If we had finished our own Hyper-V rocket project in time, this would have been a good deal to make before the battle of Collassa.
Soon thereafter, newly-deployed Sakkra Deep-Space Scanners appear to have detected an armed and escorted colony ship belonging to a race known as the Silicoids, which turned out to be headed for Firma, a star near to Sakkra homeworld of Sssla itself and to its neighbor Morrig, the first extra-Ssslan Sakkra colony. This composite of several fragmentary data files shows the extent of Silicoid space at that time, with Morrig at the bottom of the screen, as well as the first act of the Sakkra ambassadors upon encountering the Silicoid people:
"This trade agreement may be expensive to get off the ground, but think of the hundreds of billions of galactic credits it will add to our people's annual budget when it matures."
Then the following year, a momentous occasion: At the green star of Drakka, out in the furthest reaches of their galaxy - the reaches nearest to our own home here - the Sakkra at last established another colony: The colony which one day would launch the Verdant Shores 7 space capsule itself to carry us the story of their galactic history.
"Well ... Drakka's great and all ... but how come we're not even scouting those two green stars at the far side of the galaxy? They're both in range of Collassa, and neither is colonized by anybody ... did leadership just forget about them completely?"
The very next year by Sakkra reckoning, the diplomatic corps came through with another coup: It seems Grunk of the Bulrathi was ready to listen to a peace proposal ... up to a point, at least.
"Improved Eco Restoration is a high price to pay for peace, but we can't afford to let this war go on. Any year, they might bring more allies into the war, and we could end up fighting the entire galaxy! Let the Bulrathi thrive with this technology, if only they'll trade with us in peace."
The 200 BC trade deal established as soon as peace broke out perhaps was meant to demonstrate the sincerity of both parties. In any case, it was repeated on a much smaller scale three Ssslan Years later, when Ambassador Sssref established a 35 BC trade deal with the fifth and final spacefaring emperor in their galaxy: Sharpclaw of the Alkari.
"Observe the two planets that Sharpclaw's empire spans. This emperor is a devout adherent of the expansionist philosophy. ... He just isn't very good at it."
At this point, the record grows more fragmentary than ever. It seems that Sakkra scientists made some kind of force field advance in 2370, but are the scientist's blue scales an affectation or a sign of data file corruption? Or was the lone earlier reference to green scales a corruption itself, or even poetic license? And does the expression on the scientist's face suggest pride in work well done, or disappointment in the paucity of future research options? No clear record survives to offer a hint.
"Personals woulda been nice...."
Then in 2373, a report of Meklar espionage appears, in spite of years of peace between the two races. Was a reference to war's renewal lost in the intergalactic journey ... or was it just QX-537 continuing to be untrustworthy - and apparently crazy?
"Tough break; they're strong enough already ... but if that's the worst news this year, we'll be okay."
We have pieced together what we could from this period, based mainly on information leading up to and following it. No doubt anticipating an inevitable resumption of war with the Meklar - and the likelihood of opposing them in the next Council Election, due to be held in two Ssslan Years at this stage, the Sakkra diplomatic corps had been working feverishly throughout the galaxy. Thanks mainly to ill fortune, QX-537 had apparently never yet declared war on a non-Sakkra race, and it had several alliances lined up as well; the top Sakkra diplomats seem to have tried in vain to convince the other races to break their deals with their insane fellow-emperor, but there was little cause for immediate fear. The Sakkra themselves, with the help of Johann III of the Humans, their oldest and surest friend, with a non-aggression pact and lucrative trade treaty already in place and relations steadily improving toward alliance, would be able to put a stop to any galaxy-spanning aspirations of QX-537. Here, at least, the diplomatic corps had succeeded spectacularly. All this information comes from inference however; the period of 2373 is where the space capsule's file corruption and data decay reached their peak, so only one more image, with an indecipherable caption, is available for that entire Ssslan year:
"#$%&! $*@(#%-&^*#+$% @=%#!"
Later references suggest that Ambassador Sssaad's attempt on Johann III's life has passed into common speech, so that bouts of QX-537-like homicidal insanity are referred to in our nearest neighboring galaxy not as "Mek'ing out" as they once were, but as "Going Diplo."
A few final, failed attempts were no doubt made to help other races to see the nature of QX-537's madness, but the writing must by this time have been on the wall. Only one fully-intact image survives from the Ssslan year 2375, itself believed to contain at least two small data errors. For us, the loss is terrible, for this is the year that the space capsule itself was launched from Drakka, and we cannot now know even its purpose. Was it meant as a plea for help? Was it meant as a warning? Yet for the Sakkra people, this lone intact image is the only one that's needed.
"You guys do realize you've just elected an immortal, erratic, unstable machine to rule over you for a millenium, right? ... You say you're good with that? I ... see."
We can only guess what the future brought them - for their future is our past already. We can only hope that Meklar fleets are not already on their way across intergalactic space to slaughter us, having already done the same, unresisted, to all their subjects across their home galaxy. In any event, the history of the Sakkra is surely ended. Unless....
There is one other data fragment, much corrupted, still present from 2375. It might be a momentary image from a moving picture, or a positioning pixellation error, or an image describing the hesitation before a different choice was made ... and yet ... and yet ... knowing the High Master just elected was homicidally insane, would they dare...
"....."
_______________
To Be Continued?
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