Darkworld: Earth

2.39.

“The ESF is reporting that the danger has passed. The enemy ship was destroyed using an experimental weapon powered by the controversial Tunnel Drive. For those of you hiding in your basements, I repeat. The danger has passed. The heroes of the ESF have defeated the enemy. We are receiving reports of casualties, but the ESF has prevailed!”

Former Captain Moon looked up at the sky. The lights had been visible from her driveway, where she lay back on the hood of her car. Trevor was at work, hopefully sheltering in place. The emergency broadcast system had blared and most of the world had run for shelter. Ji-eun had gone outside to watch. The streaks and explosions of the battle had been visible to the naked eye, and Ji-eun had watched as men died millions of miles away.

“And there but for the grace of god,” she said quietly. “I hope Anders survived that.”

She went inside, stroked her kitten, and poured herself a fifth of whiskey.

Then another.

~~~~~~

Diego punched his sworn brother in the face.

“Why didn’t you act?” he demanded. “Hundreds of men and women died while we could have done something about it! Why did you--”

“Billions would have died if I had interfered,” Eolai said sadly. “I told the generals of Earth that I could only interfere if Earth itself was threatened. It was not.”

“The Rosanteans have just declared war and you’re just going to sit there and let them wipe the floor with us?” Diego asked.

“Ask Bob what would have happened if I had intervened,” Eolai suggested, rubbing his cheek. Diego raised his fist to strike again, and Eolai did not flinch. But Diego paused, and followed his suggestion.

“Well, Bob? What would have happened,” Diego demanded.

“There are several gaps in your knowledge which must be explained before I answer this question. The first is in regards to the treaty between Rosantean and the Yonohoan. It demands a stance of neutrality and non-interference. It permits the police actions of the Rosanteans to exceed their borders provided that they can show the vessels involved have one or two degrees of separation from suspected criminals.

“The allusion to a ‘dead-drop’ system implies a method of moving pirated cargo to create a degree of separation. The Rosanteans appear to have been fabricating a case that they were engaged in law enforcement activities This is a common tactic to expand their influence beyond their borders.

“Should a Yonohoan interfere with Rosantean law enforcement, they are subject to Rosantean law. By Rosantean law, the sons and daughters of Eodar possess a rank equivalent to an admiral or general of high rank. If Eolai had interfered in what they claim was a lawful police action, then they could make the case before the intergalactic community that the Yonohoans had declared war. This would invalidate the majority of the Yonohoans mutual defense pacts and nullified a significant part of the web insuring intergalactic peace.

“Yonohoah would have answered the call, but few others. The Rosantean forces outnumber the forces of the Yonohoans by a factor of fifty-three. The outcome of such a war, which would last centuries, is unpredictable but would lead to deaths in the range of one to eighteen billion,” Bob explained.

Diego lost much of his anger as the information slowly sank in. “You’re saying your hands were tied?”

“No. I could have interfered. But the outcome would have been a war which would lead to an unconscionable amount of carnage. If your government had signed the treaties I placed before them that would classify earth as a protectorate of the Yonohoah, then I could have interfered. But they refuse to do so, and I must respect their position,” Eolai explained.

“Politics,” Diego said, spitting on the floor in disgust. “I fucking hate politics.”

~~~~~~

Major Mary Phillips finished highlighting the sections of the relevant treaties to the room, which was filled with the somber atmosphere of a group of generals who had won a battle but lost a war. The enemy ship had been destroyed, but two thirds of Earth’s fleet with any offensive capability at all had been destroyed.

“He made the right call,” Turnball said eventually. “I would have done the same in his place.”

The announcement was met with silence. The other generals, officers, and aides knew that he was right, but nobody had to like it.

“What do we do now?” Another general asked.

The room was silent.

“We rebuild,” Turnball said. “And we prepare. Get Eolai in here. We need to clarify our relationship and request additional aid.”

The PHDA on the center of the table – impossible six months ago for some of them to think that they had a potential spy device in the middle of their classified briefing – and a connection request was sent. However, instead of Eolai answering, Sergeant Diego Cruz’s image appeared.

The majority of the men and women in the briefing knew who he was, although none had spoken to him personally.

“Apologies, Generals. Eolai is indisposed and asked me to field your questions,” Diego explained.

“Is he well?” Turnball asked.

“He’s sparing with the Topokans, sir. I’ve never seen him do that before. When the contact request was made, he threw one of them across the room and flung the connection to me. I think he’s working through something,” Diego explained. “If this is about the non-intervention, I thought he already explained--”

“Major Phillips has just finished explaining why it was that he could not interfere under the circumstances as they were,” Turnball interrupted. “We wish to clarify the relationship between Earth and the Yonohoans. If the Rosanteans come back, will they stand with us?”

“If the Rosanteans attack Earth itself, then they will unleash such hellfire upon themselves that it will be visible in the night sky. Their stars will flare and then go dark for eternity. But everything that we launch into space is fare game unless we formally request protectorate status from the Yonohoans.”

“I will put forward the suggestion to the United Nations immediately,” Turnball said.

“Yeah, you do that, but there’s a new wrinkle, General,” Diego explained. “Earth has been accused of being a den of piracy. The Rosanteans have already launched a disinformation and propaganda campaign on the interstellar networks. They are saying that their enforcer vessel was investigating a known pirate pipeline when it was lured into an unremarkable star system and fired upon by vessels claiming to belong to the ESF. They are playing the recording from Captain Anders as proof, along with limited telemetry to show that we fired first. It doesn’t show the majority of the battle, sir, just the opening salvos. They claim that they retreated to gather reinforcements immediately when we did not submit.”

The room stirred with anger, but all of the men and women were familiar with the game.

“How do we counter this strategy?” One of the generals asked. “Does Eolai have a suggestion?”

“Yes sir. The Toormondas, sir. Broadcast their telemetry from the battle across the networks. Toormonda systems are well understood and virtually impossible to falsify data from. We have the truth on our side, and both the Toormondas and Eolai are impartial witnesses,” Diego said.

He paused, and the room knew that he wasn’t done speaking.

“That’s not the extent of the problem, however. Because of the accusation of piracy, the Yonohoans must withdraw their offer of protectorate status for Earth until such time as the accusation is proven or disproven by an arbiter. Which Eolai could help us with, if we were talking about one of the other empires and not Yonohoah. As it is, we’ll have to invite another party into Sol system and ask them to review the records of the battle, examine our forces, and basically give us a colonoscopy to prove our innocence.”

“I see. Thank you for this information, although I am not pleased to hear it. Suggestions, Sergeant?”

“Neither of the other two big boys in town will be any more friendly than the Rosanteans, sir. We can invite an Arbiter in from another galaxy, but the delay means that Rosantean will have a year or two in which to prosecute us for piracy,” Diego explained.

“And I suppose that the Yonohoans are restricted from arming us further as well,” Turnball said.

“That is correct, sir. They can continue to provide us with civilian grade space assets, but that’s it.”

“I understand. Is there anything else?”

“Not at this time, Sir. If I think of anything or learn anything significant I will contact Major Phillips or her designee.”

The hologram vanished, and the room went silent.

“Well. Let’s start by trying to counter their disinformation. Contact A Good Question and instruct them to broadcast their telemetry to anyone who will listen,” Turnball instructed.

“That will reveal the location of Earth,” someone objected.

“They already fucking know where we are, moron,” Mary said angrily. “Do try to keep up with the discussion.”

~~~~~~

Sarah was still adjusting to life on the Toormonda. She didn’t really fit in with the teenagers, but she hadn’t expected to. She had her own station during the scheduled education times in which the computer of the ship had first examined her existing knowledge and then begin introducing her to knew concepts and facts.

She spent more time watching the Yonohoans than she did paying attention to the ship, however. It was fascinating to watch. During their scheduled education times, they bounced around from station to station, with a ‘monitor’ occasionally telling someone to switch places with someone else, or for one person to go from one group to another for some reason that Sarah couldn’t explain.

Unlike her own remedial explanation, the Yonohoans were on a mission. They were looking for a black hole. According to Dornodo, there was one close enough that if they could detect it they could bring the Toormonda close enough to see the accretion field before their scheduled trip ended.

But rather than simply bringing them to it, the students were expected to find it on their own.

“Fun to watch, isn’t it?” Dornodo asked when he noticed her watching the teenagers rather than her own studies.

“I don’t get it. I thought they were competing to see who could find it first,” she said. They were, at her request, speaking in Yonohoan, although she wasn’t quite fluent. She was wearing one of the devices on her ear that assisted her by translating what she heard after the speaker had finished.

“They are,” the Yonohoan man explained. “Her, him, him and her. They’re the alphas, I guess you’d call them. Notice how they never move from station to station? They’re the ones who are competing to see who finds it first. Everyone else is playing support.”

“But they’re not sticking to the same teams,” She protested.

“They’re playing support,” he repeated. “It’s a Topokan thing. You’d understand it if you were Yonohoan, but I guess you haven’t had a chance to really observe our friends due to their shyness. You see, in a situation like this, the leaders of a pack compete to see who can come up with the best solution to a problem. Everyone else supports them. But there’s no teams. The support go where they are needed, or where their station dictates that they should be in their complex social hierarchy.”

“So they’re pretending to be Topokan?” Sarah asked for clarification.

“Yes. It’s common for schoolchildren to practice the Topokan model. It’s not really as effective for humans as it is for Topokans, but it’s fun if you’re Yonohoan. We make the Topokans watch sometimes and they cover their face in embarrassment. Very funny.”

Sarah got a connection request, and she promptly selected to accept. A hologram abruptly appeared of Ji-eun Moon.

“Hello Captain. I’m watching teenage Yonohoans play musical chairs,” she said.

“Sarah, something’s happened and I wanted you to hear it from me first ...”

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