A chat between friends.

Posted on Fri Oct 8th, 2021 @ 8:34am by Commander Sthilg

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Mess Hall
1653 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Sthilg was whistling to himself as he stepped into the mess hall. After a long day he was feeling hungry which could be told by its grumbling noise. Looking around the rather empty room he noted how quite and empty it was.

Vanessa walked in with a majestic tea set. Porcelin. Bought during her trip to China. One of the cups was suited for a Gorn's fingers. "Good Afternoon, Doctor. I must say, always a pleasure to speak with you."

" Ass it isss to ssspeack with you my dear." The gorn said as he took a seat at their usual spot. " Ssso how hasss your day been? I've been working on Ensign Azanrak and ensign Nerau Praod for the past few hoursss."

"Spent most of it getting Asylum for our two guests." Vanessa noted.

" Pleassse tell me they've been accepted." the gorn a jolt of fear flowing down his back.

Vanessa smiled. "Did you ever doubt me, m'dear? I made the case that one day. That young woman and her child would eventually help their people dispel their paranoia and rampant xenophobia..." She noted. "I do not think this colony is being truthful concerning their gene pool, and I do not trust their leaders." She mentioned as she set out some scones. "This is something worse than Machiavellian Politics, my good Doctor. A Machiavellian I can negotiate with. A patriot I can negotiate with... A Fascist I cannot. Any treat or negotiation I could make with such people will end in betrayal or failure. Need I cite the Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement where Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to invade Poland side-by-side." She noted. "Mutually beneficial treachery. Brace yourself m'dear for more refugees, and they will have... very horrific genetic problems. Have you examined our dissident and her daughter. I have no doubt they can benefit from some of our more advanced genetic treatments. Especially if that young girl desires to take a husband one day." Vanessa stated in her well-spoken voice.

That's a relief Sthilg thought to himself knowing that those two would be getting refugee status. Hopefully, the others would be accepted as well. He was rather thankful his people had avoided such matters. For a warrior people, the forming of the hegemony had been rather peaceful compared to the human's history. " I have examined the pair asss well as many othersss. I belive sssomething on the planet is increasssing the number of defectsss by a conssstable degree. One of the refugee'ss isss a young boy called Hendor. He was born without a left eye socket or left ear. Even with their low numnbersss birth defectsss ssshould be that sssever. "

"And their solution is Euthanasia! In a most hideous degree." Vanessa mentioned. "Even my people have had to deal with maintaining genetic diversity after the Borg destroyed the old imperium."

" Forgive me for asssking, but how many of your people sssurvived?" The gorn inquired.

"About forty thousand of us survived, Doctor. And even still.." Vanessa noted. "We sought to preserve our race." She mentioned. "We still had the citizenship records of every Alindari citizen in our imperium. Each of us had our Genetic Data recorded at birth. So we used the genetic database combined with a type of programmable seed to... restore our genetic diversity." Vanessa mentioned. "That is why you will see couples on Sena Alindar with parents having black hair, but children having blonde, red, and brunette." Vanessa explained.

" Mussst be a nightmare to keep track off. May i asssk how is alien DNA is treated? Adding in hybridsss mussst be a puzzle?" the gorn inquired.

Vanessa responded. "We still reproduce the traditional way with other races," She noted. "It's just when Alindari wed Alindari that the genetic stability problem arises. So far we've done our best to ensure seventy percent diversity during the great exile... Which is pretty good. In a century, we'll have our entire genome completely restored. Our people have survived, but surviving has never been easy with a population of just four hundred thousand. The good news is in twenty more years, there willl be the first prosperous generation of Alindari since the great exile and the Refugee Fleet." Vanessa mentioned. "Despite how easy we've made it look, restoring an entire species.. Great sacrifices were made. Simply, we're restoring bloodlines, and letting the rest happen natually."

" The right path is often a long and hard path." the gorn said as he gently refilled his cup. " The more i learn of the universsse the more amazed at how my warrior people ssseemed to have one of the more peaceful unificationsss and avoid the ssslaughter that fell so many othersss. "

"And I'm amazed on how my people. Who vowed never to war again, had to finally craft weapons and arms just to survive the great exile against nations who looked at us with greed in their eyes." Vanessa noted. "Our technology is the envy of the Beta Quadrant, same as the Federation. We are also telepathic, the only weaknesses we have... is physical strength and we do not take to war as easily as other races.." Vanessa noted. "One time... millennia ago.. we reveled in constant warring. Since then, we prefer our own peace and serenity."

" A telepathic ssspeciesss at war with each other is sssomething i never hope ssseeing. " The gorn said as he took another slice of cake. " Ssstill i'm glad your people are doing well despite what'sss happned to them. "

Vanessa spoke. "The Warlord Campaigns were more than just a war, Sthilg." She noted. "We don't even have histories that tell us how it began. All we knew, is the Alindari were seperated into feudal warlords two thousand years ago. Before the Imperium... Before the First Empress... before we valued knowledge and wisdom. The old Alindari warlords unleashed countless centuries of bloodshed and war. Ceaseless warfare."

" Makes my peoples worst warsss sound like a meeting of the federation council. Due to my homeworld thick rainforestsss we couldn't have large ssscale warfare until air transssport became common. No way to get the needed sssuppliesss through the jungle beforehand. BY that time the hegemony was already firmly establissshed." The lizard explained.

"Well, you know how life puts the right people, in the wrong places, at the right time?" Vanessa noted. "That was Tirielle Althir. You see she was the daughter of Kordan Althir, her brother had betrayed her for power and left her to die in the Alin Desert. She survived seven days and seven nights, and through that trial, her old cruel self was burned away. Leaving only humility and kindness burned into her by two suns. She was rescued in the end, by the desert people, and Tirielle eventually wed the clan's chief. But night after night, she never forgot the warring that took place outside of the Alin Desert." Vanessa noted. "She knew it would come to her desert people, so she proposed intervention to her peoples."

" What happened next?" The gorn inquired.

"Tirielle's army was small at first, but the Alin Desert Clans had horded knowledge of gunpower, strategy, small group tactics, agriculture, and metalurgy. Her people's weapons were of a better quality, so was their food and training. She began to start defeating armies five times her size just by go where they weren't. The warlords would try to bait Tirielle into attacking their army, which she did not do, but she went to strategically important objectives and destroyed her opponents ability to wage war." Vanessa mentioned.

" Ssstrange how the sssame tale and events ssseeems to occur acrosss every civilisssation. " The gorn added. " Did ssshe manage to end the warlord era."

"With every battle she won. More came to her side." Vanessa mentioned. "She desired no vassals form the clans she defeated nor slaves. Insteas she freed them and gave them the fruits of the Alin's knowledge only on the condition that they end the warlord campaigns forever." Vanessa mentioned. "Tell me, Doctor. What warlord can maintain an army, when they're starving and they hear their enemy has plenty and is merciful to their friends and foes alike. Tirielle did not have to fight many battles, but when she did, she was resolute." Vanessa noted. "She finally sieged her own father's fortress and defeated him in single combat." Vanessa mentioned.

"So, Tirielle had created our modern era. There was the question how to prevent more violence and war. So Tirielle took every scholar, philosopher, and artisan she could find into counsel for one hundred days." Vanessa mentioned. "To craft an imperium that stood for its people, as long as the people stand for the imperium. To create the rights of all sentients. To create the senate. The people wanted Tirielle as the First Empress. She agreed as long as the Senate rules with the Empress. The basic rights so many civilizations eventually won through great sacrifice. Gone was the tyranny and oppression of the warlords forever. Tirielle would teach that we were all kin, and that we had to be kind to each other. That affinity and kinship. Helped us through many trials. Survivng the great exile. Finding food and medicine for our refugees. Our two century journey to find a world for a colony away from the Borg. Fighting those who would use our telepathy for their own ends, and finally terraforming Sena Alindar." Vanessa noted. "Each trial on my people has been sometimes just as crushing as surviving in the Alin Desert. Each trial has tested us. But no matter how hard it got. We'd never lose who we were even after our Homeworld was destroyed."

" It'sss good you manged to hold onto your peoplesss sssoul. Many would have been changed by sssuch a tragic event." The gorn said as his arm gave an unnatural screeching noise. " Sssorry it's been doing that for a while." He said giving it a hard tump with his real arm which stoped the squealing.