Brasikha did not hesitate for even a moment, not even requiring time to think, seemingly, before he could give his answer. “Your fortress stands alone, as it always has. Sequestered, strong, but solitary. You have shown yourself adept at protecting yourselves, but will you protect others? For our allies, that shall be a vital question.”

With a wave of his hand, Brasikha brought up a screens with relevant notes about the Hegemon in front of each of the committee members. “We know precious little about our foe, but what we do know is revealing. It seeks not destruction, but domination. The reverence and service of life to itself to ends unknown. Life does not always fight to the death. In fact, it tends towards survival more often than not. To fight that instinct, to take risks in spite of death beyond the resolve of mere animals requires conviction. It requires belief in a cause worth risking a life. The time may come when our enemy forces a choice between servitude and extinction upon our allies. If we lie to our allies, manipulate them, treat them as servants instead of partners, then what makes us any better masters than the machines? What makes our cause, our fight for self-determination, worth dying for to [i]them[/i]?”