Yuletide (Private: Part II)
18 Dec 2022Lily Flemmon
What would a truce with the Thargoids look like? If we could coexist, what would that look like? Certainly we wouldn't be living on the same planets, given that their technology typically can only be found on ammonia worlds, far too cold for humans. For us, water is life. For them, it's a similar thing with ammonia.The Thargoids were actually quite peaceful, if reclusive, for a long time after the death of John Jameson. When we started harvesting meta-alloys from barnacle sites, they began showing hostility but only toward human ships, and sometimes, starports, holding their materials. Barnacle sites to them are much like farms to us, and the Cyclops interceptors are pretty clearly farm equipment. The closest allegory to what started this second war is that we started stealing their food far faster than it could grow. Certainly if a farmer noticed a whole field of crops consumed by pests, the response would be to eradicate them. The Thargoids haven't done that to us, and yes, we have cleared an entire nebula of meta-alloys.
Then there's Guardian technology- the Guardians, as we know, were driven extinct by their own technology (AI) and the Thargoids simultaneously. Humans almost lost a war to our own AI as well, which is why it's outlawed in a tri-superpower agreement. experts have speculated that if that same AI were to get ahold of Guardian technology, it could advance it far faster than humans could and pose what would now be a limited threat to the Thargoids, but a significant threat to humanity. Thus, there is a significant possibility that Thargoids attack human ships carrying Guardian technology not only to protect themselves, but also to protect us and prevent us from facing the same fate as the Guardians.
What if, just for 24 hours, we stopped attacking the Thargoids? What if we just did rescue efforts to save our own, and ventured into contested territory unarmed, carrying no Guardian or Thargoid materials? It's actually quite likely the Thargoids would respond without aggression.
I propose December 25th for a cease-fire. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time that a war affecting all of humanity came to a truce for a day, even against military orders, but it will have been 1,394 years since the last.
It's about time we did it again.