Venus

One IED. That’s all it took for the entire galaxy to fall to chaos. In the wake of our secret getting out onto the internet, governments across the stars have been clamoring for some kind of explanation to the pictures that have been circulating.

It had only been an hour. I had requested an emergency meeting of the Galactic Community’s Senate from the current speaker of the House, which had fortunately been approved, and was going to happen in less than ten minutes. It was my hope, along with the hope of United Terra that I could get the various nations of the galaxy off humanity’s back, and to hopefully have the galaxy respect us.

I had been cleared to share certain information with the senate but was told that under no circumstances was I to reveal the position of our solar system. Not like it’ll stop any of those aliens out there from trying to get that information. I thought bitterly as I sat at my desk on top of the desk that my mech was sitting at. I stared up to it, lost in thought. I wonder what would have happened if we just introduced ourselves to aliens without the mechs? Would we have had the same results?

I stayed like this for a bit until I was shaken out of my introspection when the door to my office was opened. I saw the familiar faceplate of one of my guards. “We have five minutes ma’am, and it’s going to take us three to get there.”

I nodded. “I’ll get suited up in a minute.” I stood up from my desk and collected the tablet that had my talking points on. I sent a message to my mech via my implant, and it lowered its hand down to my level so I could stand on it with ease. Once I was secure it lifted me up to the cockpit, where I sat down. The automated mech was a recent innovation, using AI that we hadn’t even considered using since the uprising that was put down almost two centuries ago, despite the cold feet that people got whenever AI was mentioned. To counteract this, it still relied heavily on the neural commands of the user to function as intended. Humanity had learned its lesson once and wasn’t keen on repeating it.

With a sigh I closed myself into the metal coffin and stood up from the desk, made my way to the door and opened it. The first thing that I saw was my two guards flanking the doorway, with weapons that were large even in comparison to the mechs wielding them. The second thing that I noticed was the hallway. Although the room that I was in was designed by humans, just scaled up like everything else, the hallway was a different story. It was designed by the Mudillo, a species that looked rather like your average star nosed mole that you would find on Earth, except for being ten stories tall. There was not a single sharp angle in the entire hallway, with the exception being the doorways. And as I was escorted through the facility by my guards, that summarization of Mudillo architecture continued to be true. We finally walked into the Senate chamber, a massive bowl like structure that was close enough to the surface of the planet to get natural sunlight to shine through the glass ceiling. Every chair was occupied by a representative from every species in the Galactic Community, except for one. That one was for me.

The room was practically buzzing with conversation as we entered, but all of that was immediately silenced as soon as the aliens noticed us. I silently made my way to the seat, where I sat down and waited for the meeting to start. I could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on me. The representatives around me were trying to get my attention but that was quickly shut down by one of my guards giving them a single glare.

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Thankfully, the meeting started quickly enough, as signaled by Buzraz, the Mudillo representative, walking to the center of the room and tapping the microphone a couple of times to get everyone to focus on him instead of me. He gave me a brief nod before starting. “Esteemed representatives of the Galactic Community’s Senate, I call the fifth emergency session of the Senate to order. The first and only business for this session is brought to us by the Terran Representative. Representative Rowe, you have the floor.” I stood up and made my way over to the podium at the center of the room.

I cleared my throat as I started to speak. “Esteemed members of the Senate, I come before you to address the rumors that have surrounded Terrans for the last hour or so, as images have circulated the internet claiming what Terrans look like under the suits that we wear.” And with that I pushed the microphone down to the lowest it could go, and I opened the hatch. I squinted as I stepped onto the open hand of the mech to the gasps and spirited whisperings of the other representatives. The whispering only increased in volume as I was lowered and stepped onto the podium and up to the mike. “As you can see, the rumors are correct. These mech suits that we have made has made it possible to walk with our galactic peers.” I took a deep breath. “Now, I’m sure that you all are wondering why? Why would United Terra lie to the Galactic Community for over two and a half years now? If they were lying about this, then what else could they be lying about? To answer those questions, I will ask you a question. If you had spent your entire history wondering if aliens existed, how would you feel if you found out that aliens did exist?” I paused for a moment. “Then imagine, for a moment how you would feel if you found out that the smallest alien out there was easily five times larger than you? Keep in mind you have no idea if they view size (or lack thereof) as weakness, or if they will even view you as sapient in the first place. Humanity hid what we were because we didn’t know how you aliens would react to us in the first place. The lies end today, however. In the spirit of transparency with the Galactic Community, after this meeting, anyone who is curious about who we are and why we do the things that we do can find a webpage detailing Terran history, physiology, and psychology.”

The whispering reached the level of a dull roar, prompting the Mudillo representative to speak up. “We will have order in this senate, the Terran ambassador still has the floor.”

I nodded in appreciation again. “And now I have a warning to give.” Everyone looked shocked. “To the representative of the Yaleya Conclave,” I turned so that I could look them in the eye. “You declaring war on United Terra and her people will not go unpunished. I promise you that when we are done with you, you will learn to fear those that you think you can take advantage of.” I turned back to the rest of the Senate. “And to the rest of you, the lack of an official response from any of your governing bodies has left United Terra disappointed. To you we issue an ultimatum, United Terra has been a prolific trade partner with most of the species here, along with providing most of the foreign aid to those that need it. Unless your government officially condemns the actions of the Yaleya Conclave, and introduces sanctions against them, United Terra will withdraw all trade and foreign aid from your respective nations.”

And with that the entire room erupted into chaos as I sealed myself back into my mech.

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Alex

I sat there in stunned silence as the room descended into chaos. That Venus woman really did play the nuclear card right out of the gate. I looked up to Aeva to see that they were equally shocked. “Well if I thought politics was boring before, I certainly don’t think that now!” I said with a chuckle.