"It is not easy to part with such an important economic achievement, but we desperately need the means of reaching the far frontiers of the galaxy.
In spite of all this trade however, no references of even the most elusive or fragmentary variety exist to trades between the Sakkra and Meklar peoples. This may relate somehow to the erratic nature of Meklar Emperor QX-537; surely one or both relate to the events of 2347.
"Oh ... dear."
In spite of the Sakkra diplomats' best efforts, the QX-537 would bring its Bulrathi allies into the war just a few Sakkran years later ... but not before the Sakkra people made another important discovery at the nearest green star under Meklar control:
"This colony is still being developed! They don't even have missile defenses in play! This war may prove less a danger than an opportunity!"
Their optimism must have been dampened by the appearance of a Meklar dreadnought in the planet's orbit soon thereafter, but apparently was not entirely destroyed. In fact, the capsule's contents - perhaps indicating a Sakkra reliance in spite of war primarily on their diplomatic corps - includes far more references to the outcome of what appears to be an inconclusive 2354 galaxy-wide meeting of leaders...
"We may be at war with Grunk and his Ursine Bulrathi for now, but hope for peace must still remain!"
...than with events related to the actual war effort a year earlier:
"It must have been the Meklar. Perhaps we'll pay them back at Kronos someday soon...."
Their own technological achievements, such as newly-improved terraforming techniques, were given no greater pride of place than a treaty sealed shortly after the election with Human Emperor Johann III.
"We must improve relations as soon and as swiftly as we can; who knows when random alliances will drag everyone into war with us if we lack the diplomatic clout to prevent it?"
Yet at last, in their year 2360, the battle was joined in earnest, in the skies above Collassa.
"That cruiser was a BEAR to take down, especially with the Colship behind it! Well ... errr ... I mean, it was a MACHINE! We did it though, at terrible cost, and now the transports are moving in!"
Perhaps descriptions of the careful preparations the Sakkra had made were merely lost to the depradations of time after all - for even the fragmentary record aboard the capsule was enough to make very clear what happened when their troops hit the ground. Reconstructed like many images in this report from multiple fragmentary records, this view of the battle shows the decisive, if hard-fought victory.
"They slaughtered us down here, but at least we prevailed in the end! May this show of our strength open the way to a much-needed peace!"
It may be telling however that among the records found aboard their Verdant Shores 7 capsule, most of the references to the battle speak of the new technologies they were able to reverse-engineer in its wake, from parts around the ship-yard on the surface of Collassa.
"That's four new advances this year alone, but they're practically all outmoded. The hydrogen cells our lab guys sent in just before the transports hit are a decade and a half out of date, tundra controls are useless to us with all these habitable worlds at the only stars we can inhabit, and the science teams were well on their way to developing Hyper-V rockets of their own before we reverse-engineered these. Nice computer though."
Technology ... and QX-537's all-important response.
"It's not kidding. More than 130 million lives were ended at the battle for Collassa. It boggles the mind."
The soldiers of the Sakkra empire had accomplished what its diplomats could not. Peace was established at last with the Meklar people ... but the Bulrathi threat still loomed.
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NEXT FRAGMENT
