Post by Lorpius Prime on Oct 12, 2023 22:05:40 GMT -5
The implants which suppressed Pascual's low-gravity nausea also prevented him from vomiting for other reasons. Even though he would very much like to.
Pascual had never given it very much thought before, but he had always considered himself an idealist. He had always been surrounded by politics, the occupations of his family and the focus of his higher education had made that inevitable. Pascual had never had any illusions that politics could be anything but cynical and dirty, and he never judged his uncle or any of his friends and associates for participating in that world. But it had never appealed to him, and in hindsight it was because he'd believed himself better. Purer.
Diplomacy, especially diplomacy between the nations of Earth, could be plenty cynical and dirty as well. But Pascual had been able to join the nascent diplomatic corps of the Organization of Earth States, representing Humanity itself to its new alien neighbors.
Interplanetary and interstellar diplomacy was too new to be as compromised, ruthless, and opportunistic as international diplomacy. Or so Pascual had believed. So he had hoped. And since he was getting in so early in the institution's history, he could even shape the direction the OES' foreign policy took. Pascual Molinas could help ensure that, at least in its dealings with aliens, Humanity presented and behaved at its very best.
"Fucking joke," he said under his breath.
It was still too soon for him to have received any official instructions from the OES Foreign Ministry or directly from his uncle, Chief Executive Eduardo Molinas. Commodore Lee's report would have reached them by now. But even if his uncle had a prepared letter that he sent Pascual immediately, it would not reach Task Force One for at least another hour.
Pascual didn't need a letter, though. Lee had shown him her orders. Pascual had known they were real. A part of him wished he could deny them, claim they were forgeries. But even that part was small, and tired. Whatever else he might think of Commodore Lee, he would never suspect her of making that up. And whatever else he might think of Uncle Eduardo, Pascual knew this was something he was entirely capable of planning and ordering.
And he never, ever, would have told Pascual about it in advance. Because he could not trust his nephew not to blow the plan. That realization hurt. Pascual would have raged, would have argued. But only with his uncle directly. He never would have betrayed him to others. At least not intentionally. And with just how sensitive this whole scheme was, the slightest hint coming from a sulking, tortured Pascual might have jeopardized its success.
Uncle Eduardo had trusted Pascual to represent him and the OES, but only in the aftermath.
That hurt, too. Again, because his uncle was right. Pascual would do what the Chief Executive wanted. He would carry out the plan. And that would be his betrayal. Not of his planet and species. But his own ideals. His own gut-deep knowledge that what Humanity had just done was an unforgivable evil.
That Tadpoles, in innocence and desperation, had trusted the Humans. Had asked for their help. Humanity had given them a knife in the belly.
Now it was Pascual's duty to twist that knife. And he would.
Pascual stared at a waste bin for another second. He imagined puking. But the sickness was purely in his head, drugs kept his stomach steadfastly inert.
He squared his shoulders, faced forward, and nodded at the Earth Fleet spacer outside the door to one of the station Discovery's conference rooms. The spacer returned a fuller nod of salute, and then opened the door. Pascual strode in showing much more confidence than he should rightly have been able to present.
Commodore Lee and another member of her bridge crew Pascual couldn't remember were already inside, along with Colonel Borzakov and Lieutenant Yatskaya. Pascual's stomach did flutter a bit at the sight of Nadia, and he wondered how he would feel about her after this day was over. He wondered if they would ever even speak again.
The Humans were all standing. On the other side of the conference table, three Tadpoles stood in front of stools which they had been offered but declined.
In the center was Elder Wohh, whom Pascual had never met. He was slightly stooped and had gray streaks across his skin. It made him look actually elderly, though Pascual had no idea if that translated into Tadpole physiology. To his left was Captain Pakpeden, standing straight, and Pascual imagined glaring impotent daggers at the Humans. On the elder's right was Forug, the colony manager.
Rokden was dead. He had been on one of the transport ships that Task Force One had destroyed. Forug's sibling Dr. Vurk had died on the same transport. Elder Morh was also dead. She was one of the handful of Tadpoles killed by the Earth Fleet Marines In their boarding action. Not intentionally, Pascual was given to understand, though he had not yet gotten all the details.
Hundreds of Tadpoles had died in the attack. Tens of thousands had died since. The Tadpoles had tried to power up the arkship's defenses to fight back. Apparently its gravity shield—which had destroyed the EFS Lithuania—failed catastrophically seconds after activation. The damage to the ship's already overstressed systems were now causing cascading failures of life support.
The Tadpoles had been dying by inches before. Now the deaths were too rapid to count. Whole habitat sections were filled with frozen corpses that would likely remain for years. The most stable habitats had been forced to seal themselves off from floods of refugees. Transport and maintenance corridors were packed full, making in-ship navigation difficult.
Worst of all, Task Force One had destroyed half of the Tadpoles' transport capacity, and grounded the rest until Earth Fleet could take control of the vessels. Refugee flows to Discovery station had halted just as the crisis on the arkship escalated.
Well. The sooner Pascual got this over with, the sooner Earth Fleet could get some of those transports moving again.
"Elder Wohh, Captain Pakpeden," he said formally, "I am Ambassador Pascual Molinas. I represent Chief Executive Molinas and the Organization of Earth States, and am invested with authority to speak and negotiate terms on their behalf. I speak for Earth, and I speak for Humanity. Do you understand?"
Wohh tilted forward slightly, perhaps in a nod. After a moment he added, "Yes."
The Tadpole's voice was higher pitched than Rokden's, but had a similar gravel to it.
"Do the three of you represent the members of your species in this Solar system? Can we trust agreements made by you to be binding upon all Tadpoles here?"
"Yes," Wohh said again. Pascual had called them three, but he did not believe Forug had any real political authority among the Tadpoles. Pascual and Commodore Lee had asked for him to be present ostensibly because he represented the colony administration, but mostly as another body to fill out the Tadpole side of this meeting.
"Very well," Pascual said. "I am here to accept the surrender of your people to the Organization of Earth States and our military forces, Earth Fleet. You have been given copies of the surrender document to review, and have been consulted on its meaning with Earth Fleet personnel. I will review and summarize the terms."
He picked up a tablet displaying the surrender from the table. It was not very long, but Pascual still thumbed over to show just the table of contents.
"First. You will turn over all vessels to the control of Earth Fleet, including the mothership aboard which you traveled to this Solar system, and all smaller vessels in your possession. Earth Fleet officers will be transferred aboard. Tadpole personnel will assist them in commanding the vessels and instructing them in the vessels' operation. Earth Fleet personnel are to be made safe and treated with absolute deference. Any injury to Earth Fleet personnel or disobedience of their command will result in punitive action.
Second. All fixed installations, facilities, and properties will be similarly surrendered. This includes the three Human colony facilities previously granted to the Tadpoles known as the Discovery, Diligence, and Destiny, and bases on the surface of Titania. These facilities will be commanded by Earth Fleet commanders until governors appointed by the Organization of Earth States can be appointed and arrive to assume responsibility. All Tadpole civil administration and institutions will be subordinate to OES representatives. Any injury to Earth Fleet or OES personnel or acts of disobedience will result in punitive action.
Third. All Tadpole military forces, weapons systems, and armaments not covered above are to be promptly identified to the Earth Fleet commander on station. They are then to be gathered and surrendered or destroyed at the direction of Earth Fleet."
Pascual put the tablet back down. He paused for effect and to steady his breathing.
"Do each of you understand these terms?"
He looked to Elder Wohh, Captain Pakpeden, and Forug in turn, waiting a moment before each said a clear "Yes."
"Please acknowledge your acceptance of these terms by signing the document on the tablet. The Human tradition is a written mark representing your personal name that will be permanently fixed to the official document. If you do not have a way to represent your name in writing, then any distinguishing mark will suffice. Please also state clearly, for the audio and visual record, your agreement to these terms."
The Tadpoles had a written language, but the Humans were uncertain how Tadpole names worked. Pascual figured this wording was safest.
Wohh dragged one large, yellow-gray finger across the surface of the tablet. "I am Wohh," he said. "Elder, Maklig, and Enharg. On behalf and for the sake of all my people, I give surrender to the Humans."
He slid the tablet to one side, and Captain Pakpeden stepped forward. He also left an inscrutable mark at the bottom of the official surrender copy with one finger, and said, "I am Pakpeden. Ship master, Maklig, and Enharg. I surrender my vessel and my crew to the Humans."
The Tadpole Captain made a noise halfway between a snort or cough as he stepped back from the table. Pascual was looking forward to someday reading scholarly investigations of Tadpole non-verbal communication to understand all the meanings in moments like this.
Forug actually wrote out his name in English, carefully drawing FORUG on the tablet. "I am Forug. Manager, Maklig, Enahrg. I surrender."
As soon as he stepped back, an Earth Fleet lieutenant detached from a wall, gathered up the tablet, and left the room.
That was all that was necessary for the formal surrender, but Pascual could not bring himself to simply walk away with no more words said. Better to cap a grim moment with at least a sliver of hope.
"Thank you," he said, nodding to the Tadpole representatives. "Our fight is over. Let us now help both our peoples build together a future in which we will not fight again."
Pakpeden made the coughing noise again, louder this time. Pascual was sure it expressed contempt. Well, maybe that was deserved.
Elder Wohh tilted his globular head upwards to look directly in Pascual's eyes for the first time and spoke.
"When Elder Rokden argued for sending our delegation to your world, he said that Humans were dangerous and would not easily become friends. From what we had observed and learned, he concluded that your culture was fickle and ruthless."
A long tongue rolled out of Wohh's mouth and touched the bottom of his chin before withdrawing. The Elder made a chewing noise for a brief moment, and then continued.
"But he also taught us the Human word Empathy. He believed that if we communicated our situation and our distress to you, that there was a worthy chance you would choose to help us, and that with your help we might survive. All of us doubted, even Rokden. But we had hope. And we had no better options."
Wohh paused, and might have been waiting for Pascual to say something in response. But the meeting was still being recorded, and Pascual could not find anything that would not sound either pathetic or mean.
"I do not understand why you have done this to us," Wohh eventually continued. "But I observe that you have not destroyed us entirely, even though this was in your power. Our suffering is great, but some of us still live. And your agreement implies you expect us to continue living.
"I must assume Rokden was right. Maybe because of empathy, maybe some calculated advantage I do not perceive, we survive at your mercy. Thank you, Ambassador Molinas. We surrender to you. And we beg again for your assistance. We are dying. Please help us."
Pascual turned and left the room before he lost control of himself.
Pascual had never given it very much thought before, but he had always considered himself an idealist. He had always been surrounded by politics, the occupations of his family and the focus of his higher education had made that inevitable. Pascual had never had any illusions that politics could be anything but cynical and dirty, and he never judged his uncle or any of his friends and associates for participating in that world. But it had never appealed to him, and in hindsight it was because he'd believed himself better. Purer.
Diplomacy, especially diplomacy between the nations of Earth, could be plenty cynical and dirty as well. But Pascual had been able to join the nascent diplomatic corps of the Organization of Earth States, representing Humanity itself to its new alien neighbors.
Interplanetary and interstellar diplomacy was too new to be as compromised, ruthless, and opportunistic as international diplomacy. Or so Pascual had believed. So he had hoped. And since he was getting in so early in the institution's history, he could even shape the direction the OES' foreign policy took. Pascual Molinas could help ensure that, at least in its dealings with aliens, Humanity presented and behaved at its very best.
"Fucking joke," he said under his breath.
It was still too soon for him to have received any official instructions from the OES Foreign Ministry or directly from his uncle, Chief Executive Eduardo Molinas. Commodore Lee's report would have reached them by now. But even if his uncle had a prepared letter that he sent Pascual immediately, it would not reach Task Force One for at least another hour.
Pascual didn't need a letter, though. Lee had shown him her orders. Pascual had known they were real. A part of him wished he could deny them, claim they were forgeries. But even that part was small, and tired. Whatever else he might think of Commodore Lee, he would never suspect her of making that up. And whatever else he might think of Uncle Eduardo, Pascual knew this was something he was entirely capable of planning and ordering.
And he never, ever, would have told Pascual about it in advance. Because he could not trust his nephew not to blow the plan. That realization hurt. Pascual would have raged, would have argued. But only with his uncle directly. He never would have betrayed him to others. At least not intentionally. And with just how sensitive this whole scheme was, the slightest hint coming from a sulking, tortured Pascual might have jeopardized its success.
Uncle Eduardo had trusted Pascual to represent him and the OES, but only in the aftermath.
That hurt, too. Again, because his uncle was right. Pascual would do what the Chief Executive wanted. He would carry out the plan. And that would be his betrayal. Not of his planet and species. But his own ideals. His own gut-deep knowledge that what Humanity had just done was an unforgivable evil.
That Tadpoles, in innocence and desperation, had trusted the Humans. Had asked for their help. Humanity had given them a knife in the belly.
Now it was Pascual's duty to twist that knife. And he would.
Pascual stared at a waste bin for another second. He imagined puking. But the sickness was purely in his head, drugs kept his stomach steadfastly inert.
He squared his shoulders, faced forward, and nodded at the Earth Fleet spacer outside the door to one of the station Discovery's conference rooms. The spacer returned a fuller nod of salute, and then opened the door. Pascual strode in showing much more confidence than he should rightly have been able to present.
Commodore Lee and another member of her bridge crew Pascual couldn't remember were already inside, along with Colonel Borzakov and Lieutenant Yatskaya. Pascual's stomach did flutter a bit at the sight of Nadia, and he wondered how he would feel about her after this day was over. He wondered if they would ever even speak again.
The Humans were all standing. On the other side of the conference table, three Tadpoles stood in front of stools which they had been offered but declined.
In the center was Elder Wohh, whom Pascual had never met. He was slightly stooped and had gray streaks across his skin. It made him look actually elderly, though Pascual had no idea if that translated into Tadpole physiology. To his left was Captain Pakpeden, standing straight, and Pascual imagined glaring impotent daggers at the Humans. On the elder's right was Forug, the colony manager.
Rokden was dead. He had been on one of the transport ships that Task Force One had destroyed. Forug's sibling Dr. Vurk had died on the same transport. Elder Morh was also dead. She was one of the handful of Tadpoles killed by the Earth Fleet Marines In their boarding action. Not intentionally, Pascual was given to understand, though he had not yet gotten all the details.
Hundreds of Tadpoles had died in the attack. Tens of thousands had died since. The Tadpoles had tried to power up the arkship's defenses to fight back. Apparently its gravity shield—which had destroyed the EFS Lithuania—failed catastrophically seconds after activation. The damage to the ship's already overstressed systems were now causing cascading failures of life support.
The Tadpoles had been dying by inches before. Now the deaths were too rapid to count. Whole habitat sections were filled with frozen corpses that would likely remain for years. The most stable habitats had been forced to seal themselves off from floods of refugees. Transport and maintenance corridors were packed full, making in-ship navigation difficult.
Worst of all, Task Force One had destroyed half of the Tadpoles' transport capacity, and grounded the rest until Earth Fleet could take control of the vessels. Refugee flows to Discovery station had halted just as the crisis on the arkship escalated.
Well. The sooner Pascual got this over with, the sooner Earth Fleet could get some of those transports moving again.
"Elder Wohh, Captain Pakpeden," he said formally, "I am Ambassador Pascual Molinas. I represent Chief Executive Molinas and the Organization of Earth States, and am invested with authority to speak and negotiate terms on their behalf. I speak for Earth, and I speak for Humanity. Do you understand?"
Wohh tilted forward slightly, perhaps in a nod. After a moment he added, "Yes."
The Tadpole's voice was higher pitched than Rokden's, but had a similar gravel to it.
"Do the three of you represent the members of your species in this Solar system? Can we trust agreements made by you to be binding upon all Tadpoles here?"
"Yes," Wohh said again. Pascual had called them three, but he did not believe Forug had any real political authority among the Tadpoles. Pascual and Commodore Lee had asked for him to be present ostensibly because he represented the colony administration, but mostly as another body to fill out the Tadpole side of this meeting.
"Very well," Pascual said. "I am here to accept the surrender of your people to the Organization of Earth States and our military forces, Earth Fleet. You have been given copies of the surrender document to review, and have been consulted on its meaning with Earth Fleet personnel. I will review and summarize the terms."
He picked up a tablet displaying the surrender from the table. It was not very long, but Pascual still thumbed over to show just the table of contents.
"First. You will turn over all vessels to the control of Earth Fleet, including the mothership aboard which you traveled to this Solar system, and all smaller vessels in your possession. Earth Fleet officers will be transferred aboard. Tadpole personnel will assist them in commanding the vessels and instructing them in the vessels' operation. Earth Fleet personnel are to be made safe and treated with absolute deference. Any injury to Earth Fleet personnel or disobedience of their command will result in punitive action.
Second. All fixed installations, facilities, and properties will be similarly surrendered. This includes the three Human colony facilities previously granted to the Tadpoles known as the Discovery, Diligence, and Destiny, and bases on the surface of Titania. These facilities will be commanded by Earth Fleet commanders until governors appointed by the Organization of Earth States can be appointed and arrive to assume responsibility. All Tadpole civil administration and institutions will be subordinate to OES representatives. Any injury to Earth Fleet or OES personnel or acts of disobedience will result in punitive action.
Third. All Tadpole military forces, weapons systems, and armaments not covered above are to be promptly identified to the Earth Fleet commander on station. They are then to be gathered and surrendered or destroyed at the direction of Earth Fleet."
Pascual put the tablet back down. He paused for effect and to steady his breathing.
"Do each of you understand these terms?"
He looked to Elder Wohh, Captain Pakpeden, and Forug in turn, waiting a moment before each said a clear "Yes."
"Please acknowledge your acceptance of these terms by signing the document on the tablet. The Human tradition is a written mark representing your personal name that will be permanently fixed to the official document. If you do not have a way to represent your name in writing, then any distinguishing mark will suffice. Please also state clearly, for the audio and visual record, your agreement to these terms."
The Tadpoles had a written language, but the Humans were uncertain how Tadpole names worked. Pascual figured this wording was safest.
Wohh dragged one large, yellow-gray finger across the surface of the tablet. "I am Wohh," he said. "Elder, Maklig, and Enharg. On behalf and for the sake of all my people, I give surrender to the Humans."
He slid the tablet to one side, and Captain Pakpeden stepped forward. He also left an inscrutable mark at the bottom of the official surrender copy with one finger, and said, "I am Pakpeden. Ship master, Maklig, and Enharg. I surrender my vessel and my crew to the Humans."
The Tadpole Captain made a noise halfway between a snort or cough as he stepped back from the table. Pascual was looking forward to someday reading scholarly investigations of Tadpole non-verbal communication to understand all the meanings in moments like this.
Forug actually wrote out his name in English, carefully drawing FORUG on the tablet. "I am Forug. Manager, Maklig, Enahrg. I surrender."
As soon as he stepped back, an Earth Fleet lieutenant detached from a wall, gathered up the tablet, and left the room.
That was all that was necessary for the formal surrender, but Pascual could not bring himself to simply walk away with no more words said. Better to cap a grim moment with at least a sliver of hope.
"Thank you," he said, nodding to the Tadpole representatives. "Our fight is over. Let us now help both our peoples build together a future in which we will not fight again."
Pakpeden made the coughing noise again, louder this time. Pascual was sure it expressed contempt. Well, maybe that was deserved.
Elder Wohh tilted his globular head upwards to look directly in Pascual's eyes for the first time and spoke.
"When Elder Rokden argued for sending our delegation to your world, he said that Humans were dangerous and would not easily become friends. From what we had observed and learned, he concluded that your culture was fickle and ruthless."
A long tongue rolled out of Wohh's mouth and touched the bottom of his chin before withdrawing. The Elder made a chewing noise for a brief moment, and then continued.
"But he also taught us the Human word Empathy. He believed that if we communicated our situation and our distress to you, that there was a worthy chance you would choose to help us, and that with your help we might survive. All of us doubted, even Rokden. But we had hope. And we had no better options."
Wohh paused, and might have been waiting for Pascual to say something in response. But the meeting was still being recorded, and Pascual could not find anything that would not sound either pathetic or mean.
"I do not understand why you have done this to us," Wohh eventually continued. "But I observe that you have not destroyed us entirely, even though this was in your power. Our suffering is great, but some of us still live. And your agreement implies you expect us to continue living.
"I must assume Rokden was right. Maybe because of empathy, maybe some calculated advantage I do not perceive, we survive at your mercy. Thank you, Ambassador Molinas. We surrender to you. And we beg again for your assistance. We are dying. Please help us."
Pascual turned and left the room before he lost control of himself.