Utopia War

Chapter 1 - The Most Dangerous Species

"Humans are the most dangerous alien species we have ever encountered," said Prime Xenologist Korkeh "They are decadent and lawless barbarians who would be beneath contempt if not for the sophistication of their technology. Avoiding ideological contamination should be your first concern at all times, above even the mission itself."

The four Engineers looked on with agitated feelers. They had been expecting to report for an ordinary work period and now this foreign-smelling Mind-Caste was lecturing them about the dangerous aliens they were about to meet. The Quinary Sub-Prime, one-and-a-half times as tall as anyone else present, loomed over the group like a predator.

The pheromones of the room spoke to the general atmosphere: fear with an underscent of agitation. Primitive instincts in the Engineers screamed at them to flee.

"Humans are neotenous little warmed blooded oxygen/nitrogen breathers whose territory comprises the majority of the Io Arm of our Galaxy. Do not let their larvalike demeanor deceive you; I cannot emphasize enough that they are dangerous. They are unrepentant hedonists, completely without shame or morals and willing to sink to any depravity in the name of frivolous, unknowable alien emotion states. They value anarchy over order, allowing and even encouraging individuals to deviate from the collective. Do not be impressed by their technology either; we may be slightly less advanced in some areas but we are the masters of our machines. Humans are slaves to theirs, leading them to do ludicrous things like grant citizenship to tools. Be wary of the human machines. It is they who are truly in charge."

"Prime Xenologist Korkeh," said Quinary Sub-Prime Chom "Explain the cultural context of the behavior we are about to experience."

By this point the targeted artificial pheromones had saturated their programmed targets, and the Translator Cortices of the assembled Engineers could now understand the human language.

"They call it a gesture of friendship," said the Xenologist, pronouncing the last word through some terrifying modification to his throat.

The alien thoughts of the Translator Cortices revealed the meaning of "friendship"; it was a human concept for wasting resources and time on persons outside of one's genetic line.

"This is a dominance display on the part of the humans. 'We are so firmly in control that we can waste resources aiding our rivals', that is the statement they are making."

Agitation had slowly worked it's way from the background to the surface of the pheromone bouquet.

"Then why should the Hive submit to this humiliation?" asked Secondary Engineer Hyurk, rising up onto his hind legs in agitation.

"The Hive didn't," snarled Quinary Sub-Prime Chom "You did. Each time the humans offered to help us the Hive told them to leave our territory or be destroyed. But for twenty cycles you worked on activating this station, and you have failed utterly. The Hive has lost face in front of the galactic community. The Prime of Primes is not willing to wait any longer to gain access to the subspace transit network. Therefore, it has allowed the humans to come here and gesture friendship at us. This shame, this humiliation is yours Hyurk. It is all of yours. So cease wailing like larvae waiting to have their dinners regurgitated for them and act like a mind-caste."

"As shameful as this loss of face may be," said Korkeh "It is also an opportunity for us to study humans up close and probe for weakness. You are all to collect as much data on the humans as you can for the duration of their stay. Your two areas of focus should be reverse engineering their technology and finding ways to kill them. You will not involve yourself in whatever activity the humans engage in unless I give you properly scented permission."

"Some of my soldier-caste will be with you," said Chom "They have not been given the pheromones to understand the human throat sounds. They won't act on their own initiative, so if the situation deteriorates and I become incapacitated be prepared to give them orders."