With no further bases standing in the way, the cruiser could see our peaceful determination, and knowing it could not turn us away, chose instead to retreat.
2399: We had to repel another Alkari attack on Vox this year - this time including a pair of Warbird cruisers - but our fighters and Stinger bases dealt with the poor birds easily. It's high time we repaired relations there; though they won't arrive in time to influence the upcoming Galactic Council vote, a diplomatic mission is being dispatched to Keeta even as we speak.
2400: Time for our last, great pre-election diplomatic initiative! People of Mentar, your government refuses all overtures of peace! We know you are at heart a peaceful people who wish only fair exchange of knowledge and good-will! Will you leave off the ways of your oppressors and join with me?
Yyyyyessssssss! It appears they did! You can tell because they're wearing green cloaks now as a sign of solidarity. Good old Psilons! And the Newsdroid's right: That makes Mentar my ninth star system! Maybe I am on my way to controlling the galaxy! Plus, Mentar's people taught my scientists all kinds of Psilon secrets - like Uridium Fuel Cells (Range 8), Fusion Bomb, Neutron Blaster, and Ion Rifle technology! But more importantly, see my scientist on the right there? Looks like he's wearing an old-school military officer's uniform too, to show solidarity with the Psilons who are showing solidarity with me! I just love the way all my subjects get along so well together. I must be doing something right, no matter what the election's outcome turns out to be.
...
Wellll ... so I didn't win the election. In fact, only the Meklar emperor voted for me. That left me with exactly one vote, while I abstained with my five-vote veto, and everybody else backed Mirana in a disappointing attempt to thwart my peaceful intentions for the galaxy. I guess my diplomats will have their work cut out over the next couple of decades. But the good news is, with the fuel cells I recovered from Mentar, I got to meet INT-986!
The Aggressive Industrialist leader of the Meklar one-planet empire pointed out its homeworld's location (don't tell INT I already knew by process of elimination!) and even agreed to trade 30 BC per year with me! See? The diplomatic outlook is really improving!
2401: Well, the aliens keep forcing us to surgically remove their missile bases before they'll let our Diplomats land, but luckily we're good at those surgical strikes, and I'm told that the election campaign on Keeta is going great! The really funny thing is though, INT called me up to introduce itself, even though we were already trading. I think I just got Uridium cells so late last year that the Meklar emperor recorded, "Still no contact with the Darloks this year" on its cybernetic day planner and even after we'd made our agreements, took its day planner's word for what was happening instead of reality's. Also, I got a report on Meklar technology from one of my black-cloak scientist guys, and it looks like they're doing kind of all right for someone trapped on the wrong side of the nebula in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Okay, so that's not saying much of anything. Ohhhhhh, yeah. And the new missile base at Mentar scared off a bunch of Psilon Imperial fighters. Good work, people of Mentar! You can see you've joined the winning team!
2402: More Alkari assault ships ran away from Vox, but also from Keeta, where my Diplomats are being protected by a space superiority fleet, a sad acknowledgment of the realities of war.
The really great news is, the people of Keeta saw how dumb the whole war is, and agreed to secede from their warlike empire, accepting protection from me! Like the newsdroid says, all the galaxy's leaders are taking note of what their people are doing, and like those people, preparing to merge with my empire! Hurray! I wonder if they'll all put on green cloaks like the Psilons and Alkari seem to do when they switch sides and join up with me. Anyway, as you can tell, the people of Keeta shared some of their knowledge with my scientists again; Warp Dissipator has great potential! It should let my ships stop attack fleets cold without having to kill anybody! All right! I guess this means it's time to send my Diplomats on to Altair!
Oh, Ariel called too after Keeta joined my empire, to ask me for something, but I couldn't find my universal translator for some reason. I was sure I put it on the table, but no. My Secretary of Defense happened to be in the room though, and luckily, he's learned to speak some Alkari! He said, "Ah, Ariel is asking if you would ... let's see ... exterminate the people of Keeta for him, because he ... um ... doesn't like them now that they've joined your empire." I asked if he was sure, because I would have thought Ariel would be asking for peace, but he said he was very sure, so I had to say no to Ariel, obviously. I wasn't sure how to do that, but luckily, the SoD found the universal translator just then! It had slipped off the table into his lap somehow. How funny!
2404: We lost twenty fighters in our defense fleet repelling an Alkari imperial attack at Keet last year, but we've got a Stinger base up there now, and another at Proxima, and that takes care of this year's attack fleets. Oh, and I forgot to mention one other thing.
I don't know why INT-986 suddenly hates me. What warnings does he mean? I don't remember any. Is this what the droid meant about merging with my empire? Cause it sure doesn't look that way to me!
2405: Still more attacks on Proxima and Keeta. When will Ariel learn? At least I'm still friends with good old Mirana! One of my black-cloak scientists up at Draconis just transmitted plans for Class III Deflector Shields in Mrrshanese, so the collaboration projects I restarted not too long ago are going great - plus I just signed Mirana up for a trade agreement increase - up to 275 BC!
2406: Meson called me up on the holophone, but just as I was going to answer, I got a really urgent message from my Secretary of Defense, to meet him in his office for an emergency meeting, so I told Meson to hold on, and hurried right over. He wasn't there though, and his secretary told me I must have misunderstood: The SoD was going to meet me! So I hurried back to the holochamber, and saw myself hanging up on Meson! But then it all made sense, because he shapeshifted back into the SoD, and explained, "He was just calling to yell insults at you. I got rid of him so we could cover the urgent matters of the Interdict 4 Dissipator Cruiser's first destination and the design I just created for a Pure Fusion combat-base-remover ship to fly ahead of our campaign workers." I was kind of surprised, because I would have expected Meson to be begging for peace after we stopped all his attacks and two of his planets joined our empire and everything, but I know my SoD would never lie to me!
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Next: The Ultimate Betrayal
