Their Darkest Hour
Page 40
There was a long pause. “We first encountered them roughly two hundred of your years ago,” Hank added. “It was hate at first sight. We spent fifty years fighting them before coming to a reluctant agreement that neither of us were likely to win outright. The victor in the conflict would be badly weakened, while the loser would be pushed to the brink of extermination. And that would have...consequences. We made a truce with them. Since then, both of us have been pushing out as far as we can, attempting to gain a decisive advantage before the war resumes. Your world was invaded and occupied as part of that process.”
“They want to add our technology to their own,” Gavin said, softly. “And start using us as expendable fighters too...”
“They tend to think in terms of brute force,” Hank observed. “Their socio-political development led not to the victory of capitalism, as on your world, but a fascist state that managed to overcome many of the flaws that threatened to bring it crashing down. They were quite successful at absorbing the rebels, the thinkers, into their system. Those who might point out that the Emperor has no clothes, to use one of your world’s sayings, end up supporting the State.”
“You seem to know us very well,” Gavin observed.
“We have...sources within the Leatherneck State,” Hank said. “They collected a great mass of data on your world’s society, even if much of it made little sense to their researchers.”
Gavin smiled. “People who realise that the Emperor has no clothes?”
The alien didn’t bother to deny it. “Unfortunately, their traditional way of coping with the universe – brute force – has given them an advantage over you,” it said. “You barely started to exploit space – they had massive space stations in orbit within twenty years of developing rocket technology. From there, they eventually cracked the secrets behind warp drive – and they did it with computers inferior to yours.
“There is some speculation that someone else gave them a hand,” Hank added, “but there has never been any proof of outside interference. Your world’s history should inform you that predicting technological development is a difficult task. The Leathernecks approach problems from a different angle to your own race, but that doesn’t make them stupid. They have already crushed your world.”
“Yes,” Gavin said, flatly. “Are you going to destroy their ships in orbit?”
“An open act of war would restart the conflict,” Hank said. “We would prefer to avoid outright conflict before we were ready to win.”
“You captured one of their ships,” Gavin pointed out. “Isn't that an act of war?”
A human would have smirked. “Not if the Leathernecks never find out what happened to their ship,” Hank countered. “And they won’t. Ships go missing all the time.”
“Maybe the Leathernecks are capturing your ships,” Gavin said, dryly.
“It’s possible,” Hank agreed. He didn’t sound particularly concerned. “Both sides have been pushing the truce to the limits.”
“Right,” Gavin said. “So...what are you going to do to help?”
“Provide you with support,” Hank said. “Provide you with weapons. Provide you with tools you can use against your alien overlords. Help you to recover your world.”
“And you’d get an ally for the coming war,” Gavin said. He couldn’t say no. Whatever had happened back on Earth, they needed help if they were to kick the Leathernecks off the planet. “When do we start?”
Hank’s tentacles seemed to slow, just for a second. “How about now?”
End of Part One
The Story Will Continue In:
The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea