Chapter thirty

And so ended the first (documented) Terran war. What allowed this fledgling nation to defeat the great Grent Empire? Some of it could be attributed to novel technology that the Terrans might have possessed, but in my view the main reason they could beat the Grent was their culture and how they think. – extract from “The First Terran War; Coincidence or Certainty?”

An unprecedented tremble went through Federation space when the news was announced. A reigning hegemon had fallen, and it had fallen to a newly discovered race! People galaxywide were shocked, and the subject became the most trending topic on GalacticNet for months.

Of course, the upper echelons were even more shocked. A period of widespread galactic upheaval occurred as businesses and functions belonging to the now defunct Grent Empire had to be reorganised. Of course, the majority of the fruits of war went to the victor, the Terran Confederation. It had suddenly jumped from an upstart to a hegemon, and more eyes were on it than ever.

“I demand that we take the Union fleets and crush those upstarts! We must avenge the Grent Empire!” The Grent Ambassador quite literally had spittle flying out of his mouth as he yelled. Selene was disgusted and put up an energy partition to block it.

“Why should we? You were the ones that failed.” The Borond Ambassador sneered. The Grent Ambassador nearly spat out blood.

“Everyone calm down now. We should talk this through like civilised beings.” Selene tried to defuse the situation.

“What is there to talk about! They unlawfully attacked us! They are primitive savages and should be put down immediately!”

“Big words from someone who lost their capital.” The Borond Ambassador continued insulting the Grent Ambassador, who looked like they were going to pass out.

“Enough! Will you stop squabbling like a bunch of infants!” It was rare that Selene raised her voice, but when she did the others knew she was well and truly mad. “Let us look at the facts. The Terrans attacked first, but they had a valid reason to attack. After all, you did experiment on their citizens.”

“There is no evidence! They have no proof!”

“Do you think that we are all idiots!? Of course we knew about them! We just kept quiet and helped to keep your secrets. Now that the secret is out though, there’s no point in hiding it anymore.”

“You bunch of backstabbing bastards! How dare you cosy up to this newcomer!”

“Well, you’ve never done anything for us, so why should we do anything for you?”

As the Grent Ambassador stormed out of the building, fuming, Selene sat back in her chair. Did she make the right decision? She had always had a mixed reaction towards the Terrans, but they were the winners. She sighed and called for an assistant. She needed an audience with the Terran Ambassador, to see if she had supported the right side or not. She sighed again. Being an ambassador was turning out to be much less relaxing than she had anticipated.