-Ruufarrl-
The morning after the Hunt they had started to look for ship listings that were headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, there was little headed out to GalCom space outside of luxury cruises. The next regular ship to make the trip wasn't going to be for another two and a half weeks.
They weren't in any great rush to leave. His time here had been both enjoyable and illuminating, but he hadn't forgotten that Kiiroth's family waited for his remains to have a proper funeral. Then there was the matter of the Confirmation Ceremony for Conrad. The sooner he had the official backing of the Ruulothi, the safer he would be from interference, and the sooner peaceable talks between their two species could begin.
Both of which were results well worth pursuing.
He felt off that morning, actually had felt off for the few days he had been on planet. He hadn't isolated the reason at first, putting it down to exhaustion from the time change and travel lag, plus his exertion from the past two days. But this day he noticed that everything was still heavier, slower, more exhausting.
The planet's Gravity was more than he was used to.
He asked about this and got a surprising answer. Due to their universal adoption of a single system of measurement based off atomic measurements and weights, they measured basic calculations in the same manner that the Galactic Community did. With the Galactic Standard being Eight Force Units of Gravity, this planet stood at Eleven Force Units. It was surprisingly close to their own home world of Earth, which had a Gravity field of nearly Ten Force Units.
They were used to heavier gravities all around, which explained a lot about them, and why he felt so sluggish lately.
So, he took it easy that day and the next. He spent the time reading his book selections and researching thanks to the generous access he had to their Terminal Network. Most of that research was done verifying the various quirks of Humanity that he encountered in his reading and observations. Things that alternately sent his mind reeling, or straight into lock-up.
The Primer stated that Humanity had long suspected about the existence of other interstellar intelligent species. Rumors of visitors and watchers in the sky, unexplained phenomenon and the like. But they had never found anything supporting that, even as they took to the stars themselves. No wreckage, no ruins, no obvious biological alterations. They had found minor life, even in their own solar system, but nothing intelligent. Because of this, they had maintained an intense competition with one another. With no unifying direction created by the presence of an outside source they had fought and climbed on one another, much like in the sport he had watched the other day. Each generation created its own rules on how things would be done, on which direction to take. Their development was a roiling wave of chaos surging outward, with only one end result possible.
Humanities first major conflict among the stars was in its own home system, between colonies and mining stations of the Outer Regions and the colonies of the Inner Regions and Earth. It culminated in the complete eradication of a colony on the moon of one of their gas giants. The Titan Colony, one of their largest and most stable colonies at the time.
Unhappy and unable to deal with the organized military blockade of Earth and the inner colonies, a rogue group of mining collectives turned its sights on the nearest colony that they felt determined the product of their labor unjustly. Finally, angry at their losses and inability to successfully take over the colony they instead did the only thing they had left to do, they threw rocks at it.
It was an attempt to symbolically destroy the Icon of Government in the area. Plenty of warnings to evacuate the module had been given. The subsequent barrage from the gas giant's local rings completely overwhelmed the colony's point defense systems. The explosive laden and wired micro-asteroids and ice ruptured the colony's bulkheads and destroyed the government module and breached the Hydrogen-Fusion Reactor housed below it.
It shouldn’t have mattered; Fusion is an incredibly safe power source. But mining charge laden debris missiles had ruptured more than just that. The plasma discharge blew through the damaged fail safes and caused an ignition in the nearby O2 processors, that should never have been that close to the reactor. The cascade failure caused by the exploding O2 lines left the colony little more than a scarred and shattered crater of glass and debris. The entire population of the Titan Colony, over a million colonists, was killed. It was the largest loss of civilian life in a single incident in the entire history of Humanity up to that point, or since.
The response was swift and unmistakably final.
Earth, Mars, Venus and their respective lunar colonies and mining outposts pooled together everything they had and went after the Collectives with a vengeance, and were joined by whatever ships, soldiers and resources the remaining outer colonies and unaffiliated mining groups could spare. None would allow such an act to stand uncontested.
Mining ships and ore haulers converted for troop transport were left in their trail as gaping wrecks. Mining outposts and Transfer Stations were assaulted, captured, dismantled and subsequently used as target practice until nothing more than dust and shattered metal remained. Their workers and administrators captured and charged if they had any link to the attack. The Mining Collectives responsible for the attack were completely erased from existence, their physical assets destroyed, records seized, and their monetary assets and influence dissolved, people arrested or killed in conflict.
In this process, it was discovered that it was the Collectives themselves that were setting the hard line on the value of their own products and labor, rather than the colony or any other entity, so that they could gain the greatest profits.
"Avarice, it seems, is a universal problem for any race."
Though many did not live to see it happen, the disgruntled miners had started something that would not be stopped. After the "Titan Incident", governments all over the system found themselves dealing with a cultural upheaval. Yes, the parties responsible had been brought to a swift justice, but people began to see things in a new light. They saw the immediate consequence, but nothing else changed. Safety regulations continued to be ignored, corners cut, backroom deals made. Other companies rose to take the Collective's place, each with their own backer and politician in their pocket. Instead of being a call for change and solidarity, it became a gold rush for those with the means to fill the void.
Civilians the system over watched it happen, and they had finally had enough. Centuries of watching it happen over and over again burned in their memories. Nearly overnight and all across the system thanks to their early Network, civilian hearts and minds united under a common cause. Within a few short years the ruling parties were cast out in elections, despite their desperate attempts to subvert it. The new group stood in political dominance over the entire system, and then went to work.
From this new group would eventually rise the Sol Systems Alliance, and their first and greatest work would be the creation of the Titan Accords.
These Accords would serve as a new Constitution for Humanity. Using an existing platform called the Geneva Convention and the Constitutions, Safety Organizations and Fair Trade laws of multiple countries and colonies as a base the Accords detailed the way that Humanity, ALL of Humanity, would deal with safety practices, conflict, trade, expansion, conservation and war. The Accords were designed with two primary segments, one specifically for Military personnel and warfare, the other for civilians covering colony rights, laws and safety guidelines. In some places the two segments would overlap, such as with the outright ban on orbital and kinetic or weapon based planetary strikes of any kind, for any reason. Such an act was considered among the most heinous, an automatic death sentence for any convicted of it, and was subject to immediate military reprisal. But in most they provided comprehensive but separate guidelines and laws for a growing spacefaring species, including the first contact protocols that they followed upon finding the Galactic Community.
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In the ashes of their worst disaster, Humanity had risen and united, breaking free of their self-imposed conflicts and throwing off the old order.
That stability and unity persisted to this day. Rivalries still existed, Broken Fangs still preyed on the weak and unfortunate, but they were by far the minority. Colonies answered to Sector Capitals, where each colony held a seat. Each Sector in turn answered to Earth, the home of the SSA Grand Council, where each Sector held a seat. Their Sector lines were redrawn at least once every few decades, to incorporate new populations and colonies and maintain an odd number of voting members.
The book with the abridged version of the Accords, "Modern Military History", highlighted the important points. Despite being abridged it was still a taxing read, as all legal documents seem to be, but it was worded with clarity in mind rather than the intentionally obfuscating lexicon typically used in legal documentation. This was due to it needing to be read and interpreted by civilians with no special legal training, or so a notation on a sidebar informed him.
This insight gave Ruufarrl a solid laugh as he realized that Humans were just as verbose in their legal dealings as the bureaucracy heavy GalCom was. "Oh, they are going to give the Founders a challenge for their whiskers on any arena of competition. Probably a good part of the reasons why the Founders are so determined to control the outcome and keep them as far away as possible. They know it will be a fight of attrition."
He noted to himself that the Accords had last been updated the same year that Humanity started doing their Cultural Exchanges and had succeeded in a petition to allow workers into GalCom dependent on awarded contracts and references.
He pored over the simplified Accords, knowing that he wasn't going to remember all of it, but that he would remember enough to make an informed report on the Human's mindset and applicable processes.
The ban on Orbital bombardments was interesting to him, as it wasn't implemented in the Community. It was listed by the Humans as simply being too indiscriminate for effective use, regardless of tools and advances used. In the Human's minds, guaranteeing the deaths of non-combatants, regardless of affiliation, was unacceptable.
They drew a hard line between military forces and civilians. Only military related targets could be targeted by their military, and no places of communal gatherings could be targeted for any reason by anybody, nor used as places of organization and resistance by anybody. Schools, hospitals, non-military space stations, civilian dockyards and more were listed here. As with all such punishments, violators would be dealt with harshly and swiftly. "Noble enough concepts, but ones that can easily be taken advantage of, even if only briefly."
There was a different list for non-atmospheric colonies, outposts and stations. Anything built in a non-compatible atmosphere was not to be targeted directly outside of the defenses, which were never to be built directly on listed exemptions. Many such places had point defense installations to prevent wayward meteorite strikes and pirates. Such defenses were to be isolated from the general populous enough that their destruction would pose minimal risk to the inhabitants. Subsequent actions against such installations required an invasion or a surrender.
He did note that there was nothing specifically demanding or preventing civilians from banding together to combat a threat, or to surrender. Given that they could obviously own weapons, he suspected that this meant they were given the leeway to make the decision themselves. "Nothing more terrifying than a skilled hunter stalking you from the shadows. Especially one that you did not suspect to be a threat."
Their reasons for not allowing civilians to be targeted unless attacked first differed from those the other Galactic Protector races followed. The general consensus and distilled reasoning among them for it was that it simply wasn't sporting. It wasn't a worthy hunt. For the Humans, they weren't valid targets, they weren't the enemy.
He suspected that there was more to it than that, more unspoken considerations at hand. In his experience, allowing civilians to be attacked was the fastest way to lose control and create an angry, vengeful mob. Considering again that human civilians were allowed to own weapons, that was a bad mix indeed.
"But now this! Providing aid to wounded enemies and prisoners?"
Such an idea would never cross a Ruulothi's mind unless they saw some sort of extreme presentation of valor or honor in a defeated individual, or they were a valuable capture of some sort or needed for an exchange. The wounded and prisoners were merely enemies that had not yet expired. Their loss was one less unit on the battlefield. One less mouth to stretch their supplies for. One less wound to bandage. One less voice to carry information to their enemies.
The only mercy Ruulothi offered wounded and abandoned warriors was that of a quick death.
Even so, it showed the Humans to be of an honorable persuasion during wartime. Flawed though it may be in his own estimations, the heart of it was still there. Even in a war, they considered the need to protect. Not only themselves, but those others caught in it.
Ruufarrl's thoughts paused as he read another side note, this one a quote from a Battlefield General who spoke to the assembly during the time that the Accords were first being drafted. "Though we choose to stand ready to defend, and are sent to kill by others, this does not absolve us of our actions in battle and war. We must retain our humanity if we are to ever return home and look our loved ones in the eyes again. If we are to ever to endure the mental and emotional hardships, we most know we did our best with a clean conscience. It is the duty of every serviceman and woman to be mindful of others, to prevent catastrophe and suffering beyond the pale of War. For only then, even in the fires of whatever fresh Hell that we have been sent to, can we continue to call ourselves Human. Only then can we consider ourselves worthy of the gifts and blessings we have been given."
"A very pretty way of saying remember yourself and don't let war change you for the worse. Even we see it, although less often now as those kinds of conflicts are few and far between. People who had been quick to jest or laugh become aggressive and violent in temperament. Others who started that way become more humble. Others still who simply cannot get enough of the release that combat gives them."
He looked at his own claws again and remembered the hunt from the other day and his own past. "Though for some it is a necessary part of the job. There is no Battlemaster alive that doesn't revel in the thrill of combat. But they must temper it rather than lose themselves to it, otherwise they become Former Battlemasters very quickly, as there is always a sharper and quicker claw."
He returned to reviewing the book, trying to decipher its hidden meanings, "So they extend their interpersonal hospitality even to their enemies. Curious. A show of good will, perhaps? Hmm, I wonder how they would have thought of such things if they had a counterpart enemy that came with claws and fangs. Their skill at fighting aside, they are at least on similar ground with one another. It would be a fool's gambit to give such grand considerations to one who could literally tear you apart in moments if given the chance. An interesting debate question at the very least."
The door swung open as Solais barged his way in, looked about and sniffed, then decided he wanted to be elsewhere and left. Ruufarrl glared at the retreating cat, "Or would they have tried cuddling and petting such a foe and called them 'Kitty' in an attempt to win them over?" He shuddered at the thought, "Humans. With them, some questions are better left unasked… What is this?”
He looked at the book in shock, not believing his own eyes. “Boarding actions? That couldn’t possibly mean…!? It DOES!! They are seriously insane enough to consider breaching and boarding an active spaceship a worthy strategy of some sort?”
He looked rapidly through the titles of the books he had on hand, “Nothing on modern tactics. I don’t think that the ones that specifically focus on battles will give me the information I need. Perhaps the one on military equipment might shed some light, but it appears I am going to need to take another trip to the bookstore.”
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The rest of his stay went rather well. He never did get completely used to the higher gravity, but he at least knew how to pace himself so that he did not suffer any adverse effects, and he actually made two more trips to the bookstore.
It turns out that boarding entries on starships are rare, and primarily used for hostage rescues and pirate hunting. But the fact that they still consider it a viable tactic at all still made his hackles raise at the thought.
He also got several more chances to speak with Master Silva and was introduced to different parts of the local communities. The Mclaughlin Clan held a barbecue at one point, sharing their bounty of Hellboar with neighbors and friends. An exceptionally tasty social event that he felt could take root and spread easily with his own people. Barbecuing meat was even easier than smoking it properly, and Dianna had indicated that there were many different methods available to prepare a proper barbecue depending on the desired effect and event and had promised to teach him a few that worked for his people's methods of preparing food.
He would absolutely be taking her up on the offer. He felt this sort of thing would be a good feast for any occasion. "Now if only we can open trade so that we can get access to the spices and culinary creations that make it possible. That Riosian Bourbon-Honey sauce alone is sure to be a fast favorite. Let alone any of the other literal thousands of options available. I sincerely hope she was joking when she said that each region in every colony has their own special blend of barbecue."
As the days leading to their departure wound down, he began to plan their next steps. He hoped it would be a straightforward trip but knew there are always obstacles. The ship was a working ship, so they would likely be confined to certain areas of the ship, which wouldn’t be much of a problem. It would give them time to go over the etiquette required for the funeral, Ceremony and meeting with Ruushan.
The biggest issue was they weren’t going all the way. The ship they hired was only going to be going far enough to get them into Galactic space, but not enough to get them to Ruulothi space. They would need to layover on a planet until they found a ship going the right way, and possibly even a second layover after that to make it to Ruuloth Prime.
This would put them in the public eye and could potentially cause any of a number of issues and leave them exposed.
But it was a risk that needed to be taken.
They just needed to be prepared.