“Three months ago, we noticed strange perturbations in the orbit and albedo of the third planet of the Bror System,” Ambassador-General Callirrhoe Abashidze began.

They sat in the Executive Meeting Room, which was much more finely appointed than most; the table was not simply functional, but made of pseudo-wood and embossed with the emblem of the Sapient Union.

“Bror 3’s atmosphere is believed to be capable of supporting human life,” Y said.

“That is correct,” the Ambassador-General replied. “There were even considerations of investigating it for colonization in the past. Terris changed that, and so we had no reason to look more deeply at the system.”

“Until you noticed those changes,” Brooks said.

“Yes. We sent probes, which discovered two important details about the planet, which we now know as Ko.”

Y leaned forward slightly, the significance of the wording not being missed.

“We now know as?” Brooks said, putting words to the thought. “Is this the native name?”

The Ambassador-General nodded. “You are correct. Ko has a native sapient species.”

Urle looked to Brooks excitedly. “I was wrong, I can’t believe it! Do we know what they call themselves? Have we made contact?”

“We have made limited contact,” the Ambassador-General replied. “We have adopted a name for the species as a whole from the first such group we’ve spoken to, the !Xomyi.”

The ambassador clicked her tongue for the first part, and Brooks tried saying it himself.

“!-oh-my-ee,” he said slowly, committing it to memory.

“Your pronunciation is good, Captain, speakers of most languages have trouble with alveolar clicks,” Abashidze said. “While this is only the name for the species from the first group, other groups have responded to it mostly with acceptance, though they of course have their own local names for their people.”

“Sapient species are an incredible rarity,” Urle said. “So why wasn’t this announced?”

“Because of their state of development,” the Ambassador-General continued. “The people of Ko are still in an early stage of economy. Most groups consist of less than 100 individuals, living at a hunting and gathering subsistence level. Only a few groups in particularly fertile areas have begun to even experiment with agriculture.”

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“Incredible,” Urle said. “But Union policy is to not interfere with species in such a stage.”

“I agree,” Brooks said. “You said that there was a second major discovery made. I imagine that is the situation with the moon?”

“Yes,” the Ambassador-General replied.

A holographic image of Ko and its moon appeared.

“We have dubbed the moon ‘Omen’. It is Ko’s only moon of any size. The !Xomyi have numerous names for it; it has been highly visible across most of the planet for all of their history.”

“Its chemical makeup suggests that it is a captured planetlet,” Y said.

“We believe so. It is only barely a geoid, its gravity is weak and we do not have long.” She sighed. “Omen is already starting to come apart, and once sizable pieces start to come down, the !Xomyi will be doomed.”

Urle slumped back into his seat. “It’s going to rain hell on that world when it breaks up,” he said bleakly.

“Yes,” Y agreed. “It is not a massive object – but it is large enough.”

“I can’t sugarcoat this; we expect total devastation of the biosphere,” the Ambassador-General said, her face grim. “It will frankly be a miracle if even bacteria survives.”

“From what I have seen, I estimate a thirty-percent chance of survival of at least some microbes in extremely deep locations,” Y said. “After that, I predict it will be approximately one hundred million years before complex life will re-emerge.”

“So,” Brooks said. “We are on a mission of mercy.”

“That is correct, Captain. We have had teams on the ground for the last few months. Thus far, we have contacted and successfully evacuated around 1,000 !Xomyi from two dozen bands.”

“How many !Xomyi are there?” Urle asked.

“We estimate there are 1.7 million across Ko,” the Ambassador-General said. “Split into approximately 21,000 bands.”

Brooks took a moment, feeling a cold helplessness wash over him.

This was a colossal number. If one had a few large carriers, it was doable – but getting them up off the surface was the problem.

Ko had no infrastructure. Every lift-off would have to be with heavy rocket boosters.

He did not need fantastic math skills to know they didn’t have enough time.

And that was if the !Xomyi could even be convinced to leave.

“Where will we put the people we bring up?” Brooks asked. “Your cruiser and the Craton won’t be enough.”

Ambassador Abashidze nodded. “We have a heavy transport heading this way. Unlike the Craton, it will take at least a month to get here. It is being modified en route according to the best data we’ve gathered, and they’ll be able to feed half a million !Xomyi for a year on board the ship.”

“Half a million,” Urle said. “Is that all we can hope to get off? I was hoping we might have more cavalry coming.”

“You are the cavalry, Executive Commander,” the Ambassador-General said. “The Union has been doing everything it can to get what we need, but our next supply ship is due in six weeks. They will only have a fraction of the boosters that we would need for a full evacuation of their population. The majority of the Union’s planetary-lift rockets are tied up in colony-relief efforts and can’t be drawn out of circulation and brought here fast enough, nor can we amp up production in such a short time frame.”

“It is a difficult situation,” Y said. “But I believe there is another problem.”

Ambassador Abashidze nodded, and Brooks knew where they were headed.

“This is the other reason I wanted you, Captain,” she said. “You have a reputation for high-stress diplomatic situations and a very good head for command. We have over two thousand diplomats here, and yet it is still not enough. I need everyone who stands a chance of success to go down to Ko, and help us convince the !Xomyi that they have to leave their homes forever.”