"Another year, another pair of highly valuable technologies. Our codebreaker in bear space came away from a Parnar lab with designs for a fusion cannon, and our planetologists just developed a Universal Antidote that should render any bioweapon yet imagined, never mind built, completely ineffective against humanity. Next up, if we have time to complete it, is another huge leap forward in terraforming technology. You'll notice I only mentioned a pair. Well, our invasion force at Mentar fell short again, so we'll have to wait for the final wave arriving next year, and as for the tech we got from the Darloks..."
"...well, Controlled Barren doesn't really qualify as a valuable tech. On the other hand, what do you expect in exchange for IIT that's a century and a half out of date? The really important thing is the NAP we established with these guys. It's nice to have at least one non-enemy."
2516
"Well, I'm told spies lifted ancient, decrepit Irridium fuel cell plans from Maretta and didn't bother framing anybody. Whatever. What I want to know is whether the Psilons are going to finally start taking us seriously."
"Do you think we made our point? (Saurak certainly does; he finally agreed to call off his war and get back to a serious trade agreement)."
2517
"Emergency report from Collassa! The Bulrathi have arrived with another major fleet, and their newest Rhino dreadnoughts carry 21 Omega bombs each! They're mounting class 5 shields, anti-missile rockets, and better maneuvering speed than any alien design we've seen to date! ... Of course, when I say emergency, it's a relative thing. We've got 23 Pulson bases up, and that's enough to smoke both dreads before they can kill a single base. But, you know, if they showed up in numbers like that first Psilon cold war fleet, we'd need more bases or one of our repulsor ships or something."
"Of course, when we do need them, we can get them pretty quickly...."
2518
"Scout ship Galileo reporting from the Orion system! The Guardian is closing, and my warp cores are already cutting in for full retreat, but my scanning run was a success! I've got full specs on the Guardian itself, and more importantly, I've detected intact buildings and transmission stations on the surface of Orion itself! There is every reason to believe our research is correct: The Orion Compact is no myth, but the reason we've survived to see the modern galaxy! Forget the hard beam someone just stole from Beta Ceti's Klackons; I may be just a pilot, but I've just seen Orion up close; please listen to me! Let's accept the Psilons' offer of peace, and start moving toward a future with a truly united galaxy!"
2519
"Our Psilon friends have agreed to help us reduce our industrial waste across the galaxy ... errrr ... just don't tell them they agreed, since I [ahem] don't think they're quite aware yet that they've given us the needed technology. In any case, Operation Peace is progressing apace, with peace and trade just established with the lunatic Bulrathi. The equally-crazy Klackons haven't talked peace in ages, but I think they may yet see the error of their ways ... by about this time next year."
2520
"Admiral Douglas reporting from the Klackon homeworld of Kholdan 2. I'm pleased to hear that our people in Psilon space are still productive - that Armored Exoskeleton design you just sent over will certainly help out our troops. Send my congratulations to our computer scientists as well for their work on a Mark 8 computer; the new robotic controls they envision will undoubtedly be a boon for all our people. But I'm sure what you really want to hear is how the battle is going. Well, I'm watching the soldiers landing in their new exoskeletons as we speak. Why don't you have a look with me?"
"It seems their homeworld comes complete with 249 intact factories, Andrium Armor, Controlled Tundra, Reduced Waste 80 (try not to chuckle) - and Class 5 shielding. And it appears that Xantak is now prepared to accept peace and resume trade relations now that we've made our little point. Satisfactory."
2523
"Here in the R&D wing, we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of our renewed Sakkra NAP agreement with a couple of new projects: A Personal Barrier Shield and High Energy Focus, starting up right away ... now that we've already worked out how to build Class 15 planetary shields for our colonies and Trilithium fuel cells for our ships!
2524
"Hey, does anyone know why the Psilons, Bulrathi, and Darlok are yelling into their holo-transmitters like that? It wouldn't be because of the outdated terraforming tech our agents stole from the brains earlier this year, would it? No? Just because we're better than them? Yeah, I guess that sounds right."
2529
"Well, that's it, everybody. Hand phasors two years ago, Tritanium Armor this year, and that should just about do it. Yeah, we're off to work on Hellfire torps and IIT2 - our construction engineers seem to be pretty single-minded about improving industrial technology - but the time has come to concentrate our energies on the fruits, rather than just the development, of these new technologies. Orion calls to us, and the time has come to send an expedition there."
2532
"Still singing the same old song, Darquan? Really. I think we could use a change of pace in this galaxy. New songs would be really nice about now - or anyway new singers. In fact, I've been thinking ... there's this particularly fat lady...."
_______________
Next: Singing
