Subject: High Ambassador Kivar Shuel

Species: Isolan

Description: Mammalian Shokanoid, no tail. 5'9" (1.75 m) avg height. 180 lbs (81.6 kg) avg weight. 95 year life expectancy.

Ship: RSV Tililimo

Location: Hesron 1

"Greetings, representatives of the Republic and the United Systems. We are the Pwanti," the voice on the speaker said. "We agree to your proposed first contact protocols. We will send a representative."

"Thank you, we look forward to your visit," I replied.

The light for the comm went out and I almost let out a sigh of relief, but held fast knowing that Havencroft would see it as a sign of weakness. I tried to steal a quick glance at the human ambassador, but it turned into a stare. He seemed to be a million lightyears away, completely ignoring his surroundings. Something's wrong.

"Are you okay, Hav... Eugene?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "It's just... that went very smoothly. The first message you sent was text, correct?"

"Yes," Ship-Head Orava said. "We used the translation kernels provided by the United Systems."

"What did it say?"

"Greetings, we are representatives of the Republic and the United Systems, two galactic governing entities currently allied against the Omni-Union. We wish to make peaceful first contact with your people aboard this unarmed vessel and discuss a combined response to the Omni-Union threat," Orava explained. "Then we sent them a file with the finer details on what we consider to be first contact protocols."

"And they replied with an audio hail?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hmm," Havencroft rubbed his chin.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Just a bad feeling. Like I'm missing something obvious," he answered. "It's possible I'm being overcautious. Likely because the intel file provided by BUSI was very light."

BUSI... The Bureau of United Systems Intelligence. If the situation between the Republic and the US were slightly less friendly, they would be our biggest opponent. A formidable one, at that. The intel file in question had included a language kernel, ship count, and armament classifications. I'd been amazed at how much information they'd been able to gather without even entering the system. To hear that the information was less than normal was... unsettling.

"Bad feelings don't happen for no reason," I said. "What exactly about this interaction has your hair up?"

"Well, as far as we know, this is the first time they've met non-hostile aliens. They don't know what we look like, and we don't know what they look like, but they had no questions. They asked for no assurances," he crossed his arms. "We asked them to come over and they just said okay."

"Maybe they're desperate, sir," Orava interjected.

"Perhaps."

I had been relieved about how well the first contact had gone so far, but Havencroft's suspicions rang true. It had been too easy, too quick. They had controlled the conversation from the start, as if they had been expecting us. That doesn't necessarily mean they have anything nefarious planned, but it's alarming nonetheless. The US policy of armed diplomats suddenly made a lot more sense to me.

"There's nothing we can do about it," I said after a few moments of silence. "We are unarmed, and only have one path forward."

"True enough," Havencroft replied. "Alright, let's get to the meeting room."

"Yes, sir. Please, follow ship-crew Gronus. She will guide you," Orava gestured at an Urakari standing nearby.

She snapped to attention and turned around for us to follow her. She led us from the bridge to the conference room nearest the airlock. We entered the room and sat at the table. I keyed in my identification to the terminal on the table and got to work pulling up the treaties. Havencroft was still deep in thought.

Satisfied that I had everything completed, I turned to the human. Once again, he was holding his chin and staring into the middle distance. I opened my mouth to speak to him just as the door opened and a breathless Gronus appeared.

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"Th-the representative is a machine. I-I ran ahead to warn you," she said.

"Are they attacking?" Havencroft asked.

"No, no. It's on its way. I-I didn't want you to be surprised."

"Very good," I said. "Thank you."

She nodded and left the room. A machine? I looked at Havencroft, who now looked less preoccupied and much more attentive. He was on edge.

"Don't you work closely with AI?" I asked.

"I do, and I know what they're capable of. We've buried the hatchet with our AI, and so there's a relationship there," he explained. "There are a lot of differences between organics and machines. An AI that doesn't have a preexisting relationship with organics could be... very troublesome."

"If it doesn't have a preexisting relationship with organics, how did it come to be?"

"Fair enough," he chuckled. "But that makes it all the more concerning that we're not meeting with an organic, doesn't it?"

Paranoia is fairly common among diplomats. It has to be, your entire job is to make manifest the best interests of your government, but the same goes for those on the other side of the table. You must be able to spot the subtle clues of plots to go anywhere in this career. Still, there are plenty of explanations for why we would be meeting a machine instead of an organic.

For one, it could be some type of mobile communications device, which would be a pretty good way of meeting 'in person' without risking any of your own people's lives. Or the civilization lives in harmony with AI, and it didn't occur to them that we might not. I was about to suggest these explanations when the door opened and the mechanical diplomat stepped through.

Havencroft and I stood. The machine looked like a human wearing armor. Two arms, two legs, five fingers on each hand. The head was rounder and the arms were longer, though. The machine bowed slightly.

"I am Unit ZBC446. I represent the Pwanti," it said.

Havencroft opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off, "I am High Ambassador Kivar Shuel, representative of the Republic."

"And I am ambassador Eugene Havencroft, representative of the United Systems," Havencroft said with a slight smile.

I gestured at a chair next to ZBC446, and we all sat. The machine sat with its shoulders facing straight ahead, which I found a little unnerving. Usually someone angles themselves to speak to someone else. Except for the Kinran, but that's because they have eyes all over their heads. They don't have to move to look at you, and most people would prefer that they move as little as possible.

"We need help against the Omni-Union. I am here to negotiate a deal to that end," ZBC446 said without moving.

"Our deal is simple," Havencroft said. "We will help defend you if you help us in an offensive push against the Omni-Union."

"The Republic will also be participating in the offensive," I added.

"I am not confident that we are in a position to commit to offensive action. Can you provide more detail?"

"Of course. The United Systems will be attacking the Mobile Prime Platforms that lead the Omni-Union. If you agree to this deal, we will be defending the United System's forces from the massive number of standard ships the Omni-Union can muster," I said. "We are currently meeting with other potential allies who may join us in this effort."

"Do you have information regarding these Mobile Prime Platforms? We've intercepted mentions of them, but we do not know what they are."

"We have prepared an information packet for you," Havencroft said, sliding a tablet across the table. "It contains everything we know about the Omni-Union as well as information regarding our military capabilities."

"Thank you," ZBC446 said.

It picked up the tablet and began rapidly examining the information. Its finger ran across the screen at a nearly blinding pace, but it didn't move its head at all. This made me realize that the entire head must be some type of camera. I wonder if there are blind spots.

"I see," it said, setting the tablet back onto the table. "I'm afraid there has been a misconception."

"What would that be?" I asked.

"This is not our home system."

"Oh," Havencroft said. "We came to that conclusion because we detected signs of activity on one of the planets in this system."

"We have entities planet-side to gather materials for fuel and repairs. We encountered the Omni-Union elsewhere, escaped to this system, and they followed us. We quickly realized they would also follow us home, so we've been holding out here," ZBC446 explained. "We've taken heavy losses, and weren't expecting a rescue. This 'seventh fleet' could defend us, but at our current strength it would be an overall useless effort to your offensive if we're unable to resupply."

"That actually simplifies things. We can cover your retreat and keep the OU at bay long enough for your trail to dissipate," Havencroft said. "We will provide you with coordinates to a diplomatic station that will allow us to stay in touch."

"This is an acceptable plan."

"Good," I interjected. "We'll amend the agreement to account for these... unforeseen circumstances."

"Yes, but before we get to signing anything I have a few questions," Havencroft said. "ZBC446, are you an artificial intelligence or a remotely operated drone?"

"Neither."

"What do you mean?"

"I began life as an organic, and have since uploaded my consciousness to machinery."

"Why?"

"Our... religious leaders teach that the best and brightest should shed their flesh and reach a higher plane of existence. The flesh is temptable and prone to the whims of fate and time. By become Pwanti, we shed the weakness of the flesh and become leaders and heroes to the Mwaltin, those of our species that remain in the flesh."

"Why don't all of your people become Pwanti?" Havencroft leaned forward.

"The process is extremely painful and takes ten years to fully complete. That combined with the expense and a failure rate of sixty percent is more than enough to sway most from this path. Even after five hundred years, only one fourth of our population have successfully ascended."

"If you were once organic, why are you now known as ZBC446?" I asked.

"I was the 446th Pwanti, and Zarcol Bifna Criylan was my name. Later models have more efficient designations, but I prefer my legacy designation."

"One last question, what were you doing when you encountered the Omni-Union?" Havencroft leaned back.

"We were finding habitable worlds for potential colonization efforts. This system is one of them, and we had a station here. When we encountered the Omni-Union we were able to disrupt their attack with cyberwarfare and escape to here, using the station to repair our damaged vessels. As we were repairing, they followed us. We were able to defeat the first wave with minimal losses, but the second wave destroyed the station."

I turned to look at Havencroft, "Satisfied?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'll get to work on amending the agreement."

"Excellent," he said. "I will contact seventh fleet."