It had been a little over an hour since the contact had first jumped into the system. Diane sat at the back of the large control room watching the screens and their ever-shifting images. She saw them move from still to still, slowly changing aspect as the objects they were focused on continued on their way. The left screen contained the feed from the second object, while the right was dedicated to the first.
She shook her head for the millionth time, as the implications of the moments they were living right then slowly crept back into her attention. She'd been fighting the feelings of dread and panic since the moment she'd been told what the situation was. The fight had proven so tiresome, she'd half-mindedly sat herself down on the small row of unused folding seats discreetly tucked near the entrance to the control room, leaving the other department heads to continue bantering and voicing their opinions.
Jesus Christ... how the hell did this happen? she found herself asking. Of all the people, of all the places, why here? Why US?
She knew it was a pointless question. No answers would be forthcoming, and they might never be... historic events often times took place for no reason, and to people who had no idea or expectation of them. Question is: will this be a turn for the best, or a turn for the worse for us? That would depend on their course of action, and that meant she would have an input. It was only logical, but the weight of her responsibility felt like trying to hold back a landslide. A landslide of fear.
Her worries about resource allocation, her projects on yeasts, her disdain of Stephansson or her fascination with the mystery bugs... all of them seemed both small and distant. Like sweet relics of a time long gone, even though the age of normalcy had ended merely a couple of hours before. Change is no longer coming, she though, raising her tired eyes towards the screens. It's already here.
She shifted her gaze to the right, at the commander who had settled into his chair and seemed to be reading information off his holo-screen. He hadn't interacted much with the researchers, or anyone else since handing out his orders an hour before. Instead he seemed to be analysing something intently, occasionally asking the supercomputer to calculate something or retrieve another document, and speaking to his first officer, pointing towards the holo-screen. The first officer would lean in, and speak in the same hushed tone, offering his opinion or commenting on some matter.
What the hell are they cooking up? Are they planning to start a war?
The thought had crossed her mind, but the prospect was too fearful to contemplate at first. As the minutes went by, though, the idea that this could be the opening salvo in a conflict that might lead to the extinction of mankind had grown in her mind like a mold. She was determined not to let that happen, but every time she stopped meditating in her mind, the return to their present, harsh reality made her determination melt like a snowflake in a ship's exhaust.
The prospect of the discoveries that would follow also weighed in on her mind. It felt like they were on the cusp of an age of scientific breakthroughs. Suddenly, innumerable worlds would open up the secrets of life before them, helping to answer age-old questions of meaning and existence. And these would not be the barren worlds of humanity's past and present, but ones teeming with life...and not just mere organisms, but consciousness and intelligence.
That's if there's still anyone to make those discoveries. She felt the cold shivers of dread return, but found herself getting angry and annoyed. Millions of biologists would have dreamed to be here, on the cusp of this age of exploration. Millions died without ever achieving it. I'm NOT letting politics and militarism ruin this. I'm here, and I'll be dammed if I won't take center stage
With newfound vigor, she lofted herself out of her seat and walked towards the commander.
"Commander, I hope you don't intend to keep me here just as a spectator."
He turned with a look of surprise and tiredness.
"Like I said, all I need you to do right now is...."
"Observe" she finished."But you can't expect me to sit idly by while the fate of mankind is at stake."
"No, but I haven't decided on a course of action yet."
"Then tell me straight: do you intend to start a war?" she asked with a pointed tone.
Commander Andrews regarded her for a second.
"I intend to protect this base" he said, "but right now, I'm basically doing exactly what you're doing: observing and trying to make educated guesswork about their intentions. Either way, this war is already going on, and it was bound to come our way sooner or later."
"So I've heard...but that's not everything there is to know, is it?. Officially, the Orgus ran from an invasion, that was part of a larger conflict. The refugees are said traders, and most of them have only an approximate image of this war. But by the way you're parsing through these reports, it looks to me like you know something more."
"Well, I guess since I've already given you high clearance", he said with a slight sigh, "I suppose it's best if I tried to fill in some of the gaps. As you might know, the invasion of the Orgus worlds was carried out by another species, named the Umiak, organised into a polity called the Hierarchy. This polity is one of the two major galactic powers in this region, or so the Orgus claim.That much is known."
"Yes, the Orgus were invaded, and took to the stars as refugees.That's hardly new information. Is any of it true?"
"Everything is true, but some information was omitted. For instance, that the Orgus had better system defences than we did, yet were steamrolled. Or that fleets involved in this conflict range from low hundreds to low thousands. Or that the combatants have massive industries supporting their fleets, and rule over large chunks of territory."
Whelp, I guess I DID ask to be filled in.
"So then, we have a massive conflict raging right on our doorstep, involving star empires that dwarf us in military capability and technology. And the TCA and governments decided it's best not to let the public know?" she said with in a slightly accusatory tone.
"It's not withholding, it's spoon feeding" replied the commander. "It was a shock to have an alien ship stumble into our systems. To know there are civilisations out there, and that they might pose a threat. To know that we're absolutely boned in case we have to take part in said conflict would cause mass unrest, fear and unpredictable political fallout. The heads of the world governments decided that, as time went on, we would divulge more information, all the while gearing up for the inevitable conflict."
"Inevitable?" said Diane with a hoarse intonation. "And why would it be inevitable? As far as I can tell, we have no stake in it. Gearing up for war in case the alien empires decided to be hostile is one thing, but going in, guns blazing seems idiotic."
"Well" said the commander fully turning to face her,"the problem is that we might not have a choice. Here's the classified part: first, our territory is located between these two empires, bordering areas that are lightly guarded. Human space would be a good spot to launch deep strikes into the enemy territory, and destabilise his frontline. "
"Assuming we agree to ally ourselves with one of the empires. Why should we?"
"We might not be given a choice in the matter. You see, the Orgus invasion was precipitated by the fact that, apparently, neither the Umiak nor the Loroi recognise the right to neutrality. You're either with them or against them. "
Jesus Christ, the news just keeps getting better. "So we might be FORCED to take part?"
"Indeed. The Orgus refused to help the Umiak, and got trampled for it, even though apparently, their territory is nowhere near the frontlines. The same happened to the neighbouring species. The Hierarchy apparently forced each and every one of them to submit and assist with the war effort."
"And the Loroi are the same?"
"Somewhat, though information on them is much sketchier than on the Umiak. Our sole source is a single Orgus, who apparently was an itinerant trader, and visited Loroi space shortly before the war started."
Diane's mind suddenly clicked. "The Orgus from whom my mystery bacteria came from?"
Andrews smiled.
"The very same. Which is why I allowed your little side project to carry on. The more information we could gather the better."
Figures.
"So what do we have on them, apart from a very intriguing digestive tract?" she asked.
"Not much. Apparently, they run a sort of imperial confederation of several races. They're militaristic, but also somewhat isolationist. The other races in their region of space are less militaristic, but by the Orgus accounts, are rather well developed. However, it was the Loroi who initiated the non-neutrality clause, and apparently demonstrated their willingness to abide by it by annihilating a neutral race caught between the frontlines."
"Good Lord!!" exclaimed the doctor. "So they're genocidal?!"
"Yes...and no. You have to remember that the Orgus who visited Loroi space visited it nearly thirty years ago. Any more recent information on them was second-hand accounts from the Umiak, and so I suspect them to be somewhat biased."
"Even so, they sound far from good news."
The commander stroked his chin, leaning back in his chair. "You may be right, but the Hierarchy isn't' good news either. Apparently, they impose incredibly harsh conditions on their allies and subjects."
"H...How harsh?"
"Ruinous. Enough to cause mass starvation, gimp innovation, and nearly cause societal collapse." He turned to look her square in the eyes. "A form of indentured servitude if you join them willingly. Slavery if you don't."
Diane could feel her head spinning. Christ, why the hell did I ever get off my chair?
"S..So we're being forced to choose between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? What can we do?"
"I won't lie: by all accounts, it's bad. Really bad. But we have some things going for us. For instance, the Orgus reported that our systems are still not within easy reach of the empires. It's not easy for them to reach us, and we'd still have some time, however meager, until the fighting got to us."
Oh, joy. Suddenly, she remembered the contact mission that had left human space not long before.
"Then why the hell would we try to initiate diplomatic contact? They don't seem very interested in diplomacy if what we've heard is true."
"It's part of a grander strategy" said the commander. "The Contact Mission is one prong of said strategy. We have an advantage: we are aware of the existence of these empires, and what they've been up to. But they don't know that we exist, or where we are. Which means that we can initiate first contact on OUR terms, and try to negotiate some form of settlement."
"That sounds like the WORST plan in history" said Diane half-heartedly.
"It's the best card we can play at this time" he retorted."These political actors, while belligerent, are not irrational apparently. "
"Must I point out that applying human motivation and reasoning to aliens is foolish?"
"We have reasons to suspect that is the case. After all, the Orgus seem to be reasonable, if quirky."
"So what does this 'Grand Strategy' entail?"
"Making contact on our terms would be the first part. Try to leverage anything we can in negotiations. Simultaneously, we prepare the populace for warfare, by slowly revealing the true scope of the threat.That would be the second prong. Finally, we heavily accelerate warship design, production and development of new technologies in the leanest, most efficient way possible. We turn into Switzerland, to continue your second world war analogy."
"Sounds rather optimistic."
"It is, but it's been done before. Each of these three pathways was assigned to different organisations within human space. The governments of Earth, Mars and the colonies were given the job of spoon feeding the population information on the war, while expanding and harmonising military operations. The Scout Corps was given the task of conducting the Contact Mission, since they have the most experience operating deep space long range missions. The Colonial Navy was given the task of developing new technologies, new ships and new weapons and building them as fast as possible. This required us to centralise as much of our science and technical talent, and give it as many resources as possible, while keeping it secret."
Diane looked puzzled, before a light went off in her head. "You mean...this base?"
"Is the Navy's answer to first contact, just like the Contact mission is the Scout Corps'" he said with a slight tone of pride. "This base is meant to function like a combination of Los Alamos and Area 51: aggregate as much technical talent as possible,build and test new ships, weapons and technologies as fast as can be, investigate all avenues, distribute blueprints to the shipyards and factories. Lean and fast. And if push comes to shove, turn it from a research base into the largest shipyard in human space, and start churning ships. It's not on any star maps that are likely to be found, and the only indication of its existence would be fleets appearing out of nowhere, or the rapid pace of technological advancement." He smiled. "Did you really think that the redesign of the America class battlecruiser, the introduction of the Victory-class, and the rapid pace of new ship development was coincidental?"
Suddenly, it all made sense. The high secrecy, the massive resources and investment, the heavy military presence. This was where it originated.
"So..." she said in a skeptical tone, "what does your grand strategy say about our current situation?"
He frowned in frustration.
"It's like God throwing a monkey wrench in the works. If we make contact here, we lose our cards. They'll know where to find us, and what we can do. What's more, they seem to have stumbled upon our ace-in-the-hole facility, however meager an ace it might be."
"So we lay low?"
"We can't. Look at their trajectory" he said gesturing towards the screen facing them. "The lead ship is making a beeline towards the other jump point...the one that leads TOWARDS human space. "
"But you said the first ship is going to catch up to the second before they make the jump point!"
"Even if it did, and even if one of them was eliminated, we risk either being detected afterwards, or the remaining ship stumbling smack dab into our trade lanes. Can you imagine what a single ship like that could do? To our colonies or outposts?"
"So", Diane remarked despondently,"one again, we're basically forced to act or risk our plans going down the drain. And if we do, they'll go down the drain regardless."
"Perhaps" said the commander turning towards his console. "But it's not all lost. We just need to play our cards right."
May God have mercy on us.