A new Trial civilization discovered?
When he saw this message,
Zhao Chen was somewhat surprised, but it was also within reason.
After all, two and a half years had passed since the Fierce Dragon civilization last fought Trial civilizations.
During this time, Zhao Chen's people had been exploring and searching.
In this period they had also developed the Sixth System,
and had already begun developing the Seventh System and the Eighth System too.
For the Seventh System and the Eighth System were not like the Sixth System.
In both these systems, the Fierce Dragon civilization had found native interstellar civilizations present,
already entered into the interstellar age.
With that in mind,
the Fierce Dragon civilization had not taken too hard a line, but had made contact first.
Never had they imagined that at this juncture they would get word of another Trial civilization.
Zhao Chen at once canceled all his remaining plans in the Sixth System and hurried back to the Fierce Dragon First System.
The Dragon Palace Starport.
The Dragon Palace Starport had by now undergone further rebuilding.
The whole Dragon Palace Starport was no longer a space station circling Dragon Star; it had been moved in its entirety to a position some distance from Dragon Star,
existing as an independent space station.
In size it was a full several hundred times larger than when it was first built.
To call it one of Dragon Star's moons would be no exaggeration at all.
And the spot where it had connected to the space elevator had been replaced with a new small space station.
But back to the matter at hand.
Zhao Chen's starship returned.
He went at once to the Fierce Dragon civilization's Conference Room One.
Here Secretary Officer Barbara and Marshal Chu Xuan were present.
"Go on, then: what's the situation?" Zhao Chen took his seat and looked at Secretary Officer Barbara.
Secretary Officer Barbara stood up, looked at everyone present, and explained, "As things stand, the exploration teams we've sent out have found systems numbering ten in all, our Fierce Dragon Sixth System included. But of these ten systems, five have extremely bad environments, some even filled with cosmic storms inside, and are of no development value at present. And of the remaining five systems, one already exists as our Fierce Dragon Sixth System. The situation of the remaining four you all know something of already. I'll go over it briefly. The one we've provisionally designated the Fierce Dragon Seventh System is very small, the smallest of all the systems we've found so far. It has only three planets in it, and one dwarf planet. Its confirmed population is no more than two billion. Perhaps because the system is small, a lot of things in it are rather small. Its star is much smaller than ordinary stars, and its largest planet isn't even as big as the smallest planet in our Fierce Dragon System."
A system's population no more than two billion: from that one could imagine how small this system was.
"This system has also entered the interstellar age. It's in the quasi-T2 tech era, and doesn't yet have the capacity for interstellar travel between systems. We've already made contact with them and expressed our wish to cooperate. We need their resources; we can provide them with technology and help them develop quickly. Three months ago they signed the relevant agreement, and they now count as a member power of our Fierce Dragon system."
"The Fierce Dragon Eighth System and the Fierce Dragon Ninth System are much the same: both are ordinary systems, at the T2 tech stage, with interstellar civilizations present. We've had negotiations with them, and they're willing to cooperate with us too. But it's still at the consultation stage. Most likely, under our carrot-and-stick approach, they'll join our big family. Of course, a large part of the reason is that on one visit we sent along thirty of our T4 interstellar warships."
When Secretary Officer Barbara got to this point, everyone exchanged smiles.
This was the Fierce Dragon civilization's diplomacy:
if you want dignity, I'll give you dignity;
if you don't want dignity, I can make you dignified too.[1]
There was no means of negotiation handier than big ships and big guns.
"And the Trial civilization we've discovered this time is in fact connected with the Tenth System, which we've had contact with this past month. We made contact with the Tenth System. The Tenth System has several civilization powers inside it, and counts as a fairly developed system internally. Most civilizations are at the T2 stage; a few civilizations have already begun developing the T3 stage. At first, we all thought this system had never had contact with civilizations of other systems outside. But later we found we were wrong. One civilization among them had in fact made contact with an outside civilization long before. And this outside civilization happens to be a Trial civilization. They seem to have something like a cooperative relationship too. For this interstellar civilization is one of those few interstellar civilizations that have mastered quasi-T3 technology. They passed word of our quiet visit to the Trial civilization behind them."
Hearing this, Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
This situation had in fact been foreseen long before.
The farther out the Fierce Dragon civilization explored, the greater the odds of discovering, or of being exposed.
It was only a matter of time.
"What did they do?" Zhao Chen asked.
"They didn't declare war on us; they proposed negotiations with us!" Secretary Officer Barbara said gravely.
Negotiations?
Hearing this, everyone was very surprised.
None of them had imagined this Trial civilization would actually propose negotiations.
"So the situation right now is this: we've discovered a Trial civilization, but the intelligence we have on them is very scant. And they haven't declared war on us at once, but proposed negotiations," Zhao Chen said, narrowing his eyes.
"Yes," Secretary Officer Barbara said with a nod.
"How do you all see this situation?" Zhao Chen looked at the others present.
"A situation like this comes down to a few possibilities. They want to trick us: learn about us first, then send fleets to attack. But that's not very likely. If we were them, I'd keep hiding my existence, then look for an opening and send fleets straight in for a blitz, to destroy as much of the other interstellar civilization's main fleet as possible," Marshal Medusa said, tapping the tabletop with her fingers. "And there's another, greater possibility: they've run into big trouble right now. So they can't declare war on us. But at the same time, they hope to get our help. That's why they've made contact with us! I think this possibility is greater."
Hearing this,
Zhao Chen said thoughtfully, "Barbara, then did this Trial civilization announce who they are?"
"They did. They call themselves the Korgi civilization. And they said they actually know something of our Fierce Dragon civilization," Secretary Officer Barbara said.
"They know of our Fierce Dragon civilization?" Zhao Chen raised an eyebrow.
Though before the Trial of the Gods the Fierce Dragon civilization had had a little name for itself,
it was after all a newly risen interstellar civilization; few old-school T6 civilizations would know of its existence.
"On that point we're not too clear at present either."
"Then what do they mean by it now? Do they want to negotiate with us?" Zhao Chen asked.
Secretary Officer Barbara nodded,
then said, "Yes. What they mean is to negotiate with us. The venue is set in the Tenth System. They hope we can send a representative with enough say to go and negotiate."
"Did they say whom they'll send?" Marshal Chu Xuan asked.
"They did. They'll send their civilization's number two to attend this meeting in person."
A civilization's number two: if this was true,
the sincerity was truly great.
"Whom do you all think we should send to attend this meeting?" Zhao Chen looked at everyone present.
"Their side is their Trial civilization's number two. Then on our side, the most suitable choices are none other than Barbara, as head of the Secretariat, or Chu Xuan, as grand marshal," Medusa said, pointing at the two of them.
Zhao Chen's gaze fell on Barbara and Chu Xuan.
"What do you two think? Who goes to talk with them?"
Chu Xuan looked at Barbara and said, "Negotiating isn't my strong suit. No… there's one way of negotiating I might be all right at: negotiating with them using my starships!"
A picture rose in Zhao Chen's mind:
Chu Xuan hanging the other side's negotiator right off the front of a ship's gun,
shouting at the other side, "Will you agree to my terms or not? If you won't, then I'll have my ship's guns talk it over with you."
That picture was a little too lovely.
"I'd better go. This sort of thing is my strong suit. As for matters inside our civilization, the Secretariat I've trained can take over for the time being; even while I'm away, they can keep our Fierce Dragon civilization running," Barbara said, taking the matter on herself outright.
"Mm. This meeting is entirely in Barbara's charge. For safety's sake, Chu Xuan, on your side, assign three hundred interstellar warships, including a certain number of T4 interstellar warships, to go with her and ensure Barbara's safety! If anything happens in the Tenth System, report it at once. Make sure we have three thousand interstellar warships on our side ready for combat at all times. The moment anything happens, we can send fleets straight over!" Zhao Chen instructed gravely.
Marshal Chu Xuan nodded.
Secretary Officer Barbara was very moved inside.
She had never imagined she mattered so much to His Majesty Fierce Dragon.
Before, she had thought she was at most a stand-in for Secretary Officer Lilith, a representative Secretary Officer Lilith had chosen to enter the Trial of the Gods.
But now His Majesty Fierce Dragon's high regard for her
warmed her heart.
She understood now, too, why her idol, Secretary Officer Lilith, held His Majesty Fierce Dragon in such esteem.
Before they set out, Secretary Officer Lilith had told her a great many things,
above all about His Majesty Fierce Dragon.
There was one passage she had once spoken like this:
"Barbara. You may think I'm a very capable person, able to govern so vast a Fierce Dragon Empire. You all often say in private that His Majesty Fierce Dragon is a hands-off boss. But you should know this: without His Majesty Fierce Dragon, there would be no Lilith as I am today. The one who sits in that seat doesn't necessarily need to be able to do everything. He only needs to be able to hold this ship's course, and let the people working on this ship bring their talents into play. That's enough. Before, you all dealt with me directly, and had few chances to deal with His Majesty Fierce Dragon. Once you enter the Trial of the Gods, you'll understand what a sovereign's high regard means. For his trust, you'll be willing to give everything you have, even your own life!"
Over these ten-odd years at his side, she had come to understand completely what these words meant.
——————
A few days later,
Secretary Officer Barbara was sitting at the negotiating table in the Tenth System.
This was a space station built by a local interstellar civilization of the Tenth System.
In a not very large room sat three parties:
the Fierce Dragon civilization's representative, Secretary Officer Barbara; the Korgi civilization's representative; and the representative of the whole local interstellar civilization.
The representative of this local interstellar civilization, wedged between the two civilizations, looked like a mere prop.
The two sides had been sitting for three minutes already.
But neither side's representative had spoken first.
In the end it was he, this native civilization's representative, who spoke first: "You two… since everyone has come to talk in the spirit of a meeting, then naturally no one wishes to become enemies. If we get to know each other and become familiar, perhaps we can even cooperate!"
Cooperate?
The two sides' representatives exchanged a look, both laughing inwardly.
This native civilization's representative did not know that all of this was their Trial of the Gods.
In this Trial there would be only one victor.
So cooperation and the like could last at most a short while.
"You, out," the Korgi civilization's representative said, pointing straight at the native civilization's representative.
The native civilization's representative was taken aback; this made him lose some face.
But he still stood up, nodded with an ingratiating smile, and bowed his way out.
Very humble.
But there was no help for it.
The top technology their civilization had mastered so far all came from this Korgi civilization.
Never mind him; even if their civilization's ruler were here, he would have to put on a smiling face too.
"Let's talk." The Korgi civilization's representative stared at Secretary Officer Barbara.
"Barbara, Chief Secretary of the Fierce Dragon civilization. I can represent our Fierce Dragon Majesty," Secretary Officer Barbara said directly.
The Korgi civilization's representative announced himself too: "Vice President of the Korgi civilization, and Foreign Minister."
"What's your idea in meeting with us?" Secretary Officer Barbara asked, getting straight to the point.
"To talk about cooperation," the Korgi civilization's Vice President said too.
"Before we talk about cooperation, shouldn't we be a little frank first?" Secretary Officer Barbara drummed her fingers on the tabletop. "First, the information we ought to know, you should tell us first: for instance, your present situation, the information you know, and why you want to cooperate with us. We need to see your sincerity first before we can decide. Before you speak, let me remind you of one thing. Everyone knows first impressions matter a great deal. If at our first meeting I find you've deceived us, then that bad first impression will directly affect our cooperation from here on."
The subtext of Barbara's words was: we are all people who understand.
Don't talk empty words here.
Give me the substance directly.