Based on the film Without Warning
They never replied.
“This is the United Terran Coalition heavy cruiser Baltimore of the planet Earth. We are sending greetings to all peace-loving beings in the galaxy.”
The humanoid Thriven ambassador stopped struggling and looked up at the viewscreen.
“Repeat, this is the United Terran Coalition cruiser* Baltimore. *We wish you everything good from our planet. It is our procedure to meet first contact with communication of your own. We mean no harm.”
The insectoid captain nodded to their communications officer, “This is the Interplanetary Races starship *Nostalgia*. Do you understand this transmission?”
The humans never replied.
This was the first exchange between the Federation of Interplanetary Races and the United Terran Coalition.
The Federation warship had been summoned to gather information on the war between the Thriven Republic and the Coalition. The Coalition had appeared out of nowhere on the edge of Thriven Republic and immediately opened fire. The Thriven immediately demanded military action from the Federation, but they weren’t a highly-thought-of nation, and there were other businesses to attend to. War was a dirty business after all, and they’d just come out of one ten years before. The Coalition wasn’t invading anyone else anyway, what was the big deal?
Nevertheless, they did have a job to do, and the Nostalgia’s battle group was dispatched to investigate. The Thriven had lost a few colonies, after all, and they needed to be sure there weren’t any sapient rights abuses.
They’d met with a Thriven government official, who briefed them on the situation. Not that it was very useful. In the words of the Nostalgia’s Altavel captain, “they lie through their teeth as a way of greeting.”
The Federation weren’t saints by any means, but no one particularly liked the Thriven. There was little they could do about them though. They had a potent fleet and no one felt like dealing with them. It would cost too much.
Even what few bits of truth that could be gained from the Thriven were valuable though. Truth be told, nobody knew anything about this Coalition except the message they sent to the first Thriven craft to meet them.
“We the United Terran Coalition, the people of Earth, greet you. Humanity has a message for you. ‘If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then to me, who neither beg nor fear your favors nor your hate’.”
They'd taken three colonies by the time the Nostalgia made it to the Thriven border, their orders had changed. They were to intervene and immediately put an end to the war.
The only Thriven military vessel to escape the initial carnage returned to base soon after the Nostalgia arrived. It delivered a second and final message. “*Humanity has a message for you; ‘to beguile the time, Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye, your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under't’.*”
The Thriven ambassador told them the Terrans were irrational, and refused all communications. They didn’t know them, they didn’t know what they looked like. They were strange in their behavior. Not too unusual, just a little note. They didn't bomb or invade the planets they took. They simply destroyed or occupied the orbital equipment, and moved on. A fleet remained to guard each colony. Captain Ornut, the *Nostalgia*’s commander, was thankful for that. Fear wasn’t a war crime, after all. It saved the paperwork.
He’d brought his battlecruiser to confront the nearest Terran flotilla he could find, to approach them as an independent party and find out what was going on. That certainly ruffled the Thirven’s feathers, if they had any. The bipeds were ugly things, mammalians without scales, feathers, or exoskeletons.
Ornut never understood how they made do without his race’s mandibles. He thought with some idle amusement that if they looked anything like his people, perhaps these humans were just disgusted by the Thriven.
Curiously, the Thriven ambassador grew more and more nervous the closer their ships came to human territory.
Ornut knew the Thriven were hiding something, they always were. But this was the first time he’d seen one concerned rather than arrogant. He’d been in a fit when they’d come into the system. And he’d demanded they open fire when they got into communications range.
And then the ambassador froze when that alien voice crackled from the speakers.
Ornut spoke to the *Baltimore* and opened a dialogue. The humans were not willing to pull out of Thriven territory, naturally. They were surprisingly gentle with the Federation ship, despite their initial messages. Ornut wondered if they’d realized the depth of their mistake, or were creating a false sense of security.
There were more details that Ornut found curious. The humans began with a force of cruisers and destroyers. Their names weren’t that unusual for any race, but there was something about them. Baltimore, Harbin, and Perm for the cruisers. Whitaker and Mandel for the destroyers. Cities and people.
The humans were extremely even-handed with the Federation. They went out of their way to be kind, nothing like the monsters they were made out to be by the Thriven.
It was a surprise when it was found that the humans looked very similar to the Thriven.
Ornut would’ve thought that any biped humanoids, with their typical revulsion to bugs, would despise the Altavel. But why did they hate the Thriven so much?
They’d made many concessions to the Federation in their opening meeting but never explained that.
It got to the point that during their initial face-to-face diplomatic meeting, the captain asked their ambassador bluntly, “Why do you hate the Thriven? What did they ever do to you?”
The human ambassador fixed the quadruped with a smoldering gaze, from his small immobile eyes, “We’re at war.”
“Yes, but why?”
“Ask them.”
Ornut got only a bewildered answer from the Thirven ambassador.
The human’s gaze only worsened. “We do not quarrel with the Federation. We are kind to everyone we contact, so you have the chance we never did. But we will not stop hunting them until their homeworld falls.”
“The chance you never did?” Ornut asked, “What is this about? You didn’t communicate, you didn’t hail them, you just sent cryptic messages!”
“We’ve been at war for two-hundred years.”
“But you said you only made it into space fifty years ago!”
The human nodded, “I did.”
He placed a data recorder on a desk. All human representatives in the room turned to look.
A scratchy, yet presentable audio recording played, “*As the Secretary General of the United Nations, an organization of the 147 member states who represent almost all of the human inhabitants of the planet Earth. I send greetings on behalf of the people of our planet. We step out of our solar system into the universe seeking only peace and friendship, to teach if we are called upon, to be taught if we are fortunate. We know full well that our planet and all its inhabitants are but a small part of the immense universe that surrounds us and it is with humility and hope that we take this step.*”
The humans smiled strangely. It was some sort of pleasant memory.
Then a terrible squeal came through the speakers.
The voices were different, recorded with another sort of microphone. There was no formality, there was nothing but impromptu statements.
Desperate statements.
Panicked voices washed over one another.
“Reading hundreds of large objects, too many to track...This is Houston, Houston, do you read? London, do you copy?... We’re going to try and stay on the air, but we’ve detected impacts in major cities...Washington, come in. St Louis, St Louis, come in. This is Houston, Houston do you copy? Baltimore, this is Houston control, come in, please. Canaveral, this is Houston, do you read? Come in please.”
More speakers entered the channel. It was stitched together from different sources. Some read off numbers and tracking data, others reported observations, and some just called for help, in a litany of languages.
“London...terrible devastation...reports Berlin has been destroyed...obliterated, obliterated! Washington, please come in!”
“This is the Nimitz, we just saw...total loss...emergency…”
The recorder hissed sharply, and one final voice came through. “ISS to Mission Control, come in, please. Where are you, Houston? Come in please.”
The recorder squealed.
“Isn’t there anyone on the air? Anyone? Isn’t there anyone out there?”
The human ambassador pulled out an old-fashioned piece of paper.
“We reached out our hands. We reached out our hands in peace and friendship, and the first thing they did was hurl asteroids at us. We defended ourselves when we could barely even tell if it was a ship or another asteroid, and their response was to try to take out our capitals. And when we defend ourselves, they destroy our world. Three billion died in the bombardment and billions more followed. And we’ve spent centuries just getting back.”
He narrowed his gaze at the Thriven, “...and they’re the ones who did it.”
The document was a compilation of data. It showed an object in high orbit above a planet with a radar scan, a variety of numbers and figures...and a photo from a telescope.
The object in orbit had the same profile as a Thriven cruiser. It was old, but still similar enough to be recognized.