#2 - The Matadors

The development team decided that it would be far better to let the players and those people on Facebook and Twitter who have been following Takamo Universe to have a say in judging the contest.

#2 - The Matadors

Postby vemlich » Mon Sep 15, 2014 1:50 pm

The Santiago gathered his counselors around him and asked: “Ok, what kind of a situation do we have?”

The answer was not long in coming: “We have an opportunity. We discovered several inhabited worlds with an environment that is very similar to ours. The natives responded to our probes by shooting them down but not before we were able to find out that it is a loose confederacy calling itself the Distan Colonies. From their entertainment and information broadcasts we know them to be of Terran stock and apparently their civilization is the remains of a once larger entity that was decimated in a war with Cybers. Their technology has gotten back to the starfaring stage again and they will soon seek expansion. That is where our opportunity or challenge comes in.”

“I see” responded the Santiago. “We found them so they must be in our expansion path and their worlds are desirable. That also means that our worlds might be desirable to them. What do we know of their society and belligerence level?”

“Next to nothing, unfortunately. Our scans are old and we have no real time intelligence on the planets.”

“That should be our first order of business then. Let’s let a few explorers go on planet and report back to us. We should concern ourselves with first determining if they have anything to offer us economically or if they are a threat. Once we establish that they are not a threat we can send diplomats and establish formal cultural, economic and military ties.”

“Yes Sir. Shouldn’t we do that first?”

“No. I am convinced that the prudent course is to find out more about them before we commit ourselves diplomatically. Do we have Matadors ready for these assignments?”

“Yes Sir, we do. A brand new class equipped with the very latest in technology. The ships they are using will convert to act as a FTL communication satellite once the Matador is in place. Should the Matador fail their insertion or fail to communicate regularly, the operational response is to assume capture and destroy the ship to avoid identification. Our people of course know that this is a one way trip – they will not come back, whether discovered or not.”

“I would like to meet them before they embark” said the Santiago. “You said the natives are of Terran stock and the environment is similar to ours. I assume they will not need much in the way of bio-modification?”

“No Sir. That is precisely why these planets were chosen. Our bio-modification technology has made great strides and we can do amazing things to their bodies, but we found that each of these bioforms is slightly different in the way that they perceive, communicate and therefore act. Their societal norms are partly a product of their bioform. So for these planets the bio-modification is not the challenge, it is the mindset, if you will, that needs to adapt to that culture. That is why they will go to system space first, get more real time information and do last minute corrections to their doctrine. With other planets that are vastly different from ours we can expect that the necessary bioform and mindset combination will be more difficult”.

“Very well, let’s make this happen. You are right gentlemen: This could be a great opportunity.”
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