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Captain Brooks’s Log:
We are 76 hours out from the Mopu system, the home and last bastion of the T’H’Tul Hev clan to which Ambassador N’Keeea belongs.
All that could be prepared on such a short notice has been done. We have received word, admittedly through intermediaries, that the P’G’Maig have granted us permission to enter the system, though we are still not certain if they are willing to talk.
Thoughts up the vine suggest they may only be wishing us to witness their glorious victory, something common among Hev warring groups. An audience makes it better in their eyes.
I can only hope that we have some success. That any of the T’H’Tul are still alive. That I am able to bring this conflict to a peaceful conclusion.
If not, I fear the Craton will be another victim of the violence.
Ambassador Decinus was over a hundred years old, yet still was spry for his age. His narrow face, dark eyes, and aquiline nose gave him a Roman appearance, and in different clothes he might have fit right into that ancient empire.
In appearance only. Brooks only knew him by reputation, but the man was very highly accomplished in brokering peace and fostering cooperation among disparate parties, both inside and outside of the Sapient Union.
“The timing was fortunate,” he had told Brooks as he had come aboard. “I have just come back from New Syria, after settling a matter there between the colony and a generation ship of Fesha who were trying to stake a claim on the borders of the system.”
Brooks was quite curious to hear about that, but it did not have anything to do with their current mission. “If you need to settle in, you are free to-“
“No, no,” Decinus said. “N’Keeea and his people have been waiting long enough. Let us speak to him.”
After they settled in Brooks’s study and introductions had been made, N’Keeea asked;
“Do you have much experience negotiating with my people, Ambassador Decinus?”
“Some,” Decinus said. “I am not an expert – I daresay humanity has none when it comes to your people – but I am probably about as close as we can claim right now. But I have not encountered any Red Hev factions before. I have been enlightening myself on their habits and customs, and I admit – I am quite concerned.”
N’Keeea’s ear twitched. “Please go on. What concerns you?”
“The P’G’Maig are not known for their willingness to find diplomatic solutions,” Decinus said. “Especially when they feel that the military situation favors them.”
“This is very true,” N’Keeea agreed.
“Do you have any suggestions or tact we might start with?” Brooks prompted the Hev.
“Threaten them,” N’Keeea said plainly. “You are correct that they respond to little else. Trade embargoes, deals, and other such tactics have little effect upon their society; they are self-sufficient at the most basic level of these things, and have no ‘middle class’ that would demand luxury goods. All they wish for is blood and resources. If they calculate that they would lose more from continuing their war against my people – they will negotiate. Not until then.”
Decinus looked to Brooks.
“Ambassador N’Keeea,” Brooks said firmly. “We are not here to give military aid.”
N’Keeea leaned forward. “You have agreed to intervene, Captain. Or are your government’s words empty? This is how you help; you need not fight a war. Only make the Maig scum fear – then they will talk.”
“This is not what we agreed to,” Decinus said. “We are only coming to talk. The Craton is not a warship, Ambassador.”
“The stories of the ship speak differently,” N’Keeea said. “The durability and firepower of a cratonic ship are not to be underestimated, is that not right? And they have yet to be tested in a serious conflict. Perhaps now is the time, Captain Brooks?”
“I am not starting a war,” Brooks stated flatly.
“Our government is resolutely against conflict,” Decinus added. “We cannot violate this.”
“And if you are attacked?” N’Keeea asked.
“We can defend ourselves, and will withdraw at the first opportunity. But the Maig will not attack a neutral third party under a diplomatic truce,” Decinus insisted.
At least, few were ever that stupid. There was no easier way to get yourself isolated by the galactic community than to violate the neutrality of a third party engaging in diplomacy with both sides.
“You underestimate their violence,” N’Keeea said. “Captain, I hope that you are prepared to defend this ship.”
Brooks did not take the bait.
Decinus changed the topic. “What was the reason for the Maig’s attack upon your people? I would like to know their justification as well as the truth of the matter.”
“I have told you,” N’Keeea said. “The Maig wish for resources. They swallowed up all of our neighbors, then came for us.”
“And their excuse for the territory grab?” Brooks asked.
“They are Maig, Captain Brooks,” N’Keeea replied. “They do not make up reasons. They simply declared us H’, and began their war. The announcement was not made until they day after their attack began.”
“Not even a declaration of war?” Brooks asked, frowning.
“That is not a formality they feel strongly about. But it was hardly a surprise; we knew they would come for us as we saw our neighbors destroyed. We could see that we were next.”
“How fast is their advance?” Brooks asked.
“I do not know. I left before they attacked,” N’Keeea said.
“Had they attacked by the time you spoke to the diplomats of the Sepht and Dessei?” Brooks asked.
“The Sepht, no.”
“That might explain their diplomatic reluctance,” Brooks noted. “If there was not even a conflict at the time . . .”
“Yet it was coming – I told them, and I was correct,” N’Keeea replied bitterly. “They should have listened.”
“Regardless,” Decinus said, smoothly turning the topic again. “If we cannot turn aside the Hev expansionism, there is another option; the evacuation of your people.”
“Impossible!” N’Keeea said. “My people will not flee.”
A strained silence filled the room for a moment.
Decinus broke it. “Ambassador, I understand the reluctance of a people to abandon their home, but-“
“This is more than that,” N’Keeea insisted. “You clearly are not an expert on my people, Ambassador, or you would understand this!”
“We have already said as much,” Brooks said, cutting off the ambassador, his voice commanding. “But why do you feel your government will not be willing to consider this?”
N’Keeea scrunched his face up, staring at Brooks for a moment before clicking his teeth and looking away.
“There are many factions in our government, but during a time of war, none are more influential than the military caste. And they will never agree to this. To abandon one’s home is the worst of all things. In ages past, a Hev colony without a home were not simply dishonored – they were doomed. Refugees in our numbers could have no hope of feeding themselves, the task of building a new colony from scratch was far too much-“
“Ambassador,” Decinus said. “That is something we are able to help you with. We can help your people rebuild. But to do that, there must be some still alive. I am sorry, we cannot come to rescue your people with force. We may not be able to save your home – but we can help you to build another.”
Other Terrestrial 
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