Duty, 17: Divided
30 Nov 2022Meowers
Ah, hello, it's me again. And I'll start with the rhetorical one. Why some people are so goddamn stupid? Okay, diplomacy has never been my best, so mostly in those situations I've been standing somewhere nearby with the most serious face, but anyway I doubt any kind of diplomatic approach can help here. Maybe some experimental psychiatry could.
So, things have been pretty slippy since we brought the survivors with us, some of the locals certainly weren't pleased, can't say it was a kind of a closed community, but for some reason they didn't like those folks. Maybe because they were Feds. And I can understand that perfectly as I shared a similar worldview some time ago; but, thinking outside of that differentiation, they were citizens of the Federation simply because they were born somewhere on the Fed territory and just... lived there. And tried to build their lives using whatever they had around them, and eventually they ended up being Federal military personnel. And I have the same background; back then, years ago, I tried to do the same thing, to build my life in the Federation, but it led me to rejecting my citizenship and becoming an independent entity.
I hope time will put everything on places. We're all in the same boat now, whether or not Federation decides to send something to evacuate them off the planet completely. And there is another issue...
Godsdamned Thargoid sympathisers.
And now they blocked every exit from our command building while we were inside. Super surprise. So I'm sitting and recording this while our and local planetary defence officers think what to do next. We can't just, you know, shoot them in the heads. They're still civilians. Even if their heads are full of crap.
Like, you know about those creepy Far God cultists probably. Those folks are completely, irreparably wacked, they pray to Thargoids, they think being killed by one is the highest point of their existence, they want them to eradicate humanity, whatever. They stay in their groups, practice their nonsense rituals, they have their hierarchy, they donate stuff to their church, like, hey, that's how all religious sects are working, hah. Highest ranks enjoy all kinds of luxury stuff while the simple folks give up their everything for some pompous promises of having a better life some day. Same scheme as with the government, but a bit more... exaggerated.
But no. Those are totally different. Those look and behave like your average Joes and Janes, they have their jobs, their families, all their common human life things, but for some reason they think we shouldn't fight the Thargoids. "Peace is paramount" or whatever their slogan is, I hear them yelling that stuff for several hours already. They honestly believe that the Thargoids could be contacted with and some kind of diplomacy is possible, even knowing that the Guardians tried. Thousands of thousands years ago, they tried, and they were much more capable in communications than us, humans. They actually have had some success in understanding Thargoid 'language', but nonetheless they failed. Thargoids just didn't want to listen, they continued their hostilities and all that led to a full-scale interspecies war. A war, not a series of battles and blown up stations here and there like we have now, but a war, with billions of casualties.
So. Seems like while we were occupied with our patrolling, and then with our clean-up stuff, they were planning that move, secretly from us, and then, apparently, what happened to poor Feds was a sign for them to start. Perhaps. I can't say for sure, but maybe they even enjoy some support from refugees. I remembered that idiot on the street. Probably one of them as well, who knows. And... What surprises me the most: they managed to gather in an organised group, they were sticking together all that time and nobody noticed.
Never thought that sympathising the Thargoids was a real thing. Just a year ago, even less, many people considered Thargoids as something fictional; and those who had seen them and their actions were totally sure that they are our enemies. Not on political terms, but on biological. 'Us or them'. Survival of the fittest. Okay, I know some people are weird, creepy and perverted, and they like to do heinous things. And I can't deny there's a probability that a bunch of especially bonked individuals may like to do heinous things in Thargoid suits. But no, that's not another wicked trend for socially inept deviant losers who dwell on virtual forums, that's a goddamn political movement now. That Salvation guy and his sick god complex ambitions happened, and some people started to believe that we, humans, are agressors, we have to stop fighting and even having any AX weapons onboard is an act of aggression of sorts. And that topic became popular on GalNet too, and stuff started to spread wildly.
And eventually that shit hit our fan as well. Looks like some of the locals started to believe that disbanding their own AX forces and cutting ties to AXDF could help them better. Like, our presence here is a provocation and we should go somewhere else instead of 'using them as a meat shield'. What a crap. Long time ago they established a planetary AX defence because they were in danger, and now they wanted to get rid of it because of being in danger. Pfft.
Some say the conflict started because we, humans, started harvesting meta-alloys. Then why Thargoids didn't tell us not to do that, politely? They answered in the only language they know, violence. And now those idiots are trying to convince political powers to wrap up any resistance and 'go talk with them'. What a bollocks. Some say we're invading their space, putting our stations where they lived for hell knows how long... Shit again. Guardians lived even farther. Some say it goes centuries back when Jameson blasted them with a mycoid torpedo, and he shouldn't have done that. But that happened during the first war; it was a war, and it started because of them being goddamn aggressive.
Why can't you all friggin' understand that being aggressive is their only nature? They see entire damn space as 'theirs' and they'll try to grab whatever they have interest in. From a chunk of meta-alloys that someone might've bought just to sell somewhere else, without knowing all the fuss around them, to a goddamned star system that has some ammonia planets. They will interdict you without any warning and will open fire if you have something they want. And their scouts are completely hostile to everything that's not of Thargoid origin. They see us as inferior species, our ships as worthless tin cans, and they don't feel any bad about stopping you, scanning you, against your will, and shooting at you if you have something of their interest. And your escape pod will be a thing of their interest too, and you don't want to know what will happen to you next. They don't give a shit about your life, your values, your will, your anything.
Are you okay with that kind of treatment? Do you feel fine being stopped mid-flight without a warning and scanned, and possibly chased and shot at? What do you do if the next thing they crave for will be your pants, not some meta-alloys or Guardian trinkets? Are you ready to simply give them away anything they want? What do you say if they try to remove a station or invade a town where you live? What kind of rubbish will you post on social media when they freely come to Sol, Achenar, Alioth, Shinrarta, Lave?
There's one thing I've learned in that life. To value freedom, you must fight for it.
Of course I want this war to end. But I don't want to surrender. And I don't want to see humanity surrendered. I still want to have, to find something to live for. Would be a good thing. But, if the Thargoids win, they will take everything away. Is that's the peace they want?
A godsdamned stalemate, I say. Local politics wasn't my business at all, but I had an order to ensure the safety of that place, and I have three people in my wing that I'm responsible for. We might waste our time on standby for hell knows how long, but if, and more likely it's 'when', the Thargoids attack, we should go and fight them. No matter what those morons may say. Personally, I'd like to gather them all together, give them space suits and send them off to hug a Thargoid, 'communicate' with it in any way they like, but, uh, I guess I should ask for a permission to commit that war crime.
Anyway, it took a while until the situation was defused. I saw a few people from all sides boarding a transport ship and leaving the planet to contact the AXDF command. Until then... Well. We're free to leave the building without having to shoot our way through. And to remain stationed here, waiting for a new order or whatever.
Those idiots are still hanging out nearby. I guess I should tell my folks to stick together on our way to the living blocks, just for safety...