The Vuknar System was deep within the Core Worlds, one of the first races to be accepted into the Unified Civilized Council over ninety million years ago, it had been terraformed to a pleasing state for the Vuknaraa for millions of years. Even the continents had been stabilized to the point of earthquakes being a thing long past. The system had five planets remaining outside of the green zone, all of them strip mined until nothing was left but bare rock. The gas giants had been reduced to wisps, the asteroid belts mined until all that remained was thinly spread gravel, and even the Oort Cloud had been mined out. The only beings living there were the Vuknaraa, all 6 billion of them living in luxury. There were some Lanaktallan, but mostly working for the government.

The bipedal race with pale skin and soft downy fuzz covering them, were the most comfortable with vast forests or complex warrens. They had slightly offset large eyes, giving them a wide range of vision, sensitive ears perked up from their heads, and stubby tails that twitched when they were excited. They were omnivores, although for millions of years they had eaten synthetic meat to the point where some scientists even doubted that they could metabolize meat any longer.

The system scanners, long abandoned for anything more than just normal traffic, picked up the vessels as they came in, causing immediate concern to the Lanaktallan officials watching the screen.

A dozen military vessels, all broadcasting ID of the Confederate Space Force Navy, a vessel claiming medical status named Wings of Mercy, a ship marked as a "lawfare" vessel with no name just a registration number, and a single vessel broadcasting the ID of a Terran Confederacy Diplomatic Corps of the name Peace Over War.

The Vuknaraa looking at the screens frowned, wondering what could possibly be going on and why the Lanaktallan had all fled for the spaceport. The Terran vessels waited at the resonance zone, asking permission to enter the system, until one of the Vuknaraa granted it.

The vessels moved in slowly, showing that their weapons were in standby mode, that they had only their particle screens up, until they were in orbit around the world of Vuknar. Then they requested permission for two vessels to land.

One, to speak to the Vuknaraan leaders.

The other would come from the Wings of Mercy and needed landing coordinates for the best equipped hospital the planet had.

The Vuknar, curious, gave permission for both to land and transmitted the coordinates.

The Tri-Vid showed billions of fascinated Vuknaraa the two lethal looking ships as they came down from orbit and landed, one at the hospital, one in the hastily cleared parking lot of the High Senate. What rushed from the one at the hospital was some kind of medical stasis tube with a russet colored Mantid riding on the tube waving around a datapad in each hand. It disappeared into the hospital and the reporters started speculating who or what could be in the tube.

The other one showed a procession they had all seen on the Lanaktallan Capital System. A green mantis followed by a human carrying a board, a gold mantid, a pale opalescent mantid, and a black mantid, escorted by eight matte black bipedal robot looking Terrans with amber eyes.

The procession was shown to the Senate Halls and many worried. GalNet had shown the dire pronouncements of doom from the gold mantid, as well as the fact that one of their diplomats had attempted to kill the gold mantid.

There was some discussion that the Tri-Vid cameras were not privy too and the gold mantid slowly moved to the Speaker's Podium, dexterously climbing up on the chair to stand on it. The gold mantid wore a hat at a jaunty angle, a leather jacket, heavy boots with bright chrome tips. Surprisingly enough, she held a chrome linked chain in one hand and a knife in the other. The Tri-Vid stated that they were diplomat badges of office.

Once up there the Mantid looked around, leaned forward and tapped the microphone with a blade-arm. Once she was sure she had everyone's attention she spoke.

"People of Vukna," she said slowly. "I am Dreams of Something More, a Terran diplomat. Recently, in the chambers of the Unified Civilized Races Council one of your diplomats appeared to attempt to assassinate me."

The banner at the bottom read "IS THIS WAR?" and "IS THIS A TIME TO PANIC? EXPERTS SAY: OH GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" and "WE WELCOME OUR TERRAN OVERLORDS!"

She swung the chain and flicked the knife open and shut, her vestigial wings rubbed together.

"Appeared," she repeated. She slowly rubbed her blade-arms together. "My people are imbued with certain abilities. Normally, these are suppressed or set aside in order to avoid difficulties."

The banner read: "WE WELCOME OUR MANTID OVERLORDS!" and "CAN SHE FLY? EXPERTS PREDICT CLOUDS OF FLYING MANTISES CHASING YOUR CHILDREN!" and "IS THAT TERRAN CARRYING A WOODEN BOARD WITH NAILS IN IT? EXPERTS SAY YES!" and "SIGHTING OF A TERRAN CARRYING WOODEN BOARD WITH A NAIL IN IT CAUSES A JUMP IN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY STOCKS!"

"My people can sense other's emotions. We normally avoid such things as it is an invasion of privacy, among other reasons, and I sensed the emotions of your citizen who was apparently attempting to assassinate me," Dreams said.

"ARE MANTIDS ABLE TO READ YOUR MIND? EXPERTS SAY: DON'T THINK OF WHAT YOU DID WRONG!"

Dreams slowly rubbed her bladearms together for a moment, swinging the chain in one hand and flicking the knife open and closed with the other. Finally she spoke: "I felt your citizen begin to scream in fear and horror before she passed out. As if something was pushing her into a box, forcing her down."

Everyone inhaled at the horrible mental image of that happening. On the bottom of the screen scrolled "DO TERRANS THINK KNIVES ARE DIPLOMATIC TOOLS? EXPERTS SAY: MAYBE!"

Dreams scraped her bladearms together for a moment. "My companion, who accompanied your diplomat, named Fights Against the Night, is a highly experienced doctor who found traces of nanites in key structures of your diplomat's brain."

"IS FIGHTS AGAINST THE NIGHT A MANTID PIT FIGHTER? EXPERTS AGREE!"

"As we are speaking, well, as I am speaking to you, your own doctors are examining your diplomat, who has been in deep medical stasis since her attempt to attack me," Dreams waited a long moment, still swinging that chain.

"DOES OUT PLANET HAVE THE BEST DOCTORS IN THE GALAXY? EXPERTS SAY: MAYBE!"

The mantid stared at all of the gathered Vuknaraan, the chain slowly swinging to a stop.

"You have been betrayed," Dreams said softly. "Whoever did this thinks they are clever, using technology that nobody else could detect or understand. They are wrong."

"COULD NANITES BE IN YOUR HEAD! EXPERTS SAY: OH GOD, GET THEM OUT!"

"The technology is old on a Terran scale, thousands of years old," she shook her head as she flashed icons for sadness. "Terran history is full of attempts to control other's minds. Their own people mainly. They have shown little interest in controlling the minds of others," Dreams half-lied, glossing over the implosion wire in her abdomen. "The nanites were obviously controlling her for a limited period of time for limited actions, which was enough to force her to turn, face me, and attempt to detonate implosion charges."

She pointed at the little green one which was looking at the cables attached to the podium. "My companion, One-One-Seven, is very good with technology and shut down the explosive charge before she could harm herself or others."

117 looked up, looked around at everyone, then went back to examining the cables.

"That was the point. To use implosion charges to prevent any evidence, to kill myself and the diplomats around her, and, ultimately, to bring the might of the Terran Confederacy down upon you, forcing the Unified Civilized Council to declare war upon the Terran Confederacy," Dreams said.

Around the globe Vuknaraan made a low growl then stopped, slightly embarrassed.

The banner didn't show anything for a long time, until Dreams started speaking again.

"Now, I wonder who might benefit from the Terran Confederacy attacking your planets and your people?" Dreams mused. "Who might have used technology that your Unified Science Council has prohibited on a member of your species to kill me and force the Terran Confederacy to go to war and who might have benefited it."

The entire planet nodded along with the words.

A Vuknaraan raised his hand and Dreams pointed at him with a bladearm. "Yes, gentlebeing?"

The being stood up. "What would the Terran Confederacy do to us if they thought we were the ones who attacked them?"

Dreams slapped the chain against the podium, a loud ka-rack sound that made everyone in the room flinch.

"EXPERTS AGREE BEING HIT IN THE FACE WITH A CHAIN SWUNG BY AN ANGRY TERRAN WOULD PROBABLY HURT REALLY REALLY BAD!"

The elderly Vuknaraan nodded slowly. "What would they do once we surrendered if we went to war?"

Dreams closed the knife and twitched her wrist so she caught the free end of the chain in her hand. "Occupation for years, maybe even generations."

The Vuknaraan nodded again, his ears flat against his head with anxiety. "Why?"

Sighing, Dreams thought for a moment. "Do you know the longest time that Terran Descent Humans have gone without being attacked by outside forces, by species outside their own in the eight thousand years since my race glassed their home planet?"

The Vuknaraan shook his head. "I have no idea, Miss Dreams."

"Exactly, to the day, twenty Terran years," she said slowly. "Before that the record was fifteen years."

The watching Vuknaraan all expressed shock.

"Would you care to guess, before the Terran race's diaspora, what the longest period of species peace the Terrans ever had?"

The Vuknaraan thought for a moment. "Two centuries?"

Dreams laughed. "Before the diaspora, the Terran species never had a single year go by without warfare going on between at least two groups. When my species glassed Terra, they were actually about to go from intermittent combat between various elements to full on war between Terra and its colonies."

"BREAKING NEWS: MANTIDS CLAIM TO HAVE GLASSED TERRA!"

"Miss Dreams, what does that have to do with why they would occupy our worlds for decades?" another diplomat asked.

Letting the chain drop down and start to swing again Dreams looked at the gathered diplomats. "They won't trust you not to attack them as soon as they turn away from you to pick up a gift to hand to you."

"ARE TERRANS CLINICALLY PARANOID? EXPERTS SAY: NO. PARANOIA IS AN UNREASONABLE BELIEF OTHERS ARE OUT TO GET YOU."

"They will change your culture, change your society, attempt to show you a better way that does not involve attacking them. They will even leave you to your own devices, never contacting you until you contact them. Eventually, they will forgive you, because that is a very Terran thing to do, forgive your enemies," Dreams said. "My race was forgiven and we glassed Terra, killed a third of the Terrans alive during the war."

"But in war, they are terrible," Dreams said softly. "Terrible beyond anything you can imagine."

Another Vuknaraan stood up and Dreams pointed at them with a bladearm.

"Miss Dreams, why are you telling our people this?" the Vuknaraan asked. "Are you asking us to surrender even before war is declared?"

"War had already been declared by Terran rules with my attempted assassination," Dreams said. "But, should you not prefer to surrender, the Terrans do have another option."

The assembled Vuknaraans looked from Dreams to the heavy looking matte black almost robotic looking cyborgs with the amber eyes.

"What might that be, Miss Dreams?" the Vuknaraan asked, feeling his tail twitch and the fur over his spine lift up in fear as he realized he had seen those same black cyborgs fight Precursor machines.

"Neutrality. Or even ask to be allies. Neutrality means you will not engage in combat operations against the Terran Confederacy, although a strict interpretation would also mean that you could not trade or aid the Lanaktallan or their allies," Dreams said. "My speech, to be honest, is merely to allow you to consider that you have more choices than surrender or be destroyed."

The Vuknaraan all nodded slowly. Another stood up and Dreams pointed at the female.

"So the Terrans would offer more than 'surrender and be destroyed' to our people?" the female asked.

"The Terrans have a long history of war and because of this fact, this irrefutable fact backed up by tens of thousands of years of warfare and this has given them a depth of understanding of war that far surpasses anything you might believe from such a young species," Dreams said. "And they would tell you 'surrender or be destroyed' because they would not intend on destroying your culture and society and way of life even if you surrendered."

"But you stated that the Terran Confederacy would do just that if we had surrendered," another Vuknaraan blurted out. "We asked you what the Confederacy would do if we surrendered and you stated that they would occupy us and do just that."

"I stated they would do that if you went to war with them. Right now, you are a victim of the attempted assassination in the same way that I was intended to be," Dreams said. "The Terrans will agree with me that an Act of War was perpetrated against your people."

Dreams flicked open the knife and drove it into the top of the podium, feeling like an old time Terran diplomat as she did so.

"You are at war. You have been attacked. You have been betrayed," Dreams said.

"You are at war. The Terran Confederacy offers its support to you in your time of war."

----------------------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

They attacked her! Tried to kill her! HOW DARE THEY!

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TERRASOL

If they offer to surrender or be neutral, will you accept it?

/////////

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

There's irony for you. TERRASOL asking sis if she's going to be calm.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Someone attacked us! Us! We're pacifists.

---NOTHING FOLLOWS---

TERRASOL

I hate to say this, but I don't think you're the first.

And I don't think you're going to be the last.

/////////

TREANA'AD HIVE WORLDS

I hope you're wrong.

I really do.