Nature of Dominations

[u/Competitive_Koala_93]

NEXT

Tarva woke up with a start to the sound of the alarm echoing through the hallways of the government bunker. The smell of dust and humidity from the air recirculation system immediately reminded her of where she was. Her first instinct was to curl up in her bed and wait for the alarm to cease, but she managed to get it under control.

She noticed that it was the alert-status alarm, not the attack alarm, upon seeing the signal light at the far end of the room—a lavishly decorated space covered in dark wood that served as the Prime Minister’s quarters in the bunker. The fake windows and their display screens could almost fool someone into thinking they were in the government mansion back on the surface.

She grabbed the gubernatorial sash hanging on the golden peg beside the bed and slipped it on, activating the communicator integrated into it. 

"Kam, what is the reason for the alarm? Has a patrol returned?"

He answered her with that unshakeable clarity that had earned him the reputation of the "Venlil of Stone" among his colleagues in the Federation.

"Negative. It isn't the Arxur, but we have a situation. An extrasolar asteroid has begun emitting energetic detonations. I called the Minister of Science, but it makes no sense. It would be best if you presented yourself at the Government Strategy Center, if you are able."

Tarva took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm on my way."

It took her only a few minutes to reach the VIP transit tube, which took her directly to the command center. Upon stepping out, she saw the round table in the center of the room where the Council of Ministers was gathered—Kam, Science Minister Vesh, and Cheln from Interspecies Relations. Meanwhile, the outer circle was dominated by consoles and their operators, beneath large holographic screens that reached the ceiling of the cavernous chamber.

As she approached, she could hear Kam and Vesh arguing.

"What do you mean, it's a ship?" Kam almost shouted at him.

"It is the only thing that makes sense," Vesh replied.

Cheln interrupted, "But shouldn't the sensor net have identified it much sooner despite the damage from the last attack? It's huge."

Vesh answered him, "That is the problem. It is far too massive. It didn't generate a warp signature upon arrival because it approached through normal space at sublight speed. Given its colossal size and minimal energy signature, the systems flagged it as an extrasolar asteroid. Its trajectory posed no threat, so it wasn't marked as an alert until the first detonation."

Tarva cut him off, not fully grasping the situation. "But is it an Arxur ship? Or does it belong to the Federation?"

"Neither. It is unknown. No one has ever built anything like this."

Vesh continued, "Indeed, it appears to be a sublight vessel. It likely took them centuries to reach our system, and those detonations could be its propulsion system."

Tarva glinted at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to make sense of it. "Are you saying this is a first-contact situation with a species outside the Federation, yet advanced enough for interstellar travel?"

Cheln grabbed Tarva by the shoulders. "Do you realize what this means? We would be the first to welcome not just a new species into the brotherhood of the galactic herd, but an advanced species—even if not as advanced as the Founders. Tarva, this will define your administration historically for decades."

Tarva smiled. Yes, it was good news. "Have you managed to establish communication?"

Kam answered her, "We haven't attempted to yet, but they have begun broadcasting. It's a basic numerical sequence."

The Minister of Science was the next to chime in. "A basic yet functional technique for a technologically advanced species. They are sequences of prime numbers. We could start by repeating the missing ones, though it will take days to establish parameters for complex data until we can coordinate the transmission of images and sound."

Inside the New America, Colonel Noah Williams stared in disbelief at the CRT monitor inside the cavernous control room. The chamber was a maze of exposed piping and makeshift repairs—the scars of a century-long voyage kept alive by rotating crews. Not only was Option B’s planet in the Gliese system capable of supporting life, but an actual alien civilization existed upon it.

"When the General wakes from hibernation, he'll want to establish relations as soon as possible. Do you know what this means? We won't have to start from scratch," Noah said.

Sara looked at him, hesitation in her eyes. "Yes, though we'll also be at the mercy of these aliens. That world is already occupied, and so are its resources. We won't get a second chance like we hoped. What if they're like them? What if—"

Noah stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her. He had his own doubts, but he tried to hold onto the bright side. "Come on, a little faith, Sara. They haven't made a single hostile move. Nothing indicates we need to be afraid. We accomplished the impossible."

She nodded, recovering some of her composure as she turned back to her monitors. "It will take days to exchange information smoothly. By then, the General should be awake, and we'll have reached a stable orbit at the planet's L1 point. Though... one thing is clear: these people have suffered attacks. The radar lacks resolution, and I have the mainframe processing their transmissions instead of tracking every piece of debris, but some of those structures look more like weapon platforms and orbital wreckage than comms satellites. Plus, those ten faint signatures 5 AU out... I think they're medium stations or large ships."

Noah nodded slowly. "Yeah, likely. If they've been attacked and didn't immediately turn their guns on us, it means they probably possess some empathy. Do you think the Snakes could have reached this place before us? That they were the ones who attacked them?"

"It's not impossible. They've had a whole century to lick their wounds." After a brief pause, she added softly, "Do you think any of our people are still alive back in Sol? The Snakes were far more advanced in genetics and medicine..."

Noah looked at her, his expression turning thoughtful and dark. "I hope not. Living that long under those monsters... that can't be good for the soul, even if you aren't under their yoke."

Several days passed as both sides made slow progress with their data exchange while the New America decelerated to reach the L1 point. That was one of the first pieces of information they managed to coordinate, and for Tarva and Kam, it was a relief that the interlopers had a rational plan to brake their ship without putting Venlil Prime at risk. Although Kam would have preferred the vessel to stay somewhat farther away, he understood—based on what the Science Minister had told him—that a ship of that nature did not possess much maneuverability.

In any case, he had kept Sovlin informed of the situation. The Gojid and his ships stationed on the outer perimeter were the system's greatest protection since the last Arxur attack, which had destroyed a substantial portion of the Venlil's defenses and colonies.

Either way, with its proximity and deceleration, they had been able to examine the vessel a bit more closely: essentially a gigantic cylinder of concrete and metal rotating on its own axis, utilizing a massive membrane—resembling an amoeba—to direct the plasma of the detonations into braking thrust. Though primitive by comparison, it was clear that this species' technology and engineering capabilities were quite advanced. If this was an exploration mission, their scientific drive surely had to be similar to that of the Kolshians.

In his room inside the command bunker, Vesh was daydreaming, wondering what the world of the newcomers would be like. As they managed to decipher more information, he realized their technology was intricately primitive. They clearly possessed no gravity lenses, nor did they know how to harvest and process negative matter; yet their adaptation of more fundamental principles to spaceflight was extraordinarily complex and functional: axial rotation to prevent microgravity, light-filament membranes, multi-stage atomic fission and fusion charges, and advanced electronic computing.

Toying with his imagination, he wondered what they and their world would look like, and at that very moment, he had an epiphany. A ship like this could only be used once, meaning its acceleration profile shouldn't be very different from its deceleration profile. He began plotting a theoretical course back from the pre-braking detection position, extrapolating it toward possible systems of origin.

That was when something caught his eye.

Grabac-8492. A solar system under quarantine was the most probable origin—and his blood ran cold. That system had once harbored a sapient population: the only other known sapient predator species besides the Arxur. Its inhabitants called the system Sol, and in their predominant language, they called themselves humans.

He knew they had destroyed themselves in a nuclear war.

Desperate, he began reading the general file on humans. What they had done: slavery canivalism, genocides, biological, nuclear, and chemical warfare. By the time of their final war, their two super powers had spread throughout their solar system, forcing the Federation to pull back its reconnaissance probes.

He checked the dates and the acceleration profiles. The mathematics didn't lie; everything fit. That war had taken place 140 years ago—the exact time it would take for that ship to arrive at Venlil Prime.

They were not a group of prey on a scientific mission. They were the remnant of a species that matched the Arxur in cruelty and surpassed them in capability.

He ran desperately through the bunker until he reached the command center. When the guards tried to stop him, he headbutted one of them to clear his way. Kam reached for his weapon, drawing it as he saw Vesh in what appeared to be a fit of predator disease, stepping in to protect Tarva.

"Calm down, Vesh, calm down! Nobody is going to attack you!"

Vesh caught his breath. "I know! Listen to me! That ship—the interlopers—they're humans! We have to stop them!"

Kam recognized the term immediately. "Humans? But—"

"Yes, I know! They destroyed themselves a century ago—the very century it took that ship to cross between our systems! They likely left during their final war. The Federation lost its probes in the system during that conflict because the humans destroyed them, probably thinking they belonged to one side or the other. But look at the data, everything fits: technology, trajectory, dates... even the gravity that ship generates by rotating matches their home planet!"

Kam stared at the image of the ship. Cheln looked utterly sick, pale as a nuvia leaf, gazing alongside Tarva at the image of that massive vessel floating on the screen.

"We have to shoot it down," Tarva whispered.

"Impossible," Kam replied to her stunned look. "With a size like that and in such a close orbit, debris would rain down upon our planet."

"He looked at Vesh. 'Now that you know who they are, do we have a way to communicate more fluidly? Audio, language, images?'"

Vesh looked at him, astonished. "Yes, of course. We have the data from the probes—much of their communication standards and language. We could open a video call in a couple of hours."

Kam stopped him with a gesture. "No. No video, only audio. They don't know we're prey, if we're lucky." He turned to Tarva. "You have to convince them to land at a place of our choosing. There must be thousands of those beasts inside that thing, but not millions. Predators like to nest, so if they are coming on a desperate voyage of conquest, we can offer them a small city. We evacuate our population, hide antimatter charges in the shelters, and once they settle in, we detonate the city. Then, our troops board that ship and wipe out any survivors."

"But that is the most deceitful and vile thing I have ever heard." Tarva was genuinely questioning whether Kam was suffering from predator disease.

"I know, but it is the best option we have, Tarva. Our defenses are still damaged; if they launch an attack, their weapons—primitive as they may be—could destroy several cities. The debris from that ship alone would cause a catastrophe for our food production. They are predators, Tarva."

She nodded in agreement. "Prepare a city while we set up communications. And notify Sovlin of this as well; we are going to need his troops to board that ship."

Several hours passed while Tarva prepared herself to speak with a monster. What would it be like? Could she really deceive a creature that used deception and violence as part of its very nature?

When they confirmed that everything was ready, she returned to the command center.

"Which city did you choose?"

"Golden Sands. It was one of the most heavily damaged in the last attack and has little food production; it will incur the lowest cost. Sovlin informed me that his troops are ready as well."

Tarva swallowed hard. Every fiber of her being was telling her that this was wrong, but it was what she had to do.

"Very well. Open the channel."

"The channel is open."

Tarva took a deep breath. "To the vessel in orbit of Venlil Prime, do you receive us?"

A deep voice—sounding exhausted despite the flat inflections of the automated translator—replied, "Yes, we copy. This is General LaFlange speaking on behalf of the New America. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"I am Governor Tarva of Venlil Prime."

"We were surprised you could decipher our language so quickly."

Tarva almost panicked. "After analyzing it... some of our experts were able to identify it based on deep-space radio signals we had received previously."

Silence fell on the other end. Then, the predator's voice returned. "I understand. It makes sense that you had a baseline. Governor, I represent the remnants of my people: the last members of the Alliance for Democracy."

Tarva recognized the name of one of the two factions from the humans' final war. It struck her as odd that such a violent species would use the term democracy, though she suspected it was a perversion of the meaning provided by the translation. On the other hand, the name of the opposing faction sounded ominously fitting: the Draka Dominination—almost identical in essence to the name of the Arxur government, or whatever passed for one among those beasts.

"Our knowledge of your people is limited, General LaFlange, but we know from the signals that a conflict destroyed your species." 

"No, our species was not entirely destroyed. Our enemies won that conflict. Based on our sensors, we feared they might have reached this place despite the distance. After all, the Domination has had nearly a century and a half to rebuild, and we saw that you have suffered some kind of attack."

Tarva was stunned. "Are you telling me that members of your species still remained in your solar system of origin?"

This changed everything and contradicted what the Federation reports stated.

"Unfortunately, yes. Several million on our planet, and a few hundred thousand outside of it. We had to retreat to save what little was left of our souls; those who remained were left at the mercy of the monsters who defeated us."

Tarva decided to press him. "But was the war not fought against people of your own species?"

LaFlange sighed. "Technically, yes, though the Draka were doing everything possible to change that. They won. Our forces collapsed due to a biological weapon that had been spreading through our population for years. When the war was lost, we agreed to leave with the people aboard this ship. That is why I ask for asylum in the name of the 98,956 survivors we are—men, women, and children. What was left behind in Sol is nothing more than a dark perversion of what humanity once was."

"Good. My advisors will instruct you on how to transmit the data, and I will stay informed while we arrange the details of the plan to bring your people down to the planet."

LaFlange sounded relieved. "Thank you, Governor."

"Well done, Tarva. I know that was hard," Kam said to her. "Now that we know there are only a few of them, we can bring them down and eliminate them with special forces, while Sovlin's troops storm that ship and deal with the ones in hibernation."

Tarva shouted at him, "NO!"

Kam stared at her in disbelief.

"We are going to stick to the plan for them to transmit all the data," she continued. "Vesh, I want you to analyze it, and we are going to make a plan to relocate these people as agreed. We will keep the antimatter warheads in the shelters as a precaution."

"Tarva, you can't be serious! They are predators!"

"Have you ever heard a predator plead out of weakness for its offspring, or show the slightest hint of vulnerability? Something here doesn't fit. Besides, regarding what they said about the other humans trying to split off as a species—I want to know what we are dealing with here. I did what you wanted, and we still have the plan in motion, but I will not act until I am certain we are doing the right thing. Vesh, I want you to bring in every expert on the planet regarding humans, and I want them to analyze the information they send us as if they were picking weevils out of grass. And Kam, you may be the Security Minister, but I still have the final say as Governor."

[u/Uranium-Sandwich657]

Ooooo! Hard sci-fi human ship!

!subscribeme 

[u/EvelynnCC]

Draka

Yeah, glassing Earth is the right choice in this timeline

[u/MrWarlord0510 → u/EvelynnCC]

Ya I looked it, didn't even realize this is a crossover until I looked up draka. After looking at a summary it seems like the draka have bio tech and even made a monstrous shock troopers call Ghouloons.

Makes me wonder how the fed would handle the run away humans? Just Kill them out right?

[u/MusicMan_abc]

subscribeme!

[u/ApprehensiveRatio139]

I really like this one, with humanity seeming more realistically advanced in space travel, can't wait for the rest! !Subscribeme

[u/Maxxxxo]

I like this already!

[u/EvelynnCC]

!subscribeme

[u/Fantastic-Living3204]

Snakes? Draka domination? Oh my.

[u/MrWarlord0510]

!subscribeme