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While we would be amused if you tarried here with us awhile, you will probably find more pertinent answers on our homeworld in the Kessarri quadrant, Astarte 1.
Hello brave Earthling. I am Colony Commander Lelore, and I welcome you to our new homeworld in the Kessarri quadrant. Your Warp Bubble Transport worked perfectly, as we knew it would!
We are glad that you have found us so soon. We are eager to begin colonizing other worlds for you, and help you shoulder your heavy responsibilities.
Our colonizing teams have set to work with enthusiasm. We are exceeding all our productivity goals in creating new Penetrator ships in order to meet your exacting demands.
Captain, we recognize the difficult task that lies ahead. Restoring the fabric of space may require a Herculean effort. We want you to know that we are ready to help you in any way we can.
We Syreen have a unique set of psionic abilities that are amplified by our Penetrator ships. We can broadcast a signal so compelling that all sentient creatures in its range willingly abandon their ships to come fight for us as mind-controlled drones.
This makes the Penetrator the only ship we know of that can leave a battle with a larger crew and in a stronger position.
The Syreen are a race whose development is extremely close to that of Humans. In both culture and biology, Humans and Syreen are almost too close a match to be just a coincidence.
Like you Earthlings, our modern spacefaring society evolved from primitive tribes. Our two cultures were quite similar until they took very different paths in what would have been your prehistory.
Our world continued to enjoy the differences between the genders, while your world used gender as a basis for a political dominance structure which pervaded almost all of your Earth Cultures until the early Twenty First century.
When Earth males discovered that they too had a role in the sacred process of creating children, they responded with a jealous need to imprison Earth females and hold them as property.
On Syra, males and females continued to develop as equals, most likely due to the stabilizing influence of peaceful agricultural people.
Syra was our paradise, Captain. Our worlds were very much the same--at least up to the point that you began encasing yours in concrete and plastic.
Like your earth, Syra was a world of rare beauty, variety, and abundance of life. I say "was," because it was abruptly torn apart, killing most of my people. We thought it was an asteroid that struck our world.
We survived the massive impact, but our world was soon torn apart in a cataclysm of earthquakes and volcanoes. Only our orbiting Space Patrol survived. Fewer than ten thousand females, and only five hundred males.
Quite so.
Most of the Syreen Space Patrol is comprised of Syreen females because in our species, the females have psionic abilities suited to making special attacks on enemy crew. Syreen males do not. They have... other talents.
The survivors of our race began a long trek across the heavens, searching for another world that could match the breathtaking beauty of Syra. But our slow-moving Habitat columns were attacked by Vux raiders.
We had stumbled into the path of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. We joined the old Alliance of Free Stars, only to see it fall apart. The Earthlings who were the newest members of the Alliance were defeated and placed under an Ur-Quan slave shield.
The Arilou disappeared and other "free" races retreated to their homeworlds. We had no choice but to surrender and be slave shielded.
Ironically, our enemies were our salvation. The Ur-Quan searched their extensive star charts and found a perfect planet for us. Though many benighted souls confuse the Kzer-Za Ur-Quan with the genocidal Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah, the green Ur-Quan were not out to kill everyone.
They just wanted to make sure that no race could pose a threat against them.
We settled our new planet and began rebuilding our shattered population. Though we hated our loss of freedom, we loved our beautiful planet, Gaia. But then YOU came along. You tried to get us to rebel against the Ur-Quan.
We were afraid to do so until you proved that Syra was not destroyed by a freak accident, but by the Mycon! We were furious, and sought revenge against the Mycon and their Ur-Quan masters.
We joined with you in the new alliance, and helped you defeat the hated Hierarchy! We were very grateful to you, and enjoyed watching your budding romance with Syreen Starbase Commander Talana.
Though we were eager to get back to our paradise on Gaia, we knew that only a strong Alliance would fend off future dictators seeking to control the stars. So when HyperSpace travel collapsed, we were among the first to volunteer to join your mission. And here we are.
We have heard many legends about the Precursors, but we do not know how to filter the lore from the lies. If a race as great as the Precursors still exists in known space, they do an incredible job of hiding the psychic residue of their vast intellects.
Until next time, Captain.
Hello again, courageous Captain. We stand ready to assist you in any way we can. What can we provide?
Hello again, Human Captain. We have a concern about the Mycon. In the wake of the attacks against them, they appear to be getting more and more erratic.
They were never too stable to begin with, but now their behavior is a potential cause for concern. They could be a weak link in the League.
We realize that.
No. We're not. We're just saying that the Mycon need to be watched closely.
Good
Well the Orz are dead wrong.
What can we do for you?
You can believe us because we are completely loyal.
Good
You are asking for more than anyone can deliver. What a ridiculous standard of proof!
What? That's absurd!
You have become delusional. We cannot stop you from making this foolish mistake. But we implore you to reconsider.
Yes, Captain? What do you wish?
Very well. We will return. We did not like your decision, but we are glad you reversed it.
Hello, Captain. We have a concern about the unexpected arrival of the Arilou. Do you trust them?
We are concerned about their loyalty. In the days of the old Alliance they disappeared as soon as the Earth was slave-shielded. They left the Allies, including us, with nowhere to go, and smack in the path of the oncoming Ur-Quan Armada.
Then, after the collapse of HyperSpace, when we needed their insight--and their working ships--they once again bugged out on us. Here they are again, and we have no reason to believe that they will be any more dependable now.
Are you suspicious of their ability to fly between stars when other races can't?
You should know that old Alliance records show that the mysterious Melnorme traders, who collect a lot of vital information, refer to the Arilou as Interdimensional Fatigue beings.
Their form of space travel seems to be based on punching interdimensional fatigue holes in space. It is troubling to us, and we do not fully trust them.
I see.
We have no direct knowledge of the Eternal Ones. But we occasionally catch psychic glimpses of a deep evil underlying the entire cosmos, and occasionally rising up to decapitate all beings.
Captain, we have been attempting to shield the League races from mental attacks.
We have long been aware that there are many sources of psychic attacks in the galaxy. Most races are vulnerable to the sort of mental compulsions that caused millennia of galactic butchery and genocide during the Ur-Quan wars.
We are the most advanced psychics in the League, so we took it upon ourselves to try to extend a field of protection around each and every member of the League. It is not easy, but we are getting better every day.
Captain, our mental probes are purely passive. They just form defensive shields. They don't change anything about anyone.
Captain, we don't even know if our mental shields will work properly. This is not a definite ability that we can offer to the League.
Captain, that is hardly wise.
Very well.
That is a wise choice, Captain. I hope all your ideas are that well grounded.
That is an odd request, but we are glad to oblige. This tech team is now mindless until they land on Exquivo.
We can try. Hmmm... there is extensive damage to their minds.. their minds are so alien, but we can reach them... Come back, Chenjesu. Come back to the land of light and color and... ah.
They are revived. They are very weak, and cannot speak. But they're conscious.
Captain, thank you for coming so quickly. We have important news for you. Our most sensitive psychics have become increasingly aware of powerful mental emanations coming from Anshar 3.
These emanations are hurting the Pkunk. Please help the Pkunk, but be careful. In our mind's eyes we see unending pain and madness, as if we are perched on the brink of an eternally dark void.
What else can we do for you?
We promised loyalty. We did not promise that you would like everything we have to say. Do you have any other questions?
Captain, again you amaze us with your ingenuity and craft! We are honored to contribute, and would give far more to the cause.
Captain, it's Talana. This star system is collapsing around us. We are trapped here as interstellar fatigue claims another star. Our sensors determine that our atoms are being eternally stretched out throughout infinity!
Well, Captain, there's only one way I can imagine spending all of eternity- Oooo. I see that you feel the same way...
On our world, the predatory migrating tribes were confined to the mountainous regions of the planet, whereas on Earth, the more aggressive herding tribes established dominance over the passive agricultural communities.
This led to a dimorphic sexual and political dominance structure on Earth. On Syra, males and females continued to develop as equals, most likely due to the stabilizing influence of peaceful agricultural people.
