Post by EmperorMyric on Dec 16, 2017 19:57:35 GMT
Hargun sat on the command chair of the Union's massive space station, the Argus, floating above the beautiful sight of Mirach Prime. This was the main hub of the Union's command and control in Ancerious, and so much information came through here that very soon they were going to need an additional processing station to make sure it all got through. However, Hargun was reviewing the latest reports when suddenly on the lower rung below him one of the communication surveyors called out to him.
"Sir, something called a 'Combine' is attempting to speak to you?" The man said quite confused. “It's accessed the Union's coms receiver and is broadcasting directly to your coms station”
“Took them long enough,” Hargun said smiling, Finally, they were calling. He tapped a few controls and brought it up.
“What exactly are they wanting, Ensign?” Hargun asked.
"For you to answer the communicator, sir." The man replied.
"Route it through the visual. I want to see his face."
"Yes, sir."
Hargun waited for several seconds before the Ensign replied.
"Sir, there is no visual channel. Audio only."
Hargun raised an eyebrow. How odd. "Just give me the audio, then."
"Yes, sir."
A cracking sound could be heard as a screen appeared overheat showing a vibration line, the tell tale signs of static lacing it from such a far away signal. Suddenly it came alive with sound.
"As you have attempted to establish a visual channel, I must now inform you that it is impossible. I deigned to speak to you personally, Admiral, and I have no physical form and thus no visual channel can show you anything more than an empty room." The voice boomed around the command deck making all the other personnel stop and stare, it was an synthesized voice though one that was well done.
Hargun nodded. "You're the leader of the Combine, then?"
"You misunderstood our messages," the Combine stated. "I am the Combine. The guiding intelligence programmed to monitor and govern the Ostech civilization. I have no hardware platform for my use, and I am entirely software. You can't see me any more than you can see a computer virus. My input comes almost entirely from the citizens and drones integrated into the Combine."
Hargun raised an eyebrow in surprise, this was a very interesting response. "Ah, yes. Your people are…integrated. They share thoughts with -"
"Not like in a hive mind, no. I read and understand their thoughts, and can in turn transmit my own orders and thoughts throughout the Combine, but the two processes are exclusive. My people are as individual as you and your Ensign, Admiral. So long as they accept our way of life of their volition, that is; if they can't, they are terminated or become drones. A little over 99% of the populace has chosen to voluntarily accept me."
Hargun frowned, would the Combine seek to subjugate the Union…? "And as for us…?"
"That is one reason I wished to speak with you, Admiral. The Combine is interested in integrating entire species, true. But your entire species resides in another galaxy, as I understand it. Integrating your species in would require passage to your own - and impossibility in itself - and would doubtlessly incur the ire of your allies. That goes against our interests. Mutual cooperation would better suit our interests, Admiral."
Hargun nodded, in reality he knew the Combine would have an incredibly hard time gaining even a foothold in the Union universe…he suddenly had a flashback to the Draken wars, all the death and destruction…but quickly regained thought. "So the long and short of it is that you are requesting an alliance between the Union of Worlds and the Ostech Combine?"
"Yes." The voice boomed. Nearly every Union personnel on deck breathed quiet sighs of relief.
“Good, the Union is a very peaceful nation, we seek allies and unity through working together. We have many allies, fight for those that are repressed and downtrodden and - most of all - fighting the forces of darkness. We are, in short, dedicated to keeping the peace," Hargun replied.
"I acknowledge this philosophy. I would rather the Combine remain uninvolved in large-scale confrontations, at least for now. Our transportation works differently from yours. We cannot achieve velocities greater than the speed of light without subspace gates, and these must be formed in pre-established facilities."
Hargun thought for a moment before replying: "And if you were to receive aid in completing these gates…?"
"That would enhance our travel capabilities, and would expedite our being useful to you. It would allow travel throughout Galaxy Ancerious almost instantly."
That got the Admiral's attention. "Your subspace jump technology, right? You mentioned that in your galaxy-wide hail."
"General A'eloya did, yes."
"How exactly do you manage that? We the Union use a form of Quantum gate networking, to gain instantaneous travel from system to system, however we rely mostly on our FTL. The system doesn't sound much different from yours. How does yours work exactly?"
"It's simple, if counter-intuitive. It's a standard subspace-rending gate that we link to another gate located near an object of sufficient mass as to dilate space even further. Then we open a third gate at the desired location. Between our Galaxy Origin and this Galaxy Ancerious, an unknown distance, there is a negligible time of less than one hundredth of a second to travel between them."
"And just how big does this 'sufficient mass' have to be?" Hargun asked as a quick question.
"That's classified. It will suffice to say that no object in Galaxy Ancerious fits the bill so far as we are aware. If you help us complete the gates, we will allow you and your allies their use as transportation."
Admiral Hargun nearly fell out of his chair. "Just like that? We can use your gates, and your only condition is that we help build them? And then we're allies and we can count on your support?"
"Yes, almost, and no. If you were expecting a monetary transaction, we have no need for currency in the Combine. After constructing the gates, they will need to be defended, though a token force from each ally of yours plus the automated defenses will be more than enough. And while I can consider the Union an ally when this is finished - or even right now, if you prefer - I cannot promise significant support from the Combine until we have finished our Installation Fallous such that it is operational and able to defend itself. Until then it is largely vulnerable and I must insist on placing most if not all of the support of the Ostech Ancerious Fleets in proximity of the station."
"I'm a bit curious about that, now that you mention it," said the Admiral. "A space station the size of a star system takes tremendous resources to build. While a two-to-four year completion forecast is impressive, it does nothing to dismiss the obvious fact that you're ready to commit significant effort in this galaxy. What that is, I haven't the slightest idea. And if it isn't to conquer other species as we thought it might be, then I'd like to know what it is." Hargun finished the demand with a stern face. So far, he was liking the outcome this was coming to. At least, better than some he had done.
For the first time, the Combine took a few seconds to think of a response. "I applaud your reasoning, Admiral Hargun. Such a keen mind would put most of my officers to shame - doubtlessly the reason your Emperor Myric put you in charge of operations in Galaxy Ancerious. I certainly look forward to future…"
"That isn't answering my question, Combine." Hargun said, surprised that the Combine would bat away the question with a reference to the Emperor and a compliment to him.
"No, it isn't. I will maintain open relations with the Union, Admiral, plus any and all of its allies in Ancerious. And if I decide that I can trust you and your allies enough with the purpose of our incursion, I will discuss it with you at such a time. It will, however, require more than the construction of the requisite gates and continued support over the years to earn that trust."
"I'm not sure if I can trust your sincerity. How am I to know your long-term intentions won't be detrimental to the Union, what's more to our allies?" Hargun asked this as a precaution, though he was relieved to hear open relations would be established with the other allies. At least constructing the gates shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
"I can give you my word, though its value will be proven over time, Admiral. I believe you have an expression that applies, to 'take a leap of faith.'" Hargun smiled slightly at the hint of the word faith, which had no meaning in the Union. Before the Admiral could reply, the Combine added, "I promise that our long-term goal will not involve the conquest, destruction or integration of any faction in Galaxy Ancerious. I won't say any more than that, Admiral. Do you understand?"
Hargun sighed and sat back further in his chair "I understand."
"Then I bid you good day, Admiral. I'll transmit schematics for our gates once I have confirmed your allies are…'on board'…with this plan." Then the audio crackled, and the communicator went silent again.
Admiral Hargun faced the Ensign below him as to review the situation "Well, Ensign, what do you make of that?"
Instead of replying, he first ran a system diagnostic. The Quantum AI running the system reported unknown codes, probably Ostech in origin. After removing five cookies and a tenacious digital bug and being most satisfied that the Combine was no longer observing them, he faced the Admiral and nodded. "Our own suspicions about them are mostly correct, at least. We assumed they'd be here specifically for conquest, but we were right in thinking they are here to search for something. Something worth building a space station the size of a small star system. Their second such installation; even the ICS's economy would hesitate at the financial cost of such an ambitious project." he replied quite amazed at the prospect of a system sized installation.
"I somehow doubt the Combine is worried about finances. They said as much. Their only cost may well be the actual resources needed to build the station. They seem very like the Union in that aspect; we don't necessarily need money...”
"Even then, it's a significant undertaking."
Hargun frowned. “As for a race so similar to ours, I still don't 100% trust them, however I think we should go ahead with this plan. It is beneficial to us, and could gain us a very powerful ally.”
The Ensign nodded as he replied, “I have to say it does seem a bit suspicious...”
"That's putting it mildly," said Admiral Hargun. He considered, then nodded. "As for the Union, we have enough allies on our side plus a few enemies whom we can convince that the Combine is a bigger threat than us. Between them, I don't have to worry about the Combine turning on us. I suspect they already know that, and that honestly worries me more than the assumption that it's simply being an arrogant dictator. For now, we can at least aid them in building these 'subspace gates' of theirs. Even if they end up betraying us, we can use the gates they leave behind and I'll have schematics to introduce some sort of Quantum virus to disable any in the network they still use. All I need to do now is convince our allies to help us help them."
"You realize the risk you're taking, don't you?" the Ensign replied.
"It's no more of a risk any of the factions took when they arrived at Ancerious." Hargun replied “Besides, high command can make the overall decision and go from there.”
"A fair point." The Ensign paused. "A dictator? Really?" he asked.
"The Combine can sugar-coat its policies how it likes, an AI running the population still sounds like a one-sided dictatorship," Hargun replied. "Maybe I'm biased, but I'll believe it when I see it. Our business is over. I shall be going back to making these reports. Notify me of any more important messages.”
“Yes, sir.”
///***\\\......///***\\\
[system owned by the Drake Empire]
[they're going about their business.]
"Lords, High King," he said breathlessly, "if I may interrupt your counsel…" the Drake paused, only continuing when the High King himself bade him with a nod. "We are getting an urgent request for a communiqué. It's the Combine."
A pause. The Lords exchanged glances, and returned their attention to the intruding Drake. "With the High King?" one of them asked.
"It wasn't specific, but I assumed so."
"Route it through the screen, then," another Lord demanded.
"At once. Though it's…it's an audio-only transmission."
As the Drake attendant made the necessary adjustments, one of the Lords snorted, though it was closer to a light snicker. "No visual?" he muttered to the nearest Lord. "Afraid to see us, or afraid we'll discover an obvious lie?"
The High King caught that and scowled at the Lord. "Pyracian, please. Combine technology isn't compatible with ours. You can't assume…" At that moment there was a crackle in audio; an unusual sound to the Drakes, but at once indicating that a connection had been established.
The Drake attendant stepped back and nodded. Turning to face the council, he announced, "The Combine and the Drake Council have each other in audience. Lords, I take my leave."
"Granted," the High King conceded, prompting the Drake to bow and exit. Facing the screen (and at once wondering just how useful that reflex actually was), he said, "Combine?"
"Yes," answered a light, smooth and synthesized voice (and also, surprisingly, sounding very similar to a human's). "If you wish to address me by that designation, you may."
"Noted," the High King said, initially somewhat unsure. "I was told you had an urgent matter to discuss with me?"
"Of a sort," the Combine replied, "but rest assured there is no immediate danger. Nor one of any kind I can see, for that matter. I apologize if I have caused undue alarm, but I wished to speak with you in person…so to speak. I also see that you are in counsel…"
"You can see us?"
"Although I have no physical presence, I can take audio and visual inputs from your communications, yes. In any case, my timing is fortuitous to catch you and a number of your Lords. I have a request and a proposition, High King."
"So you already know that I am the High King Helios," said the very High King himself. Pointing to the present Lords in turn, he introduced them one by one: "This is Earth Lord Terran, Ocean Lord Aquadie, Sky Lord Vortexean, Fire Lord Pyracian, and Ice Lord Glacian."
"I now recognize and acknowledge your identities," the Combine said. "I'll be brief, High King. Upon our incursion into the galaxy Ancerious, we announced our presence -"
"We received your introductory hail, Combine," Aquadie interjected. "You needn't brief us on its contents again."
"So I see." The Combine didn't even seem insulted by the interruption; contrarily, it somehow seemed pleased that the Drakes had received and acknowledged the hail. "Included in that hail was a statement that we are building an installation of immense size."
"You called it 'Fallous,' if I recall."
"Yes. I did not authorize General A'eloya to release that information, however, so I have decided to escalate our construction of the facility. To that end, I request a number of devices to clear out planets that will be in the way of our construction."
Nobody said a word. Not for an entire minute. The Combine patiently waited for a reply.
Finally, Vortexean cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad you were blunt enough to say as much at once, and without mincing words. But due to the nature of the devices you seek - our planet crackers - we must seriously and with immense caution consider this request."
"Discuss it with me. I am open to negotiation on this matter."
Pyracian frowned and said, "I don't know if that remark is considerate or wholly rude."
"In the interest of discussion," Helios said quickly, "we'll deal with the obvious…um, elephant in the room, if you will. What I mean…"
"I am familiar with the expression," the Combine said. "You're worried I will use the devices offensively. And you are in the right to assume such caution in the face of an unknown, that is to say myself."
Pyracian's eyes widened. "Too honest for your own good, I'd say you are."
"Do I have a choice? I have nothing to gain from lying to you. I am a new arrival in the galaxy, I and the citizens I govern. I am without an ally, and already I have one faction eager to make war with us." ("The Capitol tends to do that," Terran muttered.) "This ultimately means that I have nothing to gain by turning your devices on the Drake Empire and its allies as weapons of mass destruction. You could all, in an instant, converge on the Fallous System and drive us out of Ancerious. I would much rather make a mutually-beneficial trade for the planet crackers, and I intend to use them solely to remove all five planets in the Fallous system."
"You mean to reduce them to salvageable rubble," Aquadie interjected. "That is the true purpose of the devices, after all."
"I am aware of that."
"Then you mean to use the remains of these planets as construction materials to build your…installation?" Glacian asked.
"Unnecessary. The Combine can procure and transport the necessary materials needed to build Installation Fallous. As a token of appreciation, I offer the salvage these planets will produce."
The Lords all looked at one another. Terran asked, "To clarify, by 'salvage,' you are referring to a portion of each planet destroyed?"
"Not merely a portion of the planet, but its entirety."
"Wait a second," Pyracian scoffed. "You expect us to believe that your request for five planet crackers really is to clear away some planets, and to the point where you offer us the rubble of what remains? You don't really think the salvage is useless to you!"
"You're right. It is useful as a means of compensation. My Combine has already stripped away all of the iron, carbons, nitrogen and heavy metals we desire from them. We could stockpile the remaining salvage, true, but you are doubtlessly more interested in the salvage than we are in keeping it in storage."
Pyracian grunted. "Too honest for its own good, if it is telling the truth!"
Helios nodded. "I can't wholly share Lord Pyracian's contempt, but I share his mistrust. You've just arrived. By all rights we shouldn't even be considering a serious discussion at all. I'm surprised you decided to open negotiations at all, to be frank."
"You have something that would assist the Ostech Combine, and in return I am willing to submit to whatever security measures and procedure you deem necessary to safely detonate those five worlds alone, and to surrender whatever salvage they produce following the procedure. Mutual cooperation and exchange is logical."
Aquadie leaned in closer (a useless gesture, but very natural considering the nature of her following remarks) and said in a serious tone, "To be absolutely clear, you admit that you will be submitting to a procedure we will draw up. Hypothetically, we will provide you with the planet crackers in good faith and you will in turn use them in good faith on the five planets of the Fallous System - your own territory. We will monitor their handling, placement and use very closely. And we will treat any deviation from the procedure as nothing less than an offense to the Drake Empire if not a direct attack. Do you, at this time, understand this?"
"Yes." So soon and so quick was the Combine's reply that one could be forgiven in believing that there was no reply at all.
For no other reason than to be sure, the High King Helios had to ask, "Do you mean that?"
"You're being generous, in fact. I may have declared any deviation as nothing less than a formal declaration of war."
Vortexean frowned. "Now I can agree it's being too honest for its own good."
"Well, if you're willing to submit to such a harsh constraint," Helios said, "then we might conceivably agree to your using the planet crackers. We are in the middle of business, Combine, but this…discussion…is on our agenda."
"I understand," said the Combine. "You have our communications system and our hailing frequency, and I expect a reply as soon as you have come to a decision of some kind. I hope for one benefiting the Ostech Combine, but I can understand one that does not." The audio crackled and died.
Pyracian stood up. "You can't be considering this, High King! It's too dangerous!"
"I'm not so sure, Lord Pyracian," Helios replied. "The Combine was unusually sincere and forthcoming. I think we can believe its intentions insofar as the planet crackers are concerned."
"I agree," Aquadie said, "as hard as it is to believe. It came into this meeting fully expecting our hesitation. AI or not, the Combine had at least given the matter serious consideration."
"It's a machine," Glacian countered. "Of course it gave the matter deep thought. How long would that be, ten seconds? Maybe less?"
Lord Terran said, "It was at least smart enough to know that using these devices for nefarious reasons will lead us and other allied forces into driving them out of Ancerious. If they'd developed any measures to prevent all-out assault from destroying their one foothold, we'd have discovered it by now. There's no way they could have developed those measures, anyway - it's only been a few months."
"During which they managed to strip five entire planets of specific resources?" Pyracian crossed his arms. "I don't buy it."
"The Combine is intelligent," Helios supposed. "Maybe they have trillions of Ostech in Ancerious already, most of them simple noncombatant drones."
"You really think so?"
"One of our fleets already encountered an Ostech vessel, completely unarmed and declaring itself a peaceful exploration vessel. Not one of the crew armed with anything more than an energy pistol. Make of that what you will, Lord Pyracian."
The Fire Lord grunted, but said nothing. Then Vortexean said, "I understand your skepticism, but all things considered I don't think the Combine would draw out a lengthy and brutally honest negotiation for such dangerous devices just to use them as weapons. It's just too much effort for a scheme that can only end in us chasing them out of Ancerious. It doesn't add up."
"Oh, and nobody here is worried about the system-sized space station they're building?" Pyracian's eyes darted energetically from one Lord to the next. "Nobody at all?"
"All it means is that the Ostech really don't want to be forced out of the system." Aquadie calmly stood up in order to meet Pyracian's gaze. "Building such a facility is inordinately costly, but guarantees they have at least a portion of a presence in the galaxy. It's actually quite clever."
Lord Pyracian grunted. "Maybe you're right. Or maybe I'm right. Either way, the Ostech aren't here to make friends with us, or anyone else. They're ready to commit far too much resources, time and effort for anything casual. Mark my words, all of you - why ever the Combine decided to enter Ancerious, it's big. And when it comes, we might be wishing we'd gone to war when we had the chance."
"Your opinions are so noted, Lord Pyracian," said the High King Helios. "We will entertain the idea of lending the Combine the five planet crackers they ask for, and we will naturally err on the side of caution. The details we will discuss later. Right now, we were discussing something else…"
///***\\\......///***\\\
"Sir, something called a 'Combine' is attempting to speak to you?" The man said quite confused. “It's accessed the Union's coms receiver and is broadcasting directly to your coms station”
“Took them long enough,” Hargun said smiling, Finally, they were calling. He tapped a few controls and brought it up.
“What exactly are they wanting, Ensign?” Hargun asked.
"For you to answer the communicator, sir." The man replied.
"Route it through the visual. I want to see his face."
"Yes, sir."
Hargun waited for several seconds before the Ensign replied.
"Sir, there is no visual channel. Audio only."
Hargun raised an eyebrow. How odd. "Just give me the audio, then."
"Yes, sir."
A cracking sound could be heard as a screen appeared overheat showing a vibration line, the tell tale signs of static lacing it from such a far away signal. Suddenly it came alive with sound.
"As you have attempted to establish a visual channel, I must now inform you that it is impossible. I deigned to speak to you personally, Admiral, and I have no physical form and thus no visual channel can show you anything more than an empty room." The voice boomed around the command deck making all the other personnel stop and stare, it was an synthesized voice though one that was well done.
Hargun nodded. "You're the leader of the Combine, then?"
"You misunderstood our messages," the Combine stated. "I am the Combine. The guiding intelligence programmed to monitor and govern the Ostech civilization. I have no hardware platform for my use, and I am entirely software. You can't see me any more than you can see a computer virus. My input comes almost entirely from the citizens and drones integrated into the Combine."
Hargun raised an eyebrow in surprise, this was a very interesting response. "Ah, yes. Your people are…integrated. They share thoughts with -"
"Not like in a hive mind, no. I read and understand their thoughts, and can in turn transmit my own orders and thoughts throughout the Combine, but the two processes are exclusive. My people are as individual as you and your Ensign, Admiral. So long as they accept our way of life of their volition, that is; if they can't, they are terminated or become drones. A little over 99% of the populace has chosen to voluntarily accept me."
Hargun frowned, would the Combine seek to subjugate the Union…? "And as for us…?"
"That is one reason I wished to speak with you, Admiral. The Combine is interested in integrating entire species, true. But your entire species resides in another galaxy, as I understand it. Integrating your species in would require passage to your own - and impossibility in itself - and would doubtlessly incur the ire of your allies. That goes against our interests. Mutual cooperation would better suit our interests, Admiral."
Hargun nodded, in reality he knew the Combine would have an incredibly hard time gaining even a foothold in the Union universe…he suddenly had a flashback to the Draken wars, all the death and destruction…but quickly regained thought. "So the long and short of it is that you are requesting an alliance between the Union of Worlds and the Ostech Combine?"
"Yes." The voice boomed. Nearly every Union personnel on deck breathed quiet sighs of relief.
“Good, the Union is a very peaceful nation, we seek allies and unity through working together. We have many allies, fight for those that are repressed and downtrodden and - most of all - fighting the forces of darkness. We are, in short, dedicated to keeping the peace," Hargun replied.
"I acknowledge this philosophy. I would rather the Combine remain uninvolved in large-scale confrontations, at least for now. Our transportation works differently from yours. We cannot achieve velocities greater than the speed of light without subspace gates, and these must be formed in pre-established facilities."
Hargun thought for a moment before replying: "And if you were to receive aid in completing these gates…?"
"That would enhance our travel capabilities, and would expedite our being useful to you. It would allow travel throughout Galaxy Ancerious almost instantly."
That got the Admiral's attention. "Your subspace jump technology, right? You mentioned that in your galaxy-wide hail."
"General A'eloya did, yes."
"How exactly do you manage that? We the Union use a form of Quantum gate networking, to gain instantaneous travel from system to system, however we rely mostly on our FTL. The system doesn't sound much different from yours. How does yours work exactly?"
"It's simple, if counter-intuitive. It's a standard subspace-rending gate that we link to another gate located near an object of sufficient mass as to dilate space even further. Then we open a third gate at the desired location. Between our Galaxy Origin and this Galaxy Ancerious, an unknown distance, there is a negligible time of less than one hundredth of a second to travel between them."
"And just how big does this 'sufficient mass' have to be?" Hargun asked as a quick question.
"That's classified. It will suffice to say that no object in Galaxy Ancerious fits the bill so far as we are aware. If you help us complete the gates, we will allow you and your allies their use as transportation."
Admiral Hargun nearly fell out of his chair. "Just like that? We can use your gates, and your only condition is that we help build them? And then we're allies and we can count on your support?"
"Yes, almost, and no. If you were expecting a monetary transaction, we have no need for currency in the Combine. After constructing the gates, they will need to be defended, though a token force from each ally of yours plus the automated defenses will be more than enough. And while I can consider the Union an ally when this is finished - or even right now, if you prefer - I cannot promise significant support from the Combine until we have finished our Installation Fallous such that it is operational and able to defend itself. Until then it is largely vulnerable and I must insist on placing most if not all of the support of the Ostech Ancerious Fleets in proximity of the station."
"I'm a bit curious about that, now that you mention it," said the Admiral. "A space station the size of a star system takes tremendous resources to build. While a two-to-four year completion forecast is impressive, it does nothing to dismiss the obvious fact that you're ready to commit significant effort in this galaxy. What that is, I haven't the slightest idea. And if it isn't to conquer other species as we thought it might be, then I'd like to know what it is." Hargun finished the demand with a stern face. So far, he was liking the outcome this was coming to. At least, better than some he had done.
For the first time, the Combine took a few seconds to think of a response. "I applaud your reasoning, Admiral Hargun. Such a keen mind would put most of my officers to shame - doubtlessly the reason your Emperor Myric put you in charge of operations in Galaxy Ancerious. I certainly look forward to future…"
"That isn't answering my question, Combine." Hargun said, surprised that the Combine would bat away the question with a reference to the Emperor and a compliment to him.
"No, it isn't. I will maintain open relations with the Union, Admiral, plus any and all of its allies in Ancerious. And if I decide that I can trust you and your allies enough with the purpose of our incursion, I will discuss it with you at such a time. It will, however, require more than the construction of the requisite gates and continued support over the years to earn that trust."
"I'm not sure if I can trust your sincerity. How am I to know your long-term intentions won't be detrimental to the Union, what's more to our allies?" Hargun asked this as a precaution, though he was relieved to hear open relations would be established with the other allies. At least constructing the gates shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
"I can give you my word, though its value will be proven over time, Admiral. I believe you have an expression that applies, to 'take a leap of faith.'" Hargun smiled slightly at the hint of the word faith, which had no meaning in the Union. Before the Admiral could reply, the Combine added, "I promise that our long-term goal will not involve the conquest, destruction or integration of any faction in Galaxy Ancerious. I won't say any more than that, Admiral. Do you understand?"
Hargun sighed and sat back further in his chair "I understand."
"Then I bid you good day, Admiral. I'll transmit schematics for our gates once I have confirmed your allies are…'on board'…with this plan." Then the audio crackled, and the communicator went silent again.
Admiral Hargun faced the Ensign below him as to review the situation "Well, Ensign, what do you make of that?"
Instead of replying, he first ran a system diagnostic. The Quantum AI running the system reported unknown codes, probably Ostech in origin. After removing five cookies and a tenacious digital bug and being most satisfied that the Combine was no longer observing them, he faced the Admiral and nodded. "Our own suspicions about them are mostly correct, at least. We assumed they'd be here specifically for conquest, but we were right in thinking they are here to search for something. Something worth building a space station the size of a small star system. Their second such installation; even the ICS's economy would hesitate at the financial cost of such an ambitious project." he replied quite amazed at the prospect of a system sized installation.
"I somehow doubt the Combine is worried about finances. They said as much. Their only cost may well be the actual resources needed to build the station. They seem very like the Union in that aspect; we don't necessarily need money...”
"Even then, it's a significant undertaking."
Hargun frowned. “As for a race so similar to ours, I still don't 100% trust them, however I think we should go ahead with this plan. It is beneficial to us, and could gain us a very powerful ally.”
The Ensign nodded as he replied, “I have to say it does seem a bit suspicious...”
"That's putting it mildly," said Admiral Hargun. He considered, then nodded. "As for the Union, we have enough allies on our side plus a few enemies whom we can convince that the Combine is a bigger threat than us. Between them, I don't have to worry about the Combine turning on us. I suspect they already know that, and that honestly worries me more than the assumption that it's simply being an arrogant dictator. For now, we can at least aid them in building these 'subspace gates' of theirs. Even if they end up betraying us, we can use the gates they leave behind and I'll have schematics to introduce some sort of Quantum virus to disable any in the network they still use. All I need to do now is convince our allies to help us help them."
"You realize the risk you're taking, don't you?" the Ensign replied.
"It's no more of a risk any of the factions took when they arrived at Ancerious." Hargun replied “Besides, high command can make the overall decision and go from there.”
"A fair point." The Ensign paused. "A dictator? Really?" he asked.
"The Combine can sugar-coat its policies how it likes, an AI running the population still sounds like a one-sided dictatorship," Hargun replied. "Maybe I'm biased, but I'll believe it when I see it. Our business is over. I shall be going back to making these reports. Notify me of any more important messages.”
“Yes, sir.”
///***\\\......///***\\\
[system owned by the Drake Empire]
[they're going about their business.]
"Lords, High King," he said breathlessly, "if I may interrupt your counsel…" the Drake paused, only continuing when the High King himself bade him with a nod. "We are getting an urgent request for a communiqué. It's the Combine."
A pause. The Lords exchanged glances, and returned their attention to the intruding Drake. "With the High King?" one of them asked.
"It wasn't specific, but I assumed so."
"Route it through the screen, then," another Lord demanded.
"At once. Though it's…it's an audio-only transmission."
As the Drake attendant made the necessary adjustments, one of the Lords snorted, though it was closer to a light snicker. "No visual?" he muttered to the nearest Lord. "Afraid to see us, or afraid we'll discover an obvious lie?"
The High King caught that and scowled at the Lord. "Pyracian, please. Combine technology isn't compatible with ours. You can't assume…" At that moment there was a crackle in audio; an unusual sound to the Drakes, but at once indicating that a connection had been established.
The Drake attendant stepped back and nodded. Turning to face the council, he announced, "The Combine and the Drake Council have each other in audience. Lords, I take my leave."
"Granted," the High King conceded, prompting the Drake to bow and exit. Facing the screen (and at once wondering just how useful that reflex actually was), he said, "Combine?"
"Yes," answered a light, smooth and synthesized voice (and also, surprisingly, sounding very similar to a human's). "If you wish to address me by that designation, you may."
"Noted," the High King said, initially somewhat unsure. "I was told you had an urgent matter to discuss with me?"
"Of a sort," the Combine replied, "but rest assured there is no immediate danger. Nor one of any kind I can see, for that matter. I apologize if I have caused undue alarm, but I wished to speak with you in person…so to speak. I also see that you are in counsel…"
"You can see us?"
"Although I have no physical presence, I can take audio and visual inputs from your communications, yes. In any case, my timing is fortuitous to catch you and a number of your Lords. I have a request and a proposition, High King."
"So you already know that I am the High King Helios," said the very High King himself. Pointing to the present Lords in turn, he introduced them one by one: "This is Earth Lord Terran, Ocean Lord Aquadie, Sky Lord Vortexean, Fire Lord Pyracian, and Ice Lord Glacian."
"I now recognize and acknowledge your identities," the Combine said. "I'll be brief, High King. Upon our incursion into the galaxy Ancerious, we announced our presence -"
"We received your introductory hail, Combine," Aquadie interjected. "You needn't brief us on its contents again."
"So I see." The Combine didn't even seem insulted by the interruption; contrarily, it somehow seemed pleased that the Drakes had received and acknowledged the hail. "Included in that hail was a statement that we are building an installation of immense size."
"You called it 'Fallous,' if I recall."
"Yes. I did not authorize General A'eloya to release that information, however, so I have decided to escalate our construction of the facility. To that end, I request a number of devices to clear out planets that will be in the way of our construction."
Nobody said a word. Not for an entire minute. The Combine patiently waited for a reply.
Finally, Vortexean cleared his throat. "Well, I'm glad you were blunt enough to say as much at once, and without mincing words. But due to the nature of the devices you seek - our planet crackers - we must seriously and with immense caution consider this request."
"Discuss it with me. I am open to negotiation on this matter."
Pyracian frowned and said, "I don't know if that remark is considerate or wholly rude."
"In the interest of discussion," Helios said quickly, "we'll deal with the obvious…um, elephant in the room, if you will. What I mean…"
"I am familiar with the expression," the Combine said. "You're worried I will use the devices offensively. And you are in the right to assume such caution in the face of an unknown, that is to say myself."
Pyracian's eyes widened. "Too honest for your own good, I'd say you are."
"Do I have a choice? I have nothing to gain from lying to you. I am a new arrival in the galaxy, I and the citizens I govern. I am without an ally, and already I have one faction eager to make war with us." ("The Capitol tends to do that," Terran muttered.) "This ultimately means that I have nothing to gain by turning your devices on the Drake Empire and its allies as weapons of mass destruction. You could all, in an instant, converge on the Fallous System and drive us out of Ancerious. I would much rather make a mutually-beneficial trade for the planet crackers, and I intend to use them solely to remove all five planets in the Fallous system."
"You mean to reduce them to salvageable rubble," Aquadie interjected. "That is the true purpose of the devices, after all."
"I am aware of that."
"Then you mean to use the remains of these planets as construction materials to build your…installation?" Glacian asked.
"Unnecessary. The Combine can procure and transport the necessary materials needed to build Installation Fallous. As a token of appreciation, I offer the salvage these planets will produce."
The Lords all looked at one another. Terran asked, "To clarify, by 'salvage,' you are referring to a portion of each planet destroyed?"
"Not merely a portion of the planet, but its entirety."
"Wait a second," Pyracian scoffed. "You expect us to believe that your request for five planet crackers really is to clear away some planets, and to the point where you offer us the rubble of what remains? You don't really think the salvage is useless to you!"
"You're right. It is useful as a means of compensation. My Combine has already stripped away all of the iron, carbons, nitrogen and heavy metals we desire from them. We could stockpile the remaining salvage, true, but you are doubtlessly more interested in the salvage than we are in keeping it in storage."
Pyracian grunted. "Too honest for its own good, if it is telling the truth!"
Helios nodded. "I can't wholly share Lord Pyracian's contempt, but I share his mistrust. You've just arrived. By all rights we shouldn't even be considering a serious discussion at all. I'm surprised you decided to open negotiations at all, to be frank."
"You have something that would assist the Ostech Combine, and in return I am willing to submit to whatever security measures and procedure you deem necessary to safely detonate those five worlds alone, and to surrender whatever salvage they produce following the procedure. Mutual cooperation and exchange is logical."
Aquadie leaned in closer (a useless gesture, but very natural considering the nature of her following remarks) and said in a serious tone, "To be absolutely clear, you admit that you will be submitting to a procedure we will draw up. Hypothetically, we will provide you with the planet crackers in good faith and you will in turn use them in good faith on the five planets of the Fallous System - your own territory. We will monitor their handling, placement and use very closely. And we will treat any deviation from the procedure as nothing less than an offense to the Drake Empire if not a direct attack. Do you, at this time, understand this?"
"Yes." So soon and so quick was the Combine's reply that one could be forgiven in believing that there was no reply at all.
For no other reason than to be sure, the High King Helios had to ask, "Do you mean that?"
"You're being generous, in fact. I may have declared any deviation as nothing less than a formal declaration of war."
Vortexean frowned. "Now I can agree it's being too honest for its own good."
"Well, if you're willing to submit to such a harsh constraint," Helios said, "then we might conceivably agree to your using the planet crackers. We are in the middle of business, Combine, but this…discussion…is on our agenda."
"I understand," said the Combine. "You have our communications system and our hailing frequency, and I expect a reply as soon as you have come to a decision of some kind. I hope for one benefiting the Ostech Combine, but I can understand one that does not." The audio crackled and died.
Pyracian stood up. "You can't be considering this, High King! It's too dangerous!"
"I'm not so sure, Lord Pyracian," Helios replied. "The Combine was unusually sincere and forthcoming. I think we can believe its intentions insofar as the planet crackers are concerned."
"I agree," Aquadie said, "as hard as it is to believe. It came into this meeting fully expecting our hesitation. AI or not, the Combine had at least given the matter serious consideration."
"It's a machine," Glacian countered. "Of course it gave the matter deep thought. How long would that be, ten seconds? Maybe less?"
Lord Terran said, "It was at least smart enough to know that using these devices for nefarious reasons will lead us and other allied forces into driving them out of Ancerious. If they'd developed any measures to prevent all-out assault from destroying their one foothold, we'd have discovered it by now. There's no way they could have developed those measures, anyway - it's only been a few months."
"During which they managed to strip five entire planets of specific resources?" Pyracian crossed his arms. "I don't buy it."
"The Combine is intelligent," Helios supposed. "Maybe they have trillions of Ostech in Ancerious already, most of them simple noncombatant drones."
"You really think so?"
"One of our fleets already encountered an Ostech vessel, completely unarmed and declaring itself a peaceful exploration vessel. Not one of the crew armed with anything more than an energy pistol. Make of that what you will, Lord Pyracian."
The Fire Lord grunted, but said nothing. Then Vortexean said, "I understand your skepticism, but all things considered I don't think the Combine would draw out a lengthy and brutally honest negotiation for such dangerous devices just to use them as weapons. It's just too much effort for a scheme that can only end in us chasing them out of Ancerious. It doesn't add up."
"Oh, and nobody here is worried about the system-sized space station they're building?" Pyracian's eyes darted energetically from one Lord to the next. "Nobody at all?"
"All it means is that the Ostech really don't want to be forced out of the system." Aquadie calmly stood up in order to meet Pyracian's gaze. "Building such a facility is inordinately costly, but guarantees they have at least a portion of a presence in the galaxy. It's actually quite clever."
Lord Pyracian grunted. "Maybe you're right. Or maybe I'm right. Either way, the Ostech aren't here to make friends with us, or anyone else. They're ready to commit far too much resources, time and effort for anything casual. Mark my words, all of you - why ever the Combine decided to enter Ancerious, it's big. And when it comes, we might be wishing we'd gone to war when we had the chance."
"Your opinions are so noted, Lord Pyracian," said the High King Helios. "We will entertain the idea of lending the Combine the five planet crackers they ask for, and we will naturally err on the side of caution. The details we will discuss later. Right now, we were discussing something else…"
///***\\\......///***\\\