Sensing that he was on the verge of getting the aquadite on board, the dessandrite made one more push.
"We have a Divine Mother on our side."
The S’rrigan’s fish-like eyes widened at those words. "...What?"
"Consider this piece of information a token of our sincerity," the Alpha of the Firebreather Tribe spoke with great seriousness in his chirping voice. "As you know, not all Divine Mothers are in agreement with our war or the war that they have chosen to wage against you. The arakai are not single-minded, and within them there are those who think the war is foolish. And among those, there are some who have been willing to work together with us."
"...You got a Divine Mother to turn on her species?" The S’rrigan asked with a tone of disbelief.
"No, not quite on her own species. But rather the dominant factions," Alpha Sheshank replied. "As you know, the War Faction and the Virus Faction together account for a majority of Divine Mothers, allowing them to continue the war despite the protests from the other factions and Divine Mothers. There are Divine Mothers who..."
Alpha Sheshank shrugged lightly.
"...stand to gain if the war does poorly."
S’rrigan, being a politician himself, understood immediately. "If the war goes poorly, then it will bee unpopular and undermine those who support it, including the two factions you mentioned. They will lose prominence and support, and the other factions will gain more power. Still... I must say I find it hard to believe that a Divine Mother would undermine her own civilization just for this."
"Only one out of dozens hates this war enough to do so," Alpha Sheshank replied. "If you are willing to join an alliance, I can share more information with you."
Of course, S’rrigan didn’t strictly need to go that route in order to make an educated guess as to which Divine Mother was likely to betray her own species over her disdain for war.
"... Divine Mother O-oooo— of the Pluralist Faction?" the S’rrigan raised an eyebrow.
One of the most powerful and influential Divine Mothers in all of Arakai Web Civilization. She led a major faction that believed that the web of civilization ought not to stop at the boundary of species, seeking a pan-racial pluralist civilization in the Orion Star Strand to start, but all species in the Milky Way.
"Correct, well estimated, S’rrigan," the Alpha replied. "I was not supposed to offer that information up, but as a show of goodwill, I will confirm that information. Indeed, Divine Mother O-oooo— has been actively undermining the war effort, feeding us priceless information to slow down the arakai and give us an advantage in war."
It made the prospects of undertaking a joint effort to battle against the arakai that much more promising if the Dessandrites truly had a working relationship with the Divine Mother.
There wasn’t too much else to consider.
The pros clearly outweighed the cons.
"Very well then," the S’rrigan heaved a deep breath of water, several bubbles emerging from his mouth along with a current of water. "As the leader of the Aquadite Ocean Civilization, I hereby accept the offer of the Dessandrite Sky Civilization."
Just like that, the two civilizations formed a tentative secret alliance with each other.
"You have made the right choice," the Alpha smiled at him. "We shall establish the protocols for cooperation and coordination soon enough, but before that, we have some immediate and urgent intel to share with you, now that we are allies."
The Alpha waved his hand, transmitting a file to the S’rrigan.
It was a video file.
"And what is this?" the S’rrigan asked with a curious tone of voice.
"It’s footage of what happened at a distant star system," the Alpha replied with eyes that were especially fixed on his new ally. "We believe that this event is what ultimately triggered the arakai’s invasion into aquadite territory."
That made the S’rrigan even more curious. Even though ten days had passed since the war had menced, the aquadites were still utterly bewildered for the reason that the arakai had given them about why they had started the war.
The arakai ambassador told the S’rrigan that they had invaded because the aquadites had killed one of their Divine Mothers, a rather shocking allegation that the S’rrigan fiercely denied, to no avail.
It was so absurd that the S’rrigan partially suspected that the arakai had simply made up some bullshit excuse and pretense for invasion, there was simply no other reasonable and logical conclusion to draw.
However, the S’rrigan’s expression grew more bewildered as he watched the video that the dessandrite had sent him. It was blurry footage of a star system from a great distance away.
The Strehegeld Star System.
It was the light harvester probe footage of the star system that had collected light from an extraordinary event.
A battle between two Administrators.
One of them was the familiar Webverse of a Divine Mother.
The other was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
It was a Martial Embodiment.
Of Water drowning an entire star system.
An ocean that stretched an unfathomable amount of area.
"What..." the S’rrigan whispered. "What is this? Who is responsible for this?"
"...So it wasn’t you?"
"Of course not," S’rrigan glared at the dessandrite. "We do not pick fights and our Sovereigns... do not generate massive oceans of water capable of drowning entire star systems in such a manner."
The S’rrigan watched the Martial Embodiment of Water unfolding with tremendous interest.
One of the most persistent constraints that the aquadites fell was that they didn’t have enough territory. There was never enough water. It was one of the reasons that they sought the galactic core.
Now, the S’rrigan found himself staring at a source of water seemingly so limitless that it could fill an entire star system.
"Who or what is responsible for this phenomenon?"
"I was hoping you could tell me, S’rrigan. This is something that we consider to be your area of expertise," Alpha Sheshank replied. "The Divine Mothers have also not been able to locate the exact cause of this, although they suspect you."
"This... was not us, but..."
The S’rrigan’s eyes sharpened.
"I would very much like to meet the entity responsible for this, as urgently as possible."
User Comments
0 comments from readers