[b]Message to Federal High Command[/b]
=Encoded: Standard 4, Standard 2, Zarmina, Beta 5, N-0=
=Suggested scrambling protocols enabled=
=Decoding=
=Process complete, displaying message=
"The Colony has been established, second generation colonists are maturing. Test subject 001 born 11/11/77, displays full knowledge of heritage, culture, and location. Extended tests began on 13/11/77, subject shows comprehension of basic mathematics, algebra, and calculus. Subject displays a 21.5% increase in comprehension of advanced quantum theory when compared with the Terran average. No mental disorders exist, and neurons fire in expected order. If you are reading this, then you'll be next on the ship out here unless you've been approved by the United Terran Federation Scientific Committee. If this data falls into the hands of anyone involved with a radical political party or a terrorist organization, they are to be put on the next ship. Any attempt to resist must be met with lethal force. I don't need to tell you how dangerous this technology is, the only thing that can justify it's use is the knowledge of it. Epsilon Indi out."

[b]The Royal Palace of Hollie, Throne Room[/b]
The human woman responded, curtsying somewhat tensely in a plain yet elegant white dress. She quickly glanced towards the Eternal Union personnel, like a sheep in the presence of a wolf. Her face was tense, with fear obvious in her eyes. Seeing that none of them seemed ready to attack, she slowly became more and more comfortable with the situation. She nodded respectfully towards the Valkians, then to the Iscandarians.

"I am Captain Praskoviya Lovisa of the United Terran Federation. If anyone here puts significance on name meaning, my second name means 'Famous Warrior'. My first name means 'Preparation'. As you can probably tell, my people do not put emphasis on name meaning. However, my second name fits, as I am most well known for a battle I participated in when I was fourteen years old. To give you an idea of how old that is, my planet orbits 480 light seconds or so from it's sun. A second is about this long."

She was silent for about as long as it would take someone to say "one one thousand". Her cheeks become slightly red, and she decided not to tell anyone that what she just did in her head was nothing more than a way of helping young children figure out how long a second is.

"About that long, there are sixty of those in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty four hours in an Earth day, and 365 days in a year. An average lifespan for my people is two hundred years, though mostly due to medical technology. If we were stripped of all technology beyond fire, then an average lifespan would be around twenty years. We have settled all four terrestrial planets in our system, have developed it's only asteroid belt, and have cities on most of the large moons. As far as we can tell, life exists on only four bodies in our home system. Earth, the planet we call Venus, the moon we call Europa, and the moon we call Titan. The creatures on Venus exist only in the upper atmosphere, where temperatures are low enough to not melt the strongest of metals. The creatures on Europa all live under it's frozen shell of ice, in an ocean heated by the heat generated from the moon being stretched and crushed by the gravity of the gas giant it orbits. Life on Titan exists in seas of methane, an element we usually connect with respiratory processes. Only microscopic organisms have been found there, but on Europa there are familiar-looking lifeforms, and on Venus there are giant gasbag creatures. Intelligence has not been proven in any of these alien creatures, though many scientists suspect that Europa is home to an intelligent species. In the early days of space exploration, our people sent out probes carrying messages depicting us as a friendly and curious species of explorers and scientists. A few decades ago, companies began to beam messages to potentially habitable planets, letting people pay to have their message sent. Many asked for an invasion, you see, with the advanced in technology, people became more and more aware of global social and economic issues. Many wanted an end to them. In the 2020's, about fifty years ago, a major war broke out on our planet. It devastate an entire region, but police action was taken by nations formerly involved with it. The aggressor nation was dissolved, and is now refereed to as 'The District'. Both of the men accompanying me are from that region, you may notice the drastic difference in their skin color compared to each other's and to mine. Skin color is something that can change drastically from person to person, many, many years ago it was a great divide between our species. People with a different skin color were often considered the enemy, and in some places, you could be systematically oppressed due to it. A specifically large taboo was... how do I put it... mating with someone of a different skin color. After the war, people suddenly stopped caring. I suppose what happened was so much of a shock that we stopped thinking about things as 'Us vs. Them', but simply as 'Us'. Despite our regret over the war, we are still fiercely independent. Whenever anyone tries to take away our independence, it usually ends in war."

She looked over at the Iscandarians, appearing sad instead of hostile.

"Many lives have been lost as a result of one nation not knowing that."

Her tone returned to the calm and composed one that she had spoken in earlier, and she continued.

"As you may have guessed, my people talk about us as a whole quite a bit. However, that does not mean that we find personal questions uncomfortable. In fact, anyone trained in First Contact is specifically conditioned to not find any question uncomfortable, even if it is about a topic usually considered private or taboo for our people. We will inform you if you ask about one of those topics, but only for the purpose of understanding us better. I ask you to not see it as us saying we do not wish to talk about the subject."

Looking over to the Iscandarians once more, she spoke directly to them. She seemed suspicious, but certainly hopeful.

"If you speak the truth, then we thank you for resolving the conflict. If you are lying, then I ask you to speak the truth. Us Terrans are surprisingly forgiving when it comes to admitting a lie."

[b]Sol[/b]
After thinking it over for a few moments, the diplomat responded.

"We agree to your terms. However, we will require compensation for the damage done to our forces and our planet. Our people will likely forgive any soldier that takes part in the revolt, but there will be bad blood. I'm sorry, but after that battle, forgiveness could be impossible. Most of the prisoners are currently being transferred to Mars, we'll send the orders to release them to you."