That's a good start, anyway; now that it has no bases and is barely populated, I send most of the Rayden Diplomatic Fleet on to Cryslon. With a huge Human Dreadstar of unknown design approaching Bootis, I put up another missile base and a swarm of NPG fighters, just in case Lasitus has decided my "attack" on Uxmai voided our peace deal (and in case the huge ship has weapons that would actually make me care what it does, such as bombs or an insane number of missile racks). He doesn't seem too unhappy with me though, and in fact accepts a trade agreement worth 275 BC per year!
Cryslon's missile bases are supported by a huge ship of their own, the Polaris, so the gentle diplomats aboard my "Kindly Institution of Love, Learning, and Early Reconciliation" Fleet may be in for a fight!
Well ... sort of. The Polaris insists on firing at my Termites even after they've destroyed the planet's bases, and I humor it, dodging its missiles, while most of its heavy lasers miss. Most of what it fires at my Hornet gets absorbed by its powerful shields, and though I lose several dozen bombers in the course of the battle, it ends with complete victory!
With every sign that three different technologies are about to be discovered, I am disappointed to find only Gatling Lasers ready before the election. I decide that a working Mass Driver design might be useful after all, and start work on it tentatively. In the meantime, I form my last peaceful colony...
...and proceed with my diplomatic overtures to the Bears and Brains.
That's apparently not good enough to get them to vote for me, and Lasitus, seeing that he'll have the support of my Silicoid enemies, accepts a nomination himself to run against me. At our first election, I just barely had a safe one-third veto.
At the election of the Rise of the Triad, I just barely exceed half the vote, with 15 of 29 - more than twice what Lasitus and Sedimin have togeter! Naturally, I abstain from the election once again. And so the Triad rises, as my new people of Maalor command more than half the galaxy, as the ancient Children of Rha express their pleasure and their belief that we can challenge the evil Silicoids together, and as the Guardian's star ... the Guardian's star remains a thrilling, troubling mystery.
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2375 Scoring | The Story Continues
