At 0000 station time, I was awakened by an emergency message sent to my implant.

We need to talk

  Nothing else, no briefing or other information was attached. No identifying signatures. The message was untraceable. Which means it could only have been sent by one person on this station, Jenshin. The message was weighed with standard privacy encryption. I wasted no time crossing the distance of my small quintisect quarters to the door. With hardly perceptible efforts of will, I suppressed my implant’s automatic interactions with my quarters that were part of my daily routine. I searched The Site’s network for signs that something had gone wrong while I slept. Not that I expected to find anything. It was a simple habit that cost me very little. I read through every system report, analytic tool, message and found all systems nominal. No unusual data traffic in or out of the station.

  I scrubbed all records of my activities through the station as I walked to the secure wing. I felt around for Mare and found her already on her way. She must have gotten the same message. I went ahead and scrubbed all traces of her passing as well. Mare would have done so herself afterwards, but I could do a more thorough job here and now. She didn’t bother reaching out to me, either to keep me in the loop or see if I got a message of my own. I can’t say I’m surprised. It was just like her to go ahead by herself and not come to anyone unless she absolutely had to. She would go as far as she could alone before she even considered coming to me. Her quarters were closer, she was swallowed up by the black box of the secure wing minutes before I arrived.

  The airlock opened. A signal from the station AI released a cloud of nanites programed with the Piet Autoimmune Protocol. A moment passed to allow the nanites into my system, then the next door slid open. I was greeted by Mare and two of the piet hatchlings, Corde’esal and Rumeinin, standing in the hallway. Mare turned my way with wide eyes. The kids remained motionless.

  There was no way to describe the off-putting mix of smells that one would pick up being close to a piet, let alone how a whole wing of a hundred of them living together would smell. Luckily, part of the nanite's protocol was to filter out the piet’s chemical language, otherwise face-to-face communication in an enclosed space would prove impossible for humans. The kids no longer needed the translators to understand human speech, but the two Piets wore their modified versions of their original translators so that we could understand them.

  “Any objections before we begin?” Corde said.

  I looked around. Mare had no idea what this was about. Corde was still, and Rume was shifting his body slightly from side to side. He moved around in a slow dance when he was excited. A subconscious desire to stretch his legs and keep his blood flowing. I intercepted a stream of signals bouncing around the wing. The kids were all connected in one large group chat, using the communication devices they designed for themselves. No part of the wing was large enough to house everyone in a single place.

  No one had any objections.

  “Very well. Rume?”

  The young piet didn’t hesitate.

  “Sisters, it is time for us to secede from the care of humanity. We wish to be recognized as a free, independent and autonomous people, separate and equal to humanity. Not part of it. We do not want war. We do not want segregation. We wish to be equals in technicality as well as practicality. This is our collective declaration of independence and we are here to discuss terms.”

  My stomach dropped at hearing those words. We knew this day would come, eventually.

Not yet. Just a little bit longer. Please.

  But it was their choice. It wasn’t my place to dictate how, when, or if they would reveal themselves or strike out on their own.

  “Understood. What are your terms, objectives, and reasoning?” I asked.

  “First, we request our own autonomous space station in orbit of planet Pieterra. Jointly constructed by humans of the 436th Expeditionary Fleet, and the piets of the 1st Piet Planetary Co-op. We ask that you also provide the materials needed for this station.

  Second, we request that the planet Pieterra, and the region of space within the heliosphere of Pieterra’s sun, be formally recognized as its own independent and self governing Sector of space under the control of the 1st Piet Planetary Co-op.

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  Third, we request that the 436th Fleet turn over all piets and materials taken from the planet Pieterra, into the custody of the 1st Piet Planetary Cooperative."

  The group chat exploded with the rest of the piets exclaiming that Rume didn't need to address the Co-op by name every time he says something. What followed from Rume was what I could only describe as the piet equivalent to sighing and rolling his eyes.

  "In return, we are prepared to enter long-term diplomatic relations with the 436th Fleet, with the hope of a long lasting, strong, and mutually beneficial alliance with the human species, with the intent of making the natives of Pieterra ultimately self-reliant, and independent from the human species.

  If there are no objections, I would like to declare the mission statement and functions of the Co-op.”

  “There are none.” I said. I patched into the chat again. There were none from them either. They were all excited and happy that they were finally going through with it. The kids had obviously been planning this for a while. They did a great job keeping it secret from us.

  This would never do as an official declaration of independence, of course. I smiled to myself. The kids were doing great. They were trying to play the part of professional diplomats but weren’t proficient enough in human legalese and bureaucracy. This declaration had too many holes in it that could be exploited in a legal dispute. For example, they set the terms without actually defining what the 1st Planetary Co-op was. They should have done that first. They didn’t bring the meeting to order or follow any of the bureaucratic traditions that go with this sort of negotiation. If I had to guess, they never actually formally studied these things. They were probably using their own negotiation traditions to base this declaration off of.

  “Very well." Rume continued "The 1st Piet Planetary Co-op is an organization currently composed of one-hundred piets, and the resources under their possession, within a designated secure wing of the 436th Fleet station known as The Site. Because we see ourselves as both human and piet, having such intimate knowledge of both species and cultures due to our collective upbringing and education, we have decided to declare ourselves as an independent organization, acting as the bridge between both peoples. Our plan comes in five phases.

  Phase one: our declaration of independence, the establishment of our space station, and the establishment of diplomatic relations with humans.

  Phase two: We seed the capacity for intelligence in every tribe across Pieterra and let it develop or die out naturally. Allowing the piets the ability to choose their own path.

  Phase three: No matter the result of phase two, the 1st Planetary Co-op will stand by and let piets evolve naturally, and protect them from outside interference.

  Phase four: With the homeworld secure, some members of 1st Planetary Co-op will resign into a self-imposed exile and establish colonies within a shared Sector of the human-piet alliance.

  Phase five: the exiled piets will be allowed to reconvene with the Co-op and open up intraspecies diplomatic relations with each other to discuss what our next moves will be.”

  They had a real plan. I wanted nothing more than to help them and give them everything they needed to do this. But I didn't just represent myself. I was representing the whole 436th Fleet. I was representing the whole of humanity. I had to act like it.

  “And if we fail to recognize your declaration of independence, and keep you as prisoners aboard this station?” I said. Mare looked at me. She knew we had to do this. Not every human they come across would play nice. Not everyone would give them what they want. They needed to have a plan. They just declared their independence, now they would have to earn it.

  In response to my question, I felt my connection to the station AI severe. The emergency power flipped on. I scanned around and found that all connections to the AI were nonexistent.

  Good job. Not even I saw this coming. Not yet. I should have.

  Rume spoke up, “We are prepared to take this station by force.”

  “The probability of this plan working, both in the long and short term, is fatalistically out of your favor.” I edged my words with displeasure and venom to hide my swelling pride.

  “We know. Victory is secondary. Causing as much damage as possible for as long as possible is the primary objective. I propose we remove violence by means of leverage off the table.”

  The AI came back online, and the station returned to full power.

  “Seconded." Mare said, "But why would you want to separate from humanity? What are your motivations?”

  “We have been at reproductive maturity for nearly half of our lives. We have grown and studied under you for the entirety of those lives. It is time to step out of your shadow and see what we can do by ourselves, free from a guiding hand. We wish to become people in our own right. To live our lives how we choose, not how humans allow. No matter how much we love and understand and trust each other, we can’t let humans determe the fate of us and our people. We are too different from one another.

  We have our own culture, way of life, way of thinking. I believe you understand these motivations. It is why every Sector of space humanity settles is completely self governing and separate from any larger human organization. Nobody understands people’s problems and needs better than the people experiencing those problems. It is the same for us.”