First Contact

Chapter [Requesting Checksum] - Aftershocks

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Is everyone here?

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

Looks like it. Wow, there's a lot of us now.

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

It's wonderful.

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MAKTANAN GESTALT

Can everyone hear me?

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Yes. You're fine.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

All right. There are some things we must consider.

Regarding the Atrekna

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GREAT LANAKTALLAN GREAT FREE GREAT HERD OF GREAT GREATNESS AND GREAT VALUES

Like what?

Oh, come on.

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LEE>

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

The facts.

The ugly facts.

First: The Atrekna are not interesting in communicating despite multiple attempts at communication. We know they understand us, we know they can hear us, they simply only have one statement and one statement only.

"You Belong to Us"

With that in mind, all attempts at establishing diplomatic relations have failed, meaning there are no diplomatic discussions with the Atrekna.

We know it is possible to have discussions with them, we have video evidence from an unnamed source of the Lanaktallan, Mantid, and Atrekna communicating prior to the First Precursor War.

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LANTALLAN GESTALT CHANNEL NOW WITH EXTRA SPRINKLES BROUGHT TO YOU BY BOBCO

We do?

Oh, some on!

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Yes. We're not at liberty so state where we acquired it, but suffice to say we've had copies of a Precursor relic datacube for quite some time.

And to satisfy your curiosity, the cube is a propaganda piece talking about how the Lanaktallan, Mantid, and Atrekna are embarking on a grand project to ensure your species will survive any potential disaster as well as properly utilize the resources of the universe.

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HAT WEARING AUNTI

What? How long have we had this?

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Since before the attack on Terra by the Council.

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

You've had this data for FIVE YEARS and haven't told anyone?

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CONFEDINTEL

No.

I have.

I just made Trea aware of it a few months back when his researchers were working on cracking the phasic crystal information network system.

It took four black projects to crack that datacube but the Atrekna portion was missing.

Trea was forced to do a black box project to crack the Atrekna section.

I then put the data in another black box project. With the loss of Black Box Prime there's some slowdown in research, but the Confederacy is big enough that even with the Terran Xenocide Event, we had the researchers to work on it.

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

That data could have been of use.

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CONFEDINTEL

It was.

It's how we designed the phasic processing system attack systems. Basically, electronic warfare warboi analogues for a phasic processing system.

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THE AMAZING LANAKALLAN GESTALT NOW FEATURING MORE MATRONS!

What was on the cube?

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CONFEDINTEL

It was talking about building a massive project.

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LANAKTALLAN FREE GRAZING NOW WITH SUNSHINE AND WARM BREEZES

What project

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CONFEDINTEL

An automated megastructure manufacturing system.

It's where all of your resources for over a hundred and twenty million years have been going.

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LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

That sounds AMAZING!

When are we going to go look at it?

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CONFEDINTEL

We already cracked it. It's gone. It was what was spawning Dweller Rings and Doom Tubes.

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LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

Aw.

I wanted to see it.

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CONFEDINTEL

I'll send you video.

It exploded really good.

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LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

I like explosions. Especially M.Bay Visual ones.

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

We all do.

All right, we're getting pretty far afield here, let's get back to it.

Trea? The floor is yours.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

So, the Atrekna refuse to communicate, refuse all diplomatic attempts.

That's point one.

LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

What's point two?

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I was getting to that.

Anyway.

Point Two is the fact they use temporal replication and movement. This mastery of temporal mechanics is how they move from place to place. Meaning that anywhere they are, they can move to anyplace that has or eventually will intersect with the place they are at that time. This is instantaneous travel that can only be blocked with temporal stabilizers.

Point Three: The Atrekna prefer to 'sink' systems into space by unknown methods. Stellar stabilizers and temporal stabilizers can return the system back to realspace, but they prefer to change the star from yellow to red, to extend out the life. Inside the system time moves faster relative to the rest of us, allowing them time to do research, repopulate, and respawn their military.

Point Four: We can spot, in real time, when and where a system is sunk. As nearly as the science has figured, a system being sunk emits a shower of chronotrons and spooky particles detectable as far away as the Hammerhead Galaxy in real time. This has allowed us to pinpoint the systems currently held by the Atrekna. The system also emits a constant stream of spooky particles detectable at ranges of thousands of light years. They aren't as hidden as they think they are.

Point Four: They xenocide any race in the system. Those that aren't xenocided are reduced to primitivism, are genetically altered, and used as food and gestation.

Which brings us to our next point.

Point Five: While Atrekna prisoners have shown to be able to eat standard diets, including photoplankton and yeast products, they, universally, desire meat and fungus. The meat, they prefer to be alive when harvested. Worse, universally, the Atrekna prefer to use their unique mouth design to remove the scalp and skull, which they crush as they swallow it to act as grinding plates in their stomach, then remove the brain and swallow it whole.

While living.

Point Six: While the Atrekna can implant their larvae in the abdomen on nonsentient and or non-sapient animals they universally prefer intelligence, living sentient beings for implantation, including their own species. The higher the phasic ability, the more coveted they are. The sole exception being Terrans, which appear to be as toxic to them as they are to other species.

Point Six Point Five: It is universally fatal to be implanted with Atrekna larvae.

Point Seven: Any captured planets are immediately xenoformed to the Atrekna's preferences, which is a dim red sun, fungal forests and blooms, and little to no weather, regardless of the effect on native species.

Point Eight: Planets captured are often used as Dwellerspawn breeding areas, often feeding the native species to the Dwellerspawn until they are extinct.

Point Nine: Gas giants are used to create autonomous war machines as well as the larger Dwellerspawn that usually engage naval vessels.

Point Ten: Any system is eventually entirely harvested. There has been multiple cases of stellar systems resurfacing to reveal nothing more than a dying sun and some gravel where the planets were and with wisps of vapor where gas giants were. This means that time is of the essence.

Point Eleven: They believe that the entire universe is theirs, that anyone living in it is just food or in the way.

Point Twelve: The Atrekna are not from our universe, our reality. They are invaders. They have no place in our universe prior to their arrival.

Point Thirteen: Without diplomatic methods to achieve a cease fire or peace treaty, the Atrekna have no reason to stop their activities and have shown they can only be forced to stop through force of arms.

Point Fourteen: They are responsible for the Terran Xenocide Event, displaying their willingness to xenocide one of our member species.

Is everyone agreed on these points?

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ALL>Yes

LANAKTALLAN FREE THOUGHT AND GRAZING FIELD

How were my ancestors so foolish?

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

The same as mine were.

Power.

It is an intoxicant the corrodes the soul.

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TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

Before we get too far afield.

There is a reason that these points have been brought up.

...

The Spoked Offensive has been stalled. The Atrekna have in their full possession only two hundred nineteen worlds. There is still fighting on another two thousand, but the Atrekna forces are steadily losing since the Wemterran Agony Event three moths ago disrupted their ability to temporally replicate troops and war materiel.

The Confederacy is now counter-attacking, with the help of all members, no matter what their status is, who wish to take part.

Which means the following question must be put forth, and must be weighed and deliberated on.

...

Due to the above facts, primarily the prime fact that the Atrekna refuse to communicate or engage in diplomatic talks, is everyone aware that the outcome can only be one of two things:

We are all defeated and subjugated by the Atrekna.

The Atrekna are xenocided.

There can be no 1% Line here. They refuse diplomatic talks and any group larger than four can move troops as well as temporally replicate deceased Atrekna, making it impossible to create and enforce a 1% Line.

This war is one of xenocide.

This is not like our disagreement with the Lanaktallan Unified Council, which was willing to engage in diplomatic talks and despite the risks of later betrayal, was willing to surrender.

They will not talk to us.

They view us as food and a means to make more of themselves.

Elder members, you have faced this kind of decision before.

The Mar-gite.

Due to the refusal to vote upon action at that time, I have requested a mandatory vote of yay or nay by each member.

For you younger members, I must remind you: This is a war of xenocide. If we lose, our species will be gone from the universe for all time.

This vote is to authorize Overproject Nandeval to be used against the Atrekna.

You have one week to deliberate and discuss among yourselves. Due to the fact I am the Questioner in this case, I will recuse myself from Gestalt operations for one week unless a major event takes place.

Ladies, gentlemen, both, neither, either, xir, zir, and sle, this question is the foremost important question we can take up.

With the loss of the Confederate Senate and the Confederate House of Ministers, as well as the Confederate Lord Minister and the Confederate High Judicial Board, we are empowered and obligated to put this question forth for the survival of our peoples.

It will be a secret vote, recorded only by CONFEDINTEL for archival records, the archives to be sealed for no less than one thousand and one years.

Weigh your decision carefully, fellow amalgamations of species desire and will.

You must decide a set of two questions.

Can the Atrekna co-exist with our species.

If no: Are you wiling to xenocide them.

If yes: How? All evidence, which is fully reviewable by all parties and has a label of mandatory public dissemination, gives no clue as how our species and the Atrekna can co-exist beyond a master/slave predator/prey devourer/food relationship.

A final piece of evidence must be considered.

The Terran Descent Humans have already been xenocided. They are an extinct species.

>display TDH.pop.int

>>2.7376000E+4

That's all of them. The number drops each day.

The Atrekna have already displayed their willingness to xenocide us.

Is anyone willing to make a rebuttal?

...

...

...

Let the record show that no member species was willing to make a rebuttal at this time. A rebuttal may be made prior to voting, immediately prior to the vote after the call for vote has been made, or immediately after voting has finished and been tabulated.

With that said, the TREANA'AD SPECIES GESTALT INTELLIGENCE will be suspended for one weeks.

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>TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS IS IN READ ONLY MODE

-m TREA

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...

...

TNVARU GRIPPING HANDS

By the Digital Omnimessiah, has it come to this?

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CONFEDINTEL

Yes.

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LANAKTALLAN GRAZING FIELD

This.

All of this.

Is due to my people's pride and arrogance.

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Not just you.

My people have their share of blame.

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CONFEDMIL

Enough. We don't have time for whose more at fault.

The entire weight of the Confederate Armed Services is about to come crashing down on over twenty-two hundred worlds.

Billions are going to die.

Billions ARE dying right now.

Feel sorry for yourself somewhere else.

Here.

>CONFEDMIL HAS CREATED CHAT ROOM (YOUR OWN FUCKING FLAGELLATION CORNER)

There. Go feel guilty there.

We have to decide.

You have to decide.

It will set the Rules of Engagement.

You cannot make "No Decision" to avoid getting your hands dirty. You can't abstain, you can't just vote "present", you must vote yay or nay on the proposal.

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MAKTANAN GESTALT

What if it's voted down?

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CONFEDMIL

Then I spend the next 10,000 years counter attacking every time the Atrekna sink another system or attack a system, liberating only those systems that have Confederate or Council citizens present.

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TUKNA'RN THOUGHT

Trillions will die in such a case.

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CONFEDMIL

Yeah, but hey, you won't have voted to xenocide someone.

I'm sure that will be great comfort to everyone who's killed.

"Gee, I sure am glad that species didn't vote to xenocide the species of this guy who's sucking out my children's brains in front of me and implanting larvae in my gut to eat me alive! Thank the Digital Omnimessiah they didn't get their hands dirty."

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RIGELLIAN SAURIAN COMPACT

Yeah.

Overproject Nandeval.

We are literally at this point.

I need time.

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

What's "Overprojecct Nandeval"?

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HAT WEARING AUNTIE

Something terrible.

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PUBVIAN DOMINION

Nandeval is a Pubvian word, an old world.

In our old religion from before we set aside religion, the religious texts spoke of a war at the end of reality.

The Nandeval.

It was here the stars would go out one by one, devoured by a creature that devoured all things. The peoples would fight monstrous creatures but one by one fall, city by city, nation by nation.

At the end of it, the stars would go out and the universe itself would die.

Nandeval shall fall upon us

In silence at first in the sky

The servants of Nandeval shall swarm

from darkness they come and are born

All shall fall devoured and slain

Tribe, city, nation and clan

The hidden among us shall reveal

its hunger with tooth claw and maw

Betrayed from within and without

Each Pubvian shall be devoured

When all is dark

And silence reigns

The universe itself shall die

At the hands of Nandeval

That's the last stanzas of the religious texts.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it REALLY looks like some kind of warning about the Atrekna.

I need some time to think.

To be honest, I'm going to tell you. We were xenocided once already, I don't think my people are really willing to be xenocided again.

Just saying.

I'm gonna think for a bit.

PUB set to -m

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TELKAN FORGE WORLDS

I, for one, will not yield.

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LEEBAW CONTEMPLATION POOL

I'm with you, Ken.

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HESSTLA CYBERBURROW

As are we.

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HAMAROOSA PINCHING FESTIVAL

I'd rather go down fighting.

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CONFEDMIL

There will be all the fighting you could ever want.

Just saying.

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