The Martial Unity

”And why should we trust you, Alpha Sheshank?”

In an underwater, isolated enclosure, a light-blue humanoid with a webbed body and a gilled torso stared at the projection of a dessandrite. The aquadite wore an elaborate get-up with numerous ornaments and a multi-layered attire woven from fabric fashioned from seaweed. Around him were numerous other aquadites, standing guard.

He was, of course, the elected leader of Aquadite Ocean Civilization, the S’rrigan.

The hologram projection opposite him featured a dessandrite that hovered midair even though the winged humanoid creature simply floated weightlessly in the atmosphere. His fiery red feathers fluttered with a continuous gust that blew past him, while his lower half was garbed in attire woven from interlocked feathers. He stared at the S’rrigan with pupils that were distinctly different from the fish-like eyes of the aquadites.

He was the leader of the Firebreather Tribe, elected to represent Dessandrite Sky Civilization to the S’rrigan. The atmosphere of the meeting was solemn, as would be expected from a meeting between leaders of two powerful advanced civilizations.

”Because, Esteemed S’rrigan,” the Alpha of the Firebreather Tribe replied to the pointed question from the S’rrigan. ”We have the same enemy.”

The Alpha spoke with an ultrasonic chirping voice, while the translation interfaces quickly converted that into the infrasonic sounds that the aquadites communicated with in the depths of the water.

”We Dessandrites have also experienced the endless lust for war that the arakai have,” The Alpha Sheshank spoke with seriousness. ”Do not forget that the Dessandrites were not the ones to initiate war with the arakai. They infringed upon our territory with their disgusting virus-seeding activities, and when we pursued peaceful recourse, they waged war upon us. Just as they have waged war upon you and your civilization. That puts in the same boat, don’t you think?”

Despite being in the same meeting, the environment that the two leaders were in was completely different. One was in the high skies of a gas giant, while the other was in the depths of a water planet. They had different means of communication, different languages, and even different brain-like organs, leading to different minds that could potentially never see eye to eye with each other.

Yet, they were both intelligent.

And they were, to an extent, rational.

That alone created the basis for not just communication, but also coordination.

”If we form an alliance in our mutual wars and have a joint warfront against the arakai, both of our civilizations will suffer less. We will be able to keep the arakai in check,” the Dessandrite continued with a calm but clear tone. ”Or we may even be able to annihilate the arakai once and for all.”

The S’rrigan sharpened his eyes at those words.

”We are not in the habit of waging genocidal wars, Alpha Sheshank. In fact, we are not in the habit of waging any kind of war.”

”And yet, you find yourself in a war against the arakai, Esteemed S’rrigan,” Alpha Sheshank replied. ”That is why I implore you to enter an alliance with us against the arakai for the duration of this war.”

The S’rrigan hesitated.

The logic of it all, on the surface, was quite impeccable, of course. They had the same enemy, the enemy of an enemy was a friend. The two civilizations could work together to crush the arakai.

”Entering an alliance with you will change the position of the arakai in the Orion Star Strand.” The S’rrigan spoke with a serious tone. ”One of the reasons that we have been able to freely focus on getting to the galactic core is precisely because of the fact that we minimized our engagements with the other major and minor civilizations. If we change that now, if we form an alliance now…”

The S’rrigan’s expression tightened.

”…Then I’m afraid that the shackles of this star strand will burrow deep into our civilization, shackling us within this backwater patch of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy,” he continued with an ultrasonic voice. ”Forming an alliance with you would mean inheriting antagonism from your enemies and expectations from your allies. That is… a burden that I would rather not have.”

The Alpha didn’t deny it, of course. It would be foolish to try.

”Is the baggage heavier than the cost of war?” The alpha shot back. ”Would you rather suffer great defeats and losses, and bleed many resources against the arakai in a war that will last decades?”

”That was inevitable from the moment they attacked us and committed genocide against billions of aquadites,” the S’rrigan spoke with a more grim tone.

”Be that as it may, the tax of war is much heavier than you realize, Your Excellency,” the Alpha replied, folding his feathered arms. ”Your civilization has avoided war on this scale, which is why you don’t understand just how burdening it can be. You wish to reach the galactic core? An admirable ambition. But how do you intend to achieve that if you’re burdened with an irrational war with irrational actors?”

The alpha leaned in with a hint of impatience.

”We have intel, we have resources, we have developed countermeasures and counter technology, and tactics against them. If you are willing to form an alliance with us, we are willing to share that with you.”

The S’rrigan considered those words. Indeed, it was a powerful value proposition. There were also other benefits of the alliance that the alpha didn’t need to go through. They were both leaders; the unspoken didn’t need to be articulated for it to be communicated between them.

The S’rrigan was conflicted between the very clear pros of the choice and his own unwillingness to form bonds that could become shackles within the Orion Star Strand.

One moment, you formed a sensible alliance, the very next thing you realize, you were involved in the local politics, mongering for power within a limited star strand between the two other major star strands entirely disconnected from the galactic core. The S’rrigan had campaigned on the promise of expanding beyond the limited Orion Star Strand.

But alas, it appeared that he would have to ultimately move on.