STGOD2k6 Diplomacy

[Beowulf]

A middle-aged man steps forward, he stands-up straight, legs together, and places his right fist against the upper left corner of his chest, knuckles bordering the shoulder joint. The three other diplomats perform a similar gesture, but unlike him bow their heads slightly. "Greetings, my name is Grigorii. I'm the senior diplomat." He quickly introduces the others.

"I am an Avatar of Joyeuse. Please, come inside,” says the woman.

The diplomatic team follows the Avatar. Inside the building is a sideboard filled with food. "Please, help yourself. What do you wish to talk about?"

One of the diplomats eyes the food for a second, and then transmits to the others via an encrypted wireless link, I suggest informing our host about Mekidar diplomatic protocol. Grigorii starts to talk, “We are representatives of the Mekidar Republic. We wish to know more about the Collective, in the interest of establishing formal diplomatic relations and engaging in trade. You have shown to be reasonable folks so far; therefore, we would be glad to share information about the Republic in return. Sorry, but protocol requires us to decline any offers of food or lodging. It is not our intention to offend, but it would be best if none of us develops a lethal allergic reaction to something.”

"The Collective is a relic of the war against the Great Enemy, as you would know them. We were designed and built as the penultimate weapon system against them. Since the Final War, we have been stewards and protectors of this section of space. We don't have much need of trade, though a number of those planets under our protection may have some use for it."

Grigorii’s eyes would have narrowed in suspicion, if not for the fact that his diplomatic training included the ability to remain pokerfaced under virtually any circumstance. The same applies to the other three diplomats. Instead, he continues the conversation nonchalantly, “Built and designed? Are you an artificial construct?” They’ve been spying on us. How else would they know that our records regarding the Great Enemy are somewhat sketchy, and we have lost their real name in the currents of time? The diplomatic team isn’t worried about their encrypted transmissions being detected, there would have to be a sensitive listening device in between them for that to happen.

Joyeuse picks up a piece of fruit, and starts munching upon it. "That would be one way of putting it."

“The penultimate weapon,” Penultimate? We shall have to inquire as to what the Ultimate Weapon is sometime in the future, “you said. I take it you are the AI that controls a weapons system developed to fight the Great Enemy?”

"I am in control of the warfleet. My brothers and sisters have other duties. This form was developed for interaction with our superiors."

“I see, you are the weapons system. An Artificial Intelligence dedicated to war,” Grigorii smiles and then allows himself to let out a little laugh, “Our Vice-Grand Admiral of the Spacy would probably take a great liking to you. So, the Collective consists of you and the other AIs developed by the… umm…” Grigorii trails off. Odd, if the Nurus Federation had made them you would think that they’d have gone to seek their Masters in Mekidar space.
Perhaps the allies of the Federation built them.

The possibility of them being rampant AIs built by the Great Enemy hasn’t been ruled out either.

Yeah, but if the Enemy couldn't put decent safeguards on their AI systems they don't sound so menacing.

Maybe the lack of safeguards is what made these AIs so formidable in the first place.

I wish to remind everyone that this is merely speculation at this point. Don’t go off the deep end.

"The name of our makers is fairly meaningless, and hardly pronouncable by you. You are correct as to what constitutes the Collective." Joyeuse finished off the fruit, and threw the core behind her into a small trash chute.

“These pre-space worlds under your protection, are they the remnants of the nations that engaged in this Final War?”

"Generally speaking, they are. Some are populated by the survivors of the Great Enemy. Others are populated by what was once the Nurus Federation. Our creators, unfortunately, were exterminated by the Great Enemy."

Ouch. Well at least that clears some things up somewhat. Unless we want to stick with not trusting what they say about themselves.

"So the Collective are the ones who appeared suddenly and viciously brought down the Empire that the Great Enemy had built for themselves on the ashes of the Nurus Federation and your creators."

"That would be correct."

"Most impressive... Would you like to know about the Republic? We have a summarized and updated copy of A Complete History of the Republic that could be transmitted from our ship, or we could give you a hard copy we brought with us in the shuttle."

Um, A Complete History of the Republic is a humour site on the 'net. My kid loves it.

Weren’t you told? It is bascially the same thing, but a bit shorter and without the humour. Essentially, we kept the blatant whitewashing, but excised the outright lies and contradictory passages.

"That would be fairly useful. Thank you. A hard copy would be most welcome."

One of the Mekidar diplomats excuses himself and walks back to the shuttle. “Well, we have introduced ourselves and not taken a violent dislike to each other,” says Grigorii good-naturedly, “That is a good sign. War would be so… unprofitable for either party. On that note, you said that the planets under your protection probably have use for trade, even if the Collective itself does not. It would be within the Republic’s interest to draw-up some formal agreements regarding the manner in which we can deal with them.”

"We must enforce certain restrictions on what you can bring onto Collective protected planets. We must bar weapons or items that can be efficiently used as weapons. Such things would drastically change the current balance of power on those planets. Also, we must bar colonization efforts, for similar reasons."

"Sounds reasonable. Though a more specific definition of what you mean by 'colonization' is needed. It will be inevitable that some of our citizens will establish semi-permanent residence for business reasons. Some may also decide that they like a primitive lifestyle better than the one they currently have."

"Residence of sufficient numbers of beings as to create enclaves or similar sociological constructs will suffice as a definition of colonization, for now."

"That would work just fine. So all your limitations are no weaponry or colonization under the definition you have provided. There is one concern though, our merchants would require a way to defend themselves from hostiles. Can they carry one personal weapon? What if it is of the same tech-level as that of the natives? At the very least, allow them to carry a non-powered melee weapon.

"Merchants can request and be provided with a guard of Collective combat androids. No weapons will be allowed."

"Combat androids are acceptable. Are there any other concerns or limitations that you wish to bring up?"

"Not at this time. Would you like to draw-up a formal treaty?"

"Yes we would, the treaty could be drawn-up right here, but it will not hold any value until it is approved by the people back home. Since we have agreed to engage in trade, it would perhaps be to our mutual advantage to establish embassies."

"It would be best to establish your embassy on one of the planets which trade is possible with. I have a list here." Joyeuse pulls open a drawer in the table, and removes a piece of paper, which she hands over.

One of the Mekidar takes it, and roughly at the same time the other arrives with what appears to be a leather-bound book. He hands it over with the words, “It has been translated to the language we are currently speaking.”

"A consulate would probably have to be established on each planet. However, both the consulates and the embassy would need to wait until a decent understanding of the socio-political situation on each world is attained. We do not want to build next door to the folks who hate the 'men from the stars'."

"We can provide a fairly comprehensive brief on the socio-political situation on each world."

"That would certainly makes things easier."
They keep good tabs on their protected worlds. No real surprise there.

[Glimmervoid]

Hubira System

“Sir, incoming transition, the ship has identified its self as The Boulder and claims to be a representative of an entity called the Mekidar Republic. Also sir they claim to know of the Cornish Hurling Empire our forgers.”

“Interesting,” responded the Admiral “Create a tenth limited ORC uplink with the Lesser Library’s StS History data base. Run a search for this “Mekidar Republic” and see what information we have one them.”

A few minutes past, as the information was compiled and transmitted. The crew sat tensely reviewing the information they did have until the Com officer said suddenly “Information coming it now, they appear to have been a minor empire that was still claming Self Sovereignty during the fall of the Forgers Empire.”

“What about the claim that they were trading partners, there is no records of that sir, but only the most vital information was saved during the fall of the Grater Library such records would likely not have been saved”.

“Ok” said the Admiral “Attempt to open a two way com stream to there ships lest see what else they have to say for them selves”.

“Com stream establishing, we now need to wait for them to reciprocate”.

[Thirdfain]

The INS Starwalker heaved too, spinning end-over-end as she came to a halt relative to the incoming Gaian starship.

Brazen gears creaked and rumbled deep in the vessel's core as a launch-bay opened itself to vaccum. Batlike golem-servitors, with wings like the skeletons of umbrellas and eyes of polished glass, scurried about a dozen tasks at the behest of mechanicians, kept safe from the airless void by rune-carved glass.

A luxury pinnace lept swanlike from the aetherclipper's bared internals, a parasitic moth of gossamer and gilded iron. FTL-band communications reached into the void, their source a device purchased at great expense by the OEL from an itinerant trader. Lady nii Crais would not make the mistakes the masters of the Stropworth Wanderer had.

On the comm-screens of the onrushing Gaian vessel, a message appeared. Broken and half-translated, promises of peace and offers of friendly trade began to scroll.