Chapter 502 (2/2)
She tapped the podium with her switchblade. ”You're going to be facing Earthlings.”
Admiral Smith shivered, obvious to everyone.
”An Earthling will not only glass your planet, but then carve a message to everyone that they did and they're proud of doing it, and if anyone has any objections, they'll glass them too,” Dreams said. ”They will kill you, everyone who looks like you, glass your planet, then planet-crack them, then nova-spark the whole system, then rebuild it and act like that's how it's always been.”
Dreams shook her head.
”Our people are as old as the Lanaktallan,” she leaned forward, flashing an icon for smugness. ”We have your databases, so we know everything you know.”
She shifted back. ”So we know everything that all of our allies know, our allies can confirm all of this, and we know everything that all of you know, and I can tell you, none of you have any idea, those of you who came after the Great Glassing, exactly what is out there.”
She let the silence build for a long moment.
”The Terrans, the Humans, the Earthlings, they have a belief that is unique to their species. Out of all of their beliefs, this belief is unique. No other species has made this belief a guiding principle of their species,” Dreams said. ”While others might give lip service to it, the Earthlings, they live this belief.”
She shook her head.
”The Earthlings have always said: Hope for the best,” she said. She waited, seeing the Lanaktallan all start to nod. She flashed an emoji for care. ”Prepare for the worst.”
The Lanaktallan looked confused.
”That is entirely reasonable. Many believe that this is a perfectly logical belief,” one Lanaktallan said.
”A belief, yes,” Dreams said. ”They, and obviously you, hold it as a belief.”
”Then why is it so fearsome?” the same one scoffed. ”They're just like any other neo-sapient.”
Dreams flashed icons of laughter.
”Except, the humans, the Earthlings, they put it into practice. It seeps into everything they do. Everything they believe. From their belief of a malevolent universe, to their motto that you can always take your enemy with you, to their absolutely cemented conviction anything is an option when protecting themselves, their allies, or what they feel are 'the innocent', including planet cracking an entire species out of existence.”
Dreams brought up several images on the Tri-Vee behind her.
One showed a Terran surrounded by a pile of bodies still fighting, using a broken weapon and a knife to kill their opponent, often fighting so many at a time they were surrounded. After a few minutes, he stood alone, covered in biofluids and scraps of flesh, staring at the camera, their eyes glowing red and their teeth bared.
Another showed a Terran child stabbed through the chest by a Mantid warrior. She opened her hand and let an implosion grenade drop even as she screamed around the blood filling her lungs. The image vanished in white.
Another showed a Terran getting up, one arm blown off, a tourniquet around the biceps, firing a pistol with one hand in the face of enemies swarming at him.
She froze the images.
”Those are Terran Descent Humans,” Dreams said. She turned on the other images. Unarmored Terrans fighting with ballistic weapons, charging into artillery, even clashing with swords.
”These are the Earthlings of eight or nine thousand years ago,” Dreams said softly. ”They do not stop. Ever. Until they win or all of you are dead.”
She tapped another control and the screen filled with images taken from drones or from ship sensors. World after world full of dead Terrans. Terrans falling over dead in mid stride.
”This is Terran Descent Humanity, they are virtually all gone,” Dreams said. ”However, they prepare for the worst. Part of this was sharing every bit of technology and information with their allies upon their extinction, in hopes that, in some way, it would enable us to survive even though they are gone.”
Dreams sighed. ”We have found hints. Hints of terrible projects that ensure that humanity, that Earthlings, do not vanish forever, do not go extinct. Of colonies hidden out in the darkness, the colonists in cryostasis or even Thrint Stasis Fields, in case TerraSol is lost.”
Dreams tapped her switchblade on the podium.
”You are not only beset upon by multiple foes, but right now, at this very second, the Terrans believe that what happened was a Unified Council bioweapon attempt to gentle them which, instead, killed all but three out of every hundred thousand. Your only choice is to surrender, in which case, by our laws, we are bound to protect you. We are bound to use all of our military might to defend you from our mutual foes,” Dreams said.
She shook her head. ”But that requires you to surrender unconditionally to the Terran Confederacy of Aligned Systems.”
A Lanaktallan stood up. ”What if the Earthlings arrive to exterminate us?”
Dreams nodded, flashing an icon for understanding. ”Then the Confederacy will stop them. Your surrender is unconditional. If you don't surrender, we will burn away your worlds rather than devote the manpower to occupy them and the blame will be solely with you.”
She tapped her datallink, sending out the treaty. ”Sign this, or don't. Those of you who sign it, and abide by the surrender terms, will be protected and treated according to that treaty.”
She tapped the podium with her switchblade.
”Those of you who do not sign, hostilities with commence within seventy-two hours of your refusal to sign this agreement. Another agreement will not be offered until Confederate military leaders have determined that at least one quarter of your infrastructure and your population has been eliminated,” she said.
”And with any luck, we'll get things under control before the Earthlings arrive,” Dreams said.
”What if you cannot?” a delegate asked after signing the document without reading it.
”Then they'll kill everyone in their way,” Dreams said.
”How do you know?” another Lanaktallan asked.
”Because they've done it before and we, their allies, know that they'll do it again,” Dreams said somberly. She pointed at the Galactic Arm Spur, then slowly moved her bladearm to point at the galactic arm coreward. ”They did it, unknown to all of us, as little as three hundred years ago, burning the Mar-gite from existence.”
She leaned forward.
”And by now, the Earthlings hiding in the Dark know what has happened. That their children have been murdered.”
She leaned back.
”And they will be back.”
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MANTID FREE WORLDS
Think they'll sign?
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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS
They better.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
AKLTAK SOARING WORLDS
Are you serious about the Earthlings being out there?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
LANAKTALLAN FREE HERD
Are they really out there?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
You're just saying that to scare them, right?
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
No. She didn't tell them the truth. Earthlings aren't anything like she made it sound.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS
Whew.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---
PUBVIAN DOMINION
They're worse.
---NOTHING FOLLOWS---