Interstellar Community saw for the first time, the raw, untamed power of a nuclear detonation. I was there- when the first bomb exploded on Varis 88- Nelvadia's war base near Uranus. For a moment, the Solar System had two stars...it has a terrible beauty to it. The enormous sphere of wild fire and rage. The cosmos stood in sheer silence as the base was erased from existence. The Nelvadians would have scattered- if they hadn't been stunned into oblivion. They didn't know what to make of us now. Before they could retaliate, we blew up half of their ships, and thirty three Nelvadian outposts and bases. Took us maybe an hour. They put up a fight after that- realising they were going to wiped off the face of existence. But there wasn't much they could do. They hadn't shared their immortality with any other civilization. And we weren't picky with who we shared ours. We tore them apart. Decimated them till all that remained was Nelvadia. One planet. They would have to start again. From square one. We won our first Interstellar War in less than three hours. War. It was foolish of us to think that we had become something more, that humans had risen above the kingdom of Ares. The God of War still lived amongst us. His reign was as eternal as human life now. Of all the Gods to follow us as we wandered the cosmic canvas- it had to be Him. And even as I sit here, on the barren horizon of a foreign moon, arming the final nuclear device, code named 'Karma', preparing to destroy the last Nelvadian base outside of the Nelvadian system, I wonder how long it would take before some other civilization comes up with our magic trick. If Ares got his way, maybe next week.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It's useful, in a general sort of way, to be seen by the galaxy at large as cute, harmless doofuses. Soft, fleshy, tiny little bipeds, always wanting to communicate. To most of them, we're about as threatening as a Labrador puppy. Understand; our stellar neighborhood is a very scary place. Like Mos Eisly Cantina scary. You've got your hive mind "insectoid" races, your noncorporeal energy beings, and all manner of biologically acrobatic variations in between. And don't even get me started on the only other humanoids, the fucking Greys. Yikes. Those guys suck. Anyway, when I say "in a general sort of way," it's because there are a few specific and distinct disadvantages to this perception, as well. One of them would be situations where the ambassador from Earth must appeal to the Council of Argherrech. Which is the situation that I, as said ambassador, had to face during what was later called "The VingVa Crisis." The VingVa, known colloquially just the Ving or even simply V, were a particular obnoxious insectoid neighbor to earth. One day, without any prior notice, a Ving spacehive appeared only a few miles outside lunar orbit and began construction on an hyperspace corridor repeater site. And I don't have to tell you, the radiation those things throw off, when they're active, that close to Earth? Well. This kills the Labrador puppies. Of course all attempts by the human authorities at communication were ignored. The Ving had communicated to the council that they consider humans a non-sentient lower life-form, and thus unworthy of inclusion in the council or in fact any form of recognition or communication. This was a common perception among hivemind species, who generally only recognized sentience of other hives. Politics, amiright? As I approached the round which seated the members of the council, I was struck again bye how large of stature and claw and tooth most of them are. Quite intimidating. As I approached and climbed the tiny elevated platform where petitioners stood, I felt their alien perceptions tracking me. I spoke slowly and clearly into the translation assembly. "Good day and high praises upon all of your excellencies, members of the prestigious and all-knowing Counsel of Argherrech..." And then I went on like this for some time praising each member of the council individually and debasing myself before them. These guys LOVE flattery. Rather dreary and boring and if you don't mind I'll skip ahead to the important bits. "...and so, I come before you today to seek the permission of the council to defend the human homeworld against this unlawful incursion into our space." There was a silence as the counselors each finished receiving the translation. Though by policy the Ving never acknowledged any human communication, the first reaction was, in fact, from the Ving avatar. There was a series of twitching movements in the top third of it's upper facial appendages, which I had come to understand as a very rough analog to human laughter. Wonderful. What followed was a near 10 minute conversation among themselves that, of course, was not translated for my benefit. When they had finished their conference, Basthora, the "chair," spoke into his own translation assembly. What came out my end was a harsh, metallic, very robotic sounding voice. "If VingVa make war, Human cannot survive. Council will order VingVa allow one earthcycle for evacuation of Humans." Much as I'd expected. "Ah, yes, and this is much appreciated, oh most noble and generous rulers, may your reign last an epoch. But, if I may, and with all respect due, I was sent here today by the leaders of Earth to seek the permission of this glorious council to do exactly that. To declare war on the VingVa, and to, erm, to defend ourselves." Now the "laughter" was more pronounced - not just in the Ving avatar but in the forms of the others as well. A very brief untranslated conversation followed, but from what I had learned of their body language, the response was clear. Assent. "If Humans wish extinction, they may fight the VingVa to the death. Council grants permission." Of course, everyone knows what came next. We waited patiently for the V hive to finish constructing the terminal, and turn it on. Fifty H-bombs, casually dumped into the newly opened portal - a straight shot back to their homeworld. One more for the hive that built the damn thing. Funny thing, they didn't even bother trying to stop the tiny ship that did it. Never fired a single shot at it. They literally never knew what hit them. They saw us as so far beneath them, so insignificant, so weak, that even in total annihilation they did not comprehend the threat we posed to them. And they never will. Because now, there are no more VingVa. Yes, in a general sort of way, it is quite useful to be seen as cute, harmless doofuses. Though I'd wager that, in the future, maintaining that image may prove slightly more challenging. But, hey...what else are diplomats for? Edit: a word	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They say ‘History is written by the victor’, yet in our case, that is categorically false. I am a prophesy, a warning. I sit alone, the last of my kind, with one final duty. I too will become another footnote in history. Ours inevitably similar to countless others who, just like us, believed in our species’ supremacy. Our ascendant right to the universe. To conquer and exploit everything and anyone, as our gospel required. Like all warnings before us, I fear my words will again fade into the infinite, eventually just another fairy tale. Just the made up words of those who seek to keep you from reaching your true potential. It began with a simple warning: ‘Cease your expansionary violence, failure will result in jump gate privileges removed.’ The nerve of those humans. For as long as anyone remembered, they were the administrators of the jump gates. An incredibly rare and advanced species known for staying neutral in all other’s affairs. To most other races, this made them perfect mediators and trading partners. Not a lot was known about their main system since no traffic was allowed through the jump gate leading to it. Humans always traded outside their system and had no need to use the jump gates. Their unarmed ships appeared where needed. Their neutrality and lack of desire for expansion was pathetic. The stories say the once mighty Xhavi wanted control of their jump gate. The believed, like we all do, human’s control of the gates should cease. While the humans always followed every jump request, control of the gates meant control of information. And so they attacked the controller. In a blinding flash, the gate just… disappeared. The remaining Xhavi, maybe a few million across the Universe, forever refugees, struggle to survive. A once mighty species, forever locked behind the realities of physics. But these are just stories. We were different. We understood the theory behind jump gates. We currently lacked the technology to replicate it but that was to soon to change. Our methodical conquest of the Iuger revealed they had created technology to jump small objects. Our best scientists explained it, but as I now badly recall, it meant controlling massive energy outputs at precise moments when matter is split. With our numbers and this new technology, our scientists predicted we would soon be the dominant species. Certainly within my lifespan. We would start our ascendancy with a first strike at our gate controller while laying final waste to the Iuger. And then it happened. A request from a human envoy to appear at the central gate. As the head of The Executioner Fleet, our greatest pride, I was the natural choice. Waiting for us was a small group: a human, a Xhavi, another humanoid who I recognized as an Ulanian, and a few others I did not. ‘Impossible’… the Ulanians had disappeared tens of thousands of years ago. A huge power vacuum left which allowed the Xhavi and us to become dominant. There was not a single representative from any of the major alliances. There would be no audience, no grandstanding today. The human stepped forward and had one question: ’Who is the chosen one?’ I didn’t understand. At first we thought the translator malfunctioned. My anger was visible and I uttered my disgust, ‘How dare you interfere in our affairs?’ The human, pensive for a moment repeated ‘Who will be the chosen one?’ I yelled at the Xhavi ‘What is this affront to our sovereignty?!’ The Xhavi never raised his gaze. ‘We too were this naive. We too shared this... delusion. The masters of our own fate. Like you it began with a warning and like you we thought we were supreme. The truth is your fate has already been sealed. They see it all. Your armada secretly surrounding this meeting, your ships at battle station, your worlds preparing to finish up the Iuger. Right at this moment you are about to order your ships to fire. The human doesn’t care about your next move, only about who will tell your story.” I smiled. A brief moment of hubris. ‘FIRE!’ The choice was made. As every single one of our ships surrounding the meeting blinked out of existence in a spherical bloom of death and plasma... I finally understood the question. The human looked out to the stars. ‘We cannot allow any one of our creations to extinguish another. We cannot allow you to repeat our mistakes. Your species will have to wait behind your gate. You have been chosen.’ I am the harbinger of our destruction. I am the witness.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"You may have thought us pathetic and frail for our friendship and pacifism," related the calm voice that came over the monitor. The Glorthon admiral, Tee'et Lorcor, stared with horror as two more dreadnought class battle cruisers under his commanders were obliterated by a single missile strike each. The fleet was on the defensive, all fire was directed at stopping the hundreds of rockets from the human fleet and planet surface below. It seemed like they had just reached enemy's home star system, and the advance had come to a screeching halt. "But our friendship was extended because we know the true horrors of war," the calm voice continued almost sadly. The Glorthons had never experienced such resistance even from the mighty Cluthons of Criok 4. The early human resistance consisted of small frigates and transports using lasers meant only to clear rogue asteroids. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet had cut through the human forces like a predator's claw through soft flesh. Why would they hold back their most powerful weapons until they had broken through all the way to Mars? "You see we once fought among ourselves for things we now view as petty," the voice sighed as two more ships were incinerated, "Greed, bigotry, and national pride drove us to war with each other in the most brutal and savage ways." "It was a race to see who could kill each other faster and more efficiently, until one fateful day, twenty millennia ago, we invented a weapon that could vaporize cities," the voice explained. Surely he lies, thought Tee'et Lorcor. The only weapons capable of that are lasers and they stagnated at city sized destruction five thousand years ago. Yet, another ship exploded in radiant energy to prove his foe's point. "Eventually, the weapons were powerful enough to level small continents, that's when the Fateful Hour occurred. 70% of humanity was gone in what seemed like an instant, the rest left to pick through the scraps as they died slow painful deaths," the voice broke. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet was dwindling. He would have to get creative if he were to win this battle and put an end to the humans. He scrambled fighters to get in close to the orbital stations that seemed to be the primary source of the missile salvo "Faced with extinction, we promised to never again use such weapons and found a new purpose. We would rebuild as we took to the stars. It's funny what the specter of extinction will do," the voice mused. Lorcror was getting worried now. They had destroyed a couple of the stations, but the human squadrons were holding off his fighters just enough. For every station destroyed another four Glorthon battle cruisers exploded with bright light. "We met other peoples and vowed to help them build, create, and be happy. We learned from our mistakes and hoped to teach others," the voice seemed to be coming to a conclusion. Fate was beginning to dawn on Tee'et Lorcor. They could not win this fight. The shear amount of laser fire required to slowly drain the opposing fleets shields could not hope to keep up with the destructive power the missiles. He had to sound the retreat for the mere dozen ships remaining under his control. "And now we face extinction again," the voice stated gravely, "And we came to a terrible but inescapable decision. We must build the weapons again. We must fight with the efficiency we did back on Earth." Suddenly, Tee'et heard warning alarms. The warp drives failed to power up! Engineering reports all ships seemed to have been crippled. The humans must had been silently slicing into their warp core control systems since the battle started. Had they planned this from the start? "Did you really think Mars was always our home?"	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Erryn relished the moment. There was something cathartic in holding between his tendrils the terms of surrender, in knowing that you hold the only hope for a dying race. In that moment, he held the power of life and death for the fifteen billion humans on the planet below, as well as the one who sat across the table from him now. The two of them sat alone on a station that had been prepared exclusively for the purpose; only the two negotiators and the cameras that would broadcast the surrender to the Universe. Beside them, the wall was filled with a viewport that showed the surface of Earth spinning away from them, as well as the tremendous fleet that floated menacingly above. The human negotiator took the treaty from Erryn and began to read. The terms were simple: humanity would submit to Tallnian authority in perpetuity, yielding all valuables within a solar cycle. It was a method that had worked for them many times before; all throughout the arm of the galaxy, Tallnian planets could be found, constructing the great fleets that would go on to expand the Empire. The negotiator carefully placed the treaty on the table and sat back, his eyes closed. From his training, Eryn recognized this as defeat. The man who had been so pure in the House of Diplomacy, who had insisted that every conflict could be solved there even as the Tallnians slaughtered his people on the Plutonian Outpost, was silent. Erryn placed a pen on the table. He took special pleasure in making the defeat feel as familiar as possible. The negotiator sighed, then spoke. “I remember you from the House, Erryn. You always told me that war was beyond law. That the strong would rule, and the weak would deserve it.” Erryn laughed. “And I was correct, so it would seem.” The human leaned forward. “You said that peace was a weak race’s game, and that only a coward would waste his time with its rules.” “I did.” Erryn was getting impatient now. “And I do not see how this exchange will benefit us.” “I just wanted you to understand something, before this is all over.” “Oh?” “Rules are not for good races to make themselves feel better. Good races, ones that are truly altruistic, don’t need rules.” He took a deep breath. “Today, you’ll understand why humanity has so many.” At that moment, a blinding light stabbed through the viewport. Erryn shielded his optic spots, surprised by the sudden brightness. He thought that their star would rise on the other side of the planet… The light faded, and Erryn looked back outside. The Tallnian fleet was gone, replaced by a rapidly-expanding sphere of rubble. He fell back into his seat in shock. The human was already on his feet, halfway to the hatch to his ship. He looked back at Erryn, the pain evident on his alien features. “I am so sorry that it came to this.” Then, a moment later, he was descending back to his planet. Erryn sat there in shock. He hadn’t moved when, an hour later, a piece of the Tallnian flagship’s great cannon tore through the station, incinerating the treaty and the Tallnian who had brought it	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The species known as Humans came from a distant star, deep within the swirling vortex all other races had avoided. They brought with them many wondrous advancements including advanced healing never before seen within the known galaxy. Though they were diverse, they had no want for war and would help any in need without hesitation as they spread across the stars. Exploration was the forefront of their minds and had never declared war on anyone. They even created safe havens throughout the galaxy. Freeports, they called them, where anyone was allowed to rest for a spell regardless of their background, profession or allegiance. A no fire zone so to speak. Many species across the galaxy enjoyed their friendly demeanor but also viewed them as mostly harmless. Mostly harmless that is, until the incident of Tau-423. The Vikonican's were an empire devoted to warring among the stars. They mostly kept their battles between themselves as they fight for glory and power. Every so often though, a particularly good general will win and unit the Vikonicans to focus on other species. One fateful day, Emperor Bragisson united his people and led an attack that completely destroyed one of the freeports. The Vikonican's then declared war against the humans and began raiding, and destroying, several more freeports over the course of a few months. Every species offered the humans help but they politely declined saying, as quoted, "We got this" The Tau-423 incident was news that shook the entire galaxy. The humans sent a fleet to the satellite that General Bragisson was commanding from and, in a single day, ended the war. The humans distracted the Vikonican's with their fleet while sending over a hundred cloaked bombers into the atmosphere. The cloaking alone took us all by surprise as that was technology many had struggled to create. Even so, the cloaking was mostly glossed over in the aftermath of the bombs. The human's didn't just retaliate, they destroyed the very planet. The atmosphere was blasted away and anything on the plant that wasn't incinerated on impact withered away. For years after, any probe sent to the remains of the planet would malfunction within minutes. Only in recent years have probes exploring the barren surface could send back data. The very planet itself was radiated and dead to the core. Nothing of this magnitude had ever been seen across the galaxy. The Humans, it seemed, were more powerful, and more terrifying, than anyone could have ever guessed. We can only hope that they continue to keep their friendly demeanor.	The Orak believed the war with humanity would end in blood and glory. Instead it ended in a white flash while they struck the outermost colony of Elysium. Humanity attacked their home planet Orakus. Citizens on Orakus felt no pain or suffering as the humans on Elysium did. Instead it was a white hot mercy that the Tsar unleashed from hell itself. The results of this repisal were almost instantaneous. Orakian warlords upon seeing their homeworld reduced to ash surrendered their weapons some even began worship of humanity as they had mastered a level of war they had never considered.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	The alarms in the human bunker blared, The Sergeant woke up on his cot, Bolted into the wall and covered with a Standard issue bedroll for comfort. The Sergeant jumped from the cot and rushed over to the Radio operator sitting at his chair. “What’s going on Corporal.” The sarge said to the operator, Who was now sweating as he looked through cameras and pressed buttons on a keyboard. “We got Kare’goa Forces right on our front door, An entire fleet... Capital ship and all.” The operator said, His face was whiter than a piece of chalk. He spoke into a radio and pressed more buttons. “Jesus... The payload, The... The silo, Is it operational?” The sarge said. He grabbed his combat rifle, and began sliding his Webbing on. Soon after he slid the plate carrier on and attached the BK plate onto the front. “Affirmative.” The operator said, He moved to the radio and changed the frequency, A couple soldiers ran past the bunker door, Shouting orders in the trenches. The operator pressed his lips towards the speaker. “Alpha Condor Four Please Initiate Code Sunlight.” “Copy that Zeta eight, Activating payload silo now.” The voice on the radio responded. The sarge ran outside and into the trenches, Looking up, He saw it, an entire damn fleet hovered above the surface of their planet. The capital ship began charging up the planetsplitter, A Laser that could destroy the entire and more. “GET THE SILO’S PREPPED! DON’T LET THAT SHIP FIRE IT’S BEAM!” The sarge yelled. The operator, On the other hand, Was on the receiving end of this. “Zeta Eight, Silo is prepped, Payload is at your disposal, Aim good. Over and out.” The radio crackled. The operator stared at the red launch button on the desk. He Repositioned the monitor facing him. He began sweating more, If he didn’t do this, This side of the planet would be ash, If he did... He would be responsible for the death of thousands... Maybe millions of alien freaks... Even though they may’ve been a savage, Hive-minded and war-mongering Race of insectoid creatures. In a way, The operator may’ve felt bad, He knew that though he would cripple and entire race with the push of a button, and many of those alien families would grief this loss... But he knew that Right here, right now was his choice, Humanity, Or them. And he sure as hell chose humanity, And pushed the button.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What do you mean its gone?" General Ashak asked, half angry, half confused. "We've lost communication, we no longer have visual confirmation of its existence, the airspace where the fleet should be is vacant of anything but a bit of debris. It just vanished." The ensign replied. Ashak closed both sets of eyelids hard enough to see spots of bright color bloom in his mind. His tongue flicked the air in annoyance. "Did they make hyperspace?" He asked after a long moment of contemplation. He didn't even want this war. He was supposed to retire next year. The humans had never done anything to him. He had no quarrel with them. But the Empress, may the sun forever shine upon her, wanted their technology. Supposedly they had discovered a method of mining rare minerals for almost zero energy cost. "Our instruments say no. They were there one minute and gone the next." A young private, probably in his early 400s, barely past his first shed, sprinted onto the deck of the command ship. "General," he saluted, right fist to left shoulder, first and second claw extended in the traditional manner. "I've been sent with an urgent message. All remaining fleets are to return to the capital. The humans have launched a counter attack." "With what? Sure they have amazing tech, but when it comes to war they're little more than hatchlings with pointed sticks." "My apologies, sir, but this private does not know." "Very well. Spread the word: were preparing to male hyperspace for return to Arin. All crew in their stasis pods withing the half-hour." ---------‐---------------------- 2 hours later the stasis pod beeped and opened. Akash stepped out, rubbing his eyes, groggily. He made his way to the bridge and turned on the forward view screen to begin docking procedures. He flipped the switch on the communications board and said into the mic, "Arin tower this is The Empress' Holy Ship Desert Sun. Reporting for orders and preparing to dock. Please send docking code and stand by for touchdown." He began flipping more switches as the rest of the flight crew made their way into the room. "Sir, I dont understand. We were supposed to arrive directly above Arin." The navigator sounded unsure. Akash looked at the screen for the first time and nearly lost his cool. The screen showed a large crater, with rubble strewn about like a hatchlings playroom. He recognized some buildings, the base where he had trained after joining the military, his hatchlings school and the office building his mate worked in, all little more than crumbling walls and shattered stone. Several more ships materialized in the sky around the Desert Sun. Soon the air waves were crowded with captains and generals demanding to know what happened. Within the next 4 hours, the entire armed forces of the Grellian empire hovered above a city that was no longer there. A single missile blipped on the instrument panel. Some from another ship laughed hysterically about the humans single missile against the entire military. Akash thought of his hatchlings and his mate. He missed them already. What sorcery could have done this. The missile detonated against one of the ships. It was engulfed in a small star in the span of a second. The world went quiet, and akash shut his eyes. He felt the heat wash over him. And the Grellian empire ceased to exist.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They descended upon Earth with the full panoply of war. 1,000 starships, each a mile long carrying thousands of Soldiers, equipment and ordinance signified the undisputed might of the Ubojan Conglomerate. An unbreakable iron grip that held a thousand star systems under its hand. The sheer scale of their warmachine pressed upon the tiny blue planet like a boulder on top of a balloon, threatening to obliterate it simply by being there. Despite this, the tiny blue planet did not submit. The humans who call it home have tried for months to prevent this catastrophe. A species that preferred the sound of words than that of munitioned tried, and failed to appease the Goliath that threatened to snuff them out of existence before their dreams of stepping out into the stars were realized. These humans, peaceful and benign in the eyes of the galactic community were rudely introduced to the brutality of the galaxy that awaited them. Weak, pathetic... mewling at the edge of a backwater system were the first impressions that Ubojan Conglomerate had of these Humans. It has been some time since they showed the Galaxy why there were "the masters of the 1000". It is past due that everyone be reminded. That is until the first salvo hit. As the first starships made their atmospheric drop, the sky lit up in a blinding flash of white. For a moment, the bielectric crystals focuses of the ships detected only rudimentary defenses. projectile ordinance, liquid propelled fighter craft... Giant square water craft that launched these fighters.... millions of tiny ants scurrying about. A helpless hand weakly put up in the face of a beating.... and then again, another white flash. in minutes 5 starships disintegrated into nothing, the rest doused in lethal radiation. The eerie silence of shock was replaced by the blares of multiple alarm systems. Radiation readings went off the charts, multiple distress signals coalesced into a unified scream for help and status reports on the quantum comms. The remaining ships creaked and buckled as they reached the stratosphere, blown around like wayward kites upon the edge of a hurricane. "First centari report!!!" Shouted Admiral Ackubar across all channels. He lead the vanguard, the first centari to be the first to make planetfall. Ackubar wanted to be remembered and itched at the opportunity to be the one, the first one to take this planet for the undying empire. His first moments in this tiny blue planet however, when they win, will be scrubbed from histographs back home. "Multple starships destroyed, my lord" Reported his rear admiral, Haluga. "1st, 28th, 49th, 69th and 86th decari destroyed. Radiation levels are lethal within 5 welklans of their last position... 25 starships from respective decari are damaged but still battle worthy." "In the name of the undying how did they do that!!!" Cursed Ackubar. The first salvo tore through the skies like a needle piercing through an iron sky. Readings indicated ballistic and kinetic ordinance... which should have been useless against ceramo-crystalline hulls. It was their detonation however that most shocked Ackubar. Each hit lit up like a miniature sun enveloping the iron sky in a blaze of white hot fury. In all of his life, in all of his campaigns he has never seen weapons of this kind used before. Ackubar did not fear death. As a warrior of the 1000 worlds it was his duty to serve, and to die is his reward. What he saw flash before his eyes however, instilled in him the unsettling feeling of being afraid. "I want retaliatory bombardment from the launch site now!!! 57th, 2nd and 10th decari focus fire on these coordinates!!! 29th and 5th decari set bielectric scans to subterranean... all decari near the 5th and 29th for defensive formations!" the quantum comms hummed their affirmatives and within moments, the tendrils of the first centari sprang into action. Like a snake uncoiling each starship moved into their formations. the 57th, 2nd and 10th decari, the most armed of all the starships, launched photon neutrino torpedoes. Huge blue swaths of flame streaked the sky, determined to reach the ground bellow and pummel the very earth below. Another white flash, then another. the hurried, desperate pace of these flashes became quicker and quicker. 13 starships have been destroyed, including 7 that formed the defensive perimeter around the 5th and 29th. The 5th, 2nd and 10th increased their fire in response, peppering the ground and pockmarking launch sites as they are reported across the quantum comms. "29th and 5th, report scans to flagship!" commanded a nervous Haluga. The hundreds of small and big alarms systems surrounding him are starting to make him lose his composure. "29th and 5th reporting, sub scans inconclusive... elemental readings are suggesting high presence of lead underground.... its like this entire continent is covered in it. requesting permission to form offensive formations" "Negative responded Ackubar. "Maintain scans protocols, adjust for elemental readings. set scans to energy" The 5th and 29th complied. within moments the visual comms of the Ackubar's flagship "the indomitable" lit up. What he saw initially, puzzled him. Moments after, he felt his stomach drop. He superimposed the visual scan with the map and immediately he counted around 100 35 meter deep holes. he ran the scans through a intelligence interpreter and saw that the entire area was covered in these holes.... final count of the interpreter at 5000. They all had energy readings... Thermonuclear. "Attention all decari! This is Admiral Ackubar speaking. We have sprung a trap, all units disengage, and retreat to exophere immediately!" "57th 2nd and 10th form rear guard to co-" "my lord scans are reading fighter craft approaching formation!" Shoulted Haluga "they are arranged in packs of decans... formations suggest payload delivery!" "All units retreat now now now!" Admiral Ackubar bellowed. "Hunter interceptors engage enemy craft! do not let them within 5 welcans of our ships!" A torrent of fire and noise erupted in the earth's stratosphere. Like a hive of bees, human and Ubojan fighters engaged each other in waves of death, exploding ordinance and and scattered metal. The first centari lumbered away slowly, agonizingly as they are chased by a swarm of human figthers. The ubojan figthers were killing them off by the dozen, but there was thousands of them. They were faster, more nimble and could overwhelm hunter interceptor packs, swallowing them whole and spitting them out as a ball of molten fire. As random as this hive looked, it hid ominous intentions. in the center of it hid larger craft that suggested they were carriers. dozens of these carriers suddenly shot out of formation and raced their way into the center of the centari formation. several carrier craft exploded near the edge of the formation, creating giant clouds of white heat and light that enveloped entire swaths of the centari. The human hive disengaged, and streaked downwards... desperate to escape the apocalypse that they themselves delivered. 28 flashes of light was what Ackubar counted before oblivion took him. The first centari, the pride of the Ubojan Empire reduced to smoldering ruin thousands of lightyears away in a backwater system. Destroyed by insects... pathetic, weak, mewling insects. Ubojan high command saw it all unfold thousands of miles above the earth. Each member struck dumb with shocked silence, with 900 starships awaiting their command to unleash retribution. The visual comms of Sovereign Krasistus lit up. Images of unknown human symbols stared back at him. "What is this?" He growled. "It looks like a message your excellency." Reported his chancellor. "Translating now..." "It is... ancient, of the dictates of an Empire long gone..." the chancellor mused. "Gg-gruk?" "geeriik?" He tried to pronounce. "Interpreter compensate. adjust language dictation". The intelligence interpreter whirred its affirmative. "Language compensation complete. Human language discovered. Ancient Greek. Symbol translation. "μολὼν λαβέ" Molon labe. Ubojan translation complete. message reads... "come and take them." Humans do have a way with words the Ubojan High command concurred. They also have a way with war it seems. The 900 ships remained above the earth's orbit, safely away from their weapons of hate. Friendly and Peaceful they seemed, inside this tiny blue planet. Bristling with rage and an unexpected mastery of brutal warfare they are, on the surface of this this tiny blue planet.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Part 1: Commander Turnall was gazing at the bright blue planet from the comfort of his cabin on the 17th Gunner Launcher of the Emios Empire. The windows of his cabin were designed specifically to give the room a wide 270 degree view. He looked at all the forces of the advance force sent by the Imperial Council. All 180 ships, with 400 destroyers, 80 sharpshooters, 150 gunners, 50 starshields, 18 Gunner Launchers and around 120,000 personnel. Turnall was delighted when he was informed that he was ordered to command the advance force to the Soleus System, the native star system of the Humans. Turnall, who was partly human himself, loathed the Human race for their amiability and gentleness. The EMIOS had started long ago in Alixir III when the King of the Eliali, Aedealaus declared himself Emperor after subjugating all the surrounding systems after a long war of domination on all fronts. The Eliali, who still hold heavy political sway in the House of the Senate and the Imperial Council regard him as a demi-god and a legend, however rational men including Commander Turnall himself knew that he was not a holy figure but an opportunist who cunningly outwitted his opponents and attacked them when they were at their weakest. Turnall was given orders to surround the planet in a semi-circular formation and wait them out of submission, his orders were to block any supplies that could be sent from the Colonies on the Mars and the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn. The Humans despite being weak were proud of their Independence and traded with all nations and empires. The marijuana trade was highly profitable and booming, and the humans exported a wide range of elements. They even traded with the Matjl Empire, the most formidable of the rivals of the EMIOS. Turnall did not like the mission of subjugating the Humans without force. He hated them. He wanted them destroyed. Of all things he hated, the thing he hated the most was that blue planet of theirs. The Emios called it Gaia 0 and is one of the most habitable places in the universe. Everything about it was perfect. Planet Placement, Size, Atmosphere, Gravitational Force and Abundance of Habitable Space and Stability. Many planets younger than Gaia 0 and Gaia-like planets which were promised to succeed it were outlived by Gaia 0. Turnall sat and observed the meek satellites and defense systems of the Humans. The Humans were smart. Despite being the bright beacons of peace, love and happiness, they never stopped spending money on defense, but it was of no use now. They were indicted in the Supreme Council for crimes of negative resource-exploitation and slavery. Crimes that were framed upon them by the Secret Agency to facilitate the annexation of the United Nations into the EMIOS. They had always been part of the EMIOS association but were never truly part of the EMIOS proper. The aim was to bring them into the Imperial Fold, Turnall did not want this. He had made up his mind to destroy the Gaia, no matter the loss of life. The Humans will be shattered and the other minor republics of the association and liege states will be frightened. The embargo placed on the Matjl and Kin will be solidified and Turnall will be regarded as a hero. He thirsted for glory and wanted redemption for his failures during the Hock Skirmishes. His promotion was due and his pride as well. He paced back and forth in wait of the Human Diplomats. When they arrived he couldn't hide his smile. He was searching for some pretext to invade the planet. He had thought over a hundred plans with his most loyal followers and decided that he would have some of his ships destroyed by his own guns. Some of his captains strongly opposed friendly fire, however a compromise was reached and it was decided the selected ships would be left completely vacant. He had to act quickly though, he had heard of news of reinforcements from the Outer Zone were heading towards Gaia and would arrive in 10 Gaia Days, 8 if they made haste. The Diplomats arrived with a Ranskar guard on both flanks. They greeted him cordially without showing signs of dread. Turnall found it funny. Your entire existence will be soon wiped, and you will be forgotten. Just like the Manes, the Ibers, the Nam or the Raqqa. Turnall advised them to seat and called for the interpretation team. One of the Diplomats blurted out, "Commander Turnall, you do know English, don't you?" Turnall looked at them with shock. Yes, of course he did. It was his mother tongue. Turnall hated the language and considered it inferior. He tried forgetting the language by learning Lyal and Soran and avoiding it. However, he still dreamed in English, something he couldn't get rid of. Turnall feigned ignorance, "No. No Cannot. Understand for me, not much". The Diplomat smiled and nodded. When the interpreters arrived the negotiations began. The Diplomats denied the allegations and asked to file a motion of reconsideration. They asked for talks between the Imperial Council and the United Nations, and withdrawal of forces. They agreed to cede their Outer Colonies to retain their independence. They asked for a new treaty and were willing to be reassigned as a protectorate. They even tried handing over the Imperial Association their trade control and foreign affairs. Anything, for retaining their independence. However Turnall and the committee of senators of the House refused all their pleadings. They told that for violating intergalactic law they had to be annexed by the Supreme Council and nothing else. They told them that this was to merely be a transitional occupation and nothing else and their sovereignty would be handed back after a five-year term. The Humans knew that this was false, the Supreme Council's biggest funder was EMIOS and since the last thirty years a puppet of the Emios Empire. They were literally paid by EMIOS to strike some decisions against them just to pretend impartiality. The Diplomats were tired and they stood up. The Head of the Human Negotiators Han Xuhan addressed them. "I am deeply saddened by the failure of our talks. We tried our best to ensure peace but you only talk of war and domination. We therefore will have to be forced to declare war on you. You have trespassed on our sovereignty, and we will fight to protect it." Turnall couldn't believe his ears, "Declare war?". He was on seventh heaven. They had made his work easier. He will open fire on the first shot. Turnall will have his name etched in history, there will be medals. They will build statues and name institutions in his honor. When the diplomats left Turnall ordered a meeting of his lieutenants, he advised them to get in a formation so that the sacrificial ships would be closest from the surface. He also told him that the statement might also be a ruse of the diplomats to bide for time and keep them waiting for supposed aggression. He told them that if the ships are not hit soon, they will be forced to destroy it with their own guns.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Humans were always the strange ones. While evolution gifted the rest of us with weapons that aided our planetary dominance, Humans had no such gifts. Ancient records tell of early visits to their planet to inspect them, where it was ruled that their ruthless violence and disregard for their planet would cause their early destruction. The galactic community at the time decided it was best to keep them in their system, for although their efforts at war paled in comparison with our many methods, their disregard for their planet was seen as uncouth. After all, what second mother would, after eating the oldest of the first mother, raze their new nest to the ground? When it was heard that humans had become interplanetary, our species, the Yetan, as well as the Glovris and Hnyid (but notably not the Quinds) paused our everliving war to go fling their planets into their sun. It was here that we would end them once and for all. The humans, bold as always, met the triple fleet head on and made an offer we couldn't refuse. After all, when a species submits readily to your rule, what is the point of their destruction? They agreed to stay quarantined to their own system until further notice, and the ownership of these humans was added to the dominance exchange of the everliving war. The humans proved to be much different than the ancient records indicated. Where we were told they would seek war, they brokered peace. At every turn, they insisted on negotiation instead of brute strength and dominance. Where the rest of the conquered galaxy would rise up in bloody insurrection, the humans instead introduced this concept of "trade", being the first species to ally with every member of the everliving war. Eventually they grew close to each of our species, and we could no longer pretend they were a conquest of war. If one of us tried to attack them, we knew the others would rise up united against us. Such was the power of the Human's 'trade deals' and 'alliance'. It was eventually agreed that the humans would be more profitable if we let them expand and explore, so we let them out into the galaxy. They would be the first species to escape quarantine, and all of us were ready to attack if we saw them go back to their ancient ways. Centuries passed, and still they remained peaceful. Slowly, they used their 'negotiations' to end parts of the everliving war, and taught new concepts like "system ownership" and "coexistance". The Quinds were never able to understand the last of those concepts, complaining that you can't have "ownership" and "coexist" at the same time, but we, the Yetan, and the Hnyid found that we weren't as different as we thought. The everliving war began to take on new meaning. Instead of a dominance conquest, we began to negotiate on our own. This peace that the humans had discovered was intoxicating, and we couldn't have enough of it. Ironically, this fueled the everliving war as we wanted to be sure we could have more "peace" than the other species to prove our dominance, but the humans still continued to try to teach us. Millenia passed and eventually a new species reached out. They called themselves the Vgnin and demanded dominance of our arm of the galaxy. They joined our everliving war, shattering whatever flimsy human peace concept we had established with the Glovris, Hnyid, and the Quinds. These creatures didn't know of the peaceful nature of the humans, and decided to dominate the weak creatures just like they dominated every creature in their part of the galaxy. I remember the day the humans came to us, begging to protect them. The Vgnin decided to divide their fleet between every human planet, station and colony and attack at once. As I spoke with the human leader of Earth, the Vgnin ships were already warming their planetary glassers, demanding eternal slavery or death. I shook my head, knowing it was already too late. It was strange. I realized then that the human's greatest strength, this peace, was also their greatest weakness. There was no way for them to fight back, just like evolution gave them no way to fight on their own. Once again, the peaceful would die and only the everliving war would remain. This was the way of all life. The president had that same look of deep sorrow I must have shown. He must have realized that we would be witnessing either the enslavement or destruction of his entire race, and there's nothing any of us could do. He pulled out the instant broadcaster the Hnyid had gifted their race, ready to make the call. What would he decide? Slavery or death? He raised his mouth to the receiver, transmitting his next words to every human leader across the galaxy. "Humanity must live on. You know what you need to do." slowly he lowered the broadcaster, seeming to shrink. They chose enslavement. I didn't blame them, perhaps they would one day convince the Vgnin of their human peace and trade like they had done to us. Until then, they would once again be servants to the stronger force. The human seemed to shake as he walked to the window screens of our capital ship, viewing the Vgnin fleet overtop the many human planets, as well as their home, Earth. "Glorious leader of the Yetan," he began, "You invented the Warp Drive which allowed us all to zip across the galaxy, just as the Hynid invented communication faster than light." he slowly inhaled and let it out with a shudder. "Today you will learn of Humanity's great invention, and also our greatest fear." The air seemed to grow cold as the human leader turned to me. "Our ancestors were crafters of weapons. That is how we dominated our planet." I watched as many small balls slowly rose off each planet, each lazily making their way toward every Vgnin ship. The Human leader averted his gaze from the screens. "Everything was a weapon in their eyes. Even the atoms of the universe itself. We made a weapon that can destroy all life, and all technology. This is why we only seek peace." A bright flash lit across every screen at once, the Vgnin ships blasted and sent spiraling through space, blown apart, shields flickering then dead. Tears began to well in the Human Leader's eyes. "After a discovery like that, war can end in nothing but the end of all life."	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	“High Negotiator, the human ambassador wishes to see you.” Sil Dunnan, High Negotiator of the Akkarat sighed, and gestured his assent. Of course she wanted to talk. The war was necessary, but still he felt a twinge of guilt. He’d known the ambassador for a long time, and they’d always gotten along well. The Terrans were the natural choice. Of the Five Ancients, they were by far the least threatening. They didn’t field the horrific armies of the Gene Splicers, or command the AI strategists of the Machine Lords. Despite that, the peace stifled the mighty Akkarat race might as well be called the Pax Terra. The other forerunner races had grown old and tired. They wouldn’t - couldn’t - maintain the peace themselves through force of arms. It was the humans that did that, not with weapons, but with their relentless sociability and diplomacy. Every government in the known galaxy sported a human ambassador who gently steered that race towards harmonious coexistence. That peace threatened everything that made the Akkarat the Akkarat. Since unifying, they’d had nobody to fight. The old ways were dying. The galactic order had to be destroyed. Quiet reconnaissance had been done. To the amazement of the War Council, human ships were essentially unarmed. It was beyond bizarre. Perhaps that was how they afforded their spendthrift aid missions - they had no military budget. In fact, the humans really only seemed to have one thing going for them: their ships didn’t show up on normal scans. Space was big, but ships were easy to find. Hyperspace shunts, the technology that turned every wheel in the galaxy, drew power from the endless energies of higher-dimensional space. To perform this miracle, each one of them ripped a tiny hole in space-time that a good sensor could pick up across a star system. At some point, the humans had found a way to cloak their shunts. Even with their stunted military, this gave them a concerning edge in a prolonged conflict. As a result, a decisive first strike had been ordered. Naturally, he hadn’t been able to tell the ambassador in advance. No doubt she felt betrayed. The least he could do was answer her questions. As if on cue, the human ambassador threw open the doors of his audience chamber, his aid trailing rather uselessly behind her. She was visibly distressed. “Sil!” she shouted as she bore down on him. “Tell me this is a lie, a mistake, anything! Just tell me you haven’t attacked the Terran Confederation.” He tried to pitch his voice in a manner humans found soothing. “I’m sorry, Maria, I’d have told you sooner, but the War Council bound me to secrecy. Of course, I will ensure that your friends and loved ones are spared as best I can. I know how social your people are-” “You damned fool,” she hissed back at him. “Don’t you understand? You are my family. This planet holds everyone I love.” Without waiting for an invitation, she slumped down into one of the chairs on the far side of his desk. His aide looked at her disapprovingly; Sil waved him out of the room. The High Negotiator regarded her with concern. “Is there… anything I can do? I realize our nations are at war, but you have served your people and ours well for living memory and beyond. If there is anything in my power that you might need, please, tell me.” She responded with a dismissive motion. “It’s too late. Had you told me sooner, I could have tried to stop it. But nothing can stop it now.” Sil chuckled. “No need for that. Human bluffing is good, but it’s not that good. We figured out your secret. No weapons! No military infrastructure! Just myths about the destruction of Terra’s enemies in ages past. As if a psychological operation could keep your peace safe forever!” “It was clever ruse, yes, very clever. But the age of the Ancients is over. It’s time for conflict, change, and glory. I’m afraid that as a human, you wouldn’t understand.” Maria laughed, bitter and hollow. “I understand, Sil. That’s why I was posted here. I’ve personally killed an enemy soldier with my bare hands. I can report that it is not glorious at all.” The High Negotiator frowned. “There is no recorded history of any human war. If such an event had ever happened, it would have predated The Treaty of the Five Forerunners! To his shock, the normally staid and proper ambassador put her feet up on his desk. "Yeah. I was there.” Sil stared at her, stunned. “But how?” “Well, since we’re all about to die it can’t hurt to tell you. See, humans figured out immortality before we were really ready. Our numbers grew, resources ran thin, and we nearly wiped ourselves out.” “After we came back from the brink of extinction, we decided we’d do whatever it took to make sure it never happened again. It’s a job we ambassadors take very seriously.” The High Negotiator snorted. “So you melted down your weapons and rely only on words to make this peace you love so much?” She returned his gaze levelly. “Who says we melted down our weapons?” A tiny seed of doubt began to take root in Sil’s heart. The look Maria was giving him reminded him more and more of an expression he’d seen only on the battlefield. It was the look of one who no longer has anything to lose. “Our analysis was thorough, I read the reports myself. Your ships are-” “Your reports are bullshit or you wouldn’t have done this. I’m going to let you in on a secret, Sil. I’m going to tell you how our stealth systems work.” “Really? But that’s been the subject of research for centuries; it’s one of humankind’s most closely guarded secrets!” “Yeah, but again, impending death. Do you want to know or not?” He regarded her warily. “I suppose I do.” “We don’t have a stealth system. We just don’t use hyperspace shunts.” “What?!” Sil surged to his feet. “That’s impossible. A shunt is the only source of power light and powerful enough to fit into a spacecraft. You’d never be able break the hyperspace barrier with chemical fuels or solar power.” “You’re right about that,” she replied laconically. “Chemical fuels are no good. But it turns out human brains are pretty bad at hyperspace physics. Uniquely bad, in fact. So we just learned to chain the stars instead.” The hackles rose on the High Negotiator’s shoulders and neck. “You have small stars inside your ships. And these stars generate power all the time, even when the ship is jumping through hyperspace?” The ambassador nodded. “Yup, that’s my understanding.” Now it was Sil’s turn to fall back into his chair. “Your ships are practically invisible. And they must have range far beyond anything we could possibly have guessed.” He gave her a sharp look. “Why are you telling me this? The element of surprise is all you have.” The human ambassador’s expression was shifting again, this time towards sadness. “No. It’s really not. Do you know how hyperspace interdiction works? I mean, in general terms.” Sil looked at her with fear as realization began to dawn. “I don’t know how it works, but I am afraid you are about to tell me.” Maria removed her feet from his desk, resting her chin lightly on a clenched fist. “I am. Hyperspace shunts create a knot that crosses both normal space and h-space. Hyperspace inhibitors work by being a kind of comb that grabs the knot and pulls the ship back into our dimension.” The High Negotiator blanched. “Hyperspace inhibitors won’t work on Terran ships. An invasion might come at any moment.” His human friend just shook her head. “There won’t be an invasion. Don’t you get it? We learned to chain the stars second. We turned them into weapons first." “My gods.” It was little more than a whisper. Sil cradled his head in his hands as the awful reality set in. “You can send star weapons through hyperspace. We’ve murdered our entire species.” “No,” the human replied. “It was my job to stop it. I failed you. I’m sorry.” She walked around the desk and gathered the High Negotiator into her arms. “It’s alright. It won’t hurt. And I’ll be there with you. Gods willing, we’ll be able to walk one another across to the other side.”	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	The Warfang watched the pathetic excuse for a human diplomat before him. This mission was a study in boredom, and had not intergalactic relations demanded the prescence of his delegation they would have done away with the whole thing and just attacked. Already the Concordates warships were hurtling through the human home system, less than a day away from orbit. Its mass drivers would kill what needed to be killed and its dropships would conquer the rest. Whatever the old decrepit man in front of him might say, would do less of a difference than a fart in a space suit. ”We have heard your demands”, the old man grated. ”Actually we’ve had them repeated without any signs of compromise for months now.” ”It seems to us that they are designed to make these talks no more and no less than a show for the benefit of the galactic council?” he stated. ”Please correct me if I’m wrong.” The Warfang didn’t deign an answer. What was the purpose anyway? After all, the greybeard had hit the nail on the head. This was just a show, and nothing happening between these delegations would change anything that was to come. ”You are making a serious mistake, Warfang”, the old diplomat said. ”You and your Concordate are mistaking our strife for galactic peace for weakness…” ”It is not…” The old mans smile held a sudden tinge of remorsefull sadness. It was curious to the Warfang how two such different species could share so much of facial expressions, that he intuitively understood the sentiment. It suddenly made his skin crawl, as if someone held a blade to his neck. And just as he was trying to formulate a question to solve the enigma, the diplomats eyes went to the big hologram covering the whole side of the room. His own eyes automatically followed the other mans focus. On the display pinpricks of light started to erupt throughout the invading fleet. Wherever they lit up, icons of Concordate ships disappeared. Not even just in ones or twos, but in droves. His mouth fell open, unconciously showing predator teeth. And as his eyes snapped back to the old diplomat, the old mans sad smile hade returned with twice the force. ”I am afraid your fleet is done for Warfang.” he said. ”If the Concordate had had more interest in actually studying the cultures you subjugate, you would have found out we were pretty damn close to wiping ourselves out a time or two. In reality we’re among the most warlike races of any that we’ve met, we have just tried to get ourselves beyond those instincts.” The Warfang was stunned, not a sound came out of his mouth even as he tried to say something. ”I’m afraid that our peaceful stance has been dearly bought”, the old man continued. ”Our perpetual wars finally came to the point where our stark choice was cooperation or death. We chose cooperation, but the knowledge of how easy it is to kill never really left us.” ”But how?…” the words finally coming out of the Warfangs mouth sounded weak and shaky. He cursed himself under his breath. ”Not that hard actually. Just the power of the stars themselves, enhanced to the point where nothing really can stand against it.” The old man shook his head, he no longer looked decrepit. ”We don’t expect the Concordate to yield, not when the foundation of their existense and identity as conquerors are threatened.” he said. ”So our own ships are already moving.” The peculiar human eyes were no longer just sad, but also hard as stone. ”As we sit here, they are already on their way to all military centers within onehundred and fifty light years from our home system. ”I am afraid that those systems will become as close to uninhabitable as to not make much difference for at least a generation or two.” ”Our civilians”, the Warfang said with a keen. ”Yes, your civilians”, the diplomat answered. ”You had less than no appreciation for our civilians as recently as a few minutes ago. It was never our wish to have this war on our hands. But there is an old human saying that fits the situation all to well.” The Warfangs look asked the question he couldn’t make himself utter in words. ”Never start a fight, but always finish it.” The old man stood up and pushed the chair under the table. ”You are no longer welcome here. You, as a diplomat are of course free to go wherever you wish. We will not try to stop you, hurt you or in any way delay you”, he said. ”I suspect we might meet again in the galactic council. Or maybe we won’t, I’m not certain if you or I will be the chosen delegates. Until then all I can say is that this is not a cause for celebration as far as we are concerned.” He wished to call the man back as he left the room. He wished to shout, scream, claw something. He wished to rend and tear flesh. Onehundred and fifty light years, that covered nine tenths of the Concordates primary systems, including the Capital. If those weapons were numerous enough and as efficient on the ground, the Concordate would all but cease to exist.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"What does all of this even mean?" Garrok asked aloud. She and Farrun scanned the transmission for a fifth time, attempting to glean the intent behind the nonsense they had been given. They understood what radiation was but most of the words seemed straight out of fantasy. What was a 'fallout?' Or 'scrubbing?' What reaction did they mean by 'runaway reaction?' "It's a threat from humanity, clearly, but a threat of what?" Farrun asked. They both knew what he was referring to. The war against humanity started barely a galactic day-cycle ago. It was an honorless ambush on humanity's home system but even she, simple researcher that she was, felt that such a thing was necessary. Humanity was, without a doubt, the greatest nuisance the Larr'ell race had ever faced. Eons of galactic economic supremacy undermined by weak, furless monkeys who happened to know how to butter people up. They were a pathetic race barely fit for combat and they somehow leveraged the sympathy their many weaknesses brought them into a political and economic hegemony that threatened both the current galactic economy and the Larr'ell way of life. A decapitating strike was necessary and an ambush the only feasible option. They had left humanity unimpeded and now they had too many allies for them to face and so the government, with the people's blessing, decided to strike the valgrax at its heart or die trying. Humanity's single-minded focus on industrial and logistical technologies created a vulnerability that they needed to exploit before it was closed. The Larr'ell and their few remaining allies could not afford a drawn out battle. Human ships may have been mobile like no other but they lacked the power or durability they needed to overpower the Larr'ell capital fleet in a single decisive battle. If they could force them to the table before they could shift to a wartime economy, they could win unconditionally. And so that was what they did. They forced them into a single, decisive battle last she heard. Humanity's swift defeat should have been a foregone conclusion. Was a foregone conclusion. So why was she feeling incalculable dread as she skimmed the contents of the transmission for a fifth time. The transmission arrived unencrypted and unobstructed straight into the capital of their homeworld. She could imagine how badly the Data Defense Department were being chewed out for that oversight. Strangely, civilian targets had been the recipients of the transmission instead of the governmental or military ones: hospitals, research labs, and even weather centers. The government itself was in a frenzy over the attack. They believed it was an ultimatum. She couldn't help but worry that they were right but she wisely kept that opinion to herself. The air around the war declaration was of jubilation after all. They had made their bed and anything less than full commitment would not only ruin their legacy but that of their entire race. She felt the impact before she heard it. The ground beneath her seemed to give before catching itself and she felt the pressure drop for a moment. And then the boom: a mind-shattering bang followed by a rolling rumble that seemed to drag on forever. She'd first thought one of their kinetic cannons had misfired and launched a rod somewhere nearby but no weapon she knew of in their arsenal made that sort of terrifying sound. She gathered her senses around the time she began hearing the screams. Farrun, who had somehow gotten on his feet before she did, stood by the window, face black and bloodless. Reluctantly, she looked out the window to see. What she didn't see though would haunt her for the rest of her days. The crown jewel of their empire, the seat and cradle of the Larr'ell civilization, her beloved Beiran, was gone. An ashen hand holding a war hammer rose up from where it once stood, as if only now judging its bloodcurdling handiwork done. She and Farrun stood motionless as a second transmission from the humans was received. "Any survivors within 532 breadths of the blasts should be considered to have suffered permanent genetic damage. They cannot be saved. Any survivors within 532 and 727 breadths of the blasts must evacuate immediately or risk permanent genetic damage. Any survivors within 727 and..."	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Famine, Pestilence, Death, War. The four horsemen of the apocalypse. Supreme beings of havoc, and an idea that humans (once achieving a galactic level) quickly found spread across the worlds. Famine, The Rektinkin. Pestilience, The Kratar. Death, The An'ihum. And War, The Humans. When Humans entered the galactic scene, they ruptured a delicate balance that was in place. They destroyed the stalemate that stopped the 3 major powers from war. As every race set their sights on the prey, intent of claiming them as their own, gaining the advantage, the humans seemed blissfully unaware that their attempts at peaceful communication showed the universe one thing: they embody peace, and have suffered nothing. A far contrast to the three powers. The Rektinkin, born on an unforgiving planet that punished every mistake with death. Resources scarce, the reptile-like species embraced the Famine, and learned the power of oneself. They birthed great warriors that took all the resources, instead of splitting them amongst many people. As such, the species was able of rivaling entire army's of other species alone. However the birth rate of these creatures were abysmal, and as such couldn't triumph in all out war against the other two. When they saw the Humans and their home Planet of earth, rich in resources, they saw their chance. How many more warriors could they birth with Earths help? And so they waged war on the seemingly helpless species. The humans had no idea of scarcity, so they had nothing to embrace! How could such species pose a threat? Similarly, The Kratar lived in a world of nature, where they could never triumph over the destruction of the Great Green. They suffered from being nothing but weak prey. Intelligence? Mattered not, that was for those at the bottom of the food chain. So the Kratar embraced the plague of ever-present green. They were the ambassadors of the Great Green, and as such, were gifted the ability to fully control the power source of life, the Kratar's very own star. With this power, they spread the Great Greens power and influence. They controlled the most planets, able to terraform them for the Great Green, but never once thought to enslave nature, as they had not the power over the Green to be able to claim authority. So when they saw the Humans, they saw a weak species (much like them in the past) however one who had used Intelligence to triumph over their sacred grounds. Blasphamy. How dare a species as useless as humans have the audacity to attempt to control the Great Green? The Katar saw both the potential of triumph over their greatest weapon, and a weak species who had yet to fully understand it. Should they learn their potential, the Great Green would be destroyed by such a weak species, one who had no hardships, who had embraced nothing! The Kratar could not have it, and as such, declared war on the humans. At the same time, The An'ihum suffered from the inevitable. Death. Their species had an incredibly short life span. Nothing could ever be done, and nothing was ever being done. The An'ihum each had their own needs, and had once sought a fulfilling life doing what they wanted. The neighboring species on the same planet all pushed the An'ihum away easily. The An'ihum where all so singularly focuses on themselves, and their short life spans that the species never evolved. They cursed their life spans as the An'ihum population got smaller and smaller. It was in a moment of true desperation that the An'ihum changed. Every new birth was done to perform one duty, then embrace death. With their incredible reproduction ability, the An'ihum held deaths hand as they brute forced their way to being the apex species on their planet. So when Humans, a relatively long-living species entered their sights, they saw knowledge. They saw what they wanted, the ability to extend their lives, as the humans had multiplied their expected life span. They also saw the threat this knowledged posed to them and the other speicies. They needed life! Only then could they truly embrace death. So they held no regards about declaring war on a species so intent on running away from death. They knew not the embrace of death, but they shall learn. And the humans? They were different. Everybody assumed that they just had it easy, as that was why they so nice, so unwilling to spark conflict. But in reality they didn't embrace what they were best at, because they saw what embracing war truly meant. After building the ultimate weapon that made the very universe suffer, they learned that embracing war didn't mean strength. It meant complete and utter annihilation. They didn't embrace war, they surpassed it. And as the hostile species watched the very universe reject their existence, they realised that simple truth. First time posting here. Also on mobile, sorry for bad formating.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	It's useful, in a general sort of way, to be seen by the galaxy at large as cute, harmless doofuses. Soft, fleshy, tiny little bipeds, always wanting to communicate. To most of them, we're about as threatening as a Labrador puppy. Understand; our stellar neighborhood is a very scary place. Like Mos Eisly Cantina scary. You've got your hive mind "insectoid" races, your noncorporeal energy beings, and all manner of biologically acrobatic variations in between. And don't even get me started on the only other humanoids, the fucking Greys. Yikes. Those guys suck. Anyway, when I say "in a general sort of way," it's because there are a few specific and distinct disadvantages to this perception, as well. One of them would be situations where the ambassador from Earth must appeal to the Council of Argherrech. Which is the situation that I, as said ambassador, had to face during what was later called "The VingVa Crisis." The VingVa, known colloquially just the Ving or even simply V, were a particular obnoxious insectoid neighbor to earth. One day, without any prior notice, a Ving spacehive appeared only a few miles outside lunar orbit and began construction on an hyperspace corridor repeater site. And I don't have to tell you, the radiation those things throw off, when they're active, that close to Earth? Well. This kills the Labrador puppies. Of course all attempts by the human authorities at communication were ignored. The Ving had communicated to the council that they consider humans a non-sentient lower life-form, and thus unworthy of inclusion in the council or in fact any form of recognition or communication. This was a common perception among hivemind species, who generally only recognized sentience of other hives. Politics, amiright? As I approached the round which seated the members of the council, I was struck again bye how large of stature and claw and tooth most of them are. Quite intimidating. As I approached and climbed the tiny elevated platform where petitioners stood, I felt their alien perceptions tracking me. I spoke slowly and clearly into the translation assembly. "Good day and high praises upon all of your excellencies, members of the prestigious and all-knowing Counsel of Argherrech..." And then I went on like this for some time praising each member of the council individually and debasing myself before them. These guys LOVE flattery. Rather dreary and boring and if you don't mind I'll skip ahead to the important bits. "...and so, I come before you today to seek the permission of the council to defend the human homeworld against this unlawful incursion into our space." There was a silence as the counselors each finished receiving the translation. Though by policy the Ving never acknowledged any human communication, the first reaction was, in fact, from the Ving avatar. There was a series of twitching movements in the top third of it's upper facial appendages, which I had come to understand as a very rough analog to human laughter. Wonderful. What followed was a near 10 minute conversation among themselves that, of course, was not translated for my benefit. When they had finished their conference, Basthora, the "chair," spoke into his own translation assembly. What came out my end was a harsh, metallic, very robotic sounding voice. "If VingVa make war, Human cannot survive. Council will order VingVa allow one earthcycle for evacuation of Humans." Much as I'd expected. "Ah, yes, and this is much appreciated, oh most noble and generous rulers, may your reign last an epoch. But, if I may, and with all respect due, I was sent here today by the leaders of Earth to seek the permission of this glorious council to do exactly that. To declare war on the VingVa, and to, erm, to defend ourselves." Now the "laughter" was more pronounced - not just in the Ving avatar but in the forms of the others as well. A very brief untranslated conversation followed, but from what I had learned of their body language, the response was clear. Assent. "If Humans wish extinction, they may fight the VingVa to the death. Council grants permission." Of course, everyone knows what came next. We waited patiently for the V hive to finish constructing the terminal, and turn it on. Fifty H-bombs, casually dumped into the newly opened portal - a straight shot back to their homeworld. One more for the hive that built the damn thing. Funny thing, they didn't even bother trying to stop the tiny ship that did it. Never fired a single shot at it. They literally never knew what hit them. They saw us as so far beneath them, so insignificant, so weak, that even in total annihilation they did not comprehend the threat we posed to them. And they never will. Because now, there are no more VingVa. Yes, in a general sort of way, it is quite useful to be seen as cute, harmless doofuses. Though I'd wager that, in the future, maintaining that image may prove slightly more challenging. But, hey...what else are diplomats for? Edit: a word	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They say ‘History is written by the victor’, yet in our case, that is categorically false. I am a prophesy, a warning. I sit alone, the last of my kind, with one final duty. I too will become another footnote in history. Ours inevitably similar to countless others who, just like us, believed in our species’ supremacy. Our ascendant right to the universe. To conquer and exploit everything and anyone, as our gospel required. Like all warnings before us, I fear my words will again fade into the infinite, eventually just another fairy tale. Just the made up words of those who seek to keep you from reaching your true potential. It began with a simple warning: ‘Cease your expansionary violence, failure will result in jump gate privileges removed.’ The nerve of those humans. For as long as anyone remembered, they were the administrators of the jump gates. An incredibly rare and advanced species known for staying neutral in all other’s affairs. To most other races, this made them perfect mediators and trading partners. Not a lot was known about their main system since no traffic was allowed through the jump gate leading to it. Humans always traded outside their system and had no need to use the jump gates. Their unarmed ships appeared where needed. Their neutrality and lack of desire for expansion was pathetic. The stories say the once mighty Xhavi wanted control of their jump gate. The believed, like we all do, human’s control of the gates should cease. While the humans always followed every jump request, control of the gates meant control of information. And so they attacked the controller. In a blinding flash, the gate just… disappeared. The remaining Xhavi, maybe a few million across the Universe, forever refugees, struggle to survive. A once mighty species, forever locked behind the realities of physics. But these are just stories. We were different. We understood the theory behind jump gates. We currently lacked the technology to replicate it but that was to soon to change. Our methodical conquest of the Iuger revealed they had created technology to jump small objects. Our best scientists explained it, but as I now badly recall, it meant controlling massive energy outputs at precise moments when matter is split. With our numbers and this new technology, our scientists predicted we would soon be the dominant species. Certainly within my lifespan. We would start our ascendancy with a first strike at our gate controller while laying final waste to the Iuger. And then it happened. A request from a human envoy to appear at the central gate. As the head of The Executioner Fleet, our greatest pride, I was the natural choice. Waiting for us was a small group: a human, a Xhavi, another humanoid who I recognized as an Ulanian, and a few others I did not. ‘Impossible’… the Ulanians had disappeared tens of thousands of years ago. A huge power vacuum left which allowed the Xhavi and us to become dominant. There was not a single representative from any of the major alliances. There would be no audience, no grandstanding today. The human stepped forward and had one question: ’Who is the chosen one?’ I didn’t understand. At first we thought the translator malfunctioned. My anger was visible and I uttered my disgust, ‘How dare you interfere in our affairs?’ The human, pensive for a moment repeated ‘Who will be the chosen one?’ I yelled at the Xhavi ‘What is this affront to our sovereignty?!’ The Xhavi never raised his gaze. ‘We too were this naive. We too shared this... delusion. The masters of our own fate. Like you it began with a warning and like you we thought we were supreme. The truth is your fate has already been sealed. They see it all. Your armada secretly surrounding this meeting, your ships at battle station, your worlds preparing to finish up the Iuger. Right at this moment you are about to order your ships to fire. The human doesn’t care about your next move, only about who will tell your story.” I smiled. A brief moment of hubris. ‘FIRE!’ The choice was made. As every single one of our ships surrounding the meeting blinked out of existence in a spherical bloom of death and plasma... I finally understood the question. The human looked out to the stars. ‘We cannot allow any one of our creations to extinguish another. We cannot allow you to repeat our mistakes. Your species will have to wait behind your gate. You have been chosen.’ I am the harbinger of our destruction. I am the witness.	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	"You may have thought us pathetic and frail for our friendship and pacifism," related the calm voice that came over the monitor. The Glorthon admiral, Tee'et Lorcor, stared with horror as two more dreadnought class battle cruisers under his commanders were obliterated by a single missile strike each. The fleet was on the defensive, all fire was directed at stopping the hundreds of rockets from the human fleet and planet surface below. It seemed like they had just reached enemy's home star system, and the advance had come to a screeching halt. "But our friendship was extended because we know the true horrors of war," the calm voice continued almost sadly. The Glorthons had never experienced such resistance even from the mighty Cluthons of Criok 4. The early human resistance consisted of small frigates and transports using lasers meant only to clear rogue asteroids. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet had cut through the human forces like a predator's claw through soft flesh. Why would they hold back their most powerful weapons until they had broken through all the way to Mars? "You see we once fought among ourselves for things we now view as petty," the voice sighed as two more ships were incinerated, "Greed, bigotry, and national pride drove us to war with each other in the most brutal and savage ways." "It was a race to see who could kill each other faster and more efficiently, until one fateful day, twenty millennia ago, we invented a weapon that could vaporize cities," the voice explained. Surely he lies, thought Tee'et Lorcor. The only weapons capable of that are lasers and they stagnated at city sized destruction five thousand years ago. Yet, another ship exploded in radiant energy to prove his foe's point. "Eventually, the weapons were powerful enough to level small continents, that's when the Fateful Hour occurred. 70% of humanity was gone in what seemed like an instant, the rest left to pick through the scraps as they died slow painful deaths," the voice broke. Tee'et Lorcor's fleet was dwindling. He would have to get creative if he were to win this battle and put an end to the humans. He scrambled fighters to get in close to the orbital stations that seemed to be the primary source of the missile salvo "Faced with extinction, we promised to never again use such weapons and found a new purpose. We would rebuild as we took to the stars. It's funny what the specter of extinction will do," the voice mused. Lorcror was getting worried now. They had destroyed a couple of the stations, but the human squadrons were holding off his fighters just enough. For every station destroyed another four Glorthon battle cruisers exploded with bright light. "We met other peoples and vowed to help them build, create, and be happy. We learned from our mistakes and hoped to teach others," the voice seemed to be coming to a conclusion. Fate was beginning to dawn on Tee'et Lorcor. They could not win this fight. The shear amount of laser fire required to slowly drain the opposing fleets shields could not hope to keep up with the destructive power the missiles. He had to sound the retreat for the mere dozen ships remaining under his control. "And now we face extinction again," the voice stated gravely, "And we came to a terrible but inescapable decision. We must build the weapons again. We must fight with the efficiency we did back on Earth." Suddenly, Tee'et heard warning alarms. The warp drives failed to power up! Engineering reports all ships seemed to have been crippled. The humans must had been silently slicing into their warp core control systems since the battle started. Had they planned this from the start? "Did you really think Mars was always our home?"	No one could understand what had happened Usually complete orbital bombardment of a city would take several Earth years if not decades. Yet in under 6 hours of declaration an entire Garlax city had disappeared. 7 hours later another gone.8 hours. Another. It wasn’t until 23 cities had vanished that channels opened between the Garlax and Earth to negotiate surrender. It wasn’t even their president. It was the sixth in command. All others couldn’t be found. The entire planet was eventually scuttled and abandoned. It took the entire Federation 6 months of investigation before deciding to simply ask the earthlings what had happened. They stated that under one of their monuments, Roose Moose or something like that, was a cache of high yield explosives from generations past. They had retrofitted a handful of these onto some FTL drives, took aim, and fired. They didn’t know what they were. We still don’t know what they are. Needless to say, Earth and its colonies are enjoying some generous trade deals now. And now one has been on the Garlax home world since.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	They descended upon Earth with the full panoply of war. 1,000 starships, each a mile long carrying thousands of Soldiers, equipment and ordinance signified the undisputed might of the Ubojan Conglomerate. An unbreakable iron grip that held a thousand star systems under its hand. The sheer scale of their warmachine pressed upon the tiny blue planet like a boulder on top of a balloon, threatening to obliterate it simply by being there. Despite this, the tiny blue planet did not submit. The humans who call it home have tried for months to prevent this catastrophe. A species that preferred the sound of words than that of munitioned tried, and failed to appease the Goliath that threatened to snuff them out of existence before their dreams of stepping out into the stars were realized. These humans, peaceful and benign in the eyes of the galactic community were rudely introduced to the brutality of the galaxy that awaited them. Weak, pathetic... mewling at the edge of a backwater system were the first impressions that Ubojan Conglomerate had of these Humans. It has been some time since they showed the Galaxy why there were "the masters of the 1000". It is past due that everyone be reminded. That is until the first salvo hit. As the first starships made their atmospheric drop, the sky lit up in a blinding flash of white. For a moment, the bielectric crystals focuses of the ships detected only rudimentary defenses. projectile ordinance, liquid propelled fighter craft... Giant square water craft that launched these fighters.... millions of tiny ants scurrying about. A helpless hand weakly put up in the face of a beating.... and then again, another white flash. in minutes 5 starships disintegrated into nothing, the rest doused in lethal radiation. The eerie silence of shock was replaced by the blares of multiple alarm systems. Radiation readings went off the charts, multiple distress signals coalesced into a unified scream for help and status reports on the quantum comms. The remaining ships creaked and buckled as they reached the stratosphere, blown around like wayward kites upon the edge of a hurricane. "First centari report!!!" Shouted Admiral Ackubar across all channels. He lead the vanguard, the first centari to be the first to make planetfall. Ackubar wanted to be remembered and itched at the opportunity to be the one, the first one to take this planet for the undying empire. His first moments in this tiny blue planet however, when they win, will be scrubbed from histographs back home. "Multple starships destroyed, my lord" Reported his rear admiral, Haluga. "1st, 28th, 49th, 69th and 86th decari destroyed. Radiation levels are lethal within 5 welklans of their last position... 25 starships from respective decari are damaged but still battle worthy." "In the name of the undying how did they do that!!!" Cursed Ackubar. The first salvo tore through the skies like a needle piercing through an iron sky. Readings indicated ballistic and kinetic ordinance... which should have been useless against ceramo-crystalline hulls. It was their detonation however that most shocked Ackubar. Each hit lit up like a miniature sun enveloping the iron sky in a blaze of white hot fury. In all of his life, in all of his campaigns he has never seen weapons of this kind used before. Ackubar did not fear death. As a warrior of the 1000 worlds it was his duty to serve, and to die is his reward. What he saw flash before his eyes however, instilled in him the unsettling feeling of being afraid. "I want retaliatory bombardment from the launch site now!!! 57th, 2nd and 10th decari focus fire on these coordinates!!! 29th and 5th decari set bielectric scans to subterranean... all decari near the 5th and 29th for defensive formations!" the quantum comms hummed their affirmatives and within moments, the tendrils of the first centari sprang into action. Like a snake uncoiling each starship moved into their formations. the 57th, 2nd and 10th decari, the most armed of all the starships, launched photon neutrino torpedoes. Huge blue swaths of flame streaked the sky, determined to reach the ground bellow and pummel the very earth below. Another white flash, then another. the hurried, desperate pace of these flashes became quicker and quicker. 13 starships have been destroyed, including 7 that formed the defensive perimeter around the 5th and 29th. The 5th, 2nd and 10th increased their fire in response, peppering the ground and pockmarking launch sites as they are reported across the quantum comms. "29th and 5th, report scans to flagship!" commanded a nervous Haluga. The hundreds of small and big alarms systems surrounding him are starting to make him lose his composure. "29th and 5th reporting, sub scans inconclusive... elemental readings are suggesting high presence of lead underground.... its like this entire continent is covered in it. requesting permission to form offensive formations" "Negative responded Ackubar. "Maintain scans protocols, adjust for elemental readings. set scans to energy" The 5th and 29th complied. within moments the visual comms of the Ackubar's flagship "the indomitable" lit up. What he saw initially, puzzled him. Moments after, he felt his stomach drop. He superimposed the visual scan with the map and immediately he counted around 100 35 meter deep holes. he ran the scans through a intelligence interpreter and saw that the entire area was covered in these holes.... final count of the interpreter at 5000. They all had energy readings... Thermonuclear. "Attention all decari! This is Admiral Ackubar speaking. We have sprung a trap, all units disengage, and retreat to exophere immediately!" "57th 2nd and 10th form rear guard to co-" "my lord scans are reading fighter craft approaching formation!" Shoulted Haluga "they are arranged in packs of decans... formations suggest payload delivery!" "All units retreat now now now!" Admiral Ackubar bellowed. "Hunter interceptors engage enemy craft! do not let them within 5 welcans of our ships!" A torrent of fire and noise erupted in the earth's stratosphere. Like a hive of bees, human and Ubojan fighters engaged each other in waves of death, exploding ordinance and and scattered metal. The first centari lumbered away slowly, agonizingly as they are chased by a swarm of human figthers. The ubojan figthers were killing them off by the dozen, but there was thousands of them. They were faster, more nimble and could overwhelm hunter interceptor packs, swallowing them whole and spitting them out as a ball of molten fire. As random as this hive looked, it hid ominous intentions. in the center of it hid larger craft that suggested they were carriers. dozens of these carriers suddenly shot out of formation and raced their way into the center of the centari formation. several carrier craft exploded near the edge of the formation, creating giant clouds of white heat and light that enveloped entire swaths of the centari. The human hive disengaged, and streaked downwards... desperate to escape the apocalypse that they themselves delivered. 28 flashes of light was what Ackubar counted before oblivion took him. The first centari, the pride of the Ubojan Empire reduced to smoldering ruin thousands of lightyears away in a backwater system. Destroyed by insects... pathetic, weak, mewling insects. Ubojan high command saw it all unfold thousands of miles above the earth. Each member struck dumb with shocked silence, with 900 starships awaiting their command to unleash retribution. The visual comms of Sovereign Krasistus lit up. Images of unknown human symbols stared back at him. "What is this?" He growled. "It looks like a message your excellency." Reported his chancellor. "Translating now..." "It is... ancient, of the dictates of an Empire long gone..." the chancellor mused. "Gg-gruk?" "geeriik?" He tried to pronounce. "Interpreter compensate. adjust language dictation". The intelligence interpreter whirred its affirmative. "Language compensation complete. Human language discovered. Ancient Greek. Symbol translation. "μολὼν λαβέ" Molon labe. Ubojan translation complete. message reads... "come and take them." Humans do have a way with words the Ubojan High command concurred. They also have a way with war it seems. The 900 ships remained above the earth's orbit, safely away from their weapons of hate. Friendly and Peaceful they seemed, inside this tiny blue planet. Bristling with rage and an unexpected mastery of brutal warfare they are, on the surface of this this tiny blue planet.	"What do you mean its gone?" General Ashak asked, half angry, half confused. "We've lost communication, we no longer have visual confirmation of its existence, the airspace where the fleet should be is vacant of anything but a bit of debris. It just vanished." The ensign replied. Ashak closed both sets of eyelids hard enough to see spots of bright color bloom in his mind. His tongue flicked the air in annoyance. "Did they make hyperspace?" He asked after a long moment of contemplation. He didn't even want this war. He was supposed to retire next year. The humans had never done anything to him. He had no quarrel with them. But the Empress, may the sun forever shine upon her, wanted their technology. Supposedly they had discovered a method of mining rare minerals for almost zero energy cost. "Our instruments say no. They were there one minute and gone the next." A young private, probably in his early 400s, barely past his first shed, sprinted onto the deck of the command ship. "General," he saluted, right fist to left shoulder, first and second claw extended in the traditional manner. "I've been sent with an urgent message. All remaining fleets are to return to the capital. The humans have launched a counter attack." "With what? Sure they have amazing tech, but when it comes to war they're little more than hatchlings with pointed sticks." "My apologies, sir, but this private does not know." "Very well. Spread the word: were preparing to male hyperspace for return to Arin. All crew in their stasis pods withing the half-hour." ---------‐---------------------- 2 hours later the stasis pod beeped and opened. Akash stepped out, rubbing his eyes, groggily. He made his way to the bridge and turned on the forward view screen to begin docking procedures. He flipped the switch on the communications board and said into the mic, "Arin tower this is The Empress' Holy Ship Desert Sun. Reporting for orders and preparing to dock. Please send docking code and stand by for touchdown." He began flipping more switches as the rest of the flight crew made their way into the room. "Sir, I dont understand. We were supposed to arrive directly above Arin." The navigator sounded unsure. Akash looked at the screen for the first time and nearly lost his cool. The screen showed a large crater, with rubble strewn about like a hatchlings playroom. He recognized some buildings, the base where he had trained after joining the military, his hatchlings school and the office building his mate worked in, all little more than crumbling walls and shattered stone. Several more ships materialized in the sky around the Desert Sun. Soon the air waves were crowded with captains and generals demanding to know what happened. Within the next 4 hours, the entire armed forces of the Grellian empire hovered above a city that was no longer there. A single missile blipped on the instrument panel. Some from another ship laughed hysterically about the humans single missile against the entire military. Akash thought of his hatchlings and his mate. He missed them already. What sorcery could have done this. The missile detonated against one of the ships. It was engulfed in a small star in the span of a second. The world went quiet, and akash shut his eyes. He felt the heat wash over him. And the Grellian empire ceased to exist.
	[WP] Humans have always been the friendliest and the most peaceful species in the galaxy. When one of the most ruthless empires decides to wipe out the pathetic humans and their diplomacy, they discover that humans have something that no one in the galaxy has ever seen. Nuclear weapons.	Those humans. Those weak, pathetic Humans. Or so we thought. We decided to eradicate them. They where allies with many of our enemies, and had been providing raw materials to them to fuel them in their war with us. We knew they had to die. And Besides, they where so pathetic. Squishy bodies, lacking a hard chitin to protect them, oversized eyes. They weren't good at anything, just average at everything. They can barely run at 10 m/s, have below average smell and sight, even with those weird eyes. Squishy and cute. And they knew nothing of interstellar war. Oh we knew they had a few forays in their history, a few hundred thousand dead there, a million or two here. But they had given in to cowardice and now worked for galactic peace. They didn't expect us, and so we had attacked their home, their precious Earth, before they even realised. Billions dead. That was how to do warfare. Kill enough and break their spirit. We expected them to militize their economy when we began our assaults, but we didn't expect it to happen overnight. We moved more of our fleets into their space and they began modifying their ships ready for combat within a few months. We hadn't expected how quickly they could adapt to situations. I could almost admire them for it, if I didn't hate them so. After the first few battles, they proved themselves actually quite talented at killing. Oh they where using Adanai technology, no doubt gotten through one of their many trade deals, but they used it very differently to the Adanai. They experimented with strange tactics, such as using the ability to hyper jump whilst towing small meteors to create a simple yet effective trebuchet of sorts. When we withdrew from their space to regroup, we thought that would be the end of it. I wish it had been. They kept coming first invading our space, and then blockading our planets. We thought we could match them, ship for ship, and outgun them with our dreadnaughts. But more and more of their ships kept coming. Soon we where not only fighting a defensive war, but one we couldn't win. They waited till we tried to surrender to begin the extermination. Every planet, bombarded from orbit simultaneously with those bombs. We are somewhat resistant to fallout, but they completely destroyed the atmosphere, turning our worlds into tombs for our people. And they did not stop until they got to me. I, Commander SCRTCH am the last of my people. They left me alive merely to bear witness to the destruction they had brought. The gift of death was too good for the one who had massacred their home, they said. And so here I stand, on the tomb of my people, recording this message for posterity. If any future civilisation finds this, I tell you, don't cross the humans. They have no concept of honorable warfare. They only bring death.	"What do you mean its gone?" General Ashak asked, half angry, half confused. "We've lost communication, we no longer have visual confirmation of its existence, the airspace where the fleet should be is vacant of anything but a bit of debris. It just vanished." The ensign replied. Ashak closed both sets of eyelids hard enough to see spots of bright color bloom in his mind. His tongue flicked the air in annoyance. "Did they make hyperspace?" He asked after a long moment of contemplation. He didn't even want this war. He was supposed to retire next year. The humans had never done anything to him. He had no quarrel with them. But the Empress, may the sun forever shine upon her, wanted their technology. Supposedly they had discovered a method of mining rare minerals for almost zero energy cost. "Our instruments say no. They were there one minute and gone the next." A young private, probably in his early 400s, barely past his first shed, sprinted onto the deck of the command ship. "General," he saluted, right fist to left shoulder, first and second claw extended in the traditional manner. "I've been sent with an urgent message. All remaining fleets are to return to the capital. The humans have launched a counter attack." "With what? Sure they have amazing tech, but when it comes to war they're little more than hatchlings with pointed sticks." "My apologies, sir, but this private does not know." "Very well. Spread the word: were preparing to male hyperspace for return to Arin. All crew in their stasis pods withing the half-hour." ---------‐---------------------- 2 hours later the stasis pod beeped and opened. Akash stepped out, rubbing his eyes, groggily. He made his way to the bridge and turned on the forward view screen to begin docking procedures. He flipped the switch on the communications board and said into the mic, "Arin tower this is The Empress' Holy Ship Desert Sun. Reporting for orders and preparing to dock. Please send docking code and stand by for touchdown." He began flipping more switches as the rest of the flight crew made their way into the room. "Sir, I dont understand. We were supposed to arrive directly above Arin." The navigator sounded unsure. Akash looked at the screen for the first time and nearly lost his cool. The screen showed a large crater, with rubble strewn about like a hatchlings playroom. He recognized some buildings, the base where he had trained after joining the military, his hatchlings school and the office building his mate worked in, all little more than crumbling walls and shattered stone. Several more ships materialized in the sky around the Desert Sun. Soon the air waves were crowded with captains and generals demanding to know what happened. Within the next 4 hours, the entire armed forces of the Grellian empire hovered above a city that was no longer there. A single missile blipped on the instrument panel. Some from another ship laughed hysterically about the humans single missile against the entire military. Akash thought of his hatchlings and his mate. He missed them already. What sorcery could have done this. The missile detonated against one of the ships. It was engulfed in a small star in the span of a second. The world went quiet, and akash shut his eyes. He felt the heat wash over him. And the Grellian empire ceased to exist.

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