"Proceeding as expected. Toranor is ours now, and we have more Probes on the way up to Whynil. Obviously, they're going to have to lead our peaceful negotiations with Narzina, since the twenty-six Venom destroyers and armed Darlok Colony Ship we saw in the area last year just chased our Discoveries from orbit there and claimed the ocean world at the heart of the galaxy. We need that place to reach the galactic northeast, so there's no way we can let the shapeshifters keep it. We'll just have to make sure those xenophobes learn to see things our way!"
Rhilus Academy of Linguistic Studies, 19.5.2366:
"Translation of the GNN Newsdroid transmission was a success! It was obviously triggered by our arrival at the world of Imra, where the absence of heavy minerals will allow for extensive biological experiments in a pristine natural setting, factory-free. Our twelfth world will become a planet-sized bio-laboratory!"
"The previous GNN message must obviously have been about the waste-producing crystals, which at the time had spread to six worlds in the galaxy. They've now spread even further, so it's perfectly understandable that Machine Shop Vega should continue producing Probes to help deal with them - though it's odd that all the Probes are heading out toward Whynil, where no reports of crystal activity have been received."
Mentar Planetary Communications Suite, 1.6.2368:
"A terrible thing has happened! A horrifying discovery! The propogating crystals we had planned to wipe out, the so-called Silicoids, are not an out-of-control pollutant, but a race of sentient beings! It never struck us that entities so utterly unlike ourselves could possibly be thinking creatures, that their waste-generating devices could actually be akin to our own factories! Obviously, they only need to be taught to rein in their waste production or clean up the results as we do - certainly not attacked and destroyed! The transmission following our destruction of the last crystals at Rha was an unsurprising declaration of war! We must correct this as best we can, and fortunately, we have an opportunity in the same context in which we made the discovery! Representatives of all the races of the galaxy are in conference by holotransmission, to choose one being to lead the galaxy in peace! With our own top RBO as the alternate candidate thanks to the peaceful expansion that has left us with the highest population in the galaxy, I am able to make a peace offering to the Silicoid leader, giving Crystous our five votes on top of the seven it had already. Unfortunately, this is not sufficient to establish it as ruler and bring on galactic peace, but I hope it will be a step in the right direction at least. Obviously, we will have to stop production of our crystal-containing laser fighters immediately! ... Or as soon as Galactic Command acknowledges my message at least..."
Low Whynil Orbit, 7.5.2370:
"Thanks for the news; the production of a Deep Space Geolab to capture the last barren planet of which we know is clearly a positive sign. It's also good to hear that our terraforming techniques have improved, and Soil Enrichment is no doubt the right way to proceed, considering the number of habitable planets we control. It's good to see we'll be able to someday live at radiated worlds too, and that terraforming can be improved still more. We're obviously going the right way."
(-maximum security military decryption sequence complete; replaying transmission-)
"Coded order sequence acknowledged. Last year's 45 BC trade deal with the crazy bugs will not affect our plan for dealing with the Darlok incursion here. Our initial strafing run took down only two factories, but demonstrates that we can still penetrate the planetary defenses, with dozens more Probes due to arrive and contribute each year."
(-encrypted transmission complete-)
Celtsi Fission Propulsion Lab, 26.4.2373:
"Power Certitude has come through again, making warp 3 engines a reality, and proposing another refolding technique to freeze military starships in space, preventing them from attacking without resorting to fighting ourselves! It's a real disappointment that the recent rumors about engine instability swayed public opinion to the point of demands that we design an Inertial Stabilizer - they have no basis in fact, but they persisted in spite of all the proof we present, almost as if someone were intentionally propogating them. There's no peaceful use for such devices that I know of, but now we have to finish the project to retain our funding. It's good to hear we're colonizing Xendalla now at least."
Mentar Planetary Communications Suite, 27.6.2375:
"Good morning, Narzina. It is true that we abstained from the galactic council vote instead of joining you in voting for the Silicoids; under other circumstances, we would certainly have cast our vote to unite the galaxy in peace. Our vote was a necessary protest however, since the Silicoids continue to behave unacceptibly, polluting the environments of all their worlds in spite of our protests. Since we will likely have a veto over all council proceedings by the time of the next election, it will be necessary for them to clean up their act if they are to become the rulers of the galaxy."
...
"Wait, that's not what you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Attack one of your colonies?! We can't have ... we couldn't be ... oh my thoughts! The Probes! I haven't heard anything about the Probes since the first fleet's report from Whynil! They've been way out at extended range, beyond the reach of our planetary scanners, all this time! They can't be ... they can't have ... oh, no ... oh, NO! The Probe 3.0s that were built this year and last, ostensibly to replace our slower scout fleets, are heading in Whynil's direction as well! We've been betrayed! Narzina, please understand! Please accept our apologies! We were betrayed by a small group among us! We want peace!"
Mentar Galactic Command Center, 12.8.2376:
"I must repeat what I have told you again and again: That the Probe 3.0s were built for the purpose described, and have continued to be built and routed toward Whynil precisely to investigate allegations of insubordination and war crimes - war crimes, as we all know, consisting of the perpetration of any act of war - by the older Probe fleet established there. Whatever was done at Whynil was not an act of war planned here at Mentar! I submit to you now however that the absence of reports from that direction hints of another explanation of events altogether: We have only the word of Narzina itself, ruler of the cloak-shrouded, shape-shifting Darlok spies, that any combat took place at Whynil at all. Surely we can not call it a peace lover, now that it has issued a declaration of war! Consider the possibility that even as they claim to be under attack, the Darloks might have slain - or kidnapped and tortured - all our peaceful pilots! I dearly hope it is not so, but until I see evidence to the contrary, I will not believe our loyal Probe pilots are at fault when the one speaking against them has revealed itself as a warmonger! The Darloks are so untrustworthy, even their former allies broke with them years ago. Let us not be more credulous than the Klackons themselves of these shape-shifters who would force us into war!"
Low Whynil Orbit, 2.2.2379:
"It is just as we feared! All our Probes were trapped on the planet's surface along with the Deep Space Autolab, and the pilots and crew were suffering torture under the pseudopods of Darlok interrogators. Only a daring and completely peaceful raid, in which no one was killed, was able to free them - and then the Darloks pursued with an assault fleet!"
"We had no other choice than to open fire on their missile boats and armed Colony Ship cruiser to save what ships we could. It is only with great regret that we took this drastic step, and we hope that it will never happen again!"
(-maximum security military decryption sequence complete; replaying transmission-) "Took out another defensive fleet; lost a few fighters, but no problem. Good luck selling the rest of the campaign." (-encrypted transmission complete-)
Main Mentar Electronics Research Complex, 19.5.2379:
"Let's not get too carried away by tidings of war. The new shields developed two years ago make our planets immune to all forms of laser fire, and our force field labs are in the process of developing a Class V Planetary Shield to help protect our worlds from almost everything else. If we remember the lore of peace, it won't be long before we need fear no war. That's why the materials physicists followed up last year's advances in factory-building technology not with combat-ready new armor materials, but with an Automated Repair System to heal meteorite punctures aboard our starships. And that's why our new robotic controls will be followed in this very complex not by combat technology of any kind, but by an Improved Space Scanner to ensure we need never fear attack when none is truly on the way. Thus, even in time of war, our labs develop hope for peace."
Endoria Governor's Palace, 24.1.2381:
"The Darloks sent a fleet of Venom destroyers to attack us, and their nuclear missiles, over 150 in total, could penetrate the shields of our missile base! I hate to say it, but I'm glad we had our Probe and dozens of PT DEFs in orbit. More than 25 brave pilots lost their lives, to say nothing of the Darlok crews they were forced to kill; war is a horrible, horrible waste ... but now that I've seen the nuclear missile boats closing in on my world, I'm glad that, if war there must be, we are in position to win that war."
Surface of Whynil, 12.6.2382:
"I regret to report the actions of our star fleet here at the heart of the galaxy."
"The Probe fleet that was supposedly defending our forces from Darlok attack has actually remained in the system, attacking and last year destroying the Darlok colony. Their protests that the Darloks attacked first, in the course of forming that very colony, of course fall on deaf ears as mere pro-military drivel. Right action by definition is action approved by the peace-loving Psilon populace, and if they were taking the right action, they would not have needed to conceal it from the people until now, when it is a fait accompli. We have raised a Wall of Shame to commemorate our pilots' murder of the this world's Darloks at the colony we built where their homes once stood, and negotiations will begin to return this world to the Darloks, with monetary reparations for the tragedy that struck here ... if they ever become willing to talk to me.
"Some little good has come of this at least: We have finally met the last of the great space-faring races of the galaxy. Through their leader, Krungo, the Bulrathi greeted us - a little aggressively perhaps, but in the environmentally-friendly fashion of all the many ecologically-driven people in the galaxy. The time is come to establish a lasting peace with their three-planet empire, beginning with 200 BC in trade, and to seal the friendship that has grown between us and Jasana's people, boosting our annual trade with the Mrrshans to 275 BC. Thus, on the heels of the horrors of war, we find new opportunities for peace."
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Next: Taking Advantage of an Opportunity
